However, for as good as the Black and Gold looked on Sunday, they looked equally as bad on Wednesday night in Buffalo. In what was an evidently poor effort all night long, the B’s were shellacked by a hefty 6-0 margin at the First Niagara Center last night. The Sabres would score a pair of goals in each of the game’s three periods, en route to their biggest victory of the season, one I am sure they hope will help turn their season around.

It was Christian Ehrhoff and captain Jason Pominville who would get the scoring started in the first frame as each took advantage of a Boston defensive zone collapse to get their team on the board. Sophomore forward Tyler Ennis would chip home his fourth of the season less than two minutes into the second period, ending the night of B’s netminder Tuukka Rask. Unfortunately for Boston, Tim Thomas would not fare much better as he would allow Patrick Kaleta to score his fifth of the season as the second frame drew to a close. Jason Pominville would add his second of the night and Bruins-killer Drew Stafford would notch his ninth of the year as Buffalo ended the night with a commanding 6-0 win.

In what’s become a trend the B’s are struggling to kick, team defense has become a glaring issue during the team’s most recent slump. Tonight’s six-goal spot was a season worst for a Boston squad that has allowed three or more goals in six of their last eight games. Another alarming statistic for Black and Gold supporters: eleven of the B’s seventeen regulation losses this season have been against teams that are not in the playoff picture. If the B’s hope to have any chance at catching the New York Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference, they will need to quickly work the kinks out of their game and learn to not play down to inferior squads.

They must regain the killer instinct that was so instrumental in their success during the months of November and December.

KEY STATS

Goals–                BOS (0)   BUF (6)

Shots–                BOS (36)   BUF (29)

Power-Play–    BOS (0-0)   BUF (0-2)

Penalty-Kill–   BOS  (2-2)   BUF (0-0)

Ben’s Three Stars….. 3.) Tyler Ennis …..2.) Jason Pominville …..1.) Ryan Miller

What’s Next?

The B’s are off until Saturday when they will host the red-hot Nashville Predators at TD Garden for a 1 PM matinee contest that will be broadcast on NESN. The Preds employ one of the best “team defense” philosophies in the entire NHL and will pose a tough challenge for the B’s.

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It’s a label that has stuck with the team for the last 20 years or so, but it certainly doesn’t seem to be a fitting one, especially for the teams of the recent past.  The Devils began to play more of an up-tempo fore-checking puck possession type of game under the coaching of Brent Sutter during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.  Just because a team is also defensively responsible does not mean it makes for a boring team.  Also, find me a team in the league that does not play some version of the trap at different points. That’s right, there isn’t one, because every team in the league plays some form of it at one point or another.  Last year’s hiccup aside, the teams under Sutter and current coach Peter DeBoer have been pretty exciting and have produced a good amount of scoring compared to their league counterparts.

Looking at the entire picture, over the last 20 years (19 seasons), there have been countless exciting moments, including physical play (including the best open ice hitter of his generation in Scott Stevens) and more often than not, the team has finished in the upper half of the league in goals scored (including first or second four times) see accompanying table below) and has been one of the most productive clubs in the NHL over that time in terms of producing regular season wins.  Add three Stanley Cup titles to the mix and I don’t know how or why the “boring” label has ever been attached to a team that has produced like they have.

Superstars like Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Martin Brodeur, Patrik Elias, Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk have produced for this franchise over the last 20 years.  Obviously, some of these players have helped both offensively and defensively to varying degrees. To me, as a fan, my first hope is for my team to win. Beyond the Detroit Red Wings, who can match the winning pedigree of the New Jersey Devils over the last twenty years? I think you’d be hard pressed to come up with anyone else on the same level.  There are other franchises that have featured the neutral zone trap mostly to hide their lack of superstar talent.  That simply hasn’t been the case with the Devils.

As for this year’s team, the Devils are currently ranked 14th in goals per game, scoring at a clip of 2.69 goals per game. Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias and Zach Parise are all in the top 25 scoring leaders. Head Coach Peter DeBoer has installed a high energy system based on puck pressure and fore-checking, similar to the system played by Brent Sutter a few years back. Add it all up, and the Devils have been mislabeled over the last twenty years. Assuming last season was more of an outlier than anything, instead of being labeled boring, perhaps a more accurate label for the New Jersey Devils would be WINNERS. And if you ask me, that’s all a fan could ever ask of their hockey team.

The Boston University Terriers and the Boston College Eagles will meet in the Beanpot tournament finals for the fourth time in the past seven years when the two squads hook up next Monday at the TD Garden.  Both teams secured their spot in next week’s championship game with victories over Harvard and Northeastern.

In the first match-up of the day it was the heavily favored BU Terriers who would flex their muscle by way of a 3-1 victory over former Bruin Ted Donato’s Harvard Crimson. Backstopped by 29 saves from netminder Kieran Millan (Colorado Avalanche), the Terriers received offensive contributions from Matt Nieto (San Jose Sharks) and budding power forward Wade Megan (Florida Panthers).

Nieto’s goal opened the scoring at the 8:14 mark of the first frame and Megan followed by adding two tallies in the second period to take over the team lead in goals (10) , and build a 3-0 lead for BU. Harvard would answer on a power-play late in the second when Tampa Bay Lightning draftee Alex Killorn solved Millan with a top-shelf wrister. However, it would be too little, too late for a Crimson squad that couldn’t muster much offense in the third period. The 3-1 loss would put the Harvard Crimson into the Beanpot consolation game for the fourth consecutive year.

One player who particularly stood out during the early game, despite being on the losing end of the contest, was Harvard blueliner and captain Ryan Grimshaw. He seemed to be in the right position all the time and made quite a few fantastic defensive plays throughout the duration of the game.

In the nightcap, the Boston College Eagles proved why they are widely regarded as one of the best teams in the nation. Jumping out to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Paul Carey (Colorado Avalanche) and Johnny Gaudreau (Calgary Flames) the Eagles looked to be in complete control. The Huskies were able to get one back midway through the period when Anthony Bitetto (Nashville Predators) blasted a slapshot past BC netminder Parker Milner during a 5-on-3 Northeastern power-play.

It was in the second period that the Eagles would assert their dominance, tilting the ice completely in their favor, firing 13 shots on Husky goaltender Chris Rawlings. Short-handed tallies from Stevan Whitney would sandwich Johnny Gaudreau’s second of the night as Boston College entered the second intermission with a commanding 5-1 lead.

Senior forward Barry Almeida would add another midway through the third period and Paul Carey would notch his second of the night soon after to seal a 6-1 blowout victory for the Boston College Eagles.

The results of Monday’s action sets up what should be a riveting final day of the tournament next week when we are treated to two more exciting college hockey contests. Harvard and Northastern will meet in the consolation game, beginning at 4:30 PM, and of course (#5) Boston College and (#1) Boston University will meet for the Beanpot Title at 7:30. Both games will be broadcast on NESN and the championship game will also be broadcast on 98.5 The Sports Hub.

This will mark the fourth time these two cross-town rivals have met this season, with the Terriers taking two of the previous three match-ups.

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The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by eight points. Tampa Bay is in 11th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, eight points out of a playoff spot.

After 51 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 34. He leads the Bolts in and is third in the NHL in points with 57. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 33. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with a -16 and has accumulated 119 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 16 wins, a 2.88 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:19 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 181.

The Lightning have scored 145 goals (10th in the NHL) and allowed 170 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams are far from average. The power play success rate is 13.7% (26th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 80.6% (24th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.3% and the average NHL team kills off 82.7% of their penalties successfully.

Tampa Bay is 21st in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 49.3% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 49 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Washington Capitals 3 OT

Game 50 – Tampa Bay Lightning 1 – Winnipeg Jets 2 OT

Game 51 – Tampa Bay Lightning 6 – Florida Panthers 3

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – Four goals and two assists.

Steven Stamkos – Two goals and three assists.

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning recalled and then reassigned Pierre-Cedric Labrie to Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. Ohlund has had a major setback and his return this year is questionable.

Forward Adam Hall is out with an upper body injury and may return next week.

Forward Dana Tyrell is out for the year after having successful knee surgery.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Ryan Malone is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts are eight points out of a playoff spot and eight points away from a division championship. 62 points are still out there to be won with 31 games left. For the Lightning to get into the postseason tournament, they will probably need to get 44 of those remaining 62 possible points. There are eight more games against divisional foes and the Bolts need to win all of those to have a chance. Realistically, Tampa Bay needs to win the division to make the playoffs. Possible? Yes. Probable? No.

The next handful of games will tell GM Steve Yzerman whether or not he  is a buyer or seller. If he is a seller, look for impending unrestricted free agents Dominic Moore, Ryan Shannon, Adam Hall, Pavel Kubina, Brett Clark, Matt Gilroy, Dwayne Roloson and Bruno Gervais to be offered up to the rest of the NHL.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Los Angeles on Tuesday. They travel to the New York Rangers on Thursday, Buffalo on Saturday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

After the All-Star break, Norfolk found itself in Adirondack for a Friday night game against former Admiral Michael Leighton and the Phantoms. The Phantoms claimed an early one goal lead as Leighton baffled the Admirals offense. Adirondack would score once more in the second. Norfolk’s Carter Ashton finally put the Admirals on the board midway through the second period. Unfortunately, Leighton and the Phantoms would shut down the Admirals offense for the rest of the night. The Phantoms would add another goal for insurance and send Norfolk on to Springfield with a 3-1 loss.

Saturday, Springfield goalie Manny Legace was hoping to celebrate his 40^th birthday with a win. Norfolk jumped out to a two goal lead with goals from Evan Oberg and Richard Panik. Springfield struck back with a goal five minutes into the second period. The Admirals Trevor Smith scored twice to make it 4-1. Manny Legace was pulled in favor of backup goalie, Paul Dainton. Dainton was put to the test and surrendered goals to Mark Barberio and Jeff DImmen. Norfolk and Springfield both went scoreless in the third and the Admirals retired for the night with the 6-1 win.

Super Bowl Sunday was not so super for the Admirals. After a goal filled game the previous night, the Admiral fans were hoping to see more of the same offensive power on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately they would be disappointed. Springfield grabbed the early lead, 1-0 after the first period. The Admirals owned the second period as Pierre-Cedric Labrie and Michel Ouelett each scored. Disaster struck in the third as the offense was shut down and the defense mailed the remainder of the game in.Springfield struck three times and took home a 4-2 win.

Cory Conacher (25G 26A 51Pts +4), Trevor Smith (18G 32A 50Pts +21) and Mark Barberio (6G 33A 39Pts +16) find themselves at the top of the Ad’s scoring list. Conacher was unusually quiet this weekend with just two assists. Goaltender Dustin Tokarski (19-11-0 2.50GAA) went 1-1 this week while Jaroslav Janus (8-8-2 3.16GAA) went 0-1.

For the Season the Admirals are 27-18-1-2 with 57 points. They are currently six points behind the East Division leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. Norfolk is currently on a 0-1-0-0 streak and is 5-5-0-0 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Trevor Smith – Two goals and three assists.

Evan Oberg – One goal and three assists.

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – One goal and two assists.

Transactions

Pierre-Cedric Labrie – Returned to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

Alexandre Picard – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

The second half of the season is in full swing. Norfolk finds itself in fifth place in the division. The Admirals need every point that they can get. This road swing was brutal as they gave up four out of a possible six points and fell three more points behind the Penguins. It does not look like the Penguins or the Hershey Bears are going to make this any easier for Norfolk. Adirondack will be in town this weekend and the Admirals need to play every game like it’s a playoff game. They played like that at home against the Bears, but it seems that they play down to their competition. It is high time that the Admirals snap out of it and play each game like it is their last!

The Week Ahead

The Admirals play a weekend series at home against the Adirondack Phantoms this Friday and Saturday night.

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5.) Tommy Cross (D) #4 Boston College (Boston Bruins)

 – The captain of the Boston College Eagles, senior defenseman Tommy Cross will be playing in his final BeanPot tournament this month after spending four seasons under legendary coach Jerry York in Chestnut Hill. Taken in the second round of the 2007 Entry draft by the Boston Bruins, Cross is a card-carrying veteran of the B’s summer development camp. The 6’3″ blueliner is strong in his own end and often shows great puck-handling abilities. If he can avoid the injury bug, it wouldn’t be farfetched to suggest that Cross could project as a Dan Girardi-type player in the NHL.

4.) Alex Killorn (F) #19 Harvard (Tampa Bay Lightning)

– Also taken in the 2007 Entry Draft, Killorn was selected 77th overall (3rd Round) by the Tampa Bay Lightning. The 6’2″ senior has always been skilled with the puck and been able to put the puck in the net, but he biggest knock against the Montreal native has been his deficiencies in his own end of the ice. From all reports, Killorn has done nothing but impress during their annual summer development camps and is expected to compete for a roster spot with the big club next season.

3.) Kevin Hayes (C) #12 Boston College (Chicago Blackhawks)

 – Spending much of his freshman season on the shelf after suffering an early-season knee injury, Hayes has truly emerged as an offensive force this season, contributing 19 points (5G/14A) in 27 games played thus far. Hayes was taken in the first round of the 2010 draft because of his rare combination of size and speed. The Dorchester, MA native plays more of a finesse type game and his best asset is his uncanny awareness in the offensive zone.

2.) Adam Clendening (D) #5 Boston University (Chicago Blackhawks)

– The undersized, offensive defenseman from Niagara Falls, NY may be the most exciting player to watch in this entire tournament. Leading the charge on the Terrier blueline, Clendening has posted two goals and added twenty assists in only 23 games this season. Taken early in the second round of the 2011 Entry Draft, Clendening has proven that he has the talent to make a serious bid for a roster spot in Chicago sooner rather than later.

1.) Chris Kreider (F) #19 Boston College (New York Rangers)

– Taken with the 19th overall selection in the 2009 draft, the offensively gifted Kreider has done it all at Boston College and could be playing in his final BeanPot tournament this year. A prototypical power forward with speed, Kreider has reportedly contemplated forgoing his senior season for a chance to go pro with the Rangers next fall. The 6’3″ Boxford, MA native has scored 16 goals and added 14 assists in 27 games this year.

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When things are going your way, everything seems to be clicking, you play with confidence, you tend to get the breaks here and there. You feel as if nothing is ever going to go wrong.

However, when you’re struggling it’s a completely different ball game. All of a sudden you’re not catching the breaks, nothing is going your way. It seems like you’ll never get things back on track.

Unfortunately for Boston, after a two month stretch of dominating the competition, the Black and Gold just can’t seem to get much going as of late. That trend would continue on Saturday afternoon when they hosted Evgeni Malkin and the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins.

After what most would consider a rather lifeless first frame from both sides, the Pens would take advantage of a late-period power-play opportunity as Malkin would knock a rebound past Tim Thomas to put Pittsburgh ahead with only 0:09 seconds remaining on the clock. The 6’3” Russian forward once again re-asserted himself as the best player in the game today, picking up his 28^th goal and league-leading 60^th point of the season as he continues to run roughshod on the rest of the NHL .

“He’s been the catalyst for our group all year. It’s amazing sometimes. When you don’t think he can do it anymore, he goes out there and scores another goal. He’s been great for us and hopefully we’ll keep him going.” – Joe Vitale

The B’s where not able to muster up many real offensive chances throughout the entire second frame despite being given a four-minute power-play chance courtesy of a Pascal Dupuis double minor for high sticking.

Early in the third Pittsburgh would tack on an insurance tally when the villainous Matt Cooke out-worked two Bruin defenders in front of Thomas and knocked in his 9^th  goal of the season. The man Bruins’ fans love to hate has now scored two goals in as many games against Boston this year and has put up sixteen points in twenty-five career games against the Black and Gold.

Atoning for his earlier mistake, defenseman Joe Corvo would find the back of the Penguins’ net as his wrist shot made it through a Marchand screen and past Marc-Andre Fleury to cut the deficit to one.

“Marchand did a great job of standing in front of him until the last minute until it kind of got to the net. It was the right height to where the goalie was kind of staying low and trying to see it and it just went in.” – Joe Corvo

Unfortunately for Boston, the rest of the third period would simply be more of the same for a Bruins  squad that simply cannot find it’s groove right now. They unloaded nine more third period shots against Fleury but were still unable to tickle the twine and tie the score.

“You’ve got to give credit to the last two goalies we’ve played. They played really good games I think, and the last two teams we’ve played have played a pretty solid 60 minutes of defense.” – Tim Thomas

Boston has now only managed one goal on their last 81 shots through their last 132:51 minutes of play.

“The last two games, we’ve had almost 80 shots and only one goal showing for it. It’s frustrating right now, but thankfully we got a game tomorrow to focus on.” – Daniel Paille

Boston hasn’t managed to beat the Penguins at TD Garden since November 10….. of the year 2009. Today’s loss marks the B’s fourth defeat in their past six games and their record has dropped to 4-5-1 over their last ten games.

KEY STATS

Goals–                PIT (2)   BOS (1)

Shots–                PIT (28)   BOS (29)

Power-Play–    PIT (1-3)   BOS (0-2)

Penalty-Kill–   PIT  (2-2)   BOS (2-3)

Ben’s Three Stars….. 3.) Matt Cooke  …..2.) Evgeni Malkin …..1.) James Neal

What’s Next?

It’ll be a quick turnaround for the Black and Gold as they depart from Boston this afternoon for a 12:30 PM Super Bowl Sunday matinee contest with the Caps at the Verizon Center in Washington tomorrow. The Pens will also be on the move fairly quickly as they are scheduled for a 1 PM contest in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon.

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Christensen was on the bubble in training camp and was kept over Sean Avery because he was perceived by coach John Tortorella as a more skilled player who was also an asset come shootout time. From a pure offensive skill perspective, Christensen is superior to Avery. However, he was never able to maintain any semblance of consistency when inserted into the lineup. Christensen himself has even admitted to having confidence issues. Yes, he is excellent in the shootout, but it’s hard to justify keeping someone in the lineup who may be invisible for 65 minutes simply for shootout prowess when there’s no guarantee that they will even play to one. The play of callups Carl Hagelin and John Mitchell further solidified his position as odd man out. He hadn’t played in a game since December 17th and on January 11th went to the Connecticut Whale on a 2-week conditioning assignment. He rejoined the Rangers at the All-Star break.

A third round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2002 whom the Rangers claimed off waivers from the Anaheim Ducks during the 2009-10 season, the Wild now become Christensen’s 5th organization in his 7 NHL seasons. Christensen had 20 goals and 38 assists in the 132 games he played in a Rangers uniform, including 1 goal and 4 assists in the 20 games he played this year.

It’s a minor move that is good for all parties involved. In Christensen the injury-ravaged and struggling Wild get someone with some NHL experience, and he can step in and play for them right away. For Christensen, it gives him an opportunity to play on a regular basis. For the Rangers, Wellman, who has been assigned to the Whale, gives them a little more organizational depth. More importantly, it gets one extra forward off their NHL roster and opens up a little more cap space as the January 27th trade deadline nears.

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In other news, Steve Eminger, who suffered a separated shoulder on December 17th against the Phoenix Coyotes, has been cleared to play. It’s not been decided whether or not he’ll get back in the lineup Sunday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers, but look for him to take the place of Stu Bickel.

*******************************

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Despite being mired in the Eastern Conference basement with the league’s worst road record, Kirk Muller’s bunch of hard-working Hurricanes had managed to amass a 3-0-0 record against the Northeast division-leading Boston Bruins thus far this year. “It seems like they bring out the best in us” said Cam Ward of the Black and Gold. Much to the dismay of the 17,565 that packed into TD Garden, that trend did not change on Thursday when the ‘Canes invaded TD Garden for the fourth and final showdown of the season for these two Eastern Conference foes. Backstopped by 47 saves from netminder Cam Ward, Carolina again bested the B’s, this time via a 3-0 shutout.

The ‘Canes would get on the board first as Jiri Tlusty would find a wide open Eric Staal in front after taking down Johnny Boychuk in the corner.  The Carolina Captain made no mistake, blasting it past Boston’s goaltender Tuukka Rask for his 12^th goal of the season. Despite an early Boston surge, including a 22-shot onslaught in the first frame, the ‘Canes stood their ground and entered the first intermission with a 1-0 lead.

 ”As the period went on they got a lot of shots, took a lot of point shots, and Wardo (Cam Ward) was really sharp. And then we adjusted well after the first, tightening up defensively and limiting some of the shots, and then putting pucks in areas where we can get them back and create some offense at the other end. – Eric Staal

“To walk away out of the first period with a 1-0 lead, we felt good about that and improved our play in the second period.” – Cam Ward

In what became an unfortunate theme for Boston, the ‘Canes were able to cash in once again after a defensive zone breakdown by the B’s and extend their lead to 2-0 at the 16:41 mark of the second period. Completing a solid two-point night it was durable pivot Brandon Sutter who would tack on an insurance goal for Carolina when he went upstairs with a wrister on Rask after a beautiful centering feed from Tuomu Ruutu.

The three tallies would be more than enough for Cam Ward who was in top-form all night, denying each and every scoring chance that the Black and Gold could throw his way. The first overall selection in last year’s all-star game fantasy draft, Cam Ward has been absent from the national hockey scene for quite a while now. Often overlooked by many across the league – perhaps due to his playing in a non-traditional hockey market on a struggling team—Ward may be the most underrated goaltender in the league. The 27-year-old Saskatoon native admittedly felt great between the pipes tonight, and it showed in his 47-save shutout performance.

“I felt really comfortable. I felt like I was seeing the puck well and for the most part I was really happy with my rebound control and we had to get off to a good start because we know that they play extremely hard, especially in their building.” – Cam Ward

With the loss the B’s dropped their record to a pedestrian 6-5-1 since their 4-3 loss to Vancouver in a Stanley Cup Finals rematch back on January 7. B’s players have recognized the errors in their play over the past month and are aware of what they must do in order to right the ship. An especially disgruntled Shawn Thornton had this to say during his post-game media scrum:

“Not good enough, – same thing we’ve been talking about for the last however long. Absolutely fell asleep in the second period – not good enough at all. I don’t think we had everyone going again. Seems to be the same old story – we’re not that good that we can come out and go through the motions and expect to be successful. When we were on top of our game, it’s because everyone was working and that’s not happening right now.” – Shawn Thornton

That about sums it up for the way the B’s have been playing lately. It won’t get any easier for the Black and Gold as they prepare for weekend matinees with Malkin’s red-hot Penguins and Alex Ovechkin’s Caps.

KEY STATS

Goals–                CAR (3)   BOS (0)

Shots–                CAR (31)   BOS (47)

Power-Play–    CAR(0-4)   BOS (0-2)

Penalty-Kill–   CAR (2-2)   BOS (4-4)

Ben’s Three Stars….. 3.) Eric Staal …..2.) Brandon Sutter…..1.) Cam Ward

What’s Next?

Boston will finish up their current three-game home-stand on Saturday afternoon when they host the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden before heading to Washington for a Super Bowl Sunday Matinee with the Capitals. The Hurricanes will return home to the RBC Center for a Saturday evening tilt with Anze Kopitar and the Los Angeles Kings.

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Tonight’s Line-Up (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Peverley

Pouliot–Kelly–Hamill

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE

Chara–Boychuk

Seidenberg–Corvo

Ference–McQuaid

GOALTENDER

Rask

Thomas

Scratches– …… Kampfer (Healthy) , Caron (Healthy) , Horton (Concussion)

NEWS & NOTES

– This season the lowly ‘Canes have thoroughly dominated Boston this season, outscoring the Black and Gold by an 11-5 margin en route to a 3-0-0 record. This will be the second game played at TD Garden between these two squads. The first took place back on October 18 when Joni Pitkanen’s three point night lead the Hurricanes to a 4-1 victory.

– The last-place ‘Canes currently sport a conference-worst 5-13-6 road record as well as the NHL’s 29th ranked goal differential, an astoundingly low -32.  On the other end of that spectrum, the Bruins have recorded a 17-7-2 mark from the confines of TD Garden and amassed a whopping +70 goal differential.

– This one could be a sneak preview for a few Carolina players who have been rumored to be available at the deadline. As I suggested in my piece last week, free-agents-to-be Tuomo Ruutu and Bryan Allen are two guys I could see as perfect fits for this Bruins’ squad.

– In the three games against Carolina this season the B’s have accumulated an astounding total of 78 penalty minutes. That number is good for the most surrendered by Boston against any Southeast division team this year.

– Nathan Horton is expected to miss his third straight game this evening after suffering a concussion last Sunday. Defenseman Andrew Ference will also make his return this evening after serving his three game suspension for boarding Rangers’ blueliner Ryan McDonagh.

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Recovering from a 1-0 deficit after allowing a Zdeno Chara power-play goal, the Sens would quickly adjust and build a 3-1 lead by the mid-point of the second frame.

The goals were scored by three men who are sure to be integral pieces of the hockey scene in Ottawa for many years to come; rookie Colin Greening, sensational sophomore Kyle Turris and all-star blueliner Erik Karlsson.

However, late in the second period the B’s were able to cut the deficit to one and more importantly swing the momentum back into their favor when Milan Lucic took a slick cross-ice feed from Rich Peverley and wristed one past Craig Anderson to make it a 3-2 game as we entered the final frame.

“We know we played a terrible second period, they scored on us a few times on breakdowns in the neutral zone and the defensive zone and for us to get momentum going into the third definitely helped us come back in this game.” – Dennis Seidenberg

The third and final frame would not be too kind on the Senators as Boston would jump all over them, out-shooting Ottawa 13-7 and scoring the only two goals of the period. “We started playing like ourselves in the third, we did a great job finding a way to win and at the end of the day that’s what matters” quipped Brad Marchand. After a Karlsson penalty put Boston on the power-play, it wouldn’t take long for the undersized winger to knot the score at three when he outworked a couple of Sens’ defensemen and poked a rebound into the Ottawa goal.

The fourth Boston tally was without doubt the least spectacular of them all as it was Dennis Seidenberg who would wind up and blast one past Anderson….. from the red line. The goal was far from pretty, but as they say “it’s not how, it’s how many”.

“It skipped and it turned and it twisted. Those things are going to happen, we can’t point any fingers about that. Every once in a blue moon, that’s going to happen.” – Paul MacLean

Boston would salvage this one-goal lead and hold one to secure their third victory in three tries against Ottawa this season. In what’s becoming more and more of a trend here in the Hub, the B’s are relying heavily on strong third periods to bail them out of games in which they haven’t been at their best. While being able to win games in which you don’t have your best stuff is obviously a fantastic trait that many teams would love to possess, members of the Black and Gold know that they must improve their game and come out with more sixty-minute efforts.

“It almost feels like we’re waiting for the third to come around. If we can just stay close and play our standard third period then we’ll win the game. But like I said, that type of play doesn’t last very long.” – Joe Corvo

Playing their third consecutive hotly contested tilt against the B’s, the Senators proved tonight that they should be taken seriously in the Eastern Conference.  Being able to hang with the defending Stanley Cup champions is no small feat, especially for a young Ottawa team trying to make a name for itself.

“I think we played good throughout most of the game but we just didn’t play good enough for sixty minutes.  That’s why we lost this game. I think that when we’re at the top of our game we can compete with any team in this league.” – Erik Karlsson

KEY STATS

Goals–                  OTT (3)        BOS (4)

Shots–                  OTT (33)      BOS (30)

Power-Play–      OTT (0-0)    BOS (2-4)

Penalty-Kill–      OTT (2-4)     BOS (0-0)

Ben’s Three Stars– ….. 3.) Milan Lucic ….. 2.) Erik Karlsson  ….. 1.) Brad Marchand

What’s Next?

The B’s will be back at it on Thursday as they continue their home-stand against Eric Staal and the Carolina Hurricanes. The Sens will make a return home to ScotiaBank Place where they will host the New York Islanders on Friday evening.

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Tonight’s Line-Up (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Peverley

Pouliot–Kelly–Hamill

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE

Chara–Boychuk

Seidenberg–Corvo

Kampfer–McQuaid

GOALTENDER

Thomas

Rask

Scratches– …… Ference (Suspended) , Caron (Healthy) , Horton (Concussion)

NEWS & NOTES

– Nathan Horton, who was absent from practice on Monday, is expected to miss his second straight contest after suffering his second concussion in eight months on Sunday against the Flyers. Also, defenseman Andrew Ference will be serving the third and final game of the three game ban he was given for his boarding incident against the Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh.

– Tonight will mark the third of six match-ups between these two squads and the second of three to be played here in Boston. The Black and Gold have won both contests thus far by a combined 10-5 margin. The first of which was back on November 1 when the B’s pulled out a come-from behind win at TD Garden that sparked an impeccable 12-0-1 streak. The second match-up was back on December 14 when a pair of Daniel Paille goals lead Boston to a 5-2 win at ScotiaBank Place.

– Team captains Daniel Alfredsson and Zdeno Chara will go head to head once again after leading their respective all-star squads into action this past weekend during the annual All-Star Weekend up in Ottawa. Alfredsson’s team dominated Saturday’s skills competition, but Chara’s team won the game 12-9 on Sunday night thanks to big performances from Marians; Gaborik and Hossa.

– B’s forward Patrice Bergeron has scored two goals and added one assist in the two games against the Sens this season, the year after scoring his first career hat-trick against the team hailing from Canada’s capital. Boston’s alternate captain has always fared well against Ottawa and it’d be wise for one to look for him to have yet another big performance against the Red and Black in this evening’s contest.

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Marian Gaborik, the only Ranger to wind up on Team Chara (though he did accidentally wander over to the Team Alfredsson side during the draft) wound up taking MVP honors with a 3-goal, 1 assist performance, scoring  two of those against teammate Henrik Lundqvist. After the disaster of last season, after losing two good friends over the summer in Derek Boogaard and Pavol Demitra, it felt good as a fan to see him thoroughly enjoy himself this weekend and have a little fun at Lundqvist’s expense, as witnessed by his going Artem Anisimov on that first goal celebration.

Carl Hagelin, a 6th round draft pick in 2007, was a last-minute rookie replacement for the New Jersey Devils’ Adam Henrique. He had a chance to show off his speed, taking the fastest skater competition on Saturday night over fellow rookie Colin Greening of the host Senators.

It was incredible to see Dan Girardi, the only player of this year’s All-Star group who wasn’t drafted by an NHL team, have his name called on Friday night and get to pull a sweater over his head. Unfortunately the All-Star weekend is never about the skills of the purely defensive defenseman (nope, no creative shot-blocking contest in the skills competition for him to partake in). He had a goal that had been initially credited to him in the game awarded to Jason Spezza. Despite not really being a showcase to show off his skills, it was great that the NHL had the sense to recognize what we here in New York appreciate about him as a player after leaving him off the ballot.

All-Star Henrik Lundqvist warms up prior to the Rangers' 3-2 overtime win in Boston on January 21st

Last, but certainly not least, is the Ranger who was the most prominent of the contingent the entire weekend and had the most thankless job of all – playing goaltender in an exhibition game where no defense is played whatsoever. Back on January 17th I was at Madison Square Garden watching the Rangers defeat the Nashville Predators 3-0. All I could think of as Lundqvist made yet another spectacular save on the way to notching his 4th shutout of the season was, “why doesn’t the NHL market the hell out of this guy?” He’s compiled some nice on-ice credentials and this season is playing arguably the best hockey of his career.  Toss in his calm, cool demeanor and his (sorry guys) good looks and you have someone made to represent a product. As the assistant captain for Team Alfredsson and mic’d up for his first period appearance, Lundqvist was one of the All-Stars to get a large amount of face time throughout the coverage of the  festivities on the NHL Network and on the NBC Sports Network.

For the New York Rangers, there has to be tremendous pride in what took place this All-Star weekend in Ottawa. Having the head coach and four players (three homegrown) representing the team is a testament to the organization finally going about building a team the correct way and seeing it coming to fruition.

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5.) —–> To Chicago: Hal Gill, Travis Moen, 5th Round Pick

—–> To Montreal: Kyle Beach, Brandon Saad, 2nd Round Pick

– Seemingly going nowhere this season it may be time for the Habs and GM Pierre Gauthier to start thinking about unloading some pieces in an attempt to build for the future. Both Gill and Moen are set to become unrestricted free agents this summer and could provide a Cup-hunting Blackhawks team with some added depth and grit for a playoff run this spring. Neither Moen nor Gill give you much in the way of flash or skill, but both are very durable players who have a Stanley Cup on their resume. For Montreal, both Beach and Saad fit the mold of what the Habs need the most: big, strong power forwards who can put the puck in the net. While neither will give Montreal much in the way of immediate assistance, they both have the potential to become cogs in the Canadiens’ lineup for years to come.

4.) —–> To Boston: Tuomo Ruutu, Bryan Allen

—–> To Carolina: Jordan Caron, Matt Bartkowski, 2nd Round Pick

– For a team that has simply run roughshod on the Eastern Conference since the start of November there really aren’t many glaring holes on a roster full of Stanley Cup winners. However, like we saw last February, GM Peter Chiarelli isn’t afraid to tinker with his team in order to add the necessary depth to make another run at Lord Stanley. This trade makes perfect sense for a Boston team that still relies on an inexperienced Steven Kampfer as it’s seventh defenseman. The hard-nosed Bryan Allen isn’t known much for his offense (0G/7A in 51 games this season) but can provide a solid defensive presence in his end of the ice, as well as log some valuable time on the penalty kill. Like Allen, the 28-year-old Ruutu will be a free agent on July 1. The Finland native seems to have been cut from the same mold as Boston winger Rich Peverley in the way that he can be trusted in any situation. Ruutu has posted fifteen goals and added eleven assists in 51 games this season while being shuffled up and down the Carolina lineup.

3.) —–> To Philadelphia: Ryan Suter, 3rd Round Pick

—–> To Nashville: James Van Riemsdyk, Brayden Schenn, Andrej Meszaros, Jody Shelley, 1st Round Pick

– Now, I’d put this trade as the least likely to happen, at least not until this summer. A deal like this makes perfect sense for a Flyers team that will be without captain Chris Pronger for the remainder of the season. Ryan Suter is perhaps the most underrated defenseman in the entire NHL. Often overshadowed by Shea Weber, Suter has quietly stacked together one all-star season after another and is slated to finally cash in this summer when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The question still remains as to if the cash-strapped Predators can re-sign Suter to a long term deal to keep him in Nashville. However, if GM David Poile comes to the realization that he will not be resigning with the Preds, he would be better served to deal him now than let him walk for nothing this July. The package I’ve presented seems like quite a hefty price for one player but keep in mind, true number one defensemen simply do not grow on trees. While I really can’t see this one happening before the deadline, if Suter is adamant about not re-upping in Nashville, I can’t see any better scenario for the Predators’ franchise both now and into the future.

2.) —–> To Toronto: Jeff Carter, 3rd Round Pick

—–> To Columbus: Luke Schenn, Nikolai Kulemin, 2nd Round Pick

– There’s no question that Jeff Carter’s brief stay in Ohio’s capital is coming to an early end. Reportedly frustrated by the entire situation, the former Flyers star has put up only seventeen points (10G/7A) in 30 games this season while playing for the league-worst Columbus Blue Jackets. While many teams would be skeptical of accepting any player with ten years left on his contract, the Leafs have been on a league-wide search for a true number one center since Brian Burke took the helm in November of 2008. It’s my belief that if Carter is surrounded by a talented team (like he was in Philadelphia) he will once again be able to return to his elite form. While many could think of this as an overpayment for Carter, I would argue that while Schenn still looks like a future all-star, he seems to be the odd man out on a Leafs’ blueline already manned by Dion Phaneuf, Mike Komisarek and John-Michael Liles — all of whom are signed to lucrative contracts. Kulemin is a young player with loads of skill and potential who seems to be struggling under the hockey-crazed pressure cooker that is Toronto. Perhaps a change of scenery would do him a world of good. In Toronto, Maple Leafs’ fans may be foaming at the mouth with the thoughts of putting an elite pivot in between all-star wingers Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul.

1.)  —–> To Minnesota: Zach Parise

—–> To New Jersey: Devin Setoguchi, Charlie Coyle, Jonas Brodin, 2nd Round Pick

– This trade simply makes too much sense. With Parise still unsigned and the Devils’ ownership situation still uncertain, it’s easy to suggest that New Jersey will be unable to retain Parise at year’s end. Recent speculation has suggested that the 5’11″ Minneapolis would like nothing better than to return to his home state to continue his career, making him a perfect fit for the Wild. However, a former 40-goal scorer with extensive leadership qualities simply does not come cheap. With this package the Devils pick up a solid return for a guy who will likely be gone for nothing on July 1. Devin Setoguchi is a solid young winger who can play top-six minutes and provide some pop playing across from Ilya Kovalchuk. In Coyle and Brodin New Jersey receives two former first round selections who look to be sure bet NHL contributors in the near future. Parise should provide the right type of boost for a Wild team trying to work themselves off of the playoff fringe.

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5.) Jackets Fail For Nail

– Without question the worst team in hockey through the first half of the season, the Blue Jackets have been an unmitigated disaster all year long. Entering the season most hockey journalists (including myself) had Columbus pegged for their second post-season appearance in franchise history. However, the aforementioned NHL pundits could not have been more wrong. With the acquisitions of Jeff Carter and James Wisniewski not panning out, look for the Blue Jackets to deal one of the two before the deadline. Purely based on Wisniewski’s massive contract, my guess would be Carter moves on for greener pastures elsewhere. The former Flyers’ standout should bring GM Scott Howson a decent haul and will help them continue to build for the future as they trudge along on the “Fail For Nail” campaign.

4.) Kessel Posts 90 Points, Finally Quiets Critics

– Perhaps the most talked about trade in recent Boston sports history, the Bruins–Leafs swap of September 2010 sent crafty winger Phil Kessel to the epicenter of hockey in exchange for three draft selections. Bruins’ GM Peter Chiarelli then used those picks to select forwards Tyler Seguin and Jared Knight as well as defenseman Dougie Hamilton. While Seguin has exploded onto the scene in the Hub, amassing 19 goals and 24 assists through 46 games this season Kessel has truly emerged as one of the league’s most prominent scorers. With 51 points (26G/25A) in 49 games, he and linemate Joffrey Lupul (20G/32A) have completely turned the Toronto franchise around, leading them to a top-eight position in the Eastern Conference. In the second half of this season, I believe that Kessel will easily reach the 40-goal marker and surpass his career high of 64 points to finally justify this trade and quiet the throngs of critics who have harassed the Minnesota native ever since he arrived on the scene in Toronto.

3.) Hitchcock, Blues Continue Magical Run

– Without doubt the biggest positive surprise of any team in the league this season has taken place underneath the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The Blues, who struggled mightily to begin the season under former coach Davis Payne, have been given new life since the arrival of veteran bench boss Ken Hitchcock. With no players in the NHL’s top-50 scoring leaders, the Blues’ team-first philosophy has shown through this season, leading them to the fifth seed in the Western Conference — a comfortable eleven points ahead of ninth place Colorado –. Captain David Backes seems to have his team — a seemingly perfect blend of youth and experience — poised for a deep run through the post-season. In the shocker of the season, I can see the Blues becoming this year’s NHL Cinderella story, upsetting a team or two and making it to the Conference Finals this spring.

2.) Sabres, Habs Continue Rapid Fall From Grace

– Mired in the basement of the Eastern Conference, this season simply has not gone the way fans in Buffalo and Montreal had once thought it would. Currently sitting eight and ten points out of the playoff picture, the Sabres and the Habs have been absolute train-wrecks on ice the entire season. In Montreal, things went awry immediately out of the gate and have only been trending downwards since then. In a year that’s seen the departure of both an assistant coach and a head coach, an unheard of mid-game trade and continuous public outcry for a French-speaking bench boss, the city of Montreal has been an absolute circus all year long. In Buffalo, fans and players alike had Stanley Cup aspirations after new owner Terry Pegula’s ill-advised off-season spending spree. Unfortunately for the hockey-mad folks in Western new York, it just hasn’t quite worked out this season as their beloved Sabres sit tied for dead last in the Eastern Conference. What’s worse? GM Darcy Regier is handcuffed by the insanely generous contracts of Christian Ehrhoff and Ville Leino.

1.) Bruins, Rangers Will Battle For Eastern Conference Crown

– Now I could be getting ahead of myself a bit here but right now all signs are pointing towards an Original Six showdown with a spot in the Cup Finals on the line. Without a doubt the two best teams in the East through the first half of the season, New York and Boston have put together the two best records in the Conference through the first half of the season. Armed with gritty, two-way players who aren’t afraid to put the team before themselves, the B’s and Blueshirts almost mirror one another in terms of playing style. After putting together an instant classic earlier this month at TD Garden, it’d be easy for one to expect three more beautifully played contests between these two squads this season. However, I’m going to take it a step further and say that New York and Boston will once again meet in the Eastern Conference Finals this spring for yet another chapter in the Boston  vs. New York rivalry.

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Thanks to the wonder that is DVR, I was able to go back and watch Sunday’s hockey game in it’s entirety. I’m going to go in a new direction here and offer you with my five thoughts on Sunday’s matinee action and the interesting forty-eight hours it has been for the Black and Gold.

5.) Ference Hit With  Three-Game Shanaban

– Prior to Sunday’s matinee contest, defenseman Andrew Ference was slapped with a three game ban courtesy of NHL disciplinarian Brendan Shanahan in the aftermath of his dangerous hit on Rangers’ blueliner Ryan McDonagh on Saturday. As I pointed out in Saturday’s blog, this was the fair punishment for an honest player with no history of malicious hits. No. 21 will not be eligible for a return to the team until a February 2 face-off with the Hurricanes at TD Garden.

4.) Rough Sunday Between The Pipes

– Sunday afternoon was a tough day to be a goaltender. In a contest that saw two all-star netminders square off for the third time this season, one could have expected a low-scoring affair. However, that was not to be as Tim Thomas and Ilya Bryzgalov combined to allow ten goals in regulation and another three in the shootout. That performance good for a pedestrian .866 combined save percentage.

3.) Tom Sestito’s Deplorable Actions

– Twice during Sunday’s action it was Flyers’ forward Tom Sestito who would draw the ire of the B’s by taking a run at a member of the B’s and delivering a high hit directed at the head. The first of which came in the first period against Steven Kampfer, who was possessing the puck behind the Boston goal. The second however had much more impact on the B’s. Early in the second frame, Sestito came across Nathan Horton’s blindside and delivered a clear blow to the skull of Boston’s top line winger after he fired a shot on goal. Sestito, a career minor-leaguer was simply out there trying to make a name for himself, but did so in the completely wrong way. You can check out the video below. In my opinion, Sestito should be given a three-to-five game suspension for the concussion-causing hit he delivered to Nathan Horton.

Click here to view the embedded video.

2.) B’s Not Taking Kindly To Opponents’ Physicality

– Not that this will come as a surprise to any Black and Gold supporter, but the Bruins’ team togetherness and support for one another was once again on full display Sunday. In what’s becoming a trend around these parts, each and every time a player wearing the eight-spoked “B” is met with any sort of hit –whether it be clean or dirty– a teammate takes exception to it. This was evident again this weekend after the Flyers’ Brayden Schenn delivered a beautifully executed clean hit to Steven Kampfer, which sprung Chris Kelly to immediately step in and drop the gloves with Schenn. Bruins’ players going to bat for one another is an honorable trait, but can also help add to the villainous image the B’s have created for themselves nationally.

1.) Thomas skips out on Obama, White House Visit

– Prepare yourselves folks, the remainder of this blog is about to combine politics and sports. Yeah, I don’t believe it either.

On Monday the Bruins were invited to the White House by President Obama in order to commemorate the team’s Stanley Cup championship season of one year ago. However, they would make the visit without one of the biggest contributors to the ending of Boston’s 39-year Cup drought, their Vezina trophy winning goaltender Tim Thomas. No explanation of his absence was reported from the White House, but this statement was left on his official Facebook page earlier this evening:

“I believe the Federal government has grown out of control, threatening the Rights, Liberties, and Property of the People.
This is being done at the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial level. This is in direct opposition to the Constitution and the Founding Fathers vision for the Federal government.
Because I believe this, today I exercised my right as a Free Citizen, and did not visit the White House. This was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country. This was about a choice I had to make as an INDIVIDUAL.

This is the only public statement I will be making on this topic. TT” – Tim Thomas

Now, this is simply a subject that one has to be very careful with as politics is very much a touchy subject and much like opinions, everybody seems to have their own. The one thing I will point out is this; The very foundation of this country was built on the principles of freedom. That was what separated us from the rest of the world. That is what still sets us apart from countless nations worldwide. On Monday, Tim Thomas simply utilized his right to decline the president’s invite.

For those asking, I do not think Thomas’ decision not to attend the ceremony will have any long term effects on the Bruins as a team. This is because I firmly believe that the players in that locker room are consummate professionals — each and every one of them — and they can understand the importance of separating on-ice performance from personal opinions and conflicts.

As I said before, there really is no right or wrong in this situation, just a matter of conflicting opinions.

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The Bolts are in fourth place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Florida Panthers by ten points. Tampa Bay is in 13th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, nine points out of a playoff spot.

After 47 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 32. He leads the Bolts in and is second in the NHL in points with 52. Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 30. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with a -17 and has accumulated 111 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 13 wins, a 2.95 goals against average and a .901 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:23 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 163.

The Lightning have scored 130 goals (11th in the NHL) and allowed 160 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts futile special teams got even worse this past week. The power play success rate is 13.3% (28th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 79.6% (25th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.3% and the average NHL team kills off 82.8% of their penalties successfully. Currently, the Lightning is mired in a 4-41 power play drought, including a 1-34 road power play skid.

Tampa Bay is 23rd in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 49.1% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 45 – Tampa Bay Lightning 5 – Boston Bruins 3

Game 46 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Dallas Stars 1

Game 47 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Phoenix Coyotes 3

Three Stars of the Week

Martin St. Louis – One goal and four assists.

Teddy Purcell – Three goals.

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning reassigned defenseman Evan Oberg to Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

Forward Ryan Shannon is out with a lower body injury.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. Ohlund has had a major setback and his return this year is questionable.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Forwards JT Wyman is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Adam Hall is out with an upper body injury.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Ryan Malone is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Steve Downie is day to day with an upper body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 3-0 this past week with two straight road wins. The playoffs are not out of the question, but with 35 games remaining, the Bolts are nine points out of the last playoff spot and they need to jump over five teams. The injury list is long and the AHL call ups are many. Tampa Bay should get much healthier after Tuesday’s game when the league will fall silent during the All-Star break. The Lightning look like they will stand pat and not look for help through trades. Dwayne Roloson is now clearly the backup goalie to Mathieu Garon, but that could change at any moment as Tampa Bay has pulled its starting goalie a total of nine times through 47 games.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Columbus on Tuesday before the All-Star break.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

First up for the Admirals this past week was the Albany Devils. The Devils have won all previous meetings with Norfolk this year. Albany struck first and built a 3-1 lead after one period of play. Cory Conacher scored the lone Admiral goal. The Admirals scored twice early in the second with goals from Evan Oberg and Mark Barberio. Albany would score their last goal of the night in the second before surrendering two more goals to Michel Ouellet and Admirals Captain, Mike Angelidis. Both teams went scoreless in the third period. Despite the rough first period, the Admirals were able to battle back for the 5-4 win. Dustin Tokarski played well, with the exception of the first period.

The Admirals moved on to Syracuse, New York for a Friday night matchup against the Syracuse Crunch. Once again Norfolk dug themselves a big hole. At the end of two periods it was six goals for the Crunch and a big goose egg for Norfolk. At the beginning of the third period goalie Jaroslav Janus was pulled in favor of Dustin Tokarski. Mike Angelidis and Richard Panik scored goals, but it was not enough to win the game.Syracuse took home the 6-3 victory and sent Norfolk on a nice bus ride to Connecticut.

It was just a week ago that Connecticut and Norfolk met down in Virginia. The Admirals won both of the games at Scope and were hoping to add one more in Connecticut. This game was very similar to the two previous matches as Norfolk found themselves down 3-1 at the end of one. Dustin Tokarski was pulled after surrendering three goals on three shots. Tyler Johnson scored the lone Admiral goal. Ondrej Palat would cut the lead to 3-2 with the lone goal of the second period. Carter Ashton opened the scoring in the third to tie the game at three. Cory Conacher would put the Admirals ahead 18 seconds later to give Norfolk the 4-3 lead. Less than two minutes laterSyracuse would tie the game and send it to overtime. After a scoreless overtime period a shootout took place. It took ten rounds to complete the shootout, but in the end Richard Panik secured the 5-4 win for the Admirals.

Cory Conacher (24G 22A 46Pts +3) and Mark Barberio (5G 32A 37Pts +16) find themselves at the top of the Admirals in scoring. Conacher leads the AHL in goals scored and is fifth overall in scoring. Carter Ashton (16G 14A 30Pts +7) is holding on to fourth place in scoring. Dustin Tokarski (17-9-0 2.53GAA) was pulled from the Connecticut game after allowing three goals on three shots. Jaroslav Janus (8-6-2 3.17GAA) went 1-1 this week.

For the Season the Admirals are 25-14-1-2 with 53 points. They are currently two points behind the East Division leading Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.Norfolk is currently on a 1-0-0-0 streak and is 5-3-1-1 in their last ten games.

Angelidis leads the way for the Admirals

Three Stars of the Week

Mike Angelidis – Three goals.

Cory Conacher – Two goals and an assist.

Mark Barberio – One goal and an assist.

Transactions

Trevor Smith – Recalled to the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL).

Kevin Quick – Assigned to the Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Charles Landry – Returned to the Norfolk Admirals (AHL).

Evan Oberg – Returned to theNorfolk Admirals (AHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Lately the Admirals have let the opposition build an early lead. In all three games this week Norfolk had to fight back from two to three goal deficits. They lost one, won one in regulation and won in the tenth round of a shootout. Even with the call ups missing from the lineup they still have a potent offense and it shows. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Tampa Bay not only has a goalie situation in the NHL, but the AHL netminding isn’t looking that good either. You can look at the stats and say that Tokarski isn’t having a bad season, but what you see on paper is not always what you see on the ice. He need some work before the Bolts bring him up.

The Week Ahead

Next up for the Admirals is a three-game home stand starting Tuesday night against the Charlotte Checkers followed by a Friday and Saturday night series against the Hershey Bears.

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With only 3.6 seconds left in overtime in what was perhaps the best and most hotly-contested Bruins’ home-game of the season –far surpassing that of January 7th’s Finals rematch– it was Marian Gaborik who would play the role of hero as he buried a rebound at the tail end of an extended 4-on-3 power-play. Besting B’s all-star defenseman and fellow countryman Zdeno Chara in the battle for the puck, the Slovakian sniper ended Saturday’s action with his second tally of the day.

“He’s (Chara) one of the best, if not the best defenseman in the league. To be out there every shift against him, it’s a big challenge. He’s a big guy, you just try to get in his face and forecheck him because obviously it’s hard to take the body on him because he’s such a monster, but we took advantage their and won the game.” – Marian Gaborik

The goal lifted the Rangers to yet another victory and moved them into a tie (With Chicago) for the most points in the NHL, with 64.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask made 30 saves for the Bruins, who played most of the overtime period on the penalty kill, after defenseman Andrew Ference was slapped with a five minute major and an ejection for sending Rangers’ blueliner Ryan McDonagh crashing head first into the boards. A dangerous hit that will likely make no. 21 the next recipient of a lengthy suspension, courtesy of NHL discipline czar Brendan Shanahan. McDonagh had to be helped off the ice by the Rangers’ team trainer, and Ference has been informed that he will indeed face a discipline hearing for the hit.

“Well, I’m obviously going as fast as I can to try and get to the puck. I realized I wasn’t going to get there first, he boxed me out, I tried to lean back, but I was going too fast. Obviously it was a dangerous position, so I tried to let up and didn’t let up fast enough.” – Andrew Ference

Despite the notion that McDonagh may have saw Ference coming and turned his body towards the boards, there is simply no defense for a hit like this. In my opinion, it was simply a case of an honest and humble player becoming the unfortunate victim of a bad situation.

“Ference isn’t a dirty player – he’s one of those guys who supports what the league is trying to do as far as minimizing those injuries.” — Claude Julien

However, regardless of such, this type of incident is exactly what the league is trying to eliminate. On a day when the presumably retired Marc Savard was in attendance, it’s next to impossible to find any reason why Ference should avoid a suspension, even for the most die-hard Black and Gold supporters. You can check the video evidence below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Bruins were only able to muster up two goals through over sixty-four minutes of action as they were once again stymied by noted B’s killer Henrik Lundqvist. The Rangers’ all-world netminder stopped 32 of Boston’s 34 shots on goal and improved his career save percentage to an other-worldly .947 against the Black and Gold. It was Ference and fellow defenseman Adam McQuaid who would provide the only offense of the day for Boston. Ference on a beautiful backhand move after a slick little cross-ice feed from David Krejci. McQuaid was responsible for the B’s second tally when he fired an off-angle wrister towards the net mouth, where it deflected off Brian Boyle and into the goal.

With the Rangers maintaining their position as top dog in the East, a mere two points ahead of the Black and Gold, Boston players have become fully aware of what to expect from the hard-nosed Blueshirts, now and possibly into the post-season.

“I think the guys they’ve had in the past are maturing as players and are starting to become players in the league, and they have a lot of depth. Not unlike other years, they play a physical game and work hard.” – Adam McQuaid

“I think we were aware that they’re very well-structured defensively, they work hard, they have good goaltending. They work extremely hard, actually, and they’ve got a lot of depth. So no real surprises. It was kind of the game we expected.” – Shawn Thornton

While many may disagree with me on this, I’d be all for it, should these two titans of the East meet up during the great marathon that is the NHL playoffs. Especially if we’re lucky enough to see 4-7 games like this one. Today was an extravagant showcase of hockey at it’s finest, put on by the two clear cut favorites in the Eastern Conference.

KEY STATS

Goals–                       NYR (3)                   BOS (2)

Shots–                       NYR (33)                    BOS (34)

Power-Play–           NYR (1-4)                   BOS (0-4)

Penalty-Kill–           NYR (4-4)                    BOS (3-4)

• Ben’s Three Stars– ….. 3.) Andrew Ference  ….. 2.) Henrik Lundqvist   ….. 1.) Marian Gaborik

What’s Next?

It’ll be a quick turnaround for Boston as they boarded a post-game flight to Philadelphia this afternoon, in anticipation of Sunday’s 3 P.M. matinee tilt with the Flyers. A game that will undoubtedly suffer from poor ratings locally due to the New England Patriots’ AFC Championship game set to be played at the same time. The Broadway Blueshirts will now return home to Madison Square Garden, where they will host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday evening.

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Tonight’s Line-Up (Subject To Change):

FORWARDS

Marchand–Bergeron–Seguin

Lucic–Krejci–Horton

Pouliot–Kelly–Peverley

Paille–Campbell–Thornton

DEFENSE

Chara–Boychuk

Seidenberg–Corvo

Ference–McQuaid

GOALTENDER

Thomas

Rask

Scratches– ….. Kampfer (Healthy) , Hamill (Healthy) , Caron (Healthy)

NEWS & NOTES

– Today’s contest will mark the B’s first return home to Garden ice since their January 12 victory over the Montreal Canadiens. Over that span the team has concluded a four-game road swing. The Black and Gold were met with a few bumps in the road during the trip while posting a pedestrian 2-2-0 record. However, Boston seemed to have found their stride during a three-goal third period explosion that lead them to a victory in New Jersey on Thursday evening.

– Based on the recent trends showcased during the past few match-ups between these two Original Six foes, it would be wise for one to expect yet another hotly contested low scoring affair. My guess? A 1-0 or 2-1 win for either team.

– Today’s battle will also be a match-up of strength vs. strength as the Rangers’ 15-7-2 road record will be tested by Boston’s 16-7-1 mark on home ice.

– Despite this not being the most intense of rivalries nowadays, the B’s and Rangers always provide sixty minutes (or more) of solid hockey for all those watching. Both squads are built from the same mold; hard-hitting, defense-first hockey, backed up by ever-so-solid goaltending. We should be in for a treat this afternoon.

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I finally decided this was the season. Little did I know this August that the game I thought would be perfect for a quick, relatively close weekend road trip would turn out to be a battle for first place in the Eastern Conference. The Boston Bruins’ come-from-behind 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils coupled with the Rangers’ 4-1 lackluster effort against the Penguins put the Bruins 1 point behind the Rangers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

The biggest question for tomorrow’s “clash of the titans” will be which Rangers team shows up at TD Garden. Will it be the one that bounces back after the kind of effort they had Thursday and turn in one of those 1-0 or 2-1 games that seems to be the norm the last few seasons between these two teams? Or will it be the one that showed up Thursday with uncharacteristic defensive lapses; the one whose big guns such as Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards suddenly have gone dry; the one whose overall lack of scoring has magnified the woes on the power play?

The Bruins have hit a slight bump in the road themselves, going into a “lose one, win one or two then lose one” stretch since pummeling the Devils 6-1 on January 4th and the Calgary Flames 9-0 on January 5th. That makes them no less dangerous.

For my own selfish reasons, I hope the former show up tomorrow. However, it may not be the worst thing in the world if the latter Rangers make an appearance. The Rangers have lived a charmed life so far, finding ways to win even with their flaws. A pre-trade deadline gut check could go a long way to determine who stays and who may go to try and address the Rangers’ issues.

11 Gregory Campbell (4G/6A +7) B : Hampered by a broken bone in his foot for most of the second quarter, Campbell hasn’t been the same player. However, no. 11 is still providing a steady presence on Boston’s fourth line.

14 Joe Corvo (2G/15A +15) C- : Thus far it seems like Corvo’s struggles have been overlooked because of the Bruins’ phenomenal play this season. Playing with a stud like Seidenberg also goes a long way in masking Corvo’s issues.

17 Milan Lucic (16G/18A +7) B+ : Aided by David Krejci’s otherworldly play as of late, Lucic has been plugging along at a point-per-game pace, while throwing the body around each and every shift.

18 Nathan Horton (14G/15A +3) B- : While Horton has picked up his game recently, it took no. 18 an awfully long time to get things going this season. Perhaps a lot of that stems from the concussion he suffered in Game 3 of the Finals back in June.

19 Tyler Seguin (17G/23A +23) A : Boston’s phenomenal sophomore has done absolutely everything right this season, proving exactly why Peter Chiarelli dubbed him the second overall choice in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

20 Daniel Paille (7G/3A +6) B+ : While Paille still struggles to finish around the net, the Welland, Ontario native has been Boston’s most consistent cog on the fourth line this season.

21 Andrew Ference (2G/14A +12) B : Ference has already surpassed his point total from a year ago (15) and has done an excellent job in staying healthy and providing a consistent presence on the Boston blue-line.

22 Shawn Thornton (4G/4A +1) A : The classiest enforcer in the game continues to go above and beyond the call of duty for the B’s, doing everything that’s expected of him by coach Claude Julien.

23 Chris Kelly (13G/10A +21) A- : While Kelly’s scoring hasn’t been what it was early in the season, Boston’s third line center has been an invaluable piece in the B’s success this season.

30 Tim Thomas (18 WINS/1.99GAA) A- : Is it fair to expect anything less than perfection from Thomas after his phenomenal play throughout last season?

33 Zdeno Chara (7G/19A +27) A- : Boston’s captain continues to shut-down opposing forwards at an alarming rate and should once again be in the discussion for the Norris Trophy.

37 Patrice Bergeron (14G/25A +28) A+ : The model of consistency, Patrice Bergeron simply does it all for the Bruins. How this guy is constantly overlooked by the NHL is beyond my grasp. No. 37 should be in the Selke discussion each and every year.

38 Jordan Caron (2G/2A EVEN) D : In only sixteen games played, the B’s rookie winger has done nothing to really separate himself from Zach Hamill as Boston’s go-to prospect.

40 Tuukka Rask (11 WINS/1.61GAA) A : While still facing struggles in the shootout, Rask has been nothing short of fantastic in goal for the B’s this season, while splitting time with Thomas.

44 Dennis Seidenberg (2G/12A +19) B+ : Likely the most underrated player on the Boston roster, Seidenberg continues to be an absolute rock on the B’s blue-line.

46 David Krejci (10G/23A +3) B : Boston’s top-line center has recently emerged offensively, but has been far too inconsistent this season to receive a grade any higher than this.

47 Steven Kampfer (0G/1A +6) I : Kampfer’s only played in seven games this season, but has been hard at work trying to earn another crack at the B’s lineup.

49 Rich Peverley (7G/22A +15) C : Seemingly a down year for Peverley, his outstanding speed has not been on display as much as Boston fans would have liked, and No. 49 hasn’t had a huge impact on the B’s success this season.

52 Zach Hamill (0G/2A +5) C+ : Emerging from the depths of despair in Providence, Hamill has truly challenged Jordan Caron for the right to the 13th forward spot on the B’s roster.

54 Adam McQuaid (1G/3A +16) B- : McQuaid hasn’t done anything truly special this season, but has been every bit the player Claude Julien expects him to be.

55 Johnny Boychuk (3G/6A +24) C+ : Boychuk has been solid on defense for the B’s, but one can’t help but think a lot of the credit their should be attributed to his playing with the best defenseman in the league, Zdeno Chara.

63 Brad Marchand (16G/16A +27) A- : Despite his recent five-game suspension, Marchand has been phenomenal in every zone of the ice this season, while continuing to be an excellent agitator.

67 Benoit Pouliot (8G/8A +17) B+ : Coming to Boston with absurdly low expectations, the Alfred, Ontario native has done a fantastic job in earning himself a spot on the B’s roster.

The biggest thing that jumps out at me here is that none of the twenty-one skaters on the B’s active roster has a minus rating. Also, the goaltenders’ combined 1.80 GAA is beyond impressive, especially in this day and age of the NHL. Now that is the mark of a team with incredible depth and a true championship contender.

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The Bolts are in fifth (last) place in the Southeast Division and trail the division leading Washington Capitals by twelve points. Tampa Bay is in 15th place in the 15 team Eastern Conference, twelve points out of a playoff spot.

After 44 games, forward Steven Stamkos leads the team and the NHL in goals with 30. He leads the Bolts in points with 50 (third in the NHL). Martin St. Louis is tops in assists with 25. Marc-Andre Bergeron leads the team in rating with a +8.

Forward Steve Downie is last in rating with an alarming -19 and has accumulated 107 penalty minutes. Goalie Mathieu Garon has 11 wins, a 2.94 goals against average and a .900 save percentage.

Defenseman Eric Brewer leads Tampa Bay in ice time, averaging 23:18 per game. Steven Stamkos leads in shots on goal with 152.

The Lightning have scored 119 goals (12th in the NHL) and allowed 153 goals (30th (last) in the 30 team NHL). The Bolts special teams remain bad. The power play success rate is 14.1% (26th in the NHL) and the penalty kill is at 78.9% (26th in the NHL). The league average power play percentage is 17.3% and the average NHL team kills off 82.7% of their penalties successfully. Currently, the Lightning is mired in a 4-41 power play drought, including a 1-34 road power play skid.

Tampa Bay is 23rd in the league in faceoff percentage, winning just 49% of their draws.

Box Scores

Game 41 – Tampa Bay Lightning 4 – Vancouver Canucks 5 SO

Game 42 – Tampa Bay Lightning 2 – Carolina Hurricanes 5

Game 43 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Washington Capitals 4

Game 44 – Tampa Bay Lightning 3 – Pittsburgh Penguins 6

Three Stars of the Week

Vincent Lecavalier – One goal and four assists.

Martin St. Louis – Five assists.

Steven Stamkos – One goal and three assists.

Transactions

The Lightning announced a two year-one way contract extension for $600,000 per year for forward Tom Pyatt.

The Lightning called up forward Trevor Smith from Norfolk (AHL).

Injuries

Forward Ryan Shannon is out 2-4 weeks with a lower body injury.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund remains on IR after undergoing surgery on both knees. Ohlund has had a major setback and his return this year is questionable.

Defenseman Victor Hedman is out indefinitely with a concussion.

Forwards JT Wyman is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Adam Hall is out 6-8 weeks with an upper body injury.

Defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron is day-to-day with an upper body injury.

Forward Dana Tyrell is day-to-day with a lower body injury.

Bolt Notes

The Bolts went 0-4 this past week. Tampa Bay has dropped their last seven games and nine of their last twelve. They are at the bottom of the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference. They are 27th of the 30 NHL teams. Tampa Bay is an awful road team going 6-16-3 so far in 2012.

The numbers don’t lie. The Lightning are a last place team with a brutally bad defense and ineffective goaltending. Of the 77 NHL goalies that have suited up this season, Mathieu Garon and Dwayne Roloson rank 58th and 72nd in goals against average respectively. The duo is 58th and 71st in save percentage.

While many believe this is a team that has the ability to come back after trailing…don’t believe it! The Bolts have won only 26% of the games when they have trailed in the first period.

The Lightning is giving up 31 shots per game on average, while getting 28 shots on goal.

At this point, Tampa Bay looks like a seller, but one without much to offer. GM Steve Yzerman will not trade a prospect, as one player, not even a goalie can save the season.

The Week Ahead

Tampa Bay hosts Boston on Tuesday, travels to Dallas on Friday and Phoenix on Saturday.

The Quarterdeck Log – Norfolk Admirals Week In Review

By Ken Peacock

About The Author

A man with an identity crisis. A full time fan of all things hockey and supporter of the AHL’s Norfolk Admirals, the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Washington Capitals. A fan of two NHL teams in the same division? Really? Yes, it can be done. It’s tough, but it can be done. I am also a full time husband, IT Professional, and a Norfolk Admirals Hockey Blogger at Vultures Row.

Weekly Log

The Norfolk Admirals faced off for a rare Tuesday night meeting with the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins at home in the “friendly” confines of the Norfolk Scope. The previous meeting, a week ago, resulted in a win for the Admirals. This meeting would not be as nice as the Penguins had revenge on their minds.  Paul Thompson and Ben Street of the Penguins would give the Baby Pens an early 3-0 lead in the first period. Michel Ouellett and Radko Gudas would get the Admirals on the board in the second. Unfortunately for the Admirals these would their only goals of the night. Wilkes-Barre/Scranton held Norfolk scoreless the rest of the way and went home with the 3-2 win.

Next, the Connecticut Whale and Sean Avery arrived in town for a weekend series with the Admirals. The Fans were disappointed when Avery was scratched for disciplinary reasons. The Admirals were not focused on the former NHL bad-boy, but instead, focused on the game and getting two points. Mike Kostka opened up the scoring midway into the first period. Cory Conacher added another goal early in the second period. Matt Fornataro score five minutes later to put the Ad’s up 3-0. The Admirals shut-out was ruined as Aaron Voros put the puck past Admirals netminder, Dustin Tokarski. The Voros goal would be the Whales’s only score as the Admirals shut down the Whale for the 3-1 win.

The Whale and the Admirals were back at it on Saturday night for Norfolk’s annual “Pink in the Rink” night to benefit the Susan G. Komen Cure for Cancer and Breast Cancer Awareness. A season high crowd of 7,227 was on hand to see the game and the bonus was an appearance by Sean Avery. The night was Richard Panik’s night as he gave Whale goalie, Cameron Talbot, a “Panik Attack”. Panik opened up the scoring with a goal in the first and another midway thru the second period to give Norfolk a 2-0 lead. Kelsey Tessier and Aaron Voros would score later in the second to tie the game at two each. Mike Kostka and Matt Fornataro would combine to put Norfolk ahead early in the third period. Fornataro deflected Kostka’s pass past Talbot for his second goal in two nights. Mike Angelidis added the insurance goal late in the third.Norfolk won the game 4-2 and swept the Whale.

Trevor Smith (16G 28A 44Pts +17) and Cory Conacher (22G 21A 43Pts +7) find themselves at the top of Norfolk’s scoring list. Smith and Conacher continue to keep moving forward. Mark Barberio (4G 31A 35Pts +20) leads all Norfolk defensemen and is in third place amongst all Admirals in scoring. Carter Ashton (15G 13A 28Pts +9) is seriously falling behind the leaders, but maintains a hold on fourth place in scoring. Dustin Tokarski (16-9-0 2.9GAA) went 2-1 this week. Jaroslav Janus (7-5-2 3.04GAA) did not play this week.

For the Season the Admirals are 23-13-1-2 with 49 points. They are currently 6 points behind the East Division leading Hershey Bears. Norfolkis currently on a 2-0-0-0 streak and is 6-2-1-1 in their last ten games.

Three Stars of the Week

Richard Panik – Two goals.

Mike Kostka  – One goal and two assists.

Mark Barberio – Three assists.

Transactions

Kevin Quick – Assigned to the Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Charles Landry – Assigned to the Florida Everblades (ECHL).

Injuries

Richard Petiot – Undisclosed – Day-to-day

An Observation from the Stands

Tuesday night was not pretty. The Penguins totally outplayed Norfolk. While the score on paper looked close, it was nowhere near that. Friday and Saturday the Admirals played like they played at the beginning of the season. I don’t know what went on in practice, but whatever they discussed they were on point this weekend. Mark Barberio is having a great season. He is all over the place on the ice and holds the defense together. Richard Panik has shown what he is capable of doing, but needs to keep doing it on a regular basis.

Sean Avery lived up to his reputation. He was scratched from the first game for disciplinary reasons. He was spotted out on the town sitting at a bar being ignored by fellow members of the Whale. During warm-ups on Saturday night he was heckled and challenged a few of the hecklers to come on the ice. During the game he would argue with the referees, slashed an Admirals player, and got tossed for abusing the officials. Yes, he definitely lived up to his reputation. Even though he was very entertaining, I wouldn’t want him on my team.

The Week Ahead

Next up for the Admirals is a three-game road trip starting Wednesday night in Albany, N.Y.against the Devils, Friday night against the Syracuse Crunch, and a rematch with the Whale on Saturday night in Connecticut.

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The Rangers are not the most skilled team in the NHL, and they certainly don’t have the wide range of weapons that a team like the Boston Bruins have. The Rangers trail only the Bruins in goals against per game average with 1.98 and have only given up 83 goals, again trailing only the Bruins in that category. It’s pretty funny to think back when Tortorella  took over the reins from Tom Renney in 2009, he came in with the belief that “safe is death”, because he’s adapted his style to the group that he has here, focusing on defense rather than run-and-gun. It’s not flash and dash and firepower that has them at the top of the standings. It’s incredible work ethic and attention to play in their zone that has them where they are.

Team MVP: 19 different Rangers have worn the “Broadway hat,” the fedora that’s passed along in the locker room to the Rangers’ best player in a win by the previous recipient. Five Rangers have been honored by their teammates twice, but one Ranger has worn it far and away the most – goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. Lundqvist has always been the backbone of this team since the lockout, but this year the 29-year-old Swede has been on another plane. Selected for the All-Star roster for the third time in his NHL career, he’s been stingy with a 1.89 goals against average and a .937 save percentage. Numbers like that will give virtually any team a good chance to win any given night, and should give “The King” his 4th career Vezina nomination.

Biggest Surprise:  After last season’s debacle, there was no real way of knowing just which Michael Del Zotto was going to show up this year. Would it be the cocky 19-year-old rookie or the 20-year-old sophomore who was as lost as lost can be? He’s looked more like the former than the latter, and that’s been great news for a team that desperately needed him to step up when Michael Sauer went down with a concussion.

Honorable mention here goes to Mike Rupp. Back on July 1st, I thought this was a good depth signing that would provide more grit to a team already known for it and would take some of the pressure off Brandon Prust to drop the gloves. A wonky knee from the get-go rendered him relatively ineffective. Since he’s returned from surgery, Rupp has been what was expected of him  – winning 54% of his faceoffs, racking up 45 penalty minutes (25 in fighting majors) and even chipping in 4 goals.

Biggest Disappointment: This one I actually struggled with. Some on the team who have not had great years to this point are ones who I did not have a whole lot of expectations for to begin with, based on their bodies of NHL work. Given that they have been what they’ve always seemed to have been, there’s no way they can be categorized as “disappointments.”

Erik Christensen has been his normal inconsistent self – same as he has been since he was picked up off waivers. He was on the bubble coming out of camp, and John Tortorella opted to keep him on the roster rather than Sean Avery, feeling he was a more talented player. A healthy scratch for 20 games, he was finally sent down to the Whale this week for a 2-week conditioning stint. Wojtek Wolski has been hampered by injury – first it was his groin, then it turned out he had a sports hernia that required surgery. Wolski just re-joined the lineup in the 3-0  loss to the Senators on Thursday, and only because of Brandon Dubinsky’s sore shoulder that has him day-to-day. Prior to taking Dubinsky’s place, he too was offered a conditioning stint with the Whale and had been mulling it over.

Brian Boyle? To some perhaps as he’s failed to replicate his 21-goal season of a year ago. I wasn’t thoroughly convinced they’d get that Brian Boyle again, and it’s why I had advocated against a multi-year contract in the offseason (he was given a 3-year deal). Offensively, Boyle has looked like the Boyle of old, with 3 goals in 42 games (last night’s goal against the Leafs snapped a 22-game drought). They certainly could use more offense from him, but he has been contributing in other ways, such as on the penalty kill. Brandon Dubinsky? He was the last of the Ranger RFAs to re-sign, and he signed a 4-year deal with a $4.2 million cap hit, putting the pressure on him to perform. He has not lived up to the offensive expectations to this point, with only 5 goals in 40 games, but that part of his game started to come around before being sidelined the last 2 games (and for tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens) with a sore shoulder. Like Boyle though, he has been contributing with other aspects of his game so he has not been a complete disappointment.

The biggest disappointment on this team has to be the ineffective power play. It’s not out-of-the-ordinary that this team is struggling. It seems to be a Rangers trademark no matter who the personnel is. The addition of Brad Richards was supposed to boost the man advantage, but they are only functioning at 14.6% (for comparison, the Vancouver Canucks are tops at 23.6%). They’re managed to compile a League-best 60 points with it being ineffective. Imagine how they could  take it to the next level if they can find a way to improve that aspect of the team.

Forty-two games and by all means the Rangers have surpassed the expectations anyone could have had for them. Cynical Rangers fans who have seen their team overachieve in the early part of seasons are just waiting for that other shoe to drop, as this is the time where they tend to go into that midsesason tailspin that sends them scrambling just to get into that eighth spot. Warding off complacency and the mentality of  “playing good enough is good enough” will be key for them as well. If anyone will not let them rest on their laurels, it’s Tortorella, who pulled the team off the ice early in a practice last week because he didn’t like the intensity at the start of the session. It’s hard not to put them as part of the upper echelon of the League.  So far, they’ve had success against some of the League’s “elite” teams. The next big measuring stick will take place this coming Saturday when they face the Bruins in a matinee at TD Garden.

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Well, what made the Montreal Canadiens’ trade of top line winger Michael Cammalleri so different was the fact that he was traded during the second intermission of a one-goal inter-division game!

It all started early in the second period on Thursday with an oddly secretive looking group of Montreal management huddled outside their suite in the TD Garden press box. At first glance, one would have thought nothing of it. In fact, it even lead me to cracking a few lighthearted jokes via Twitter.  However, it was early in the third and final frame that things began to get interesting, as the 5’9″ Ontario native was noticeably missing from the Habs’ bench, with no reports of injuries sustained. This coupled with the knowledge of Wednesday’s comments made by Cammalleri, in which he questioned the collective mindset of his Canadiens’ team, and it was enough to get some folks thinking that the proverbial shoe was about to drop.

“I can’t accept that we will display a losing attitude as we’re doing this year. We prepare for our games like losers. We play like losers. So it’s no wonder why we lose.” – Michael Cammalleri

Reports upstairs then broke the news that Cammalleri had indeed been removed from the game and had been sent to a Boston hotel to wait for further instructions. As if this wasn’t enough to tip anyone off about a potential deal, word from TSN in Canada began to emanate the fact that the undersized forward had indeed been traded. It was then that the game concluded, with the host Bruins holding on for a 2-1 victory over the Habs, and every reporter in Boston made a bee line for the Montreal dressing room.

While questions about the game were asked here and there, the elephant in the room was clearly the Habs’ missing first liner. Unfortunately for the large contingent of reporters and beat writers, Montreal players were just as confused as we were.

“Was he traded?  I really don’t know.  This is the first time this has happened to me?” – Tomas Plekanec

“I don’t really know anything so I don’t have a comment right now.” – Hal Gill

“I don’t know if it (a trade) has happened I can’t give much insight.  I can’t really give an opinion.” – Carey Price

It was then, as the media scrum descended on head coach Randy Cunneyworth’s press conference that he revealed the fact that there was in fact a trade that had sent Michael Cammalleri out of Montreal. “Well, obviously there was a trade made” said Cunneyworth when asked about the absence of his first line left winger. The much-criticized interim bench boss went on to explain how he had only learned of the deal at the start of the third period, and that his players where left in the dark completely as to the whereabouts of their teammate.

Finally, as the swarm of media members were consumed by the ever-growing TwitterSphere, trying to be the first to report the trade’s details, we learned that Cammalleri had been dealt cross country, back to Calgary — a city where he played in 2008 and 2009–.

Ending all the hype and confusion  was Habs’ General Manager Pierre Gauthier, when he stood in front of the aformentioned sea of reporters and delivered the news of the deal, first in French and then repeated himself in English. The English portion of the press conference can be viewed in it’s entirety via the video below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Along with Cammalleri, the Canadiens forfeited the rights to European netminder Karri Ramo and a fifth round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft in exchange for currently-suspended winger Rene Bourque, prospect Patrick Holland and a second round selection in the 2012 Entry draft.

Now, I’ll leave the analysis of this deal to those folks who are closer to the situation and know more about the skills and tendencies of each of these players. However, I would just like to point out this little doozie of a quote, courtesy of the Calgary Flames official Twitter account:

“I might be in trouble… I don’t speak French, even if I have the most French name on that team.” – Rene Bouque

Well there you have it folks, a first hand account of the first ever mid-game trade in NHL history. On what was once thought of as an uneventful night and a boring game between two once-fierce rivals, history was indeed made. It just goes to show, you really never know what is going to happen next in the National Hockey League.

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Unfortunately for hockey traditionalists throughout North America, this rivalry simply isn’t the same anymore. And that’s putting it nicely. One could argue the reasons for this, whether it be Boston’s new-found hatred for the Vancouver Canucks, or simply Montreal’s irrelevance to the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

“Certainly, it doesn’t have the same flare it had maybe a year ago.” – Claude Julien

Regardless of such, it’s simply been just another game on the schedule each time Boston and Montreal have faced off this season. This was no different on Thursday evening when the two squads met for the fifth time this year.

The game began with a bang as the B’s quickly got on the board, thanks to a surprising contribution from an unlikely source. Playing in his first NHL game since a December 10 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena, rookie Bruins’ forward Jordan Caron took advantage of the opportunity given him by head coach Claude Julien as he tapped the puck into a yawning net at the 1:23 mark of the opening frame to give his team an early 1-0 lead.

“I saw Johnny (Boychuk) was going to rim it around and I wanted to get on the forecheck and it bounced in front so I was just there for an easy tap in.” – Jordan Caron

The score would remain this way throughout the balance of a first period controlled by uncharacteristically sloppy play from both sides, with Boston holding the edge as the team’s went to the rooms.

The second period mirrored much of what we saw in the first, neither team was able to muster many quality scoring chances nor come close to putting anything up on the scoreboard.

In the third period the B’s would once again strike quickly as bruising winger Milan Lucic flipped a backhand past Carey Price at the 3:43 mark of the final frame to extend the Boston lead to 2-0. Perhaps the only bit of unsettling roughness came soon after as Habs’ d-man P.K. Subban went up-high for a hit on the B’s top-line center David Krejci. This of course was met my much resistance from the Black and Gold, which resulted in a double-minor roughing call against Andrew Ference. The Habs’ were able to take advantage of the ensuing power-play as utility man Yannick Weber’s wrister found it’s way through a screen and past Thomas to cut the Montreal deficit to one. However, the Habs’ late flurries, in hopes of tying the score, were met by heavy resistance and the Bruins were able to hold on for their third straight victory over their once-hated rivals.

Being able to find a way to pull out a victory on a night when you don’t have your best game is truly an asset for the Bruins’ and is the mark of a true championship team. Forward Milan Lucic expressed his relief in being able to come away with the crucial two points on Thursday.

“It seemed like both teams weren’t really that sharp with their passing – it seemed like the puck was spinning all over the place and jumping off everyone’s sticks. I think (there were) a lot of blocked shots, a lot of shots that missed the net and [it was] just one of those games where you have to fight it through to get to the end and get to the result. For us, I don’t think it was our best effort but we found a way to win.” – Milan Lucic

KEY STATS

Goals–                       MON (1)                   BOS (2)

Shots–                       MON (34)                    BOS (30)

Power-Play–           MON (1-2)                   BOS (0-5)

Penalty-Kill–           MON (5-5)                    BOS (1-2)

• Ben’s Three Stars– ….. 3.) Jordan Caron  ….. 2.) Milan Lucic   ….. 1.) Tim Thomas

What’s Next?

From here the B’s will depart on a four-game road trip that will begin on Saturday evening in Carolina, when they face-off with Eric Staal’s ‘Canes for the final time in Raleigh this season. The trip will also see stops in Miami, Tampa Bay and New Jersey. The Habs will now return home for a Saturday contest with the red-hot Senators at the Bell Centre.

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