Comcast SportsNet revealed it’s "Top 20 Under 25" list on Monday, highlighting the wealth of young talent the 4 major Boston teams have developed and continue to grow. The "Top 20 Under 25" was assembled by a panel of Comcast SportsNet’s staff, who were then asked to predict the career path of each player, based on the following 1-10 scoring system. 10 = future Hall of Famer, 7 = All Star Level, 5 = consistent starter, 3 = role player, and 1 = won’t pan out.

Panelists included producer Kevin Miller, on-air personalities Lou Merloni, Gary Tanguay and Michael Felger; bloggers Cam Martin, Rich Levine, Sean Jamieson, Justin Poulin, and Kevin Henkin; and cyber gurus Jason Levine and Chief Web Kahuna.

Here is the list Comcast SportsNet compiled, along with the results of the fans’ votes since Monday, June 29th.

The Bruins made it two in a row last night over the Canadiens with a well-executed 5-1 win, with the series shifting to Canada for games three and four. Milan Lucic, though,

won’t be on the ice for Monday night’s tilt, as NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell has suspended him for one-game due to an errant high-stick that accidently hit Canadien’s defenseman Maxim Lapierre in the head.

Lucic was defending himself late in the third period from Lapierre and Matheiu Schneider went he inadvertently caught Lapierre with a high stick in the upper regions of the upper body area. with 4:32 left in regulation and received a match penalty, a five-minute major for high-sticking, and a cross-checking minor.

Lucic was originally assessed a game misconduct, but it was changed to a match penalty after the game. According to the NHL rule book, a player who receives a match penalty "shall be automatically suspended from further competition until the Commissioner has ruled on the issue.”

In a statement released earlier tonight, Campbell said "While it is unclear whether Lucic’s glove or stick makes contact with Lapierre, what is clear is that he delivered a reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent."

Bruins Make Statement

Despite Blunders, PIMs, Tempers

See you in 1st Round(?)

Let’s face it.  Odds are we’ll be watching the Canadiens roll into town next Thursday as the Bruins’ first round foe for the third time in the last 6 seasons.  The Rangers hold the tiebreaker with Montreal and neither has a desirable match-up in their respective final games this weekend (so, let’s call it 2:3 odds that we see the Habs and not the frustrating boys from NYC).  Montreal gets to host the long haired chumps from Broad Street (there’s alot, alot of culture there) and the Rangers visit the Igloo (er, Melon Arena) to get beat up by Geno one more time.

Look, we all knew this was coming.  To this man, it is no different than Aaron bloody Boone.  The Bruins, and the city of Boston, have unfinished business with our neighbors to the North, just like the Sox going through the Spanks following the Boone Series en route to the 2004 Title.  Let’s accept reality, put the anxiety behind us and bring ‘em on.  I want to play them.  I’ll go so far as to say it will be good for this team to bury the ghosts of Le Habitant.  Call it a cleansing excercise, if you will, but come Sunday evening, round about 8pm ET, the Rangers will finish up their tilt with the Penguins and we’ll know who to expect next week.  Granted, if the Habs lose tomorrow, we’ll already know. 

After losing defenseman Aaron Ward Tuesday night in a 3-1 win over the Habs (extending the Bruins’ lead in the Northeast Division to 12 points), Boston leads the NHL in most players in the infirmary with eight, including

(H/T to From the Rink)

Although free agency doesn’t start until July 1st, the Bruins will have a deal in place on free agent Blake Wheeler.  Wheeler was a 2004 first round draft pick of the Phoenix Coyotes became a free agent after he opted out of his contract. The 21 year old  forward stands at 6-4 220 pounds and had more the 20 NHL teams interested in him. Wheeler just had completed his junior year at the University of Minnesota.

Wheeler told his agent to complete a deal to join the Bruins because he like the way the organization was heading. He especially liked the way Boston develops its prospects along to the NHL much like David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Mark Stuart all had done in recent years.

Of course, we can’t sign him until July 1, but we look forward to getting him in the mix," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli told The Globe. "Anytime you can get a young player of Blake’s caliber with that blend of size and skill, you are very fortunate."

After another win over the Toronto Maple Leafs and officially eliminating the Leafs from the playoffs, the Bruins now sit in the seventh in the Coference with five games left to play.

In the absents of Marc Savard (broken bone in back) and Chuck Kobasew(broken leg), the B’s have managed to score four or more goals in Bruins wins. David Krejci has taken the role of Savard on the powerplay, and has looked great doing it. You have to apprieciate the play of Bruin’s rookie center. He has tallied four points in his last two game and was the best player on the ice in last night’s game.

Krejci made a perfect pass to set up Marco Sturm for the first goal of the game. Toronto tied it up on a Jiri Tlusty goal in the second. Then three third period goals by the Bruin’s Phil Kessel, Glen Murray, and Peter Schaefer sealed the fate of the game and ultimately, Toronto’s season. Tim Thomas made 30 stops in the win.

Weird stat of the night: The teams played 11:53 without a stoppage in the first period.

The Maple Leafs became the fourth team in the Eastern Conference eliminated from the playoffs. The others: New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Congratulations to Bruins rookie winger, Milan Lucic who received the Bruins’ annual 7th Player award before the game.

Remaining Opponents:
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres
New Jersey Devils
Ottawa Senators
Buffalo Sabres

In a very entertaining hockey game, the Boston Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals at the Garden yesterday afternoon 2-1. The Bruins avenged an early week lost to the Caps, in which they let in ten goals, and snapped a three game losing streak.

Alex Auld played well in net for the B’s, only relinquishing one Washington goal, an early first period powerplay tally by Brooks Laich. Auld ended with 23 saves on the day and gave the B’s a chance at the end of the game.

The game started off with two consecutive fights when Milan Lucic dropped the mitts 5 seconds into the game and Shawn Thornton 10 seconds after that.

“We wanted to try to get the momentum our side and really try to get the fans into it, and I thought maybe it was a good idea to get it going right [then],” Lucic explained. “It was back just like last year, junior-style, back up and take the helmet off.” bostonbruins.com

“I think our guys just showed that we got pushed around last time in Washington, [and] we were ready for whatever they were going to throw at us,” said Coach Claude Julien. bostonbruins.com

The real story of the game was Boston’s ability to shut down Alexander Ovekchin to only an assist. Ovekchin tallied 3 goals and 2 assist earlier in the week against the B’s. The Cap’s star seemed frustrated and didn’t have much space, as the Bruins put a body on him every opportunity they could.