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July 4, 2009
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It was the closing seconds of Game 1 between two originals of the NHL, the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. Phil Kessel just hit an empty net goal to seal the victory for Boston. Immediately, all hell broke loose.
The Canadiens took exception to being beat, and ultimately caused a rather meaningless scuffle which in turn showed the poor sportmanship of Montreal and hatred between the two teams.
Look for the NHL to hand out some fines as a result.
What Montreal, and especially Alexei Kovalev didn’t know, is that Bruins fans, and especially this guy in white, show no remorse.
Check out the video below. After Kessel notched the game-winning goal, the scuffle ensues and you will see a fan in a white shirt, pounding on the glass. The fan somehow reached throw a hole in the glass(maybe for a camera of some sort?) and tried to steal Kovalev’s stick. Classic television.
Don’t mess with the Bruins!
The Bruins started the second season off on the right note tonight, beating the Montreal Canadiens 4-2 in Game One of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series. The B’s had jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the first period when Phil Kessel and David Krejci scored goals 90 seconds apart.
The Canadiens got on the scoreboard late in the same period when Christopher Higgins put a wrist shot by Tim Thomas, and then late in the second period the Habs tied it when Alex Kovalev took a slap shot from the right circle that Thomas AND Manny Fernandez combined would not have been able to stop.
Midway through the third period, with the game deadlocked at 2-2, the Bruins went on the power play, and with some good puck movement in the Canadiens zone, they finally worked it back to Zdeno Chara on the left point. Marc Savard fed Chara, who one-timed an absolute BOMB that Canadiens goalie Carey Price apparently didn’t see. Price clearly gave a shrug of sorts as if to say “What was THAT?” when he realized he had been scored on.
Late in the game, with Price pulled in favor of a sixth skater, the Bruins sealed the deal when Milan Lucic stole the puck, roared down the right wing, and unselfishly dished the puck to Phil Kessel, who put the puck into the empty net, giving the Bruins a 4-2 lead.
Well, if you’re a Bruins fan you can rest easy, because Boston is going to win the Stanley Cup for the first time in nearly four decades, according to EA Sports.
The Boston Bruins will win the Stanley Cup for the first time in 37 years, defeating original six rival Chicago Blackhawks in a six game series, according to the official EA SPORTS simulation of the 2009 NHL playoffs on the award-winning NHL 09 videogame.
Boston, led by shutdown defenseman Zdeno Chara, outmuscled the Blackhawks and received timely scoring from Conn Smythe Trophy winner Phil Kessel to capture its sixth Stanley Cup, and first since 1972. Kessel, playing on the Bruins top line with playoff leading scorer Marc Savard, delivered two overtime game-winners during the Finals. He finished with 14 goals in the playoffs, including five in the Finals.
Boston reached the Stanley Cup Finals with 4-2 series wins over Montreal, and Carolina, and a thrilling seven games series victory over the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference Finals, according to NHL 09.
The NHL 09 computerized simulation is conducted using artificial intelligence that uses real-life data from each team, such as player ratings and line combinations, and includes variances such as injuries and hot streaks to predict a realistic outcome of each game and series.
Other links of note today:
* The full NFL schedule will be released at 7 p.m. tonight (Boston.com)
The Boston Bruins are finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel when it comes to the injury bug. Boston saw Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, and Milan Lucic all return to the lineup in Tuesday’s win over Washington, and could be in line for another returning player on Thursday. Phil Kessel has been cleared for contact, leading him through Wednesday’s practice. If all goes well on Thursday, he could be in the lineup, as the Bruins play host to the New Jersey Devils — The Bear Cave
Other links of note this morning:
* Celtics winning because Allen can’t miss (NBA.com)
* McDaniels ditching West Coast offense in Denver (Denver Post)
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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
| Phil Kessel RW | Jan 12, 2009 | Injured Reserve | Mononucleosis |
| Shane Hnidy D | Jan 8, 2009 | Day-to-Day | Eye |
| Milan Lucic LW | Jan 8, 2009 | Day-to-Day | Undisclosed Injury |
| Patrice Bergeron C | Dec 21, 2008 | Injured Reserve | Concussion |
| Marco Sturm LW | Dec 20, 2008 | Out for season | Knee Injury |
| Andrew Ference D | Nov 18, 2008 | Injured Reserve | Fractured Right Tibia |
The Bruins have signed restricted free agent Mark Stuart to a multi year contract extension. Stuart is a former 2003 first round draft pick and played in all 82 games last season for the Bruins. This signing only leaves Pettri Nokelainen, Dennis Wideman, and Glen Metropolit as the only unsigned Bruins from last year’s team.
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Boston has acquired defenseman Johnny Boychuk from the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks. Both players spent the majority of last season in the minor leagues. Boychuk is a 6-2 225 pound pointman who tallied 26 points last season and 17 of those on the powerplay for Lake Erie of the American Hockey League. Boychuk also saw little time with the Avalanche, playing in four games.
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Former Bruin goaltender Andrew Raycroft was put on waivers yesterday by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Raycroft appeared in only 19 games last season after losing his starting job to Vesa Toskala. Raycroft went 2-9-5 with a 3.92 goals-against average and .876 save percentage. He earned $2 million and has a year left on his deal at $2.2 million.
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Marian Hossa has told the Pittsburgh Penguins that he will test free agency making it almost certain that he will not resign with the Penguins. Pittsburgh’s GM Ray Shero cant waste time in seeing what Hossa will do. He has a slue of free agents on his roster that he must take care of. The Bruins tried to get Hossa at the trade deadline, but the Thrashers wanted Phil Kessel and Peter Chiarelli didn’t want to part with him.
Not a good night at the Garden last night. The Bruins played the last place Tampa Bay Lightning and lost 3-1.
You can’t let yourself get beyond frustrated," said B’s head coach Claude Julien after the loss to the Bruins official website. "Hopefully that one goal will help us get a little confidence [in terms of scoring] and the third period, I thought, was a real good period for us.
"Unfortunately…when you don’t score goals, every little mistake you make becomes a lot bigger than it should be."
The difference in they game was that exact statement. Tampa Bay capitalized on its chances and the B’s didn’t. Boston seemingly out played the Lightning the entire game, out shooting the Bolts 36 to 26. The Lightning scored on an early powerplay and Boston couldn’t find the back of the net on any of its man-advantage opportunities.
Tampa made it 2-0 on a breakaway goal by Andreas Karlsson. Almost immediately after, Phil Kessel had a mirror opportunity, but Lightning goalie Mike Smith stuffed Kessel on the breakaway. Chuck Kobasew scored the lone Boston goal.
"We are in a frustrating time right now," said B’s defenseman Dennis Wideman. "Last week we had a couple of games where we didn’t deserve to win, but tonight we played well, we played hard…But we couldn’t get the puck in. We are not capitalizing."
