Bruins Nation

Back to back games against New York didn't really go as planned. Coming off the win against Philly, I thought the Bruins, with Chara and Stuart back, would be able to beat some old rivals. I was wrong, the Bruins lost Thursday to the Islanders, and earlier this afternoon to the Rangers.

This afternoon's game was pathetic. The Bruins mustered absolutely nothing. Skating, passing, shooting, and overall hockey play was terrible. The Rangers too played a pathetic game, but at least they were trying. It really did look like the Bruins were putting in no effort.

To start the game, the Bruins put on some good pressure. That was the only good pressure they would put on the Rangers the entire game. Ten minutes in, the Islanders won a faceoff in the Bruins zone and the puck went to an Islanders defensemen at the blue line. His drive was saved but Michael Nylander put the rebound in the net. 38 seconds later the Bruins won a faceoff in the Rangers zone and the puck went to Zdeno Chara at the blue line. He passed it to Brad Stuart who drove the puck on net. The puck went wide and bounced off the skate of Marc Savard and into the net, tying the game at one. And that is how the first period ended.

The second period was pretty boring. The Rangers went on the offensive and never looked back. In the second period, the rangers took 22 shots while the Bruins only took 6. Less then six minutes in, the rangers scored on a very messy rebound goal. They took a 2-1 lead. The rest of the period though was basically spent killing Ranger power plays. event though our offense didn't show up, our defense, especially Tim Thomas, sure did. Thomas had some miraculous saves while our defense killed three penalties late in the second period.

So with the Bruins down one I thought they would come out of the locker room to start the third period all fired up. I was wrong. The Bruins offense had the same amount of intensity in the third period as they had in the second period, none. Tim Thomas and the Bruins defense kept the game close, but New York sealed the deal when Jed Ortmeyer's penalty shot went by the pad of Thomas with under three minutes left in the game. So the Bruins lost 3-1. That is what happens when you don't play hard, you lose.

The Bruins have two big games coming up. Monday at 1 in the Garden the Bruins play Buffalo, then on Wednesday the Bruins go to Buffalo. A great morale booster would be two straight wins against the best team in the east!