Archive for the 'Recaps' Category
Posted in Recaps November 10th, 2007
Wow, has it been a week already? As Neb pointed out in my last post, I’ve got some catching up to do. So here’s what’s happened recently.
Bergeron’s concussion is bad. Pretty damn bad. As you all know by now, Bergy’s hurting. The guy can’t do simple tasks without feeling the effects of post-concussion syndrome. The team has placed him on long term IR, meaning he’s out until at LEAST 11/24. Don’t be surprised if he’s not back until after the holidays and it wouldn’t shock me if he wrote off this season altogether. Right now, he’s just got to get better.
Slip sliding away. Back on the 25th, I noted that the Bruins were tied for 3rd place and that only the Sens and Hurricanes had better records. That feels like such a long time ago. Since then the Bruins have gone 1-5 (adding only four team points…two of them courtesy of losing in OT), and have dropped down into a tie for 7th place. The main culprit has been their inability to score goals. Of these last five losses, the most goals they’ve scored in a game was two and they only did that once (in Ottawa). Remember that eight goal effort they put up in LA? Well, they’ve scored only eight goals in the five games that make up November. Unlike last year, you can’t blame the defense and goaltending for this one. That being said, among the offensive performers who have been pulling their weight, Marco Sturm and Chucky Kobasew deserve special mention for sporting an uncharacteristic (for the team) plus/minus of +6 and +8, respectively. That’s pretty darned good over a 15 game stretch and considering the Bruins are a -2 in goal differential (they’ve scored 34 this season and given up 36). One positive note to finish with: the Bruins have hung tough in all their recent losses…even against the Sens. If they keep playing this way then a few favorable puck bounces will land them in the win column more often than not.
Tuukka Rask. Manny Fernandez’s injury has landed him on the IR and after a week of Jordan Sigalet sitting on the bench, the Bruins decided they wanted Tuukka Rask to get the splinters instead. The B’s don’t play two consecutive games until 11/23-24 (which usually is a good time to start your backup goalie), but if we’re lucky we may get a glimpse of the Bruins’ future sooner than that.
Posted in Recaps November 1st, 2007
Busy, busy, busy. I’ve been a busy man. I’ve got something work-related in development right now that hopefully I can share with everyone in a couple of weeks, but I don’t want to jinx it. It’s only been a week since my last post, but it seems like I’m a month behind.
So let’s recap some recent events:
Biron, Broad Street Bullies, Buck Bruins, Bergeron Busted. It kills me that I couldn’t use this as a title for a post. So now I’m just shoehorning it into this one. The Bruins lost a tough one but the Randy Jones hit was the real story here. Fortunately, after being carried away on a stretcher, Bergeron appears to have just a concussion and a broken nose. Hopefully he’ll be back on the ice soon. With the Broad Street Bullies apparently making another comeback in Philly (Jesse Boulerice and Steve Downie also being suspended for dirty shots this fall), I don’t know whether to be appalled or pleased. Don’t get me wrong…I certainly don’t advocate dirty shots, but it’s somewhat refreshing to see aggressive hockey being played, even if it’s by another team. Another plus? It gives me another reason to hate the Flyers and will also hopefully stir the Boston faithful next time the Flyers come to town (unfortunately, not until March 15th).
Fernandez injured, Jordan Sigalet recalled. Manny suffered a strained right knee in practice and will be out of action for a while. Not sure of the exact medical terminology, but with a 3.93 GAA and an .832 SV%, I think he pulled a stink muscle.
Posted in Recaps October 25th, 2007
Tim Thomas. Five starts, four wins, each one with him only surrendering one goal. In his only loss, he let in an astonishing two goals. What that translates to is the Bruins being tied for the 3rd most points (12) in the Eastern Conference as of this writing with only the even hotter Sens and Hurricanes ahead of them.
Performances like that almost make me forget Monday’s blowout loss to the Habs. Almost. Losses to the Canadiens always fester.
This has to mean that, much like Toivonen last year, Manny Fernandez must be close to having his portion of the time share greatly reduced. At this point, it’s simple math. In four games, Fernandez is sporting a porous 3.93 GAA and an .832 SV%. With tonight’s game, Thomas now has a sparkling 1.20 GAA and a .962 SV%. To me, it’s a no-brainer who should start Saturday’s game against the Atlantic Division leading Flyers.
Also of note, Kessel potted goals #4 and #5 tonight, putting him ahead of Marco Sturm and Chucky K for the team lead.
Posted in Recaps October 14th, 2007
After a wild west shootout in Los Angeles Friday night, the Bruins fired mostly blanks against the Sharks tonight…particularly from the 2nd period midway through the 3rd when they had ZERO shots on goal. However, they scored when it counted especially with a game winner from Aaron Ward with 12 seconds left…and just 26 seconds after Milan Michalek tied it up with 38 seconds left to play (a goal which, unfortunately I missed…I was watching the game bedside on my wife’s laptop via Yahoo. The battery had five minutes of life on it at the time of Michalek’s goal, so I powered it off to finish watching the game on my office computer, but by the time I got there the game was over!)
Thomas had a great game tonight, as did the posts behind him. Time and time again shots clanked off the cold metal on what appeared to be sure goals. There had to have been at least four shots saved by the posts, but it felt like fifteen.
So the Bruins have wrapped up their only West Coast trip this year with a winning record. Not too shabby! The only left now is to clean the elephant dung out of TD Banknorth Garden and get ready for next Thursday’s game against the Lightning.
Posted in Recaps October 13th, 2007
The Bruins won a wild one in Los Angeles last night, besting the Kings 8-6. If you had 13 and the over in this game, you won.
I was at work last night listening to the game on NHL radio and could barely keep up with it. Every time I stepped away from my desk and came back, the score changed. Luckily, it was the Bruins who potted the most goals in net last night and came away with the win.
A few observations:
- Nice to see that defensive genius Dave Lewis’ work in LA is already paying off
- Phil Kessel racks up a hat trick AND an assist
- Marc Savard with a sweet five-point effort
- Milan Lucic picks up the Gordie Howe Hat Trick
- Sucked to have Brad Stuart score the 1st goal of the game for the Kings
- Speaking of “suck”, thus far, Manny Fernandez is doing just that
And now, if I’m lucky, I’ll be able to see some of tonight’s Bruins-Sharks game broadcast on Yahoo.
