That’s what losing so badly for so long can do for you.

Tavares Made the Playoffs DESPITE This Guy

We aren’t overlooking the fact that an 8th seed is SUPPOSED to lose to a 1st seed. That’s obvious- except to Penguin fans, who are ignorant to what winning feels like because, well, they live in Pittsburgh. However, in this shortened season, round two in both conferences have their 6th and 7th seed still playing, and in the west, the 5th seed is still in action. This illustrates the damage that the Islanders did to themselves by dropping so many points in the last 4 games of the regular season. It also makes us wonder that if instead of trying to sell his team captain and second line center to Chicago Garth Snow tried buying some veteran presence, then we’d be watching us play against Boston right now instead of watching the guys golfing at Tam O’Shanter. And that leads us into our next question: now what?

Islander fans were entirely right to bask in a highly unexpected playoff berth. The only “professional prognosticator” who pegged these guys for the playoffs early was Jeremy Roenick, and we all know how well he lived up to his expectations in Chicago, so why listen to him on this nugget of wisdom? However, the man who inspired “Bonelick” in the old school Sega Genesis “Mutant League Hockey” was on the money. Now, the time for self adulation is entirely over. You didn’t win the last game, so when reflecting back on last season, stop feeling the warm fuzzies. Time to put the boots to the ground and get to work. And by work, the question is the roster.

We aren’t the Only Ones Who Notice It…too bad Shanahan Doesn’t

This team has two ways that the improve their roster: drafts, and waiver wire. Trades are not viable for Snow, because if they were, we would have seen some beyond salary dumps. And free agency? Two words: Marty Reasoner. Many pundits are talking about how, with the lowering of the salary cap and with amnesty buyouts, this will be the year where teams who positioned themselves with cap floor tams can make an impact. We do not for a second believe that changing salary cap dynamics will motivate Garth Snow into any action involving anything more than snack foods. Nor do we believe that Brooklyn on the horizon will entice free agents to take less than market price deals. The 8th playoff seed was great for Kyle Okposo and John Tavares, but what will entice upcoming unrestricted free agent Pascal DuPuis to leave Pittsburgh to play here?

In short, the building is resolved. The arena will be new. The team made the playoffs. There is financial stability between the new TV from NBC, Cablevision and Canada (roughly $32 million cash if you’re counting) roster depreciation tax breaks (over ten million dollars annually), the Suozzi lease, $20 parking, and as Nassau comptroller George Maragos recently pointed out, a sold out Nassau Coliseum creates $167,000 in tax revenue for the county per game- $24,000 alone comes from the seat tax build into a ticket- so it is clear to anyone with eyes that the bulk of revenues per game fall into the coffers of Charles Wang. There is no reason to NOT spend money this offseason, and that’s the premise that we’re going with.

For the Geographically Ignorant- Brooklyn is on Long Island. We’re All Islanders

 But, spend it on what?

Every Islanders “writer” has a wish list that they’ve been working on. We are no exceptions. Our plan is to identify what we see as needs, and how they should be addressed. Also, we’re completely guessing at who gets amnestied based on bad contracts and poor performance. So, without further adieu:

Needs: 1st line wing,  2nd line center, depth forward, top pairing defenseman, starting goalie.

1st line wing: Organizationally, this would be 2010 top 5 draft pick Nino Neidereitter. Nino has proven that he can score in juniors, the AHL, and in international competition. What he hasn’t proven is an ability to score in the NHL. That frankly is scary. Would we give Nino a shot at the top wing if this was not now a playoff team with aspirations to run deep into the post season? Yup. But this is now a team with the expectation of making a run deep into the post season. This isn’t the time to audition a guy with less goals in his NHL career than Casey Cizikas. And as mentioned, Pascal DuPuis knows how to caddy for a superstar, but there is no way that the Islanders could entice him to leave Pittsburgh and that annual guarantee of playoff shares for 1-3 rounds. In reality, Brad Boyes will come back for a decent raise- figure $2.5 mil per, but we really don’t want Boyes anchoring line 1. So, what to do?

Free Agency: David Clarkson. Trade: Thomas Vanek. Amnesty: Dany Heatley.

The first two options would fit well next to Tavares, for differing reasons. In Vanek, you have a highly skilled forward who can drop 40 pucks a year into the net. Maybe 50 next to JT91. He may be a bit of a loafer, but he has shown that he can skate and score, and that was pretty much the approach that the Islanders used in the playoffs. In Clarkson you have the 20 goal role player that always seems to ride shotgun to JT91 and Matt Moulson, but a guy who adds toughness, plays hard, hits, scraps, and works along the boards. Also, he’s currently not an overpriced star, so he may take a market price contract. And New Jersey is trending downward, having missed the playoffs two of the last 3 years, and has no one set to replace Martin “Cy Young of Hockey” Brodeur. We saw how bad the Devils were without Brodeur this season. After 2013-2014, it’ll be full time Scott Clemensen’s. Heatley is our buyout candidate because he fills the role of “guy needing a change in scenery that will work cheap,” a Garth Snow staple. Heatley was once wickedly offensive both on the ice and on the highway- would he have one more season left to share with JT? At a million dollar one year deal, Garth would think long and hard on such.

2nd line center: Organizationally, this would be 2011 top 5 draft pick Ryan Strome. Strome has lit up the junior circuit, and played about as well statistically as Ryan Nugent Hopkins in international play during the lockout. However, Strome’s transition to the AHL was rough by his standards- 7 points in 10 games, compared to 94 points in 53 games for the Niagra Ice Dogs. It’s hard to deny that this is the guy who should be the team’s second line center. In reality, they may stick Strome next to JT91 and keep the Frans Neilsen- Kyle Okposo faceoff rotation intact, and resign Josh Bailey to a low cost, high risk deal- that risk being October through February (let’s not forget that Bailey’s breakout season was 19 points in 40 games, and the nice guy playmaker had only 8 assists). But we don’t want to recreate a lineup that gave us an exciting first round loss to Pittsburgh that included two absolute domination beatings, right? So what to do?

Free agency: Nathan Horton. Trade: Ryan Kesler. Amnesty: Brad Richards.

Horton and Kesler are similar players, statistically, in scoring and penalty minutes, though Kesler’s game is based more on speed and Horton on size. Both Horton in Boston and Kesler in Vancouver are used to being second fiddle centers. Both have been both productive and unafraid to mix things up a little bit. And in the case of both players, injuries are the only concern we’d have with these acquisitions. Honestly, we’d prefer to see Strome here, but Snow’s philosophy with high level picks is to use them for cap hits or bury them in the AHL – we have 4 of our last 5 first rounders there- so who knows. Richards is wilting under the pressure of being the man for the Rangers, but on this team, he wouldn’t need to be. And the Rangers would be lucky to get themselves out of a contract of that length and absurd size so easily. 

Depth Forward: Traditionally Snow likes using the waiver wire, NHL retreads, or career AHL guy to fill this spot (see Keith Aucoin, Colin McDonald, Jay Pandolfo, Rob Schremp, etc) to fill this role. However, if your aspirations are to improve, then you must use a different formula than what has only worked marginally in the past. Organizationally, Brock Nelson would be this guy. First round draft pick, hockey pedigree, big guy, and can slide between lines 3 and 4 easily, projecting to a marginal second liner at best. Depth. Sort of what they’ll resign Josh Bailey and Keith Aucoin to do, and then wonder why the team isn’t improving. We may want some different NHL experience, especially with looking to step it up, so with that:

Free agency: Ryane Clowe. Trade: Ryan Malone. Amnesty: Mike Fisher

Until this season, Clowe has been playing in San Jose, putting up around 50 points a year and racking up about a minute a game in penalties. He has had a few different roles in San Jose, and what may be fortunate is that he waited until his walk year to have a bad season in San Jose…only to pick his play up with a more physical disgusting Rangers team. That up and down type of year may make Clowe an affordable upgrade for the Islanders. A similar style player who is overpaid would be Tampa’s Ryan Malone. We’re long time fans of Malone’s scoring and occasional toughness, and think that a team so up against the salary cap and with so many needs may be willing to move a player that’s oft injured and pricey. Fisher is interesting, as he’s still productive, but he makes a lot of money and it’s Nashville. The Preds may not amnesty him, but if they do, he would be an absolute upgrade over the Marty Reasoners and Keith Aucoins of the world.

First Pairing Defense: Organizationally, this should be Griffin Reinhart. He is dominating peers in the WHL and already has a man’s build at 6’4″ and over 200 pounds and growing. His plus minus has gotten better every season, and he contributes about half a point a game to an offense. Stick this guy with Lubomir Visnovsky as a top pairing, and you may actually have a top pairing. However, some folks say that a 19 year old defenseman does not belong in the NHL. Our research proving otherwise aside, a top 5 draft pick should be in the NHL within 2 years of selection, so this would be a rush, but not a frantic one, and placed in the hands of a very capable veteran- look what Lubo did for Thomas Hickey for proof! But since Snow would rather work a waiver wire than look at his draft picks, lets look at some other options.

Free agency: Rob Scuderi. Trade: Matt Carle.  Amnesty: James Wisniewski.

None of these guys are true number one defensemen in the sense that we may want. However, each bring valuable skill sets to the team. Scuderi brings two Stanley Cup rings to this team, having won in Pittsburgh in 2009 and Los Angeles in 2012. Knowing how to win is something this team sorely needs, as  they do not have a guy with even one cup ring on their roster, including their GM, and only one coach who earned his in the twilight of his career.  Since this team runs a defense without a true top guy already, at least Scuderi thickens up the experience of the defense, and pushes out a weaker player like good ol’ “Road Cone” Finley. With Carle, again, Tampa is up against the lowering cap and may want to move this guy for a few defensive prospects and a pick. Carle makes $5 million dollars a year, puts up Mark Streit offense like numbers, plays better defense than Mark Streit, and is almost a decade younger than Mark Streit. Carle does have a way to go on the contract he signed in the last off season, but if the options were trading guys I never planned on promoting to the NHL and not signing a declining player for $5 million a year to get a productive $5 million dollar player, that’s an option you take. Wisniewski was once an Islander beloved for showing the Rangers his impression of their post game locker room rituals. Columbus gave him an absurd contract- he is paid more than Tavares- but if he could come in with that buyout and accept something in the $2 million range, he would be a WAY better pick up than whatever the waiver wire throws at us, and better than Strait, Hickey, and Carkner both offensively and in toughness.

This NEVER gets old:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Goaltending: Organizationally, we are bereft at goal. Kevin Poulin no longer inspires confidence from us when he plays net. Anders Nilson lost a developmental year to a illness cured by the super science of vitamins- not surprising when Wang was looking to save money by bringing in that Transylvanian blood expert, Dr. Acula. Mikko Koskinen had a big year in Europe, ala Jesse Joensuu last season. And we saw how Jesse’s big year translated to the Eastern Conference – no goals in 7 games. Realistically, Snow will make Nabokov an offer. Hopefully it’s a significant price cut, because they guy did not earn his keep in the postseason at all…a major reason why San Jose cut him loose after a 44 win season. But again, there are options.

Free agency: Mike Smith. Trade: Jonathan Bernier. Amnesty- Roberto Luongo.

Smith’s numbers are similar to Nabokov, but the price is presently 25% cheaper, and he’s 6 years younger. Would we prefer Smith to Nabby? It’s kind of a wash. Yes, we like the youth factor, but we’d prefer a better goalie compared to both. So, we would absolutely make a strong push for Bernier. Like Poulin and this year’s first round pick strong. Bernier no doubt benefits by having a better-than-Islander defense in front of him, but the guy is improving every year, is 24, makes $1.25 million, and would be under RFA rights for a couple of years at the least. He could be a ten year goalie, which would be a relief in terms of just having to find a capable backup. The wildcard here would be Roberto Luongo. Luongo doesn’t quite come up big in the postseason, but he gets his team there annually. And it could be a sort of homecoming to one of the better accounts on Twitter. We’d take a flyer with Luongo over Nabokov if the price was right.

Make it Worth Our While To Freeze Our Asses Off!

So there you have it. Roster holes examined, some predictions and recommendation of our liking to fix it. We don’t expect Snow to follow this approach, or even address all issues, but there is no denying that upgrades are needed if this team wants to do more than win 2 games in a first round, and wants to stop being the home of auditions for waiver wires guys, career AHLers, retreads, and fresh faced rookies. That’s our take. However, it’s only a conversation if you add your takes, thoughts, and proposed changes in the comments section below.

 Special thanks to @dmech06 for his stirring asertations of how the top seeded Penguins upset the 8th seed Islanders.

BOSTON, MA – After Brad Marchand’s overtime heroics led the team to a 3-2 series-opening victory on Thursday, the Boston Bruins were back on the ice at TD Garden on Sunday afternoon for Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final series against the New York Rangers. Backed by 35 saves from goaltender Tuukka Rask and offensive production from nearly every part of the lineup, the Bruins were able to capture a 5-2 victory in Game 2.

Rookie blueliner Torey Krug kicked off the game’s scoring just 5:28 into the opening period when his quick snap-shot from the slot beat Rangers’ netminder Henrik Lundqvist to put Boston ahead, 1-0. Though he didn’t get credit for an assist on the play, Krug’s goal was made possible by an excellent effort at the other end of the ice from his defense partner, Adam McQuaid, robbing Brian Boyle of a prime scoring chance with a last-second back-check. The B’s top-line then displayed some great transitional play in turning the puck up-ice for a 3-on-2 break that would lead to the go-ahead goal. The goal is young Krug’s second tally in two games since being called up from AHL Providence just before the start of the second round. In doing so, the former Michigan State captain became just the fourth player in team history to score a goal in each of his first two career playoff games, joining Cooney Weiland (1929), Don Gallinger (1943), and Tyler Seguin (2011).

“ I come into this locker room, very comfortable, calm. I get to watch some of the best professionals in the world prepare for games like this, as if it’s any other game. So, I have a lot of guys to lean on and they all give me confidence back. So, it’s unbelievable.” — Torey Krug

It wouldn’t take New York very long to pull even as captain Ryan Callahan out-raced another one of Boston’s rookie defenseman, Dougie Hamilton, to a loose puck in the neutral zone before speeding in and beating Tuukka Rask with a beautiful move to the forehand to even the score at one. Boston’s former No. 9 overall pick didn’t show a great deal of effort in attempting to back-check on the play, prompting one to believe that he may be the one to take a seat when Wade Redden eventually returns to the Bruins’ lineup.

Just two minutes into the second period, the Bruins would regain the lead when fourth-line pivot Gregory Campbell went upstairs with a back-hander to beat Lundqvist off the rebound of a deflected Krug shot from the point. A mere 56 seconds later, the Blueshirts would again even the score as Rick Nash dangled around the Boston defense and fired a wrist shot past the blocker of Rask for his first goal of the postseason.

Boston went back ahead at the 12:08 mark of period two when Johnny Boychuk’s wrist shot from the point made it through a screen and into the New York net, putting the Bruins ahead, 3-2.

“It was definitely a screen. Bergy (Patrice Bergeron) did a good job getting to the front, and their D-man was their as well, but it was four on four. Marchy (Brad Marchand) did a good job by getting in the zone, turned up and found me coming in, and all I had to do was hit the net because there was a couple of guys in front of him.” – Johnny Boychuk

In the third period, the B’s would take control of play and put this one out of reach with a pair of goals from Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic. Only twenty-six seconds into the frame, Marchand would convert on a beautiful cross-ice feed from Patrice Bergeron to make the score 4-2 on a play that was eerily similar to Thursday’s Game 1 overtime winner. At the 12:06 mark, Lucic would complete the game’s scoring by hammering home a rebound from the right post to put Boston ahead, 5-2.

With the victory, the Bruins have taken an early 2-0 lead over the Rangers as their second round best-of-seven series now shifts to 7th ave between 31st and 33rd at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

“They were down 2-0 in their last series and we know we can’t take them lightly. We got to make sure we go to New York being very hungry and ready to go out hard.” – Brad Marchand

Bruins Extra

B’s Solve King Henrik in Game 2 …

As any follower of the Black and Gold will tell you, the goaltender that the team has struggled against the most over the past handful of years has been New York’s Henrik Lundqvist. In fact, there may not even be a close second. Coming into the series, Lundqvist had a 1.65 goals against average and was coming off back-to-back shutouts in Games 6 and 7 of New York’s first round series win over Washington.

“It’s a good challenge obviously” said B’s netminder Tuukka Rask, when asked about the challenge of being matched against Lundqvist in this series. “I know that I can’t let in any lead goals most nights because he (Lundqvist) is who he is.”

However, on Sunday, the B’s were able to solve “King Henrik” with a five-goal offensive explosion. This would be the first time in franchise history that Boston would score more than three goals in one game against Lundqvist.

“He’s a great goalie. We’re happy with how it went tonight, but we know every game is not going to be like that. We know the next few games we’re really going to have to battle hard to get any goals on him, and we’ll be prepared to do that.” — Brad Marchand

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Tuukka Rask (35 Saves)

2) Torey Krug (1 Goal/1 Assist/Plus-2 Rating)

3) Brad Marchand (1 Goal/1 Assist/2 Shots)

Series: Boston Leads, 2-0.

Looking Ahead: Game 3 of the series is set for 7:30 PM on Tuesday evening at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

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BOSTON, MA – Just three nights after successfully completing a miraculous three-goal comeback in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Boston Bruins were back on the ice on Thursday evening for the opening contest of their Eastern Conference Semi-Final series against the New York Rangers. In what was an exciting, back-and-forth contest, the Bruins were able to come out on top in overtime with a 3-2 victory.

Much in the way many expected things to go coming into this series, the first period of Game 1 didn’t exactly feature the most exhilarating action of the season. Neither team was able to generate much in the way of quality scoring chances in the opening twenty minutes. The closest New York came to getting on the board in the first came when Michael Del Zotto’s wrist shot from the point got through a screen and past Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask before hitting the crossbar and deflecting out of harm’s way. Boston finished the period with a flurry, but Rangers’ Vezina Trophy candidate goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was there to make the stop at every turn.

In the second period, we would finally see the first goal of the series. At the 12:23 mark of the frame, a Zdeno Chara wrist shot from the center of the point area would somehow squeak through the pads of Lundqvist and over the goal-line to give the home-standing Bruins a 1-0 lead.

With the TD Garden crowd sent into a frenzy following the Boston captain’s second tally of the postseason, the Bruins appeared to have all the momentum on their side. That is, until a weak clearing attempt by Tyler Seguin ended up on the stick of Rangers’ star-blueliner Ryan McDonagh. No. 27 in white would fire a seeing-eye slapshot through a screen of two Boston players and past Rask to even the score at one with just 1.3 seconds left in the period.

The extra momentum the Blueshirts picked up on McDonagh’s last-second goal would carry-over into the third period as just fourteen seconds in, top-line pivot Derek Stepan would give New York its first lead of the evening. The play was set up by a beautiful feed by linemate Carl Hagelin.

Boston would answer back later on in the period when rookie defenseman Torey Krug fired a slapshot past Lundqvist on the power-play to even the score at two. The former Michigan State standout had been enjoying an excellent season in the American Hockey League while skating with Providence and was called up earlier in the week after Dennis Seidenberg went down with a lower body injury.

“For his first goal, he (Torey Krug) couldn’t have asked for better timing. Again, it just shows how good a player he is. Those young guys back there don’t lack confidence. That’s been really important for us.” – Claude Julien

Throughout the third period, the pace intensified quite noticeably, though neither side was able to score another goal, as we would head to overtime for the second consecutive game played at the TD Garden.

At the 2:20 mark of the overtime period, Rangers’ forward Derek Dorsett took an ill-timed penalty for interfering with Rich Peverley. On the ensuing power-play, the Bruins would pepper Lundqvist with a multitude of scoring chances, completing changing the momentum of the game. The always-entertaining head coach of the Rangers, John Tortorella was, of course, not happy with the call, mentioning that his team “never regrouped” after Boston’s “surge” with the man-advantage. He also added this colorful comment when asked about his team’s overall performance in Game 1…

“I thought it was pretty even going into the overtime. But we got spanked in the overtime.” – John Tortorella

Finally, with less than five minutes left in the extra frame, Patrice Bergeron would fire a beautiful centering feed right onto the stick of linemate Brad Marchand for a tip-in goal that would lift Boston to a 3-2 Game 1 victory.

“It felt great. We had a really good game tonight, and to be able to finish it off with a win is very big. We’re happy that we’re able to capitalize in these overtime games. They’re very tough games to be in, but we’re happy with the win tonight.” – Brad Marchand

Bruins Extra

Boston’s rookie blueliners shine in Game 1 …

With three of their top-six defenseman out of commission due to injuries, the Bruins were forced to insert a trio of rookies into their lineup for Thursday’s Game 1 against New York; Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and the recently called-up Torey Krug. At least for this game, none of the three looked out of place. Bartkowski skated on Boston’s second d-pairing with a banged-up Johnny Boychuk and finished with an incredible 26:42 of time-on-ice. No. 43 has proven himself as a valuable puck-mover on the back-end and even displayed a bit of a physical edge to his game on Thursday, dropping Rangers’ star winger Rick Nash flat on his back with a solid body-check during the second period.

Diminutive blueliner Torey Krug was equally impressive on Thursday in his first career NHL playoff game, logging over sixteen minutes of ice-time and scoring the game-tying goal during a third period power-play. The former college hockey star adds a whole new element of speed and quickness to the Boston back-end and should be a key part of the Bruins’ defense corps both now and into the future. Boston head coach Claude Julien was quick to praise the performance of his three young defenseman during Thursday’s post-game press conference.

“I thought they played really well. They deserve a lot of credit for the way they handled themselves, all three of them. It was Torey’s (Krug) first game, obviously. Not only did he score a big goal, but he just moved that puck so well. A lot of times, he played against their third line which is a pretty heavy line. I thought he handled them extremely well. Bart (Matt Bartkowski) continues to get better and better. He certainly takes the ice that’s given to him, he moves the puck up quickly. Those kinds of things have been really good.” – Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Zdeno Chara (1 Goal/1 Assist/38:02 TOI)

2) Brad Marchand (1 Goal/1 Assist/3 Shots)

3) Ryan McDonagh (1 Goal/3 Shots/5 Hits)

Series: Boston Leads, 1-0.

Looking Ahead: Game 2 of the series is set for 3:00 PM on Sunday afternoon at the TD Garden in Boston.

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Teams: New York Rangers at Boston Bruins

Series: Series tied, 0-0.

Location: TD Garden – Boston, MA

Face-Off:  7:30 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info:  NBC Sports Network – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  N/A

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Jagr

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Peverley–Kelly–Seguin

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–Hamilton

Bartkowski–Boychuk

Krug–McQuaid

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson

NEW YORK: 

Hagelin–Stepan–Callahan

Nash–Brassard–Zuccarello

Pyatt–Boyle–Dorsett

Kreider–Richards–Asham

—

McDonagh–Stralman

Del Zotto–Girardi

Moore–Eminger

—

Lundqvist

Scratches– ….. Michael Haley, Kris Newbury, Darroll Powe, Matt Gilroy, Roman Hamrlik

Injuries:  Andrew Ference (BOS), Dennis Seidenberg (BOS), Wade Redden (BOS), Marc Staal (NYR), Ryane Clowe (NYR)

Opposing Goaltender:  Henrik Lundqvist (7 GP/1.65 GAA/.947 Save Percentage)

Prediction: As mentioned in my complete preview of this series, I’d expect six or seven tightly-contested one-goal games between these two original six rivals. Game 1 in Boston on Thursday should be no different. The key for the Bruins in this series will be finding an ability to cause havoc in the crease and take Lundqvist out of his comfort zone; a task much easier said than done against the world’s top goaltender. I’d expect the B’s to come out strong in Game 1 with the same type of effort that lifted them to an incredible comeback victory over the Maple Leafs on Monday.

Rangers 1, Bruins 2

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With the second round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs set to begin just a few hours from now, five members of the Hockey Independent writing staff have come together to predict each and every first round series of this year’s postseason. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils),  Bill Philp (Tampa Bay Lightning), Chris Triantafilis (New York Islanders) and myself, Benjamin Woodward (Boston Bruins). Each writer has also included his/her series “X-Factor” for each match-up. In each case, the performance (or lack thereof) of the “X-Factor” could determine the outcome of the series. Enjoy!

Eastern Conference

(7) Ottawa Senators vs. (1) Pittsburgh Penguins

Cohen– Penguins win in 7 . X-Factor –> It’s hard to pick against Craig Anderson and the pesky Sens, but Tomas Vokoun should provide decent enough stability to let whatever the Pens can score to stand up.

Levin– Penguins win in 6 . X-Factor –> Need to get enough goaltending.

Philp– Penguins win in 4 . X-Factor –> Sidney Crosby

Triantafilis– Senators win in 6 . X-Factor –> Jason Spezza and a Penguins’ team that is coming off a grueling series with the New York Islanders.

Woodward– Senators win in 7. X-Factor –> Pittsburgh looks vulnerable. Ottawa is for real. Craig Anderson will make the difference.

(6) New York Rangers vs. (4) Boston Bruins

Cohen–  Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> The physical play on both sides – which team can dish out the most and which team can withstand it.

Levin– Bruins win in 7 . X-Factor –> Depth will wear down Rangers, but injuries on D are a concern.

Philp– Bruins win in 6. X-Factor –> Zdeno Chara and the defense.

Triantafilis– Bruins win in 6 . X-Factor –>  Rangers’ failures on the power-play and Tuuka Rask. The Rangers have Lundqvist, but they can only be bailed out for so long if they cannot convert with the man advantage. Tuukka Rask is better than Braden Holtby.

Woodward– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> Can Boston turn incredible momentum into Round 2 success?

Western Conference

(6) San Jose Sharks vs. (5) Los Angeles Kings

Cohen–  Kings win in 6. X-Factor –> Kings’ defense

Levin– Kings win in 7 . X-Factor –> Size of Kings too much for Sharks to handle over the course of the series.

Philp– Sharks win in 7. X-Factor –> Antti Niemi

Triantafilis– Sharks win in 6 . X-Factor –> San Jose’s depth. They aren’t the Marleau-Thornton show anymore. Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski are the big game players that the other two never were.

Woodward– Kings win in 5. X-Factor –> The Kings looked mighty impressive in dismantling my pre-playoffs Cup favorite in Round 1. Smell a repeat?

(7) Detroit Red Wings vs. (1) Chicago Blackhawks

Cohen– Blackhawks win in 6. X-Factor –> How much of a toll has Round 1 taken on an aging Detroit team?

Levin– Blackhawks win in 5 . X-Factor –> Blackhawks have too many high end players.

Philp– Blackhawks win in 7. X-Factor –> Marian Hossa

Triantafilis– Blackhawks win in 7 . X-Factor –> Jonathan Toews

Woodward– Blackhawks win in 6. X-Factor –> Corey Crawford

BOSTON, MA – With eleven minutes left of regulation time in Monday’s Game 7, the crowd of 17, 565 Bostonians began to dissipate from the stands at TD Garden. Those that were left began to rain down upon their beloved Black and Gold with a large chorus of boos. After entering the third period trailing by just a goal, the Bruins had allowed back-to-back goals in the first five-and-a-half minutes of the frame to fall behind by a prohibitive 4-1 score.

“When you’re looking at the clock wind down with half a period left at 4-1 you start thinking to yourself, ‘Is this the end of this group here?’ Because it probably would have been if we didn’t win this game.” – Milan Lucic

It was over.

Or so it seemed.

Just past the nine-minute mark in the third frame, Milan Lucic made a phenomenal play behind the Toronto net and worked the puck out front to an open Nathan Horton for his fourth goal of the series.

“I think you can tell from halfway through the first until halfway through the third they really frustrated us and we couldn’t get much going and it just felt like one play on Horty’s (Nathan Horton’s) goal kind of turned things around and made us believe.” – Milan Lucic

Instantly, the mood of those remaining in the crowd turned on a dime. From boos to echoing chants of “Let’s Go Bruins”, it was a complete one-eighty spin in a matter of seconds.

“Once we scored the second goal and we looked at the clock, we felt that we still had time. It was just a matter of staying composed and the experience we talked about throughout the whole series, that’s when it’s got to come through and it did.” – Claude Julien

The Bruins offense was buzzing, creating one scoring chance after another as the clock continued to tick away on them. With just 1:22 left on the clock, the Bruins would find the back of the net for a third time. It was again Lucic creating offense on the doorstep of the Maple Leafs’ net, collecting a rebound and firing it home for his second goal of the postseason.

It was now just a one-goal game, 4-3, as Boston head coach Claude Julien opted to call his timeout.

And then… The unthinkable. With just fifty seconds left in regulation, the very man who epitomizes everything that the eight-spoked “B” stands for; Patrice Bergeron, fired a wrist shot through traffic and past James Reimer to pull the teams even, 4-4.

At that moment, I swear the roof was about to blow off the place. The building was shaking. Not one of the TD Garden’s 17,000-plus seats was occupied. It was simply an unreal scene.

Miraculously, we were heading to overtime a mere twenty minutes after thousands of fans had left the building with the belief that their hockey team’s season had come to a frustrating conclusion. What was left of the crowd began to burst into song, reciting in unison the words to timeless ballads from Journey and The Who throughout the extra intermission. It was a surreal atmosphere; one that really cannot be put into words.

At this point, Boston had all the momentum. The Bruins knew they had the advantage going into the extra frame.

“We knew we had the momentum. Obviously, we had a great finish to the third there and we had the momentum. It can be a killer when you give up a lead like that and we’ve been there before. We know what it’s like, so we wanted to make sure we jumped on that and came out hard, and we did that.” – Brad Marchand

After six minutes and five seconds of exhilarating, heart-in-your-throat hockey, the Bruins’ oft-criticized second line finally came alive. With Reimer down and out of position, a loose rebound made its way out of the net-mouth scramble. Patrice Bergeron found that rebound. And he buried the puck into a gaping Toronto goal, sending the Boston crowd into an absolute frenzy.

The comeback was complete.

“That was unbelievable. That’s one thing you’re going to remember probably for the rest of your life, because it was such a comeback that everybody probably thought that we were done and showed what kind of character there is in this dressing. Never say die, more or less.” – Johnny Boychuk

Without a shadow of a doubt, trying to capture the essence of the magical half hour that transpired inside TD Garden late Monday evening and put it into words has been the most difficult journalistic task that I’ve ever encountered. Simply put, because no combination of words on a computer screen is going to ever come close to capturing what it was like to experience it.

The Boston Bruins made history on Monday night.

I feel honored and privileged to have been there to see it.

Bruins Extra

It’s up to you New York, New York …

While the Bruins were completing their miraculous comeback win over the Maple Leafs at TD Garden on Monday, the New York Rangers were taking care of business in a Game 7 contest of their own, capturing a commanding 5-0 victory over the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center. The Blueshirts’ victory sets up what should be an extraordinarily hard-fought second round series between Boston and New York. Game 1 will be right back at the TD Garden in Boston on Thursday evening. Puck drop is set for 7:30 PM.

“It gives you a lot of confidence when you’re able to come back from a three-goal deficit in one period—and late in the period, too. It gives us some confidence heading into the second round. We’ve said it before, the first round is a tough one to go through. We found a way and now it’s all about the second round.” – Patrice Bergeron

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Patrice Bergeron (2 Goals/1 Assist/Plus-3 Rating)

2) Cody Franson (2 Goals/3 Shots/8 Hits)

3) Milan Lucic (1 Goal/1 Assist/7 Hits)

Series: Boston Wins, 4-3.

Looking Ahead:

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Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins

Series: Series tied, 3-3.

Location: TD Garden – Boston, MA

Face-Off:  7:00 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  Boston 1, Toronto 2

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Peverley–Kelly–Jagr

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–Boychuk

Seidenberg–McQuaid

Redden–Hamilton

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson, Matt Bartkowski

TORONTO:

Lupul–Bozak–Kessel

van Riemsdyk-Grabovski-Kulemin

MacArthur–Kadri-Frattin

Komarov–McClement–Orr

—

Gunnarsson–Phaneuf

Gardiner–Franson

Liles–O’Byrne

—

Reimer

Scratches– ….. Joe Colborne, Ryan Hamilton, Frazer McLaren, Jesse Blacker

Injuries:  Andrew Ference (BOS), Mark Fraser (TOR), Michael Kostka (TOR)

Opposing Goaltender:  James Reimer (6 GP/2.58 GAA/.932 Save Percentage)

Prediction: At the beginning of the postseason, I picked the Bruins to take this series in seven games for two reasons; one was because I thought the Maple Leafs would put up a lot more of a fight than many were giving them credit for. The other was because, in the end, I was of the belief that the Bruins were still a better team than Toronto and that they should ultimately be able to prevail. So far, both of those notions have proven correct.

The Leafs have fought tooth and nail all series long and have flat-out refused to be intimidated by the Bruins. For Boston, Monday’s Game 7 will be determined by the team’s ability (or lack thereof) to match the heart and desperation of the Maple Leafs. If the Bruins aren’t able to match that compete level for a third consecutive game, we’ll be in for another long summer in Boston.

We’ve seen the script too many times before.

Maple Leafs 3, Bruins 1

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BOSTON, MA – For as dominant as the Bruins have shown they can be over the past few seasons, an Achilles heel of the Black and Gold has always been an inability to close out opponents in the postseason. Under head coach Claude Julien, the team was just 3-6 in non-Game 7 contests in which the B’s could eliminate their opponent. Unfortunately for the crowd of 17, 565 that filled the seats at TD Garden, that trend would continue on Friday as the B’s failed to close out the Maple Leafs, falling 2-1 on home ice.

“They were a desperate team, it showed at the beginning of the game and we were down 2-0 and, all of a sudden, we became the desperate team. Hopefully it doesn’t take the score to make a team desperate and that’s what we have to understand.” – Claude Julien

Toronto dominated play in the game’s opening period, controlling play throughout and out-shooting the Bruins by a 19-8 margin. For the second consecutive contest, they were stopped at every turn by Boston netminder Tuukka Rask, whose incredible effort from Game 4 appeared to be carrying over into Friday’s Game 5. Midway through the second frame, the B’s began to pick up momentum, compiling a handful of strong shifts that would eventually put the team on the power-play, as Maple Leafs’ winger James van Riemsdyk was sent to the penalty box for interference.

However, a turnover at the attacking zone blueline by Bruins’ defenseman Andrew Ference would lead to a breakaway chance for Toronto’s top-line centerman, Tyler Bozak. The soon-to-be unrestricted free-agent made no mistake about it, firing a wrist shot through the pads of Rask to put the visiting Leafs ahead, 1-0.

The next time a puck would cross the crease wouldn’t be until the 1:58 mark of period number three when the Leafs doubled their lead to 2-0. Johnny Boychuk’s errant clearing pass wound up on the stick of Toronto winger Clarke MacArthur. No. 16 in white would then streak into the Boston zone and dangle around Boychuk before firing it past Rask for his first tally of the postseason.

“I felt like I was going to get one tonight. I had chances early on and to be able to get the game winner like that, it was a great feeling. After getting one last game, just felt likely I would get a good shot and have a good chance at it. Luckily enough, I got one tonight.” – Clarke MacArthur

Boston would get one back midway through the final period when the red-hot David Krejci found an open Zdeno Chara for a beautiful wrist shot goal to cut the Leafs’ lead to 2-1.

“As soon as you score that first goal the crowd’s into it and you get going when they’re going, and after Zee (Zdeno Chara) scored we started to put the pressure and we had a lot of good chances.” — Johnny Boychuk

Despite holding puck possession for most of the final ten minutes, the B’s simply couldn’t find a way to push another puck past James Reimer. Friday’s loss cuts Boston’s series lead to 3-2, with Game 6 set for 7:30 PM on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre.

Bruins Extra

If there’s one piece of good news to come out of Friday’s loss for the Bruins, its that if they perform the way they did in the third period, winning one more game in this series should not be an issue. It’s as if the team was awoken from a deep slumber the second Zdeno Chara’s wrist shot hit the twine. By then, it was far too late. A full sixty-minute effort is something we’ve rarely seen from the Black and Gold this season, as the urgency just hasn’t been there when it needs to be. For the B’s to be successful on Sunday at the Air Canada Centre, they will have to meet and exceed the desperation level of the Maple Leafs. If you’re skeptical about the Bruins being able to do that, I certainly can’t find a reason to blame you.

“As you saw, the third period was more like our team. If there’s anything to understand from this, it’s that we’ve got to play three periods like we did in the third. We expect to close this off.” — Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  James Reimer (43 Saves)

2) Tyler Bozak (1 Goal/2 Shots)

3) Tuukka Rask (31 Saves)

Series: Boston Leads, 3-2.

Looking Ahead: Game 6 of this series is on Sunday evening at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 PM.

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Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins

Series: Boston leads, 3-1.

Location: TD Garden – Boston, MA

Face-Off:  7:00 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  Boston 4, Toronto 3 (OT)

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Peverley–Kelly–Jagr

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–Seidenberg

Ference–Boychuk

Bartkowski–McQuaid

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson, Dougie Hamilton

TORONTO:

Lupul–Bozak–Kessel

van Riemsdyk-Grabovski-Kulemin

Komarov–Kadri-Hamilton

MacArthur–McClement–Orr

—

Gunnarsson–Phaneuf

Liles–Franson

Gardiner–O’Byrne

—

Reimer

Scratches– ….. Joe Colborne, Matt Frattin, Frazer McLaren, Mike Kostka

Injuries: Wade Redden (BOS), Mark Fraser (TOR)

Opposing Goaltender:  James Reimer (4 GP/3.33 GAA/.914 Save Percentage)

Prediction: With the added incentive of a couple of nights off to prepare for a potential second round opponent, I believe that the Bruins will be a motivated group out there tonight. However, closing out opposing teams in non-Game 7 situations has been something the B’s have struggled with over the past handful of years. Since Claude Julien took over as Boston’s bench boss in the summer of 2007, the team has amassed a 3-6 record in those games. This one will be another nail-biter, but in the end, I believe the Bruins will take Game 5 and advance to the second round.

Leafs 2, Bruins 4

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Teams: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs

Series: Boston leads, 2-1.

Location: Air Canada Centre – Toronto, Ontario

Face-Off:  7:00 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  Toronto 2, Boston 5

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Peverley–Kelly–Jagr

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–Seidenberg

Ference–Boychuk

Redden–McQuaid

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson, Dougie Hamilton

TORONTO:

Lupul–Bozak–Kessel

van Riemsdyk-Grabovski-Kulemin

Frattin–Kadri-Hamilton

Orr–McClement–Komarov

—

Gunnarsson–Phaneuf

Fraser–Franson

Liles–Gardiner

—

Reimer

Scratches– ….. Joe Colborne, Matt Frattin, Frazer McLaren, Michael Kostka, Ryan O’Byrne

Injuries:

Opposing Goaltender:  James Reimer (3 GP/3.33 GAA/.915 Save Percentage)

Prediction: With both Eastern Conference powerhouses, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens, struggling to get through their first round series against the Islanders and Senators, it appears as if things in the playoff picture are falling into place nicely for the Black and Gold. With that in mind, I believe that tonight you will see the same Bruins team that dominated Toronto in Game 1 with a punishing style of play. However, I also believe that the Leafs will be able to match that intensity in front of another raucous home crowd at the Air Canada Centre, and it will make for the most hotly contested game of this series, thus far. In the end, I’m picking the Bruins to pull this one out in overtime, to take a commanding 3-1 series lead back to Boston with them for Game 5 at TD Garden on Friday night.

Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 3 (OT)

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TORONTO, ON – For the first time since 2004, NHL playoff hockey made its return to the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Monday evening. And what an atmosphere it was. From hours before puck drop, there were thousands of fans lining the streets of Maple Leaf Square singing chants of “Go Leafs Go”. Once we hit opening puck-drop, the raucous crowd, all decked out in the white scarves and t-shirts given out to fans in attendance, certainly did not disappoint. Despite their hometown Leafs coming up short in a 5-2 Game 3 loss to the Boston Bruins, the Toronto crowd was incredibly loud throughout the entire sixty minutes.

First to hit the score-sheet was Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid, whose first period wrist shot made its way through some traffic in front and past Leafs’ netminder James Reimer to put the visiting Bruins ahead, 1-0. The goal was good for McQuaid’s first ever tally in the NHL playoffs, as No. 54 was able to enjoy some early success while skating alongside Game 1 defense partner Wade Redden. McQuaid, a young, still-developing blueliner, could certainly benefit from playing with a proven playoff veteran like Redden.

“It’s pretty easy for me, playing with a guy who has that much experience. He’s (Redden) really calm on the ice. When you’re playing with somebody like that, it that has a trickle down effect on yourself. I’m fortunate to be in a situation to play with a guy like that.” – Adam McQuaid

The B’s extended their lead to 2-0 at the 5:57 mark of period two when Jaromir Jagr stripped Leafs’ defenseman Ryan O’Byrne of the puck behind his own net and fed it in front to a wide open Rich Peverley for the finish.

With Tyler Seguin in the penalty box for tripping, Toronto would get one back whilst on the power-play as Jake Gardiner’s wrist shot made it through a screen and past Tuukka Rask to make the score 2-1.

Just as the Toronto crowd began to erupt again in a chorus of “Go Leafs Go” chants, Boston would answer back with another goal of their own. Fifty seconds after Gardiner pulled the Leafs to within one goal, Nathan Horton re-extended the Boston lead to 3-1. No. 18 has now scored a goal in each of the three games this series, as he plays out the final postseason of his current contract.

“He’s been huge for us.He’s (Horton) a scorer. Especially in the playoffs, like two years ago, he’s got great timing of when to put the puck in the net. Tonight he did that again.” — David Krejci

Late in the middle frame, Daniel Paille displayed once again why he is one of the most valuable fourth line players in the entire NHL. After stripping a Toronto defender at his own blueline, Paille streaked into the opposing end and fired a back-hander past Reimer to put Boston ahead, 4-1.

Only forty-seven seconds into the third and final period, it looked as if the Toronto comeback was on. With Milan Lucic in the penalty box, the Maple Leafs’ red-hot power-play struck again. This time it was Phil Kessel corralling a loose puck in front and pushing it past Rask to cut the B’s lead to 4-2.

From there, the Leafs began to pick up the pace significantly, keeping pressure in the Boston end for most of the third period. In fact, Toronto wound up finishing the third with three times as many shots as the Bruins (18-6). However, despite an incredibly strong final push, the closest the Maple Leafs would come to scoring another goal was on Cody Franson’s wrist shot from the point that rang the iron with just more than six minutes left to play. With 1:17 left on the clock, Boston would put the game on ice as David Krejci sent the puck into an empty Leafs’ net to secure a 5-2 win for the Bruins.

With the win, the B’s regain home-ice advantage (for now, at least) in this series and will enter Wednesday’s Game 4 with a 2-1 advantage.

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Tuukka Rask (45 Saves)

2) Adam McQuaid (1 Goal/Plus-3 Rating/6 Hits)

3) David Krejci (1 Goal/2 Assists/2 Shots)

Series: Boston leads, 2-1.

Looking Ahead: Game 4 is set for Wednesday evening, right back here at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

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BOSTON, MA – Buckle up, folks. We may be in for a long series.

Following Boston’s 4-1 dismantling of the Maple Leafs in Game 1 on Wednesday, it looked as if there was a chance for this series to be fairly one-sided. However, on Saturday evening, the Leafs responded with a tremendous effort in all facets of the game, earning a 4-2 victory over the Bruins.

“They were better, there’s no doubt there, and they played a much better game than they did in Game 1 and we didn’t play quite as well as we did in the first game. Certainly, they made some adjustments; we were prepared for those kinds of adjustments, but I think our execution wasn’t as good tonight. The breakdowns that we had defensively were poor breakdowns on our part and we gave them a lot of outnumbered situations. We have to be better defensively, in order to be better offensively.” – Claude Julien

After a scoreless opening frame, it was the Bruins who would get on the board first, less than two minutes into the second period. Top-line winger Nathan Horton would get credit for his second goal in as many playoff games after driving to the front of the net and pushing home a rebound, putting Boston ahead, 1-0.

Less than four minutes later, the Bruins would see their lead evaporate on Toronto winger Joffrey Lupul’s first goal of the postseason. The 29-year-old former Anaheim Duck was able to capitalize on a juicy rebound in front and fire it past Bruins’ netminder Tuukka Rask to even the score at one; all while Boston captain (and No. 1 penalty-killer) Zdeno Chara was sitting in the box after a questionable tripping call.

Midway through the frame, the Leafs would take their first lead of the game after Matt Frattin used a beautiful series of moves to beat the Bruins’ defense and set up Lupul for his second tally of the evening.

“Good play by (Matt) Frattin, he had his legs going all game, shooting the puck taking it hard to the net. It’s a big game for him to step in after not playing for some time, and give us a spark.” – Joffrey Lupul

Just 53 seconds into the third and final period, “the streak” would come to an end. For the first time in 23 games against his former team, Phil Kessel would score an even-strength goal. The former Boston winger would catch both Dennis Seidenberg and Johnny Boychuk napping in the neutral zone before busting in on a breakaway and beating Rask with a quick wrist-shot.

“Obviously, playing against a former team before, I can only imagine what it is like for him playing against them in the playoffs. We are happy for him to be able to contribute like that. He is definitely a key player on our team. He has been playing strong and we will continue to need him to do that kind of stuff as the series goes on.” – James van Riemsdyk

Midway through the third and final period, Boston would answer back with a goal of their own as Johnny Boychuk’s slapshot blast would make it through some traffic in front (created by Tyler Seguin) and deflect off Reimer and into the net, making the score 3-2 in favor of the Leafs.

“That’s playoff hockey. That’s the goals you definitely take pride in and I think we also need to do a better job of getting in front of their goalie. He played a great game tonight and I think if we can get more traffic, we’ll get more goals going in.” – Tyler Seguin

With the B’s offense buzzing and the home team now back within a goal, it appeared as if a comeback was on the way. However, with less than four minutes to play in regulation, UNH product James van Riemsdyk snuck behind the Boston defense and beat Rask with a set of nifty moves with the puck, extending the Toronto lead to what would eventually become the final score, 4-2.

Bruins Extra

Time to prepare for a hostile environment …

For the first time since 2004, there will be a playoff game played in the largest hockey market on planet earth. It’s fairly safe to assume the fans up in Toronto will be more than ready to go for Monday’s Game 3, and the Bruins better have themselves prepared to enter what will be an extraordinarily hostile environment.

“I mean, if you’re Toronto right now and you haven’t been in the playoffs for that long your fans have got to be excited over there. And we know it’s going to be noisy and there’s going to be a lot of electricity in the air. And we have to face that. We’re the bad team coming in and what you’ve got to do is focus on your job and hopefully not let that kind of stuff throw you off your game.” – Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1) Joffrey Lupul (2 Goals/8 Shots/2 Hits)

2) James Reimer (39 Saves)

3) Phil Kessel (1 Goal/4 Shots/Plus-1 Rating)

Series: Series Tied, 1-1.

Looking Ahead: Game 3 of this series is on Monday evening at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

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Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins

Series: Boston leads, 1-0.

Location: TD Garden – Boston, MA

Face-Off:  7:00 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  Toronto 1, Boston 4

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Peverley–Kelly–Jagr

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–McQuaid

Seidenberg–Boychuk

Redden–Hamilton

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson, Andrew Ference (suspended)

TORONTO:

Lupul–Bozak–Kessel

van Riemsdyk-Grabovski-Kulemin

Komarov–Kadri-Hamilton

MacArthur–McClement–Orr

—

Gunnarsson–Phaneuf

Fraser–Franson

Liles–Kostka

—

Reimer

Scratches– ….. Joe Colborne, Matt Frattin, Frazer McLaren, Jake Gardiner, Ryan O’Byrne

Injuries:

Opposing Goaltender:  James Reimer (1 GP/4.00 GAA/.900 Save Percentage)

Prediction: There’s no doubt that Game 2 should be a lot more competitive than Wednesday’s series opener. Whether or not Toronto bench boss Randy Carlyle’s lineup changes make an impact on Saturday’s contest is yet to be seen. However, if the Bruins are on their game like they were in Game 1, Toronto’s lineup changes may not make a difference after all. The type of physically dominating game the Bruins played on Wednesday would be difficult for any team to match, especially one made up largely of playoff rookies. I’d expect the B’s to come out strong once again and pepper Leafs’ netminder James Reimer, eventually picking up a 4-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Leafs 2, Bruins 4

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BOSTON, MA – The Boston Bruins have flipped the proverbial switch. Well, for now, at least.

In perhaps their strongest effort of the season, the B’s dismantled the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series at the TD Garden on Wednesday. In doing so, the Bruins were able to pick up a 4-1 victory and 1-0 series lead. For the first time in a long while, the Black and Gold looked like the physically dominating team that fans in the Hub have been accustomed to seeing over the past few years. The fifth-seeded Leafs simply had no match for the intensity of the Bruins at any point during the night.

Toronto was actually able to get on the board first with an early power-play goal after former-Flyer James van Riemsdyk backhanded the puck past B’s goalie Tuukka Rask less than two minutes after the opening puck drop. From there, the Leafs would fall flat, surrendering the next four consecutive goals as the Bruins’ offensive attack began to take over.

“Even after Toronto scored the first goal I really felt that our team was still in good shape and had lots of time. We just had to stick to the game plan, and as I mentioned you know, you get that feeling sometimes and our players were really focused tonight.” – Claude Julien

Late in the first period, Boston’s most unheralded of trade deadline acquisitions this season, defenseman Wade Redden, would contribute with a pair of excellent offensive plays. First was a rocket of a one-timer that he would send past Toronto netminder James Reimer at the 16:20 mark of the period, evening the score at one. Less than four minutes later, with just 11 seconds left on the clock in the opening frame, Redden’s wrist shot would be redirected into the Leafs’ net by Nathan Horton, putting the B’s ahead, 2-1, just before the first intermission.

“Tonight, our forwards did a great job. We got the puck in deep. We created space. I think that’s tough on any team, when you keep the pressure on like that, and it opened up a few opportunities for the D-men to get in the play. That’s definitely key for us. We got to keep fore-checking—that opened up a lot of ice all around.” – Wade Redden

Midway through the second period, David Krejci was able to shovel home a rebound to increase Boston’s lead to 3-1. Not long after recording his first tally of the postseason, Krejci would make a beautiful drop pass to defenseman Johnny Boychuk for a blistering one-timer that beat Reimer to the glove side and extended the Bruins’ lead to 4-1. Boston bench boss Claude Julien spoke highly of his top-line pivot’s Game 1 performance during Wednesday’s post-game press conference.

“When David (Krejci)is skating and he’s also, I would say, pretty intense, meaning he’s not afraid to go finish his hits and not afraid to go into the corner and battle for pucks. He’s one of those players that fears nothing, he never has. In other words, when he really gets his mindset to compete hard and get involved, he’s a really great player. He’s been pretty good lately, not just tonight, but before that, so I felt that his game was turning the corner as well, getting better. He proved that again tonight.” – Claude Julien

Throughout the balance of the game, Toronto wasn’t able to generate much in the way of any offensive pressure, as the B’s kept possession in the Leafs’ end and peppered James Reimer to the tune of 40 shots on goal. The score would remain 4-1, as Boston came away with the crucial Game 1 victory.

Bruins Extra

Don’t expect Game 2 to be so one-sided …

Though the B’s may be pleased with their performance in Game 1 – and deservedly so –, they’re also aware that Saturday’s contest could be a lot tougher. After being taken out to the woodshed on Wednesday evening, the Leafs will most certainly be looking to save face with a solid effort in Game 2.

“It was a great effort all around. I think everyone had a strong game and we had played, I think, a lot of the time in their end. That makes a D-man’s job a lot easier. For sure we’re going to expect a different game come Saturday night, but we’ll take that one and move on.” – Wade Redden

For Boston, consistency has and always will be the key to success. When they want to be, the Bruins are an elite team in this league, and they proved that again on Wednesday. Not many teams can match that type of physically dominating performance, especially over the course of a seven-game series. If the B’s are able to sustain this level of play as we move forward in the postseason, they could be right back in the hunt for another Stanley Cup this summer.

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  David Krejci (1 Goal/2 Assists/Plus-2 Rating)

2) Wade Redden (1 Goal/1 Assist/Plus-1 Rating)

3)  Milan Lucic (2 Assists/Plus-2 Rating/3 Hits)

Series: Boston leads, 1-0.

Looking Ahead: Game 2 is on Saturday evening at TD Garden. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00 PM.

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Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins

Series: Tied 0-0

Location: TD Garden – Boston, MA

Face-Off:  7:00 P.M. (EST)

TV/Radio Info: NESN (Edwards, Brickley, Funayama) – 98.5 The Sports Hub (Goucher, Beers)

Last Game:  N/A

Tonight’s Lineups (Subject To Change):

BOSTON:

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Daugavins–Kelly–Jagr

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

—

Chara–Seidenberg

Ference–Boychuk

Redden–McQuaid

— 

Rask

Scratches– ….. Carl Soderberg, Rich Peverley, Jay Pandolfo, Aaron Johnson, Dougie Hamilton

TORONTO:

van Riemsdyk–Bozak–Kessel

Lupul-Grabovski-Kulemin

MacArthur–Kadri-Frattin

Komarov–McClement–Orr

—

Gunnarsson–Phaneuf

Fraser–Franson

Liles–Kostka

—

Reimer

Scratches– ….. Joe Colborne, Ryan Hamilton, Frazer McLaren, Jake Gardiner, Ryan O’Byrne

Injuries:

Opposing Goaltender:  James Reimer (33 GP/2.46 GAA/.924 Save Percentage)

Prediction: Though the Bruins may have finished the regular season playing some of their worst hockey in the past handful of years, I still believe that when the playoffs begin (especially against a physical team like Toronto), the B’s will be able to raise their game to the level it needs to be. This thought process is what led me to pick Boston to eventually win this series in seven games. In a hard-fought Game 1 battle, look for the Bruins to edge the Leafs with a late third period goal.

Leafs 2, Bruins 3

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With the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs set to begin just a few hours from now, four members of the Hockey Independent writing staff have come together to predict each and every first round series of this year’s postseason. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils),  Bill Philp (Tampa Bay Lightning) and myself, Benjamin Woodward (Boston Bruins). Each writer has also included his/her series “X-Factor” for each match-up. In each case, the performance (or lack thereof) of the “X-Factor” could determine the outcome of the series. For a bit of added entertainment, we’ve also added our early Stanley Cup Finals predictions. Enjoy!

Eastern Conference

(8) New York Islanders vs. (1) Pittsburgh Penguins

Cohen– Penguins win in 5 . X-Factor –> Kris Letang

Levin– Penguins win in 6 . X-Factor –> Penguins’ grit and experience. This series will be tougher than expected.

Philp– Penguins win in 4 . X-Factor –> Sidney Crosby

Woodward– Penguins win in 7. X-Factor –> Evgeni Nabokov

(7) Ottawa Senators vs. (2) Montreal Canadiens

Cohen– Senators win in 6. X-Factor –> Carey Price

Levin– Senators win in 6 . X-Factor –> Erik Karlsson

Philp– Senators win in 7. X-Factor –> Erik Karlsson

Woodward– Senators win in 6. X-Factor –> Montreal’s Power-Play

(6) New York Rangers vs. (3) Washington Capitals

Cohen– Rangers win in 7. X-Factor –> Who has the edge on special teams?

Levin– Rangers win in 7 . X-Factor –> Brad Richards

Philp– Capitals win in 6. X-Factor –> Braden Holtby

Woodward– Capitals win in 7. X-Factor –> Things are clicking on all cylinders for Adam Oates’ crew.  Is this finally the year Washington gets over the hump?

(5) Toronto Maple Leafs vs. (4) Boston Bruins

Cohen–  Maple Leafs win in 7. X-Factor –> Leafs’ penalty-kill vs. Boston power-play

Levin– Bruins win in 5 . X-Factor –> Boston’s playoff experience

Philp– Bruins win in 5. X-Factor –> Tyler Seguin

Woodward– Bruins win in 7. X-Factor –> Match-up of Boston’s No. 2 defense pairing against Toronto’s explosive duo of Nazem Kadri and Joffrey Lupul.

Western Conference

(8) Minnesota Wild vs. (1) Chicago Blackhawks

Cohen–  Blackhawks win in 5. X-Factor –> Chicago’s depth

Levin– Blackhawks win in 5 . X-Factor –> Blackhawks’ depth and experience

Philp– Blackhawks win in 5. X-Factor –> Ray Emery

Woodward– Blackhawks win in 5. X-Factor –> Niklas Backstrom will need to steal a couple just to get this one past Game 5.

(7) Detroit Red Wings vs. (2) Anaheim Ducks

Cohen– Red Wings win in 7. X-Factor –> Johan Franzen

Levin– Red Wings win in 7 . X-Factor –> Jimmy Howard

Philp– Red Wings win in 6. X-Factor –> Jimmy Howard

Woodward– Ducks win in 5. X-Factor –> Anaheim is no longer a one-line team. While many are overlooking the Ducks, I don’t think this series will be close.

(6) San Jose Sharks vs. (3) Vancouver Canucks

Cohen– Canucks win in 7. X-Factor –> Derek Roy

Levin– Sharks win in 7 . X-Factor –> Goaltending match-up

Philp– Sharks win in 7. X-Factor –> Joe Thornton

Woodward– Canucks win in 6. X-Factor –> Can San Jose’s defense contain the Sedin twins?

(5) Los Angeles Kings vs. (4) St. Louis Blues

Cohen– Blues win in 6. X-Factor –> Which team gets consistent goaltending?

Levin– Kings win in 6 . X-Factor –> Los Angeles’ depth

Philp– Blues win in 6. X-Factor –> Brian Elliot

Woodward– Blues win in 7. X-Factor –> St. Louis’ physicality. The Blues may be hardest team in the league to play against right now.

Stanley Cup Finals

Cohen– Canucks Over Penguins - Conn Smythe Winner: Ryan Kesler

Levin– Bruins Over Blackhawks - Conn Smythe Winner: Tuukka Rask

Philp– Penguins Over Blues - Conn Smythe Winner: Evgeni Malkin

Woodward– Blues Over Capitals - Conn Smythe Winner: Alex Pietrangelo

BOSTON, MA —  The dates are set, the opponent is set and the NHL postseason is just three nights away from returning to the Hub. But, will the hometown Bruins be ready for it? If Sunday’s regular season finale is any indication, I’m not so sure. With a 4-2 loss against the Senators at TD Garden, the B’s failed to clinch the Northeast division crown for what would have been a third consecutive year, instead ceding the title to their North-of-the-Border rivals, the Montreal Canadiens. Falling out of the top spot in the division means the B’s will finish with the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference, setting up a Northeast division clash with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening round of the playoffs.

“It’s too late now. I mean, we turned the page. We have to focus on the playoffs. That’s done and over with. Our goal was to win our division, we didn’t, and if we want to drag that into our first game, it’ll be an even bigger disappointment because we won’t be ready to play.” – Claude Julien

After neither team was able to generate much in the way of offensive attack throughout most of the game’s opening period, the Senators would strike on their first legitimate scoring chance of the night. Just before the 17-minute mark of the first frame, third-year Ottawa forward Erik Condra would pounce on the rebound of a Jean-Gabriel Pageau shot and slide the puck past Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask to put the Senators ahead, 1-0.

It wasn’t but a couple of minutes after Ottawa had taken the lead that we were treated to our main-event of the evening. After a lengthy conversation in the Ottawa zone, Milan Lucic and Chris Neil would renew acquaintances in the most heavy-hitting fight seen at the Garden this season.

“He (Lucic) hit (Kyle) Turris late, so I just kind of letting him know and he was a willing participant. Obviously, we’ve always had good battles. He’s a tough guy and he plays hard, I play hard so it’s two big guys going at it. I think he outweighs me a bit. He’s a competitive guy, he works hard and it is what it is.” — Chris Neil

Midway through the second period, Ottawa would add to their lead when defenseman Jared Cowen’s slapshot from the point managed to make its way through a screen and into the Boston net. The 22-year-old’s first tally of the season made the score 2-0 in favor of the Sens.

With time running out on the middle frame and Boston on the power-play for the second time of the night, the B’s were finally able to break through for a goal against Ottawa netminder Robin Lehner. Veteran blueliner Wade Redden jumped up into the rush and slide the puck over onto the stick of a wide open Rich Peverley, just before absorbing a punishing hit into the boards from Sens’ defenseman Marc Methot. Peverley’s one-timer went right past Lehner, cutting the Senators’ lead in half.

Just fourteen seconds into the third period, the B’s would draw even at two as Dennis Seidenberg’s point-blast beat Lehner high to the blocker side. The play was set up by a pair of excellent passes by Milan Lucic and Kaspars Daugavins; the two players who I would consider the best on the ice for Boston on Sunday.

However, with less than four minutes to play in the game, the second goal of Sens’ rookie Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s career would put Ottawa ahead for good. It was a phenomenal night for the 20-year-old former fourth round pick, finishing with a line of 1-1-2 and four shots on goal. With 36 seconds left in regulation, Kyle Turris would seal a 4-2 win for the Senators by firing the puck into an empty Boston net.

“Finally we beat these guys. That was a good feeling, to get the win against these guys. They’re good. It’s nice to get a win going into the playoffs. Obviously, we wanted this win.” — Robin Lehner

Bruins Extra

Hello, Maple Leafs …

By virtue of losing the Northeast division and falling to the No. 4 seed in the conference, the Bruins have been left with a first round match-up against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The B’s came away with a 3-1-0 record in four contests against the Leafs this season, with the last meeting between the two teams coming back on March 23 at the Air Canada Centre.

“They’re a team that earned a spot in the playoffs because they play a real tough type of game and they grind it out; they’ve got toughness, they’ve got skill, they’ve got speed. They’ve got a mixture of everything, it’s a team that’s well-coached. Our games against them have been close this year, it’s going to be an interesting series.” — Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Robin Lehner (34 Saves)

2) Dennis Seidenberg (1 Goal/1 Assist) 

3) Jean-Gabriel Pageau (1 Goal/1 Assist) 

Looking Ahead: The Bruins will begin their first round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs right back here at TD Garden on Wednesday evening. Puck drop is at 7:00 PM.

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BOSTON, MA – For the first time since Monday April the 8th, the Boston Bruins were able to collect two points in a game played at the TD Garden, skating away with a 3-0 home-ice victory over the last-place Florida Panthers. With an offense bolstered by goals from Jaromir Jagr and Dougie Hamilton, along with an empty netter from Brad Marchand, the B’s were easily able to push past the struggling Panthers.

The 41-year-old Jagr kick-started the game’s scoring just 3:03 into action on a beautiful top-shelf wrist shot that cleanly beat Florida netminder Jacob Markstrom.

“It’s always nice when you can score on the first shift. It feels good, and that was a great shot by Jags (Jaromir Jagr). I think it was something that we could build on for the rest of the game. And we had some pretty good offensive time, controlled the play, and we weren’t in our own end too much. It was good.” – Chris Kelly

With the B’s scoring so early and the Panthers having allowed a whopping total of 27 goals in their previous five games, it looked as if this one would get out of hand pretty quickly. Much to the dismay of the Boston crowd, that didn’t happen, as the Panthers were able to keep this one close throughout the entire sixty minutes. The Bruins wouldn’t add their second goal until just past the midway point in the second period. After Shawn Thornton corralled a Panthers’ turnover in the Boston offensive zone, he was able to slide it back to rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton. The former Niagara Ice Dog made no mistake, blasting a slapshot from the blueline right past Markstrom and into the Florida net for his fifth goal of the season.

 ”It was a big goal for us. And he (Dougie Hamilton) made a great shot, but (Gregory) Campbell did a great job in the slot creating that screen too. I don’t think the goaltender saw it until the last minute.” – Andrew Ference

The B’s would finish the final period and a half without allowing Florida to score a goal, holding on for a 3-0 shutout victory. The final tally would come with just 1:22 to play when Brad Marchand put one into an empty Florida net.

Sunday’s 3-0 win has lifted the Bruins back up into a tie with Montreal for first place in the Northeast division. Both teams have 59 points, with Boston playing one less game than their rivals from north of the border.

Getting back on the winning track is undoubtedly a huge step forward for the B’s, who’d dropped their last four decisions, though much still needs to be improved upon as we head into next week’s playoffs.

“Today, in the third we were kind of sluggish a little bit at some times, not having that edge in our game but most of the game I thought really good at supporting each other and jumping in that puck and hitting people. So, that’s our game and if we don’t do that we suck, we know that and that’s just the weird thing everybody knows it in the team but sometimes we just decide not to do it and the result is not good. So, I’m hoping we can keep that up and build on it in the playoffs.” — Tuukka Rask

Bruins Extra

Rask bounces back strong…

Just twenty-four hours after directing a bit of criticism towards Tuukka Rask (more on that, here) Boston bench boss Claude Julien went right back to his starting goaltender on Sunday against the Panthers. No. 40 responded to those comments in tremendous fashion, performing brilliantly while amassing a total of 28 saves en route to his 15th career shutout.

“I just thought that after last night, especially, he stood tall and said, ‘listen, I should have had a couple of goals.’ I thought it was important for me to put him back in and say, ‘here’s an opportunity to go out and battle back. The quicker the better.’ He responded well. I texted him right after the game last night and said, ‘you’re back in there tomorrow.’ I was glad to see that he played extremely well and it shows you a lot about his character.” – Claude Julien

Ben’s Three Stars of the Night: 

1)  Tuukka Rask (28-Save Shutout)

2) Dougie Hamilton (1 Goal/5 Shots)

3) Jaromir Jagr (1 Goal/2 Shots)

Looking Ahead: Tuesday April 23, 2013 – 7:30 PM – AT Philadelphia Flyers

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BOSTON, MA – 1-5-1.

What’s the significance of the number above, you ask? Well, that’s the record the Boston Bruins finished the season with against their two biggest competitors atop the Eastern Conference standings; the Montreal Canadiens and the Pittsburgh Penguins. Saturday afternoon’s 3-2 defeat at the hands of the injury-riddled Pens (playing without Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, and Paul Martin) dropped Boston’s record to 0-3-0 against the East’s No. 1 seed (clinched on Saturday).

Brad Marchand first put the Bruins ahead with a beautiful dangle that led to a goal at about the halfway mark of the game’s opening period. The B’s would be able to hold that lead for the duration of the frame, but would soon see the score tied up early in the second.

Jussi Jokinen – one of Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero’s many pre-trade deadline acquisitions – was then able to backhand the puck past Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask after a net-front scramble at the 5:10 mark of the second period, evening the score at one.

After Marchand was sent to the penalty box for roughing at the 3:25 mark of the third and final period, the Pittsburgh power-play would go to work. A beautiful sequence of passes would result in the 12th marker of the season for the very man who chose the Penguins over the B’s just three short weeks ago; Jarome Iginla.

“It’s a great sports city, and at the time I was very humbled and flattered that Boston and Pittsburgh, I had an opportunity to go to both teams; both teams were interested in me. I made the choice to come to (Pittsburgh). I was thrilled with that, but I also have a lot of respect for this city. I’ve only heard great things from the guys that play here; I have some friends on that team. I’ve heard great things about the city, the organization.” – Jarome Iginla

Not even four minutes later, the Penguins would double their lead to 3-1 when defenseman Kris Letang was able to fire a wrist shot past Tuukka Rask for his fifth goal of the season. This tally for Letang would also come during a Pittsburgh power-play, as the Bruins’ once-great penalty-kill allowed the opposition to score for a second time in the game. When asked to explain his team’s recent struggles on the penalty-kill, Boston head coach Claude Julien offered this peculiar response.

“You’re not going to point a finger, but your goaltender’s got to make some saves, too, at the right time. He’s got to make some of those saves. The first goal was in the five-hole, right between his legs, and he knows that he’s got to have those. I’m not just pointing at him, but he’s got to be better. Your power play, a lot of times, is as good as your goaltending. I thought we did a better job today of getting pucks out of our own end than we did the other night. Everything has to fall in place for your penalty kill to be good. We needed some timely saves, that’s what I talked about, also, we can’t give them opportunities to shoot where that other goal from (Kris) Letang came. He just walked from the wall and took a wrist shot from the top of the circle.” – Claude Julien

There have been times this season where one could justifiably tell you that the Bruins were put at a disadvantage because of their goaltending. Saturday afternoon wasn’t one of those times. Yes, Jarome Iginla did score through the five-hole, but that was only because Chris Kunitz was able to create a screen by planting himself directly in Tuukka Rask’s face without either of Boston’s defensemen (Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg) making an attempt to clear him out from the front of the goal. Jussi Jokinen’s goal came out of a net-front scramble where he was able to easily beat all Bruin defenders to a loose rebound. Even Letang’s third period tally came through a multi-player screen.  I’m not going to tell you that Rask played a perfect game on Saturday against Pittsburgh, but he certainly doesn’t deserve to take the heat for this loss.

Boston forward Tyler Seguin was able to pad the stats a bit with his 16th goal of the season, scored with just two seconds left in regulation, leaving the finally tally at 3-2 in favor of the Penguins.

Bruins Extra

New tradition at TD Garden? …

In the aftermath of Friday’s heroic actions taken by local law enforcement in the Boston area to bring the marathon bombers to justice, the outcome of any sports game is rightfully overshadowed. In remembrance of the victims, the Bruins organization masterfully put together another touching pre-game presentation. For the second consecutive contest, fans in attendance were able to experience a moment of tremendous unity and pride as 17, 565 proud Bostonians recited our country’s national anthem. Here’s hoping that the singing of the Star-Spangled Banner becomes a staple of Bruins’ hockey games both now and into the future, as it remains a small, but incredibly meaningful show of this city’s strength and togetherness.

Ben’s Three Stars: 

1)  Tomas Vokoun (38 Saves)

2) Jussi Jokinen (1 Goal/2 Assists) 

3) Tyler Seguin (1 Goal/8 Shots)

What’s Next?:  Sunday April 21, 2013 – 12:30 PM – vs. Florida Panthers

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BOSTON, MA – It was an emotional night at the TD Garden on Wednesday evening. One that the city of Boston will not soon forget. The game’s opening ceremony and video package, fittingly set to country music star Phillip Phillips’ “Home”, pulled at the heartstrings of everyone in attendance as images of Monday’s horrifying attack was shown on the Jumbo-Tron. It was then that the sellout crowd of 17, 565 stood in unison, belting out each word of the Star – Spangled Banner, displaying an incredible sign of unity and strength. It was a chilling moment in an atmosphere like I’ve never seen before at a sports event. It was a near-perfect representation of the resilience, strength and fighting spirit of this great city.

“Tough to keep a dry eye after the memorial on the big screen. To hear the crowd singing like that is pretty special. It was great to see the support by the 18,000 or whatever here. It was definitely a different experience but great to see everyone rallying around each other which doesn’t surprise you in this city.” — Shawn Thornton

“It was incredible. To see how everyone was reacting and watching that video was obviously very emotional for everyone. Your really see why Boston is such a special city. How everyone has come together and really united through all this, and tonight is another example of it. You’re around thousands of people you don’t know, but it’s like we’re all one. It was special there tonight and very emotional.” – Brad Marchand

Here is a short clip I was able to record of the moment of silence held before puck-drop, followed by the beginning of the National Anthem.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As for the game itself? Well, it’s safe to say that things could have turned out a little better. After surrendering a 2-1 lead with just 26 seconds left in regulation, the Bruins would find themselves on the short end of a 3-2 shootout decision.

A pair of goals from Boston’s newly-formed third line of Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, and Nathan Horton would account for the Bruins’ entire offensive output, as Sabres’ goalie Ryan Miller was brilliant between the crease, stopping 41 of 43 shots faced.

Paille’s ninth goal of the season would come off a beautiful centering pass from Kelly early on in the first period, sparking an already vocal crowd just moments after puck-drop. The new-found chemistry between two of the B’s most valuable bottom-six forwards is undoubteldy a positive sign heading into the stretch run.

“I thought we went out and played hard. That’s what we tried to do and it was a great goal by Piesey (Daniel Paille) and the start we wanted. Yeah, it was nice to score but it’s such a small thing, especially on a night like tonight.” — Chris Kelly

However, with just 1:40 left on the clock in the opening frame, noted Bruins’ killer Thomas Vanek would strike again, redirecting a Christian Ehrhoff wrist shot past Boston netminder Anton Khudobin to even the score at 1.

The B’s would go back ahead late in the second period when Kelly fought for his own rebound and was eventually able to jam the puck past Miller for his third tally of the season. From there, the Bruins looked to be in control, holding the Sabres without many prime scoring opportunities for the remainder of the second period and most of the third. The crowd once again erupted into “We are Boston” chants as the seconds began to run off the clock in the game’s final minute.

But, in a cruel turn of events, Sabres’ top-line pivot Cody Hodgson would beat Zdeno Chara to the front of the Boston net and redirect Vanek’s centering pass into the goal with less than half a minute to play in regulation. After a scoreless overtime period,  it would be a Drew Stafford wrist shot goal that sank the B’s after all three of the team’s shooters where stopped by Ryan Miller.

The win moves the Sabres up to 44 points now, as they continue to fight towards the coveted No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference. Meanwhile, the overtime point picked up on Wednesday officially secures a playoff spot for the Bruins.

Bruins Extra:

THIS is why we LOVE hockey… 

Each and every day, I am blown away by just how close-knit the hockey family is. So, it shouldn’t have been so much of a shock when the Sabres took the ice with the Bruins after Wednesday’s game to join them in a stick salute to what was left of the Boston crowd on hand at TD Garden. Now, these are two squads with a rivalry that dates back to before I was even born, one that’s even heated up in recent years after the infamous Miller/Lucic incident last season. In this case, that didn’t matter. The Sabres knew the situation they were walking into, and they handled it with the utmost amount of class and respect.

“I think nobody had to tell each other to do it. We all just knew that was the thing to do. You got to give kudos to Buffalo, the respect that they showed tonight. And not only from them, but you’re going to see it everywhere. We just want to thank them and we want to show that we appreciate everyone coming out tonight.” – Brad Marchand

Boston Strong… 

Though the Sabres may have ultimately taken victory on the ice, the real winners tonight, without a doubt, are the incredible people of Boston. The courage of this magnificent city and all of its residents couldn’t have been more well-represented than it was tonight. That moment before Wednesday’s game was bigger than sports. It was about something far greater than just wins and losses. It was a statement to the cowardly perpetrator(s) of Monday’s attack that this city absolutely and wholeheartedly refuses to be terrorized. On the ice, the Bruins created a welcome distraction to those victimized, while providing an outlet for the people of this city to display their incredible unity, toughness and resilience.

Now that, my friends, is far more important than any two points will ever be.

Never before have I been more proud to call myself a Bostonian.

Ben’s Three Stars: 

1)  Ryan Miller (41 Saves)

2) Chris Kelly (1 Goal/1 Assist/Plus-2 Rating)

3) Daniel Paille (1 Goal/1 Assist/Plus-2 Rating)

What’s Next?: Friday April 19, 2013 – 7:00 PM – vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

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The city of Boston has been shaken. Shaken to its very core. On a day more sacred in the hearts of New Englanders than just about every other holiday on the calendar. With the eyes of the world turned towards our city, the people of Boston were put through one of the most horrific tragedies to have ever taken place on our soil. Limbs were broken, and in some cases, completely torn off, bones were shattered and tragically, lives were even lost.

Though, out of the shadow of such a terrifying and cowardly act, my faith in humanity has been restored. As opposed to focusing on the few individuals behind this attack – who have yet to be identified -, we should instead focus upon the heroic actions of the first-responders, policemen and emergency personnel that risked their lives to help injured civilians along the sidewalks of Boylston Street and Copley Square, right in the heart of Boston. These brave men and women ran back towards the site of the explosions to help victims in any way they could, putting the safety and health of others above their own. As of this writing, the death toll of this awful tragedy stands at three. Three too many, but a number that would undoubtedly be exponentially greater if not for the efforts of these courageous individuals. They are the real heroes in all of this. They are the ones who should be remembered.

As for the city of Boston, itself? Well, I’ve got a message, on behalf of this magnificent place, for the conscienceless cowards that perpetrated this dastardly act of pure evil against hundreds of innocent civilians; If your intent was to keep this great city – and its people – down, please know that you’ve failed. Failed miserably, in fact. You’ve done nothing but bring us closer together. Bostonians are a proud people. We don’t take too kindly to being pushed around – in sports or in everyday life – by anyone. Never mind terrorists. Our hearts may be broken, but our spirit sure isn’t. The city of Boston will rise again, and it will be stronger than ever. A patriotic line that’s always been a favorite of mine fits perfectly into a case like this: “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”. Never before have I seen more unity on display than in the way this city – and this country in support of it – have come together over the past 24 hours.

We are strong. We are Boston.

——————————————————————————————

As opposed to the traditional promotional signature that I typically use at the end of each of my articles, I’ll instead leave you with a few links to stories from other members of the Boston sports media. Each of whom has done a marvelous job of putting this catastrophic event into perspective.

- Tim Rosenthal from Bruins Daily has a look at how the NHL world has come together in support of Boston.

- Ty Anderson, a good friend of mine from Hockeybuzz.com, has a beautifully written piece that really helps put things into context.

- A “Letter from Boston“, via SB Nation’s Paul Flannery.

BOSTON, MA – After losing Brad Marchand to a mild concussion during Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the New Jersey Devils, the Boston Bruins were back on the ice Thursday against the Islanders, minus two thirds of their top offensive unit. With both Marchand and Patrice Bergeron out of the lineup, B’s bench boss Claude Julien opted to change up his forward lines once again. Early 7th player award favorite Daniel Paille was moved up, alongside David Krejci and Nathan Horton, while Milan Lucic was finally dropped a line to skate with Gregory Campbell and Jaromir Jagr.

Unfortunately for Boston, the coach’s lineup changes wouldn’t pay any immediate dividends, as the Islanders were able to power past the B’s on a pair of goals from second-line winger Josh Bailey. With less than a half a minute to go in the first period, Bailey would score his first of the night after rushing up the ice and firing a rocket of a slapshot over the glove of Bruins’ netminder Tuukka Rask to put New York ahead, 1-0.

In the second frame, the B’s were able to rebound with a goal of their own after being given the benefit of an early-period power-play. Red-hot centerman Gregory Campbell made a crisp pass right onto the stick of Tyler Seguin, who then fired a wrist shot right past Isles’ goaltender Evgeni Nabokov. Boston’s usual fourth line pivot has now picked up two goals and three assists in the three games since being elevated in the lineup to fill-in for a concussed Patrice Bergeron.

It was again Bailey who would burn the Bruins midway through the second period, when his wrist shot from the outside of the circle managed to trickle through the pads of Rask and over the goal line to give New York a 2-1 lead. Though Boston’s No. 1 goaltender has arguably played his best hockey of the season over the past handful of games, there is little doubt that he should have come up with the save on that shot.

“I felt it hit me, I thought it kind of stayed there and then when I turned around it was too late. So it’s just one of those. I think he was going high blocker and he just kind of missed his shot a bit but that’s just my opinion. Just one of those unlucky bounces.” – Tuukka Rask

The two goals from Bailey would prove to be enough for another victory for the streaking Isles, as the B’s were unable to generate much in the way of offensive attack for the remainder of the game. In fact, Boston was only able to muster seven total shots on goal in the third and final period, displaying little urgency for a team that just hasn’t been able to find that killer-instinct in the third period all season long.

While many may blame this loss on fatigue, being the final game of a 3-in-4 nights stretch, I find it hard to use the schedule as a crutch when the team isn’t playing well.

“I thought the first period was the best first period in a long time. And the rest of the game, although they were the better team for the most of it, I just felt that I could see our guys were trying, we just ran out of gas. Third game in four nights and the effort, will was there, but they did a great job. They were obviously a little fresher than we were and they did a great job of closing in on us and not giving us much.” – Claude Julien

The fact of the matter is, all thirty teams in the league have to go through the same trials and tribulations that come along with a lockout-shortened season. The Bruins are no different than anyone else. Yes, their slate of games in March and April has been nothing short of brutal, but in no way is that an excuse for their recent stretch of sub-par performances. The good news for the B’s is that they certainly still have a roster capable of making a deep playoff run. The only question remaining is if they’ll have enough time to pull it together before then, with only eight games left in the regular season.

Not to be overlooked in all of this was the tremendous improvement displayed by the New York Islanders. It’s really amazing what a little bit of confidence can do for a team. Watching the Isles on Thursday compared to when they’ve been in town in the past few years was like night and day. Their passes are crisper, the defense is tighter and they’ve learned how to hold a lead and close out victories.

“The more you get in those situations in meaningful games and come out on top, the more confidence you gain. You gain more composure and stuff like that, and tonight was a good example of that.” – Josh Bailey

If Thursday evening was any indication, the Bruins will surely have their hands full in any potential playoff match-up with the red-hot Islanders in just a few short weeks.

“Every team is going to be a challenge. We’ve done pretty well against them the last couple of years, but I have to say they’re playing a lot better. They seem to be playing more as a team and they have a lot of skill. Their skill is showing right now. I think we match up well against them but time will tell.” – Gregory Campbell

Stat of the Night: (2) – the combined number of hits for big-bodied Boston wingers Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton. The two catalysts for the Bruins’ all-important psychical tempo have been M.I.A. as of late in the hitting department, something the B’s can ill-afford with both Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand out of the lineup.

Ben’s Three Stars: 

1)  Josh Bailey (2 Goals/3 Shots)

2) Evgeni Nabokov (30 Saves)

3) Tuukka Rask (34 Saves)

What’s Next?: Saturday April 13, 2013 – 7:00 PM – AT Carolina Hurricanes

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BOSTON, MA – Nearly 23 years after being drafted fifth overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft, Jaromir Jagr was again stealing the headlines on Thursday evening. Two days after being acquired in a pre-deadline trade, No. 68 was making his Boston Bruins debut in front of a sellout crowd of 17, 565 on hand at the TD Garden.

Exactly eighty seconds into the second period of Thursday’s game against the visiting New Jersey Devils, the legendary right winger would pot his 15th goal of the season, sending the raucous Boston crowd into a frenzy. As Brad Marchand skated through the left circle, he’d fire a centering pass towards his new linemate, where it would deflect off Jagr’s skate and past Devils’ goaltender Martin Brodeur.

“Sometimes you have to be lucky to score, and I think that’s the first time I scored with my leg I guess. When I was 25, I wouldn’t have liked that goal, but at 41 I’ll take anything right now.” – Jaromir Jagr

Though Jagr’s first tally in a Boston uniform didn’t come on the prettiest of plays, it certainly got the job done, proving to be the only goal in a 1-0 shutout victory for the Bruins.

“He played his game and his goal was something that we like to see, and it’s called net drive. It doesn’t have to be a highlight goal, but he was heading to the net and he wasn’t going to get pushed to the side, and it went off his skate and in. So, that’s a good example for the rest of the younger guys on the team to take from a guy who’s still doing it at that age.” – Claude Julien

Devils’ right winger David Clarkson was all over the ice during the middle frame, first setting up linemate Dainius Zubrus with a beautiful cross-ice pass that would result in a shot getting past the Boston goaltender, but hitting the crossbar and deflecting out of harm’s way. Less than a minute later, Clarkson would ring the iron himself with a wicked wrist shot from the right circle. Unfortunately for the Devils, this would be the closest they would come to putting a puck in the Boston net on Thursday as Tuukka Rask would go on to record his third shutout of the season.

The win, and of course the shutout, should go a long way towards helping Rask get back on track after back-up netminder Anton Khudobin had been given the start in each of Boston’s last two games.

“He (Tuukka Rask) was good tonight, you know, he was one of the reasons we won, obviously. He made the big saves when he had to and kept us in the lead at times when they could have gotten themselves back into the game.” – Claude Julien

With Thursday’s win under their belt, the Black and Gold will now head north of the border for a showdown with the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday evening, as first place in the Northeast division will be on the line.

Ben’s Three Stars: 

1)  Tuukka Rask (40 Saves)

2) Jaromir Jagr (1 Goal/5 Shots)

3) Martin Brodeur (25 Saves)

What’s Next?: Saturday April 6, 2013 – 7:00 PM – AT Montreal Canadiens

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BOSTON, MA– Just hours after the team had announced the acquisition of future Hall-of-Fame winger Jaromir Jagr, the Boston Bruins were back on the ice at TD Garden for a Northeast division showdown against the Ottawa Senators.

It wouldn’t take long for the scoring to get started in this one as the Sens’ would take advantage of an Andrew Ference turnover in the defensive zone, leading to sophomore forward Colin Greening’s seventh goal of the season.

Exactly forty seconds later, the B’s would respond with a goal of their own after David Krejci redirected a Zdeno Chara wrist shot (from the point) past Ottawa netminder Robin Lehner, tying the score at one. Just over a minute later, the B’s would strike again as Brad Marchand would find an open Tyler Seguin in front for a tap-in goal on a beautifully executed 2-on-1.

Towards the end of the period, it appeared as if Boston had extended their lead to 3-1 when another one of Zdeno Chara’s point blasts found the back of the Ottawa net. However, with both Patrice Bergeron and Tyler Seguin in the crease area, the officials called goaltender interference, nullifying what would have been Chara’s seventh goal of the season.

As neither team would be able to find the twine in the second frame, the next goal would come just 1:55 into the third and final period when the Sens would even the score at 2. Defenseman Andre Benoit would be credited with his third marker of the season after firing a wrist shot into the Boston net as turmoil ensued out of a net-mouth scramble in front of Anton Khudobin. The enigmatic Russian netminder summed up the chaotic series of events that led to Ottawa’s second goal with this beauty of an Ilya Bryzgalov-like quote.

“I wasn’t thinking because I wasn’t thinking anything. When it hit my head, I just stand up pretty much and the play was on. They didn’t score, good, so let’s continue playing. After the referee said that it’s replay, and after replay he said goal. Of course, I wasn’t happy with that, but still it doesn’t matter. We got the W, that’s most important.” – Anton Khudobin

Despite surrendering the game-tying goal early in the period, the B’s continued to pressure the Ottawa net, eventually accumulating a grand total of 50 shots on goal. As is typically the case when the B’s are matched up against Ottawa’s young Swedish goaltending phenom, finding the net was a struggle. However, at the midpoint of the third period, Boston was able to break through when Nathan Horton hammered home a rebound to put the B’s ahead, 3-2.

“With Nathan (Horton), it’s pretty obvious, you just have to watch him play. When he skates, and he’s in it, and he’s engaged he’s a real good player. And that’s what he’s been lately. He’s been really engaged, and positive, and focused instead of being frustrated and things are turning around for him.” – Claude Julien

The goal extends Horton’s scoring streak to four consecutive games as he continues to make a case to remain on the first line. With linemate Milan Lucic scoring just one goal in his last 20 games, the question of which winger could potentially be moved down the lineup when Jagr arrives in Boston on Thursday has certainly become an interesting one. While it is possible that Jagr begins his Bruins’ career on the third line, that doesn’t seem like a very realistic scenario.

With just 32.3 seconds left in the game, B’s defenseman Johnny Boychuk was sent to the box for interference, allowing the Sens a chance to skate 6-on-4 in an attempt to tie the score at 3. However, the B’s were able to keep Ottawa from ever getting a legitimate chance to tie the game, leading the way to a key 3-2 home-ice victory over a Northeast division rival.

“Let me put it this way, I’m satisfied that we got two points. They don’t come easy this time of the year. We can be better, yes, so are we going to work on it, yes. So to answer your question, yes we are satisfied with the two points.’ – Zdeno Chara

Bruins Extra

Bergeron goes down with undisclosed injury…

After a second period collision with Ottawa forward Colin Greening, Boston centerman Patrice Bergeron would head down the tunnel and into the Bruins’ locker room. Unfortunately for the B’s, No. 37 would not be able to return for the third period after suffering an undisclosed injury that appears to be of the upper body variety. It didn’t look as though there was any direct contact to Bergeron’s head on the play, but for a player with such a history of concussion problems, things can certainly get a little tricky. Hopefully the injury isn’t anything major and Bergeron is back in the Boston lineup relatively quickly as the alternate captain remains one of, if not the most valuable player on the roster.

“We got a pretty deep lineup. It gives guys opportunities to step up when somebody is injured. Hopefully, that’s not the case. Hopefully, Bergie is fine. If he is, then we’ll have to deal with it and guys will step up.” – Brad Marchand

Ben’s Three Stars: 

1)  Robin Lehner (47 Saves)

2) David Krejci (1 Goal/1 Assist/Plus-1 Rating)

3) Anton Khudobin (45 Saves)

What’s Next?: Thursday April 4, 2013 – 7:00 PM – vs. New Jersey Devils

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Fear not, Bruins’ fans. This time, it’s official. Officially official, actually.

Just six days after having Pittsburgh swoop in and steal Jarome Iginla out from underneath his grasp, Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli has acquired one of the greatest players in the history of the Penguins organization. In exchange for gritty young winger Lane MacDermid, 2012 fifth round draft choice Cody Payne (Plymouth Whalers) and a conditional second round pick, the B’s have landed future first-ballot Hall of Fame winger Jaromir Jagr. Drafted fifth overall back in 1990, Jagr would go on to score more than 450 goals in ten seasons with the Pittsburgh organization. Obviously, he’s well past his prime at the age of 41, but even today Jagr is continuing to produce. In 34 games with the Stars this season, he’s scored 14 goals, added 12 assists and accumulated a decent minus-5 rating while skating for one of the West’s worst teams.

The connection with Boston No. 1 center David Krejci is obvious, as both are natives of the Czech Republic and skated together with the national team at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. In fact, CSNNE.com’s Joe Haggerty procured this excellent quote from Krejci after this morning’s skate.

David Krejci on Jagr: “Great to see him doing well at his age. I had posters of him on wall growing up. He was definitely my hockey idol”

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) April 2, 2013

You’d have to expect that B’s bench boss Claude Julien will opt to put the two Czech playmakers next to one another on the Boston first line with either Milan Lucic or Nathan Horton sliding down into a third line role alongside Rich Peverley and Jordan Caron. After all, it was during those Olympics that Krejci really took his game to the next level and evolved into the No. 1 centerman that you see on the ice today. The more likely candidate to remain on the top-line with Krejci and Jagr would have to be Lucic, simply because he typically brings a lot more to the table in all areas of the game.

As for the players heading back to Dallas in this deal… Cody Payne was selected in the fifth round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft for his grit and edge, but has since exploded offensively, scoring 24 goals and adding 21 assists in 66 games this season while skating with the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL. He projects as third-line player at the NHL level. Lane MacDermid, who has spent all of this season traveling and practicing with the B’s, hasn’t had much of a chance to establish himself in Boston with the abundance of quality fourth liners already in the lineup. In Dallas, MacDermid, still just 23 years old, will have an opportunity to immediately step into the lineup and receive third/fourth line minutes. The second round draft pick will be conditional based upon how far the Bruins advance in this spring’s playoffs.

When compared to potentially surrendering top prospect Alex Khokhlachev and two-way depth defenseman Matt Bartkowski in a deal for Iginla, Chiarelli has secured an absolute steal in acquiring a Mark Recchi-type veteran presence in exchange for a couple of players who were never going to make an impact in Boston anyway.

With another legitimate top-six forward now in the mix, the Bruins can now focus their attention on attaining a quality defenseman or two in advance of Wednesday afternoon’s 3 P.M. NHL trading deadline.

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