Archive for May, 2007
Posted in Playoffs, Joe Thornton May 10th, 2007
With the recent elimination of the San Jose Sharks at the hands of the Red Wings, many Bruins fans…who have had to endure this when he was with Boston…were quick to point out Joe Thornton’s dismal performance in the final two games of the series: 0 goals, 0 assists, a -4 plus/minus and two shots on goal. You could almost hear the “A-ha!” rising in unison from the Massachusetts coast.
But the criticism seems awfully short sighted. None of his struggles, of course, can be attributed to playing against the Red Wings who allowed the 3rd fewest goals in the league this year and are anchored by arguably one of the best…if not THE best…goaltenders to ever play the game.
The Sharks had a total of nine goals in six games against the Wings. Thornton had five points. That means he contributed to 55.5% of the team’s scoring against the Wings. By comparison, Sidney Crosby led the league in scoring this year with 120 points. The Penguins scored 277 goals, meaning that he was involved in 43.3% of their scoring.
In addition to all that, in the five playoff games against the Predators, Thornton scored six points while his team tallied 16 goals…a 37.5% contribution. That means that, even despite being shut out the last two games, he contributed even MORE against the Red Wings than he did against the Predators.
Sorry guys, I was never happy with his playoff performances here in Boston either, but I can’t knock him this offseason in San Jose. He was shut out in the final two games, but aside from a single goal by Marcel Goc in game five, so was the rest of the team. Perhaps if a few more players on the Sharks NOT donning a #19 jersey were able to put some points on the board in the Wings series, the Sharks would still be alive and the conversation would be how Joe Thornton had shaken the monkey from his back and was leading the Sharks in scoring this postseason (with his 11 points, he nearly doubled the output of his closest teammates who had only 6).
I know Thornton will always be an easy target, but in this case the focus needs to lie on crediting the Red Wings and not on Thornton’s continued crucifixion.
Posted in Toivonen, Rask, Playoffs May 9th, 2007
Well, so much for a prodigy preview in the Providence postseason.
While Hannu Toivonen came within two minutes and nine seconds of a shutout last night during last night’s win, it wasn’t Tuukka Rask watching from the bench, it was still Jordan Sigalet. Today’s Providence Journal clears up matters.
He (Rask) will remain with the P-Bruins for the rest of the postseason, but he’s not going to play, according to Providence coach Scott Gordon. Starting goaltender Hannu Toivonen has been told as much, too.
Rask, whose rights were acquired by Boston from the Toronto Maple Leafs for Andrew Raycroft last summer, has joined the P-Bruins to get himself acclimated to the North American environment in preparation for next season.
Well, I guess that makes sense. You know, give the rookie a tour of the campus, provide him with a security badge, a cubicle and an email account before he starts doing REAL work.
Still. It’d be nice to see him sneak in there for a little while. Maybe during some garbage time (God forbid that happens) to see what he can do.
But enough about Rask, how about that Hannu! A 1-0 shutout going late into the third period, an Oleg Tverdovsky power play goal with 2:09 remaining to tie it up, and then a retaliation power play goal by T.J. Trevelyan a mere 39 seconds later to put the Bruins on top again and to put Providence up two games to one in the series.
Oh Oleg, how far have you fallen? The former #2 overall pick thirteen summers ago and the defensive anchor of my fantasy hockey teams in the late nineties and early “aughts”. Now, you’re playing in Manchester. What a shame.
Posted in Uncategorized May 8th, 2007
Folks, I apologize for the periods of downtime over the last 24 hours. Dreamhost has been having some hardware issues that they’re currently working through.
UPDATE: Dreamhost reports their problems have been resolved. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Posted in Playoffs May 8th, 2007
“…the Detroit Red Wings had shed their title as the Western Conference’s biggest playoff underachievers of recent years. They might have even found a team in teal to take their place.”
Hey, I didn’t say that…Greg Beacham from AP did. Know what the funny thing is? Unlike previous performances in Beantown, it looks like Joe Thornton can’t take the blame for this one. He actually put up 11 points in 11 playoff games. Heck, even normally-low-scoring Kyle McLaren put up four points in the post-season as well.
The big shocker, though, comes from Bill Guerin. In nine games, Guerin contributed only two assists, a -3 plus/minus and 12 penalty minutes. That and he missed the last two games with a “facial laceration” after taking a puck to the face. Granted, I don’t know the severity of the injury, but what hockey player misses time due to a “facial laceration”?? As long as nothing’s broken, they usually get stitched up in the locker room and return the next period. And that’s just in the regular season…it’s the playoffs, dude!
Still, all this beats this year’s playoff output from Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron. Between the three of them, they’ve contributed zero goals and zero assists. On the positive side, they haven’t committed a penalty and their plus/minus is better than it has been all year. (Unfortunately, Mark Stuart’s plus/minus has tanked.)
So anyway, the Sharks are done. They can now migrate south for the spring, just like the Bruins did a little over a month ago. Or, they can just stay where they are…it’s not like anyone living in San Jose really needs to vacation anywhere.
Posted in Toivonen, Rask May 6th, 2007
Currently manning the pipes in Boston is Tim Thomas, a man whose first name might as well be “34-year old”. He’s got tenure right now, albeit with just 108 games under his “Beware of Bear” mask. He played lights out hockey this season, but it always seems like someone’s breathing down his neck.
Over one shoulder is Hannu Toivonen, who seems to be the prodigal son. He was more or less dubbed the goaltender of the future when taken with the 29th overall pick in the 2002 draft. After showing some promise in ‘05-06 he regressed this season….being more affected by the nightly spray of shots he faced than was Thomas. However, he didn’t go down without a fight. After being sent down to Providence, he’s now helping lead the team in the playoffs. As a result, the Bruins continued to show their faith in him by rewarding him with a one year contract extension.
Over the other shoulder is Tuukka Rask, the OTHER “goaltender of the future” acquired for Andrew Raycroft last year. Similar to Toivonen, he was drafted 21st overall in 2005. After a successful season in Finland, the Bruins rewarded him with a multi-year contract on Saturday.
So how is all of this going to play out? We might find out sooner rather than later. Rask is to join Providence for the duration of the Calder Cup playoffs. My fearless prognostication was that, barring a trade, Thomas and an undisclosed veteran (Joey MacDonald?) would stay in Boston while Toivonen and Rask would have a time share situation in Providence for a BATTLE OF THE PRODIGIES (insert Star Trek fight scene music here). Under this scenario, Toivonen and Rask would both be able to get a decent amount of playing time as opposed to riding the pine in Boston. So, even though the senior club’s season is over, Toivonen and Rask might be giving us a preview of next year is going to look like as soon as Tuesday night.
And to think, most Bruins fans have already mailed it in for this season!
