Let me make this clear: I’m a diehard Boston Bruins fan, but I'm also a realist. I knew going in to the Garden on January 7 that the Bruins had no chance of beating the Chicago Blackhawks. The Bruins were blown out 5-2, and unfortunately, I dragged my Dad to the game only for him to suffer for two and half hours. I felt really bad because it was part of his Christmas present and I wished they had put forth a better effort.
The game started out on a good note as Milan Lucic was in the warmup; allegedly, he was scheduled to return on Saturday against the Rangers. Lucic participated in all of the line drills, so he was officially returning to the lineup and the warmup wasn’t just a test to see how his ankle responded. The game did not start off well at all. Just 25 seconds into the contest, the Bruins were down yet another man as Marc Savard collided with Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews with a knee-on-knee hit along the boards. At first I had thought that Savard was highsticked, but he wasn’t getting up and remained on his knees. The trainer came out to look at him and he was helped off the ice by Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm. This was the last thing the Bruins needed with Patrice Bergeron out for two weeks with a broken thumb, Andy Ference out for six weeks with a groin problem, and Mark Stuart still two weeks away with a sternum injury.
Despite the setback with Savard's injury, the Bruins drew first blood on the powerplay. Blake Wheeler redirected a Derek Morris slapshot from the blueline for his fourth goal in his last 3 games. The Bruins need him to step it up in order to be more productive offensively. The Bruins struck again just four minutes later as the newest Bruin, Miroslav Satan, took the feed from Blake Wheeler, who had intercepted a Duncan Keith clearing; Wheeler found Satan in the slot and Miro the hero wasted no time snapping it top shelf glove side on Chicago goaltender Antti Niemi. Personally, I love the Satan signing. He was always a Bruins killer and still is in great shape. The game started to shift in Chicago’s favor right after Satan’s goal when Patrick Sharp dropped Zdeno Chara, something not too many NHL players can say they did. The two of them had been jawing and throwing checks on each other, but Sharp got the last laugh and things started to change. The two goal lead was shortlived as Duncan Keith got Chicago on the board with a bomb from the point, the puck rang off the middle pipe in the net and straight out, making it a 2-1 game. Chicago would then tie it with under two minutes to play in the period as Dennis Wideman failed the clear the puck again and coughed it up to Ben Eager who found Colin Fraser, who then slid a pass across the goal mouth to Tomas Kopecky, and Kopecky slapped a one timer past Thomas. I have had it with Wideman; I don’t know what the Bruins see in him, and he has become the resident Bruins punching bag since Hal Gill left. I was so disgusted with how quickly the Bruins gave up another 2 goal lead, but it’s something that I have come to expect as well. They are not a playoff-caliber team right now, and until Peter Chiarelli gets his head out of his ass and realizes that, they won’t be winning too many hockey games with Vladimir Sobotka as the #2 center. With both Bergeron and Savard out, this team will remain to be in a lot of trouble. The score was deadlocked at 2 after one period, and it could have been a lot worse.
Chicago took an early second period lead just as Zdeno Chara had stepped out of the box; Andrew Ladd was standing out in front of Tim Thomas (I know, what a concept, huh?) and picked up the rebound off of a Brent Seabrook rebound which the defensemen and Thomas failed to handle. Just like that, Chicago had the lead. The Duncan Keith show continued just a few minutes later as he floated a 65 foot wrist shot from the blueline over Tim Thomas’ glove and under the crossbar. I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I immediately looked over at the Boston bench and saw Claude Julien yell to Tuukka Rask, and Rask responded by getting up and getting his mask and stick. I think the move of yanking Thomas was more to get the team going. I mean, Keith’s second goal of the game was weak, but the other three goals were tough to blame on Thomas. The Bruins showed no energy and failed to generate any offensive rush through the neutral zone. The scored was 4-2 after 2, but it really could have been more like 8-2. Chicago is such a force. They don’t stop at Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane; they have so many other weapons such as Marion Hossa, Patrick Sharp, Kris Versteeg, and the list goes on and on.
The third period wasn’t much to write home about. The Bruins continued to struggle when it came to generating any scoring chances. Johnny Boychuk tried to spark his team by getting into a pretty good fight with Colin Fraser; Boychuk waved his arms in the air skating to the penalty box trying to get the fans going, but to no avail. Chicago sealed the deal when Patrick Kane made it a 5-2 game. Kane one-timed a pass from Troy Brouwer past Tuukka Rask, and that was our cue to leave. My Dad made it clear going down the escalator that he was done for the season, and I really can’t blame him. It was a pretty pathetic effort put forth by the black and gold.
The Line Combinations were as follows…
- Marco Sturm-Marc Savard-Mark Recchi
- Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Miroslav Satan
- Daniel Paille-Vladimir Sobotka-Michael Ryder
- Milan Lucic-Steve Begin-Shawn Thornton
- Dennis Wideman-Zdeno Chara
- Matt Hunwick-Derek Morris
- Adam McQuaid-Johnny Boychuk
Scoring Summary…
- BOS: Blake Wheeler assisted by Derek Morris and Johnny Boychuk (PPG)
- BOS: Miroslav Satan assisted by Blake Wheeler
- CHI: Duncan Keith assisted by Kris Versteeg and Dustin Byfuglin
- CHI: Tomas Kopecky assisted by Colin Fraser and Ben Eager
- CHI: Andrew Ladd assisted by Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook
- CHI: Duncan Keith assisted by Colin Fraser and Ben Eager
- CHI: Patrick Kane assisted by Troy Brouwer
Bruins Goal Videos…
- Wheeler: Jim Carrey dancing in Dumb and Dumber
- Satan: Polka dancing scene in European Vacation
Warmup music…
- Jay-Z feat. Lil Wayne - “One Republic”
- Kanye West - “Stronger”
- 50 Cent - “Buy You A Drink”
- Eminem - “Lose Yourself”
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