The Boston Bruins
 

Despite what has been labeled "inconsistent" play for the first half of the season, this years team is leading the division and currently playing a good stretch of hockey, scoring lotsa goals (40 in the last 10 games) and the goaltending has been the best in the leauge with Thomas playing at his best. The "energy line" has been energetic with Thorton playing over his head and Marchand a surprisingly agressive and talented forward. The young defensemen have givin the team a real boost and are playing offensively minded. Bergeron is the best player on the ice nightly and the mix of young and old players seems to be a good one.

So yes, I am a diehard and I truly want to believe that this could be the year they finally bring home the cup. But then I keep flashing back to last seasons nightmare exit from the playoffs and get afraid to believe. It has been almost 40 years since they won it all and I am feeling like a pre-2004 Red Sox Fan at times.

Who thinks this will be the year? Who thinks this will be yet another early exit from the playoffs?

I always say the year they win the cup they will have a so so season. Elite playoff/cup teams never have full throttle regular seasons. They all kick into gear come play-offs because that's what they are there for.

With that said the bruins have had a up and down season and as of late they can definitely find the back of the net. If they can keep up the goal scoring along with thomas in net being one of the more consistent players I think they can go the long hull.

Bergeron using his energy getting to the net rather then battling along the boards will go a long way if he can keep it up.

I am a big hockey fan. (hate football and baseball) I think the B's have what it takes if these 3 thinks fall into place:

the goal-tending holds
the offense starts firing on all cylinders
injuries are kept to a minimum

That is asking for alot but the talent is there and when they really get on their game they are impressive. I think they have another gear we have not seen yet too. There are a lot of players who can score on this team.

Not a big all-star fan but Chara's 105.9 new hardest shot record was pretty impressive. (4 years running I think) He is really a powerhouse, I can't imagine standing in front of that. It has got to be intimidating.

Hugh hockey and B's fan. Played the game my entire life through College and still play today.

I think they need to play more emotional as a whole (more like Neely and less like Julian) I can't believe how different they are in style. B's need to shorten the bench going into the playoffs. They play 4 lines more than any other team in the league. Savard getting hurt again is a huge impact. It will be interesting to see if they "beef up" with an acquisition going into the playoffs. They do play very well with a lead and have balanced scoring (because they play all 4 lines). During the playoffs that 4th line will kill em if they play too much. I think they have as good a shot as anyone if Thomas minds the pipes like he has been. How great would it be to win the cup after all these years.
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Anyone see the game last night? 3 fights in the first 4 seconds and 2 goals in the first couple minutes after the fights. They've looked real good since the disaster up in Montreal in early January. Bergeron is playing the best hockey of his career at both ends of the ice and the young guys like McQuaid, Kampfer and Marchand are playing excellent hockey right now.

I just posted on this.............with video:

http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripert...night-wow.html

The game was about to start...I had to run upstairs for a few minutes, came back down and it was 2-0 and 4 fights and the clock said something like 17:02...it was insane! I had to DVR it back to see the opening.

Don't forget Thorton in your list....what a year he is having. McQuaid really cracked that guy in the eye.

If you go to the Stars website and check out the videos from last night...they lost 3 players last night. That was a rough game.

Let's hope they keep that tempo for Sat against the Sharks.

They still had moments of sloppy play. If they can tighten that up they could go deep. I thought Rask looked pretty good overall. A couple saves he made were huge.

Insane game. Wish I was there but felt like I was between all the hootin' and hollerin' my girl and I did at the TV. Team is playing like a team and winning. Rask deserved the win despite two soft goals that got Dallas back into the game early in the third. He made some key stops early on. Despite Seguin's goal, he still is struggling and coughing up the puck too often. Imagine what a Stanley Cup Finals would be like between those two teams! :rumble:

the stars and B's have some history but I wasn't expecting that.

Seguin needs to be less intimidated by anyone even coughing next to him then he will show what hes capable of.

Am a die hard hockey fan, love watching the bruins but as you saw today they can't not compete with the big fast forwards of the west. I think they will win one soon but not this year. Get ride of Krejic and ryder

The Bruins are one of the fastest teams in the league. San Jose had only like 17shots on net and the only goal came on a power play (the other with goalie pulled). Not a bad defensive game for the B's at all. They had their chances to score too. That was a tough one to loose especially at home and being shutout but I would disagree that they weren't competitive. I'm hopefull but not sure if they can step it up and play sound playoff style hockey..........

They are not gonna win every game. SJ got a lead and then smothered the B's the rest of the game. If the B's had scored first they would have done the same thing to them.
As far as Kreji goes, I agree he is not as good as he is made out to be and it will be a matter of time before he gets injured again. I still believe they will go far this year with the top notch goaltending and scoring depth that was missing the last coupla years.

I wasn't meaning they cant skate with them I should of choose better words I really meant there forwards are to small compared to lots of the western confrence. Savard, Krejic, bejeron, seguin all small centers. I just wish they had a Jumbo joe still or a rick nash, ryan getlaf thats all. I do think Seguin is going to be a great player and bergeron is probably the best 2 way player on the team. Savard is done ( Eric lindors in the making there) Krejic is not living up to what he's expected. They stilll need a creative goal scorer

A bit of a dip now with this losing streak. Sad loss to Kessel and the Leafs last night. How many ripe scoring chances did Kreji have to bury the puck? 5? Claude should bench him. So frustrating to watch that guy play, makes all the moves and then cannot score.

Six games on the road now where they have dominated, would like to see 9 of the possible 12 points taken. Heard they picked up a center from Ottawa, perhaps he will help.....

Same old story..............inconsistancy

So far so good with the new additions. Kelly looking good on every face-off, winning most. Peverly playing smart and Kobale not making mistakes. I did not think they would beat both the Flames and Canucks but they did and are now 4-0 on the 6 game trip with "easier" teams left to play. Lucic playing his best hockey of his career, Kreji finally starting to skate, Thomas rested and playing solid. Hard to find any negatives right now.

Going to the game Thursday against TB. Go B's!

I didn't like the Detroit or San Jose games...they just didn't bring their A game. Then you see Detroit get beat by a team with no chance this year makes little sense... Last night the B's played well. Vancouver is a top team esp at home. The new guys did well..it was nice to see those key face-off wins at key times. The last PK was great. I still want to see more contact. (not fighting but aggressive contact) I felt like we got hit a lot more and harder than they did. I hope they are saving that for the playoffs.

I'm going to Thursdays game as well. I'll be behind the B's bench about 10 rows back. Bringing my crew...we happened to be in the 'hood that night and I could not resist. I love to see Chara and St.Louie stand next to each other.:biglaugh:

Agree on the phsyicality (or lack thereof). They always play better when they play aggressive. My fiance and I will be in row 1 of balcony 325. We thought those were good seats but 10 up from the bench sounds sweet(er). They lost both games we have been to this year so I hafta stay away (until the playoffs) if the lose Thursday...

Play has picked up and so has there instensity. I like it. I like the guys they picked up and even happier with the re signing of Shane "the sheriff" Nhidy. Loved his physical presence.

watched the last 4 games and they are playing well. Fun to watch.

Yup
And when they are not playing good, I back to watching youtube clips of number 4, still the greatest ever :uhuh:

Bobby Orr hands down the greatest defenseman ever. I wish I was alive to see him play. OLD TIME HOCKEY.

As the 92 year old Milt Schmidt said about Bobby Orr in Oct 2010:

"If somebody better than Bobby Orr comes along, I hope the Good Lord keeps me on this earth to see him, so far I haven't met that man. He's the best ever."

I saw him play his whole career. Cried the day I saw him in a Brackhawk jersey.

thread at top of sports section says it all

Very strong team. Like the recent additions. Krejci-Lucic-Horton heating up just in time. Thomas has been all-world. COULD be fun to watch this post season.

Tough one tonight agains the Bolts after the long (but incredibly successful) road trip.

Good game tonight can;t wait to see how they do. Come on B's

Great freaking game tonight!!! Man that got the juices flowing like playoff hockey.

They are really fun to watch

Is it just me or is Lucic having the same presence as Cam Neely did during his great years. You can't move him off the puck, playing physical, fights, and now scores big goals. Impressive and fun to watch.

DZ

I was to young to watch neely but he definetly can not be moved off the puck, he is using speed along with his big body to back the defenseman up, the fighting u can really see he is worried about breaking his hand again. The kid is surely feared thats for sure. I for one can not wait till saturday nights game.

That was fun!



This hit by Lucic was amazing...I though he killed the guy and ripped his head off. His head caught the corner of the glass between the benches

They continue to impress. Thomas had to cover the puck very quickly after it wrang off the post as a TB player was right there trying to swat it in.

The smothering defense the B's are playing right now is the ticket to the finals. Even when the other team gets shots through it is almost always the Bruins who get to the rebound first.

It's a little early to be peaking so lets hope the injury bug stays away!

Yeah I noticed teams are really starting to run at krejic only a matter of time before he gets hurt.

Was watching the other night when Chara almost killed that guy. The same thing happed the last game I went to (photo above) in my previous post

YouTube - Zdeno Chara hits Max Pacioretty Mar 8, 2011


Chara didn't get any suspension and I don't believe he wanted to decapitate this guy but my thoughts are it is time to redesign the arena for today's style of play. This "old time" hockey rink does not work in todays game. IMO the rink is too small and should be increased in size by at least 15% in all directions, similar to the way golf courses are stretched to accommodate the more skilled players and new equipment. Also it is time to do away with these areas that consistently cause serious damage, names these 90 degree stanchions, hard corners, seams and the dasher. It should be much more smoother, less abrupt and perhaps energy absorbing materials that will deflect the puck but will give when a 200# guy makes impact at high speed.

Frankly I thought this guy was killed when it happened and jumped out of my seat.

Increasing the size would really take away from Playoff Style hockey so I would not want to see that. The european style IMO sucks to watch because they have such large rinks. The dashers have already been changed and are very small now compared to what it used to be a few years ago (still a small lip that could be reduced but nothing like it used to be). I agree there is room for improvement on the 90 degree stanchion. I'm sure they could somehow make it a 45 degree or curved so that it isn't as abrupt.

I would thing increasing rink size would lead to more playoff style hockey. With more room to skate you see more offense. Think 4 on 4 for overtime periods, more ice, more offense and more excitement. Think Olympics too, wide open up and down the ice action.

As far as the stanchions, it is truly amazing that no one has been killed yet. That Canadians player is effectively out of a career it would seem. Sad that he is crying foul from his hospital bed and blaming Chara. You gotta wonder what the next game with them is gonna bring.

I for one have not hit the panic button as many on the call-in shopws seem to have. They do need to find an answer to how to beat Montreal but I still feel this team is Cup-worthy. 7th player lock Marchand had a bad game Tuesday, missing some golden ops to score. Look for a solid effort from all tonight and a 4-1 win against Buffalo...

This is turning into a side show.

Air Canada (one of the NHL main sponsors) is threatening to pull sponsorship because Chara was not suspended.

A District Attorney in Montreal has opened an investigation on the incident to see if criminal chagers should be brought against Chara.

I guess it depends on what “Playoff Hockey” means. It would be more wide open from a skating perspective but it would be much less physical from a checking and tight game perspective. Less room = more physical, more room = more skating. You could also argue that there would be more injuries as when there is a hit, as the impact would be greater due to the increased speed of the game with more room to line someone up.

I’m one for a more tight physical game vs wide open. One thing to consider is the last Olympics had great games and they were played on an NHL ice surface. Put that on an Olympic sized rink and it is a very different style of game. Watch a hockey game played at UNH vs at another Hockey East rink. UNH has a large surface and the others are more the size of the NHL.

I think the ice is too crowed now with 5 on 5 in that space at today's speed and skill.


As for the hit...What about Savards hit...that was an intended hit by someone who has a reputation for hit to injure and he did not even get a penalty.

Rubbing out along the boards is standard play and it is taught down to peewees. Just because the rink has a steel post where he executed the play does not change the play itself.

Look at the above photo at the garden last week....Lucic did the same thing to that player...no penalty was called. He could have easily had the same injury.
The rink needs to be re-designed.