Wicked Bruins Fan

Debbie Downer

2010-02-04T19:54:58Z

Tonight the Bruins host the Montreal Canadiens at the TD Garden. I don't have to tell you the Bruins have lost their last 8 games. I don't have to tell you how frustrating it is to watch them. I don't have to remind you how much injuries suck.

With that said, let's hope it can't get any worse in the 6 remaining games before the Olympic break.

Tuukka Rask (10-7-2, 2.13 GAA, .925 Sv%) will be in goal tonight. Rask has lost his last four starts. His last win was a 4-0 shutout against the Thrashers on December 30th. Rask is looking for his first win in 2010 tonight.

More fun facts from game notes:

- The Bruins have lost their last eight games at 0-6-2 with their last win a 2-1 shootout victory in San Jose on Jan. 14 …It is their longest winless streak since they went 0-5-3-1 from Feb. 15-Mar. 3, 2003 and is their losing streak since an 0-8-0 stretch from Dec. 22, 1955- Jan. 12, 1956, which is the second-longest losing streak in team history (team record is 11 from Dec. 3, 1924-Jan. 5, 1925).
- The Bruins have lost seven straight home games at 0-6-1 with their last home win was a 2-1 overtime victory over Philadelphia at
Fenway Park in the 2010 Winter Classic …That is their longest home winless stretch since an 0-5-4-0 mark from Nov. 28-Dec. 30, 2003
and is the second-longest home losing streak in club history (team record is 11 from Dec. 8, 1924-Feb, 17, 1925).

- The Bruins have had 13 power play opportunities in their last two games (3 for 13, 23.1%), which matches the opportunities in their
previous seven games combined.

- The Bruins have scored two goals or fewer in eight of their last nine games, with the exception in that stretch a 4-3 shootout loss in
Los Angeles on Jan. 16, including their last seven straight (9 goals) …That is the longest such stretch since a seven-game span from
Mar. 3-13, 2008 (8 goals) and they have not gone eight straight games with two-or-less goals per game since Oct. 10-27, 2001 (11
goals).

It can only get better from here, right? Let's hope so. The Bruins need the wins and points before the two week break.

No excuses

2010-01-26T08:19:56Z

The Bruins, like many other NHL teams throughout the course of a season, have had their fair share of injuries. Key injuries to key players. They have been lucky in a sense that (dare I even say it?) the majority of players have been healthy to an extent. (I won't name names or specific positions, but I'm sure you can figure it out.)

This season hasn't been as fun as last season. It's been frustrating. One of the best games was when the Bruins scored two late goals and won in a shootout against Ottawa. The Winter Classic is not in that same category because nothing will ever compare to that game, and that's why I excluded it. So the game in Ottawa was one of the games when the Bruins never showed any quit.

Lately it seems the quit is coming too often and way too early in games. Despite the injuries and the revolving door between Boston and Providence, there are no excuses when it boils down to the heart, passion and commitment the players have. That stuff shouldn't diminish at all. There are only a handful of guys giving their 110% every game. It's easy to see who they are. Other players teeter between 50% and 100% depending on which way the wind blows that day.

It's no secret some players are having dismal seasons. I felt so bad for Dennis Wideman, I bought a player t-shirt to support the guy. That's one of the things that irks me. No matter how rough the season is for a player, the priority for a fan is to support the team and whoever is on that team. That's my mentality anyway.

So when I saw this quote in the Globe today, I felt horrible.

Even the star-crossed Wideman, who took a puck in the mouth Sunday, reported no significant damage.

When noted that he didn’t miss a shift after eating the puck, Wideman deadpanned, “Why would I go out? I had to be on the ice for another goal against.’’

Wideman was out there for every Hurricanes goal on Sunday. He finished a -4 and was out there for a power play goal against. It's easy to kick someone when they're down, but it's harder to support them when they need it. Making t-shirts that have the #6 on the back and "turnover king" above it is the easy way out. That's my two cents anyway.

Byron Bitz and Marc Savard should be back for Friday's game in Buffalo. There was no reason why players shouldn't have been giving over 100% while they were out, and while Steve Begin, Marco Sturm and Andrew Ference remain out of the line-up. This is the time when the players should have been giving it their all, every minute of every game.

There are only a few more weeks before the Olympic break. We'll see if the Bruins find their heart before then. Let's hope the fans who are lacking find it as well.

Pre-birthday practice

2010-01-20T22:29:19Z

The Bruins practiced in Wilmington today after a day off yesterday. Yesterday's day off can be understandable since they got back from a west coast road trip on Sunday and had to play a matinee game on Monday. That is not fair of the NHL schedule makers. But in the game I watched last night between the Sabres and Ducks, they did the math of the Ducks' next road trip and it has them flying over 7,000 miles total. That is a lot of frequent flier miles. So the Bruins didn't have it too bad. But why they had to fly from Anaheim up to San Jose and back down to Los Angeles will be one of those mysteries.

My good friend Nicholas has never been to Wilmington in his 20 years of being a fan. I have been going to Wilmington since high school, and that included getting early dismissals to go to practices before they were open to the public. I would go just for autographs and pictures with players.

Nicholas wanted to get his Milan Lucic jersey signed. There have been failed attempts since last season and if he couldn't go, he was going to give it to me to get signed for the next practice I get to. Personally, I think there's nothing like getting something autographed for yourself from your favorite player, so we made the trek up there to the ice box.

Marc Savard, Steve Begin, Byron Bitz and Andrew Ference didn't practice. Dennis Wideman was the first one on the ice, but then went away when Tuukka Rask and Mark "One Man" Stuart came out. Marco Sturm had his serious face on while skating laps to warm up before practice started, and he seemed to be flying, scoring goals in the first couple of drills. But Sturm left midway through leaving Matt Hunwick to fill in as the other wing-man for Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi. That was no problem since Adam McQuaid was back from his stay over in Providence last night.

There were some scary moments in the last drill of practice. Matt Hunwick took something (either a stick or a puck) up high near his left eye. Bergeron, being the nice guy, skated over to the bench to retrieve a towel for Hunwick. The trainer checked him out, and then Hunwick went into the locker room and returned soon after. While Hunwick was gone, Stuart blocked a shot with his ankle/foot, but shook it off. Then Miro Satan got a stick up high from Tim Thomas.

After the "they got out alive" drill, the Bruins stretched at center ice. No player went into the center circle until coach Claude Julien skated by and I can only assume told Stuart to get in there. Stuart slid over from his original spot and I wondered how the heck he doesn't have an 'A' on his jersey yet. (He was in the center the last time I went to practice too, before the west coast trip.)

Practice ended and Nicholas and I headed outside to wait. I had something I wanted to get autographed too. A month or so ago, I bought a game program that had Wideman on the cover. (There might be a story behind that but I'm not willing to share.) The one thing I wanted was him to sign it.

Inside there is a two-page poster of Lucic, and one-page posters of Savard and Stuart. Since Savard was already long gone, I thought why not get Stuart to sign too? Stuart came out with Johnny Boychuk and Lucic, so while Nicholas went to Lucic's window to get his jersey personalized, I went to Stuart's and got his autograph.

I asked Stuart how his sternum was and he said it was fine... Because Stuart feels no pain.

The Bruins didn't seem too happy after practice and fans can only hope they come out pissed off against the Blue Jackets tomorrow.

I hope they give me a nice win on my birthday.

Got a question?

2010-01-20T21:32:56Z

Over the course of this season, I have had to answer many Bruins questions. My season ticket holder seatmate and I sold our tickets for Monday's matinee game against the Senators. Thank goodness. We both elected to work and money was definitely better than seeing a 5-1 loss to the Senators.

When I miss a game, it brings up questions.

Why aren't you going to the game?
But you go to every game, don't you?
Are you selling any more games?
How many games do you miss?
How long have you had season tickets?
Are you going to the next game?
Are the Bruins going to make the playoffs?
Why are the Bruins worse than last season?
Who is injured now?
Where are your seats?
And my favorite: How much did you pay for your Winter Classic ticket?

It's endless on some days. And it can get both annoying and exhausting. I feel like I'm answering the same questions over and over and over again. I should start carrying around a frequently asked questions sheet with me and hand it over when the questions start.

I can only imagine what a coach goes through during the length of an 82 game season and the repetitive questions he gets.

I wonder if other Bruins fans get these types of questions from other casual fans. Weigh in, but please don't ask any questions.

Back to reality

2010-01-05T04:39:40Z

The euphoria of the Winter Classic at Fenway on Friday has all but worn off. The Bruins returned to reality playing the New York Rangers on Monday night. The game, televised on Versus, seemed so boring at times that I found more entertainment looking up drink recipes than paying attention to the game.

The Bruins were trailing 2-0 in the third period. They had penalty trouble in the first period with Vladimir Sobotka getting two penalties and Dennis Wideman adding one in between. The Rangers had a 5-on-3 advantage for over one mine and scored during Wideman's penalty.

The Bruins looked like they were going to be the comeback kids yet again when Matt Hunwick got them on the scoreboard with a shorthanded tally. Then Blake Wheeler scored over a minute later to tie the game.

But the Rangers would get the go-ahead goal with 1:09 remaining and that would be it.

It didn't help the Bruins when Patrice Bergeron, their best player this season, was hit in the hand by a shot off Wideman's stick. Versus reported that Bergeron had X-rays taken, but it was unconfirmed by the Bruins. Bergeron didn't return to the game and is on his way back to Boston while the team goes to Ottawa.

The Bruins didn't deserve the point they were close to getting tonight. Even Claude Julien knows that. We'll see how the Bruins respond to tonight's game when they play the Senators tomorrow.

Defense recall

2009-12-16T00:16:52Z

The Bruins were off today delivering toys to area hospitals, something the team has done since Ray Bourque was captain. Patrice Bergeron has taken over the duties and over $18,000 of gifts were purchased last week by the players.

However, there were some moves coming off last night's 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. During a 5-on-3 penalty kill in the first period, defenseman Dennis Wideman blocked four shots (one up high, three with his feet). Wideman missed a few shifts in the second period, and missed the entire third period. Defenseman Mark Stuart was shaken up in the third period and was in some discomfort on the bench, but didn't miss a shift. On his next shift, he blocked a shot with his leg.

Needless to say the defense is a little banged up at the moment.

Since the Bruins' next game isn't until Friday in Chicago, they recalled defensemen Adam McQuaid and Andy Wozniewski from Providence. Why two when Matt Hunwick is still here? I am not exactly sure. Johnny Boychuk has made his presence on the blue line the past couple of games, netting his first NHL goal earlier this month. Hunwick has seen some time up at forward.

With the recall of McQuaid and Wozniewski, the Bruins placed Milan Lucic (ankle sprain) on the injured reserve to make room. The Bruins might just use McQuaid and Wozniewski for spare parts in practice so they have a full blue line, and if either Wideman or Stuart (if not both) can play Friday, one of the two could be returned to Providence.

There hasn't been many dull moments around the Bruins lately. Just a pretty dull website here.

Slacker is a generous understatement

2009-11-25T04:24:13Z

I was checking out Networked Blogs on Facebook and saw my last post was twenty days ago. *screech* But I guess that makes sense. That was the day the Yankees won the World Series and that kicked off a busy week. The busy week was followed by a brief trip to Albany that I still want to write about because AHL hockey is pretty good. Then that was followed by a few more days that went by in a blur, and then a trip to Foxwoods. Throw in some kind of viral/sinus infection with an annoying cough and here I am.

The Bruins have been around, playing, practicing, traveling, losing, winning, finding their game and getting players back from injuries. At the moment, the Bruins have a nice little three game winning streak going for them. They are on a four game road trip that started in Atlanta and went to Buffalo, then St. Louis and will conclude tomorrow in Minnesota.

Tuukka Rask has started every game on the road trip and looks to be getting the start tomorrow against the Wild. Tim Thomas has a minor undisclosed injury, but has been backing up.

Marc Savard returned to the line-up last night after missing time with a broken foot. Milan Lucic returned last week after being out with a broken finger. Patrice Bergeron had a fantastic game against the Blues, notching assists on all four of the Bruins' goals, including a shorthanded tally by Marco Sturm. The defense pairs seem to be clicking as Dennis Wideman and Andrew Ference were reunited, and Mark Stuart is with Matt Hunwick again. Johnny Boychuk is still forgotten up in the press box, only seen during warm-ups and practices.

I find it's always better to write about the Bruins when they're doing better. The Bruins haven't exactly been terrible... just frustrating. Hopefully this will kick off a series of updates and I'll show some consistency in my website.

If I don't check in before Thanksgiving, here's to a happy holiday.

And please keep in mind, Tuukka has two u's and two k's. If you spell it any other way, a milk crate dies. Don't kill any more milk crates.

Inconsistently consistent

2009-11-04T05:24:27Z

The Bruins were in Detroit on Tuesday. They were shut out 2-0. They were shut out 1-0 on Sunday against the Rangers, a game that I was happy to miss. The Bruins lost two games in a row for the first time this season. They have been inconsistently consistent in their trend of winning one and losing one since the season started in October. If the trend continued, they would have won against the Red Wings. I was hoping for one of those late comebacks, like the won against the Senators.

Fluto put it best...

The Bruins can cry into their beers all they want about missing Marc Savard and Milan Lucic. But the Wings were without Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula, Brian Rafalski, and Jonathan Ericsson tonight, and still managed to tuck two pucks behind Tim Thomas to claim the 2-0 win.

Fans can do the same, whine about who's not in the lineup, but when it comes down to it, there are still 12 forwards in the line-up capable of putting pucks in the net. They have done it before. Maybe they have gotten a little snake bitten the last two games. It does happen to the best of teams. But to search for excuse after excuse why this team isn't scoring or winning two games in a row is a waste of time. It is up to whoever is on the ice to get the job done and that usually means more than one line has to have a strong game and step up.

Don't even get me started on the power play or I'll be here all night.

The Montreal Canadiens come to town on Thursday. If that doesn't get the players to step their games up, get their offensive juices going and put together a strong game, then I don't know what will.

Game 10: Bruins vs. Senators

2009-10-24T23:10:45Z

Since it's the first game against a division rival this season and I am not at the viewing party at the Hard Rock, I thought I would do a little live blog for the game tonight.

Tim Thomas is in goal for the Bruins. Trent Whitfield, Johnny Boychuk and Guillaume Lefebvre are the healthy scratches. Shawn Thornton is back in the line-up. Mark Recchi is playing his 1,500th NHL game.

First Period

Daniel Paille has impressed me in his first couple of games with the Bruins. I didn't know what to expect when the Bruins acquired him, but so far so good.

Thomas makes a great pad save within the first three minutes on Mike Fisher's tip.

Nice move by Brad Marchand to avoid a check while bringing the puck into the zone. On the same shift, he backhanded the puck to the net.

Nice defensive play by Mark Stuart on Milan Michalek. Michalek went colliding into Thomas forcing the net loose, but all seem to be fine.

Byron Bitz and Matt Carkner drop the gloves. Bitz received a couple of punches.

The Senators recognized Recchi's achievement of playing 1500 games. Too bad NESN dropped the ball a little and all we saw was the Bruins bench tapping sticks.

Bruins are going on the power play. David Krejci took a high-stick. Zdeno Chara breaks his stick trying to blast the puck to the net. Marco Sturm brings the puck in offsides on the next rush. Patrice Bergeron was set up in the slot for a one-timer and Elliott made the save. Thomas makes a save after the penalty expires.

Bitz is going to the penalty box. 1.2 seconds left in the first period. The Senators will start the 2nd period on the power play. Scoreless game after one.

Second Period

Thomas makes two saves on the penalty kill. Penalty is killed off.

Dennis Wideman loses his helmet after being crunched into the boards behind the Bruins' goal. Penalty on the Bruins coming up after the TV timeout. Michalek hit Wideman. Matt Hunwick gets a penalty for hooking. Marchand and Bergeron had a shorthanded chance that went wide. The penalty killers are doing a good job. Thomas makes a nice save on Chris Campoli after the puck was deflected off Thomas to Campoli. Bruins killed off the penalty.

Marchand has some great speed for a penalty killer. His first NHL goal might actually be a shorthanded one.

Jonathan Cheechoo is in the penalty box for hooking. The power play pairing of Wideman and Andrew Ference scared me to start and Daniel Alfredsson confirmed it by scoring a shorthand goal. That is the third shorthanded goal the Bruins have allowed this season. (I am going to start campaigning for Hunwick and Stuart to see some power play time now.) The Senators kill the penalty off.

Thornton and Carkner dropped the gloves. Good to see Thornton fighting in his first game back after missing two games.

Blake Wheeler ties the game with 2:54 left in the second period. Sobotka makes a great pass from the boards to Wheeler for Wheeler's first goal of the season.

Zdeno Chara was shaken up and Thomas made the save of the game on Alfredsson.

Steve Begin and Chris Neil drop the gloves, but Begin got tackled. Begin ends up with the instigator penalty. Begin stood up to Neil after Neil dumped Wideman in the corner.

Third Period

Bruins are on the penalty kill to start this period. Thomas made a save with 12 seconds left on the kill. The penalty is killed off.

Thomas was the last line of defense as he made a glove save on Cheechoo. Timmy is giving the Bruins a chance to win. Hope the Bruins capitalize on it.

Michalek gives the Senators the 2-1 lead with 10:46 left in the 3rd period. Hunwick was beat and Michalek got the puck through the five-hole. Tough break after all those outstanding saves Thomas made before.

Fisher makes it 3-1 off a wonky goal. Sheesh. Bruins are getting some bad breaks, but at the same time, aren't deserving of two points from their play this period.

Bruins will get another crack at the power play. Let's hope they do something with it besides giving up a shorthanded goal. Bruins got a couple shots on the power play, but the penalty is killed off.

Thomas is on the bench with 1:46. Bruins took a timeout. The extra attacker is out there.

Recchi tips a shot by Derek Morris to get within a goal! 1:28 left in the game.

Bruins put Thomas back in the net with a minute left for the face-off. Bruins in the offensive zone. DAVID KREJCI TIES IT ON A TIP ON MORRIS' SHOT! Tied game with 21.6 seconds left.

Overtime

Let's see if the Bruins can steal two points. Thomas makes a save. Wheeler had a shot deflected. Thomas made another save.

Elliott makes a save. 1:08 left in overtime. Ryder made a nice poke check on Jason Spezza coming out of the zone. But then Ryer shot the puck wide.

The Senators are called for a penalty with 36 seconds left. Ryder was tripped at the Bruins' blue line skating to neutral ice. A brief power play for the Bruins. Chara had a shot, but Elliott made the save and Chara shot the second try high.

Shootout

The Senators get to select whether they shoot first or not. Kovalev, Alfredsson and Spezza will be the shooters for Ottawa. Wheeler, Bergeron and Krejci for Boston.

Senators are shooting first. Kovalev shoots it off the post and it goes wide.

Wheeler couldn't get the puck off his stick. Well he did, but too late. Too many moves I suppose.

Alfredsson hits the post. Wow. Thomas is catching some nice karma right now.

Bergeron gets the puck to trickle in under Elliott.

Spezza is stopped by Thomas. Bruins won the shootout 1-0. Krejci never gets to shoot.

Bruins win it 4-3!

Game Preview: Predators vs. Bruins

2009-10-21T15:46:25Z

When the Bruins come out before their fans tonight to play against the Nashville Predators, there are going to be some familiar faces missing and some new faces around. Some of those new faces will be here permanently, so keep a close eye on their play tonight. The Bruins will be without Milan Lucic (broken finger, LTIR) and Marc Savard (broken foot, LTIR). Shawn Thornton is doubtful for the game with an undisclosed injury.

The Bruins are coming home for one game after a two-game road trip in Dallas and Phoenix. The Coyotes beat the Bruins 4-1 on Saturday. The Predators are coming off a 4-3 shootout lost against the Washington Capitals. (Had to confirm with my Predators fan friend because I closed game notes already.)

Goalies: *
Nashville: Dan Ellis (2-1-1, 2.80 GAA, .903 Sv%); Pekka Rinne (0-3-0, 3.46 GAA, .894 Sv%)
Boston: Tim Thomas (2-3-0, 3.20 GAA, .896 Sv%); Tuukka Rask (1-1-0, 3.39 GAA, .883 Sv%)
*Starters are underlined.

Injuries: Savard and Lucic are out. Thornton is doubtful.

Need to Know: After Chuck Kobasew was traded, the Bruins recalled Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Marchand. The Bruins acquired Daniel Paille from Buffalo, who will be wearing #20. Trent Whitfield was recalled today on emergency basis and will be wearing #42. Craig Weller (acquired in the Kobasew traded) and Guillaume Lefebvre were assigned to Providence. Dennis Wideman will be returning to the line-up.

Debuts: Marchand will be playing in his first NHL game tonight. Whitfield and Paille will be playing in their first games as Bruins.

The Bruins will have a bit of a test tonight without their number one center in the line-up and a few new additions. It will be interesting to see how they match up against the Predators, who are without Jason Arnott. We all know injuries happen, but to lose Lucic and Savard in the same week, as well as a couple of trades, it's a lot to get used to.

The Bruins will travel to Philadelphia for a game tomorrow. This is their second set of back-to-back games of the season, and of the week.

Paille acquired from Buffalo

2009-10-20T22:40:42Z

It appears that Bruins' general manager Peter Chiarelli wasn't done wheeling and dealing. The Bruins acquired winger Daniel Paille from Buffalo for a 2010 3rd round draft pick and a conditional 2010 4th round draft pick. This was the first trade between these two teams. (Official release.)

It seems a little odd to acquire another player when the line-up seemed set after two practices since Chuck Kobasew was traded. Paille almost seems like a replacement for Kobasew.

With Vladimir Sobotka practically locked in on a line with Blake Wheeler and David Krejci, and Brad Marchand skating with Patrice Bergeron and Michael Ryder, Sobotka and Marchand should stay in Boston regardless of the new acquisition.

One Bruin who has missed the last two practices was Shawn Thornton. Marc Savard missed practice yesterday, but returned today. If Thornton is injured, then maybe there's nothing to read into. However, I am always one to read into things.

We'll see how this all plays out over the next few days. The Bruins host the Nashville Predators tomorrow and then play in Philadelphia on Thursday.

Kobasew traded to Wild

2009-10-19T02:00:34Z

So I was at Kohl's finding some cool Bruins ornaments that I've never seen before. (Bruins stuff is hard for things like ornaments and other things, while the Red Sox and Patriots stuff is never hard to come by.)

I was checking Twitter after checking out and as I was closing Tweetie 2 on my iPhone I saw the words, "Kobasew" "trade" and "Wild." I said out loud to nobody in particular, "did I just read what I think I read?"

I sure did. I expected Chuck Kobasew to be traded after James Murphy (of Inside Hockey and NESN) tweeted during the Dallas game that the Wild and Bruins were talking about Kobasew.

The Bruins acquired the Wild's 2011 second-round pick, the rights to forward Alexander Fallstrom, and forward Craig Weller.

Weller, a fifth round selection of the St. Louis Blues in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (167th overall), has played in 95 NHL games with the Phoenix Coyotes and Minnesota Wild and has 4-10=14 totals with 127 penalty minutes. This season, Weller has played five games for the Houston Aeros (AHL) and has one assist and seven penalty minutes. Last season, Weller played in 36 games for the Wild and earned 1-2=3 totals and 47 PIM's. - press release

There is no doubt Kobasew had a slow start to the season and draft picks are valuable nowadays. I am a little surprised about the return Bruins' general manager Peter Chiarelli got in the trade. But that does show what the value of Kobasew was to another team and it all evens out.

In other news, the Bruins recalled forwards Brad Marchand and Vladimir Sobotka from Providence. Guillaume Lefebvre was loaned to Providence and recalled again. Milan Lucic has been placed on the long-term injured reserve with a broken thumb.

As a fan of Kobasew, I can't say I am happy about the trade. However, since it makes room for a player like Marchand when there is barely any room, I'm all for it. Wish Kobasew the best in Minnesota and hopefully this will kick the Bruins a kick in their pants.

Lucic out, Lefebvre recalled

2009-10-17T19:39:54Z

Guillaume Lefebvre has been recalled from Providence on emergency basis. Milan Lucic will miss tonight's game against the Phoenix Coyotes with an undisclosed injury. Lucic played in last night's 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars.

Lefebvre's last NHL appearance came in 2005-06 when he played for Pittsburgh. Lefebvre had appeared in four games for Providence this season, registering one assist and 25 penalty minutes.

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound wing was invited to camp on a tryout basis. Lefebvre signed a one-year, $500,000 contract on Sept. 26. In 70 AHL games last season for Springfield, Lefebvre scored four goals and nine assists while racking up 206 penalty minutes.

Lefebrve will make his Bruins' debut tonight. The Bruins game starts at 9.

Game Preview: Bruins in Dallas

2009-10-16T04:05:15Z

The Bruins will play their first game away from the TD Garden tonight in Dallas. Tonight's game is the first of two games on the road for the boys in Black and Gold. The Bruins have a 2-3-0 record going into tonight's game. Dallas is 1-0-1 at home.

Goalies:*
Boston - Tim Thomas (1-2-0, 4.00 GAA, .868 Sv%), Tuukka Rask (1-1-0, 3.39 GAA, .883 Sv%)
Dallas - Alex Auld (1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .913 Sv%), Marty Turco (1-0-3, 2.12 GAA, .913 Sv%)
*Starters are underlined.

Injuries: The Bruins will be without defenseman Dennis Wideman who suffered a shoulder injury in Saturday's game against the Islanders.

Need to Know: The Stars (2-0-3) are one of only two teams remaining without a defeat in regulation and are riding high after a dominating 6-0 shutout of Nashville at home on Wednesday.

Caught in the Middle: The Bruins will need to play a strong hockey game, especially in the second period. The Bruins have allowed ten goals in the second period. They have allowed three goals in the first period and six goals in the third period. If the Bruins can play a better middle period, they might come out of Dallas with two points.

Extra Man: With Claude Julien's line shuffling, one can only hope the power play units will generate more scoring chances. The Bruins have allowed two shorthanded goals already, placing them in 29th for that stat. The Stars' penalty killing is ranked 27th overall.

The last time these two teams met, on November 1st last season, there were 146 penalty minutes handed out. With Sean Avery back on the Rangers and Steve Ott most likely out with an oblique injury, it's hard to say if what happened last season will happen again. Of course there's always leaves former Canadien Mike Ribeiro. (Mike Modano and Jere Lehtinen are also out for the Stars.)

Maybe tonight's game will light the same spark it lit last season. The first and foremost thing I want to see is the Bruins playing better hockey and coming out of Dallas with a win.

Site note: Referees for the game are Brad Watson and Ian Walsh.

Not the way to start the season

2009-10-15T22:20:36Z

The Bruins opened the 2009-2010 season with a five game home stand. After losing the season opener 4-1 to the Capitals, the Bruins put up a 7-2 beating against the Hurricanes.

With a four day layoff after the Hurricanes game, the Bruins played one of their worst games against the Ducks. Marco Sturm put the Bruins on the board first, and then the rest of the game was all Anaheim. The Ducks won the game 6-1 and the Bruins were put through the paces at practice the following day. Coach Claude Julien ended Friday's practice with sprints.

The message didn't quite get through until the third period of Saturday's game against the Islanders. The Islanders, looking for their first win of the season, had a 3-0 lead going into the 3rd period. The Bruins finally came alive after Marc Savard scored. Byron Bitz and Matt Hunwick would follow with goals coming within six minutes. The Bruins tied the game and with Tuukka Rask between the pipes, were headed to a shootout. Blake Wheeler shot first and scored. Patrice Bergeron missed. Then Savard was the last shooter and scored. Rask made the final save and got his first NHL shootout victory. His celebration looked as if he just won game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

On Columbus Day, the Bruins hosted the Avalanche and looked the same as they did in the majority of the earlier games. This time around, the Bruins were down 2-0 heading into the 2nd period. Mark Recchi and Wheeler scored to tie the game. Colorado later added a power play goal and a shorthanded goal to regain their two-goal lead. Michael Ryder scored in the 3rd period to cut the Avalanche's lead to one. But that was it for the attempted comeback. The Avalance won 4-3.

The Bruins hit the road today. They play in Dallas tomorrow and in Phoenix on Saturday. The Bruins haven't seem to find their game yet. They trail teams too often and have to fight to come back. That's not a formula for a team that has a lot of expectations this season. Let's hope during the two game road trip they can find some of their characteristics and good habits from last season.