I must admit, I am shocked to be writing to you about a 3-2 Bruins victory. I had no hopes whatsoever going into last night's contest between the Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins despite Nashville being one of the worst teams in hockey. The B's have been through a lot in the past week; I found out Wednesday morning through many text messages that our best all-around player, Marc Savard, will be out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot that happened right at the tail end of the training camp according to Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli. Not to mention that Milan Lucic will also be out 4-6 with a broken finger which he had surgically repaired on Sunday. Peter Chiarelli recalled Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Marchand from Providence, and then later recalled Trent Whitfield on an emergency basis because they weren't sure if Shawn Thornton was ready to go (he wasn't; he didn't play). Earlier in the week, the Bruins also tried shaking up the team as Chiarelli pulled the trigger on a few deals; first off, he traded Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild. Chucky really grew on me; initially, I couldn't accept the fact that he's a former Boston College Eagle, but his hardnosed-sandpaper-grind it out style of play really won me over. The Bruins recieved a conditional 2011 draft pick and two stiffs that I've never heard of and who you won't see on Causeway Street anytime soon. The second trade was minor as the B's acquired center Daniel Paille from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for another conditional draft pick. Paille has been labeled as an underachiever and couldn't find his way out of Lindy Ruff's doghouse in Buffalo, so hopefully a fresh start in Boston will rejuvenate his career. A shakeup is what I think this team needs. It's an encouraging sign that 7 games in, Chiarelli and Cam Neely aren't sitting back waiting for the problem to fix itself, and they're actually doing something about it, a pattern that we haven't been used to when Harry Sinden had control of the team. I found warmups a little more interesting as I was seeing Marchand, Whitfield and Paille for the first time in person and had to remember their number, their size and which way they shoot to try and paint a picture of what to expect.
The Bruins had a real boring first 20 minutes of hockey, and to my knowledge, they didn't even have a scoring chance. They registered 5 shots on goal but did a nice job on the man advantage, but I shouldn't get too excited as Nashville is one of the only teams in the league whose powerplay is worse than ours; they have only 1 powerplay goal on the season and it came in their first game. Nashville got on the board first seconds after their powerplay expired as David Legwand carried the puck into the zone and dropped it for Jerrod Smithson, and Smithson wristed one right along the ice past Tim Thomas. I sat there in disbelief because I can't remember Timmy Thomas ever giving up so many soft goals; he did win the Vezina last season, right?
The Bruins managed being down only a goal after the first period, which was a miracle. The boys came out and scored 34 seconds into the second period as Brad Marchand beat and muscled Ryan Suter off the puck, pushed it again, and flipped it over Nashville defenseman Kevin Klein's stick and over to Michael Ryder, and Ryder backhanded it just under the crossbar to tie the game. It was Marchand's first NHL point. Nashville quickly got the lead back as former BU Terrier Collin Wilson got his first NHL goal by pouncing on a Padraic Hornqvist rebound that was laying on the goal line and pushing it over the line. I don't think Tim Thomas realized where exactly the puck was, and my initial thought was that Hornqvist's shot went under the crossbar in the netting and came down and laid in the crease, which is a goal, right? Chad Larose had a similar goal against us in Game 2 of the playoffs last season that was called back, so I really don't know. The Bruins managed to tie the score as Patrice Bergeron pounced off a rebound of a Zdeno Chara bomb from the point; Bergeron was on the side of the net and not at the best angle, and someone got the puck into the back of the net. His celebration was priceless; he's usually pretty even-keeled, but he was pretty fired up as he raised his hands as he screamed the F bomb like 3 times in a row. The B's, despite the minor league lineup, went into the room deadlocked at 2.
The Bruins came out for the third with a lot of energy, which was nice. They controlled the tempo for a vast majority of the period and took the lead just over the midway point of the period as new addition Daniel Paille tried a wrap around shot, but the puck wound up in the slot, allowing Steve Begin to net his first goal as a Bruin. Begin was an acquisition that I was not overly fond of because I remember his antics well in Montreal where he would run around cheapshotting players from behind, or throwing a jab to the face and then running and hiding, and he's forever being called for diving. I know he's one of Julien's boys and thats pretty much the reason he came here, but I think with Neely watching up above, Begin won't be pulling any of those shenanigans. Neely hates players like that. The Bruins did hang on and win the game despite Nashville putting on a pretty aggressive attack towards the end, but Timmy Thomas, as always, held down the fort!
My section was pretty dead Wednesday night...Let me rephrase that; the Garden as a whole had no energy and undoubtedly the smallest crowd thus far in the young season. I mean, it's a Wednesday night against Nashville. I do have one story, though; these kids no older than 10 years old came running out of 326 into my section with no shirts on and their pants pulled down with their boxers hanging out and the kid in front of me yells out, "Everyone start playing Michael Jackson music, with all these little boys running around exposing themselves!" I gave him props and a highfive. I had the entire last row to myself which was nice. I will be blogging again on Halloween weekend as the Devils and Oilers visit the Garden, and hopefully I'll get some characters in my row.
The Line Combinations were as follows...
- Mark Recchi-David Krejci-Marco Sturm
- Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Michael Ryder
- Vladimir Sobotka-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz
- Daniel Paille-Trent Whitfield-Blake Wheeler
Scoring Summary...
- NSH: Jerrod Smithson assisted by David Legwand and Cody Fransen
- BOS: Michael Ryder assisted by Derek Morris and Brad Marchand
- NSH: Collin Wilson assisted by Padraic Hornqvist
- BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Zdeno Chara
- BOS: Steve Begin assisted by Daniel Paille
Bruins goal video...
- Ryder - Wedding Crashers champagne popping scene
- Bergeron - European Vacation polka dancing scene
- Begin - Napoleon Dynamite dancing scene
Warmup music...
- AC/DC - "Back in Black"
- Kings of Leon - "Use Somebody"
- Nine Inch Nails - "Survivalism"
- Green Day - "Welcome to Paradise"
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