Game 79: Bruins @ Rangers 7:30 PM ON VERSUS

Not much at stake tonight except pride and feeling out a possible 1st-round matchup.

I love that picture of torts up there.

Rangers' magic number is 5 but with a win tonight, I think they eliminate Toronto.

Stats!

GO BRUINS!

Game 71 Review: BRUINS 2 RAGS 1 I'LL TAKE IT I GUESS

Before we get all excited about this one win, let's remember that the Bruins were playing the Rangers, who are a bad team this year. I mean, it's not like the Bruins are any better, but still.

The big parts of the first are Stuart gets boarded by Prospal:

Patrice Bergeron jumping right up in Vaclav's face like that, attaboy. Stuart getting up and ruining Gaborik's day was pretty good too. And there was a fight.

The scoring started late in the second.

Let's look at what the Rangers defense was doing during the two goals.

First goal:As you can see, Ference is over on the left. He's got the puck. That ranger sitting in the middle of nowhere, considering maybe blocking a pass but giving plenty of open space? Vinny Prospal. All Ference has to do it get it across to Miroslav Satan, and for once the cross-crease pass connects.

I mean, look at that pretty passing lane and lack of defense. It looks like last year (hahahahahaha I wish)

Goal.
1-0
A sigh of relief, for sure.

The Bruins close out the second with this little ditty:

Attaboy, Begin.

The next period, the Rangers give another gift to the Bruins, leaving Dennis Wideman all alone at the top of the circle. He fumbles the pass, but manages to snipe backhand top shelf on lundqvist, who was probably screened all to hell by Olli Jokinen right there.

At least, that's the excuse I'd use if I were Lundqvist.
2-0
Goal.

Tuukka gave up a goal with a couple minutes to go, he wasn't happy about it.

2-1
Game.

Overall, I'll take it. Not a great team or against a great opponent, but it makes playoff chances look better and there's nothing wrong with that.

GO BRUINS!

Game 12 and 13 Recaps: BRUINS 2 OIL 0 BRUINS 0 RAGS 1 THE STREAK CONTINUES

Yeah ok so I didn't put anything up post-game on halloween or the morning after but I was not alone in that. Either way, The Bruins played twice over the weekend, both were afternoon games. The Bruins are playing a league-high 19 afternoon games this season, or about %23. This annoys me greatly, it always throws me off when I get out of a game and it's still light out. Thankfully winter and the end of daylight savings time will take care of that whole "daylight" thing.

I could recap the two excellent goals between Vladimir Sobotka and Blake Wheeler, where Sobotka fought behind the net for about a million years until popping it out for Wheeler to tap it in, or the one where Wheeler set Sobotka up nicely, or I could talk about how the Bruins-Rangers game would still be going on if this were the playoffs and Gaborik wasn't on the Rangers or I could look at some statistics, which is probably much* more interesting.

*slightly

So lets look at some thing then, shall we?

12.24

First up: Our powerplay. It stinks out loud. The year 1224 was a pretty boring year, history-wise. A Brother Leo happened to witness St. Francis of Assisi have a vision and get stigmata. Maybe that would help things, Lucic was out with a hand thing anyhow. And Savard with a foot thing. HMMMMMMMMMMMM

In case you were wondering, it's not the worst powerplay in the league. It's just the second-worst. The panthers are worse but they're the panthers, not last year's 4th-best PP. (Note: last year's worst PP was the Columbus Bluejackets and they made the playoffs anyways) Of course the fact that we're missing Savard and Kessel hurts in that respect, so there you go.

Yeesh, time flies when you're having fun. I will be using historical events to explain the Bruins PP% for a while I think. For example, the league-leading Flyers have a 28.07% PP, or FLYING CARS MOTHERFUCKERS in historical reference.

Here's to flying cars on the powerplay.
GO BRUINS!

2009 Preseason games (a.k.a. The Schedule is ALMOST OUT!!!!!!!!!!)

Copied direct from Bruins Blog, here are the preseason games:

Sept. 15 -- vs. Rangers at Madison Square Garden, 7 p.m.
Sept. 16 -- vs. Toronto at Air Canada Centre, 7 p.m.
Sept. 19 -- vs. Rangers at TD Garden, 4 p.m.
Sept. 20 -- vs. Montreal at Quebec City, 7 p.m.
Sept. 22 -- vs. Columbus at Nationwide Arena, 7 p.m.
Sept. 24 -- vs. Montreal at Bell Centre, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 25 -- vs. Ottawa at Scotiabank Place, 7 p.m.
Sept. 26 -- vs. Columbus at TD Garden, 7 p.m.

Looking at this schedule, we've got a game at 3 Original six teams (excluding Chicago and Detroit) as well as two games against Columbus and one at Ottawa. The only NorthBeast division team we're not playing is Buffalo. Yes, it's NorthBeast now, have you seen that Brian Burke is the Leafs GM? And we picked up Begin to replace Yelle? There's going to be some fighting going down, I think. The Garden and many boston sports bars will repeatedly be booming with cheers. Should be good.

The two Bruins home games before the circus comes and sits on the NHL schedule for a couple weeks are The rangers on a saturday afternoon (4pm, Sept. 19) and The BlueJackets on a Saturday Evening the next week (7pm, Sept. 26).

The 2009-10 schedule will be released next Wednesday. Can't wait. I'll have it here, and some reactions, soon after it goes up.

GO BRUINS!

Game 78 Recap: BRUINS 1 RANGERS 0 CLINCH THE EAST? YES PLEASE

Hahahaha, awesome.

This game can pretty much be summed up in three parts:

1: 2:


3:

A battle of two elite goalies, a nice goal by Wheeler, and some douchebag up to his usual tricks.

Also, my friend got to ride the zamboni! It was fan appreciation day, and he won it. Pretty awesome stuff.

The win clinched the east. The sharks lost, and now they have 1 point on the Bruins and both teams have 4 games to go.
Here's a good resource: http://www.nhlplayoffrace.com/presrace.html

The Bruins are the only team in the East to have let in less than 200 goals. The only other team in the league to do that is San Jose.

vs. NYR: 2-1-1
Record: 51-17-10 (W 6)
Home: 28-6-6 (W 4)
L10: 8-1-1
April: 2-0-0
GO BRUINS!

Game 78 Preview: Bruins vs. NYRangers THIS COULD CLINCH THE EAST

April 4, 2009 7:00 PM ET

TV: NESN

Radio: WBZ 1030 AM

vs. New York Rangers (40-29-9)

Notes:

• Fan Appreciation day.
• Boston vs. New York in 1998.  Boston wins.
• Colton Orr managed to get a Major Penalty for boarding recently.
• Tim Thomas got re-signed for 20 million or so for 4 years (6,6,5,3).
• Our thoughts and condolences go out to Tyler Pyatt and the Bragnalo family.
• Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson will be coaching the US Olympic Hockey team.
• LeBron meeting Ovechkin:  Almost as cool as Shaq meeting Chara.
• Rangers are sliding.
• Yes, I still like the Wild.  Puck Daddy interview with Cal Clutterbuck.
• Bruins clinch the top seed in the East with a single point.
• Matt Kalman is reporting Rask/Thomas next year.  Duh.

Previous Games:

1-1-1

Other Previews:

Just click the names near the top over on the right.  Most recently updated stuff is at the top, and most blog's most recent posts are current.

Stats:

GO BRUINS!

Game 67 Recap: BRUINS 3 RAGS 4 MSG HAS A CRAPPY GOAL HORN

The most well-reasoned thing I've read about yesterday's game is by The Old Bruins Fan:

"I'm not about to write that Fernandez sucks or that Julien is an idiot. I'll leave that to the juvenile posters on the Bruins boards. All goaltenders have bad games, or I guess at least most of them. It's been so long since Timmy had one of these games I can't even remember when it was. But he's the exception. I once saw Patrick Roy shoot the puck into his own net and then play like he was completely disinterested afterward. Patrick Roy obviously did not suck, but he sure could have a bad game."

Well put, sir.

Now let's get ourselves some highlights and recapimation.  If you don't like the new method of recaps that lets the page load a lot faster then let me know how you'd do it in the comments or via email.  It's still a work in progress.

The first period marked the return of Avery to MSG.  woo-freakin-hoo.  Some guys behind you are shouting "What time did the game start?  TWELVE THIRTY!" If there are any ranger fans who know why they shout that, please let me know.  I was confused all game about that.  When you met Nemmy after the game he suggested maybe it was people coming in late.

Oh well.  No goals in the first, though not for lack of trying.  The Bruins look about as tired as you do after traveling in, having a night, and getting a call from your freinds at one in the morning to telecommute a birthday shot.

During the first intermission there is a pedal cart race.  I guess new york is too good for mite hockey?

In the second period, Nik Antropov started the scoring off for the rangers in what my friend Chris calls "a desparate attempt to stave off the booing by the MSG crowd."  In a demonstration of this exact thing, Redden gets the second assist and they boo his name on the announcement.

0-1.

If you haven't been to a game at MSG where the rangers scored (Tom Renney LOL) their goal song is kinda lame.  Here are the lyrics:  "Goal Goal Goal Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey Hey"  Not bad at pumping up the crowd, though I prefer Zombie Nation due to blind homerism.

Chuck Kobasew comes right back about 2 minutes later.  Chara gives him the breakaway pass and Kobasew is gone between the defensemen.  It's just him and Lundqvist.  He makes it look like it's just him.

GOAL!

1-1.  The Bruins tie it up, and the 100 fans in the arena are all cheering.  You can almost hear them.

Shawn Thornton and Colton Orr fight.  Thornton asks the ref to stop the fight when Orr's fight strap comes undone, by some accounts.  Classy move by two pros.

The fight works because Manny lets in a couple of soft goals, including a powerplay goal to what has been a laughably bad power play team.  Of course, it was a laughably bad call (and not the first or last, for that matter) and Gomez stuffs one in past the post.

1-2.

Callahan.

1-3. Avery assist has the MSG crowd chanting Aiv-Ree *stomp* *stomp*.  It's like the Henrik chant, but at least if Henrik was on a non-rangers team I'd like him a lot.

Dan Girardi tries to break Ryder's face again at the end of the second, and you're happy for a 4-minute powerplay to start the third.  Especially since the Bruins are also starting the third 2 goals in the hole.

Chuck Kobasew knows how good the Rangers are at the penalty kill, so he takes a hooking call and evens it up.

The Bruins wheel a cannon onto the ice very sneakily during the 4-on-4.  They disguise it as Zdeno Chara.  From the point, he winds up and lights the cannon.  BOOM.  Mere mortals (even Lundqvist) are powerless to stop him.

GOAL!

2-3.  Almost time for the second high-sticking powerplay to come back into existence.

The Michael Ryder decides he really likes his face, and wants to send a message to people who try to break it.

GOAL!

3-3.  We're tied up on the strength of Chara's cannon and Ryder's "unreal shot."  What's Tortorella have to say about all this?

"We kind of wet our pants a little bit," Tortorella said. "We kind of had that look."

Ah, classic.

Of course, under the new coach they don't pull the old rangers move of messing it all up and letting the Bruins score.  Instead, Zherdev.

3-4. I'm not sure what the Bruins record is at MSG, but it isn't pretty.  They're 0-1-1 there when I'm going, at least.

Overall I had a great trip and it was good to see the folks I did!

vs. NYR: 1-1-1

Record: 43-15-9 (L 1)

Away:  21-9-4 ()

L10: 4-5-1

March: 1-2-1

GO BRUINS!

Game 67 Preview: Bruins @ Rangers SEAN AVERY SEAN AVERY SEAN AVERY

Mar 8, 2009 12:30 PM ET

TV: NBC

Radio: WBZ 1030

@ New York Rangers (33-24-8)

Notes:

• Rangers had to fire their coach.
• Sean Avery is a douche.

Stats:

I'm going to this game. Woohoo!
GO BRUINS!

Game 50 Review: BRUINS 1 RAGS 0 TUUKA TUUKA TUUKA TUUKA!

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Wow.  What a game.  The box score doesn't do this game justice.  Just 2 goalies, having great days.  When people say defensive battle, this is what they mean.

Personal highlight of the game:  Meeting Nemmy.  Sorry we couldn't meet up at Boston Beer Works afterwards...see you in march.  Emails forthcoming.

Back to other readers of the blog:

I hope you were watching this afternoon, because it was a doozy.

The first thing that happened was that Rask started.  For the first time all season, someone other than Manny and Thomas gets in net for the Bruins.

And he rocks.

Exhibit A:

And the following is a composite image of Tuuka Rask all game:

Huge.

The first period was 9 shots on a side and one hooking penalty called on Wade Redden.  Tuuka and Lundqvist both looked great.

The Second period was more of the same.  The rangers go on the PP and instead of getting a short-handed goal, the Bruins draw a too many men penalty.

Nothing comes of it, except for some back and forth hockey.  Both teams are doing a great job of stopping the offensive rush.

And then the sky clears.

Wideman rips one in, and Savard taps it in.  GO-

The play is under review.

Toronto says:  GOOD GOAL.

1-0.  You're happy the Bruins scored.  You're worried about the next 20.78 minutes of play.

The third period is about what you'd expect from two shut-down defenses:  Not a lot of good chances, but not for lack of trying.

0:45 left, Lundqvist gets pulled.

6 on 5 isn't doing it this time.

Game.

WIN!

Huge.

Record: 36-8-6 (W 1)

Home: 19-3-3 (W 1)

L10: 7-1-2

January: 8-3-2

GO BRUINS!

Game 50 Preview: Rangers @ Bruins ALICIA SACRAMONE AFTERNOON

Jan 31, 2009 1:00 PM ET

TV: NESN

Radio: WBZ 1030 AM

vs. New York Rangers (29-17-4)

Notes:

• Nice writeup on Axelsson in the Globe today.
• The Rangers have a shutdown PK, but crap defense on the powerplay.
• If not for the Devils, the Rangers would be first in the Atlantic right now.
  
• Olympic Gymnast Alicia Sacramone will be dropping the puck. Here she is dropping the gloves:

Makes me proud to be from Massachusetts.

Previous Games:

• Game 17: Bruins 2 NYR 2 SO LOSS: Possibly one of the most infuriating games ever.
  

Other Previews:

• WickedBruinsFan: Zdeno Chara needs one point for 300 NHL points.
• Double A Hockey: Will Rangers goalie Lundqvist stink up the ice as bad as he did against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, allowing a 6-2 defeat. Or was this a fluke?
  
• Stanley Cup of Chowder: I would like to see Tuuka Rask get the start today. Tim Thomas is getting a heavy workload lately. I say give the kid a shot and see what he can do in a meaningful game.
• The Bear Cave: Tom Renney has already confirmed that Henrik Lundqvist will be the man between the pipes when his team takes the ice on Saturday.
  
• Local Papers: Matt Kalman | Boston.com | Herald
  
• NESN First Shift: "You know, we can lick our wounds and think they were unfortunate goals, but you know, they all count. We have to score some of those goals." - Bruins Defenseman Aaron Ward on the hard-luck goals scored against his team Thursday night
  
• bruins.nhl.com: Preview | GameDay
  

Stats:

GO BRUINS!

Game 17 Recap: BRUINS 2 RANGERS 2 SO LOSS

Crap.  8 minutes to go, and we were looking good.

Lundqvist was playing well again - I didn't realize just how good he was until I saw him play in person last night.  There's a reason they call him "King Henry," and it's not his appreciation for shakespeare.  It'll be fun when he comes to the Gahden.

I went to this game with a couple friends, we had a great time.  New York fans are broken down into two groups:

Talkative folks who will let you respond, and talkative folks that won't.  And that one guy who thought it was important enough not to aim so he could jaw at me in the bathroom.  Whatever.

Roszival is hated enough at MSG that they boo him when he touches the puck.  It's really weird.  I bet he likes away games.

Anyhow, recap time:

First period.

NYR goes up 5-1 in shots, Kobasew fights Mara, and then the period ends, 11-6 in shots.  Lundqvist makes some sick stops, so does Thomas.  Very back-and-forth play.  Not much happened.

Second Period.

We move it around a bit, still nothing.

This game will end 0-0 SO.  

BUT WAIT!  Lucic forechecks in the corner, Bruins move it around off Lundqvist, bounces out to Chara, who blasts one through.  Goal.

1-0.

Chara takes a hooking penalty.  30 seconds in, Wideman strikes.  Short-Handed Goal.

2-0.  "King" henrik isn't looking so good now.  the 2 goals allowed are against defensemen.

The rest of the second is me jawing with the guy behind me.  Whatever.

Third period is painful.  I enter it worried.  10 minutes in, it looks like I'm just over-worrying.

6:05 to go.  Nigel Dawes buries it.

2-1.

Bruins keep playing solid, but are giving up too many shots.  Timmy's an all-star caliber player, but if he is an inch out of position and they're just shelling him, one is bound to go in.

We're down to one minute to go.  Lundqvist goes running for the bench.  Markus Naslund takes a pass from Vancouver and the building explodes with 53 seconds to go.

2-2.

crap.

Little more skating around, OT time.  Bruins won't be gaining as much on the trip as I'd hoped.  5 minutes of 4-on-4 and we're back exactly where we don't want to be.

Shootout.

Shootout
1	NYR	Nigel Dawes unsuccessful attempt versus Tim Thomas
2	BOS	Blake Wheeler unsuccessful attempt versus Henrik Lundqvist
3	NYR	Nikolai Zherdev unsuccessful attempt versus Tim Thomas
4	BOS	Phil Kessel unsuccessful attempt versus Henrik Lundqvist
5	NYR	Fredrik Sjostrom unsuccessful attempt versus Tim Thomas
6	BOS	P.J. Axelsson unsuccessful attempt versus Henrik Lundqvist
7	NYR	Chris Drury successful attempt versus Tim Thomas

Crap.  Ok, who does Julien send out?  Oh, ok. Bergeron.  Let's see how that goes.

Crap.

Final score 2-2 SO LOSS.

Takeaways:

• Shorthander by Wideman!  Big Money Wides is earning it.
• Chara with the first goal is pretty huge, too.
• We let this one get away from us.  The game isn't over until it's over, as we learned here.
• Taking points away from other arenas is a good thing.
• We've been too busy playing the northwest and the original six to play many atlantic teams.  Currently, we've lost both games against the atlantic division in the shootout.  Vomit.
• Bruins PK has significantly improved.  We went 6-for-6 last night, bringing the season average to over 80%.  Bruins have improved from last in the league to 19th in the league.
• If we played solid D through the end of 60 minutes, rather than 50, I'd be writing a hahahaha road win blog last night from my friend's couch rather than a more sober crap one from the bus.

Big ups to the Bolt Bus for the wifi.

2-2 SO LOSS

Record: 10-3-4

L10: 8-1-1

Away Record: 5-2-3

Streak: L1

GO BRUINS!

Game 17 Preview: Bruins @ New York Rangers: SEASON TICKET HOLDER ROAD TRIP

Nov 15, 2008 7:00 PM ET

On TV: NESN

On the Radio: WBZ

@ NY Rangers (10-5-2)

Notes:

• If you're a part of the official season ticket holder road trip, hopefully between y'all and me we'll chant something good during the game.
  
• If we win this game in regulation, we're 3 games and one point behind the Rags for first in the East.  If we lose, we could EASILY lose first place in the division if Buffalo beats Pittsburgh or Montreal beats the 5-6-4 Phlyers.  What matters tonight, though, is playing the Rangers tonight.
• Patrice Bergeron is 1 point away from 200.
• bruins.nhl.com:  The Fourth Line has been playing well.
• I'll be at this game.  Sweet.

Other Previews:

• The Bear Cave: Examines the goalie matchup. 
• Stanley Cup of Chowder: points out that the gauntlet continues.
• bruins.nhl.com: Preview | GameDay | Notes (pdf)
• boston.com thumbnails.
• Scotty Hockey: "Milan Lucic...is definitely one of the most exciting players in hockey not named Ovechkin."
  

5 Questions with the Enemy:

Today's featured blogger is Scotty Hockey, of Scotty Hockey.  I got to him late about this, and he was very quick to respond.  Solid effort.  Here's what he had to say:

1) Who has impressed you so far? 

Colton Orr has been the most impressive Ranger this season in terms of improvement from last year. The goon that Boston tossed away a few years ago is gone and in his place is a hard-skating, grinder who is a successful part of the energy/shutdown line and yet can still kick your tough guy's ass. Also impressive has been the continuing development of some of the youths (Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal) and Nik Zherdev's backchecking ability. Zherdev can pull off jaw-dropping offensive moves and yet works hard to be responsible in his own end. If he can stop his tendency to give up bad turnovers (much like Michal Rozsival and Wade Redden), the Rangers would be quite the dangerous team.

2) How do you feel about the All star voting so far? 

I don't care about it. If I had my way, no Rangers would go. The time off would do them well in preparing for the second half of the season. But I wish your boy Tim Thomas good luck, he is a helluva netminder who has been disrespected by the NHL. I wouldn't be shocked if he starts for Team USA in 2010.

3) If Lundqvist went out, would you be as screwed as new jersey? 

Not quite as screwed as them, but pretty damn close. King Henrik has been our rock behind a underachieving defensive corps.

4) How do you feel about your football teams being in new jersey? 

Who cares? Football players are over-inflated crybabies who play one game a week. But since you mentioned football, how about that game on Thursday, huh?  [Ed note:  Yeah, we crushed the Habs.  Jets? I CAN'T HEAR YOU LALALALA]

5) Predictions for tonight's game? 

Ranger win, 4-2 and hopefully a humbling for your Cam Neely wannabe Lucic by Orrsie at center ice.

Thanks very much again to Scotty Hockey!  Check out his blog for excellent Rangers (and general NHL) coverage!

Stats:

Youtube:

GO BRUINS!