[NHL] Boston Bruins Thread

[Tealey7]

Tealey's Bruins Thread

Another team thread I know. The Bruins have fallen on relatively hard times of late after reaching the Stanley Cup in 1990 and losing. However, the 2006/07 season has seen a revival. This thread, I hope, will see us all watching this revival in all its glory. When we win the Stanley Cup and become the most successful team in NHL history, we'll be there in this thread to watch it unfold. Hopefully.

A Brief History (Wikipedia)

The Pre-World War II years

In 1924, at the convincing of Boston grocery magnate Charles Adams, the National Hockey League decided to expand into the United States. As a long-time hockey hotbed, Boston was a natural choice for the NHL's first American team. Adams' first act was to hire Art Ross as general manager. Ross would stay with the team for thirty years, including four separate stints as coach.

Adams directed Ross to come up with a nickname that would portray an untamed animal displaying speed, agility, and cunning. Ross came up with "Bruins," after the brown bear. The nickname also went along with the team's colors of brown and yellow, which came from Adams' grocery chain, Brookside Stores. The team finished dead last in its inaugural season, but rebounded to finish just a point out of the playoffs a year later.

In only their third season, 1926-27, the team's fortune changed. Ross took advantage of the collapse of the Western Hockey League to purchase several western stars, including the team's first great star, a defenseman from Fort Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan named Eddie Shore. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final despite finishing only one game above .500, but lost to the Ottawa Senators. Boston won its first Cup two years later by defeating the New York Rangers behind stars like Shore, Harry Oliver, Dit Clapper, Dutch Gainor and superstar goaltender Tiny Thompson. That season was also the first in the legendary Boston Garden, which Adams had built after guaranteeing his backers $500,000 in gate receipts over the next five years. The season after that, 1929-30, the Bruins posted the best-ever regular season winning percentage in the NHL (an astonishing .875, winning 38 out of 44 games, and a record which still stands), but would lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the Final.

Except for a couple seasons, the Bruins would remain excellent through the 1930s with superb players such as Shore, Thompson, Clapper, Babe Siebert and Cooney Weiland, but failed to capture their second Cup until 1939, the season the team's colors changed from brown and yellow to the current black and gold. That year, in a move then considered insane by hockey pundits, Ross dealt Thompson in favor of then-untried rookie goaltender Frank Brimsek. "Mr. Zero" Brimsek would electrify the league in his rookie season, winning the Vezina and Calder Trophies and becoming the first rookie ever to make the NHL First All-Star Team, and headlined by the "Kraut Line" of hard-nosed center Milt Schmidt, elegant right winger Bobby Bauer, and tenacious left winger Woody Dumart, playmaking wizard Bill Cowley, Shore, Clapper (who reportedly was convinced that as Brimsek was a Slovenian American, he couldn't succeed) [citation needed], and unexpected hero "Sudden Death" Mel Hill (who scored three overtime goals in one playoff series), the Bruins won the Cup. Shore was dealt to the struggling New York Americans for his final NHL season the next year, but the following season, the Bruins — having led the league with a magnificent regular season that saw them lose only eight games — won their third Stanley Cup with Weiland as their new coach, behind the brilliance of Cowley, the Krauts, and Brimsek. It was their last Stanley Cup for 29 years.

World War II and the "Original Six" Era

Unfortunately, World War II decimated the Bruins worse than most teams; Brimsek and the "Krauts" all enlisted after the 1940-41 Cup win, and lost the most productive years of their careers at war. Cowley, assisted by elder statesmen Clapper and Busher Jackson, was the team's remaining star. Even though the NHL had by 1943 pared down to the six teams that would in the modern era be — erroneously — called the "Original Six", talent was depleted enough that freak seasons could predominate, as in 1944, when Bruin Herb Cain would set the then-NHL record for points in a season with 82. But the Bruins didn't make the playoffs that season, and Cain would be out of the NHL two years later.

The stars would return for 1945-46, and Clapper led the team all the way back to the Final as player-coach. He retired as a player after the next season, becoming the first player in history to play twenty NHL seasons, but stayed behind the bench for two more years. Unfortunately, Brimsek was not as good as he was pre-War, and after 1946 the Bruins lost in the first playoff round three straight years, resulting in Clapper's resignation. Brimsek was traded to the last-place Chicago Black Hawks in 1949, citing a wish to help his brother with a business he was starting, and an ominous bit of misfortune came with the banning of young star Don Gallinger for life on suspicion of gambling. The only remaining quality young player who stayed with the team for any length was forward Johnny Peirson, who would later be the team's TeleVision color commentator in the 1970s.

The 1950s began with Charles Adams' son Weston (who had been team president since 1936), facing financial trouble. He was forced to accept a buyout offer from Walter A. Brown, the owner of the National Basketball Association's Boston Celtics and the Garden, in 1951. Although there were some flashes of success (such as making the Stanley Cup Final in 1953, 1957, and 1958, only to lose to the Montreal Canadiens each time), the Bruins mustered only four winning seasons between 1947 and 1967. They missed the playoffs eight straight years between 1960 and 1967, but fan support remained high — the Bruins consistently outdrew the Celtics even though they won eight straight basketball world championships.

During this period, the farm system of the Bruins was not as expansive or well-developed as most of the other five teams. The Bruins sought players not protected by the other teams and in 1958 signed Willie O'Ree, the first black player in the NHL. In like fashion, the team signed Tommy Williams from the 1960 Olympic-gold medal winning American national men's hockey team — at the time the only American player in the NHL — in 1962. Boston fans were desperate to have something to take their minds off a very long Stanley Cup drought. The "Uke Line" — named for the Ukrainian heritage of Johnny Bucyk and Vic Stasiuk (their linemate, Bronco Horvath, was largely Hungarian), came to Boston and enjoyed four productive seasons even as the Bruins were struggling overall.

Expansion and the Big, Bad Bruins

Weston Adams repurchased the Bruins in 1964 after Brown's death and set about rebuilding the team. Adams drafted a defenseman from Parry Sound, Ontario named Bobby Orr, who entered the league in 1966 and would become, in the eyes of many, the greatest player of all time. He was announced that season's winner of the Calder Memorial Trophy for Rookie of the Year and named to the Second NHL All-Star Team. When asked about Orr's NHL debut game, October 19, 1966, against the Detroit Red Wings, then-Bruins coach Harry Sinden recalled:

"Our fans had heard about this kid for a few years now. There was a lot of pressure on him, but he met all the expectations. He was a star from the moment they played the national anthem in the opening game of the season."

The Bruins then obtained young forwards Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, and Fred Stanfield from Chicago in one of the most one-sided deals in history. Hodge and Stanfield became key elements in the Bruins' powerhouse, and Esposito, who centered a line with Hodge and Wayne Cashman, would blossom into the league's top goal-scorer, becoming the first NHL player to break the 100-point mark and setting many goal- and point-scoring records. Esposito remains one of four players to win the Art Ross Trophy four consecutive seasons (the other three are Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe). With other stars like forwards Bucyk, John McKenzie, Derek Sanderson and Hodge, steady defenders like Dallas Smith and goaltender Gerry Cheevers, the "Big, Bad Bruins" became one of the league's top teams from the late 1960s through the 1970s, combining a rugged, barroom style of play with one of the greatest offensive juggernauts the NHL had ever seen.

In 1970, a 29-year Stanley Cup drought came to an end in Boston, as the Bruins smashed the St. Louis Blues in four games in the Final. Orr scored the game-winning goal in overtime to clinch the Cup. The same season was Orr's epiphany — the third of eight consecutive years he won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the top defenseman in the NHL — and he won the Art Ross Trophy, the Conn Smythe Trophy, and the Hart Memorial Trophy, the only player to win those four awards all in the same season. The famous image of Orr being tripped up by Blue Noel Picard and flying through the air after scoring "The Goal", his arms raised in victory, remains perhaps the best-known photograph in professional hockey to this day. Sanderson, who fed Orr the puck that day, commented, "Bobby was the one guy who could finish a play like that."[citation needed]1971 was, in retrospect, the high watermark of the Seventies for Boston. While Sinden temporarily retired from hockey to enter business (he was replaced by ex-Bruin and Canadien defenseman Tom Johnson) the Bruins' dominance was nothing less than cataclysmic, shattering dozens of offensive scoring records. They had seven of the league's top ten scorers — a feat not achieved before or since — set the record for wins in a season, and in a league that had never seen a 100-point scorer before 1969 (Esposito had 126), the Bruins had four that year. All four (Orr, Esposito, Bucyk and Hodge) were named First Team All-Stars, a feat matched in the expansion era only by the 1976-77 Canadiens. Boston looked poised to repeat as Cup champions, but ran into a roadblock in the playoffs. Up 5-1 at one point in game two of the quarterfinals against the Canadiens (and rookie goaltender Ken Dryden), the Bruins squandered the lead to lose 7-5, while Montreal star left wing Frank Mahovlich was en route to a then-playoff record 14 goals. The Bruins never recovered and lost the series in seven games.

While the Bruins were not quite as dominant the next season (although only three points behind the 1971 pace), Esposito and Orr were once again one-two in the scoring standings (followed by Bucyk in ninth place) and they returned to glory in the playoffs, defeating a strong challenge from the New York Rangers in six games in the Cup Final behind Orr's wizardry. The 1972 Cup win is Boston's most recent to date. Rangers blueliner Brad Park, who came runner-up to Orr's five-year (then) monopoly, said, "Bobby Orr was — didn't make — the difference."[citation needed] From here, the Bruins were still great, but another drink of champagne from Lord Stanley's Mug was no longer "in the cards".

Boston continued to dominate through the 1970s (despite losing Cheevers, McKenzie, Sanderson, and other stars to the renegade World Hockey Association), only to come up short in the playoffs. Although they had three 100-point scorers on the team (Esposito, Orr, and Hodge), they lost the 1974 Final to the rough Philadelphia Flyers. Broad Street Bullies center Bobby Clarke had lured Orr into hauling him down in Game Six, while Philly led 1-0. With Orr sitting in the penalty box, time expired and the Flyers soared over the Bruins.

The flamboyant Don Cherry stepped behind the bench as the new coach in 1974-75. The Bruins stocked themselves with enforcers and grinders, and remained a threat under Cherry's reign, the so-called "Lunch Pail A.C.," behind players such as slick Gregg Sheppard, rugged Terry O'Reilly and Stan Jonathan, and high-scoring Peter McNab.

Orr, however, did not. After declaring betrayal at the hands of his now-disgraced ex-agent, Alan Eagleson, he left the Bruins for the Hawks in 1976, and retired after many knee operations in 1979. The Bruins excelled without him, picking up Brad Park from the Rangers (along with Jean Ratelle and Joe Zanussi) in a blockbuster trade for Esposito and Carol Vadnais as they made the semifinals again, losing to the Flyers.

Cheevers returned from the WHA in 1976, and the Bruins got past the Flyers in the semifinals, but lost to the Canadiens in the Final for the Cup. The story would repeat itself in 1978 as the Bruins made the Final once more, but lost to a Canadiens team that had recorded the best regular season in modern history, after which Johnny Bucyk retired, holding virtually every Bruins' career longevity and scoring mark to that time.

The 1979 semifinal series against the Habs proved to be Cherry's undoing. In the deciding seventh game, the Bruins, up by a goal, were called for having too many men on the ice in the late stages of the third period. Montreal tied the game on the ensuing power play and won in overtime. Never popular with Harry Sinden, by then the Bruins' general manager, Cherry left the team in the off-season for the Colorado Rockies.

The Eighties and Nineties

Coupled with front-office dislike of Cherry's outspoken ways, 1979 saw new head coach Fred Creighton, a newly-retired Cheevers the following year, and the coming of Ray Bourque. The defenseman — one of the true greats in NHL history — was an icon for the team for over two decades.

The Bruins made the playoffs every year through the 1980s behind stars such as Park, Bourque, and Rick Middleton — and had the league's best record in 1983 behind a Vezina Trophy-winning season from ex-Flyer goaltender Pete Peeters — but usually did not get very far in the playoffs.

By the late 1980s, Boston forced back. Bourque, the indomitable Cam Neely, Keith Crowder and Bob Sweeney would lead the Bruins to another Finals appearance in 1988 against the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins lost in a four-game sweep, but created a memorable moment in the would-be fourth game when the lights at the Boston Garden went out due to a sudden and immediate blown fuse during the second period with the game tied 3-3. The rest of the game was cancelled and the series shifted to Edmonton. The Oilers completed the sweep, 6-3, back at Northlands Coliseum in Edmonton, in what was originally scheduled in game five.

Boston returned to the Stanley Cup Final in 1990 (with Neely, Bourque, Craig Janney, Bobby Carpenter and rookie Don Sweeney, and former Oiler goalie Andy Moog and Rejean Lemelin splitting goaltending duties), but would again lose to the Oilers, this time in five games.

In 1988, 1990-92, and 1994, they defeated their Original Six arch-nemesis in the playoffs, the Montreal Canadiens, getting some revenge for a rivalry which had up to then been lopsided in the Canadiens' favor in playoff action. In 1991 and 1992, they suffered two consecutive Conference Final losses to the eventual Cup champion, the Mario Lemieux-led Pittsburgh Penguins.

The 1993 season and beyond would not be kind to the Bruins. Despite picking up more talent like Adam Oates, Rick Tocchet, and Jozef Stumpel, they have not since gotten past the second round of the playoffs. The 1993 season ended on a sour note for several reasons. Despite finishing with the second-best regular season record after Pittsburgh, Boston was swept in the first-round in a shocking upset by the Buffalo Sabres. During the postseason awards ceremony, Bruin players finished as runner-up on many of the honors (Bourque for the Norris, Oates for the Art Ross and Lady Byng Trophy, Joé Juneau [who had broken the NHL record for assists in a season by a left-winger, a mark he still holds] for the Calder Trophy, Dave Poulin for the Frank J. Selke Trophy, Moog for the William M. Jennings Trophy, and Brian Sutter for the Jack Adams Award), although Bourque made the NHL All-Star First Team and Juneau the NHL All-Rookie Team.

In 1997, Boston missed the playoffs for the first time in thirty years, having set the North American major professional record for most consecutive seasons in the playoffs.

The late 1990s also saw the Bruins move from the storied Boston Garden, to their new home, the FleetCenter, now known as the TD Banknorth Garden.

Their bitterest archrivals have historically been the Montreal Canadiens, but Montreal's lack of success in recent years has helped to mute the century-old rivalry.

The 21st century

Despite a fifteen-point improvement from the previous season, the Bruins missed the playoffs in 2000-01. Leading scorer Jason Allison led the Bruins.

The following season, 2001-02, saw the Bruins with a thirteen-point improvement, winning their first Northeast Division title since 1993 under a core built around Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsonov, Brian Rolston, Bill Guerin, and the newly acquired Glen Murray. Their regular season success didn't translate to the postseason, though, as they bowed out in six games to the underdog eighth-place Canadiens in the first round.

The 2002-03 season found the Bruins platooning their goaltending staff between Steve Shields and John Grahame for most of the season. A mid-season trade, however, brought in veteran Jeff Hackett. The Bruins managed to finish seventh in the East, but lost to the eventual Stanley Cup Champion New Jersey Devils in five games.

In 2003-04, the Bruins began the season with ex-Toronto Maple Leaf goalie Felix Potvin between the pipes. Later in the season, the Bruins put rookie Andrew Raycroft into the starting role. Raycroft eventually won the Calder Award that season. The Bruins went on to win another division title and appeared destined to get out of the first round for the first time in five years with a 3-1 series lead on the rival Canadiens. The Canadiens rallied back, however, to win three straight games, upsetting the Bruins.

The 2004-05 NHL season was wiped out by a lockout, and the Bruins had a lot of space within the new salary cap implemented for 2005-06. Bruins management eschewed younger free agents in favor of older veterans such as Alexei Zhamnov and Brian Leetch. The newcomers were oft-injured, and by the end of November, the Bruins team traded their captain and franchise player, Joe Thornton (who would go on to win the Art Ross and Hart Trophies that season). In exchange, the Bruins received Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau from the San Jose Sharks.

After losing ten of eleven games before the trade (while the Sharks won Thornton's first seven games in San Jose), the Bruins came back with a 3-0 victory over the league-leading Ottawa Senators, as rookie goaltender Hannu Toivonen earned his first career NHL shutout victory. When Toivonen went down (for the rest of the season) with an injury in January, journeyman goalie Tim Thomas started sixteen straight games and brought the Bruins back into the playoff hunt. Two points out of eighth place at the Winter Olympic break, the Bruins fired general manager Mike O'Connell in March and the Bruins missed the playoffs for the first time in five years. They finished thirteenth in the Eastern Conference and earned the fifth pick in the NHL Draft Lottery, which they used to draft U.S. college player Phil Kessel, who dropped out of college early to sign with the team on August 17, 2006.

In May, former Ottawa assistant general manager Peter Chiarelli was hired as the new GM of the team. Head coach Mike Sullivan was fired and Dave Lewis, former coach of the Detroit Red Wings, was hired to replace him while Marc Habscheid was named associate coach. The Bruins then made headlines on the first day of free-agent signing when they inked Zdeno Chara, one of the most coveted defensemen in the NHL and a former NHL All-Star, from the Senators, and Marc Savard, who finished just three points short of a 100-point season in '05-'06 with the Atlanta Thrashers, to long-term deals. Bergeron was re-signed by the Bruins on August 22, 2006 to a multi-year contract, keeping the developing player on the team for some years to come. Goaltender Andrew Raycroft and defenseman Hal Gill both went to Toronto.

On August 20, 2006, The Boston Globe reported that the Bruins will get rid of their gold third jerseys for 2006-07 in favor of a new third jersey mimicking the 1966-67 jerseys. The new third jersey will be used against Original Six opponents, and one matchup against the Ottawa Senators.

I think that sums it all up very nicely.

Current Roster

Goaltenders

30 - Tim Thomas

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34 - Hannu Toivonen

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Defensemen

6 - Brad Stuart

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23 - Paul Mara

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25 - Jason York

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33 - Zdeno Chara (C)

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41 - Andrew Alberts

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49 - Matt Lashoff

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68 - Milan Jurcina

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Forwards

11 - P.J Axelsson

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13 - Stanislav Chistov

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16 - Marco Sturm

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17 - Petr Tenkrat

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18 - Mark Mowers

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20 - Wayne Primeau

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22 - Shean Donovan

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26 - Brad Boyes

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27 - Glen Murray (A)

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32 - Jeff Hoggan

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37 - Patrice Bergeron (A)

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81 - Phil Kessel

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91 - Marc Savard

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--Pictures to be added later--

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Sabres @ Bruins 15/01/07

The first game review in this thread is our game last night at home to the Buffalo Sabres.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON (AP) -- Sabres goalie Ryan Miller made perhaps the save of the season on Monday.

Unfortunately for Buffalo, it came in a loss.

Marco Sturm scored the lone shootout goal against Miller and Boston beat the Sabres 3-2, snapping the Bruins' three-game losing streak.

Miller made 35 saves for the Sabres, including an exceptional diving stick stop on Paul Mara late in the second period. But he couldn't get his stick on Sturm's game-winner.

Sturm, Boston's first shooter in the extra session, skated in and lifted a shot over Miller's stick inside the left post.

Miller made his highlight save on Mara with just over three minutes left in the second period to keep the game tied at 2-all. Mara, who hustled down the middle to turn a 2-on-1 break into a 3-on-1, fired a shot at what appeared to be an open net. Miller dove across from the right post and the puck hit off the center of his stick while he was airborne. The puck dropped into the crease and Miller covered it up for a faceoff.

The Bruins were awed by the save.

"Absolutely. I came in and saw it on TV and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" Boston defenseman Andrew Alberts said. "You've got to appreciate it."

Marc Savard and P.J. Axelsson also scored for Boston, which avoided its longest losing streak of the season. Derek Roy and Jochen Hecht scored for the Sabres, losers of a season-high three straight.

"I still don't know how he saved it," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "I watched the replay. I watched it live. I don't know how he saved it."

The teams each scored two goals in the opening period and remained tied through overtime despite some good chances on both ends.

Tim Thomas made 34 saves for Boston.

"Thomas made some huge saves over there as did Ryan," Roy said. "We had some opportunities that would have been goals and they just took them right away. Good goaltending goes a long way."

Even Thomas appreciated the play Miller made.

"It's fun to watch," he said. "If we would have lost I would have still said its a great save. I think that's one of the best saves I've seen."

Boston jumped ahead 1-0 at 3:23 of the opening period when Savard scored off the rebound of Zdeno Chara's shot from the edge of the right circle, slipping a wrist shot into the right post.

The Sabres tied it 2:34 later when Roy collected Daniel Paille's rebound along the goal line and scored on a tough angle, slipping a shot inside the far post.

Hecht scored off the rebound off Roy's shot, pushing Buffalo ahead 2-1 midway into the first period, but Boston answered with Axelsson's goal with just under a second left in the first period.

Axelsson was credited with the goal when the rebound of his shot caromed off Sabres' defenseman Jaroslav Spacek's leg and between Miller's pads. The game clock showed no time remaining, but, after a reply review, the goal was allowed and the officials put seven-tenths of a second on the clock.

"Ryan held us in there and made some great saves throughout the game," Buffalo's Adam Mair said.

Game notes

Boston's Shean Donovan hit the left post with just over eight minutes left. ... The teams meet again in Buffalo on Wednesday night. ... It was a 1 P.M. ET start for the Martin Luther King's Birthday holiday. ... The Sabres dropped to a league-best 17-4-2 on the road.

A superb win for the Bruins against the Eastern leaders.

Who got the goals?

0-1 Marc Savard - Bruins (3:23 1st)
1-1 Derek Roy - Sabres (5:57 1st)
2-1 Jochen Hecht - Sabres (9:17 1st)
2-2 P.J Axelsson - Bruins (19:59 1st)
2-3 Marco Sturm - Bruins (SO)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 36 shots against, 34 saves against, 2 goals against

Three Stars

Marc Savard (Bruins) - 1 goal, 0 assists
Tim Thomas (Bruins) - 34 saves, .944 save pct
Ryan Miller (Sabres) - 35 saves, .946 save pct

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 31-11-4
Montreal: 25-16-5
Ottawa: 26-19-2
Boston: 21-18-4
Toronto: 20-20-6

A brilliant win. Unfortunately, we've got to try and do it all again on Wednesday, when we travel to Buffalo to play the Sabres again.

[Tealey7]

Game Preview - Bruins @ Sabres 17/01/2007

Something worth doing is a game preview. It's my first for this thread.

Originally Posted by Bruins.com

Tonight’s Game

The Bruins visit the Sabres Wednesday in the fourth of eight games between these teams this season and the first of four games of this season’s series at HSBC Arena. The Bruins are 21-18-4 overall this season with an 8-10-2 record on the road. The Sabres are 31-11-4 overall this season with a 14-7-2 record on home ice. The Bruins are 10-7-1 this season vs. Northeast Division teams and are 18-17-2 overall against Eastern Conference opponents. The Sabres are 8-7-2 this season vs. Northeast Division teams and are 28-11-3 overall against Eastern Conference foes.

Lifetime Series

The Bruins are 103-92-29-2 lifetime vs. Buffalo with a 750-740 scoring edge in those 226 games. On the road, the Bruins are 40-56-15-1 lifetime vs. the Sabres with Buffalo holding a 403-330 scoring advantage in those 112 contests. The Bruins are 1-1-1 vs. Buffalo in this season’s series thus far with a 6-2 loss in Boston on Oct. 21, a 5-4 shootout loss in Boston on Nov. 2 and a 3-2 shootout win in Boston on Jan. 15.

Recent Bruins Games
The Bruins snapped their three-game losing streak at 0-2-1 with a 3-2 shootout win over Buffalo on Jan. 15. That followed a 5-2 setback in Ottawa on Jan. 9, 5-4 shootout loss vs. NY Islanders on Jan. 11 and 3-1 loss at NY Rangers on Jan. 13. They are 2-5-1 in their last eight games, are 12-9-2 in their last 23 games and 17-11-2 over their last 30 contests.

Recent Sabres Games

The Sabres have lost their last three games at 0-2-1 with a 4-2 loss to Toronto on Jan. 11, a 3-2 loss to Tampa Bay on Jan. 13 and a 3-2 shootout loss in Boston on Jan. 15. It is first time this season that the Sabres have lost three consecutive games. They are 2-4-1 in their last seven games and are 7-4-2 in their last 13 contests.

Upcoming Bruins Games

The Bruins next return home to host Pittsburgh on Jan. 18 and Ottawa on Jan. 20 prior to the NHL’s All-Star break. All games are broadcast on NESN and WBZ Radio with a 7:00 p.m. start time.

Upcoming Sabres Games

The Sabres next host Vancouver on Jan. 19. They will conclude their pre-All-Star break schedule in Montreal on Jan. 20.

Bruins Injuries

Wayne Primeau: Shoulder injury.
Jason York: Knee injury.

That game starts at 19.00 EST. In other news....

Bruins Trade Stastny To Blues For Draft Pick

These picks rarely stick as there's so much wheeling and dealing on draft day. However, we've offloaded Center Yan Stastny to St Louis in exchange for their 5th round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.

Originally Posted by Bruins.com

BOSTON, MA -- Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has acquired the St. Louis Blues’ fifth round selection in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for center Yan Stastny.

Stastny, a 24-year-old center, was in his second season with the Bruins after being acquired along with Marty Reasoner and a 2006 second round draft pick (Milan Lucic) for Sergei Samsonov on March 9, 2006. He has played in 21 games for the Bruins this season, tallying two assists.

This season, Stastny has played in eleven games with Providence, where he has scored three goals and tallied five assists.

[Zimao91]

HEY

Tim Thomas played for AIK

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Penguins @ Bruins 18/01/2007

We lost to Buffalo, 6-3. However, I didn't have time to review that game yesterday. Since then, we played the Pittsburgh Penguins, themselves a useful team.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON (AP) -- Phil Kessel stole the spotlight from Sidney Crosby's first game in Boston this season.

Elias Says
The Bruins have won nine straight games against the Penguins, matching the third-longest current winning streak for one NHL team against another. The longest current streaks: Nashville over St. Louis (13 consecutive wins), Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh (11), San Jose over Washington (nine) and St. Louis over Buffalo (nine). Story

In his sixth game back after missing nearly a month following surgery for testicular cancer, Kessel scored a winning goal in the shootout to lead the Boston Bruins to a 5-4 victory over Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

"He is a great player -- fast and has a great shot," Crosby said. "I know he's been through a lot of adversity, so that says a lot about his character."

Hannu Toivonen recovered from a shaky first two periods to record his first win in three months for the Bruins. Toivonen, whose last win came on Oct. 19 against Calgary, allowed four goals on 21 shots through two periods before saving 12 shots in the third to force overtime.

After allowing Erik Christensen to score on Pittsburgh's first shootout attempt, Toivonen turned back Evgeni Malkin, Crosby and Sergei Gonchar to make way for Kessel.

"I thought it was the right moment, the stage was set," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "I had a lot of choices, so I can't take credit."

Kessel faked left and went right to beat Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and lead the Bruins to just their third win in 10 games.

Kessel, the fifth pick of the 2006 NHL draft, also scored the game-winner in a 4-3 shootout win over Tampa Bay on Nov. 30. He also had two goals in Boston's 6-3 loss at Buffalo on Wednesday night.

The Bruins overcame a two-goal game from Malkin, who leads NHL rookies in goals and points, to climb back from deficits of 2-0 and 4-3 and beat the Penguins for the ninth straight time. Pittsburgh's last win against Boston came on Nov. 1, 2003, and its last win in Boston was Feb. 8, 2003.

Glen Murray, Brad Stuart and Marco Sturm also scored in regulation for Boston.

"We don't have any Malkins, Crosbys or [Alexander] Ovechkins that are going to win games by themselves," Murray said. "It has to be a team effort."

Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist and Ryan Malone also scored for the Penguins.

Pittsburgh led 4-3 midway through the third period but was unable to capitalize on a five-on-three power play that lasted 1 minute, 54 seconds. Toivonen survived a Pittsburgh flurry, and Crosby, the NHL's leading scorer, hit the top post on the Penguins' best scoring chance during the power play.

"As a player you recognize that this is one of the moments that's going to decide the hockey game," Toivonen said. "It was a tremendous boost for us because if they went ahead 5-3, the game would have been over."

Following the Pittsburgh advantage, Marc Savard rebounded a Murray shot and beat an out-of-place Fleury to the right to tie it at 4 14:38 into the period.

Fleury saved 40 shots, including nine in overtime, but he saved just 2-of-4 attempts in the shootout to suffer the loss.

"It's always tough to give up two points against a team you're fighting with," Fleury said. "They had some lucky bounces. It's tough to loose a shootout."

Game notes
Neither team committed a penalty in the first period. ... Malone is one point away from 100 for his career. ... Boston center Wayne Primeau missed his second game with a shoulder injury. ... Savard has recorded a point in five straight games.

A very good win, if a bit scrappy and requiring more SO magic from our offense and some good keeping from our second choice keeper Hannu Toivonen.

Who got the goals?

1-0 Ryan Malone - Penguins (10:40 1st)
2-0 Evgeni Malkin - Penguins (18:23 1st)
2-1 Glen Murray - Bruins (1:10 2nd)
2-2 Marco Sturm - Bruins (9:04 2nd PPG)
2-3 Brad Stuart - Bruins (9:41 2nd)
3-3 Evgeni Malkin - Penguins (14:39 2nd PPG)
4-3 Jordan Staal - Penguins (18:12 2nd PPG)
4-4 Marc Savard - Bruins (13:38 3rd)
4-5 Phil Kessel - Bruins (SO)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Hannu Toivonen - 35 shots against, 31 saves, 4 goals against

Three Stars

Marc Savard (Bruins) - 1 goal, 2 assists
Evgeni Malkin (Penguins) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Phil Kessel (Bruins) - 1 assist, 0 goals

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 32-11-4
Montreal: 26-17-5
Ottawa: 27-20-2
Toronto: 22-20-6
Boston: 22-19-4

We're only just outside the playoffs by 2 points, and we've played at least 2 games less than everyone in the conference apart from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Al we can do is keep winning. Easier said than done. Tomorrow night we play Ottawa Senators at home. We need a win. They need a win. Simple as that.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Senators @ Bruins 20/01/2007

This game was our last before the All Star break.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON (AP) -- The Ottawa Senators seem to have solved the Boston Bruins.

Dany Heatley scored his team-leading 29th and 30th goals, and Ray Emery stopped 18 shots for his fourth shutout to lead the Senators to 3-0 victory over the Bruins on Saturday night.

Chris Phillips also scored for Ottawa, winners of five straight road games and six of seven overall. The Senators have won the last two meetings against Boston after losing the first three this season.

The Senators didn't do anything fancy. They grabbed a lead and played well in front of Emery.

"It was nice. We've had struggles with Boston this season, but beat them the last two," Heatley said. "We need these points. They're big division games, especially before the break."

Emery felt his night was easier against Boston because of a defensive attitude this time.

"Sometimes that happens against certain teams. Sometimes you lose confidence against certain teams," Emery said. "The start of the season we'd get leads and try to win games 5-0 instead of 2-0."

It was just the second time Boston has been shutout this season; the other came in a 5-0 loss at Nashville on Dec. 30.

Hannu Toivonen, looking for victories in consecutive starts for the first time this season, stopped 36 shots for Boston.

Boston coach Dave Lewis was disappointed with his team's performance in front of Toivonen.

"We had no energy, no legs," Lewis said. "Guys tried. I've played in games like this. You try everything to turn it around, but nothing works -- except for Hannu. Hannu was the bright star of the game."

The Bruins were held to their lowest shot total this season.

"We have to chalk it up as one of those games where we couldn't get anything going," Boston wing Mark Mowers said.

Heatley's second goal was a shorthanded, empty-netter in the closing seconds. Like they did most of the night, the Senators played well while they were down two skaters in the final minute.

"Defensively it was just an excellent effort," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "Our forwards came back and really helped out, and Ray made a couple of key saves."

Ottawa grabbed a 1-0 lead on Phillips' goal 17:16 into the opening period when he collected the rebound of Peter Schaefer's shot at the bottom of the left circle and slipped a shot past Toivonen.

The Senators made it 2-0 on Heatley's power-play goal 15:03 into the second period. Tom Preissing fired a shot from the point that Toivonen stopped, but the puck slipped behind him and Heatley backhanded it into the open net.

Ottawa had an excellent chance for more scoring when it was awarded a 5-on-3 advantage late in the second period. Boston defenseman Andrew Alberts was given a 5-minute major for boarding and Marc Savard was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Senators had another two-man advantage midway into the third, but Toivonen kept them scoreless with a couple of good stops on shots from close.

The Senators kept the Bruins' offense in check for most of the first two periods, owning a 26-12 shot advantage. Boston's first decent scoring chance didn't come until Savard broke in on a partial break two minutes into the second, but Emery handled the shot easily.

Game notes
Boston RW Glen Murray's next assist will be the 300th of his career. ... Ottawa D Christoph Schubert was whistled for diving while attempting to draw a penalty late in the second period. ... The teams meet again in Ottawa after the all-star break next Saturday.

An annoying loss. Although, sports fans of Boston and ew England are used to them by now.

Who got the goals?

1-0 Chris Phillips - Senators (17:16 1st)
2-0 Dany Heatley - Senators (15:03 2nd PPG)
3-0 Dany Heatley - Senators (19:31 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Hannu Toivonen - 38 shots against, 36 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Dany Heatley (Senators) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Ray Emery (Senators) - 18 saves
Hannu Toivonen (Bruins) - 36 saves

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 33-12-4
Montreal: 27-17-5
Ottawa: 28-20-2
Toronto: 22-21-6
Boston: 22-20-4

So we go into the All Star break 2 points away from the playoffs. That All Star break is going on nowish, so we don't have a game for a while. Phil Kessel, one of our Centers is in the YoungStars game, which is an NHL equivalent of the Rookie game in the NBA. Zdeno Chara is in the Hardest Shot Contest in the Super Skills Competition. Chara has also made the All Star game roster. The YoungStars is tonight. All Star is tomorrow.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Hurricanes 03/02/2007

Admittedly, I haven't updated for a little while as I haven't had much time. Chara won the Hardest Shot Contest!!!

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The Boston Bruins found an effective way to end their lengthy losing streak by facing a team that's stuck in a similar slump.

Zdeno Chara scored a power-play goal with 3:11 left in overtime and the Bruins snapped a five-game slide with a 4-3 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night.

"I'm hoping this is a corner we can build on," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "It's one little baby step in a critical time of the season for us."

Chara took a pass from Marc Savard behind the right circle and one-timed the puck past Cam Ward, sending the defending Stanley Cup champions to their fourth straight loss, their third straight on home ice and their sixth in seven games.

"Marc made a good pass, and I just wanted to try to put the puck on the net as hard as I could," Chara said. "I heard a crossbar and wasn't sure if it went in or out. ... This one came our way and got in."

Glen Murray scored two goals, including his team-leading 26th, and Brad Boyes added a goal for the Bruins, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit with two goals in the second period.

"The game was on the line a number of times, and we found a way," Lewis said.

Erik Cole scored two goals for Carolina and Rod Brind'Amour tied it with 3:12 remaining in regulation. Tim Thomas made 34 saves for Boston.

Murray's second goal of the game put Boston up 3-2 with about 13 minutes to play.

Brind'Amour tied it by scoring with a 5-on-3 advantage with 3:12 to play. He took a cross-ice feed from Ray Whitney on the right side of the goal and hammered it past a clearly agitated Thomas.

"We have to smarten up. The [foolish] penalties that we take are totally unacceptable," Lewis said. "All we did was kill penalties."

Cam Ward turned aside 29 shots for Carolina, which finally got some production from its power-play unit, scoring the game-tying goal with a two-man advantage and finishing 1-for-10 with the extra attacker. The Hurricanes entered the game 2-of-29 with the man advantage during their previous six games.

"We're not winning. Seems like every time we make mistakes, it's in our net," Brind'Amour said. "We're just not getting the big play when we need it -- power play, penalty kill, it's just not happening."

Cole got the Hurricanes' offense going early with two goals in the first period.

He put Carolina up 1-0 about 4 minutes into the game when he beat Thomas with a short wrist shot. He then extended the lead to two when he chipped a rebound high past Thomas for his first two-goal game since Jan. 6.

"It was a 'let's get one [goal] and go from there' kind of mood" between periods, Thomas said.

Murray pulled the Bruins to 2-1 with a power-play goal 30 seconds into the second when he tipped a rebound past Ward. Boyes tied it with 52.2 seconds left in the period when he shot out of the penalty box, took the puck on a breakaway and wristed it past Ward.

"I actually thought our second period was much better than our first, but we couldn't seem to find the back of the net," Carolina coach Peter Laviolette said.

Game notes
Murray has a five-game points streak. ... Carolina leads the season series 2-1. ... C Eric Belanger and defensemen Andrew Hutchinson and Anton Babchuk were scratched for Carolina. ... LW Marco Sturm and C David Krejci missed the game for Boston. ... The game was the nightcap of a basketball-hockey doubleheader at the RBC Center. Earlier in the day, North Carolina State upset No. 3 North Carolina 83-79.

Nice to see us winning.

Who got the goals?

0-1 Erik Cole - Hurricanes (3:36 1st)
0-2 Erik Cole - Hurricanes (18:26 1st)
1-2 Glen Murray - Bruins (0:30 2nd)
2-2 Brad Boyes - Bruins (19:07 2nd)
3-2 Glen Murray - Bruins (6:38 3rd)
3-3 Rod Brind'Amour - Hurricanes (16:48 3rd PPG)
4-3 Zdeno Chara - Bruins (1:49 OT)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 37 shots against, 34 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Zdeno Chara (Bruins) - 1 goal, 2 assists
Erik Cole (Hurricanes) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Glen Murray (Bruins) - 2 goals, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 35-15-4
Montreal: 29-19-6
Ottawa: 30-21-3
Toronto: 26-21-6
Boston: 23-24-4

All is not lost. We still have a couple of games in hand on everyone else. Our next game is tonight, and we are away to the Wahington Capitals.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Capitals 06/02/007

Again, we played. Again, we won.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

WASHINGTON -- Alexander Ovechkin called it the worst game of his career.

Not so much because the reigning rookie of the year took only two shots and went scoreless for a third consecutive outing, his longest NHL drought -- although that clearly bothered him.

What really disappointed Ovechkin about his Washington Capitals' 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night was the penalty he was assessed in the third period, leading to Patrice Bergeron's game-tying power-play goal.

"So it's my fault we lost game," Ovechkin said.

Phil Kessel flipped a backhander past goalie Olaf Kolzig to give Boston a 2-1 edge in the shootout and its second consecutive victory following a five-game losing streak.

"He's a great goalie," Kessel said, "so you have to go out there and get lucky."

Alexander Semin put Washington ahead 1-0 in the shootout, and Bergeron evened it before Kessel ended it. Ovechkin and Eric Fehr missed for Washington in the shootout; Brandon Bochenski missed for Boston.

Ovechkin is mired in the first mini-slump of his NHL career. During his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season of 2005-06, the Russian never went more than two consecutive games without an assist or goal -- and he only had three droughts of that length, each time snapping it with a multiple-point game.

Ovechkin, who entered Tuesday tied for the league lead with 33 goals, hadn't even been held without a point in two consecutive games this season until the current stretch.

"Is he doing anything differently? I don't think so. Not off the top of my head," Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said. "I'm not concerned about it, because we know he's going to score."

Asked if there was something he could point to as an explanation, Ovechkin said: "I feel good. I don't know. Sometimes it happens, you know."

A big reason for his problems Tuesday was Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara.

"He's a good defenseman," Ovechkin acknowledged. "I just don't have chances to shoot."

Said Bruins coach Dave Lewis: "Z did a great job. It's hard sometimes getting the matchups you want, but our guys were changing on the fly."

Boston led 1-0 heading into the final period, thanks to Bochenski's goal in his Bruins debut. They acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks for a minor-leaguer Saturday.

"It was nice to get some ice time and get my wind back," said Bochenski, who recently missed three weeks with a hand injury.

Washington's Brooks Laich scored an unassisted goal only 21 seconds into the third to tie it, and Fehr put the Capitals ahead 2-1 at the 7:48 mark.

Boston tied it at 2 on a power play with 6:45 left in regulation on Bergeron's 17th goal. It came with Ovechkin in the penalty box after being whistled for delay of game.

"It's not my game," Ovechkin said. "That's it."

Game notes
Boston killed off all three power plays for Washington; the Capitals are 0-for-11 the last three games. ... The Bruins' leading goal-scorer, Glen Murray, was scratched because of a groin injury. ... Marc Savard had two assists. ... Washington fell to 1-6 in shootouts this season, while Boston improved to 6-3.

Second win in a row. Helpful.

Who got the goals?

1-0 Brandon Bochenski - Bruins (5:06 2nd)
1-1 Brooks Laich - Capitals (0:21 3rd)
2-1 Eric Fehr - Capitals (7:48 3rd)
2-2 Patrice Bergeron - Bruins (13:15 3rd)
3-2 Phil Kessel - Bruins (SO)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 34 shots against, 32 saves, 2 goals against

Three Stars

Marc Savard (Bruins) - 0 goals, 2 assists
Brooks Laich (Capitals) - 1 goal, 0 assists
Phil Kessel (Bruins) - 0 goals, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 36-15-4
Montreal: 29-20-6
Ottawa: 30-21-3
Toronto: 27-21-6
Boston: 24-24-4

We're getting there. According to our website, we've recalled Jeremy Reich and Brandon Bochenski from the Providence Bruins and assigned David Kerjci to the P-Bruins. Our next game is tomorrow night at home to the Hurricanes.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Islanders @ Bruins 10/02/2007

Sorry for a lack of updates, I've had other stuff to do. Our latest game was on Saturday night at home to the NY Islanders.

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/BXG10502110308.jpg

Originally Posted by NBA.com

BOSTON -- Zdeno Chara's intimidating slap shot paid off without him needing to use it.

Chara scored his first career shootout goal in his initial attempt, lifting the struggling Boston Bruins to a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night.

Chara, the ninth Bruins' shooter in the tiebreaker, skated down the middle and faked a shot before slipping the puck between Rick DiPietro's pads.

"I thought he was going to let the bomb go," Boston's Marc Savard said. "I think everybody did. DiPietro had to be closing his eyes thinking he was going to get hit with it."

Earlier in the game, DiPietro was struck by Chara's slap shot.

On the winner, Chara lifted his stick momentarily -- almost looking to be lining up for a slap -- before sending a wrister past DiPietro.

"When you're a shooter you go in with a plan," Chara said. "My plan was to shoot between his legs, and when I saw an opening I took it."

Many in the building likely recalled Chara's earlier booming drive.

"He didn't really bite for it, but he had to be thinking about the shot he took earlier in the game," Boston goalie Tim Thomas said of DiPietro.

The Islanders had a scare midway into the second when DiPietro walalalala by Chara, who won the hardest shot competition at 100.4 mph during All-Star festivities last month. DiPietro walalalala near the left shoulder and fell to the ice in pain but stayed in after being checked out by the trainer.

"Good move by Chara," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said. "It came down to the ninth shooter and he made a good move, and Ricky let it in."

Marco Sturm had two goals in regulation, and Patrice Bergeron also scored for Boston, which snapped a four-game, home-losing streak and won for just the third time in nine overall.

Miroslav Satan, Viktor Kozlov and Mike Sillinger had the Islanders' regulation goals. New York, which entered the night three points out of eighth place in the Eastern Conference, lost for the third time in four games but has earned points nine times in 10 contests (5-1-4).

"Chara faked a shot and found the 5-hole," DiPietro said.

Thomas had 31 saves for Boston, and DiPietro finished with 25.

The Bruins tied it 3-3 on Sturm's second goal of the game, coming on a 5-on-3 advantage with 8:15 left in regulation when he fired a shot inside the right post from the right circle.

New York had grabbed a 3-2 edge on Satan's power-play goal 3:58 into the third.

The Islanders jumped ahead 1-0 just 3:52 in when Kozlov tipped Chris Campoli's shot past Thomas.

Boston tied it when Sturm beat DiPietro with a slap shot to the glove side at 7:14.

The Bruins took it on Bergeron's power-play score midway into the opening period. Twelve seconds after Arron Asham was whistled for hooking, Bergeron got to a loose puck along the left boards and slipped a wrist shot by DiPietro's body inside the left post. It was just his third goal in 13 games after scoring seven in the previous 13.

Sillinger tied it 2-2 54 seconds into the middle period when he put in a rebound of Andy Hilbert's wraparound shot in the slot.

Game notes
Islanders centers Alexei Yashin (Knee) and Shawn Bates (groin) each missed their sixth straight game. ... New York's first goal was the 200th the Bruins have allowed this season, third most in the NHL.

Totally awesome. I think we've almost mastered the art of winning 'ugly'.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Viktor Kozlov - Islanders (3:52 1st)
1-1 Marco Sturm - Bruins (7:14 1st)
1-2 Patrice Bergeron - Bruins (11:04 1st PPG)
2-2 Mike Sillinger - Islanders (0:54 2nd)
3-2 Miroslav Satan - Islanders (3:58 3rd PPG)
3-3 Marco Sturm - Bruins (11:45 3rd PPG)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 34 shots against, 31 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Marco Sturm (Bruins) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Patrice Bergeron (Bruins) - 1 goal, 1 assist
Mike Sillinger (Islanders) - 1 goal, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 38-15-4
Ottawa: 32-22-3
Montreal: 29-22-6
Toronto: 27-22-7
Boston: 25-25-4

Bearing in mind we've got some games in hand, we're doing pretty well. In other news....

Bruins Swap Stuart and Primeau For Ference and Kobasew

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins traded defenseman Brad Stuart and forward Wayne Primeau to the Calgary Flames for defenseman Andrew Ference and forward Chuck Kobasew on Saturday night.

Stuart, a key player in last season's trade that sent former Bruins captain Joe Thornton to San Jose, had been mentioned in recent trade talk because of his upcoming free-agent status.

Boston's inability to work out a new contract with Stuart forced the deal, completed just over an hour after the Bruins beat the New York Islanders 4-3 in a shootout.

"It became evident that when I wasn't having success signing Brad that I was going to have to trade Brad," general manager Peter Chiarelli said.

Stuart, 27, was acquired with Primeau and Marco Sturm on Nov. 30, 2005, for Thornton -- who went on to win NHL MVP honors with the Sharks last season. Sturm has also been the subject of recent trade rumors.

The Thornton trade could go down as one of the organization's worst -- and most unpopular trades -- just like the deal that sent Hall of Fame defenseman Bobby Orr to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1976.

Boston missed the playoffs and is in danger of being left out of the postseason again. The Bruins are last in the Northeast Division with 54 points.

"When any team doesn't win hockey games something has to change," Boston coach Dave Lewis said.

Ference, 27, played in 53 games this season for Calgary. He is signed for three more seasons.

"Part of what we have to do is preserve the assets of players that are unrestricted," Chiarelli said. "Chuck is 24 and Andrew is 27. They add some youth and energy, which we want to add to this team."

Kobasew, who played on Boston College's 2001 NCAA championship team before going pro, appeared in 40 games with Calgary -- notching four goals and 13 assists.

Ference played in Buffalo on Saturday night. Kobasew has been sidelined with an elbow injury since late January.

"I'm really looking forward to it," Kobasew said in a statement released by the Bruins. "It's disappointing to leave Calgary, but I did play two years of my career in Boston; one at Boston College and one at Lowell in the AHL."

Ference was surprised to be sent away by the Flames.

"It's always a bit of a shock when you get traded," he said. "But obviously when you're traded to a storied franchise it's definitely a little easier to take."

Chiarelli hopes this trade shows he is trying to build a winner now while also looking toward the future.

"I would like to think it says that we're getting two high-character players and we have an influx of youth and energy," he said. "I don't want to send a message that we're throwing in the towel. These are players that are on a division-leading team with experience. They're good players."

Our next game is tomorrow night, and we are at home to the Edmonton Oilers.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Oilers @ Bruins 13/02/2007

Our latest game saw us take on Edmonton.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- Brandon Bochenski is making a good impression on his new teammates.

The forward scored for the fourth time in four games since he was traded to Boston and Marco Sturm added another goal 62 seconds later in the first period on Tuesday night to lead the Bruins to a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

"We got on a two-man advantage, and then a five-on-four, and that was enough to win the game," said Bochenski, who was acquired from Chicago in a swap of minor-leaguers on Feb. 3. "We won the game in the first five minutes."

Tim Thomas stopped 32 shots for his second shutout of the season, and Patrice Bergeron assisted on the first two goals before leaving the game in the third period with an unspecified lower body injury. Bruins coach Dave Lewis said he will be evaluated on Wednesday before the team begins a 10-game, six-day road trip.

The Bruins have won four of five, but it was their first victory this month in regulation.

"The last couple of games, we've gotten some victories," Lewis said. "I'm a realist. I still think we have an interesting road ahead of us."

Sturm added an empty-netter with 2:12 left, with an assist from Bochenski, on a turnaround slap shot from center ice just seconds after Dwayne Roloson left for an extra skater.

Roloson stopped 20 shots for the Oilers.

"It feels good to win, especially when coming to a new team," Bochenski said.

The Bruins held a five-on-three advantage when Bochenski centered the puck to Zdeno Chara, who swatted at it but couldn't get his stick on it. While it bounced around, it went off defenseman Steve Staios' skate and into the net with 4:47 left in the first.

A minute later, Bergeron took a shot from close in and it bounced off Roloson's stick to Sturm, who whacked it in. It was Bergeron's 100th NHL assist.

"And that was the start we didn't want," said Oilers coach Craig MacTavish, who greeted the media with a big sigh and then rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Your margin of error is pretty fine defensively and from a discipline perspective when you don't score any goals."

The Oilers' power play had the NHL's No. 2 penalty-killing unit -- the best in the league on the road, with only nine goals allowed in 134 shorthanded situations.

"They really didn't have anything" on the first goal, forward Shawn Horcoff said. "Our penalty killing's not the problem. In a lot of cases, it's because we've been getting seven, eight, nine penalties a game."

The Bruins wore No. 9 patches in honor of Hall of Famer John "Chief" Bucyk, who was honored before the game for 50 years with the team. He was the last Boston captain to skate with the Stanley Cup.

The quest for another is going slowly. The Bruins are stuck at the bottom of the Northeast Division and eight points behind the No. 8 team in the Eastern Conference.

To shake things up, they traded defenseman Brad Stuart and forward Wayne Primeau to the Calgary Flames on Saturday for defenseman Andrew Ference and forward Chuck Kobasew. Ference made his Bruins debut on Tuesday but Kobasew, who played on Boston College's 2001 NCAA championship team, has been sidelined with an elbow injury since late January.

Game notes
The Oilers hadn't visited Boston since Nov. 11, 2003. The Bruins haven't lost to Edmonton at home since 1996. ... The Bruins are 3-0 against the Northwest Division. ... Oilers forward Fernando Pisani, who sustained a concussion on Sunday against Atlanta, didn't play. ... The Bruins called defenseman Mark Stuart up from AHL Providence after the game as a reinforcement for the upcoming road trip.

Nice win there.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Brandon Bochenski - Bruins (15:13 1st PPG)
0-2 Marco Sturm - Bruins (16:15 1st PPG)
0-3 Marco Sturm - Bruins (17:48 3rd Empty Net)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 32 shots against, 32 saves, 0 goals against

Three Stars

Tim Thomas (Bruins) - 32 saves, 1.000 Save Pct
Marco Sturm (Bruins) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Brandon Bochenski (Bruins) - 1 goal, 2 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 38-15-4
Ottawa: 33-22-3
Montreal: 29-24-6
Toronto: 27-22-8
Boston: 26-25-4

Bruins Recall Mark Stuart From Providence

Originally Posted by Bruins.com

BOSTON, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has recalled defenseman Mark Stuart from the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League. Stuart will be with the team for tomorrow’s practice.

Stuart, a second-year player from Rochester, Minnesota and Colorado College, spent the beginning of the 2006-07 season rehabbing his knee in Boston with the Bruins training staff before being assigned to Providence on November 7. Stuart was then recalled by Boston on November 21 and remained with the Club until December 10, when he was assigned to Providence.

In his stint with the Bruins this season, Stuart has played in seven games and recorded one assist. His last game for the Bruins was on December 4, 2006 in a 6-5 victory in Montreal.

While with Providence this season, Stuart has played 32 games, scoring four goals and nine assists for 13 points.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Maple Leafs 20/02/2007

Another thread which has been suffering due to my absence. The Bruins haven't, we've been winning, and this was another of those wins.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

TORONTO -- The Boston Bruins are doing their part to keep the team together through the trading deadline.

Elias Says
Tim Thomas stopped 44 shots in the Bruins' 3-0 victory at Toronto -- the most saves in a shutout in the NHL this season. The previous high had been 42, done by Nashville's Chris Mason on Nov. 11 and by Fredrik Norrena of Columbus on Dec. 5; each of those shutouts came against the Avalanche. Elias Says

Tim Thomas made 44 saves for his third shutout of the season, Jason York scored his first NHL goal in three years, and the Bruins gained ground with a 3-0 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday night.

P.J. Axelsson and Stanislav Chistov also scored for the Bruins, who have won five of six to move back into the playoff hunt with 62 points.

The belief is Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli won't break up the team up if the Bruins remain in contention. Boston is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference, five points behind Carolina and the playoff cutoff.

"Nobody wants to see anybody get traded," Thomas said. "Every team ends up being a family. Our job is to do the best we can in the locker room. We can't control what management does."

Toronto, which held a 43-22 shots advantage, slipped into a tie for ninth place in the East, a point behind Carolina.

Thomas didn't have to make any spectacular saves, but he rebounded from a 5-1 loss to Toronto on Jan. 1. He recorded his fourth career shutout and is 7-2 since Feb. 3. He allowed 13 goals in his last two games against the Maple Leafs, but is 5-2 against them this season.

Thomas wanted to win this game after being reminded of the 5-1 loss.

"I didn't really think about it until someone said something in the second period," Thomas said. "I didn't want to give them anything. They've already got enough out of me this year."

York, who played in Switzerland last season, scored his first goal since Jan. 8, 2004. He gave Boston a 3-0 lead at 17:41 of the second period with a one-timer from the blue line after Brandon Bochenski made a pass from behind the net following a Toronto turnover.

York didn't return after taking a puck to the face early in the third, but said he was fine after the game.

Fans booed the Maple Leafs off the ice at the final horn.

"There was not enough urgency in our game," captain Mats Sundin said. "Even though we traded a lot of chances we just didn't have the killer instinct. We need to get back to that."

The Maple Leafs dropped to 12-13-5 at home.

"You wonder what's going on there," Sundin said. "We need to play better at home. There's no doubt about that. You can't have a .500 record at home and make the playoffs."

Toronto backup Jean-Sebastien Aubin replaced Andrew Raycroft to start the third after Raycroft allowed three goals on 13 shots. Raycroft has struggled this season to make saves with his glove, but Toronto coach Paul Maurice might also have wanted to rest Raycroft, who started his 21st straight game.

The Maple Leafs -- shut out for the second time this season -- misfired on a number of chances, including a partial breakaway by Bates Battaglia and Hal Gill.

Battaglia also missed the net in the first period.

The Maple Leafs finished 0-for-6 on the power play.

Chistov's shot deflected off the post and Raycroft's glove before crossing the line at 7:13 of the first.

Axelsson scored a short-handed goal with a slap shot to the glove side at 14:14 of the second to give Boston a 2-0 lead.

Game notes
Glen Murray, Boston's top goal-scorer, missed the game with a strained groin. ... Patrice Bergeron missed a fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. ... Sundin needs three goals to tie Darryl Sittler for the most in team history (389).

Awesome.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Stanislav Chistov - Bruins (7:13 1st)
2-0 P.J Axelsson - Bruins (14:14 2nd shorthanded)
3-0 Jason York - Bruins (17:41 2nd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 44 shots against, 44 saves, 0 goals against

Three Stars

Tim Thomas (Bruins) - 44 saves, 1.000 Save Pct
Zdeno Chara Bruins) - 0 goals, 0 assists
P.J Axelsson (Bruins) - 1 goal, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 40-15-5
Ottawa: 35-22-3
Montreal: 31-25-6
Toronto: 29-23-8
Boston: 29-26-4

Bruins Recall David Krejci From Providence

Originally Posted by Bruins.com

Boston -- Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has recalled center David Krejci from the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League (AHL). Krejci is traveling to Toronto and will be available for the club’s game against the Maple Leafs tonight.

Krejci, who is 20 years old and from Sternderk, Czech Republic, was selected in the second round (63rd overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. This is Krejci’s first season in Providence after spending the previous two years playing for Gatineau Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

Krejci made his NHL debut on January 30, 2007 when he played three shifts before suffering a concussion in the club’s 7-1 loss in Buffalo. While with Providence this season, Krejci has scored 19 goals and registered 32 assists in 50 games played.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Flyers @ Bruins 01/03/2007

Sorry, I haven't updated. I'll try and get my updating as consistent as for my Celtics thread from now on. Our latest game was against the Flyers.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- With a few more performances like this, the Bruins will be in the same mode as the Flyers -- winding down the season.

Scottie Upshall scored with 9.9 seconds left in overtime Thursday night to lift the Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins, who got 51 saves from Tim Thomas.

"Totally ridiculous. Unacceptable," Boston coach Dave Lewis said. "It's something that drives you nuts as a coach, knowing the situation, the standings and who we're playing."

The Bruins, 13th in the Eastern Conference -- seven points behind eighth-place Montreal for the final playoff spot -- looked like a team that's about to complete its second straight season without a postseason appearance.

"We're still in the hunt and we've got to play a lot harder to get ourselves in that position," Lewis said.

Joni Pitkanen, R.J. Umberger and Mike Richards had the Flyers' goals. Philadelphia snapped a five-game losing streak.

Mark Mowers ended his stretch of 27 games without a goal by scoring a pair for Boston, and defenseman Zdeno Chara had his 10th of the season.

Martin Biron, acquired from Buffalo on Tuesday for a second-round pick in the 2007 draft, made 34 saves in his Flyers' debut. He made a right pad save on Petr Tenkrat's clean breakaway bid with just under 15 minutes to play.

"We have a young team that makes a lot of mistakes, but we're learning," Biron said. "It was a big step for this team."

Upshall, sent in on a partial breakaway on a pass from Sami Kapanen, slipped around defenseman Andrew Ference before shifting to his backhand and putting the puck behind Thomas for the game-winner.

"It was a hightlight-reel play," Flyers coach John Stevens said of the goal for a team that's had few great moments.

The Flyers have a league-worst 44 points.

Philadelphia, which trailed 2-0 after the game's opening 8:09, won for just the second time in an overtime game this season.

The Bruins were outshot 55-37 and have allowed over 50 shots on goal in two of their last three games. Boston dropped its third straight after a four-game winning streak seemingly got it back in the playoff race.

"As the game went along I was -- along with my teammates -- trying to do anything we could to get the two points," Thomas said.

Boston jumped ahead 1-0 on Mowers' first goal of the game -- and his first since Dec. 29 -- 4:10 into the opening period. They made it 2-0 when Mowers beat Biron with a wrister from the right circle 3:59 later.

Mowers, who entered the night with just two goals all season, also went 24 games without a goal after scoring in Boston's second game of the season.

The Flyers cut it to 2-1 on Pitkanen's score midway into the opening period.

Philadelphia, which owned a 21-10 shot advantage in the second period, tied it 2-2 when Umberger scored off a rebound in front for a power-play goal at 4:53.

Richards completed a 2-on-1 break for a short-handed score by beating Thomas inside the right post before he could get across, making it 3-2 at 11:33.

Boston tied it at 3-3 on a two-man advantage at 12:36 when the 6-foot-9 Chara scored out of a scramble in front by outmuscling a defender.

Boston's newcomers Aaron Ward, acquired from the Rangers for defense Paul Mara on Tuesday, and Dennis Wideman, picked up from St. Louis for winger Brad Boyes, also before the trading deadline, saw their first action with the Bruins.

Game notes
Mowers also had just two assists in his last 22 games. ... Boston RW Glen Murray played after missing the last four with a groin injury. ...The fans gave a loud ovation to the crew members of the USS John F. Kennedy, which is currently in Boston, when they were recognized on the video board. ... It was a matchup of two of the league's three teams that have allowed the most goals, with Philadelphia having given up the most overall.

Aw, rubbish. We have to improve.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Mark Mowers - Bruins (4:10 1st)
0-2 Mark Mowers - Bruins (8:09 1st)
1-2 Joni Pitkanen - Flyers (10:39 1st)
2-2 R.J Umberger - Flyers (4:53 2nd)
3-2 Mike Richards - Flyers (11:33 2nd shorthanded)
3-3 Zdeno Chara - Bruins (12:36 2nd PPG)
4-3 Scottie Upshall - Flyers (4:50 OT)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 55 shots against, 51 saves, 4 goals against

Three Stars

Tim Thomas (Bruins) - 51 saves, 0.927 Save Pct
Scottie Upshall (Flyers) - 1 goal, 0 assists
Jeff Carter (Flyers) - 0 goals, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 43-16-5
Ottawa: 38-23-4
Montreal: 33-28-6
Toronto: 31-25-9
Boston: 30-28-5

Improvement must start now. Tonight we play a crucial game against Montreal, who sit 8th in the Eastern Conference, in the last playoff spot.

[PolskyBabushka]

Chara is a beast

Wouldnt mind having him on the Wings.

[Tealey7]

Hands off. He's ours!

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Canadians @ Bruins 03/03/2007

Another game for the Bruins, this time against Montreal.

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/BXG10703040313.jpg

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins put together a performance vastly different from their last game.

Glen Murray scored his team-leading 28th goal, and Tim Thomas made 16 of his 31 saves in the third period to lead the Bruins to a 3-1 win over Montreal on Saturday.

Petr Tenkrat and Brandon Bochenski also scored for the Bruins, who snapped a three-game losing streak and moved six points behind eighth-place Carolina in a crowded race for the Eastern Conference's final playoff spot.

Two nights ago, Bruins coach Dave Lewis was frustrated after his team gave up 55 shots on goal in an overtime loss to the Flyers, calling the performance "totally ridiculous."

"They're not machines," Lewis said after Saturday's win. "As much as you'd like to stick a key in and have them run the same way every game, that's not going to happen. That's for the coaches to figure out."

Lewis started that process in practice on Friday, having some on-ice meetings.

"I don't know if those were necessary or not," he said. "We had to play a better game against Montreal or we'd be in the same boat."

Sheldon Souray scored his 23rd goal for Montreal, which lost its third straight and fourth in five to remain one point behind the Hurricanes.

Montreal has struggled lately, but coach Guy Carbonneau knows there's plenty of time left to turn things around.

"That stage was about a couple of weeks ago," he said of his team's need to start winning. "That's the bad part, but the good part is we're still right there. There's still enough games to turn this around."

Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves for Montreal in his sixth career start after being called up from Hamilton of the AHL on Feb. 14. Starting goaltender Cristobal Huet is out for the rest of the regular season with a left hamstring injury.

Thomas was tested often in the final period, making a pair of stops on Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Koslalalalayn seconds apart with just under 12 minutes left.

Murray's goal, a wrister from the slot, made it 3-1 with 4:09 to play.

"We had plenty of chances to tie the game when it was 2-1," Montreal winger Mike Johnson said. "A lot of chances around the net, but their goaltender played well."

The Bruins controlled play for extended periods before grabbing a 1-0 lead on Tenkrat's goal 3:30 into the second.

"We really didn't focus on the last game because there's not much you can do about it," Thomas said. "There was talk that we're going to have a good crowd against Montreal so we've to be ready to go."

Tenkrat fired a slap shot from just outside the right circle and the puck caromed off the stick of defenseman Souray, knuckling over the right shoulder of Halak.

Bochenski made it 2-0 with 1:03 left in the second. He collected a loose puck at center ice, broke in down the left wing and slipped a wrister inside the left post.

Souray's shot ricocheted off defenseman Andrew Ference's stick and past Thomas 3:02 into the third period.

The best chance of a scoreless first period came when Halak made a nice left pad save with 3:16 left on Shean Donovan, who broke in alone from the right wing.

Halak also stopped three booming slap shots from the point by Zdeno Chara in the final minute while the Bruins were on a power play.

Game notes
Thomas was coming off a career-best 51-save performance in the 4-3 overtime loss to the Flyers Thursday. ... A large contingent of Canadiens fans, filling a good portion of the east end of the building, broke into chants of `Go Habs Go' numerous times. ... Montreal played the third of five games in 12 days away from home, and travels to Atlanta and St. Louis before returning home against the Islanders on March 13.

Brilliant. It's a start.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Petr Tenkrat - Bruins (3:30 2nd)
0-2 Brandon Bochenski (18:57 2nd)
1-2 Sheldon Souray - Canadians (3:02 3rd)
1-3 Glen Murray - Bruins (15:51 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 32 shots against, 31 saves, 1 goal against

Three Stars

Tim Thomas (Bruins) - 31 saves, 0.969 Save Pct
Phil Kessel (Bruins) - 0 goals, 2 assists
Jaroslav Halak (Canadians) - 33 saves, 0.917 Save Pct

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 44-16-5
Ottawa: 38-23-4
Montreal: 33-29-6
Toronto: 31-26-9
Boston: 31-28-5

Good. Let's hope the Bruins can keep this going. There's no such thing as an uncrucial game, and this is another game against a playoff hopeful, New Jersey Devils. It's tonight.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Devils 04/03/2007

Our latest game was last night against the New Jersey Devils.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Joey MacDonald made sure Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas enjoyed a rare day off.

MacDonald stopped 26 shots in his first career start with Boston and the Bruins inched a little closer to a playoff spot with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Sunday night.

"Timmy has been playing unbelievable," MacDonald said after giving Thomas his first night off since Jan. 20. "I just have to come in and make sure the team has a chance to win."

Acquired on waivers from Detroit on Feb. 24, MacDonald was on top of his game right away in his ninth career start. The 27-year-old, who was 1-5-1 with Detroit before being released, stopped John Madden with his facemask in the opening five minutes and stopped Sergei Brylin in close at the 10-minute mark.

"Everyone was really confident in him," said Marco Sturm, who scored for the Bruins along with Aaron Ward, Brandon Bochenski and P.J. Axelsson. "He made some good saves right away. After that, you didn't have to think about him."

The win was the Bruins' seventh in 11 games (7-3-1) and pulled them within four points of Carolina for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They have played three less games than the defending Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes.

"It's a good win," MacDonald said. "I thought the boys played great. Most of the shots I saw. When I gave up a rebound, the guys took care of it."

Well, almost all of them.

Mike Rupp scored on a third-period rebound for the Devils, who lost consecutive games for the first time since the end of January.

"We had nothing really," Devils captain Patrik Elias said. "We were flat the first half of the game and maybe started skating a little better. It just wasn't good enough. There just wasn't enough urgency on our part."

Ward, who was acquired in a trade with the New York Rangers last week, gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead midway through the first period with a shot from the blueline that found the upper corner of the net.

"I think I've played them four times in the last three weeks," Ward said of his latest Devils' encounter. "I feel like I dream about them in my sleep. It's essential that you don't allow them the lead because then they get right into their solid system."

Sturm made it 2-0 19 seconds into the second period with the Devils finishing off a power play. Patrice Bergeron deflected an ill-advised pass by Scott Gomez near the New Jersey blueline and Sturm beat Martin Brodeur on a breakaway.

Rupp spoiled MacDonald's shutout bid at 6:40 of the third period, shortly after a Devils' power play ended.

Bochenski, who got the primary assist on Ward's first goal as a Bruin, gave Boston breathing room less than two minutes later, redirecting a Phil Kessel pass past Brodeur.

Axelsson added an empty-net goal with 41.7 seconds to play.

"The way we played, we didn't create much," Brodeur said. "We didn't stay in their zone a long time or do any of the things that make us successful. I don't know what it was; the Bruins, the way they played us, or us. We just didn't have that drive to compete today."

Game notes
Devils right wing Brian Gionta returned to the lineup after missing eight games with a groin injury and assisted on Rupp's goal. ...New Jersey RW Cam Janssen sat out the first game of a three-game suspension for a late hit on Toronto D Tomas Kaberle on Friday. ...Sturm has points in six straight games (2 goals, 5 assists). ...New Jersey has lost three straight at home, falling to 22-8-5 at the Continental Airlines Arena.

Another great win. Tim Thomas had a day off and we still won.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Aaron Ward - Bruins (12:26 1st)
2-0 Marco Sturm - Bruins (0:19 2nd Shorthanded)
2-1 Michael Rupp - Devils (6:40 3rd)
3-1 Brandon Bochenski - Bruins (8:31 3rd)
4-1 P.J Axelsson - Bruins (19:18 3rd Empty Net)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Joey MacDonald - 27 shots against, 26 saves, 1 goal against

Three Stars

Joey MacDonald G (Bruins) - 26 saves, 0.963 Save Pct
Brandon Bochenski RW (Bruins) - 1 goal, 1 assist
Phil Kessel C (Bruins) - 0 goals, 2 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 44-16-5
Ottawa: 38-23-5
Montreal: 33-29-6
Toronto: 31-26-9
Boston: 32-28-5

We're going for it. Go Bruins! Our next game is against a playoff hopeful from the Western Conference, Colorado Avalanche.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Red Wings 11/03/2007

Consistency is something the Bruins have struggled for. Much like this thread, which I will try and update after every game. Try harder. Our latest game was last night against the Red Wings.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

DETROIT -- It was a happy homecoming for Dave Lewis and Tim Thomas.

Marco Sturm had two goals and an assist to lift the Boston Bruins to a 6-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday.

Lewis was a Red Wing employee for 20 years, as a player, assistant coach, associate coach, head coach and pro scout, from 1986 until he became the Bruins' coach last summer. Thomas is a native of Davison, MI., which is about 60 miles north of Detroit. Lewis downplayed winning in his return.

"For me, it's two points. All I have a great memories of this team, this organization, these fans," he said. "Just to come back I knew how to get into the visitors locker room, but I hadn't been in there in a long time."

It was a bigger deal for Thomas, who made, 35 saves.

"It meant a lot. I tried to tell myself that it didn't because I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself," he said. "I realized how much it meant to me with just a few minutes left. The emotions started to boil up. I'm glad we had a three-goal lead at that point."

Chuck Kobasew added a goal and an assist for Boston, which snapped a three-game losing streak, and Petr Tenkrat, Patrice Bergeron, and Phil Kessel also scored. Marc Savard added three assists.

Jiri Hudler had a goal and an assist for Detroit and Nicklas Lidstrom, and Robert Lang also scored for Detroit. Dominik Hasek stopped 19 shots.

"We earned this. This has been coming for awhile," said Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock. "We can't, from the back end, continue to turn over the puck like we have been."

The Bruins took the lead for good in the second period.

Sturm's second goal of the game, on the power play, tied the game at 2, 5:43 into the middle period. He tipped in Marc Savard's pass for his 23rd goal.

"We've been without the power play and we forecheck a little bite more aggressive as a group, not just one guy," said Sturm. "We attack their D and that's what we have to do."

Petr Tenkrat put Boston ahead with 8:22 left in the period when he beat Hasek with a slap shot from the right circle after a turnover by Pavel Datsyuk.

Bergeron made it 4-2 with his 19th goal 2:35 into the third period. Hasek moved out of the net to make a play, but the puck took a funny carom off the rear boards to Bergeron, who shot the puck into the net before Hasek could get back in position.

Kobasew added a power-play goal 8:34 into the third period to make it 5-2. Lang answered with his 17th goal with 7:47 left for Detroit, and Kessel closed out the scoring with 5:41 remaining for the Bruins.

Boston got on the board first, 5:26 into the game, when Sturm's shot from the top of the right circle along the boards beat Hassock, who was screened.

But Hudler tied it with his 11th goal just 2:10 later when he knocked in a loose puck from in front of the net. Lidstrom gave Detroit the lead beating Thomas on a slap shot from the point for a power-play goal.

Game notes
Detroit D Danny Markov missed his second game with an upper body injury. ... Detroit forward Johan Franzen also didn't play because of an upper body injury. ... Boston has won six of its last eight on the road. ... The Bruins' Mark Mowers, Aaron Ward and backup goalie Joey MacDonald are former Red Wings.

A surprising win against a really useful Detroit team.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Marco Sturm - Bruins (5:26 1st)
1-1 Jiri Hudler - Red Wings (7:36 1st)
1-2 Nicklas Lidstrom - Red Wings (8:14 1st PPG)
2-2 Marco Sturm - Bruins (5:43 2nd PPG)
3-2 Petr Tenkrat - Bruins (11:38 2nd)
4-2 Patrice Bergeron - Bruins (2:35 3rd)
5-2 Chuck Kobasew - Bruins (8:34 3rd PPG)
5-3 Robert Lang - Red Wings (12:13 3rd)
6-3 Phil Kessel - Bruins (14:19 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 38 shots against, 35 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Marco Sturm LW (Bruins) - 2 goals, 1 assist
Patrice Bergeron C (Bruins) - 1 goal, 1 assist
Marc Savard C (Bruins) - 0 goals, 3 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 44-19-5
Ottawa: 39-23-7
Toronto: 33-27-9
Montreal: 34-30-6
Boston: 33-31-5

We're not far off the playoffs. We need to win. Simple as that. Our next game is on Thursday night against Washington Capitals.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Capitals @ Bruins 15/03/2007

Another game. Blah blah.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- The Washington Capitals got "Olie the Goalie" back on Thursday night, and it still wasn't enough to stop their slide.

Patrice Bergeron scored to tie the game in the third period, then beat Olaf Kolzig again in the shootout as the Boston Bruins overcame a three-goal deficit to beat the Capitals 4-3 and send them to their ninth consecutive loss. That spoiled Chris Clark's hat trick and Kolzig's return after missing 13 games with a left knee injury.

"He's probably the most important player to that team," Bruins goalie Tim Thomas said after stopping 31 shots. "He's the only reason they were in the game after the first period, and that they got to the shootout."

Clark scored a short-handed goal with 2:57 left in the second period to complete his second career three-goal game and give the Capitals a 3-0 lead. But the Bruins tied it, thanks to three assists from Marc Savard and a pair of power-play goals 65 seconds apart in the third after Washington spotted them a 5-on-3 advantage.

It stayed that way until the first three skaters missed in the shootout. Bergeron went between Kolzig's legs and Alexander Ovechkin scored on a backhand before Phil Kessel scored the winner.

"Kessel's a talented kid and put on a great move. But I was thinking too much," said Kolzig, who stopped 36 shots. "He did the same thing he did to me in Washington, and I need to be smarter than that."

Washington is 0-6-3 in its last nine games after going 1-8-4 without Kolzig, who appeared to re-injure himself on the last shot of the overtime -- a slapper by Zdeno Chara off his right knee. Kolzig returned for the shootout after stretching his legs during the break.

"The biggest man in the league gets a shot on your bare knee, it's going to hurt," Kolzig said.

The Bruins swept the season series against Washington but needed overtime in each game to do it. The Capitals have not won in Boston since 2000 and haven't beaten the Bruins in regulation in 10 games overall.

Boston is in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 12 games to play. Washington is in 14th and out of playoff contention.

"Considering the situation, it doesn't get any better than this," Boston coach Dave Lewis said.

Clark made it 3-0 just 15 seconds after teammate Tomas Fleischmann went off for holding. But the Bruins ended the shutout bid 79 seconds later when Marco Sturm converted on some crisp cross-ice passing to make it 3-1.

Washington's Shaone Morrisonn and Steve Eminger were called for penalties in the last minute of the second, and the Bruins took advantage when Brandon Bochenski and Bergeron scored to tie it.

Alexander Semin missed a backhander on an open half of the net, hitting the post with about a minute left in regulation. With 40 seconds remaining, Boyd Gardner was called for an off-balance slash at Dennis Wideman's face, giving the Bruins a rare overtime power play.

But Kolzig stopped Chara on at least three slap shots from the right circle, the last as time expired. Kolzig snapped his head back when he made the final save, then sprawled onto the ice. During the break before the shootout, he waited at the Washington bench, flexing his knees.

Savard has seven assists in three games and nine against the Capitals this season. He has 70 for the season -- the most for a Bruins player since Adam Oates had 80 assists in 1993-94.

Game notes
After Andrew Alberts and Matt Bradley mixed it up midway through the second, Chuck Kobasew got the best hit of all when he checked Morrisonn into the Capitals bench. ... Washington also had an eight-game winless streak last March. ... Ovechkin, who entered the night tied for third in the NHL in goals, has just one in four games against the Bruins. ... The Capitals have 12 short-handed goals, four by Clark.

Awesome. Second win in a row. Dreaming of playoffs. A bit.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Chris Clark - Capitals (1:21 1st)
2-0 Chris Clark - Capitals (19:44 1st PPG)
3-0 Chris Clark - Capitals (17:03 2nd Shorthanded)
3-1 Marco Sturm - Bruins (18:24 2nd PPG)
3-2 Brandon Bochenski - Bruins (0:30 3rd PPG)
3-3 Patrice Bergeron - Bruins (1:35 3rd PPG)
3-4 Phil Kessel - Bruins (SO)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 34 shots against, 31 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Chris Clark RW (Capitals) - 3 goals, 0 assists
Patrice Bergeron C (Bruins) - 1 goal, 1 assist
Marc Savard C (Bruins) - 0 goals, 3 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 46-19-6
Ottawa: 41-23-7
Toronto: 34-28-9
Montreal: 35-31-6
Boston: 34-31-5

We're 5 points off the playoffs with some games in hand. Tonight we play the NY Rangers. Another playoff hopeful.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Rangers 17/03/2007

A crucial game this was.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

NEW YORK -- Henrik Lundqvist shut down the Boston Bruins in the first period. The New York Rangers' offense finished them off in the second.

Lundqvist made 30 saves, including 13 in a busy opening frame, then coasted to his sixth NHL shutout when the Rangers scored six times in the middle period en route to a 7-0 rout of the Bruins on Saturday night.

Elias Says

The Rangers beat the Bruins 7-0 on Saturday night. It was the Rangers' largest margin of victory in a game since a 10-2 win at Tampa Bay on Nov. 10, 1998, and their biggest margin of victory in a shutout since they blanked the Devils 9-0 at Madison Square Garden on March 31, 1986.
• Elias Says


"It was a fun game," said Lundqvist, who reached 30 wins for the second time in as many career NHL seasons. "I felt relaxed. It wasn't easy, but we scored a lot of goals."

Ryan Callahan scored his first two NHL goals, and Matt Cullen added two and an assist during New York's highest scoring period of the season. Lundqvist did the rest.

The Bruins had three power-play chances in the first but the Rangers made sure they wouldn't be a threat the rest of the night. Lundqvist tossed his stick into the crowd after being chosen as the top star of the game, but admitted it was a spare.

"I used it in warmup," he said. "I'm going to keep the game stick."

Sean Avery posted a career-high four points with a goal and three assists, and Jaromir Jagr chipped in with three assists for the Rangers, who tied their best offensive output of the season. New York has taken the first three meetings from Boston this season, outscoring the Bruins 16-2.

"I just want the team to win," said Avery, a more-noted agitator. "Let's get into the playoffs. We have 10 games left so let's win eight or nine of them."

The Rangers, 6-1-3 in their last 10, started Saturday in 11th place in the Eastern Conference but jumped over Toronto, Montreal and the New York Islanders. They are now on the right side of the postseason cutoff line. Boston is 12th, six points off the pace.

"I'm embarrassed for anybody that's ever gone to a Bruins game, that has a Bruins jersey at home because this is not what the Bruins stand for," coach Dave Lewis said. "Totally embarrassing. The Boston Bruins mean much more than that performance."

Callahan, in his fourth NHL game, gave New York leads of 4-0 and 7-0. He capped off his eventful night with the first penalty minutes of his young career -- a third-period fight with Chuck Kobasew.

"I was just hoping to get my first, and I got my second," said Callahan, whose teammates already congratulated him for bringing the luck of the Irish to the Rangers.

Just one night after their 22nd one-goal loss of the season, a 2-1 overtime defeat at Atlanta, the Rangers had an unexpected breakout. Due to bad weather at home, the Rangers were forced to fly to New York on Saturday morning -- only the second time this season they traveled on a game day.

They responded well, scoring more than two goals for the first time in seven games and netting a season-high four on the power play. The Rangers had squandered two-goal leads six times in 19 games but finally found a way to build on an early advantage.

"That was my first concern, let us score the third goal," Lundqvist said.

Michal Rozsival scored a power-play goal just 3:07, snapping the Rangers' 0-for-19 skid 8 seconds into the advantage. Avery made it 2-0 at 2:41 in the second and started a spurt that featured five New York goals in a 7:56 span.

Petr Prucha scored a man-advantage goal at 5:07, and Callahan followed with an even-strength tally 30 seconds later. Cullen then had two power-play goals 32 seconds apart that made it 6-0 at 10:37.

Callahan closed out the period with his second of the night, scored with 37.3 seconds left.

The Madison Square Garden crowd, that mostly traded in Rangers blue for St. Patrick's Day green, had plenty of reason to celebrate throughout the festive and stress-free third period. The Rangers had gone to overtime in six of eight games -- all decided by one goal.

But the Bruins had an even worse day as they took a bus from Boston and were out of the game before the midway point.

"Excuses are for losers," Lewis said. "We looked slow, weak, soft and intimidated."

Tim Thomas gave up three goals on 15 shots before being yanked after Prucha's goal. Joey MacDonald yielded Callahan's first seconds later. He finished with seven saves on 11 shots and gave way to Thomas in the third.

Game notes
New York forward Martin Straka injured his right leg in the first period and didn't return. Rangers coach Tom Renney said it doesn't appear to be serious. ... Avery's previous best NHL game was a three-point effort (three assists) on Jan. 12, 2006, also against Boston when he played for Los Angeles. ... Bruins D Dennis Wideman took the three penalties that led to New York's first three power-play goals.

Argh. Awful.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Michal Rozsival - Rangers (3:07 1st PPG)
0-2 Sean Avery - Rangers (2:41 2nd)
0-3 Petr Prucha - Rangers (5:07 2nd PPG)
0-4 Ryan Callahan - Rangers (5:37 2nd)
0-5 Matt Cullen - Rangers (10:05 2nd PPG)
0-6 Matt Cullen - Rangers (10:37 2nd PPG)
0-7 Ryan Callahan - Rangers (19:22 2nd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 28 shots against, 25 saves, 3 goals against
Joey MacDonald - 11 shots against, 7 saves, 4 goals against

Three Stars

Henrik Lundqvist G (Rangers) - 30 saves, save pct 1.0
Sean Avery LW (Rangers) - 1 goal, 3 assists
Ryan Callahan RW (Rangers) - 2 goals, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 46-19-7
Ottawa: 42-23-8
Montreal: 36-31-6
Toronto: 34-28-10
Boston: 34-32-5

Shocking. Dave Lewis the coach has been pretty scathing. Pointing out our inconsistency. Our next match is tomorrow night against Montreal.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Canadians @ Bruins 22/03/2007

A couple of crucial games against Montreal. We contrived to lose them both.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- Montreal continued its hot play and got a rare road victory to show for it.

Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins each had a goal and two assists to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 6-3 victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

"Plekanec's goal at the end of the second was huge," Higgins said. "To get us within one coming into the third period makes a big difference."

Montreal scored five unanswered goals in the last 22 minutes of the game and swept the home-and-home series after shutting out Boston 1-0 on Tuesday.

"Our forwards were great in the third," said Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak, who made 32 saves. "They kept the pressure on and we were able to find ways to score."

Trailing 3-1, Plekanec cut the Bruins' lead with 1:49 left in the second period when he flipped the puck past Bruins goalie Tim Thomas.

Mike Johnson, Maxim Lapierre and Higgins put the game away when they each scored 2:16 apart in the third period to take a 5-3 lead with 11:09 remaining in the game. The Canadiens also got goals from Andrei Markov and Michael Ryder.

"It seems like we've done this a few times this year," Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau said. "Tonight, we just got lucky after the way we played in the first and second period."

Phil Kessel, Marco Sturm and Mark Mowers scored for the Bruins, who lost their third straight.

"We took too many unnecessary penalties and made too many mental mistakes," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said.

Montreal scored three power-play goals in winning for the fifth time in the last six games but won for only the second time in its last eight road games.

Kessel gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead when he gathered the rebound of his own shot and slid the puck past Halak 2:09 into the game. Kessel's goal snapped a drought of 143:25 for Boston, which had been shut out the previous two games by the New York Rangers and Canadiens.

"It's hard to have fun when you are losing," Thomas said. "This should have been an exciting game for us. We are so uptight that we are not allowing ourselves to have fun."

After Markov tied the game 1-1 at 7:23, Sturm converted a feed from Brandon Bochenski to help Boston regain the lead with 2:27 left in the first.

Mowers made it 3-1 for Boston when he tapped in Kessel's pass past a helpless Halak 7:32 into the second period.

Saku Koivu had two assists for Montreal.

Game notes
Boston has been shut out three straight games just once in its history -- in 1929. ... Alexei Kovalev has 51 points in 59 games against Boston. ... Markov has six goals but two in the last four games. ... Boston and Montreal combined for 32 shots on goal in the second period.

Dreadful.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Phil Kessel - Bruins (2:09 1st)
1-1 Andrei Markov - Canadians (7:23 1st PPG)
1-2 Marco Sturm - Bruins (17:33 1st)
1-3 Mark Mowers - Bruins (7:32 2nd)
2-3 Tomas Plekanec - Canadians (18:11 2nd)
3-3 Mike Johnson - Canadians (6:35 3rd PPG)
4-3 Maxim Lapierre - Canadians (8:02 3rd)
5-3 Christopher Higgins - Canadians (8:51 3rd)
6-3 Michael Ryder - Canadians (13:27 3rd PPG)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 30 shots against, 24 saves, 6 goals against

Three Stars

Tomas Plekanec C (Canadians) - 1 goal, 2 assists
Christopher Higgins C (Canadians) - 1 goal, 3 assists
Phil Kessel C (Bruins) - 1 goal, 1 assist

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 48-19-7
Ottawa: 44-23-8
Montreal: 38-31-6
Toronto: 35-29-10
Boston: 34-34-5

Truly shocking. We're not mathematically out of the playoff hunt, but it's looking increasingly unlikely. We next play NY Rangers tonight.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Rangers @ Bruins 24/03/2007

I've just had a thought. Wouldn't it be weird if both the Bruins and Celtics were eliminated from the playoff race on the same day? Let's be honest, it is looking increasingly likely.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- The New York Rangers needed a win more than the Boston Bruins, and they played like it.

Coming alive in front of a friendly road crowd when Thomas Pock tied the game with 100 seconds in regulation, the Rangers beat Boston 2-1 in a shootout on Saturday to solidify their hold on the Eastern Conference's seventh playoff spot.

"For us, there's no easy game right now," said Pock, who scored his first goal since Oct. 10. "Every one of the games is a playoff game."

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 35 shots in regulation and five more in overtime, when the Bruins had a power play for 1:31. He also stopped two of three Boston attempts in the shootout while Michael Nylander and Jaromir Jagr scored for the Rangers.

"We struggled the first two periods, but Henrik kept us in the game," Pock said. "He's been doing it every night. The way he's been playing is why the defense and forwards can play the way we are."

Nylander and Jagr also assisted on Pock's goal as the Rangers swept the season series against the Bruins for the second consecutive year. New York has lost just once in regulation in its last 13 games; the Rangers play the Islanders, who trail them by two points, on Sunday.

Marc Savard scored 8:06 into the second period on the rebound of Shean Donovan's shot. It was still 1-0 with less than two minutes left in the third when Jagr surprised Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara in the corner and forced a turnover.

Pock picked up the puck and made a wrist shot from the left circle that got by Joey MacDonald on the stick side, spoiling the rookie's bid for his first career shutout.

MacDonald stopped 35 shots just a week after he was called in to relieve Tim Thomas against the Rangers and allowed four goals on 11 shots before Thomas had to come back in to finish the game. Boston lost that game 7-0 to start a four-game losing streak.

"He made some timely saves, but ultimately their goaltender won the game for them," said Bruins coach Dave Lewis, whose team has lost seven of nine. "We just couldn't get the second one past him."

Boston had a chance to win in overtime when Petr Prucha was called for tripping with 1:31 left. But Lundqvist held on for the last 91 seconds, then stopped Marco Sturm in the shootout after Nylander scored on a backhander on New York's first try. Matt Cullen missed for the Rangers before Patrice Bergeron put it through Lundqvist's legs to make it 1-1 in the shootout.

Jagr's shot trickled through MacDonald's pads to give the Rangers the lead. When Phil Kessel shot wide with Boston's last try, the many Rangers fans in the Boston stands burst into a cheer.

Game notes
Nylander's assist was his 600th career NHL point. ... The Bruins had the first 10 shots on goal. ... The Rangers have gone nine straight games without allowing a first-period goal. It was the first time in eight games New York has fallen behind 1-0. ... Rangers coach Tom Renney interrupted his postgame talk with reporters to offer his best wishes to Bruins forward Phil Kessel, who is recovering from testicular cancer.

Heh. We were unlucky however.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Marc Savard - Bruins (8:06 2nd)
1-1 Thomas Pock - Rangers (18:20 3rd)
2-1 Rangers win on SO. Goals from Nylander and Jagr. (SO)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Joey MacDonald - 36 shots against, 35 saves, 1 goal against

Three Stars

Henrik Lundqvist G (Rangers) - 40 saves, 0.976 Save PCT
Joey MacDonald G (Bruins) - 35 saves, 0.972 Save PCT
Thomas Pock D (Rangers) - 1 goal, 0 assists

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 48-20-7
Ottawa: 45-23-8
Montreal: 39-31-6
Toronto: 36-29-10
Boston: 34-34-6

We're getting close to being eliminated. Tonight we play Pittsburgh.

[Tealey7]

Game Review

A sign of madness? Believing that the Bruins could make the playoffs.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- First it was Patrik Elias, then John Madden and now Brian Gionta.

The injured stars have returned to the New Jersey Devils' lineup in the past week and have given them a chance to win the Atlantic Division and to make a big postseason run.

Gionta scored the game-winner in his first game in almost a month, Jay Pandolfo tallied twice and the Devils took the division lead from Pittsburgh with a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins on Sunday.

"It's great finally getting everyone back," Pandolfo said after his fifth career two-goal game. "Hopefully Scott [Gomez] will be back in a game or two and we can have everyone going at the same time and get a couple of games under our belts before the playoffs."

With their injured players returning, the Devils have won four of five games, giving them 102 points. They have a one-point lead over the Penguins in the race for both the division title and the No. 2 seed overall in the Eastern Conference. Both teams have three games left in the regular season.

"This is huge," said Gionta, who had missed 19 of 21 games with a groin injury. "We need everyone healthy going into the playoffs. We have three games left to get the full team together and be able to go into the playoffs confident about our game and each other."

Martin Brodeur made 17 saves to post his 46th win of the season, one shy of the NHL single-season mark set by Bernie Parent in 1973-74.

"They have scored less goals than us yet they have found a way to win, and they win through defense, through solid neutral zone play and of course, when you get through that, you have Marty to contend with," Bruins coach Dave Lewis said of the Devils. "They are a good example of one of the best defensive teams in hockey."

Petr Kalus scored for the Bruins, who are now 1-7-1 in their past nine games. The Czech rookie has taken three shots since being called up from the minor leagues six games ago and he has scored on every one.

Gionta got one of his pesky in-close goals to break a 1-1 tie midway through the second period. With New Jersey on its fourth power play, he deflected a Zach Parise shot. Boston goaltender Tim Thomas got a piece of the puck and it died on the goal line. However, Gionta reached behind him and swatted it into the net.

"He made a great play," Gionta said of Parise. "He saw I was alone in front, walked in and took the shot. I was just able to battle for it and second chance it."

Kalus also scored on the power play, taking a nice pass by Petr Tenkrat from behind the net and ripping it past Brodeur about three minutes before Gionta's 25th goal of the season.

Pandolfo, who got assists from Madden on both goals, iced the game with just under six minutes to play by beating Thomas from the right circle for his 13th goal of the season.

Pandolfo had given New Jersey the lead a little more than two minutes after the opening faceoff, tipping a centering pass by Erik Rasmussen over Thomas, who finished with 21 saves.

Game notes
Gomez is day-to-day with a bruised thigh. Veteran Sergei Brylin moved from wing and centered a line with Elias and Gionta. ...Thomas got a few laughs when he fell trying to get off the ice on a delayed penalty in the second period. He got a standing ovation going back to the net, but got the last laugh when Kalus scored. The crowd of 14,378 also got a few laughs when a bird in the arena landed on the ice -- behind the play -- in the second period, and once during a fan goal-scoring contest between periods. ...Devils D Brian Rafalski has assists in six straight games.

Desolation. That's what Boston sports fans must be feeling. I know I am.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Jay Pandolfo - Devils (2:09 1st)
1-1 Petr Klaus - Bruins (8:11 2nd PPG)
2-1 Brian Gionta - Devils (11:29 2nd PPG)
3-1 Jay Pandolfo - Devils (14:18 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Tim Thomas - 24 shots against, 21 saves, 3 goals against

Three Stars

Jay Pandolfo LW (Devils) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Brian Gionta RW (Devils) - 1 goal, 0 assists
Brian Rafalski D (Devils)- 0 goals, 1 assist

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 50-21-7
Ottawa: 47-24-8
Montreal: 41-32-6
Toronto: 38-30-11
Boston: 35-38-6

So we've seen the Patriots crash and burn in the AFC Championship, the Revs choke against Houston in the MLS final, and now we've seen the Celtics and Bruins screw up their seasons and wind up not going to the playoffs but preparing for the draft lottery. Our only hope: Boston Red Sox. Our next game: tomorrow @ Montreal.

[Tealey7]

Game Review

Or should that be 'Loss Review'?

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

MONTREAL -- Saku Koivu and Jaroslav Halak left Montreal's loyal fans wanting more.

Koivu scored twice and Halak earned his second shutout in the Canadiens' 2-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night before the Bell Centre's 100th straight sellout crowd.

The Canadiens, who have won nine of 11 and finish the regular season with two road games, remain in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 90 points, one ahead of ninth-place Toronto.

"We hope to be back here in a week and a half for a playoff game," said Koivu, who has a career high 22 goals. "It's good timing for us. We're hot at the right time and hopefully we can ride it for two more games and into the playoffs."

It is the second straight season the Canadiens have sold out every regular-season home game. The total attendance of 872,193 tied the league record Montreal set last season.

"Even when things go bad for you they still sell out the building," Koivu said. "The cheering that we got at the end, it just amazes you over and over and it's fun to play in front of them."

Montreal faces the New York Rangers on Thursday before ending the season Saturday against the Maple Leafs.

Koivu scored his 21st goal on a power play at 16:46 to reach 70 points for only the second time in his career. The Canadiens captain brought the crowd of 21,273 to its feet in a roar when he beat Hannu Toivonen for his second goal of the game with 5:18 left in the third period.

The Finnish center danced off to the right corner and jumped against the boards, driving his left shoulder into the glass in celebration.

"I was a bit surprised that I scored because I missed my shot a bit, but it was just a relief because they were pressing really hard," Koivu said. "Just before that they had some chances to tie the game so the second goal was kind of a relief for us and we were able to put them away. It was just a nice surprise that it went in."

Halak made his eighth straight start, improving to 7-1 in that stretch.

"It was nice to see that Saku came up really huge for us tonight," Halak said.

The 21-year-old Slovak stopped 29 shots to shut out Boston for the second time in seven games. He made 30 saves in a 1-0 win over the Bruins on March 20.

"I'm very happy that I got a shutout but it's more important for us to get the win and the two points," said Halak, who is 7-0 at the Bell Centre.

Boston lost its fourth in a row, and has won only three of its past 15 games (3-11-1).

"We have to keep playing with pride," Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron said.

Toivonen, who was recalled from Providence of the AHL on Monday, made 28 saves and fell to 3-8-1 in 17 games this season. It was his first appearance since Feb. 24, when he relieved Tim Thomas for the final two periods of a 7-2 loss in Florida.

"He did an excellent job," Bruins coach Dave Lewis said. "He responded well to the pressure of this game and the importance of the Canadiens and the crowd and I thought he looked very comfortable in the net. He made some timely saves and he gave us a chance."

Game notes
Canadiens G Cristobal Huet was supposed to dress for the game and back up Halak, but team officials said the necessary paperwork to remove him from the injury reserve list wasn't filed to the league in time. David Aebischer backed up Halak for the eighth straight game. ... Koivu had 21 goals and 71 points in 2002-03, his first full season after overcoming non-Hodgkin intra-abdominal lymphoma.

Our season is over. Not in games, but in every other way. We still have 2 games. Lucky us.

Who Got The Goals?

1-0 Saku Koivu - Candians (16:46 1st PPG)
2-0 Saku Koivu - Canadians (14:42 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Hannu - 30 shots against, 28 saves, 2 goals against

Three Stars

Saku Koivu C (Canadians) - 2 goals, 0 assists
Jaroslav Halak G (Canadians) - 29 saves, 1.0 Save PCT
Hannu Toivonen G (Bruins) - 28 saves, .933 Save PCT

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 51-21-7
Ottawa: 47-24-9
Montreal: 42-32-6
Toronto: 39-30-11
Boston: 35-39-6

It's just not good enough. Our penultimate game of the season is against Buffalo tomorrow night. Joy of joys.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Bruins @ Sabres 05/04/2007

Our penultimate game of the season saw us lose to Buffalo again.

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres matched a franchise record with their 52nd win -- and did it the hard way.

With top spot in the Eastern Conference already secured, the Sabres rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Boston Bruins 4-2 Thursday night.

Thomas Vanek scored twice and added an assist, and goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 22 shots to win his 39th and set a franchise record -- one ahead of the mark set by Don Edwards in 1977-78. Better still, Buffalo moved into a tie for first place in the overall NHL standings, after West-leading Detroit lost 3-2 in shootout at Chicago.

All in all, it was an entertaining way for Buffalo to close out its home season.

"Ah, I don't think we've panicked all year," Vanek said. "You look at our offensive firepower and you're not allowed to panic. And then you have a goalie like Miller back there, when we give up two as a team, we know we can win 3-2, 4-2 like we did tonight."

It marked the 10th time Buffalo has won by overcoming a two-goal deficit, and it provided a fitting bookend after the Sabres opened their home schedule by twice rallying from two-goal deficits to beat Montreal 5-4 in a shootout in October.

"It shows good character," Miller said. "We feel like we're in every hockey game. As long as we can stay close and stay composed."

The Sabres almost made it look easy in beating a Bruins team that lost its fifth straight and was already eliminated from playoff contention.

The key was Ales Kotalik's goal, which came 21 seconds after Patrice Bergeron scored to give Boston a 2-0 lead. Vanek tied the game before the first period was over, and then scored the go-ahead goal by capping a great individual effort 4:26 into the third period.

Getting to a loose puck at his own blue line, Vanek streaked up the right wing ahead of defender Dennis Wideman. Approaching the Bruins' net, Vanek cut in front by outmuscling Wideman and then slipped a shot in through the legs of Hannu Toivonen.

"In the third period, they turned it up a bit and we just didn't respond," Bruins coach Dave Lewis said.

Then again, Lewis added, the Sabres "are a pretty powerful team."

Andrew Ference also scored for Boston, which dropped to 1-9-1 in its past 11 games.

The Sabres, by comparison, are on a roll, improving to 8-2-1 in their past 11.

With two weekend road games left, Buffalo (52-21-7) has already matched its win total from last season. And they upped their league-leading total of goals scored to 303.

The Sabres are also getting healthier, welcoming back Maxim Afinogenov, who played his first game after missing 21 with a broken left wrist.

Afinogenov, who assisted on Derek Roy's goal, showed he hadn't lost a step midway through the second period, when he got around Ference and cut to the front of the net before having his sharp backhander stopped by Toivonen.

Afinogenov forgot all about the injury after his first shift ended when Ference opened the scoring.

"For the first game it was OK, but I had the one mistake on the first shift," Afinogenov said. "But after that, I think I played pretty well."

Miller was solid, too, stopping all 11 shots he faced after allowing two goals. His biggest save came in the second period, when he got across to rob Ference, set up for a one-timer at the right post.

Miller is looking ahead to the playoffs, and would gladly trade his 39 wins for 16 in the postseason. He's ready.

"I don't want to call it playoff mode because I don't think we need to change anything," Miller said. "I don't want these guys thinking that we have to hit a switch. There's no switch. It's just what we do."

Game notes
Vanek became the first Sabres player to score 42 since 1992-93, when Alexander Mogilny scored 76 goals and Pat LaFontaine added 53. ... Bruins RW Mark Mowers sat out after hurting his shoulder at Montreal on Tuesday. ... The Sabres became the fourth NHL team in the past 30 years to win 10 games in which they trailed by two goals. Carolina did it 10 times last year, while Edmonton, in 1983-84, and Hartford, in 1985-86, accomplished the feat 12 times.

Awful.

Who Got the Goals?

1-0 Andrew Ference - Bruins (4:01 1st)
2-0 Patrice Bergeron - Bruins (14:01 1st PPG)
2-1 Ales Kotalik - Sabres (14:22 1st)
2-2 Thomas Vanek - Sabres (18:38 1st)
2-3 Thomas Vanek - Sabres (4:26 3rd)
2-4 Derek Roy - Sabres (15:46 3rd PPG)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Hannu Toivonen - 33 shots against, 29 saves, 4 goals against

Three Stars

Thomas Vanek LW (Sabres) - 2 goals, 1 assist
Dainius Zubrus RW (Sabres) - 0 goals, 1 assist
Derek Roy C (Sabres) - 1 goal, 1 assist

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 52-21-7
Ottawa: 47-25-9
Montreal: 42-33-6
Toronto: 39-31-11
Boston: 35-40-6

Oh well. At least we'll hopefully get a good pick in the NHL Entry Draft. Our last game is tonight, and we'll lose to Ottawa on Fan Appreciation Night.

[Tealey7]

Game Review - Senators @ Bruins 07/04/2007

Last game of the season, and Fan Appreciation Night. For us, the only mildly interesting thing about Fan Appreciation Night is that the first letters of the words spells FAN. How awesome!

Originally Posted by ESPN.com

BOSTON -- The Ottawa Senators weren't about to squander another chance for home-ice advantage in the playoffs.

They beat Boston 6-3 Saturday night, scoring twice in just over three minutes after the Bruins cut the lead to 4-3 in the third period. The victory gave the Senators home-ice advantage in their best-of-seven first-round series against Pittsburgh.

"It shows that we can win a game when we need to," Ottawa coach Bryan Murray said. "We wanted to make sure we had a win going into the playoffs. We lost the game the other night with 10 seconds left."

The Senators could have clinched home-ice advantage with a win at home Thursday night. But Maxime Talbot scored with 9.8 seconds to go, giving the Penguins a 3-2 win. Had the Senators lost to Boston, the Penguins would have had home-ice advantage because they beat the New York Rangers on Saturday night.

Ottawa and Pittsburgh each had 105 points, but the Senators won the first tiebreaker and the No. 4 spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs with one more victory.

Saturday's game "was kind of like another opportunity and you want to take care of it," Ottawa goalie Ray Emery said.

Dany Heatley's 50th goal of the season broke a 2-2 tie early in the second period and the Senators never relinquished the lead.

Heatley became the first player with consecutive seasons of at least 50 goals since Pavel Bure did it with Florida in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001. Heatley also had exactly 50 last season, his first with Ottawa.

"This team has a lot to do with it," he said, "It's a lot of fun, a good way to end the season. It's nice. It's been two great regular seasons. Now we want to get on a roll going into the playoffs."

The Bruins missed postseason play for the second straight year and have won just one playoff series in 11 seasons.

"I could have done a lot of things better," first-year coach Dave Lewis said. "I want us to be more competitive and I'd like to be more physical. We have to have the players who are willing to do that."

The Bruins lost their last six games and went 1-10-1 in their last 12. First-year general manager Peter Chiarelli, Ottawa's assistant GM last season, overhauled the Bruins roster but they fell short of their goal.

"That's the biggest disappointment, not making the playoffs," said Marc Savard, who led the Bruins in scoring.

On Saturday, the Bruins gave up three consecutive goals after taking a 2-1 lead.

"It's so disappointing to end that way, when you think you're going to end on a good note," Boston's Aaron Ward said.

With the score 2-2, Heatley's slap shot from the top of the left circle went between goalie Tim Thomas' right pad and the post with 5:15 gone in the second period.

Jason Spezza made it 4-2 at 8:52 of the period with his second goal of the game and 34th of the season when he redirected Christoph Schubert's shot from the left point.

The Bruins cut the lead to 4-3 with 3:42 gone in the third period on Petr Tenkrat's ninth goal on a power play.

But the Senators scored twice in the next six minutes -- Daniel Alfredsson's 29th goal and Patrick Eaves' 14th. Alfredsson, who added two assists, scored with a two-man advantage.

The Senators will be making their 10th straight playoff appearance, the longest current streak among Canadian teams.

"Obviously, if it goes to a seven-game series it's important to have that big game at home," Emery said, "and it's nice to be starting out at home and maybe we can put the other team behind the eight-ball.

Boston struck early with Marco Sturm's 27th goal with just 1:28 gone. Mike Comrie tied it two minutes later, but Petr Kalus restored Boston's lead less than three minutes after that. Ottawa tied the game less than a minute later, with 6:50 gone in the game, on Spezza's first goal.

Game notes
The Bruins finished under .500 at home (18-19-4) for the third time in nine seasons. Before that stretch, they had gone 30 seasons without a losing record at home. ... Ottawa evened its season series with Boston, 4-4. ... Emery was 4-2 against the Bruins, including a 3-0 win in their previous game.

Another rout.

Who Got The Goals?

0-1 Marco Sturm - Bruins (1:28 1st)
1-1 Mike Comrie - Senators (3:25 1st)
1-2 Petr Kalus - Bruins (5:57 1st)
2-2 Jason Spezza - Senators (6:50 1st)
3-2 Dany Heatley - Senators (5:15 2nd)
4-2 Jason Spezza - Senators (8:52 2nd)
4-3 Petr Tenkrat - Bruins (3:42 3rd PPG)
5-3 Daniel Alfredsson - Senators (6:18 3rd PPG)
6-3 Patrick Eaves - Senators (9:24 3rd)

How Did The Goalie Do?

Hannu Toivonen - 28 shots against, 22 saves, 6 goals against

Current Northeast Division Standings

Buffalo: 53-22-7
Ottawa: 48-25-9
Toronto: 40-31-11
Montreal: 42-34-6
Boston: 35-41-6

Rubbish. The playoff picture is now set. The only reference I'm going to make about them is to list the fixtures, as doing 2 playoff threads is really going to be irritating and time consuming.

Eastern Conference Fixtures

Buffalo v New York Islanders
New Jersey v Tampa Bay
Atlanta v New York Rangers
Ottawa v Pittsburgh

Western Conference Fixtures

Detroit v Calgary
Anaheim v Minnesota
Vancouver v Dallas
Nashville v San Jose

The NHL Entry Draft is on June 22nd and 23rd and is hosted by the Columbus Blue Jackets. You can even buy tickets to this extravanganza as well. Should you really want to. Today the Draft Lottery will be held to decide which order the top 10 picks are in. Whoopee-doo.