First home game in a while. Should be a good game. Two division leaders, one with the high-flying offense of St. Louis and Stamkos and Lecavelier and the other with more goals for per game. Owned.
However the Lightning have gone from a -6 goal differential and leading their division to an even goal differential and leading their division. They're improving ever since they got Dwayne "a real goalie" Roloson.
This picture is hilarious, click on it and take a close look at Recchi's face.
Ovechkin, sure. Crosby, yup he's been scoring more. Stamkos? Hot damn. Kid can score. Especially last night, where the home-town fans were treated to a spectacular finnish goaltending performance. Of course it was in the wrong net, as Nittymaki stopped nearly all of the 50 shots on net. I guess it's better than no shots on net, but nobody ever said those shots were any good. The two goals were made out of getting someone next to the net and hoping for the best.
Look at how excited little Stevie is to be posing with his Grandma!
A streak of 2 is nice. A streak of 3 would be nicer. A non-shutout regulation win would be somewhere in there too, just to prove we can. Nothing wrong with the other team getting shut out, though.
Yup, for real. A Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Do you know who got it? Hint: He's 6'9." There are two other major stories here:
This is where he shows mercy.
The "Oh shit what did I just do to that guy?" look.
Boston: Patrice Bergeron -- Just a year and a half ago, Patrice Bergeron was nearly paralyzed and suffered a severe concussion from a hit from behind. His determination to be back by the 2008 playoffs nearly paid off, as he amazingly would have been ready to take the ice had the Bruins reached the second round last spring.
This season, Bergeron suffered yet another concussion, but has since returned to approach the high-caliber level of play for which he was known before the injuries. His credo of respect and "playing the right way" is reflected in his style on the ice -- always hard, always physical, always clean.
GO BRUINS!
Howdy, folks. Not a bad game last night, except for one thing:
If the bruins have the choice of playing the first 10 minutes and not the rest of the game or not the first 10 minutes and then the rest of the game, I think I'd favor the latter (see: Game vs. Detroit).
Whatever, a win is a win. Let's get recapping.
First Period. This one made me smile.
The lightning like to take penalties. The Bruins had the 4th best PP in the league going into this game. Here's why. Hunwick keeps it in at the blue line, gives it to kessel. Kessel gives it over to wideman, who's pinching in. Wideman puts a bow on it for Lucic. Lucic whole field of vision is net. GOAL.
1-0. I'll take it!
The next thing to happen that matters is all Kessel. Kessel kessels the kessel all the kessel kessel kessel kessel. Seriously, though. Skates it from the Bruins zone all the way in, tries to get that Lucic-on-the-doorstep assist. Paul Ranger has other ideas, deflects it behind Mike Smith. GOAL.
2-0. You're thinking Mike Smith is either going to get pulled or prove himself.
Ryder comes down, they pass it around a bunch. Ryder gets it back at the dot. What confidence. Just puts it exactly where it needs to go - the back of the net.
3-0.
Tampa Bay calls a time out. You ask what the over/under is on seeing Olie the Goalie play. Smith skates over to the bench, but no dice. Uh oh. It might be statement time for him, and he does manage to stop the rest of the pucks in the period. Shots in 1st: 10-4
Artyuuukndin gives it to hall, everybody runs over Thomas. Goal by Tampa.
3-1. People are booing.
Luckily, Tampa Bay gives up a 5-on-3 at the end of the second. Bruins move it around, Chara to Krejci. Back up to Chara, one-timer. The puck moves faster than light. GOAL.
4-1. You're thinking the last goal's gonna have EN written all over it. Why are you worried about Tampa Bay? You're not sure, but you'd bet on it. HAR HAR TOCCHET
Lecavelier and St. Louis come in and do their thing. St. Louis and Lecavelier scored 2 of the last 3 goals against Boston.
4-2. See above.
Mike Smith is pulled, chipchurra jams it in on Thomas with 18 seconds left.
4-3. 18 seconds left.
Mike Smith skates to the bench while the puck is in his zone. Uh oh, he forgot Patrice is a forechecker. Patrice gets it, gives it to P.J. at the point. GOAL.
5-3. The guy next to you mentions that when we first got Axelsson in 300 B.C., he hated him. Nobody hates him now.
Game.
WIN!
Record: 19-4-4
Streak: W5
Home: 10-1-1
L10: 9-1-0
GO BRUINS!
Nov 8, 2008 7:00 PM ET Due to circumstances beyond my control, I totally couldn't see this game. Looks like the B's managed to pull out a win anyhow. Let's get to the recap:
Ah, Matt Foy. I knew ye well, ever since that time when I watched you in your first NHL game with the Wild, where you scored twice and then were so excited you ran right into some guy, got a penalty, and then were sat for the rest of the game. I remember it well, watching on the Center Ice free preview at my parent's house a couple years ago. Good times. I wonder if he'll be playing with the big club, or in the AHL still. In fact, I wonder what the blues' minor league team is. Huh...oh well.
Foy, I know the fine folks on the wild.com message board didn't like you much. Oh well. That one game was a hell of a time. Have fun with the...whatever they are.
In similar news, former Bruin Brandon Bochenski got picked up by the Lightning earlier this month. I remember going to a game and seeing him bring the hustle, all game long. Rookies are exciting like that, I guess. Then it turns out they're not that great, but there's a whole new crop of them, trying to push the slightly older guys out.
Well, the first day of free agency is over and there have been some interesting signings. Once again, fans of Boston and Minnesota have to sit idly by while the big-name free agents disappear off to other teams - and later score on us. Rolston is back in Jersey, Brunette is back in Minnesota, Metropolit is a Phlyer (that's a mistake on our part - I've liked Metro, he always plays hard)
Oh, and Michael Ryder is now a Bruin. You should see him up and to the right, trying to score on a wraparound against Thomas. Searching youtube for clips, here's something I found:
Anything that makes a Canadiens fan cry is ok by me.
Hopefully, he won't have another season like last year's, but one more in line with his first three seasons. Maybe playing for his old coach, his old coach, and his old coach (that would be Claude Julien, who coached him in Montreal, Hamilton (AHL), and Hull (QMJHL, or "the Q")) will return him to scoring form. The Glen Murray buyout apparently may happen after Denis Wideman's salary arbitration. I'm still hoping.
Personally, I think the best move this offseason for the Bruins will be a getting Patrice Bergeron back. I hope he hasn't lost his touch.
As for Minnesota, they've got cap space, they lost Rolston, and they don't have four full lines of NHL forwards. Hossa, anyone? Demitra hasn't signed anywhere yet.
Mirtle has a list of who you should get your hopes up for just to get them dashed away when some other team nabs them. Speaking of those teams, ThePensBlog has a list of who still has to spend money to get up to the $40 million cap floor. I was going to quote them directly, but instead here's a quick rundown on what they had to say, since the numbers are about halfway down their post:
- Atlanta needs to spend 11 million, but they have Lehtonen to sign.
- Colorado needs to spend 3 million, with RFAs still to sign.
- Columbus needs to spend 9 million, but they have R.J. Umberger to sign
- LA needs to spend 11 million.
- NYIslanders need to spend 3 million.
And lastly, the Blackhawks are over the cap limit right now, which is fitting, since they have a dirty team right now. They picked up Brian Campbell for over 8 million/year, as well as Cristobal Huet for 5.something million/year. They still have Khabibulin, who is costing them 7 million/year. Cristobal Huet is not a backup goalie, so maybe we'll be seeing the 'Bulin Wall in LA, Columbus, or the ATL.
Tampa Bay was making a ton of splashy trades and signings prior to July 1st, so they're looking pretty alright too, but we still don't know if Melrose can coach. If he can, it could be a good year for them. If not, then Koules and Barrie are shown to be bad owners, but for the meantime y'all should enjoy the ride.
The Oilers are looking pretty good too...let's see who makes it into the playoffs from the logjam that is the Northwest conference.
Current Bruins 08-09 optimism meter: We'll make the playoffs.
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