Bruins Nation

What should have been a very fun game at the Garden turned really scary. Late in the first period, Randy Jones put a very dirty hit on Patrice Bergeron. he had to leave the game on a stretcher. It was later found out that Bergeron suffered a grade 3 concussion and a broken nose. I was 15 rows up from the hit, and it was a clear boarding, and Jones DID mean to injury him. he was thrown out of the game with a game misconduct and given a boarding major. Patrice Bergeron looks to be doing alright, he will probably miss quite some time. Phil Kessel will most likely step up and center for Sturm and Kobasew.

Prior to this hit, the game was very exciting. Both Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton won good fights. (Just imagine if they could have Reich, Thornton, and Lucic on one line. It would be beautiful.) All of the games goals were scored in the second period. The Bruins started off the scoring when Marco Sturm put in a rebound, on the power play, from a Zdeno Chara drive. Zdeno Chara blew that lead, however, when he let a puck on the power play slip by him. Mike Richards then got the puck and scored a short handed goal on an easy breakaway. Another power play goal gave Philadelphia the lead.

Tim Thomas had a great game, and the entire bruins team played hard, despite the circumstances. Glen Metropolit in particular played very well in Bergeron's spot. The Bruins next play Buffalo on Thursday at the Garden. The lines will probably be quite different without number 37.

Update: The Flyers won 2-1 over the Bruins. Randy Jones put an extremely dirty hit on Bergeron, knocking him out and sending him to Mass General. As of now he is still there with a concussion and a broken nose. It looked very bad from my seats at the Garden. All of Boston hopes he can return soon. My game summary should be written sometime tomorrow.

Also last night (very very very late last night) the Red Sox won game 3 10-5. They play tonight at 8:29 (right after the undefeated Patriots at 4:15) in Denver with a series lead of 3 games to none. Tonight could be it!!!

The 6-3 Boston Bruins are going to play the 6-3 Philadelphia Flyers at the garden at 4. I'll be there to watch the Bruins win game 10 and remain undefeated at home. The Flyers should put up a fight though. Gagne is unjured, however the Flyers have made a fantastic rebound this season. The additions of Martin Biron and Daniel Briere (both from Buffalo) have really changed what was a terrible Flyers team last season.

From Fluto Shinzawa at the Boston Globe blog:
Tim Thomas is starting in net. His amazing numbers earned him praise and the starting spot from Claude Julien. The lines should be the same as Thursday's game, which were:

Schaefer-Savard-Murray
Sturm-Bergeron-Kobasew
Axelsson-Krejci-Kessel
Lucic-Metropolit-Thornton

Chara-Ward
Alberts-Ference
Stuart-Wideman

Thomas

Go Bruins and then Go Red Sox!

Update: Lucic is staying!!!

On Thursday the Bruins won 3-1, the Red Sox won 2-1, and the #2 ranked BC Eagles won 14-10.

Schilling, Okajima, and Papelbon won the game for the Red Sox. The Red Sox pitchers were flawless. The Red Sox now head into Colorado up 2-0 in the World Series.

Matt Ryan, with under three minutes left, threw two touchdown passes to complete a Doug Flutie-like comeback for BC. They beat the #8 Virginia Tech Hokies and proved to the College Football world that BC is for real and that they deserve the number 2 spot.

The coolest part of Thursday, however, was the Chara vs. Koci fight:




• This weekend, the Bruins play Philly at the garden, the Sox play two in Denver (if they win both, then they are world series cahmpions) and the Patriots try to continue their undefeated season against the Redskins. Lucky for us Boston fans none of these games conflict with each other. so...

...Go Boston, the greatest city on earth! (with the greatest sports teams on earth!)

Great game! The Garden was basically empty, but the Bruins players did not seem to notice. After being destroyed by the Canadiens, it's nice to see the Bruins rebound like this.

No goals were scored in the first period, but that does not mean that the Bruins didn't win the period. Zdeno Chara pumped up every Boston fan in the world. Eleven minutes into the period, Chara and Koci got into a fight. Koci landed one punch, while Chara landed 12. One of Chara's punches forced Koci's face to erupt in blood. Blood covered his face, his jersey, and the ice underneath the fight. It took the ice crew near ten minutes to scrape up all the blood.

The game opened up in the second period. Two minutes in, Phil Kessel had a mini break away (I say mini because the defensemen were right on his tail) and got a wrist shot past Khabibulin to put the Bruins up. Later in the period, however, Chi-town scored on a 5 on 3 power play. The shooter had an open lane and the shot zoomed by Thomas glove side. It happens, the refs blew a call. Minutes later, Phil Kessel got it back with an amazing play!!! With the puck, Kessel went one on one with a Blackhawks defensemen. Kessel completely faked him out and then sent a wrist shot into the back of the net. So with two periods done, the Bruins had the lead 2-1.

In the third period, the Bruins got an insurance goal when Glen Metropolit netted his first of the season. It was a nice snap shot set up by a nice pass from PJ Axelsson. Tim Thomas played outstanding in goal the entire night. He has now given up 6 goals in 5 games (1.2 GAA) and has a 4-1 record. His save percentage is 96.2. His GAA and save% are still number one in the NHL.

12 points, 2nd in the Northeast Division and 4th in the Eastern Conference, I like it. The team is only getting better. The much improved Philadelphia Flyers will play the Bruins at 4 inside the Garden.

Who would have thought that this original six match-up between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Boston Bruins would not be the number one thing to watch, or the number two.

Tonight Boston fans get the World Series and the 7-0 BC Eagles vs. the 6-1 Virginia Tech Hokies.

I'll be at the Bruins game, I hope the other games go well!!!

P.S. Tim Thomas is starting!

OUCH! I hate the Canadiens. I always have and I always will. I was feeling great 'cause Red Sox made it to the world series, but Manny Fernandez crushed that. He, along with most of the Bruins team, were awful Monday night against the Habs. 6 different players scored on only 20 shots for the Habs. Meanwhile Denis Wideman was the only Bruins to score in 32 shots. His goal came on the power play when, after the Bruins were passing around the puck for a little while, he nailed the puck with a hard slap shot into the net. Nobody even started fight when things were looking down. I know Jeremy Reich would have, and I'm dissapointed that Shawn Thornton did not.

Most of all though, I am dissapointed in Manny Fernandez. NOt all of the goals were his fault, but a bunch of them were. He is making way too much money to be putting in mediocre performances. After four starts Fernandez is 2-2-0, giving up 16 goals (a GAA of 4) while making only 79 saves (a save percentage of 83.2). Tim Thomas on the other hand is 3-1-0 with a 1.26 GAA (1st in NHL, 5 goals in 4 games) and a save percentage of 96.2 (first in NHL). Manny Fernandez had a fantastic game against the Rangers on Saturday. Monday, however, proved that this is Tim Thomas's team. Claude Julien, please let Timmy play tomorrow against Chicago!

P.S. Go Red Sox!

What a game! By far the most intense game I have ever been to. Somehow Manny Fernandez and the Bruins defense managed to keep Jagr, Shanahan, Gomez, Avery, and Drury from scoring. Three periods went by and nobody was able to get one across the goal line. Mainly due to the Red Sox, the garden was not full, but whoever decided to skip this game really missed out.

Do I even have to say who it was that came up big in the shootout. Of course it was Phil Kessel. Kessel, after Bergeron and Sturm both missed and Fernandez stopped all three Ranger shots, sent the puck to the top of the net and won the game for the Bruins. The garden, as all of Bruins Nation can imagine, erupted!

The Bruins again had trouble getting shots off. I won't complain as long as the Defense keeps playing the way they are, but the bruins really should be shooting more. NYR had the game in control for most of the second and third period. With the stacked roster that the Rangers have, it is very dangerous to have to rely on defense. It worked though, and I'm happy.

Great Game! Great Atmosphere! The garden (probbaly due to the Red Sox game) was not sold out, but every fan that was there was a true member of Bruins Nation. As the game began, Milan Lucic started his first game at the garden in a very memorable way. He beat up Nick Tarnasky. Lucic got in every punch and then ended with a takedown, it was great. A minute later Andrew Ference's drive deflected off the stick of Peter Schaefer and into the net. Andrew Ference capitalized on a drive again, this time with 10 seconds left in the period. This time Marco Sturm slapped in the puck to put the Bruins up by 2.

Brad Richards sent a puck past Thomas in the second period, ruining what I thought would be his first shutout of the season. The Bruins snatched the game away from Tampa though in the third period with two goals. The first was when Mark Stuart sent a one-timer from Savard into the net, and the second was when Marco Sturm tipped in a pass from Bergeron.

So the Bruins are 1-0-0 at home. They take on New York at 4:00 PM. (I just read that Manny is starting in place of Thomas. hopefully Fernandez will be better in the east then he was in the west).

Update 5:30: I'm off to the garden...GO BRUINS!!!

The first home game of the season is tomorrow! Tim Thomas will most likely start. His Goals against average is second in the league, and his save percentage is third in the league. The Bruins swept Tampa bay last season, and with the way they played over the weekend, the Bruins could easily take game one of the season series. I'll be at the Garden to watch the lightning get destroyed, hopefully Bruins Nation will have this game sold out!

In other news, the Tribe have taken three in a row from the Red Sox. Down 3-1, the Red Sox will need to win three in a row to get into the World Series. I am keeping the faith, I know this Red Sox team can do it.

This weekend was pretty good for the Boston Sports teams. The Boston Red Sox are now 1-1 in their best of seven series against the Cleveland Indians. They won 10-3 on Friday but lost 13-6 last night. The New England Patriots remain undefeated after defeating the Dallas Cowboys 48-27. Boston College hockey is 1-1, and BC football is 7-0 after crushing Notre Dame. Boston College is now ranked 3rd in the country. And of course the Boston Bruins went 2-0 over the weekend.

Also, the NHL suspended Flyer's tough guy Jesse Boulerice for 25 games. This came after the vicious cross-check (click here for video) he put on Ryan Kessler of the Canucks. This is the second Flyer suspended for at least twenty games. In the pre-season, Steve Downie was suspended for twenty games after a very illegal hit.

Fortes Fortuna adiuvat: Fortune aids the brave. It's a latin phrase that basicall means those who are brave and work hard get lucky. That sums up last night's incredible win pretty well. Five different times the puck hit Mr. Post or Mrs. Crossbar but did not go in! Tim Thomas had a great game...again. He is now 2nd in the league in goals against average with a 1.34 GAA. (4 goals in three games, the number isn't exactly 4/3 though because the Bruins pulled the goalie for a minute against Anaheim.) Coach Julien, can we please stick with Timothy Thomas Jr in net on Thursday?

This Ten-Thirty game did not officially start until after eleven because of a power outage at the HP Pavilion center. Both teams came out strong, the Bruins, however, were the only ones to capitalize. That came late in the period when Patrice Bergeron netted a rebound, from a Zdeno Chara drive, while falling backwards. Both the second and third periods were dominated by San Jose. Boston had zero shots in the 2nd period. Thomas (26 saves) and the Bruins defense (with some help from the goal-posts) kep San Jose off the scoreboard. However:

With thirty seconds, the Sharks pulled Nabokov and scored, tying the game. Then, with 11.3 seconds left on the clock, Marco Sturm from behind the net found Aaron Ward a few feet in front of the blue line. Aaron Ward one-timed the puck past the Nabokov glove side to win the game! It was an incredible ending. I don't think I've ever gone from cussing to jumping for joy so quickly in my life.

So the Bruins end their 5 game road trip 3-2, and their California tour 2-1. Next game is Thursday at the TD Banknorth Garden.

last night's game was one of the most entertaining games I have ever watched. Marc Savard, coming off of an injury, had five points. Phil Kessel had a hat-trick. Milan Lucic scored his first NHL goal and won a fight. It was just a fantastic game. Both teams combined for FOURTEEN goals. It just doesn't get more fun to watch. The only down side to this game was that Manny Fernandez was horrible. He had some great saves, but 3 or 4 of the six goals, depending on how you look at them, were completely Manny's fault. The Bruins defense, even though they gave up six goals, played quite well. A few blown coverages here and there, but an overall strong performance. Meanwhile the offense played very well. The wingers and centers were positioning themselves well and creating scoring opportunities. Here's the period by period breakdown:

• The first period was not as goal-crazy as the other two. Near the middle of the period, Milan Lucic put on a big hit on Ivanans. They got into a fight, and as previously mentioned, Milan Lucic won against a much bigger Ivanans (a true heavyweight). Lucic got in more punches and took down Ivanans. Then with 3:05 left in the period, right after a power play, Phil Kessel's snap shot from the faceoff circle went in and the Bruins were up. Then, At the very end of the period, on the power play, Brad Stuart (yep, he's with LA now) shot a hard drive from the blue line that got by Manny. The two teams went into the locker rooms with the game tied at one.

• Four minutes into the second period, on the power play, Savard's shot from the faceoff circle was saved by Berneier. The rebound, however, was put in by Glen Murray on a great reaction and the Bruins were up 2-1. A minute and a half later, Aaron Ward recieved a pass at teh King blue line, he then lost control of his stick, regained control of his stick, and sent a very hard drive past Bernier to put the Bruins up by two. A few mintues later on the power play, Kessel tapped in a great tape-to-tape pass from Savard to put the Bruins up 4-1. The Bruins lost momentum as the period went on. With under three minuted left, A Savard slip led to Brady Murray skating up to Manny, deking him out, and scoring. Then with under a minute left, A kings shot on the power play led to an easy save by Fernandez. Manny could not hang onto the rebound though and Anze Kapiter had an empty net to shoot the rebound into. The second period ended with the Bruins up 4-3.

• A minute into the third period, Phil Kessel put in a Marc Savard rebound to give the Bruins a two goal lead and Kessel the hat trick. A few minutes after that, though, Mike Cammalleri's shot from right in front of Fernandez went in to cut the lead to one. Then Anze Kapiter's drive hit off the goal crossbar before Manny accidentally knocked it into the goal tying the game at 5. The Bruins did not break though! Nine minutes into the period, Glen Murray set up a Marc Savard one-timer to give the Bruins the lead. Then a little later in the period, David Krejci was skating down the ice on the right side with the puck. He was able to (in playmaker fashion) find Milan Lucic bolting down the center of the ice. Lucic easily tapped it into the net (his first NHl goal) to give the Bruins the 7-5 lead. Chuck Kobasew was able to score an empty net goal to give the Bruins an 8-5 lead. The Kings did not give up though, and O'sullivan scored with 4 seconds left. And the Bruins won 8-6!

So to sum it up, the goal scorers were: Kessel (3), Ward, Murray, Savard, Kobasew, and Lucic. The assist-ers were: Lucic, Kessel, Axelsson, Krejci (2), Schaefer, Murray, Bergeron, Savard (4), Ference, and Chara (2).

The Bruins take on Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks tonight at 10:30.

Update 1:30 AM: The Bruins beat the Kings 8-6! The summary post will be up late tomorrow, and it's going to be long. In the meantime, know this: Marc Savard was amazing and Phil Kessel had a hat-trick.

Claude Julien has decided to start Manny Fernandez tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. WHY? I don't get it! Fernandez has given up 4 goals in one game, while Thomas has given up 3 goals in two games. As long as Tim Thomas is playing well, leave him in!!! If Thomas has a bad game, THEN let Fernandez play. It doesn't matter whether Manny Fernandez is supposed to be the number one goalie, I just want the goalie who is playing the best to start. And right now that is Tim Thomas! There's nothing I can do about it now, so I hope Fernandez does well. Go Bruins!

Also, the Red Sox are crushing the Indians in game one of the American League Championship Series. They are currently up 10-2 in the 7th.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that the third period meltdown that caused this loss was just a fluke.

The pre-game ceremony was fun to watch. Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer came back for the lifting of the championship banner ceremony. The entire solod out crowd started shouting "one more year". If that didn't convince Scotty to come back then I don't know what will.

Anyway, the game started out great. One minute into the game Chara caught a Ducks turnover in the nuetral zone. He snapped a pass to Glen Metropolit, who then found Kobasew with a pass a few yard in front of him. Kobasew then a great move and scored on a slap shot. Throughout the entire first period the Bruins man-handled the Ducks. The Bruins were hitting and causing turnovers. That didn't last the entire game though. In the middle of the second period, A Ducks drive from the point hit off Thomas' pad and was redirected into the net by Getzlaf. The game was tied going into the third period.

In the third period, the Bruins started playing for the tie. Momentum was lost and the Bruins would have just been lucky to squeeze a point out of a very weak Anaheim team. That didn't happen though. A faceoff in the Bruins zone led to a very crowded net. Then a hard drive by Beachamen hit off Krejci and went into the net. I hated every third period collapse last season, and they're just as bad this season. We're only three games in and already the Bruins have blown a lead.

The Bruins next game is tonight against the Kings at 10:30. I'll be watching the Red Sox beat Cleveland, and then the Bruins beat Los Angeles.

One last note: Both Andrew Ference and David Krejci played longer then Zdeno Chara. It's seems that Claude Julien is sticking to his word about playing Chara less and letting him play his old style.

Update: 1:30 AM Ducks won 2-1. The Bruins fell apart in the third. It was a bad way to lose.

Technically that mission has already been accomplished, but you all know what I mean. Tonight at 10 the Bruins are playing the Anaheim Ducks. The game won't officially start until even later than that though because this is the Ducks home opener. Their home opener ceremonies include recieving their Championship rings. (That'll be our home opener ceremony next year)

Also, Marc Savard will not play this evening, ending his streak of playing in 84 straight Bruins games. He is out with a strained groin and may be available for Friday night's game against the LA Kings. Glen Metropolit will most likely take his place, and either Bochenski or Reich will see their first action of the season. Tim Thomas will start in net.

Go Bruins!

Great news came out of the Bronx late last night. Jorge Posada struck out swinging in the bottom of the ninth, ending the Yankees season! The Red Sox will play Cleveland at Fenway park on Friday (before the Bruins game) to start the best of seven series.

Meanwhile, there isn't much happening here (and by here I mean all of Bruins Nation). I'm very excited to see how the Bruins do against the defending Stanley Cup champion Anaheim Ducks. It is true that a Ducks team without Niedermayer and Selanne is a much weaker team, however the game is in Southern California and should be a good one.

Word is that Marc Savard is day to day with a groin strain he suffered during the second period of Saturday's game in Phoenix. I'm not too woried, even if he has to miss a couple games. Metropolit and Kessel can step up and we might even get to see Reich or Bochenski. Both of them are talented players who deserve ice time but can't get any because of the Bruins depth at the forward positions.

It's been a little over a year and I have finally reached the 300 post mark.

Today was a very good day for Boston sports. First (and most important) the Bruins won (at approx 12:30 AM). Then a little later in the day the Patriots destroyed the Browns 34-17. A few hours after that, the Red Sox eliminated the Angels by winning 9-1 and moved on to the next round of the MLB playoffs. It's been a good day for any sports fan.

The Bruins don't play again until Wednesday when they start their tour of California in Anaheim. What a hard way to start the season, five road games starting in Dallas, then going to Phoenix, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose.

This is the Bruins team I wanted to see show up on Friday. Phoenix didn't have a chance.

The Bruins scored twice early in the first period. First it was Patrice Bergeron on the power play. Then thirty seconds later, Axelsson and Kobasew had a shorthanded breakaway which led to Kobasew shooting one into the corner of the net. In the second period, Phoenix scored when a rebound off of Thomas hit the skate of Niko Kapanen and went in. There was nothing Tim Thomas could do.

Mike Millbury said it best in between the second and third period: "it's gut check time, let's see what the 07-08 Bruins do in their 3rd periods". Well the Bruins played flawlessly in the third period. The Bruins got an insurance goal halfway through the period. On the power play, Kessel managed to keep the puck in the Coyotes zone and find Krejci in the corner. Krejci then found Marco Sturm skating towards the net. Sturm one-timed it past tellqvist to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead. great defense ensued and the Boston Bruins held on to get their first win of the season.

There are so many positives to write about right now. Tim Thomas is making his case for why he should remain the number one goalie for the third straight season. Thomas had 36 saves last night and just looked better then Fernandez did on Friday. Meanwhile the Bruins penalty kill did great last night. Ference, Alberts, Kobasew, and Axelsson really shut down the Phoenix power play, and the shorthanded goal was great. Also, Chara was playing like we all want him too. He was physical, and a real presence in front of the net. One minute into the game he made a hard check on the Coyotes captain and almost got into a fight. Hopefully his first fight of the season isn't too far away.

Terrible way to start off the season! Manny Fernandez and the entire Bruins defense made some huge mistakes. Even Fernandez said he was "disappointed" at his performance. Fernandez went on to say that he wasn't mentally prepared for the game, even though he was prepared physically. And, except for one great power play, Marty Turco and the Dallas Defense shut down the Bruins. Throughout the game Dallas just looked like a stronger team, it was hard to watch.

Besides for Bergeron's very nice power play goal, and a few nice saves by Fernandez, the only other thing I can say that I liked was the willingness of Thornton and Lucic to fight. Immediately after the Bruins went down 2-0, Shawn Thornton took down a much bigger Todd Fedoruk. Then, one second later, Milan Lucic won a great fight against a slightly bigger Brad Winchester. It was Lucic's first NHL game of his career.

The Bruins are playing in Phoenix tonight at 10:00. If you recall, last season the Bruins got crushed in their first game but came back to win the next night. Hopefully the Bruins will repeat that part of the season. (And Hopefully Julien will get it through his head that Thomas is a better goalie and put him in tonight)

Also, I hope everyone switched to the Sox game after the Bruins game. Manny Ramirez crushed a ball onto the Mass Pike to win it for the Red Sox 6-3 in the bottom of the ninth.

UPDATE 1:04 AM: The Bruins lost 4-1, meanwhile the Red Sox won 6-3 off of a walkoff homerun by Manny Ramirez (if only Boston's other Manny had played well). The usual Bruins Nation game summary will be posted tomorrow.


I can't wait any longer! It's been too long since there was a Bruins game that mattered. The Bruins start the season tonight in Dallas. The game is on NESN and will start promptly at 8:30. Now I know the Red Sox are playing at the same time, but I'm sure NESN will have a ticker at the bottom of the screen.

Today's scratches are Brandon Bochenski, Jeremy Reich, and Dennis Wideman. Based on the morning skate, Manny Fernandez will start in net (even though he had a TERRIBLE pre-season), leaving the Tim "the tank" Thomas on the bench.

The expected lines from Fluto Shinzawa are:

Schaefer-Savard-Murray
Sturm-Bergeron-Kobasew
Axelsson-Krejci-Kessel
Lucic-Metropolit-Thornton

Chara-Ward
Alberts-Ference
Stuart-Allen

Stuart and Allen won't probably see that many minutes. I'm surprised coach Julien isn't putting Stuart with a veteran like Ward or Chara. Also it's nice to see that the Bruins have three reliable scoring lines and a tough guy line. I'm surprised that the toughest guy on the team (Jeremy Reich) isn't playing, I guess the team is trying to use all of Lucic's nine available games.

The Bruins are playing at 8:30, and they are going to beat up on Dallas!!!

P.S. Go Red Sox too!

Yesterday at the garden the Bruins played fantastic hockey...except for four very costly slip-ups. Skating was sharp, passing, shooting, and play making were all good. Even the defense played strong. It was just one defensive mistake in all three periods, plus a huge blunder by Fernandez with a minute left. Krejci scored in the first, and Murray in the second. Overall though I thought Chuck Kobasew was the best skater on the ice. Alberts and Stuart both got into fights during the game. Alberts beat up his guy in front of the Bruins bench, and Mark Stuart took down Islanders captain Bill Guerrin. I think after this game Coach Julien will be forced to start Thomas on Friday. Fernandez was having trouble keeping rebounds and he made a couple mistakes with the puck.

Today GM Peter Chiarelli announced that Nate Thompson, Peteri Nokolainen, and Matt Hunwick have been assigned to Providence. Jeff Hoggan was also placed on waivers.

So here are the lines that I have as of now. I cannot figure out a place to put in Axelsson or Lucic though, and I do think they both should play. Lucic could switch in and out with Thornton, Reich, or Metropolit on the tough guy line. That leaves Axelsson. The Bruins need PJ on the penalty kill, but I don't know who to take out.

Schaefer-Savard-Murray
Kobasew-Bergeron-Bochenski
Thronton-Metropolit-Reich
Sturm-Krejci-Kessel

Chara-Stuart
Alberts-Ference
Allen-Ward