Bruins - Bolts: Game 3 Preview

The Boston Bruins are on the road tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The B's were one game away from reaching this stage last year, when something happened, no one really remembers.... But this year, they beat the Canadiens in 7 games, swept the Flyers, and are knotted up at 1 game apiece with the Tampa Bay Lightning.

19-year-old rookie Tyler Seguin came out banging on all cylinders the first two games so far. He has five points in the series, including two goals in the last tilt. Nathan Horton chalked up three points of his own in the 6-5 Bruins victory. Was it Tim Thomas' best game? Not even close. At times, he looked confused, with little to no help from his defense. The penalty-kill lines looked like they were formed by the equipment managers and a few fans, and need to be able to lock down the dangerous power play of Tampa Bay.

The Lightning may be the fastest team in the league this year, and are a serious threat to the livelihood of Boston. Stamkos, Lecavalier, and St. Louis are three snipers who know how to score against Thomas. Hopefully Claude Julien whipped the shoddy defense into shape yesterday, otherwise we could be in trouble.

Final score: 4-2, Lightning. The Bruins have the advantage of home-ice for Game 7, and I think it'll take all seven of those games for a winner. Tough loss tonight, but nothing the Bruins can't come back from.

Go B's

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Thomas

Well Tank had another brilliant start, making many B's fans conjure memories of his Vezina Trophy winning campaign two years back. Unfortunately for this fan, the other half of Thomas is the one that I'm most concerned about. One of the things that makes him so dangerous is his ability to make the best of chaotic situations, seemingly haphazardly jumping around the crease like a spider monkey, making one impossible save after another. Unfortunately this is what burns Timmy alot,as he is out of position more often than not. And this, his darker side inevitably comes out at some point during the season. So I for one will enjoy watching his circus saves for now, but the Bruins will need Tuukka Rask to step up when the potion wears off and the other side of Tank comes out later this season.
Q Man

Offseason Update

The Bruins have been wheeling and dealing, lately. Tonight is the 2010 NHL Draft out in Los Angeles, but the Bruins have been multi-tasking.

They have already made a few key moves to bolster the 2010-2011 roster. Earlier today, they signed the unrestricted free agent winger Mark Recchi to a 1-year deal, which comes a day after signing defenseman Johnny Boychuck to a 2-year contract extension. Another big move the B's completed was to send defenseman Dennis Wideman, their 15th round draft pick, and a third round pick in the 2011 Draft to the Florida Panthers for forwards Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell. Both are veterans of about 400 games, and have put up decent numbers, especially considering they played for the Florida Panthers.

The draft begins tonight at 7pm EST, and Boston will look to make further key additions to get them over the Eastern Conference Finals hump in 2011.

Dude, You Got a Dart in Your Neck

It's seriously like watching them play with tranquilizer darts lodged in them. The Bruins, once up 3-0 on the Flyers, were forced into a game 7 scenario last night with the Flyers winning on their home ice, 2-1.

Tomorrow (Friday) will be back in the Hub, where the Bruins will look to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and face their rivals, the Montreal Canadiens who await after beating the Pittsburgh Penguins in a brilliant 7 game series.

Let's Go B's

Game 4: Bruins vs Flyers

Boston took a 1-0 lead late in the first period, but the Flyers scored later to tie it up 1-1. That type of back-and-forth hockey was played for all 60 minutes last night in Philadelphia.

Taking a 3-0 series lead into last night's game, had the Bruins riding high, but their momentum was slowed down by the loss of David Krejci, after taking a hit from Mike Richards in Game 3 and dislocating his right wrist. The Bruins skated well last night, but ran into problems when the Flyers scored 2 goals within 5 minutes from the sticks of Chris Pronger and Claude Giroux. Milan Lucic scored early in the third period on a PPG to knot things up at 3 goals a piece, and then it was like each team had a fire lit underneath them. They skated furiously trying to net the go-ahead goal, and finally with 5:40 left to play, Ville Leino sniped one past Tuuka Rask.

The Bruins knew this wasn't the end. With 5 minutes to go, the Bruins showed why even though they had a rough regular season, they weren't ready to lose again. With 00:32 left, Mark Recchi scored on a wrister from Patrice Bergeron and Dennis Wideman, his second of the game to even the game out at 4-4. In overtime, it was an intense battle that raged on for almost 15 minutes before the previously injured Simon Gagne tipped in the game winning goal just past Rask.

Game 5 will be back in the Garden on Monday, where the B's took first blood from their opponents. One more win will secure a berth into the Conference Finals, a plateau not reached by Boston since 1992.

Back in the Saddle...

So maybe it's been a month and a half since my last blog... my bad, boys and girls. It's the summer, the Sox are struggling their asses off to stay above .500, the Bruins are up 3-1 on the Flyers in the second round of the playoffs, and the Celtics are down 2-1 to the Cavs in the second round. Let's go.

Boston is the center of the universe, so I don't care if you're from Cleveland, Philadelphia, New York or anywhere in between...Keep the Faith.

Bruins Update

Remember this? Bruins-Flyers, Fenway Park, New Years' Day, not even a month ago? The last time B's fans really felt like the Black and Gold could do some damage? Since the Winter Classic, the bruins are 3-12.

Something just isn't working, and I can't figure out what. The team seems unmotivated, and just flat out unable to play a whole 60 minutes. Over this rough patch, they're shown hundreds of signs of life. They've gone on plenty of hot streaks during periods, but then seems to just completely lose it. Coach Julien has been doing his part to keep them in line and keep the drive alive in them, but from their first line down to the 3-man penalty kill, it seems like the Bruins are struggling to keep it together in 2010.