Bruins Nation

Jeff Hoggan was placed on Waivers as GM Chiarelli, and coach Lewis, decided to call up David Krejci, who is having a fantastic season with Providence.

Some big lineup changes are occuring for tonight's game also. Here are the lineups:
Savard - Begeron - Murray
Sturm - Kejci - Kessel
Axelsson - Primeau - Donovan
Mowers - Boyes - Tenkrat

Mara - Chara
Alberts - Stuart
Allen - Jurcina

Toivonen

We need to start winning, and there is no better team to beat then Buffalo.

This has got to stop. Now we're even losing to New York teams. And not just losing to New York teams, but getting creamed by New York teams. 6-1 is just unacceptable.

Bottom line is, we're still cold, and it looks like we are going to stay cold forever.

Last night's game started out pretty bad. Nine minutes in, New York scored on a very wierd goal. The puck some how bounced into the net after a bad centering pass from behind the Bruins goal. A few minutes later, Patrice Bergeron scored a very nice power play goal to tie up the game. Right before the first period cam to a close, NY scored, giving them the lead.

New York scored early in the second period, and to everyone's surprise, coach Lewis pulled Thomas and put in Toivonen. Hannu didn't do any better then Thomas, as he quickly let up a goal when a Bruins turnover led to a New York shorthanded goal.

6:26 into the third period, A Ranger penalty shot gave the Rangers a four goal lead. Then a minute later, New York scored on a power play when Nylander's very nice shot went past Toivonen. It was nice though to see Nylander get nailed into the net afterwards though. And the Bruins lost 6-1.

We need to start turning the season around NOW!

I got nothing. As much as I love this team the way it is, we need a trade. There's no fire anymore. Yesterday's game against Ottawa, and last weeks game against Ottawa, were terrible. The Bruins have just played flat.

Basically nothing happened in the first two periods, except for some very nice saves by Thomas. In the third period, the goose-eggs on the scoreboard were erased. Ottawa scored twice towards the beginning of the period, it was bound to happen. Glen Murray answered with a very nice goal, but that is all the Bruins could muster. Ottawa scored an empty-netter near the end of the game and the Bruins lost 3-1.

Who am I?
I am a 6 foot 9 inch hockey player
and no words rhyme with my name,
I won the hardest-shot competition
and scored twice in the allstar game.

When I am on the ice
I make all forwards surrender,
yep you guessed it
I am Boston's best defender.

No words rhyme with Zdeno Chara, who is this week's player of the week. He had two goals in the all-star game, and his slap shot clocked in at a league best 100.4 MPH.

The all-star break ends tomorrow! The Bruins play in Ottawa at 3:00 PM. Tim Thomas will start in net. It also looks like Primeau and York are getting healthier, still no word whether either will play tomorrow though.

Once in the second period and once in the third.

Zdeno Chara scored two goals for the Eastern Conference all-star team last night, the only multi-goal scorer from the east. The West still won 12-9 though.

So, during the all-star break, Kessel had a hat trick in the YoungStars game, Chara won the hardest shot competition and scored twice in the all-star game. It's too bad the past two games don't count.

Both Bruins players who were selected by the NHL to go to Dallas this week for the festivities shined on Tuesday night.

Spectacular play by Phil Kessel made Boston proud. He netted 3 goals and also had an assist in the YoungStars game.

Zdeno Chara also had a great performance. His 100.4 MPH slapshot won him the hardest shot competition.

It's nice to our boys doing well. In case anyone cares, the East beat the West in the YoungStars game 9-8. The East had a huge lead the entire game until the West had a comeback. It was too little too late though. the East also won the skills competition 15-11. I stopped watching after Chara won the slapshot contest.

The All-Star game is on tonight at 8:00 on VERSUS.

So the Patriots won't be winning Superbowl 41, They'll still win Superbowl 42.

Last night's game was heart-breaking! I hate the Colts, I hate Payton Manning, and I hate everyone associated with the city of Indianapolis. Sorry, I'm just angry at the Patriots for blowing an amazing season. We were up 21-6 at halftime. We just basically didn't show up to play the second half. It is a little ironic that the Colts won 38-34 because we once beat the Colts 38-34 a few years back.

Here's to the Superbowl 42 Champion New England Patriots.

In the meantime, Superbowl 41 will be played on the Sunday after next and will be between the Chicago Bears and the Indianapolis Colts.

Yes, I do plan on sitting on my couch and watching football from 3-10 PM today.

NFC Championship game:
New Orleans Saints at Chicago Bears 3:00 PM on FOX

AFC Championship game:
New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts 6:30 PM on CBS

Both games should be excellent down-to-the-wire football games.

GO PATS!

A fun game to watch, even though this one didn't go our way. Our defense played very well, Hannu Toivonen was amazing, and our offense put in its worst performance of the season. It also didn't help that the Bruins managed to accumulate 46 penalty minutes. Ottawa had ten power plays, and even though the Bruins managed to kill off nine of them, it definitely did not help always being man down.

Instead of summarizing each period, I'm goin got go a different route and just summarize the gme in one enormous paragraph.

Even though the Bruins played pretty well, Ottawa played sound hockey. They came out firing and Hannu Toivonen, who had 36 saves, was the only thing that managed to stop Ottawa. Chris Phillips scored the first goal for Ottawa with 2 and half left in the first. Phillips had a wide open shot after Toivonen got caught up and the Bruins defense were finishing a long shift. The Bruins lost Paul Mara for the second period after he beat up Schubert for thorwing a cheap shot. Dany Heatley scored for Ottawa late in the second when Hannu Toivonen couldn't hang on to the puck. Hannu played a fantastic game that was just one slip-up. Anyway, late in the second, the Bruins lost Andrew Alberts for the game when he was penalized for boarding. Marc Savard then argued and got penalized, but for some reason, the refs gave Marc Savard 2 minutes and then Alberts another ten. The third period yielded nothing for the Bruins and an empty net goal by Dany Heatley gave the Bruins a 3-0 loss.

I cannot say it enough, Hannu Toivonen played his best game of the season. He was stopping everything last night. Two Ottawa goals weren't his fault and the third one was just a fluke. Also, because of penalties, the Bruins were really short-staffed on defense, that and the fact that Lewis was still upset with Jurcina, meant that Brad Stuart and Zdeno Chara had to put in some huge minutes. Chara totalled over 33 while Stuart had something in the high twenties. One last post-game fact worth mentioning is that the Bruins really did not have one good scoring opportunity. Late in the third peirod, the Bruins weren't even setting up plays, they would cross the blueline and then immediately take a shot on goal that would go wide.

So everyone on the Bruins except Chara and Kessel have the week off. Next game is a rematch against Ottawa next Saturday. Maybe the week off will be just what the Bruins need to put together some more win streaks like the ones we saw in November and December.

The Ottawa Senators are coming to the garden tonight for a Northeast division showdown, it should be a good one.

Hannu Toivonen will start in goal tonight. I guess Lewis really liked how Hannu Toivonen stopped shootout shots by Crosby, malkin, and Gonchar consecutively. That was the only thing I liked about Toivonen's performance on Thursday. During the actual game part, his reactions were very slow. Two of Pittsburgh's goals could've been saved had Toivonen been able to lift his glove up quicker.

No matter what, I do want Toivonen to have a fantastic game tonight. Go Bruins!

Who am I?

I scored two goals on Wednesday,
and the winning shootout in last night's game.
I got promoted from line 4 to 2,
But to me it's all the same.


The way I beat cancer and Ryan Miller,
Should tell you I am not one to wrestle.
Yep you guessed it,
My name is Phil Kessel.

Player of the week is Phil Kessel! Runners up were Marc Savard, Glen Murray, Marco Sturm, and Bobby Allen. Savard, Murray, and Sturm had some good goals this week. Allen played just under 20 minutes last night, his second NHL game since being called up from Providence to take the place of Jason York.

Next game is Tomorrow night at home against Ottawa, another big game.

16,468 fans, including myself, went to the garden last night and saw a fantastic game. Phil Kessel got another shootout-winning goal, Toivonen got his first win in ages, and the Bruins looked good against Pittsburgh.

The first period was pretty boring. Pitt scored two goals. One of them was on a shot that was so fast the goal light didn't go off, and the other was just a shot that Toivonen didn't even go for. The puck just flew by Hannu's shoulder.

One minute into the second, Glen Murray scored when he was wide open in the Penguins zone when he got the puck, deked and scored! Towards the middle of the period on a Bruins power play, Sturm shoved a rebound through the pad of Fleury to tie up the game. Then what seemed like seconds later, Brad Stuart's drive went in the net, giving the Bruins a 3-2 lead. The second period goals for the Bruins stopped there. Pittsburgh managed to score two power play goals later in the second. One of them Toivonen was just two seconds late in lifting his glove. Hannu's reaction time wasn't that sharp last night.

In the third period, with the Bruins down one, we started playing more intense hockey and it paid off. In the middle of the period, Marc Savard put a rebound in net, tying the game.

Overtime was fun, the Bruins had a lot of chances but Fleury had some nice saves. So th egame went into a shootout.

Erik Christensen and Marco Sturm traded off goals on the Penguins and Bruins first shots respectively. Then Toivonen stopped Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby while Fleury stopped Bergeron and Savard. Then Toivonen stopped Sergei Gonchar (yes, that Sergei Gonchar). Phil Kessel was up next, the rookie could win the shootout with a goal. He skated down the ice and scored, winning the game for the Boston Bruins.

The game was a ton of fun!

One last note: Andrew Alberts and Milan Jurcina did not play at all in the third period. Coach Lewis benched them both because he didn't think they were playing well. That led to call-up Bobby Allen playing some hard time for the Bruins. That hard time got him some well deserved praise. Also, Brad Stuart actually had more playing time than Zdeno Chara, go figure.

Scoring leader Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins will play the Boston Bruins tonight at the garden. Yours truly, the president of Bruins Nation, will be in attendance.

From various news sources (I.E. Boston.com's Bruins blog, and Bish's blog):
Hannu toivonen will get the nod tonight. I'm lloking forward ot getting a look at his new mask. Zdeno Chara will probably play a lot tonight, most likely when Sidney Crosby is on the ice. Dave Lewis also hinted that Zeno Chara may take some face-offs on the penalty kill. That position is usually taken by Wayne Primeau, however with Primeau injured through the all-star break, Chara may be taking his place.

Go Bruins!

Even though the game was closer then it seems, a loss is still a loss. I guess this fits in the category of a third period letdown, but it wasn't like the usual letdowns. The Bruins continued skating hard and well in third period, the best team in the east though managed to get more pucks in the net.

Before I begin, I would like to give some props to the lady who sang the national anthems in Buffalo. She sang both the Canadian and USA national anthems without an organ or any other instrument in the background.

In the first period, the Sabres, with their nice new jerseys, came out firing, playing with an all out offensive strategy. The Bruins played excellent defense though. Ten minutes in, Phil Kessel intecepted the puck in the Sabres' zone, and had a short breakaway. He shot the puck five-hole, right in between Miller's legs, and scored. Two minutes later on a Sabres' power play, A buffalo drive went wide of the net. That's when Briere passed the puck right in front of the net. The puck bounced off of Chara and then was tipped in by Vanek, tying the game. Two minutes later, A shot from the middle of the Bruins zone was deflected into the Bruins net. Thomas was screened by a sea of players and had no chance at the puck, and the Sabres had the lead.

Later in the period, with under two minutes left, Chara had the puck on a 4 on 3 power play in the Sabres' zone (Chara was offsides, but no refs saw) when he passed it to Glen Murray who scored, tying the game. Amazingly though, with five seconds left, A drive that was deflected in the Bruins zone got by Thomas, and the period ended with the Sabres on top 3-2.

Nothing much happened in the second. 56 seconds into the third period, Marc Savard passed across the ice to Phil Kessel in the Buffalo zone, Kessel then scored his second goal of the game when he one-timed it in, tying the game at 3.

Things started going downhill though. Buffalo started getting more scoring opportunities. Tim Thomas started coming up with some huge saves, but that wasn't enough. Ten minutes in, A drive off of Marco Sturm's shoulder managed to get into the net, giving the Sabres the lead. Then five minutes after that, Afinogenov, by himself, got around the Bruins defense, deked in front of Thomas, and scored. An empty net goal with under a minute left sealed the deal, and the Bruins lost 6-3.

One Last Note: Last night was Phil Kessel's first multi-goal game in his NHL career.

The Boston Bruins play the Buffalo Sabres today in what is a rare Wednesday night game. Some news about tonight's game is here.

In short, Primeau is hurt, Allen is in for York (instead of Lashoff) and Thomas is starting. Also I have no idea what the lines will be tonight. Expect the Murray - Savard - Axelsson line to stay the same but that's it.

Also Toivonen got a new mask with some pretty cool stuff on it. Look for him to start in tomorrow's game at the garden against Pittsburgh.

Today Peter Chiarelli announced that Yan Stastny has been traded to the St. Louis Blues for a 5th round pick in the 2007 NHL draft.

Peter Chiarelli also announced that Matt Lashoff has been assigned to Providence. Subsequently Bobby Allen was recalled from Providence to play in Buffalo tomorrow. I don't know anything about Allen but I hope he is good. (I'm too lazy to put a link)

Also Fluto from the Boston Globe Bruins blog (once again too lazy for a link) is saying that Primeau won't be making the trip to Buffalo. Hoggan won't be a healthy scatch for tomorrow's game.

Also, here is the fight from yesterday between Alberts and Peters:

What a great game! Yesterday's game Bruins Nation saw fantastic hockey. Even if the Bruins lost I would've been happy. The Bruins played hard, and beat the best team in the east.

After the Bruins had gone 1-5-1 in their last seven games, coach Dave Lewis decided to switch up the lines:

Old lines		New lines
Axelsson - Savard - Murray		Axelsson - Savard - Murray
Sturm - Bergeron - Boyes		Sturm - Bergeron - Donovan
Mowers - Primeau - Donovan		Mowers - Primeau - Chistov
Tenkrat - Kessel - Chistov		Tenkrat - Boyes - Kessel*

*Kessel was moved to right wing from center.

In yesterday's matinee, the Bruins started out firing, and continued playing fast-paced hard hockey the enitre game. Three and a half minutes in, on the power play, Zdeno Chara's drive was saved, Marc Savard then put the rebound in net and the Bruins had an early 1-0 lead.

That lead didn't last very long. Two minutes later Buffalo scored when Thomas saved a bunch of Buffalo shots before Derek Roy managed to get a rebound past him. Then a few minutes later, Thomas saved a Buffalo shot but the rebound went to far to his left. Hecht then stuffed the puck into the goal. Even though Buffalo scored twice in a few minutes, the Bruins weren't really playing poorly. We were generating great scoring opportunities, and our defense wasn't bad either.

Later in the first period, with .9 seconds left, Stuarts drive was saved. The rebound hit off Axelsson's stick then off a Sabre's player's skate and into the net. With .9 seconds left! It was great, the Bruins tied up the game at 2. In the first period the Bruins outshot Buffalo 19 to 8.

Even though there were no goals, the second and third periods were a lot of fun to watch. The Bruins and Sabres were both robbed by the other's goaltender plenty, including a huge save by all-star Ryan Miller on a Bruins 3 on 1, and a diving pad save across the goal by Thomas. Also in the second period, Andrew Peters and Andrew Alberts got into a fight. Alberts, a newcomer to the sport of boxing, got beat pretty bad. It was nice to see him stand up for the team but he still took a lot of punches from Peters. Alberts did manage to get in a couple punches at the end though.

Overtime was fun, not much really happened though. So the Sabres and Bruins went to the shootout for the second straight time.

In the shootout the Bruins elected to let Buffalo shoot first
S: Thomas saves shot from Briere.
B: Sturm shoots over blocker side shoulder, scores
S: Thomas stops Kotalik.
B: Glen Murray tried a shot from far away, had it easily saved.
S: Thomas saved Vanek's shot...
...and the Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres!

One Last Note: With yesterday's win, the Bruins went from 13th place to 9th place in the conference.

Tom Brady sucks but the team still won, and that's what matters. Earlier today the Patriots defeated the top-seeded San Diego Chargers 24-21 in San Diego. With this playoff win, the Patriots are heading to the AFC championship, just won win away from their fourth Superbowl appearance in six years.

The game was fun to watch, both teams put in less than perfect performances, with interceptions and fumbles galore. Tom Brady had by far his worst game of the season, throwing three interceptions. But the Pats got the job done. Our Defense played some very nice football, and our line on both sides of the ball, brought their "A" game.

In Bruins news, the Boston Globe's Bruins blog (link on the right, I'm too lazy) is reporting from today's practice that Stan Chistov is ready to play in tomorrow's game against Buffalo. Fluto over at the globe is also saying that Coach Lewis will be subtly changing the lines. Something has to change, even if it isn't a huge change, something has to be done to spark this team.

Next up is a home and home series against the Buffalo Sabres. There is no other way to get your momentum back then by beating the best team in the conference twice.

Remember Nation, Monday's game is at 1:00 PM at the garden.

The 2007 NHL all-star game roster was announced by the NHL earlier today. Here is the roster for the All-Star game. The first goalie, the first two defensemen, and the first three forwards for each team were voted in by the fans.

2007 EASTERN CONFERENCE ALL-STAR ROSTER
GOALTENDERS
Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils
Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadiens

DEFENSEMEN
Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres
Sheldon Souray, Montreal Canadiens
Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers
Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins
Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs
Brian Rafalski, New Jersey Devils

FORWARDS
Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres
Jason Blake, New York Islanders
Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers
Dany Heatley, Ottawa Senators
Marian Hossa, Atlanta Thrashers
Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning
Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning
Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers
Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes

Head Coach: Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres
Assistant Coach: Bob Hartley, Atlanta Thrashers

2007 WESTERN CONFERENCE ALL-STAR ROSTER
GOALTENDERS
Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks
Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames
Marty Turco, Dallas Stars

DEFENSEMEN
Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings
Philippe Boucher, Dallas Stars
Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames
Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators
Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings

FORWARDS
Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks
Bill Guerin, St. Louis Blues
Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks
Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks
Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets
Yanic Perreault, Phoenix Coyotes
Brian Rolston, Minnesota Wild
Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks
Ryan Smyth, Edmonton Oilers
Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

Head Coach: Randy Carlyle, Anaheim Ducks
Assistant Coach: Barry Trotz, Nashville Predators

It sucks that at the last second Rory Fitzpatrick was bumped to third in western conference defensemen voting, and therefore didn't make the team. I wonder if the NHL rigged the vote so that Lidstrom would beat out Rory.

Also congratulations to Zdeno Chara for making the team. He was third in fan voting and I guess the NHL thinks he deserves to go to the game (which he does).

Also before I forget, the NHL released the NHL YoungStars rosters for the East and West teams. Phil Kessel made the eastern conference team.

And just in case I don't post tomorrow, GO PATRIOTS!!!

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!

Sorry this is a little late.

I'm a Bruins defensemen
Usually I play next to Brad,
But this week I played next to Jurcina
While Stuart was becoming a dad.

I played 73 minutes with two goals and two assists
My +2 for the week shows I was playing with flare-a
Yep you guessed it
My name is Paul mara.

Player of the week is Paul Mara. Sorry the rhyme sucks but nothing rhymes with Mara. Anyway Mara was one of three normal Bruins defensemen who played in all three games this week. (Jurcina and Alberts were the other two.) Mara did a great job filling in for the missing defensemen.

Boston at New York, at 2 today on NBC

Not exactly how I wanted the Bruins to end the first half of the season. The Bruins last night gave up 3 leads in the third period. These third period disasters have got to stop. We go into the third period winning, and we leave the period losing. At least last night we managed to aqueeze a point out of our dissolution.

With Stuart and Chara back I thought for sure we would beat an Islanders team that has been losing as of late. We started out well, but it's hard to watch these third periods. Hannu Toivenen had a good game too, a bad shoootout but an overall good performance.

The first period was very kind to the Bruins. Three and half minutes in, Zdeno Chara got his 200th NHL point when his shot was caught by Bergeron who took his time, skated a little to the side, and scored. Five minutes later the Two Line (now the One Line, Murray - Savard - Axelsson) put some nice shots on Dipietro that made him dive to the ice. Marc Savard managed to get the puck in front of the goal and with a nice back hand shot, put the puck in net. The Bruins had the lead 2-0 at the end of one.

The second period was very dast-paced, with Dipietro and Toivonen stealing the show. Both of them, especially Toivonen had some nice robs. Five minutes in though, New York cut the Bruins lead in half when a shot on net was redirected in the air by another Islanders player into the net. Hannu could not do anything about it.

The third period was a wild one. 22 seconds into the period the Islanders crashed the net and managed to get the puck in, tying up the game. Hannu was screened by a sea of players. Four minutes later, Chara's drive from the point on the power play went in the net, giving the Bruins the lead. Five minutes later though, New York was on the power play when a drive was saved by Toivonen, the rebound though was shot past him. The Islanders had tied the game again. Then with 6 minutes left, Paul Mara put on a great move and got a good shot around Dipietro. The Bruins had the lead once again, this time at 4-3. The Bruins were doing well until the Islanders were on the power play. Viktor Kozlov managed to get the puck past Toivonen between his legs. This one, Hannu should've had. Anyway the Bruins and islanders were tied 4-4 and going into OT.

Lewis started out the overtime with Sturm, Chara, Mara, and Bergeron. Forty seconds in though, Lewis went with 3 forwards and 1 defensemen like usual with Savard - Murray - Axelsson - Stuart. Glen Murray basically had a goal but could not convert the wide open shot into a goal as Dipietro robbed him. So th egame went into a shootout.

B: Marco Sturm deked then shot the puck, was saved.
NYI: Miroslav Satan's shot trickled in through the corner.
B: Patrice Bergeron tried to go five hole but Dipietro easily saved it.
NYI: Viktor Kozlav's shot was saved by Toivonen who made a nice glove save.
B: Marc Savard deked right then shot left and scored.
NYI: Trent Hunter made a bad deke and Toivonen made an easy save.
B: Brad Boyes's shot was stuffed by Dipietro.
NYI: Jason Blake then scored and the game was over

41 down and 41 more to go. Next game is tomorrow at 2:00 on NBC against the New York Rangers.

Tonight the Bruins play the New York Islanders at the garden.

Toivonen will start in goal, Timmy has been overplayed and is a little cold so it makes sense to start Hannu. Jonathan Sigalet was assigned back to Providence now that Brad Stuart and Zdeno Chara are going to play. Lashoff will be alongside Jurcina though because Jason York is still hurt from an injury he sustained very early in the first period of Tuesday's game. Chistov also won't play, no call-ups from Providence though are needed to fill his place now that Kessel is back on the team.

This game is the half-way point of the season. Lets make it a win.

Also, I found this from Last week's Oilers-Stars game:

I must say, we are playing very crappy hockey in the third period. These let downs are absurd. We were playing a great game, up 2-0 after one, still up 2-0 after two, but then in the third period everything went to hell. We gave up 5 goals! I really did think the Bruins were going to win a game without Chara and Stuart (and York most of the way) but I could not have been more wrong.

For the first two periods the Bruins were great, we really kept Ottawa in check, they had very few real scoring chances, and all of those were stopped by Timmy. In the game, Alberts and Mara both put in Chara-like minutes, and Kessel played in 16 shifts. That is just about the only good that came out of Last night.

The Bruins played a fantastic first period. At the beginning, two minutes in, Marco Sturm was tripped by a stck while driving to the net, that got him a penalty shot. Sturm's penalty shot was very clever. He skated hard towards the net, then stopped short, and rifled the puck past Emery, the Senators goalie. Then a little later, with the Bruins still up by a goal, Jason York went down with an injury and did ot return. He put in only 3 shiifts. So the Bruins were left with 5 defensemen, two of them being AHL players. Eleven minutes in, Paul Mara's drive from the corner at the blue line went through Emery's legs, and the Bruins had a 2-0 lead.

The second period was pretty good. Both teams were completely even. No real scoring opportunities occured for wither team. The BRuins had 3 shots and the Senators had 6 shots.

Unlike the first two periods, the third period was hell. Two and a half minutes in, Ottawa scored when Mike Comrie's shot went underneath a diving Tim Thomas. Three minutes later, Heatley scored on a good looking goal. Heatley skated past the Bruins defense and scored, tying the game. Seven minutes later, Ottawa scored the go-ahead goal on a very nice shot in the middle of the Bruins zone. Five minutes later, Ottawa sealed the deal when they scored on a 2 on 1 odd man rush. Ottawa wasn't done though. With Thomas pulled, Peter Schaefer scored an empty net goal from very far away. So the Senators won 5-2. They happen to be on a great hot streak though, and we are cold and injured. Hopefully Chara will be back Thursday, I know Brad Stuart will be, and maybe Jason York isn't injured too badly. Also, the Bruins will be starting Toivenen in the pipes against the Islanders.

One last note: Brad Stuart and his wife had their first kid early yesterday. Young Jake Stuart was born 5 pounds 12 ounces.

Sorry for the lack of posting. Blogger was down earlier today, my internet was down yesterday (well, technically not down, but really slow), and I was busy on Sunday.

Anyway here is all the news:

• Phil Kessel has been recalled from Providence and will play tonight in Ottawa. This will be his first NHL appearence since he underwent surgery for testicular cancer in early December. Yan Stastny, who was recalled from Providence to take Kessel's place, was assigned back to Providence.

• Zdeno Chara will not play in Ottawa tonight. He is still hurting from a lower body injury sustained during Thursday's game against Toronto.

• Brad Stuart is in California with his wife, they are expecting their first child.

• Jonathan Sigalet was recalled from Providence to fill in for Stuart. (What a bad choice. Our defense is hurting and Providence has Mark Stuart and Nathan Dempsey to offer, but no, we recalled Sigalet.) I hope Sigalet can play! Here are what I think the lines will be (It's just a guess):

Axelsson - Savard - Murray
Boyes - Bergeron - Sturm
Mowers - Primeau - Donovan
Chistov - Kessel - Tenkrat

Mara - Alberts (look for these two to play at least thirty minutes each)
York - Jurcina
Lashoff - Sigalet

Thomas
Toivonen

Even if the Flyers are in last place, and have basically no good players, a win is a win. It was very nice to see the Bruins snap one of the worst 3 game losing streaks I have ever seen in the NHL. We beat the Flyers 4-3, though the game was not that close at all. The game, as NHL games go, was pretty boring. Tim Thomas had a fantastic game, it's nice to see that he can rebound so well from such a bad game. He let in three goals while saving 29 shots. On the other side of the ice, Robert Esche, a relatively unused goalie for Philadelphia also had a pretty good game. Even though he gave up four goals, and had only 22 saves, of those 22 saves, many of them were clutch saves that kept Philly in the game. Marc Savard was another outstanding player this afternoon. He had 2 goals and two assists. For the Flyers, Mike Knuble (long time members of Bruins Nation will remember him) played well along with a no-name named Kapanen who scored twice.

In the first period, on a Bruins power play four minutes in, Kapanen stole the puck from the Bruins. That led to a two on one odd man rush with Paul Mara as the only defensemen back. Mara played it perfectly by getting down on the ice in order to cover as much ice as possible. Kapanen completely read Mara though and shot the puck over him and past Thomas, giving the Flyers a one goal lead off of a short handed goal. Around ten minutes later, Marc Savard had the puck behind and far to the right of the goal. Marc Savard had absolutely no angle to the goal. Savard somehow managed to shoot the puck off of Robert Esche into the Philly net, tying the game. 34 seconds later, with the same line (Axelsson, Savard, Murray) on the ice, Axelsson had the puck and passed it to Savard who was near the goal. Savard then found Murray right in front of the goal. Murray then scored on a nice shot, giving the Bruins the lead. Later, with 37 seconds left int he period and the Bruins on a power play, Paul Mara had the puck in front of the blue line when he passed forwasrd and to the left to Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron the one-timed it into the net, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead to end the first period.

The second period was quite boring. The only real thing that happened was five minutes in when Philly cut the Bruins lead to one. It happened when Kapanen stole the puck in the Bruins zone, then scored on a nice quick snap-shot that was unstoppable. No way Thomas could have gotten it. So Kapanen had two unassisted goals in the game.

The third period was far more interesting. Two minutes in on the power play, Bergeron got a pass from Mara in the Flyers zone. Bergeron then shot the puck but Esche saved it. Luckily Marc Savard was right there to put in the rebound, putting the Bruins back up ahead by two.

Then with around two minutes to go in the game, Philadelphia pulled Esche. A shot on Thomas was saved but the rebound was kicked in by Knuble. It was very clearly kicked in, and no matter what Andy Brickley says, the goal should have been annulled. The men in Toronto disagreed with me though and the goal stood. So Esche went back in the game, probably thinking he would be pulled with about a minute left. Wrong! The Bruins played very offensive defense, keeping the pressure on Philadelphia the entire rest of the game. And the Bruins won 4-3.

Our defense played great in this one. I forgot to mention that fact earlier. Alberts and Stuart really filled in well for the ailing Zdeno Chara. Both of them set season highs for minutes played in a game. Our defense was very sound, resulting in Philly going 0-6 on the power play. Another group of players that played very well was the 2 line. Axelsson, Savard, and Murray, even though they now start, I still call them the 2 line. The three of them played really well, combined they had three goals and three assists. Even more important was how well Savard played in the last minute of the game. Savard, who had a very long shift to end the game, was a huge factor in keeping the puck in the Flyers zone, not giving htem a chance to tie up the game.

The rest of January is huge schedule wise. We play Ottawa 3 times, the Buffalo Sabres 3 times, the New York Rangers twice, Pittsburgh, and the New York Islanders. (Not in that order)

The two official blogs that I go to for news (Fluto's Boston Globe Bruins Blog, and John Bishop's Bish's Blog) are both saying this:

• Kessel was assigned to Providence (Press release here) to play last night's game, tonight's game, and tomorrow afternoon's game. He should be recalled to Boston after this three game stint. Kessel played very well last night, showing that he hasn't lost his speed.

• Hannu Toivonen has been recalled from Providence after a great performance against the Worcester Sharks. Tim Thomas will be starting against Philly though.

• Matt Lashoff has been recalled from Providence today. That means that Chara, who hurt himself against Toronto, will probably not be playing. My guess on the D pairings is: Alberts-Stuart, Mara-Lashoff, and Jurcina-York. Though I must reiterate that that is just a guess.

• Patrice Bergeron, according to Fluto, will probably be playing today. Bergeron sustained an injury against Toronto however was seen playing soccer before today's game.

The Bruins need a win! There is no better team to beat then the last place team. Lets beat Philly!

P.S. Game starts in about a half hour, 1:00 PM on NESN ans WBZ

Update at 1:10 Chara is in fact out, Bergeron is playing though. The defense pairings go as follows:
Stuart-Alberts
Mara-York
Jurcina-Lashoff

This week was the worst,
Combined the Bruins lost twenty to three.
Last night I wouldn't have gone to the garden,
Even if the tickets were free.

There were good players though,
I say to all you nay-sayers.
Yep you guessed it,
I am all opposing players.

I hate to say it, but the players of the week were everybody but the Bruins. Sorry that the last rhyme was kind of a stretch.

And to think, a week ago I loved it when the Bruins played Toronto. This past week the Bruins lost 2 to the Maple Leafs by a combined score of 15-3. Last night's 10-2 loss was the worst Bruins game I have ever seen, and I hope it's the worst game I'll ever see.

Last night the Bruins played a great first period. They then managed to play the worst second period of the season, and the worst third period of the season. Our defense just could not keep up with Toronto's offense, a theme as of late (Bruins D not being able to keep up with opposing attack). In previous games, Thomas has been able to save the defense. Last night though, Thomas sucked (something I never say), and when Lewis finally replaced Thomas (after 8 goals) Sauve sucked as well! One huge thing I noticed about or defense is that we were letting up a lot of Toronto one-timers. Passing in general in the Bruins zone went unstopped. Thomas managed to stop a couple nice one-timers by Toronto in the first period, but in the second and third those same shots went in the net.

Please forgive me if the goal summaries for Last night's game is not as descriptive, there were just so many goals.

The first period, as aforementioned, was great. Early in the period, Toronto managed to score on the power play when a one-time went through the legs of Thomas. Five minutes later, Wayne Primeau had the puck in the 'Leafs end when he passed it to Shean Donovan who was breathing down the neck of Raycroft. The pass was perfect and Donovan just slid the puck under Raycroft's pads and into the net. Later in the period, with nine second left on a power play, Andrew Alberts' drive from in front of the blue line was redirected by Wayne Primeau into the net. Alberts' drive was low and meant to be redirected, it was a well executed play. The period ended with the Bruins up 2-1.

The Bruins completely collapsed in the second period. From here on in it was hell to watch. A minute into the period, Bates Battaglia tied the game at two. Then towards the middle of the period, the Maple Leafs took the lead when Alexander Steen shot a puck that was blocked by Alberts. Steen then got the puck and swiftly scored. Fifteen minutes into the period now, a couple failed Bruins clear attempts lead to a one-timer that had Bates Battaglia scoring a Toronto goal (Battaglia's 2nd goal). 18 seconds later, a Alexander Steen's (his 2nd goal) one-timer that looked exactly like the goal 18 seconds before (I mean a dead on replay) got by Thomas, extending the Maple Leafs lead. 24 seconds later, another one timer went by Thomas, giving the Maple LEafs a 6-2 lead. This one-timer was a little different though and was scored by Kris Newbury, who now has his first and second career NHL goals against the Bruins.

The third period was no better than the second. I don't want to describe the four goals that Toronto scored so I won't. I'll just say that Stajan scored two, Steen scored another, giving him a hat trick, and Chad Kilger scored. Thomas gave up two goals and Sauve gave up two goals.

What a crappy game! Next one is a day game at the garden against Philly. They're in last place, the Bruins really need to beat the crap out of some team to get their spirits back.

Let me just say that if I ever beat cancer, I would take at least two months off of work. But not Phil Kessel, he is back practicing with the team. Though he isn't doing any contact drills, and won't be playing in a Bruins game any time soon, he is back on the ice only 3 weeks after having surgery that cured him of testicular cancer.

Bruins play Toronto at 7 inside the garden tonight!

Hannu Toivonen cannot catch a break. The Bruins team played terribly in his last start, the 5-0 loss was not his fault. Only one of the goals was really Toivonen's fault. However the Bruins Recalled Sauve today.

After reading the actual press release, this promotion to Sauve might not be Toivonen's fault. Philippe Sauve has been doing very well in Providence. In 13 games he is 8-4-1 with a 3.44 goals against average.

So you decide. Is it Hannu Toivenen's bad performance, Philippe Sauve's good performances, or a combination of both?

What a fantastic road trip! The Bruins went 1-2-1, losing to Toronto, Nashville, and Columbus in OT, with a win against Chicago that was surprisingly close.

So last night the Bruins were embarrassed by a pathetic Toronto team. After beating them 4 times in a row, they finally kicked our asses. What is even worse is that it was former Bruins players who did it. Hal Gill had a goal and Andrew Raycroft had a great game, letting in only one goal while making 27 saves.

4 minutes into the game, the Bruins were on a 5 on 3 power play when Marco Sturm's shot was saved. Chara though was just standing in front of the goal though. He got the puck and easily put it in net, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. I love when the Bruins just stick Chara in front of the net. He is impossible to move because of his size and in the new NHL, no one can hit him.

Anyway later in the period, Marc Savard made a guy bleed with his stick and he got sent to the box for four minutes. During that Toronto power play, a shot on Thomas was redirected by Mats Sundin and got past Thomas, tying the game. Four minutes later Hal Gill stole the puck in out zone when Marc Savard gave the puck away. Gill than shot a very good looking shot from 50 feet away. Thomas was screened and the shot went in, giving the Maple Leafs the lead.

In the middle of the second period, Chris Newbury of the 'Leafs scored his first NHL goal of his career. His shot went off of Thomas's stick and trickled into the net. This was at the same time as when Chara and Belak got into a mini scuffle. It turned into a full ten man mini-brawl. Emotions are definitely high in Toronto-Boston games this season. (Remember the fight between Tucker and Mara.)

Two minutes into the third period, a drive by Mats Sundin went through the legs of Tim Thomas. Timmy should of had it. So the Maple Leafs took a 4-1 lead. Then a couple minutes later on a Maple Leafs power play, A Maple Leafs pass went through Chara right in front of the net. That pass went to Jeff O'Neill who easily one-timed it into the net, giving Toronto a 5-1 lead. That lead was insurmountable for the Bruins and we lost the game miserably.

We play the Maple Leafs again on Thursday back at the garden.