Category Archives: 2014 NHL Season

Boston Bruins vs. Pittsburgh Penguins: The Shawn Thornton Incident

Leave a reply

After the events of last night I feel it is my duty to weigh in on everything that went down. I completely understand why Shawn Thornton snapped on Brooks Orpik last night. Keep in mind that I am not advocating for anyone to be punching anyone else while they are down on the ice, but I can understand his mindset that brought him to that dark place. I truly Believe when Shawn Thornton apologized last night he was being sincere and was not trying to send Brooks Orpik out on a stretcher. That being said, Shawn Thornton had any number of reason to flip out last night and the officials and Orpik himself had many chances to stop it.

  1. The Orpik hit on Eriksson was dirty and should have been called a penalty. The puck was behind Eriksson and it was clear that neither one of them were playing the puck. It has to be an interference penalty at minimum. If the officals make the call there, the rest of the events would not have taken place.
  2. Orpik avoiding Shawn Thornton is a cowardly move. If Orpik stands up for his actions and fights Thornton earlier in the first period, the story stops there. Now, I don’t blame Orpik for not necessarily wanting to go with Thornton, but he needs to dance with someone. Luckily for him, the Bruins have a half dozen or more guys for him to go with and instead he decides avoid all confrontations.
  3. The final straw is James Neal with by far the dirtiest play of the entire game.  Brad Marchand was completely defenseless after being tripped by Sidney Crosby (of course there was no call) and was on hands and knees on the ice. Of course Neal knew where he was and was looking for revenge for last season after Marchand boarded him in the playoffs. So he kneed him in the head, in front of the Bruins bench mind you, and skated off the ice for a line change. At that point the Bruins were already pushed to the brink and Thornton fufilled his agenda and went after Orpik after 2 Penguins were going after Campbell. By the way, Orpik could have fought the smaller Campbell there as well to settle the score for the earlier hit but neglected to do that too.

At the end of the day, should Shawn Thornton be punching a player in the head, with his gloves on while he is laying on the ice? Absolutely not. But should Orpik and Neal be targeting the heads of Bruins players? Absolutely not. I firmly Believe that Thornton was not trying to hurt Orpik, but he was trying to settle a score and it got a little out of hand. I hope Neal and Orpik (upon his return) both get suspended along with Thornton for their roles in last night’s game. As a Bruins fan, we know all too well about head injuries and if the league trying to do away with dirty plays they need to do what is right and suspend those players too.

You can follow my in-game thoughts on twitter @BruinsBeliever and as always Let’s go Bs!

Boston Bruins 2013-2014 Season Quarterly Report

Leave a reply

Torey Krug CelebratingWith last night’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins the Boston Bruins have secured the top spot in the Eastern Conference just after the quarter point of the season. So everything has been fine right? Well, Believe it or not I have found a few things that have concerned me moving forward with the Boston Bruins this year. Of course, those are coupled with many positives so lets run down the list, positive and negative.

Goaltending:

Positive: Tuukka Rask has picked up right where he has left off. There doesn’t appear to be a downturn or lax in his game at all. Some were worried about the big contract getting to his head. Others worried about fatigue from last year but neither of those have been a problem for Rask.

Negative: First, I don’t think Chad Johnson has played enough so far for my liking. I am a little concerned about the amount of playing time Rask has had this year and I would like to see more off-days for Rask. My other concern is more of a selfish concern from a Bruins fan’s prospective. Tuukka Rask had one of the best games of his career in New York a few nights ago against the Rangers and it probably wasn’t a coincidence.  He was playing in front of scouts for the Finland National Team. It appears as though Rask may have played himself into a starting role for the Finnish Team; increasing his chance for injury (knocking on wood).

Defense:

Positive: The kids are no flukes. Dougie Hamilton has stepped up his game and has played big minutes so far down the stretch. Matt Bartkowski has emerged as a solid defenseman who has a great head on his shoulders. Torey Krug has continued to be a scoring machine and as of tonight is tied for the league lead in goals for a defenseman. And even Kevan Miller who has had to step up in place of the injured Dennis Seidenberg has been getting big minutes, including the last minute of the game against Pittsburgh last night.

Negative: Injuries have had a major impact on the Bruins defensemen this season. The non-contact ‘lower body injury’ for Adam McQuaid was a blow the Bruins were prepared to deal with by inserting Matt Bartkowski into the lineup full time. But, the more recent injury to Dennis Seidenberg has forced the Bruins to call up Miller from Providence. The bigger issue that these injuries have raised is the increased ice time for Zdeno Chara and with the Olympics this year, that is a bad recipe for the Bruins that I’d rather not discuss.

Forwards:

Positive: The Swedes are starting to find their groove. Loui Eriksson had a 5 point game against the Penguins last night and seems to be comfortable after his concussion. Carl Soderberg has been on fire recently. He has 6 points in 5 games that has coincided with the Bruins winning 4 out of their last 5 games. Milan Lucic has stayed engaged and kept his legs moving with the help of Jerome Iginla keeping him motivated. Reilly Smith has been a welcome addition to the team and has shown flashes of skill.

Negative: Brad Marchand has been under performing and goal scoring is still an issue. While the power play is much improved, the Bruins have yet to have an easy time putting the puck in the net. The play of Brad Marchand is frankly bordering on unacceptable at this point. I think the Olympic tryout has been in his head all year and he has been gripping his stick so tight he has completely lost any semblance of his game. My hope is that when the Bruins play the Canadians for the first time on December 5th, P.K. Subban can somehow light a fire in Brad Marchand that he needs to play his style of game.

Coaching:

Positive: It pains me to say it but Claude Julien has done a lot of things right this year. My favorite move of his is to play very aggressively in OT this season. He has been playing 3 forwards and 1 defenseman for the majority of overtime minutes so far this season. I love seeing the Bruins using this strategy to do everything possible to avoid the shootout.

Negative: The only negative I have for Claude and the coaching staff is that they need to try and do a better job of managing minutes. The Olympic break plus the extended playoff run has me nervous about injuries and fatigue for the playoff run this year. I have seen enough improvement so far in the Bruins power play so far this season that I will get off their case…for the time being.

So there you have it.  Am I picking nits? Probably, but at the same time a lot of these issues are contributing to the large problem the Bruins have had so far. They have been giving up too many goals in the final minute of periods and games. As of right now they have not shown the ability to ‘sweep the leg’. An issue that eventually came back to bite them against the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals last season. I am very happy but not surprised to see where the Bruins are this season and I only expect that trend to continue. Keep Believing and follow me @BruinsBeliever on twitter for my in-game and quick thought updates.  Let’s go Bs!

Boston Bruins News – Loui Eriksson & The Next 5 Games

Leave a reply

John Scott hits Loui ErikssonBefore we get to this cheap shot, the worst I have seen since the Matt Cooke hit on Marc Savard, let’s talk about this nice run the Boston Bruins have been on. In this most recent 5 game stretch the Bruins played well enough to win in most of the games, rounding out with a 4-1 record, including three division road wins. The goal tending for the Bruins has been terrific and the Bruins have slowly started to score goals, including Jerome Iginla, finally. I think that Jerome Iginla’s lack of scoring touch this season has been overblown. He has done a great job of setting up his teammates and working hard all season. It is great to see him finally get rewarded with some goals recently.

The two most concerning games the Bruins played were against Tim Thomas and the Florida Panthers, a 3-2 win and the one game they dropped to the Devils 4-3. You could even throw in the game they won against the San Jose Sharks 2-1. The Boston Bruins came out of the gates flying, especially against Florida and New Jersey, jumping out to 2-0 and 3-1 leads after the first period. Sometime during the first intermission, Bruins decided that a two goal lead was enough to shut it down for the night and put it in cruise control. They then went on to blow the leads, a tie in the case of Florida, and blow the lead completely against an inept New Jersey team. Now, I realize that these are games in October and in the grand scheme of things that doesn’t mean a lot. That being said, it is hard to believe that it is acceptable for Coach Claude Julian or for the fans to watch a team float around for 2 periods. You won’t hear me say a peep about floating late in the 3rd period up by 2 goals but to do so in the 2nd is unacceptable and needs to get cleaned up.

At the end of the day, the Bruins went 4-1 over a 5 game span and picked up great road division wins. We were even lucky enough to get a crazy game winning goal by David Krejci allowing the Boston Bruins to win a game they had no business winning against the San Jose Sharks.

However, all of that effort feels like it was diminished by what John Scott did to Loui Eriksson up in Buffalo. In one of the most despicable, cowardly acts I have seen, John Scott targeted Loui Eriksson for reasons unknown and has put him out of commission for the foreseeable future. The fact that Scott targeted one of the games nice guys only makes him and the Buffalo Sabres coaching staff look horrible. John Scott Attacks Phil KesselMy question is, why was Scott on the ice during the last half of the 3rd period? This is a man who has 1 career goal and 5 career points. He certainly was not on the ice to try and help Buffalo chip away at a two goal Boston lead halfway through the third period. He even said himself that he is not a goal scorer and that is not his role on the team. Well, what is is role? To attack and intimidate skill players like when John Scott attacked Phil Kessel in the preseason (see above .gif)? This guy should be out of the league altogether and I appreciate that Brandon Shanahan suspended Scott indefinitely, but somehow it still doesn’t justify his disgusting act. We can all only pray for a speedy recovery (or a full recovery at all) for Loui Eriksson.

Who’s Next?

A couple of big games I am looking forward to is a match up on the road against the Pittsburgh Penguins this Wednesday followed by a game in Boston against the Anaheim Ducks, a game that will be attended by Yours Truly. But the big game that all of us Bruins Believers, including myself, that we circled back on July 4th is upon us. Tyler Seguin and the Dallas Stars will be coming down up to Boston on Tuesday, November 5th. That game follows what is sure to be a fun game to watch against the young upstart New York Islanders. After the Showdown with Seguin, the Bruins will wrap up the week against division opponents in Boston, the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. I am sure all of the folks in Toronto have been waiting to get their hands on the Bruins after what happened in the playoffs back in April.  It will be a lot of fun as most of Boston shifts it’s focus away from baseball and back squarely on the Bruins.

Don’t forget to follow me on twitter @BruinsBeliever for all of my in-game thoughts and don’t forget to tweet at me if you also plan on going to the game against Anaheim. Let’s go Bs!

Boston Bruins 2013-2014 Season Review: The First 5 Games

Leave a reply

The season started off with a bang thanks to Chris Kelly and his short-handed penalty shot goal opening night vs. Tampa Bay. The Boston Bruins went on to win that game 3-1 and the season was off and running. The Boston Bruins game against the Tampa Bay Lightning opening night was a great way to start off the season. The Bruins wasted no time in playing their brand of Bruins Hockey with 2 shorthanded goals. It was a game where they physically dominated their opponent and took away their best weapon in Steven Stamkos.

I was very excited for the start of the new division rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings. And even though we are only 5 games into the season, we have seen the last of the Red Wings in Boston, barring a playoff match up. The Bruins ended up splitting the two games with the Wings, winning the first match up, a  4-1 victory and a lose in the second game 3-2. The first game was a must win for the Bruins with Detroit at the tail end of a 3 games in 4 nights stretch and were very clearly fatigued. My biggest takeaway from these games was the special teams play from the Bruins. The Bruins did a great job of shutting down Detroit’s power play while establishing their own. The Bruins and their new power play look, with Zdeno Chara down low, came out with 2 goals from the first game including this beauty from Chara after an amazing feed from Torey Krug (skip to 25 seconds):

The games against the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Colorado Avalanche were very similar because the Bruins put forth a very strong effort in each game. The Bruins played a great game against Colorado but, unfortunately, the Bruins ran into a very hot goaltender in J.S. Giguere. Colorado scored on a deflected shot on the power play and the Bruins couldn’t manage a goal as they fell 2-0. The game against the Blue Jackets was similar except for the fact that the Bruins were able to put the puck in the net. The two newest Bruins each played a crucial role in the Bruins 3-1 win. The first goal was due to a tremendous individual effort by Jerome Iginla and the second, and eventual game-winner was the first goal in a Boston Bruins uniform by Loui Eriksson.

Overall, I am very happy with the effort and intensity the Bruins have played with throughout the season thus far. In the not-so-distant past, the Bruins have struggled in afternoon games, usually coming out slow and flat-footed. But so far I have loved seeing the team ready to go for these early afternoon games. I am enjoying watching the Boston Bruins on the power play for the first time in years due to the strategy of putting Zdeno Chara down in front of the net and allowing Torey Krug and David Krejci to make plays in space. The Bruins have already scored a handful of power play and shorthanded goals this season and have shown an huge improvement especially on the power play.

Who’s Next: New Division Rivals & Old Friends

The Bruins have three consecutive division road division games up next. The first is in Florida against old friend Tim Thomas and second game is against the Tampa Bay Lightning. I am looking forward to having these two teams in the division because with all of the other teams being tough and competitive, it will be nice to play these two teams that appear to be doormats. After those games it is another road division game where the Bruins will visit the Buffalo Sabres.  Following that the Boston Bruins will be welcoming Joe Thornton and the San Jose Sharks to the Garden.

Watching the Bruins has been and should continue to be fun, especially watching how Coach Claude Julien continues to rotate his defensemen. A separate blog on that topic will follow. Until then, remember to follow me on twitter @BruinsBeliever for my in-game analysis and for quick hit thoughts. Thanks for reading, and as always: Lets Go Bs!

2014 Boston Bruins Season Preview & Predictions

1 Reply

boston-bruins-90th-anniversaryFinally, after a long summer Bruins Hockey is back! I know that I couldn’t be more excited for the season to start, even with the shortest off-season in NHL history. The best part is core of this team is intact and not going anywhere for a while. However, it will be a different team to watch; and not just because of these new jersey patches.

Changes:

While I am sad about the loss of Nathan Horton, I believe that Jerome Iginla can step in his place and fit in perfectly. In fact, he could be more valuable due to his penalty killing ability and leadership on and off the ice. With Iginla comes leadership and the hunger to win a Cup and win now. This is a guy who won’t take any nights off and, hopefully, can keep Milan Lucic’s skates moving during the regular season.

The Bruins also made a huge blockbuster trade, ridding themselves of Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley. Those two are guys who didn’t fit in the Bruins system. They are finesse guys who don’t like to get in the corners and grind. I do think Seguin will have great regular season success throughout his career but, I don’t see him being able to lead a team on a long playoff run. Does this story of a Boston Bruins former first round pick sound similar Bruins fans? Loui Eriksson has the makings of a guy who can go out and play Bruins Hockey. He ads some much needed size to the Bergeron line and will go into the corners and win the puck. Plus Eriksson has some moves too!

Boston Bruins 2014 Season Predictions:

Boston Bruins Leading Goal Scorer: David Krejci. This was a tough choice for me because I see this Bruins team being similar to last season’s where 4 or 5 different guys will be right around the same goal level. I decided on Krejci because he is the skill guy on a line with Lucic and Iginla who will feed the puck to the middle for him.

Boston Bruins 7th Player Award: Carl Soderberg. If you are looking for a guy to break out this year this is it. From everything I have seen in camp and the preseason, Soderberg is primed to have a big year, even on the 3rd line. I wouldn’t be surprised if he sees power play time sooner rather than later.

Boston Bruins Team MVP: Tuukka Rask. I know this isn’t a huge reach but with a lot of young defensemen out there night in and night out, Tuukka is going to have to continue to be the backbone of this team along with Zdeno Chara.

2014 NHL MVP: John Tavares. It’s time for him to get the recognition he deserves.

Presidents Trophy: Chicago Blackhawks. While the Bruins division was made much stronger with the addition of Detroit, Chicago’s was made significantly weaker with no challenger in sight.

Vezina Trophy: Tuukka Rask. I am trying real hard to not make this a homer pick but I can’t do it. The fact that Tuukka wasn’t even a finalist last year enraged me.

Boston Bruins 2014 Season Prediction: Stanley Cup Champions. (They don’t call me a Believer for nothing.) Let’s face it anything outside of a top 4 finish in the league would be disappointing. High expectations? Yes, but they have earned it with their recent success. The Boston Bruins have all of the necessary parts to make another cup run, most importantly, adding two veterans eager to win their first cup with Eriksson and especially Iginla. Yes, the division will be tougher with the addition of Detroit, the growth Toronto has shown, and the usual pains-in-the-ass up in Montreal but, the Bruins don’t necessarily need to win the division (in the regular season) to reach the ultimate goal. In recent Cup runs the B’s have shown the willingness and the ability to win big games on the road.

NHL Final Four: Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angeles

Stanley Cup Final: Boston in 6 vs. Los Angeles. You have no idea how much I struggled with the fact that I picked the Bruins to win The Cup. I was scared to type out those thoughts but I had to make a prediction. I don’t think Detroit can handle playing in the more physical Northeast Division (or whatever they are calling it now) over the course of the season and into the playoffs. The only reason I didn’t pick Chicago to go to the finals again is because no team has repeated in the NHL since 1997 and that’s no coincidence, in my opinion it is the hardest thing to do in sports.

There you have it. I am looking forward to a new season with this team. Don’t forget to follow BruinsBeliever on Twitter for quick thoughts and updates. Let’s Go B’s!

Boston Bruins Training Camp Report

Leave a reply

Training Camp 2013

This past Sunday, I was able to attend both session of Boston Bruins Training Camp at the TD Garden. Which, I have to admit, is just not the same as it was going to Wilmington because yesterday felt more like a production. I was a little depressed (but not surprised) to find Jeremy Jacobs making money off of what was supposed to be a free event by selling concessions. I was pleased to find players taking the time to sign some autographs after the second session for the kids who turned out.

The Boston Bruins split up the team into 2 practice groups for Training Camp 2013. Group B went first for the 10 o’clock session. The guy who really stood out was Carl Soderberg. He scored 3 goals and hit 2 posts during the practice. 2 of the 3 goals were perfectly placed shots over the goaltenders shoulder, under the bar shots that are virtually unstoppable. That is a skill the Bruins have missed quite a bit throughout the years. From what I have heard, he has been lighting it up all camp long. He looks ready to breakout in the 2013-2014 Season. Soderberg had me wondering if Claude Julien would have to consider possibly moving Loui Eriksson or Jerome Iginla down to the third line to make room for Soderberg. Meanwhile, Iginla looked like he would fit in perfectly with Milan Lucic and David Krejci on that top line.

During the afternoon session, BruinsBeliever was able to watch Loui Erikkson interacting with future line mates Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand. The first thing I noticed was his size. He is a lot bigger than I thought he was and seemed more than willing to go into corners to free the puck up for Bergeron quarterback. I think he will be a great fit for the Bruins and a much better fit than Tyler Seguin would have been. Erikkson did a great job back-checking throughout the session and even lifted a goal past Tuukka Rask during a drill. I am excited to see how these lines play out, especially if Soderberg plays anywhere near the level he has been practicing.

Overall, Believe it or not, I feel better about this team than I did about last years team during their brief ‘training camp’. This team just seems so meticulously put together and each piece seems to fit perfectly together. They lost a leader in Andrew Ference, but then traded for Loui Erikkson who was an Alternate Captain down in Dallas. Heck, Brad Marchand already called Erikkson a “great leader” during a post practice interview. They also signed Chad Johnson as a potential backup for Rask who is a great locker room guy as well. Not to mention the character and desire to win a cup with Jerome Iginla. This team is built to win now and take advantage of everything Zdeno Chara has left in the tank coupled with the younger players entiring their primes. It should be another awesome year. Especially when the preseason starts off with a Boston Bruins win in Montreal. Let’s hope for another great year. Keep Believing and don’t forget to follow me @BruinsBeliever. Let’s go B’s!