Tag: New Jersey Devils

A Win is a Win

The Bruins continued their winning ways this Saturday, having beaten the New Jersey 1-0 at TD Garden. This one was mostly a snoozer, as most are against the sorry Devils. When the Devils suck, they play an awfully boring hockey game. It’s been that way for years, and this year was no different.

Much of the game was a battle of Goalies. Tuukka Rask manned the pipes for the Bruins, and Mackenzie Blackwood for the Devils.

The only goal of the game came early on a Bruins power-play:

A filthy goal from Marchand who received a disgusting no-look, behind the back pass from Patrice Bergeron. It was so naughty it should be illegal in some states. This goal came just 2:37 into the First. Neither team would score for the remainder of the contest.

Rask stopped all 20 shots he faced, while Blackwood stopped 29 of 30. Including a Marchand Penalty Shot in the First.

With this loss Devils remain in the basement of the Metropolitan Division, whereas the Bruins continue to roll. Saturday was the Bruins 12th win in their last 16 games

Small note regarding Marchand:

Marchand with some improbable history in this one. There isn’t a more obscure stat that is more fitting for Brad Marchand than that.

Next up for the Bruins are the surging Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes have won 8 of their last 9 and 5 in a row. This will be a good test for the Bruins, playing a team almost as hot as they are. Sebastian Aho leads the way with 73 points, followed by Tuevo Teravainen in second with 61. This isn’t a typical Canes team with piss-poor forwards.

They’ve got quality youth in Aho and Alex Svechnikov. They made a ballsy mid-season trade when they were out of the playoff picture to acquire Minnesota Wild forward, Nino Niederreiter. He’s provided secondary scoring with 41 points. Canes biggest whole comes in net where they sport two below average, stop-gap goalies. We will have a better idea tomorrow whether Peter Mrazek or Curtis McElhinney will man the crease. Bruins will need to be as focused as they were against Tampa to win a 13th out of 17. Lets keep those sorry Maple Leafs in the rear-view.

Big Boy Win.

The Boston Bruins welcomed the surging Tampa Bay Lightning last night, and came away with a resounding 4-1 victory. The Bolts came in having won 9 games in a row. They already post a whopping 102 points. The Bruins are the next best Eastern Conference team with 85. Didn’t matter on this night, as the Bruins stifled the Lightning from the get go.

I was just hoping they’d keep it close, but from the get-go they were all over Tampa, out-shooting them 32-9 after two periods. Jake DeBrusk was the only Bruin able to sneak one past Tampa Net-minder, Louis Domingue. Domingue was having himself a career game, making highlight reel save after highlight reel save. Finally DeBrusk snuck one through in the Second.

I can’t remember the exact stat, but through the first two periods, I believe Kenny Albert mentioned the Bruins had only allowed two shots by Tampa forwards. Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Tyler Johnson, Palat, and countless others. They could only muster up two freaking shots from forwards.

Tampa woke up to start the Third Period, finally applying consistent pressure on a Rask and the Bruins. Able to withstand the pressure, Noel Acciari stuffed a rebound past Domingue to break open the floodgates.

Less than a minute later, Patrice Bergeron snuck in a Five Hole one-timer past Domingue to make it 3-0 B’s.

Once again less than a minute after Bergeron’s goal, Brad Marchand sprung free on a breakaway to put it away:

The game would finish 4-1, as the Bruins finish February 11-0-4. The last time they had a perfect month was November 2011. It’s been just a sensational month. Our deadline acquisitions played well again, but registered 0 pints between the two. I actually really like Charlie Coyle. He is a very very good Third Line Center. He’s got size, decent skating ability, and generates scoring chances. Problem is his linemates fucking BLOW. Backes is too slow, and Nordstrom just is one of the worst hockey players I’ve ever seen. Due to some re-shuffling thanks to Kuraly missing a few days with an injury, we finally see a decent player on Coyle’s wing in, Peter Chelarik. The past three games there was Nordstrom and Backes flanking Coyle. 🤢………🤮.

How embarrassing, Nordstrom. Whole fucking net to shoot at, and flops it into Domingue’s glove. Shame on you, Joakim. Domingue got lots of praise for this save, he got lots of help from Nordstrom.

So moving forward I’d like to see some other combinations, and giving Charlie Coyle a legit player in his wing. Bruins next game is Saturday at TD Garden against the rotten, New Jersey Devils. The Bruins look to cement their place as one of the NHL’s elite over the last Month of the season.

Not Good Enough.

With regular 60 point scorer, Mark Stone on the move to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Boston Bruins laid another Trade Deadline egg yesterday afternoon.

Having been in the conversation to acquire Stone for upwards of two weeks, Donny Sweeney couldn’t get it done….again. Much like Hossa and Kovalchuk from 2008-2011 (that was Chiarelli but still, John Tavares, and Kovalchuk again this past summer. Most reported the Bruins were pushing hard for the Superstar Winger. Stone was unable to negotiate a contract extension with the Senators, which made him available to contenders.

Once again Donny failed. This might be criminal case of failure. How do you have an aging Bergeron, Marchand, Chara, Rask, and Krejci on your team, and not put all your resources you possibly could into maximizing their window? Instead they trade for Marcus Johansson who is simply not good enough. I shouldn’t be surprised, this is the Bruins “MO”. You’ll always find the Bruins associated with the biggest available trade targets, or Free Agents. They never have the balls to pull the trigger. This team had a chance to be something special, had Sweeney invested future assets. He was a afraid to trade a First Round Pick, because last year he pissed one away on the corpse of Rick Nash. Mark Stone is 26. They would be all sorts of dangerous adding a 60 point winger in his prime, but instead they add two guys who combine for 55. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. Marcus Johansson is a pretty crafty player, loads of skill especially with the puck on his stick. More of a pass first player, I would think he’d be on the second line with Krejci and DeBrusk. Problem with MoJo is he took a cheap shot from Brad Marchand just last season:

The guy hasn’t been the same since, not many would be after taking that Bush League shot. We’ll see how he contributes, but I don’t think he and Coyle is enough to match Tampa. Not even close. The Bruins just don’t have the stones (no pun intended) to maximize their ever slimming Stanley Cup window. People will say, “They didn’t mortgage their future!”. To that I say, there is no fucking future. This is it, the next 2-4 years is about as long as Bruins fans can expect to compete with the aging roster. One more bonafide stud, and they woulda been a real threat. Instead, we’ll have to pray they go in some magical run with a string of upsets.

B’s take on San Jose today at TD Garden, where MoJo will make his Bruins debut. Put up or shut up time with just over a month left.