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.

A Bruins winning streak, and a true class act.

When the Bruins 2009-2010 schedule was released back on July 15th, I circled both November 10th and March 18th. Not because the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins were coming to town, but because my favorite all time hockey player, Billy Guerin, would be coming home. Although I met him in the past, I totally never envisioned myself ever meeting him again, but seeing him play at home again gave me something to look forward to. I couldn't believe what happened a few hours before the game...

I went into this sports pictures souvenir store, if you will, located across the street from the Garden on Causeway Street. I had always been meaning to check that place out to see what they had because I'm always looking for good stuff to add to my Mantown. I browsed the store for about 10 minutes, and when I stepped out, I saw a cab pulling up to the side of the road next door at the Harp. Nothing unusual there, but then Billy Guerin and Eric Godard exited the cab. I immediately yelled "Billy!" since I was a few feet away from him. I didn't want to run over and bombard him; after all, I am 27 and not a young kid. He turned around, saw me, smiled and said, "Hey! What's going on, buddy!" He came over to shake my hand and asked how everything was going. I told him everything was great and that I'm still a huge fan of his, and he thanked me for that. I totally forgot to congratulate him on his Stanley Cup last season, but I wasn't prepared for this to happen. He had to get going, and I wished him luck and told him to get a couple of goals. He smiled and said, "I'll see what I can do," and he and Godard headed to Dunkin Donuts for coffee.

I was on cloud nine over what had just happened, and then my friend and fellow season ticket holder Alison showed up moments later. I excitedly told her what happened, and she took her camera out of her purse and had it ready just as Guerin and Godard were leaving Dunkin Donuts. I asked Guerin if it would be ok for a photo-op, and he was all for it, replying, "Sure thing, buddy. Anything you want!" Alison took a picture of us, and I thanked him and shook his hand again before they left.


Billy Guerin is honestly one of the nicest guys you will ever meet. As I mentioned earlier, I met him on numerous occasions while he was playing in Boston, and he has signed and personalized so many of my pictures of him, jerseys, hats, etc. When he came back to Boston for the first time after signing with Dallas, I was lucky enough to not only meet him, but his parents as well. His parents pulled me aside after the pregame warmup and thanked me for having a sign that said "Welcome Home Billy G." They took a picture of me as proof that not every Bruins fan hates Billy for leaving for more money. I met him after the game and he thanked me for still supporting him and acknowledged me by calling me Nick; I wasn't all that surprised since he had signed so much stuff for me in the past. We talked for about 5 minutes and took a few pictures, and I wished him to win the Cup for Dallas that season since I knew Boston had no chance. I wasn't at all surpised that he didn't remember my name last night since it had been seven years since that encounter and you know he has dealt with millions of fans since then, but he definitely remembered me. He could have just turned and waved, or nodded and said, "How are you?" but he smiled and came right over. It totally made my night, and I didn't really care about the outcome of the game after that.

Once I ran into Guerin, I knew I had to ditch the Bruins for pregame warmup and stand on the blueline in section 3 for warmups to watch Pittsburgh. That's the side of the ice that Billy spends the most time on, but he never made eye contact with me; I do admit that I was hoping for a puck if he saw me. I had one of the biggest losers you will ever meet standing next to me though. There was this huge fat bald guy yelling "YOU SUCK!" at each Penguins player, and he was also sticking his tongue out and putting his thumbs on the sides of his forehead with his fingers spread to make antlers, and he made faces at all of the Penguins. When he yelled "YOU SUCK!" at Guerin, I wanted to waste the second half of my beer and throw it on him. What an immature loser. He started yelling how the NHL gave the Penguins the cup last year and it's fixed, and everyone around him including myself got into an argument with him. He said that Crosby and Malkin aren't that good, and I told him that those two are better than any of his Bruins buddies on the other side of the ice, and he insisted that they weren't and that the NHL gave them all the offsides and icing calls in the Stanley Cup Finals. The guy was a total bonehead and it's a shame he was allowed in the building.

The Bruins received some great news a day earlier when they found that David Krejci was cleared to play and has been cured from H1N1; however, Michael Ryder and Derek Morris were both game-time decisions as they have been battling bouts with the (non-swine) flu, but thankfully they played. The Bruins battled through a scoreless first period with Boston limiting Pittsburgh to only a handful of shots. The Bruins also killed off a very dangerous Pittsburgh powerplay, and I noticed that all Billy Guerin does on the powerplay is stand in front of the net and position himself for a shot. No one on the Bruins does that; Claude Julien has that umbrella style set-up, and as of now, it's not working effectively.

The Bruins broke the ice a minute and a half into the second period as Matt Hunwick jumped up into the play, coasted down the right side and around the net, and backhanded a shot right under the crossbar. The light went on, the goal horn was blaring, and the Bruins were celebrating, but referee Bill McCreary immediately waved it off. When they had their next stoppage in play, the referee called up the 9th floor to review it. They showed the play numerous times on the Jumbotron and it was pretty evident that it was a good goal as the puck clearly made contact with the net right underneath the crossbar. I could tell it was a goal since I sit right over the net. The refs made the easy call that it was a goal and turned back the clock when they resumed play. The Bruins sustained a 1 goal lead going into the room after 2 periods.

The Bruins got a huge insurance goal fairly early in the 3rd period as Mark Recchi sent a beautiful rink wide pass to the streaking Daniel Paille, who bursted in all alone and smoked Marc Andre Fleury top shelf to get his first goal as a Bruin. Moreover, that assist was the 900th of Mark Recchi's career. Paille owed us that one since he had two breakaways in the previous game and choked both times. Pittsburgh nearly got on the board as Billy Guerin fired a puck off the glass that ricocheted off the right post as Tim Thomas was out of the net after he misread the direction of the puck; the refs also reviewed that one, but it was clear that the puck never crossed the line. The Bruins finished off the scoring as Patrice Bergeron fired a turn around slapshot the length of the rink and into the open net for a shorthanded goal. It was a huge goal because Pittsburgh had 6 attackers and 6 of their best players on the ice with Crosby taking the faceoff and Billy Guerin and Jordan Staal parked out in front of the net, but Bergeron won the draw. He passed the puck to Widemank, who in turn got it back to Bergeron, and Bergeron sealed the deal as the Bruins pulled off a 3-0 shutout over the defending Stanley Cup Champions. Pittsburgh had been struggling coming into the game with a 2-3-2 record over their last 7, and last night was Crosby's 5th consecutive scoreless outing. The boys finish off their homestand tomorrow night when the Florida Panthers come to town; I predict that game should be the 3rd consecutive win for the Bruins.

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-Trent Whitfield-Vladimir Sobotka

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

Scoring Summary...

• BOS: Matt Hunwick assisted by Dennis Wideman and Steve Begin
• BOS: Daniel Paille assisted by Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron
• BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Dennis Wideman and Steve Begin (SHG)

Bruins Goal Videos...

• Hunwick: Napoleon Dynamte dancing
• Paille: Carlton Banks dancing
• Bergeron: Dancing Bear

Warmup music...

Once again, a horrible set of music. I recognized one song...

• Disturbed - "Into the Fire"

Mark the date. The Bruins scored not one, but TWO powerplay goals in one game!

What offensive slump? The Bruins beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 last night at the TD Garden. One can only hope that the Bruins are starting to get it together offensively. Don't get me wrong; they have had their fair share of chances, but they have failed miserably when trying to execute on them. I took my Dad to the game last night for a little father-son time; a friend of mine gave me her ticket because she had a prior commitment. Because both tickets were single tickets, I used the brain that God gave me and checked the Bruins ticket exchange before we left for Boston. Season tickets holders can resell their tickets through bostonbruins.com up to 4 hours prior to game time, and if they go unsold, they can't be sold through the box office to the average Joe who decides at the last minute to go due to the price difference between season tickets and the box office price. I saw that on the ticket exchange that there were a couple of seats together; we ended up sitting in Balcony 322 in the front row and were never bothered by security or anyone else.

The Bruins shocked the sold out crowd of 17,565 when they scored a powerplay goal! Mark Recchi redirected a Derek Morris wristshot from the blueline. I couldn't believe they finally snapped their powerplay slump of 0 for their last 20. They hadn't recorded a powerplay goal since October 22nd in Philadelphia. The Bruins weren't done scoring on the powerplay as Zdeno Chara one timed a booming slapshot from the blueline, thanks in large part to a beautiful screen by Mark Recchi; Buffalo rookie backup goaltender Jhonas Enroth never saw it coming. Chara raised his arms high in the air and looked up at the rafters screaming, and I'm sure it was a huge relief for Big Z to finally net his first goal of the season. He had a slow start last season as well, as he didn't score a goal until November 6th and yet still wound up with 18 goals, so I'm not concerned with him. The Bruins went into the room up 2-0 with additional thanks to Tuukka Rask; he bailed out both Dennis Wideman and Andrew Ference, both of whom coughed up the puck up in their own end on more than one occasion. I honestly don't know what the Bruins see in Wideman; he is an eyesore in his own end and can't hit the net to save his life. I still can't believe that Peter Chiarelli traded Brad Boyes to St. Louis for Wideman. All Boyes has done since leaving Boston is average between 36-42 goals per season, whereas Wideman gives Bruins fans heart scares while making a healthy $3.9 million per year. Ference on the other hand... Well, he's just having a bad season and is making a lot of poor decisions in his own end.

The Bruins came out and made it a 3 goal game less than 2 minutes into the second period as Steve Begin picked off a Buffalo clearing and found Byron Bitz who faked out Enroth and buried his 2nd goal of the season. My Dad couldn't remember the last time he saw them have a 3 goal lead with him in the building. The lead was short lived, however, as Derek Roy jumped on a Craig Rivet rebound and fired the puck past Tuukka Rask; Rask never saw it as Clarke MacArthur set a great screen in front of the net. During a TV timeout, former Bruins deadweight defenseman Steve Montador was chirping with Shawn Thornton; I'm sure Thornton was telling Montador how much he sucked in his short time in Boston last season. When the puck dropped, they went at it, and it was pretty close until Sugar Shawn was able to rip Montador's helmet off and get in a few good punches to the face as Montador's long hair was covering his eyes. Any true Bruins fan has to love Sugar Shawn! He knows his role and does it well. The Bruins put the nail in the coffin with less than 2 minutes to go in the period as Patrice Bergeron made a great pass down by the goal line to Marco Sturm who one timed glove side past Enroth. It was so good to see Marco get off the shnide. Sturm hadn't scored a goal since the third game of the season versus Anaheim on October 8th. It was so refeshing to see the Bruins go into the room up by 3 after 40 minutes of play.

The third period was another solid period of play; not much offensively going on, but Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves again as he went after Paul Gaustad for elbowing Byron Bitz in the head. Sugar took care of business and taught Gaustad a lesson by getting in a number of good punches to the face. The chipiness didn't end there as Mark Stuart took exception to Jochen Hecht being a little too close to Tuukka Rask towards the end of the game; they both got theirs sticks up high, and Stuart dropped his gloves and gave Hecht a pretty good beatdown. More players were tossed before the next whistle as Boston's Zdeno Chara and Brad Marchand and Buffalo's Tim Kennedy and Patrick Kaleta were all given 10 minute misconducts for slashing. The referres knew the game was over and wanted to get anyone out of the game who could make it uglier. Buffalo got a late goal as their 6'8" defenseman manchild Tyler Myers skated the puck to the net and slid a pass across the crease to Jason Pominville. Pominville put it past Rask, but the game was over at that point. The Bruins realistically could have had at least 8 goals as Daniel Paille had a number of good scoring chances, as did Blake Wheeler and Patrice Bergeron. I shouldn't be so greedy and should be happy with seeing 4 goals since I had only seen 4 goals in the previous 3 home games combined.

My section was pretty tame last night, but I need to share a story from up on the Jumbotron. I don't understand why adults always feel the need to make an ass out of themselves to get on the Jumbotron; they only look like idiots, and people laugh at them because they're stupid. One of the cameramen found this big fat dude sitting in a luxury box wearing a bright pink polo shirt, and he was rubbing his manboobs and big belly rather sexually. I'm not sure how many of those beers he had touched in the fridge in the box, but it was so bizzarre. I don't understand why people do that and never will. Remember when the old Boston Garden was there and they didn't have a big screen on the scoreboard, so no one got to act like idiots? It's funny, don't get wrong, but I just don't understand it.

The defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins come to town on Tuesday, led by Sidney Crosby and Billy Guerin. This should be a real test for the B's, and I hope they can live up to the challenge.

The Line Combinations were as follows...

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

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

Scoring summary...

• BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by Zdeno Chara and Derek Morris (PPG)
• BOS: Zdeno Chara assisted by Blake Wheeler (PPG)
• BOS: Byron Bitz assisted by Shawn Thornton and Steve Begin
• BUF: Derek Roy assisted by Clarke MacArthur and Craig Rivet
• BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Steve Begin and Patrice Bergeron
• BUF: Jason Pominville assisted by Tim Connolly and Tyler Myers

Bruins goal videos...

• Recchi: Dancing bear
• Chara: polka dancing scene in European Vacation
• Bitz: champagne popping scene in Wedding Crashers
• Sturm: Peter Griffin from Family Guy dancing shirtless

Warmup music...

All I can say is that it was the worst music selection ever; they didn't lead off with "Back in Black" for the first time in a very long time. I only recognized 2 songs...

• Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye West - "Run This Town"
• Green Day - "Welcome to Paradise"

What else could go wrong?

What else could possibly go wrong? Just when you thought that the Bruins' bad luck couldn't get any worse, Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced that David Krejci has been diagosed with the H1N1 virus, also known as Swine Flu. I found out that horrible news earlier in the day through many text messages, and it really put a damper on my excitement for attending a Montreal/Boston game.

To be honest, last night did not feel like a Montreal/Boston game at all. I think it may have been the fact that so many of the Bruins' top players were out and that Mike Komisarek, Alex Kovalev and Saku Koivu no longer play for Montreal. A huge part also had to do with the lack of Montreal fans in the building; it was probally the smallest amount of Montreal fans that I have seen in Boston in years, and a huge reason for that is that Boston has now become a tough place to get a ticket thanks to all of the bandwagons jumping on after last season, and the number of new season ticket holders who jumped on board just to get their Winter Classic ticket. I got to the Garden around 5:20 and never heard "Olé, olé, olé," and I saw very few red and blue jerseys. A small number of Montreal fans huddled around the Montreal bench for warmup.

When I got up to my seat, I noticed a Montreal fan was sitting in the seat next to me and I thought to myself, "Oh, great," but as it turned out he was an awesome guy. We started our conversation when he was telling his girlfriend how much he hates Hal Gill, which was music to my ears. As many of you probably already know, Gill is my most hated hockey player, and the fact that he plays for Montreal makes me hate him even more. When I heard him talking about Gill, I turned to him and shook his hand and told him how I agreed, and from there a friendship was made! We discussed both teams and the moves they had made, and he was a really great guy. He wasn't biased at all and wasn't singing "olé, olé, olé," which was a major plus for me; he actually dosen't even understand why they even sing that stupid song. After the first period was over, he asked me what I was drinking and I said, "Bud? Coors?" and he said, "You got it, I will be right back!" I couldn't believe that A) I was talking to and having good conversation with a Montreal fan and B) he was buying me a beer.

The Bruins came out hitting and showing a lot of intensity; I swear, that always seems to happen when Montreal comes to town. The Bruins were throwing shot after shot on Carey Price, who I was surprised to see make the start since he has lost his last 6 games, and also the fact that the Bruins have his number. The Bruins fans were chanting "CAR-EY" for a good portion of the night in the hopes of getting in his head. Montreal got the only goal of the first period as Dennis Wideman and Matt Hunwick collided at center ice, allowing Andrei Kostitsyn to have a breakaway in which Shawn Thornton made a valiant effort to break up, but Kostitsyn went around the net and centered it to former Bruins great Glen Metropolit who ultimately put it past Tim Thomas. It was really discouraging to see the Bruins go into the room scoreless for the 7th consecutive period. The Bruins powerplay, however, continues to be a growing concern. They failed to execute on their three chances with the man advantage last night and had zero scoring chances. There is no structure whatsoever and nobody goes to the net like they're supposed to. Claude Julien had two totally different powerplay units out there last night which I knew had no hope of scoring because the players who were on the units together haven't played on the same line together at all, or if they have, it hasn't been very often.

The Bruins and Canadiens battled through a scoreless second period, despite the fact that I thought the Bruins ended their scoring drought as Patrice Bergeron had a goal disallowed. Marco Sturm drove hard to the net and knocked the net off the mourings as Bergeron slid the puck under Carey Price. I thought the goal was questionable to begin with because Bergeron took a whack at Price's glove when I thought the puck was already covered up but the ruling was because the net had come loose. They didn't review it right away; it took a few Montreal players approaching the referees about the issue. After the goal was officially disallowed, the crowd seemed to get real hostile with very loud booing out of frustration. I really had to laugh because during the second period there was a little bit of scrum in which Andrew Ference and Maxim Lapierre were tangled up, and you could see on the Jumbotron that Ference wanted to go with Lapierre; Ference had his gloves off and when Lapierre wouldn't go, Ference made a hand gesture to him signifying that he's all talk. I can't stand Maxipad Lapierre; all he does is stir the shitpot and run away like a coward.

After battling, the Bruins managed to tie the game with 52 seconds left in regulation with an extra attacker on. Patrice Bergeron won the faceoff back to Derek Morris who fired it on Price, then Zdeno Chara knocked the puck over to Bergeron who roofed it over Price's glove to tie the game and record their first goal in 192 minutes; their last goal had come on Halloween when Vladimir Sobotka scored. It was such a relief to hear "Zombie Nation." The teams battled through a scoreless overtime which then led to the shootout. The Bruins sent out Blake Wheeler, Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi, all of whom failed to get one past Price. Michael Cammalieri netted the lone goal for Montreal. The Bruins take on the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Saturday and I'm dragging my Dad along. I hope he has fun, as it's a free ticket and quality time with his son, but I hope the Bruins at least put forth a decent effort for him.

The Line Combinations were as follows...

• Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
• Blake Wheeler-Vladimir Sobotka-Michael Ryder
• Brad Marchand-Steve Begin-Daniel Paille
• Shawn Thornton-Trent Whitfield-Mikko Lehtonen

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

Scoring Summary...

• MTL: Glen Metropolit assisted by Andrei Kostitsyn and Ryan White
• BOS: Patrice Bergeron assisted by Zdeno Chara and Derek Morris

Bruins goal video...

• Bergeron: Napoleon Dynamite dancing

Warmup music...

• AC/DC - "Back in Black"
• Nirvana - "Breed"
• Disturbed - "Indestructable"
• Jay-Z feat. Rihanna and Kanye West- "Run this town"
  

The game that Vladimir Sobotka became a Boston Bruin.

We are in the third year of Vladimir Sobotka's up and down NHL career, and yesterday I think he officially solidified the fact that he can play in the NHL. The Bruins put together their best 60 minute effort of the season as they shut out the Edmonton Oilers 2-0. Tuukka Rask led the boys out onto the ice, signifying that he would be the starting goaltender; Julien decided to give Rask the nod versus Edmonton at home and have Tim Thomas face the highscoring New York Rangers in the away game today. The Bruins were in complete control over Edmonton from start to finish, and Tuukka Rask probably earned the easiest shutout he will ever earn in his NHL career by facing only 19 shots, not many of which were quality shots to say the least. The Oilers had a difficult time even getting the puck through the neutral zone, thanks in large part to Zdeno Chara's strong play. Chara was challenged earlier in the week by coach Claude Julien and Cam Neely that he can play better and he needs to step up his game.

The Bruins and Oilers battled through 2 scoreless periods, but a good chunk of that 40 minutes was dominated by the Bruins. The Oilers were lacking two of their big guns as number 1 defenseman Sheldon Souray and Mike Comrie weren't playing. Souray is on long-term injury reserve with a shoulder injury, and Comrie is battling the swine flu (hopefully Hilary Duff dosen't catch it). The Bruins nearly scored in the last second of the second period, but the buzzer went off right before the puck was shot so it didn't count. The Bruins came into the third hungry, however, and broke the ice less than 3 minutes into the third period. Vladimir Sobotka worked the puck along the boards behind the net for a while before centering a pass to Blake Wheeler, and Wheeler one timed it five hole on Nikolai Khabibulin. The Bruins then added to the lead as Sobotka and Wheeler executed on a gorgeous give and go with Sobotka finishing it off. Like I said to open this blog post, yesterday Vladimir Sobotka became an NHL player; he has always been sort of an enigma. He's been the player that was always good enough to play at the NHL level and would show flashes of brilliance one night, but would be non-existant the next. I think he's the kind of player who needs to be in the lineup every night to gain self confidence.

Yesterday was Halloween, and as I expected, there were so many amazing costumes in the crowd. My personal favorite was Billy Mays. He had on a royal blue button down shirt with the pitch black, slicked back hair and the full black beard; he was also carrying a bottle of OxyClean which they allowed him to bring into the Garden. While waiting for the gates to open, he yelled, "We are gonna clean up the Oilers!" while holding up his OxyClean. Billy Mays was giving the dual thumbs up to the Bruins as they skated by during warmups, and he also pretended to spray down the glass and wipe it with paper towels. Some of the other notable costumes were Hulk Hogan, the Blues Brothers, a pig with H1N1 on his stomach, two little boys as Mario and Luigi, Captain America, Wolverine, Batman & Robin, Superman, an NHL referee wearing sunglasses and carrying a blind stick, a few Burger King Kings, the "Somebody's Watching Me" stack of money from Geico commercials, a dancing banana, some killer B's, a "Vladimir" (he's a guy who is always shown on the jumbotron dancing in a weird hat and blue blazer; they showed both Vladimirs dancing in a split screen), and Jack Edwards (this kid rode the Zamboni between periods and he got a split screen with the real Jack). I heard a pretty funny line yesterday during the game; there was guy sitting behind me with a bad hairpiece and he said, "I'm the uncle you don't leave your kids alone with." I turned around and laughed at him; he knew I enjoyed it.

My next three blogs should be a little more exciting and interesting as the B's host Montreal, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. I can't wait for Thursday night when Hal Gill returns to Boston in a Montreal uniform; Gill made Montreal games so much more enjoyable. I can guarantee some good stories from that game!

The Line Combinations were as follows...

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

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

Scoring Summary...

• BOS: Blake Wheeler assisted by Daniel Paille and Vladimir Sobotka
• BOS: Vladimir Sobotka assisted by Daniel Paille and Blake Wheeler

Bruins goal video...

• Wheeler: Herman Munster dancing
• Sobotka: Addams family dancing

Warmup music...

• AC/DC - "Back In Black"
• The same three god-awful Rihanna songs from the previous game