All Entries Tagged With: "Boston Bruins"
Hockey Independent Playoff Roundtable: Conference Finals Predictions
— Welcome back to the Hockey Independent roundtable where five writers from the HI staff have come together once again to provide you all with our Conference Finals predictions. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils), Alex Muscat (Detroit Red Wings), Bill Philp (Tampa [...]
Boston Bruins’ Postseason Report Cards: Part II: The Bottom Six
Throughout the month of May, I will be providing you all with a six-part Boston Bruins’ postseason review, grading the performances of each and every player that donned the eight-spoked “B” during the 2011-’12 campaign. The schedule looks like this: Part I –> Top Six Forwards Part II –> Bottom Six Forwards Part III –> [...]
Boston Bruins’ Postseason Report Cards: Part I: The Top Six
Vacation. Relaxation. Warm weather. Spending time with family. Unfortunately for the Boston Bruins, these wonderful conjectures that encompass the summer season have arrived in the Hub far earlier than many of us expected. Now a week and a half removed from Boston’s game seven loss at the hands of the Washington Capitals at TD Garden [...]
Bruins Hope First Round Exit Re-Ignites Championship Fire
After the celebration of the 2011 “break up day” last June, the Boston Bruins were quickly snapped back to the harsh reality of what normally constitutes a locker clean out day for most NHL squads. During which, the B’s brought to light the injuries that hampered them throughout the postseason as well as their reflections [...]
Familiar Rituals. Familiar Foes.
My brother’s 6-year-old Henrik Lundqvist hat, that makes the Broadway Hat look like it’s fresh from the haberdashery, was in desperate need of being replaced. With his birthday this month, I took it as an opportunity to do just that. “I’m not changing it until the playoffs are over,” he told me when he called [...]
Smooth as Selke? Datsyuk Nominated Once Again for Selke Trophy
It’s been a week since the Detroit Red Wings’ season ended with an early playoff exit, but one of the team’s best players is up for an award. Red Wings’ center Pavel Datsyuk is one of three players nominated for the Frank J. Selke which goes to the NHL’s top defensive forward. The other nominees [...]
Let’s Give Credit Where It’s Due: Washington Deserved To Win The Series
It was their 196th game in the past eighteen months. Their power-play was once again unproductive, scoring at only a 14% (3-for-23) clip. They’d lost three out of the four playoff games on home ice. The unproven opposing goaltender posted an otherworldly (for a rookie) 2.00 goals against average. Yet, through all that, the Boston [...]
Joel Ward The Hero As Caps Win Game Seven, Eliminate Defending Champion Bruins
BOSTON, Ma– They had been here before. They knew how to handle this situation. They had the experience. They had the talent. They had home-ice advantage. It simply wasn’t enough. For the first time in four seasons, the Boston Bruins were unable to advance past the first round of the playoffs, becoming the second straight [...]
The Grandest Stage In All Of Sports: Five Predictions For Game 7
The two most notorious words in sports: Game Seven. The mere mention of the phrase is enough to kick-start the heart of hockey fans across the globe. It’s the most entertaining event in sports for fans with no vested interest in either team playing. But for people who have pledged their allegiance to either of [...]
Seguin The Savior As B’s Force A Game Seven Back In Boston
Tyler Seguin‘s first tally of the postseason 3:17 into the first overtime period of game six in this first round series has lifted the defending champion Bruins to a 4-3 road victory and has forced a game seven back in Boston on Wednesday evening. It was a beautiful move by the B’s sensational sophomore, created [...]
GameDay: With The Season On The Line, Can The Bruins Respond?
Facing the possibility of becoming the second consecutive defending Stanley Cup champion to fall in the first round of their title defense, the Boston Bruins will take to the Verizon CEnter ice on Sunday afternoon with their season on the line. Series: Washington Leads 3-2 Location: Verizon Center, Washington, DC Time: 3:20 P.M. (EST) TV/Radio [...]
Brouwer’s Late Tally Pushes Boston To The Brink Of Elimination
BOSTON, MA– The Boston Bruins will be up against the ultimate test of character in the most dire of situations on Sunday afternoon. Facing the threat of elimination after a 4-3 defeat in Saturday’s game five, they’ve run out of room for mistakes. Troy Brouwer’s tie-breaking second tally of the series came at the most [...]
Possession Is Nine-Tenths Of The Game
Memo to the “hockey experts” who predicted that the New York Rangers would easily dispatch the Ottawa Senators in 4 or 5 games: Go back and watch all 4 games of the season series between these 2 teams. If you had asked Rangers fans as the regular season wound down which potential opponent they’d least [...]
Julien Looks To Ignite Offense With Mass Overhaul Of Forward Lines
While it’s quite impressive to see that the Boston Bruins have received a bevy of contributions from their bottom-six forward group, the unfortunate fact of the matter is that without consistent production from their top players, they may not make it out of this first round. In an effort to help his team break out [...]
Caps Even Series As Holtby, Semin Lead Washington To 2-1 Game 4 Victory
WASHINGTON, DC– In hockey, perhaps the scariest proposition for any team – no matter how strong – going into the postseason is the possibility of running into a hot goaltender. Much to the chagrin of Black and Gold supporters hoping for the chance to seal the series on Saturday, the B’s were stopped cold in [...]
GameDay: Bruins Look To Take Control In Game 4 At The Verizon Center
WASHINGTON, DC–On Thursday afternoon, the Boston Bruins will have an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead over the Washington Capitals with a win in game four of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal Series. After a bit of late-game heroics lead the B’s to a 4-3 victory on Monday evening the team will look to [...]
Depth Once Again Proving To Be Boston’s Most Important Playoff Asset
WASHINGTON, DC— Throughout the 2011 playoffs, the number one factor in the Boston Bruins’ capturing of Lord Stanley’s Cup for the first time since Ed Westfall and Derek Sanderson donned the eight-spoked “B” was their incredible depth that spread throughout the roster. Fourth year bench boss Claude Julien’s front-line arsenal was stacked with three fully [...]
Behind Enemy Lines: Thoughts And Observations From Washington, DC
WASHINGTON, DC– Some thirty-two hours after arriving in our nation’s capital, I’ve decided to follow the model of BruinsDaily’s Tim Rosenthal — who is also on the trip, putting up with yours truly for the past day and a half — and create something a little different for you all. In no particular order (for [...]
NHL Must Legislate “Honor”
Honor “Honesty, fairness, or integrity in one’s beliefs and actions.” (Dictionary.com) A few days ago, my colleague here at Hockey Independent, The View From 111, posted a well written and thought provoking piece called “NHL: No Honor League?” It is an intelligent, solid piece of writing and I respect his opinion. BUT, I think he is infected with the same utopian NHL virus that [...]
Chara’s Late Game Tally Completes Boston’s Workmanlike Game 3 Victory In Washington
WASHINGTON, DC– “The more we play each other, the more we hate each other.” – Brad Marchand The above quote, courtesy of the Bruins’ resident agitator and Boston fan favorite, Brad Marchand just about perfectly sums up Monday’s game three between the B’s and Capitals. The animosity between these two Eastern Conference foes had reached [...]
