Life in the luxury box, drunken Christmas carols, and Jackgasms!

What a night! A last minute luxury box hookup, a cameo on the Jumbotron, Rene Rancourt’s traditional drunken Christmas carols, running into Jack Edwards at the Mobil station on route 2, and a Bruins 6-4 win! What more can you ask for 2 days before Christmas?

When I left my house at 4:00 with my girlfriend Rebecca and long time friend Anthony, I totally envisioned myself sitting in 310, row 13 with Rebecca. When arriving to the Garden I found out that my friends, Ed and Nancy, who had given me their seats in 310 because they had tickets in a luxury box, decided they didn’t want them and that they would prefer sitting in their seats, so they gave their luxury box tickets to Rebecca and me. We were also treated to “hidden treasure” from my boy Rob who is on probation for giving out “hidden treasure” (hidden treasure is when he gives out extra chicken tenders but he puts them under the fries; he’s been doing that for years with me but finally got ratted out a few weeks ago and was put on probation). After the warmup, we proceeded up to the box which was located right above loge 20 at the faceoff dot with the Bruins coming at us once.

The Bruins jumped out to a 3 goal lead less than ten minutes into the contest. Marc Savard got the ball rolling as he received a diagonal pass from Zdeno Chara; Savvy then waited for goalie Ondrej Pavelec to commit and threaded the needle top shelf to make it 1-0. The Bruins made it a two goal lead 48 seconds later as Mark Recchi fired a dart of a pass from the faceoff dot to Daniel Paille and Paille redirected it home to make it 2-0…and they weren’t done! 20 seconds later, Shawn Thornton fed Vladimir Sobotka on a two on one, and Sobotka made it a 3-0 game! That's three goals in 1:08! Rebecca and I were on the Jumbotron after the Bruins goal video, and thankfully we weren’t making asses out of ourselves. My cell phone buzzed non stop for about five minutes as I received numerous text messages that I was spotted on the Jumbotron; I was also given props on facebook for it. Atlanta head coach John Anderson pulled Pavelec in favor of Johan Hedburg after the blitz of Bruins goals. Boston let Atlanta back in the game as Bryan Little fired a slapshot from just inside the blue line that beat Tim Thomas, and it was a really weak goal that Thomas let up. Shortly thereafter, Maxim Afinegenov made it a 1 goal game as he took the feed from Ilya Kovalchuk from behind the net and slid the puck through Tim Thomas’ pads to make it 3-2, which was the score going into the room after 1 period.

During the first intermission, Rene Rancourt kept one of the best Bruins traditions going as he enlightened us with his drunken holiday Christmas carols. Rene was rocking the Santa hat with his festive red vest and red socks for sure! He busted out “Jingle Bell Rock,” “There’s No Place Like Home for the Holidays,” “White Christmas,” and “Holly Jolly Christmas.” I think I was the only one in the building giving him a standing ovation. That is seriously one of the highlights of my Bruins season. I’ve been a huge Rene Rancourt fan since I started watching the Bruins in 1990. One year he was was standing on the bench and tried showing the crowd his socks, and he nearly fell off the bench! Back to the game; the Bruins had an early 5 on 3 powerplay to start off the second period, and they made it a 2 goal game as Zdeno Chara fired a slapshot from the point which was redirected a few times by Atlanta players. The score was 4-2 after 2 periods of play.

The Bruins thought they put the game away in the third on the powerplay as Michael Ryder made it a 5-2 game by backhanding home a goal from the slot after he picked up the garbage off a Patrice Bergeron one timer from the left point. Ryder has been the topic of recent trade talks depending on whether the Bruins are serious about making a late season push for Ilya Kovalchuk; I’m sure Peter Chiarelli would love nothing better than to unload that $4 million a year contract when Ryder hasn’t been producing on a consistent basis. Despite the Bruins' efforts, Atlanta wasn’t going away quietly as Colby Armstrong made a nifty pass from behind the net to 18 year old phenom Evander Kane, who put the puck through Tim Thomas’ five hole to cut it to a two goal deficit. Atlanta kept pouring it on less than two minutes later as Maxim Afinegenov sent Ilya Kovalchuk on a breakaway and Kovalchuk smoked Thomas to make it 5-4. I can’t recall a Bruins team having this much difficulty putting away teams. I was honestly waiting for Atlanta to tie it with Hedburg on the bench and with Atlanta’s 6^th attacker on the ice, but thankfully, Patrice Bergeron iced the victory as he fired a shot from the blue line into the open net to secure the win. It wasn’t pretty, but I’ll take it.

On the way home, I stopped at the Mobil Station on Route 2 in Lincoln, MA to buy a bottle of water and who do I run into while there? Jack Edwards!!! I bumped into him, shook his hand and told him I am a huge fan; he was very excited, as you can quite imagine. I told him I had his fan club with me in the car and asked if he wouldn’t mind meeting them. He was all for it but told me he wanted to buy his coffee first. I was totally accommodating. We then discussed how funny he is with his famous calls, such as, “This building is vibrating!” I picked his brain about what it would take to get Ilya Kovalchuk to Boston because that has been the hot rumor all season since the Bruins are one of the best financially set teams under the cap and have a number of draft picks. He said it would take Blake Wheeler and a pick which I told him I was totally fine with since I voiced how I think Wheeler is an underachiever who I feel can do much more. Jack also pointed out that Kovalchuk has to commit to signing a 4-5 year extension with Boston before agreeing to be traded here since Russia is offering him $130M to play there and he needs to fit into Claude Julien’s system just as Mark Recchi did last season. We also did some Phil Kessel bashing because it was only right, and he said that Kessel didn’t want to play the system which was pretty evident. We also agreed that Chiarelli blew it when he traded Brad Boyes to St. Louis for Dennis Wideman. I also had to get him going about the Dallas game from last season since he was at his best that night, and I asked him about Steve Ott and he said, “Steve Ott is a sociopath! He should be behind bars for the safety of all of us.” Before heading home, he agreed to a photo-op, which was absolutely legendary as you can see:

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Steve Begin-Marc Savard-Marco Sturm
• Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Daniel Paille-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Shawn Thornton-Vladimir Sobotka-Byron Bitz

• Dennis Wideman-Zdeno Chara
• Andrew Ference-Johnny Boychuk
• Matt Hunwick-Adam McQuaid

Scoring Summary…

• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara (PPG)
• BOS: Daniel Paille assisted by Steve Begin and Mark Recchi
• BOS: Vladimir Sobotka assisted by Shawn Thornton and Matt Hunwick
• ATL: Bryan Little assisted by Maxim Afinegenov
• ATL: Maxim Afinegenov assisted by Zach Bogosian and Ilya Kovalchuk
• BOS: Zdeno Chara assisted by Dennis Wideman and Marc Savard (PPG)
• BOS: Michael Ryder assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard (PPG)
• ATL: Evander Kane assisted by Todd White and Colby Armstrong
• ATL: Ilya Kovalchuk assisted by Maxim Afinegenov and Nik Antropov
• BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara

Bruins goal videos…

• Savard: The Snow Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus
• Paille: Chris Farley dancing dressed as Santa Claus on SNL
  
• Sobotka: Will Ferrell scoring a goal and celebrating in Elf
• Chara: The Heat Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus
• Ryder: The Spartan Cheerleaders from SNL
• Bergeron: The dancing bear

Warmup music...

• Jay-Z feat. Lil Wayne - “One Republic”
• Kanye West - “Stronger”
• The Game - “Superman”
• Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - “Run This Town”

Another third period collapse.

I truly hope that Monday night wasn't a Winter Classic preview, because if it was, then I don't think I will be getting my money's worth. The Bruins lost to Philadelphia 3-1 at the TD Garden despite holding a 1-0 lead through 2 periods. I realize that Monday was only their 2nd regulation loss since November 16th, but the way they lost is really frustrating and really concerns me going forward.

The Bruins and Flyers started off the evening in their pre-game warmups wearing the winter hats that they will be wearing at Fenway Park in 2 weeks. Most of the Bruins looked really goofy in them, especially Zdeno Chara, but that came as no surprise. The Bruins thought they had an early 1-0 lead just over 2 minutes into the game as Vladimir Sobotka was able to put the puck past the goal line before Philadelphia defenseman Oskars Bartulis knocked the net loose. The puck was already over the goal line when referee Rob Martell blew the whistle, and they never reviewed it upstairs, which I found to be really surprising. The ref's horrible period continued when they missed Chris Pronger highsticking Marc Savard in the face and they blew the whistle on a delayed penalty on Philadelphia when Marc Savard had possession of the puck. The Bruins had to kill off a 5 on 3 powerplay for 1:13 and did so very successfully, much in large thanks to Dennis Wideman blocking 4 shots in a row with his foot and still staying on the ice; he did not play in the third period because of it. I also have a feeling that the experiment of Blake Wheeler and Byron Bitz on the first line may be coming to a screeching halt as both had numerous scoring chances set up by Savard and both failed, and they haven't really done too much playing with Savard. The game remained scoreless after 1.

The Bruins finally broke the ice with a minute and a half to go in the 2nd period as Shawn Thornton whirled around the net and fired a shot towards the net which Vladimir Sobotka was able to redirect through Philadelphia goaltender Brian Boucher's legs. It was Sobotka's 3rd goal of the season and should have given Boston all the momentum going into the 3rd... Not so much! Philadelphia tied the game early in the third as Aaron Asham fired a pass from the corner that rookie phenom James van Riemsdyk redirected through Tim Thomas' fivehole tying the game at 1. From there you could see that Philadelphia got so much confidence back and absolutely dominated the third period, not giving Boston too many scoring chances. Philly took a 2-1 lead as Kimmo Timonen fired a slapshot from the blueline which redirected off Blake Wheeler's glove and over Tim Thomas' shoulder. I sat there in disbelief. I thought the Bruins had a chance to tie it late when Scott Hartnell highsticked Mark Recchi with 1:03 to go giving the Bruins a powerplay with Tim Thomas on the bench, making it a 6 on 4, but the Bruins lost the faceoff and Philly cleared it out of the zone. When Derek Morris went to retrieve it, he passed it to David Krejci who fired it around the boards, and the puck was then picked up by Kimmo Timonen who turned around and fired a puck from his own goal line, 190 feet away, and put it dead center into the open net with 40 seconds left. That was my cue to leave. I couldn't believe how dead the Bruins looked in the third period and I once again felt bad for Tim Thomas, who once again, didn't get much offensive support. The Bruins don't have another home game until December 23rd when the Atlanta Thrashers come to town and Rene Rancourt will be singing his drunken Christmas Carols.

The Line Combinations were as follows...

• Blake Wheeler-Marc Savard-Byron Bitz
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Daniel Paille-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Steve Begin-Vladimir Sobotka-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk

Scoring Summary...

• BOS: Vladimir Sobotka assisted by Shawn Thornton and Steve Begin
• PHI: James van Riemsdyk assisted by Kimmo Timonen and Aaron Asham
• PHI: Kimmo Timonen assisted by Matt Carle and Jon Kalinski
• PHI: Kimmo Timonen unasssited (SHG)

Bruins Goal Videos...

• Sobotka: Chris Farley dancing dressed as Santa Claus on SNL

Warmup Music...

I can't even tell you what one song was... It was AWFUL.

Kessel Mania on Causeway, Round 2.

I know Kessel Mania Round 1 was a tough act to follow, but although the Bruins put forth a solid effort for all of ten minutes, they were able to hang on and beat Toronto 5-2 at the TD Garden on Thursday night. The Bruins fans were loud once again, taunting Phil Kessel every time he was on the ice and booing every time he touched the puck. I honestly think the fans were in his head, along with the fear that any Bruin player was willing to put a licking on him at any time since he’s been on such a great scoring streak, but if you watched his two games in Boston, you’d think he was playing on the 4^th line with Colton Orr. I didn’t bring my “ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A KE$$EL KNOCKOUT” sign because I didn’t feel like lugging it around with me all night knowing I wouldn’t get on the Jumbotron, and honestly, I wanted to enjoy the intermissions with my buddies and not being bugged again for pictures. It was fun the first time. I could have left my sign at the seat during intermissions but I didn’t want it being potentially stepped on or taken for that matter.

The Bruins came out and had a pretty solid first period despite failing to score on a 4 minute powerplay 16 seconds into the game, which was pretty annoying since Toronto is terrible and I wanted the Bruins to put Toronto away early. Mark Stuart got the ball rolling as Johnny Boychuk slid the puck across the blueline to Stuart, who one timed a rocket through Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala’s legs. That was Boychuk’s first NHL assist. The Bruins went into the room after 20 minutes up 1-0. The Bruins were quick to make it a two goal lead in the first minute of the second period as Zdeno Chara slid the puck over to Derek Morris, who fired a slapper from the top of the faceoff dot and beat Toskala shortside. It was Morris’ third goal of the season and first goal as a Bruin at home. Shortly after Morris put the Bruins up by 2, Mark Stuart and Jamal Mayers picked up from where they left off on Saturday, going at it and wrestling each other to the ice pretty quickly; both players were assessed two minute minors for roughing. The two of them were yelling at each other in the penalty box for the entire two minutes and as soon as they stepped out of the penalty box, they dropped the gloves and went at it again. I would give the edge to Stuart as he landed a few good punches to Mayers’ face. The Bruins then went up 3-0 as Tuukka Rask made an unbelieveable pad save to rob Tomas Kaberle point blank; the puck then deflected back to Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn, who fired a shot which was blocked by David Krejci, who then took possession of the puck and went in all alone for a breakaway, absolutely undressing Toskala to make the score 3-0. That goal got the Garden really fired up and made the Kessel harassment that much more enjoyable. The score was 3-0 Bruins going into the third.

I don’t know what it is, but the Bruins have had a tendency for not playing the full 60 minutes in a lot of their games. Toronto got on the board 16 seconds into the third period as Mikhail Grabolski broke up the shutout for the second consecutive game against the Bruins as he was put in a rebound of a Niklas Hagman shot. Toronto put more and more pressure on the Bruins and Nikolai Kulemin redirected a pass from Mike Komisarek top shelf to make it a 3-2 game less than 5 minutes into the third. Claude Julien immediately called a timeout, but the Bruins were still very sluggish as Zdeno Chara accidently fired a shot on Tuukka Rask which thankfully Tuukka was alert and stopped the shot. I would have gone off the balcony had Chara scored on his own net to tie it at 3. Moments after the near miscue by Chara, Rask made a gamesaving stop to rob Matt Stajan, keeping it a 1 goal game as he dove across the crease to made a blocker save. That save brought the crowd to its feet, and really started to make me question if this Rask/Thomas goalending situation is turning into Fernandez/Thomas from last season where Thomas was playing great and in majority of the games when Fernandez was making $5.25M and Thomas was making a million and this season, Thomas is making $6M, meanwhile Rask is making just over a million. The Garden crowd erupted when Kessel finally got nailed; he skated into the zone with the puck, and Mark Stuart lined him up and pasted him into the boards. The Garden cheered and yours truly stood up and yelled, “THATA BOY, STU!!!!” I had noticed during the 2^nd and 3^rd periods, Kessel wasn’t skating on the first line and I think it was to get away from Zdeno Chara since Chara was shadowing him and all over him, not giving him any room to maneuver and do anything. The Bruins got a late powerplay as Jason Blake hooked Zdeno Chara, which led to Mark Recchi getting a huge insurance goal as Patrice Bergeron fired a wrist shot from the point, which David Krejci tried to score on the rebound but the lost the puck in his skates; Blake Wheeler then took possession of the puck and slid a gorgeous pass across the crease to Recchi, who shot the puck and scored on his own rebound to make it 4-2 with less than 4 minutes to go. Toronto pulled Toskala with just under two minutes to go and Mark Recchi got his second goal of the night as he hit the open net to seal the deal on a 5-2 win. It never should have gotten to that point.

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Daniel Paille-Marc Savard-Blake Wheeler
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Matt Hunwick-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk

Scoring Summary…

• BOS: Mark Stuart assisted by Daniel Paille and Johnny Boychuk
• BOS: Derek Morris assisted by Zdeno Chara and Michael Ryder (PPG)
• BOS: David Krejci - unassisted
• TOR: Mikhail Grabolvski assisted by Niklas Hagman and Jason Blake
• TOR: Nikolai Kulemin assisted by Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek
• BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by Blake Wheeler and David Krejci (PPG)
• BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by Marco Sturm and Patrice Bergeron

Bruins goal videos…

• Stuart - Will Ferrell scoring a goal and celebrating in Elf
• Morris - Snoopy Christmas
• Krejci - The Heat Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus
• Recchi - Chris Farley dancing dressed as Santa Claus on SNL
• Recchi - Dancing bear

Warmup Music…

• Jay-Z - “One Republic”
• Chamillionaire - “Ridin' Dirty”
• Rihanna feat. Jay-Z and Lil Wayne - “Run This Town”
• Eminem - “Lose Yourself”

Round 1 of Kessel Mania on Causeway.

I circled December 5^th on the Bruins schedule back on September 18^th when Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli made what is without a doubt the boldest move of his General Manager tenure in Boston: he traded leading goal scorer and 21 year old phenom Phil Kessel to Toronto for 3 unknown draft picks. Kessel had made it very clear he didn’t want to play in Boston and continue his career here. Kessel has always been pampered throughout his life when it comes to hockey, and he didn’t like that Claude Julien made him work hard and play defense. Bruins Vice President Cam Neely was not a fan of that behavior, and in June, a Boston Globe article quoted him as saying, “That dog won’t hunt!”, implying that Kessel just doesn’t have the drive or the desire necessary to remain a Bruin.

As you can imagine, the sold out TD Garden crowd was fired up and ready for #81’s return to the ice in blue and white. Toronto came out onto the ice about a minute before the Bruins did for pregame warmup, and just as he was in Boston, Kessel was the last one out on the ice. The crowd belted out a very loud boo when as his skate hit the ice. I brought a sign with me which read, “ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A KE$$EL KNOCKOUT!” The sign was a hit with Tim Thomas, Blake Wheeler, Matt Hunwick, Shawn Thornton and Mark Stuart as they read it and laughed. The whole team read it, but those guys visibly reacted to it. When I walked into section 325, I walked up the stairs holding my sign high to a very loud cheers and a standing ovation as everyone acknowledged the sign. People wanted to high-five me and tell me how awesome the sign was. Just before the Bruins pregame intro, the Toronto starting lineup was announced, and when PA announcer Jim Martin said, “At rightwing, #81 Phil Kessel!” the crowd booed for him as loud as for any player I can remember in recent memory. Before the game even began, I knew it was going to be a fun night at the Garden.

The game was underway and the Bruins were gunning for Kessel as Mark Recchi took a run at him on the first shift and just missed him, as did the crazy German, Marco Sturm. Every time Kessel touched the puck the fans booed very loudly, and as the night went on, every time he was on the ice, the fans chanted “KES-SEL" and "ASS-HOLE" at him. The Bruins jumped on the board less than five minutes into the game as Marco Sturm redirected a Derek Morris slapshot from the blueline for his ninth goal of the season and third in his last 3 games. As soon as the puck dropped after Sturm’s goal, Toronto goon Colton Orr and Sugar Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves; I'd had a strong feeling that this was coming as the two were chatting in warmups while stretching at center ice, and I figured it wasn’t about where they wanted to grab a beer after the game. The fight was a draw, as neither player has a tendency to lose fights. Thirty-three seconds later, the Bruins struck again as Marc Savard jumped on a rebound of a Zdeno Chara shot from the point and put it home, making it 2-0 B’s. After Boston had take a 2 goal lead, things started getting chippy; Blake Wheeler went to forecheck Ian White and pushed White into the boards feet first. Wheeler had no intentions of hurting White; White just lost his balance and went into the boards awkwardly, which initiated Jamal Mayers to go after Wheeler, which then led to Mark Stuart jumping in to defend his teammate. Stuart was thrown down to the ice pretty quickly, but I give Stuart credit for coming to the aid of his teammate. The Bruins went into the room up by 2.

The Bruins added to their lead right off the bat in the 2^nd period as Toronto failed to fire the puck out of their zone. The puck was stopped by Zdeno Chara, who then took a few steps to his left and fired a blazing slapshot past goaltender Joey MacDonald. MacDonald never saw it as Mark Recchi once again set a great screen in front of the net. It was Chara’s second goal of the season and his first goal in about a month. The Bruins kept pouring it on as Michael Ryder went around the net and fed Marc Savard in the slot and Savard roofed his second goal of the night; it was also their first of two powerplay goals on the night. Starting fairly early in the second period, the Garden organ periodically began to play the Chicken Dance song, and the part when people usually clap, yours truly belted out, “PHIL KESSEL SUCKS!" That was a huge hit with everybody in 325 as they all started yelling it, and as the night went on, they kept playing the Chicken Dance song on the organ and the whole building was chanting “PHIL KESSEL SUCKS!” I usually don’t get this fired up about an opposing player coming, but I was never a Kessel fan to begin with; there was always something about him that bugged me and I never quite warmed up to him, and then when Chiarelli aired out all the dirty laundry about him, I lost any respect I had for him. One of my buddies who sits in my section was telling me that he read that in the time leading up to the Kessel trade, an anonymous Bruins player was quoted as saying, “I don’t give a s#%t if he stays or not, he’s a f#$%ing p#%*y.” I later researched it and found a similar quote. But back to the game; the Bruins went into the room up 4-0 with the Garden absolutely rocking!

The Bruins never let up on the scoring as Patrice Bergeron went end to end, blowing right past Toronto defenseman Mike Komisarek, and slid a pass over to Mark Recchi, who then netted his 550^th career NHL goal. It was an amazing end to end rush and effort put forth by Bergeron; I must admit, I didn’t think I would see the emergence of Patrice Bergeron this quickly after recovering from two head injuries. Immediately after the goal, at center ice, Steve Begin dropped the gloves with Jamal Mayers; Mayers was clearly frustrated and took it out on Stevie B, but Begin got the best of him. The Bruins weren’t done scoring though! Johnny Boychuk took a beautiful drop pass from David Krejci, who carried the puck into the zone, and Boychuk stepped up and blasted his first career NHL goal past Toronto backup goaltender Vesa Toskala. Boychuk fired the puck so hard that he fell down. He has one of the heaviest shots on the team and played in only his 4^th game of the season as Matt Hunwick was a healthy scratch after his poor game in Montreal the night before. Hunwick isn’t in the doghouse, but Julien said he’s been pressing and has had a couple bad games, and he wanted to get Boychuk some game action. Nineteen seconds after Boychuk scored, Marc Savard finished off his hat trick as he took the feed from Byron Bitz and floated a wrist shot from the faceoff circle on the off wing, deflecting the puck off of Toronto defenseman Luke Schenn. As you can imagine, the ice was littered with hats for Savard’s third career hat trick. The score was 7-0, the Garden was rocking, and Kessel was being taunted by 17,565 screaming Bruins fans. Toronto got two late goals in the final 5 minutes from Niklas Hagman and Mikhail Grabolvski, breaking up Tuukka Rask's shot at his third career shutout, resulting in a final score of 7-2! There were lots of Toronto fans in my section who remained very quiet, and they all had jerseys of players who hadn’t played in such a long time for Toronto such as Wendel Clark, Alyn McAulley, Doug Gilmour, Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny; those fans really took a verbal beating from us in 325. We kept thanking them for the potential #1 pick in the draft we should be obtaining this coming June in the Kessel deal. Toronto is well on their way to finishing dead last in the league.

My sign was a hit everybody except for the cameraman in my section, who told me my sign couldn’t be showed on the Jumbotron because it sent a violent message and lots of kids in the building liked Kessel when he was playing in Boston. However, I had people come up to me during the intermissions and during TV timeouts wanting their picture taken with me, which was pretty cool, I guess. Kessel Mania Round 2 hits Causeway Street this coming Thursday night, which promises to be just as much fun and hopefully as high scoring. I’m sure I will be reporting something very similar.

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Blake Wheeler-Marc Savard-Byron Bitz
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk

Scoring Summary…

• BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Derek Morris
• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Zdeno Chara and Byron Bitz
• BOS: Zdeno Chara- unassisted
• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder (PPG)
• BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask (PPG)
• BOS: Johnny Boychuk assisted by David Krejci
• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Blake Wheeler and Byron Bitz
• TOR: Niklas Hagman assisted by Francois Beauchemin and Matt Stajan
• TOR: Mikhail Grabovlski assisted by Jason Blake and Luke Schenn

Bruins Goal Videos…

• Sturm: The Heat Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus
• Savard: The Snow Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus
• Chara: Chris Farley dancing dressed as Santa Claus on SNL
• Savard: Spartan cheerleaders
• Recchi: The dancing bear
• Boychuk: Will Ferrell scoring a goal and celebrating in Elf
• Savard: Frosty the Snowman dancing

Warmup music…

• Jay-Z feat. Lil Wayne - “One Republic”
• Kanye West - “Stronger”
• Trick Daddy - “Let's Go”
• Rihanna feat. Jay- Z and Lil Wayne - “Run This Town”
• Eminem - “Lose Yourself”

Savard signs an extension, the crazy German has a pulse, and a Bruins regulation win!

What more could a Bruins fan ask for? Marc Savard signed a cheap long term contract, Marco Sturm got his goal-scoring touch back, and a Bruins win that didn’t require overtime or a shootout! The Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night at the TD Garden by a score of 4-1.

At 11:30am on Wednesday, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli finally revealed the worst kept secret in hockey over the last week or so when he announced that the team resigned their leading point scorer of the last three seasons, Marc Savard, to a seven year/$28 million contract. Chiarelli stressed numerous times how Savard wanted to be here and felt as though this team was headed in the right direction, and that he was willing to not take a lesser contract so that Chiarelli will be able to re-up more contracts for major team components over the next year or so (Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara are both up after 2010-2011). I feel as though Chiarelli kept praising Savard for his unselfishness in spite of Phil Ke$$el, who will be returning to the Garden this coming Saturday. Chiarelli has made it clear that he wants players who want to be here. Savard has done a complete 180 since coming to Boston. When arriving here in 2006, he had a reputation of being a very selfish, one-dimensional player who didn’t want to backcheck and play defense. Under the tutelage of Claude Julien, Savard has changed his game and has become one of the best all around players in the game. Savard will make $7 million for each of the next two seasons and will be owed $14 million for the remaining 5 seasons, so it really works out in this tight salary cap era. Words cannot describe how excited I am to have Savard in the fold for the next seven seasons. I’ve always been a huge Savard fan and just recently purchased his Winter Classic jersey on eBay for a good bargain.

Once at the Garden, I received a very nice text message as my buddy Mike let me know during the warmup that I join him at his seats in the 4^th row at the faceoff circle where the Bruins shoot twice. I love his seats; the only negative thing is that you can’t see all the way in the far corner, but I had a great view of both nets and the reflection from the glass was hardly an issue, although after all, isn’t that what the Jumbotron is for? The Bruins jumped on the board first on the powerplay with a goal from who else?...Marc Savard! Zdeno Chara fired a shot from the point which was deflected wide by Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith; Savard went around the net and backhanded it off Smith’s skate and into the net, netting his 200^th career NHL goal. The B’s added to the their lead as Mark Recchi (who had one of his best games of the season with 3 assists and looked about 20 years younger than his 41 years) worked hard along the boards to get the puck back to Chara, who then fired a shot on Mike Smith, and Patrice Bergeron picked up the garbage in front of the net to put home the rebound and make it 2-0. The Bruins went into the room up 2 goals. It very easily could have been 2-1 if it wasn’t for Tim Thomas making a great acrobatic save going post-to-post to rob Jeff Halpern point blank. Timmy Thomas seems to be back and that’s a good really good sign; he ultimately finished the night with 39 saves.

The Bruins carried their strong play through the 2^nd period as the crazy German, Marco Sturm, has hopefully found his goal scoring touch once again by scoring two goals in a span of 2:33. His first goal was clearly hard work by him, Recchi, and Bergeron. Sturm fired the initial shot and Recchi tried taking a whack at the rebound, but Sturm kept going to the net and was able to poke his stick in there and force it over the goal line. If it wasn’t for Sturm’s excited fist pump, based on my view I would have thought that Recchi got the goal; I’m sure if I had been in my actual seat in 325, I probably would have known all along that Sturm got it. They announced it over the PA as Sturm’s goal and never changed it. Sturm made it a 4 goal lead as Mark Recchi battled Andrej Meszaros along the boards, stripped the puck from him, and fed Bergeron, who went in on a 2 on 1 with Sturm before Sturm finished it off in style. I really think that Sturm will start scoring since he has had chemistry with Bergeron since arriving here in 2005. I don’t think Sturm is comfortable playing with Savard; he has had his chances and he just can’t score. Michael Ryder had the same problem. After two periods, the Bruins led Tampa Bay 4-0.

Tampa Bay got a goal in the first two minutes of the third period as Steve Downie made a nice pass to Jeff Halpern, took a shot and got his own rebound, and tucked it by Thomas to make 4-1. The Bruins didn’t let Tampa get back in the game, and they had many more scoring chances but couldn’t execute; I must say, it was nice to see the Bruins not sit back and get too cute sitting on a 3 goal third period lead. The win was definitely encouraging since they go to Montreal on Friday night, followed by the much anticipated return of Phil Kessel to the Garden on Saturday. I’m sure I will have a lot to talk about for that game.

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Blake Wheeler-Marc Savard-Byron Bitz
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Matt Hunwick

Scoring Summary…

• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Zdeno Chara and Derek Morris (PPG)
• BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara
• BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron
• BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron
• TBL: Jeff Halpern assisted by Steve Downie and Ryan Malone

Bruins Goal Videos (there will be a Christmas theme throughout December home games)...

• Savard: Will Ferrell scoring a goal in Elf
• Bergeron: Chris Farley dancing dressed as Santa Claus
• Sturm: Spartan cheerleaders from SNL
• Sturm: The Heat Miser and Snow Miser from A Christmas Without Santa Claus

Warmup Music…

• Jay-Z - “One Republic”
• Chamillionaire - “Ridin' Dirty”
• The Game - “Superman”
• Eminem - “Lose Yourself”

Not another shootout!

I think the shootouts are getting a little old, as well as giving other Eastern Conference opponents an extra point. The Bruins have really struggled sealing the deal on 60 minute efforts. The Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators last night at the TD Garden 4-3 in a shootout, but it never should have gotten to that point.

Tim Thomas made his first start between the pipes in six games since his alleged hand injury which personally I’m still not 100% sold on, but I’m not going to dwell on it. The Senators scored on their first shot less than five minutes into the game when Derek Morris failed the carry the puck out of his own end; Milan Michalek knocked the puck away from Morris, who then fed Daniel Alfredsson, who snapped one top corner over Tim Thomas’ left shoulder. I was really disappointed and annoyed with the fans as they immediately started chanting, “WE WANT TUUKKA!” How quickly the fans forget that Tim Thomas has been the backbone and MVP of the Bruins for the last 4-5 seasons and won the Vezina Trophy last season. Tuukka Rask has only about 15-20 games of NHL experience under his belt; granted, he has started off a very nice NHL career, but now the fans forget about Thomas. I really can’t put too much stock into those fans because most of them weren’t even Bruins fans last season. In my opinion, the Garden is slowly becoming Fenway Park and it’s quite annoying.

Ottawa went up 2-0 on the powerplay as Patrice Bergeron took a Filip Kuba slapshot off the foot and was down on the ice in pain and pretty much out of the play, and Daniel Alfredsson made a nice feed from behind the net to Milan Michalek, who buried it short side on Thomas. I totally missed the goal because I was watching Bergeron trying to get up. He was then helped off the ice by Derek Morris and Marco Sturm. Bergeron took two more shifts in the period and barely lasted 15 seconds, immediately limping to the bench and heading down into the tunnel before returning for the 2^nd and 3^rd periods. Mark Recchi nearly cut the lead in half as he had a wide open net, but Alfredsson dove and knocked the puck away as Recchi was about to pounce on it. The Bruins went into the room down 2, but looked really good for the most part.

The Bruins got a powerplay right off the bat in the 2^nd period and coverted! Dennis Wideman carried the puck up the ice and fed Mark Recchi, who then sent David Krejci in on goal; Krejci backhanded it top shelf past Brian Elliott cutting the lead in half. It was Krejci’s first goal at home this season, and the goal brought back nice memories of what Krejci did a lot of last season. The Bruins then tied it on another powerplay goal as Michael Ryder took the pass from Zdeno Chara, skated up the faceoff dot on the off wing, and snapped it home glove side on Elliott. It was a textbook Michael Ryder goal, and his seventh of the season. The Bruins really need to get him going again. Timmy Thomas got stronger as the game went on and made a number of key saves, and I didn’t hear too many idiotic Bruins fans yelling for Tuukka. Thomas kept the game deadlocked at 2 apiece after 2 periods.

The Bruins took the lead for the first time on another powerplay goal as Dennis Wideman fired a wristshot from the blueline that deflected off of a Senator or two and into the net. It was Wideman’s first goal since October 3^rd, which translates to 21 games; not bad for $3.9M, huh? I couldn’t believe that Wideman scored. Claude Julien must have given him a map as an early Christmas present. That should have been been the game winner, but this is the 2009-2010 Boston Bruins that I’m talking about. Ottawa pulled Brian Elliott with under 2 minutes to play and the Bruins missed a number of open nets as Derek Morris, Mark Recchi, Blake Wheeler, and Marc Savard each failed to put the nail in the coffin. After an offsides call, Jason Spezza won a faceoff just outside of the Ottawa zone back to Alexandre Picard, who sent Milan Michalek down the left wing, and Michalek wristed a very weak shot that trickled through Tim Thomas’ legs with 18.2 seconds remaining. Zdeno Chara nearly saved the goal but was unable to. I couldn’t believe what I had just witnessed. They gave another Eastern Conference opponent, nevermind division rival, an extra point. It was one of the worst goals I have ever seen allowed, and I swore that if the Bruins had lost that game, you wouldn’t see Tim Thomas for another two weeks. The game went to overtime and then eventually to yet another shootout, and after both teams remained scoreless for 3 shooters a piece, Michael Ryder, Boston’s 4^th shooter, wristed one top shelf to put Boston up 1-0, leaving the game on Mike Fisher’s stick. Fisher was denied by Thomas as he went to the backhand. Thomas went crazy after the win and deservedly so, but it never should have come down to that. I can’t imagine Claude Julien was all that impressed, but a win is a win!

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Blake Wheeler-Marc Savard-Byron Bitz
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Matt Hunwick

Scoring Summary…

• OTT: Daniel Alfredsson assisted by Milan Michalek
• OTT: Milan Michalek assisted by Daniel Alfredsson and Alexandre Picard (PPG)
• BOS: David Krejci assisted by Dennis Wideman and Mark Recchi (PPG)
• BOS: Michael Ryder assisted by Zdeno Chara and Marc Savard (PPG)
• BOS: Dennis Wideman assisted by Blake Wheeler and David Krejci (PPG)
• OTT: Milan Michalek assisted by Jason Spezza and Alexandre Picard

Bruins Goal Videos…

• Krejci - Adam Sandler dancing in Billy Madison
• Ryder - Bill Murray’s celebration after a strike in Kingpin
• Wideman - Ricky Bobby celebrating in Talladega Nights

Warmup Music…

• Jay-Z feat. Lil Wayne - “One Republic”
• The Game - “Superman”
• Shop Boyz - “Party Like A Rockstar”
• Flo Rida - “Low”
• Eminem - “Lose Yourself”

Just another low scoring New Jersey Devils game.

I’m so glad that the New Jersey Devils are done coming to Boston for the season. I don’t think I have seen too many exciting, high scoring Devils/Bruins games in my lifetime. New Jersey Head Coach Jacques Lemaire needs to retire and get out of hockey; he has been playing the defensive trap style for decades, and although it works, it’s a major turnoff to any hockey fan. The Bruins lost in a shootout by a score of 2-1 on Black Friday. Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli held a press conference at 10:30 am announcing that Milan Lucic will be sidelined for about 4 weeks with a high ankle sprain. Chiarelli acknowledged that he figured the news would be worse than what it was as it initially appeared to be a Cam Neely knee injury all over again.

Tuukka Rask led the boys out onto the ice for pregame warmups, indicating that Tim Thomas’ hand was not game ready, even though it’s allegedly broken. I don’t understand how a goaltender can be on an active roster with a broken hand, but I also don’t know the severity of the injury. The Bruins and Devils battled through a scoreless first period that actually went at a pretty good pace. New Jersey lost one of their best two way forwards when David Clarkson took a Zdeno Chara slap shot right off the foot; Clarkson had a real difficult time getting off the ice and basically crawled his way back to the bench before being helped down the hall. During the first stoppage in play in the second period, the TD Garden honored Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur for becoming the all time minutes played leader in NHL history with 60,245 minutes between the pipes, surpassing Patrick Roy. Brodeur is honestly the best ever! I hate New Jersey and always have, but I love Martin Brodeur. He’s been the best goalie on the planet since breaking into the league in 1994. He plays over 70 games a season, he's the all time wins leader, he’s a few shutouts away from being the all time leader (he currently has 102), and he has 3 Stanley Cups to his resume. But enough about Brodeur... New Jersey broke the scoreless deadlock as Bryce Salvadore fired a shot towards the net in which Devils forward Matt Halischuck pushed the puck towards the net, and after a few whacks at the puck by top scorer Zach Parise, Parise was able to just put it over the goal line to give Jersey a 1-0 lead. I thought the game was over since Jersey had a lead. Sugar Shawn Thornton tried his best to spark the team just over a minute later as he dropped the gloves with Andrew Peters. The fight was a draw, but it definitely sparked the boys. The Bruins went into the room down 1-0 after 2 periods.

The Bruins tied the game just 12 seconds into the third period. Martin Brodeur fired the puck along the boards, and the puck took a fortunate bounce which went right to Marc Savard; he slid it over to Byron Bitz who fed Blake Wheeler for a one timer, and Big Daddy Wheels put it top shelf over Brodeur’s glove. The Bruins absolutely dominated the third period by mounting a lot of pressure by keeping the puck in the New Jersey end for a good part of the third period, but Brodeur was on his A-game and kept it tied at 1. The Bruins nearly won the game with 3.8 seconds remaining as Michael Ryder fed Marc Savard on a 2 on 1, but Savvy was robbed by Brodeur. I had my arms in the air when he shot it, but Brodeur sat me right down and the game went into overtime.

The boys battled in overtime to force a shootout. Blake Wheeler gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the shootout as he skated in and snapped a shot glove side past Brodeur. The Devils countered with goals from Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner. It was definitely a well deserved, hard earned point, but I believe if the opponent had been any other team, the Bruins would have beaten them. I get to go back to the Garden again tonight as the Ottawa Senators come to town for a battle for first place!

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Blake Wheeler-Marc Savard-Byron Bitz
• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Vladimir Sobotka-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Matt Hunwick

Scoring Summary…

• NJD: Zach Parise assisted by Matt Halischuck and Bryce Salvadore
• BOS: Blake Wheeler assisted by Byron Bitz and Marc Savard

Bruins Goal Video…

• Wheeler: Chevy Chase dancing in European Vacation

Warmup Music…

• Jay-Z feat Lil Wayne - "One Republic"
• Chammillionaire - "Ridin' Dirty"
• Eminem - "Lose Yourself"
• Rihanna feat. Jay-Z and Kanye West - "Run This Town"

What do you want for $15?

I think Monday night was one of the low points of the season. After coming off an absolutely crushing loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in which they had the game won until Patrice Bergeron's stick broke, which led to the Penguins ultimately tying the score and then winning the game in overtime, you would expect the Bruins to bounce back at home against the Islanders. That wasn't the case, however, as they dropped another frustrating loss 4-1. Before the game started, Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz dropped the ceremonial puck drop between Richard Park and Zdeno Chara. Ortiz was in town to promote his charity golf tournament that he's running this winter in the Dominican Republic. It was really funny and random to see Big Papi at a Bruins game. The Bruins came out and had an absolutely flat first period, and New York got on the board first as Jack Hillen rushed up the ice and around the net, centering a pass for Matt Moulson who tucked it by Tuukka Rask. The Bruins had a great chance to tie the game as they had a 5 on 3 powerplay for a minute and a half, but they could not convert. They did get some quality chances but there was too much puck movement, and unless Mark Recchi was out there, nobody stood out in front of the net, which is a really concerning matter. My favorite punching bag, Dennis Wideman, took two slapshots from the point and missed the net. I am really hoping that Claude Julien sits him for a few games in favor of Johnny Boychuk. I am a big Boychuk fan because he brings so much more to the table than Wideman does. I know Wideman carries a hefty $3.9 million contract, but it's getting really frustrating watching him out there knowing that Boychuk is sitting up on the 9th floor for no reason.

The Bruins were able to tie the game with under 5 minutes to go in the second period; David Krejci outmuscled Freddy Meyer along the leftwing boards and was able to slide a pass across to Daniel Paille who got two shots off and converted on his second one. The goal was reviewed because Islanders center John Tavares knocked the net off its mourings, but the goal stood because it was a defensive player who intentially knocked the net loose. It was a great effort put forth by David Krejci to set up that goal. I thought Krejci, along with linemates Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder, was really flying and generating quality scoring chances. It was encouraging to see; Krejci has really stepped up his game ever since Claude Julien unfairly called him out in front of everybody. With the score tied at 1 and just over a minute to play in the second period, in a play reminiscent of that of Thomas' against the Penguins, Tuukka Rask came out of his net to play the puck when he should have left it for his defensemen. The puck went right to Richard Park who centered the puck for Matt Moulson, and Moulson registered his second goal of the night. It was a real bonehead move on Rask's part by playing the puck and not being totally ready for the shot; he was back in the net, it was obvious he wasn't really ready. The Bruins went into the room only down a goal after 2 periods, but it was really frustrating because although I know the Islanders are an improved teaml, even with Marc Savard and Milan Lucic out of the lineup, the Bruins should have beaten them.

I was really expecting the Bruins to come out and tie the game right off the bat in the third, but that wasn't quite the case, and Dennis Wideman singlehandely gave the game away. Wideman failed to clear the puck AGAIN as he coughed it up to Richard Park who found John Tavares on the off wing, and Tavares slid a pass intended for Matt Moulson but which deflected off of Matt Hunwick's skate and into the net. That was pretty much curtains; I debated on leaving, but remembered that the Bruins were down to this same team a month ago by 3 goals with less then 10 minutes to play and pulled off a win. Trent Hunter sealed the deal with an open net goal to make it 4-1, and that is when I took off.

When leaving the game, I was definitely frustrated, but I feel better knowing that I pay only $15 a game to watch that crap. A number of my fellow Bruins season ticket holder friends took the night off and didn't go, but I can't do that. I went to all of the bad games during the Mike Sullivan and Dave Lewis era, so I was a champ and made the trek in. There's so much more to the experience than just the game when going to the Garden. I enjoy socializing with Bruins fans at the gates, getting my beer from Rob (and usually get a few great lines from him which I can't repeat in this blog, as I'm trying to keep it as G rated as possible), and then there's warmup with all my buddies. It's a fun and relaxing, stress-free night out for me. With any kind of luck, both Savard and Lucic will be returning tomorrow night in Atlanta, and hats off to Peter Chiarelli if the rumors are true about him giving Savard a 4-5 year extension next week at around $6.5 million per year. They miss him so much and can't afford to go forward without him if they want to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

My section was rather annoying Monday night. I had these four college kids directly in front of me, three guys and a girl, and one of the guys was "the cool kid." You know him, the one who wants to be the center of attention by showing off to all his friends and yelling something ridiculous every time the Bruins didn't score a goal or if they got called for a penalty. I was so tempted to throw him off the balcony. He was a total tool. He got up on the jumbotron a few times and thought he was the coolest thing in the world. I don't know if anything was said to him between the 2nd and 3rd periods because I was off meeting up with a few friends, but he didn't say a word during the 3rd period. I think he may have taken his ritalin or something. He is what I like to call "the prototypical 2009-2010 Boston Bruins fan," meaning that he probally didn't attend a game last season and he's now on the bandwagon. He didn't have a clue what he was yelling about. I also had this obnoxious 2 year old girl sitting on her fathers lap next to me screaming "LETS GO BRUINS! GET A SCORE!" throughout the entire game. I really wanted to say, "Shouldn't you have found a babysitter?" or "Isn't it past her bedtime?" but I held my tongue. 325 can't be fun every night, that's for sure.

The Line Combinations were as follows...

• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Brad Marchand
• Daniel Paille-Vladimir Sobotka-Brad Marchand

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick
• Andrew Ference-Mark Stuart

Scoring summary...

• NYI: Matt Moulson assisted by Richard Park and Jack Hillen
• BOS: Daniel Paille assisted by David Krejci
• NYI: Matt Moulson assisted by Richard Park
• NYI: John Tavares assisted by Richard Park
• NYI: Trent Hunter assisted by Frans Nielsen

Bruins Goal Video...

• Paille: Three Stooges dancing

Warmup Music was as follows...

Nothing but rap again.

• Jay-Z feat Lil Wayne - "One Republic"
• Rihanna feat. Jay-Z and Kanye West - "Run This Town"
• 50 Cent - "21 Questions"

During the warmup, my buddy Ed asked me if this music was Leominster's anthem, hahaha!

Memo to Peter Chiarelli: Give Marc Savard Another Contract!

I hope Peter Chiarelli has been paying very close attention to this Bruins offense since Marc Savard and Milan Lucic have gone down with injuries. With Marc Savard out of the lineup for the past ten games, the Bruins have scored a total of only 20 goals… For all you math majors out there, that’s an average of 2 goals a game, and that is not good. This team needs Savard to return more than ever to rejuvenate the offense after the Bruins were blanked for the third time in their last six games. Tomas Vokoun and the Florida Panthers blanked the Bruins in a 1-0 shootout loss last night at the TD Garden. I really hope that Chiarelli has a plan to get Savard a contract extension before July 1st comes and he hits the NHL free agent market, because without Savard, this offense is lost!

Earlier in the day, I both read and heard that on Wednesday Head Coach Claude Julien had called out David Krejci in practice about doing more offensively, which didn’t sit well with Krejci. I had heard Cam Neely on the radio earlier in the day and he was was on Krejci’s side because he missed training camp due to his hip surgery recovery, and right when he was starting to hit his stride, he was slammed with the H1N1 flu. I wish Julien would call out several other Bruins who also aren’t producing such as Marco Sturm, Blake Wheeler, Michael Ryder, and Dennis Wideman. The points may not be there yet for Krejci, but I think he has played very well with all things considered.

During the warmup, I received some exciting news via a text message that I would be sitting 4 rows from the ice at the face-off circle where the Bruins shoot twice. My buddy Mike, who also has season tickets, didn’t have someone to go with and said that the seat next to him had my name all over it. I’ve sat in the loge numerous times, but rarely do I sit that close for an entire game. You really gain a great appreciation for how fast the game really is when you are at ice level. It’s really cool to see how intense the players are when they are on the ice, which is something you don’t see in row 15 of section 325.

The Bruins honored the United States Military last night and defenseman Mark Stuart donated $5,000 for tickets for soldiers. Throughout the course of the night, there were nice video tributes to men and women who have served our country. The Bruins also did a nice video where each member of the team thanked them in their own way. The Bruins and Panthers dueled their way through a scoreless first period, but it very easily could have been a 1-0 Florida lead; Tim Thomas made a great pad save to rob Nathan Horton who was set up nicely by Stephen Weiss. Thomas slid across the crease to rob Horton point blank. The crucial save came on a two man advantage.

The Bruins played one of the most dominant periods I had ever seen them play when they outshot the Panthers 19-1 in the second period; yeah, you read that correctly, 19-1, and yet they had no goals to show for it. Tomas Vokoun made a number of quality saves on Blake Wheeler and Mark Recchi. Vokoun had been coming off a week where he recorded two shutouts in his last three games, so I knew he was in one of those grooves and I didn’t have a very good feeling about the game unfolding. The score obviously remained deadlocked at zero after two periods of play.

The Panthers finally showed some visual signs of life in the third period by carrying the play and getting more scoring chances. The Bruins, who finished the game with 40 shots, weren’t passing very well last night; I felt as though they were passing too much, and it was almost as if they were trying to make the perfect play as opposed to consistently making plays. I see the lack of confidence in this team without both Savard and Lucic. It seems to me that most of the players are hesitant to make a great play because Savard is looked at as the premier playmaker, and without Lucic in the lineup, they really weren’t playing all that physically up until the last few games; I mean, the line of Shawn Thornton, Steve Begin, and Byron Bitz always brings the energy and bangs everyone they see, but guys like Zdeno Chara, Mark Stuart, and Patrice Bergeron haven’t been bringing that physical edge since Lucic has been out of the lineup.

The Bruins eventually went to overtime and then to a shootout. Blake Wheeler started off the shootout by having Vokoun beat as he committed to the opposite side of the net, but Wheeler hit the post. Steven Reinprecht also had Tim Thomas beat, but the puck went off Tim’s head, then bounced off his pads and was kicked a few inches from the goal line, but somehow Timmy managed to knock it away. Even he was shaking his head at the luck with that save. The Bruins followed by sending out Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and Michael Ryder, while the Panthers went with Rostislav Olesz and Stephen Weiss before Cory Stillman ended it by beating Thomas to the backhand. It was a really discouraging loss because the Panthers aren’t that good, and Thomas recorded his second consecutive shutout but unfortunately this shutout will go in the L column. It wasn’t an ideal game to be sitting in the 4^th row, but it was still a very cool experience.

I do have a cool story from my section; throughout the game, I noticed this very attractive and well dressed African American girl seated in the front row kept heading to the concessions and coming back with 2 beers. When the game was over, I saw who those beers were for, and it was…current Boston Celtic Glen “Big Baby” Davis! He really isn’t as big in person as what you’d think. He appeared to be three sheets to the wind and was posing for pictures with fans with his hat on crooked and a big black cast on his right hand. I’m not a huge Glen Davis fan and I'm irriated with what he did just a night before the Celtics season started (for those unaware, he was out until 4 in the morning with his buddies, got arrested, and ended up fighting one of his friends, breaking his thumb). I was thinking to myself, I wish Wyc Grousbek, Danny Ainge, and Doc Rivers saw his drunken ass in the front row and having fun at a Bruins game. Regardless, it was still cool.

The Line Combinations were as follows…

• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz
• Daniel Paille-Vladimir Sobotka-Brad Marchand

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick
• Andrew Ference-Mark Stuart

There was no scoring summary or Bruins goal videos to report.

Warmup Music…

• Kanye West - “Stronger”
• Eminem - “Lose Yourself”

I didn’t recognize any other songs.