Interdivisional Match up: Boston at Buffalo

Buffalo Sabres Record: 12-5-1

Boston Bruins Record: 9-8-4

Sabres Record vs. Bruins Since 2005: 12-6-0

Sabres Likely Goalie: Ryan Miller

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Sabres Top Scorer: Thomas Vanek (6)

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (6)

Injury Report: It's still not sure whether Savard will be play tonight, but I be they'll give him the weekend to rest a little more.

Mike Grier and Toni Lydman are still resting their groins.

Preview Notes: Well despite what most people probably expected, the Bruins found their offense and managed to put up 3 goals in regulation. All the while, they were able to keep their defense in check and shut down Kovalchuk (kinda). The Bruins had a great game against Buffalo last time they met, but it'll be interesting to see how they match up against Miller and not a rookie.

Bs Manage to Not Completely Blow Lead, Win in SO

Three Stars:
1. Michael Ryder (2 goals, 0 assists)
2. Ilya Kovalchuk (1 goal, 2 assists)
3. Ondrej Pavelec (SV: 39, SV%: .929)


Final Score:
Atlanta Thrashers: 3
Boston Bruins: 4

Goalie Stats
Ondrej Pavelec: SV: 39 SV%: .929 GA: 3
Tuukka Rask: SV: 32 SV%: .914 GA: 3

Recap Notes:
-Despite the 3 goals, Rask had a great game.
-Bruins broke a 3 game losing streak, 2 of which occurred out of regulation.
-Lucic looked solid in his first game back.
-Atlanta has NO fans. Seriously, turn on a Thrashers home game and look at the stands, it's sad.
-Despite having 7 power plays, Boston held Atlanta to one PP goal.
-See what happens when you're smart about your shootout lineup Julien??

Preview: Bruins Travel to Lose in Atlanta

Boston Bruins Record: 8-8-4

Atlanta Thrashers Record: 10-6-1

Bruins Record vs. Thrashers Since 2005: 9-6-1

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Thrashers Likely Goalie: Ondrej Pavelec

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (6)

Thrashers Top Scorer: Ilya Kovalchuk (12)

Injury Report: There is a strong chance that Milan Lucic could be active to play tonight. Mark Savard is quoted saying that he will be benched tonight, but will probably return tomorrow against Buffalo.

Preview Notes: Please please please Bruins, get your defense back in gear or Kovalchuk is going to violate you. You were doing so well with it this season despite the horrible offensive slump, but lately, you got nothing! Also, lets talk about the 12.9 conversion percentage on the power play. Actually, lets not talk about that, it's depressing, not as a Bruins fan, but as a hockey fan. It could be worse for the Bruins though, they could be Toronto.

Wow the Bruins Suck

Three Stars:
1. Matt Moulson (2 goals, name is a beer!)
2. Richard Park (3 assists)
3. David Krejci (1 assist)

Final Score:
New York Islanders: 4
Boston Bruins: 1

Goalie Stats
Dwayne "The Rock" Roloson: SV: 28 SV%: .966 GA: 1
Tuukka Rask: SV: 17 SV%: .850 GA: 3

Recap Notes:
- Wow... the Bruins are just terrible
- Matt Moulson is not terrible
- With all their trouble on the wing... you think Pittsburgh regrets giving up Moulson?
- Does anyone on the Bruins even care?
- I mean really... you took all your shots from the outside
- Bruins need someone who can finish like a porn star
- The Bruins are apparently allergic to throwing hits
- Once again... the Bruins 4th line is the best line on the team... if only they could score
- Can Lucic and Savard save this team?

Julien's Secret Revealed.....

Recently, Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien has made some very... curious decisions. First, he put Mark Recchi 3rd in a shootout. Then... he put Chara 3rd in a shootout. Today, we found a picture that explains everything:

Game of the Year: Penguins Win!

Three Stars:
1. Pascal Dupuis (2 goals, including OT winner)
2. Sidney Crosby (1 goal, 2 assists)
3. Evgeni Malkin (3 assists)

Final Score:
Pittsburgh Penguins: 6
Boston Bruins: 5

Goalie Stats
Brent Johnson: SV: 28 SV%: .848 GA: 5
Tim Thomas: SV: 27 SV%: .818 GA: 6

Recap Notes:
- What a game. Seriously. Hockey at its finest
- So... safe to say the scoring drought is over for both teams
- What a difference Malkin makes
- Start the MVP chants Penguins fans
- Malkin looks unstoppable at times. Malkin > Ovechkin
- Really, the highlights speak for themselves
- But what an epic mistake by Tim Thomas:

Preview: Bruins visit Penguins.

Boston Bruins Record: 8-7-3

Pittsburgh Penguins Record: 12-7-0

Bruins Record vs. Penguins Since 2005: 10-4-0-2

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Penguins Likely Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (6)

Penguins Top Scorer: Sidney Crosby (9)

Injury Report: Umm...alot. Pittsburgh will be without, Maxime Talbot (shoulder), Sergei Gonchar (wrist), Tyler Kennedy (undisclosed), Kris Letang (shoulder), and Brooks Orpik (lower body).

Boston will still be without Marc Savard (broken foot)and Milan Lucic (finger).

Preview Notes: We got two teams here who really haven't been performing as well as they would like lately. B's won decisively last Tuesday against the Penguins, however, with Malkin coming back, the offensive dynamic of this team is going to be very different. The Bruins will be looking to keep doing what they've been doing on defense to disrupt any rhythm that Pittsburgh tries to generate. The Bruins best chance to win is for this game to NOT go to a shootout, because apparently when that happens, coach Julien becomes a blithering idiot.

Bruins Lose in SO....Vokoun is a Beast

Three Stars:
1. Thomas Vokoun (Getting a shutout, being awesome)
2. Tim Thomas (Getting a shutout, being slightly less awesome)
3. Cory Stillman (Got the shootout goal...dick.)

Final Score:
Boston Bruins: 0
Florida Panthers: 1

Goalie Stats
Tim Thomas: SV: 23 SV%: 1.000 GA: 0
Thomas Vokoun: SV: 40 SV%: 1.000 GA: 0

Recap Notes:

- This was a game of great saves, watch the highlights below.
- Vokoun deserves to be with a better team.
- This isn't the first time the B's have had trouble scoring on him.
- Chara in the shootout, Julien? Really?
- In the 2nd, Florida only got 1 shot on goal....Boston had 19.
- Bruins travel to Pittsburgh Saturday for a rematch against baby-faced Crosby and the Pens.

Preview: Panthers Visit the Bruins

Boston Bruins Record: 8-7-2

Florida Panthers Record: 5-9-1

Bruins Record vs. Panthers Since 2005: 7-7-1-1

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Panthers Likely Goalie: Tomas Vokoun

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (6 goals, 12 points)

Panthers Top Scorer: Steven Reinprecht (9 goals, 14 points)

Injury Report: Boston is still without Marc Savard (broken foot) and Milan Lucic (broken finger).

That team from Florida will be without David Booth (concussion), Nick Tarnasky (orbital bone) and Dominic Moore (nasal surgery)

Preview Notes: The Bruins are finally on their first win streak of the season.... two games! They shut out the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins at home on Tuesday.

Boston has been tighter than your high school prom date on defense lately but they are still struggling to score a bit. However, the way they're stopping the opposition from scoring they could probably score less than Pierre McGuire and still win.

The Panthers coach DeBoer was recently quoted as saying the team isn't where it needs to be, but he's happy. Why? Because if they haven't been playing their best and they are still 5-9, thats a good sign. No Mr. DeBoer... its not. Your team sucks.

Predicting the Bruins get a bit of offense and win 4-2.

This Day In Bruins History...

On November 12th, 1990 Boston Bruins defenseman Gord Kluzak retired after playing just 299 games.

Kluzak was drafted in 1982 when Harry Sinden thought he'd be a better player than Brian Bellows. In 1984 he tore ligaments in his left knee and missed the rest of the season. He re-injured the same knee in 1986 and missed yet another season.

Gord Kluzak holds the distinction of playing the least amount of NHL games ever by a #1 overall draft pick and was just one of many poor choices in the history of Bruins drafting.

Bruins Shut Down Slumping Penguins

Three Stars:
1. Tim Thomas (27 saves, shutout)
2. Zdeno Chara (no points, but he abused Crosby all night)
3. Matt Hunwick (1 goal)

Final Score:
Boston Bruins: 3
Pittsburgh Penguins: 0

Goalie Stats
Tim Thomas: SV: 27 SV%: 1.000 GA: 0
Marc-Andre Fleury: SV: 26 SV%: .929 GA: 2

Recap Notes:
- Penguins D-man Brooks "Free Candy" Orpik went down about 10 minutes in
- The Penguins are now without their top 3 defenseman
- Crosby... stop trying to repeatedly deke out three opposing players... its not working
- Chara made Crosby his bitch for most of the night
- Fleury kept the Penguins in the game despite no support
- Bergeron auditioned to take over PJ Axelsson's role of empty net scorer
- Both teams were beat up.... and you could tell
- This was basically an AHL game
- Rematch on Saturday
- Bruins are beasts on defense the past few games
- Bruins welcome the Panthers tomorrow
- There should be no hockey teams in Florida

Preview: Stanley Cup Champs Visit Stanley Cup Droughts

Boston Bruins Record: 7-7-2 (3rd in the Northeast)

Pittsburgh Penguins Record: 12-5-0 (1st in the Atlantic)

Bruins Record vs. Penguins Since 2005: 10-4-0-2

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Penguins Likely Goalie: Marc-Andre Fleury

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (5 goals, 10 points)

Penguins Top Scorer: Sidney Crosby (9 goals, 16 points)

Injury Report: We may need to do another post just to list all the injuries between these two teams.

Pittsburgh will be without Evgeni Malkin (shoulder), Maxime Talbot (shoulder), Sergei Gonchar (wrist), Tyler Kennedy (undisclosed) and Kris Letang (rabies from Scott Hartnell).

Boston will be without Marc Savard (broken foot)and Milan Lucic (finger). David Krejci is probable for tonight, but is recovering from the swine flu.

Preview Notes: The Penguins are struggling with injuries and fly into Boston after three games on the west coast. They're probably going to be more tired than Pierre McGuire's mouth after a visit to the Flyers locker room.

Captain Sidney Crosby is on a four game point-less streak, the longest of his career. The tighter Bruins defense, especially nudist Zdeno Chara, will try to extend that.

The Bruins have pretty much dominated the Penguins the last couple years. Perhaps this is payback for the Penguins constantly bouncing the Bruins from the playoffs in the early 90's. But while the Bruins have dominated the Penguins as of late, the Penguins have more Stanley Cups in the past year than Boston has had in 37...

This game has the potential to be really good, but with both teams struggling this could be uglier than a Maple Leafs post-game locker room.

It is slow around here........

So there were no Adams Northeast Division games last night or tonight. Toronto is probably still celebrating their 3rd win like they won the Cup... because winning the Cup isn't happening this year.

So because of the lack of activity... you end up with shit like this...

Let's take you back 7 years ago, 11-9-2002. P.J. Stock is a folk hero is Boston, kind of like Lucic now. He and future Bruin Shane Hnidy apparently had a few disagreements:

Round 1:


Round 2:


And for you Maple Leafs fans upset about all the losing jokes, let's take you back to a magical day when the Maple Leafs where on the winning side of a shut out:

Recap: Bruins Actually Can Score! Beat Buffalo.

Three Stars:
1. Zdeno Chara (1 goal, 1 assist)
2. Steve Begin (0 goals, 2 assists)
3. Shawn Thornton(0 goals, 1 assist, 2 fights)


Final Score:
Buffalo Sabres: 2
Boston Bruins: 4

Goalie Stats
Jhonas Enroth: SV: 33 SV%: .892 GA: 4
Tuukka Rask: SV: 28 SV%: .933 GA: 2

Recap Notes:
-Bruins snap a three game losing streak.
-Rask is proving more and more to be a capable goalie to one day takeover the starting position
-Enroth has ALOT of work to do
-Bruins got 2 powerplay points...fans in Boston danced in the streets (they haven't converted on their previous 20).
-Buffalo's powerplay looked more like the Bruins, they went 0-7.
-Bruins scored more in this game than in their previous four combined.
-Shawn Thornton is a beast.

Preview: Sabres vs Bruins

Boston Bruins Record: 6-7-2 (4th in the Northeast)

Buffalo Soldier Sabres Record: 9-3-1 (1st in the Northeast)

Bruins Record vs. Sabres Since 2005: 9-17-2-2

Bruins Likely Goalie: Tim Thomas

Sabres Likely Goalie: Ryan Miller

Bruins Top Scorer: Patrice Bergeron (5 goals, 9 points)

Sabres Top Scorer: Tim Connolly (4 goals, 12 points)

Injury Report: Buffalo will be without back up goalie Patrick Lalime (groin) and defenseman Toni Lydman.

Boston will be without Milan Lucic (finger), Marc Savard (foot) and David Krejci (kissed a pig).

Preview Notes: Both teams are coming off pretty bad losses.

Buffalo was blown out by the idiot Flyers, 5-2. Boston lost in the shoot out to Montreal after finally breaking their scoreless streak.

Buffalo is the class of the division this season and outside of last night has been extremely strong defensive, which is a terrible thing for the Bruins offense.

The Bruins offense is kind of like a horny old man... it tries and tries and wants to score... but the equipment just won't co-operate. 1 game in 3 games. I understand Lucic and Savard are out, but come on. Yes, they put up 40 shots on Price... but they were really, really poor shot choices that a High School goalie could've stopped.

I would say look for the Bruins to come out angry... but they didn't even rise to the occasion when the Canadiens were in town. Sad, sad days in Boston my friends.

Canadiens Pick Up Jay Leach

The Montreal Canadiens picked up Jay Leach off of waivers today from the New Jersey Devils.

Leach is a former Providence Bruin, and the big club most likely sent him to Montreal via New Jersey to get inside info on the Habs. He is also married to NESN's Kathryn Tappen, who is not attractive. At all.

Tim Thomas = Save of the Year

This clip really needs no introduction. Wow. Just... wow:

Jack Edwards is crazy

Boston Bruins announcer Jack Edwards had a thing or two to say about Kessel getting rocked in his season debut:



And who can forget this classic from the playoffs last year when Jack Edwards compared a hockey game to the revolutionary war:

Recap: Boston Still Can't Score, Habs Win in Overtime

Three Stars:
1. Mike Cammalleri (0 goals, 0 assists)
2. Carey Price (Saves: 42 Save%: .977)
3. Tim Thomas (Saves: 25 Save%: .962

Final Score:
Montreal Canadiens: 2
Boston Bruins: 1

Goalie Stats
Carey Price: SV: 42 SV%: .977 GA: 1
Tim Thomas: SV: 25 SV%: .962 GA: 1

Recap Notes:
-This was the 700th game between these two teams
-Bruins almost broke their scoring draught late in the 2nd, but it was ruled that it went under the net and not between the posts.
-Finally, with 51 seconds left in the 3rd, Boston DOES end the drought and avoids a 3game shutout streak...it took six Bruins to do it (Thomas was pulled).
-Last time Bruins were shut out 3 consecutive games was February, 1929. Oddly, they won the Stanley Cup that year.
-Lapierre is a pussy.
-So is Ference.
-This marks the B's 3rd Consecutive loss
-Price is doing well? Come on, even for Montreal fans, that has to be surprising.
-Montreal is 7-0 this season in OT/SO games.

Tuukka Rask Re-signs with Bruins

The Boston Globe is reporting that Boston netminder Tuukka Rask has signed a new two year deal to remain with the team through the 2011-2012 season.

No financial terms have been released per club policy, but we'll have them as soon as someone on the intra-nets gets the info. Stay tuned.

Update: The deal is apparently for 1.2 million the first year and 1.6 million the second year. Not a bad deal overall. For once Chiarelli didn't over pay! Dance in the streets Boston fans!