Bruins will never lose another game this season

The Bruins dispatched the Capitals in a home/home series with convincing wins. I don't understand what's going on, why the Caps were a step behind on virtually every play, but Bruce Boudreau's got some work to do.

• Wheeler was offside at least 3 times last night and was in alone probably 3 times, with shots going very wide. The dude has Paille syndrome, he just can't finish. Row 10 blamed "the new skates".
  
• Nice work by Caron in the 2nd period right before his goal. He was mucking in the corners for the puck, maintained possession, then scored a goal about 30 seconds later. During this time, the fans were on their feet cheering because the domination was awesome. It almost started to look unfair.
• Tim Thomas. Wow, huh? I mean, he's all over the place, he's kind of getting lucky with some of the shots just hitting him center-mass, but at some point it goes from being lucky to being just plain ol' good.
• Horton. Comes as advertised.
• Ryder. Contract year, trying to get more money. It'd be wise for whoever re-signs him next summer to just go with a one-year deal so he keeps playing for money.
• Ryan Spooner update: Spooner had a hat trick the other night for the Peterborough Petes in a 6-4 win over the Kitchener Rangers. He is currently ranked #22 in scoring in the OHL with 7-6-13 totals in 7 games.
• Ference & Laich almost squared off last night. Would have been good to see that one. The linesmen got in the way of that, not sure why. Ference could use a good punch in the face.
  
• Near catfight in our section last night. No real blows, just words between each Snooki-wannabe.
  
• Brad Marchand is still a turd but he had some good shifts last night.
• Minnesota, reporting from overseas, predicted the removal of Hunwick from the PP, saying he was the weak link in that setup.
• One of the highlights last night was when Seidenberg took out Ovechkin on a body check that had both sliding into the corner. Just took him right out, yeeeaaaaah.
• Wikipedia lists Claude as 195lbs. YEAH RIGHT maybe his arm.
• Steven Tyler, tone-deaf and just making up words to the anthem. Here's some ear bleach:
  

Tyler/Perry strung out >> Tyler/Perry sober

Bruins win, 4-1

The Bruins pounded away on the Devils tonight and won, 4-1. Pretty solid game all around, lots of balance between the lines. Started off a little weak as the Devils skated around the B's for awhile, but the B's got their legs going and put the game away in the 2nd period.

• Ference/Hunwick d-pair. WOOF. Ference got caught deep a few hundred times. I mean, they were both +2 for the game, but there were some tense moments there.
  
• Awesome pass, awesome shot on the Ryder goal from Seguin.
• Thomas was all over the ice, might have gotten lucky a few times, but looked pretty darn good out there. I don't care too much for his new albino mask, though. Brodeur looked kind of bad tonight, NJ defense just kinda shaky all around. Hey, without the trap, is Brodeur just an average goalie now? Are all those records a product of LeMaire's trap, or what?
  
• NESN's Cole Wright - loves Quagmire from Family Guy. okay. Apparently, this is Bergeron's favorite show, too. NESN's also got this thing where Patrice shows off his backyard rink. I just saw it, pretty wacky stuff.
• Marchand went hip-to-thigh on Zubrus and got called for tripping. I was hoping it'd lead to a massive fight where Marchand would get the stuffing pounded out of him, but no dice.
• Dennis Wideman scored a goal tonight in a Panthers win, was +2 in 25:19 of playing time
  
• First NHL goal for Jordan Caron. Bergeron retrieved the puck right after the goal for his fellow Quebecer ami. Caron's from Sayabec, which appears to be about 120 miles north of Fort Kent, ME.
• Gregory Campbell is called "Soupy" by his linemates.
  
• Matt Cooke got blind-side hit by Mike Richards tonight and got upset about it.
  

Prague Random Thoughts

So we've had two regular season games on at the time I'm usually watching the English Premier League.  Actually worked out well since the EPL had the weekend off for an international break.  Some random thoughts based on the weekend's action...

Enough already with starting the season overseas:
This can't be helping the NHL.  They can't even sell out the rinks and they have to be spending a lot of money to have 6 teams over there.  The only positive I can see in it is it would be a great excuse for a European vacation if I was independently wealthy.  Since I'm not, I just think it blows.  It takes away a home game for us season ticket holders and it has to be tough on our Bruins.  It's also dumb that we don't see the Bruins play again until Saturday.

Would have been nice to visit and take in a couple games

Comcast sucks:
I'm stuck with Comcast where I now live.  I had DirecTV for years.  Comcast's NHL Center Ice has maybe one game per night in HD and they charge more than DirecTV does for everything.

Nathan Horton is on the 2nd PP Unit:
This boggles my mind and will likely change.  I also don't like seeing Matt Hunwick on PP1.  The PP definitely needs some work.  The Bruins are actually fortunate Phoenix didn't score 3 or 4 shorties in the two games.

The Bruins D has me tempering expectations for this season:
From 1 thru 6, the Bruins D just does not stack up with many of the so-called contenders.  Multiple guys will have to step up their games this year for everything to come together.  Don't be surprised if there is a trade after Ference's groin gives way.

It's nice to have a healthy Chara and Lucic:
Remember last year when Chara was taking little wristers from the point because of his hand injury?  Remember how Lucic never looked like himself after the high ankle sprain?  They both look like more like the 2009 version now.  Chara was also flattening people and getting involved in the offense.  When Marchand found him with a brilliant pass in the 1st period on Sunday, I had to laugh at how he had no idea what to do against Bryzgalov though - that's alright, that's not his game.

It's going to take time for Tyler:
Steven Stamkos looks poised to join Crosby and Ovechkin as an elite superstar in the NHL.  Remember what he did in the first half of his first year?  Next to nothing.  Stamkos turned it up in the 2nd half of his rookie season and that's what we need to hope for from Tyler.  Let's be honest with ourselves, he was nearly invisible this weekend until Michael "Vick" Ryder found him on the post pattern for the breakaway.

Nice debut for the new guys

Horton will lead the team in goals:
Going out on a limb here.  His hands are so good.  Man it's nice to have a sniper again isn't it?  As the Mayor pointed out, he's on pace for 120.  After watching him this weekend, 40 to 50 certainly isn't out of the question.  We'll see if his propensity to take nights off shows up this year or not.  At least he doesn't have a propensity to take seasons off like Mr. Ryder.  Horton has figured in 4 of the 5 goals on the season with his assist on Lucic's goal.  You can't beat that start.

Attaboy Timmy:
Looked good.  Had one of his floppy moments in the 2nd period, but made all the saves and his team certainly played better in front of him.  It will be interesting to see how the playing time shakes out this season.  This blogger projects neither goalie will exceed 50 starts barring injury to the other.

Blake Wheeler is still awful:
I hope this changes because we need the guy to be better, but he is horrible and he's bringing Bergy down with him by being on his line.  He was even bringing Jordan Caron down on Sunday.

Jack made a great point late in Sunday's broadcast:
...when talking about bringing Caron in for Paille today - making players accountable for a poor performance.  Remember last year when Claude kept sending the same bums out night after night even though the effort wasn't there?

Way to go Peter:
Chara and Bergy's combined cap hit this year: $12.25M
Chara and Bergy's combined cap hit the next three years: $11.5M
You have to like locking up these core players and reducing their combined cap hit.  I was actually hoping they could reduce Chara's numbers on the back end of his contract to reduce it further.  According to capgeek, the final two years are $5M and $4M respectively.  Seeing as how he'll be 40 then, I would have thought they could have reduced that some - not Lou Lamoriello/Ilya Kovalchuk style, but some to bring the cap number down further.

I'll take the 2 points after Saturday's debacle.  Good start to the season.  Horton looks awesome, Seguin gets his first, and Chara and Bergy are locked up.

Bruins Preseason

Gee, I'd love to tell ya what I think of this year's team so far, but I've only seen the 2 games at home. Nothing is on television. Apparently NESN thinks we all want to witness the dying days of the Sox.
But here goes anyhow:

• Gregory Campbell - who the hell do you think you are, wearing #11 and then sucking? Axelsson's skates are pretty big to fill on the ice and in the locker room. Yeah, we saw that substandard preseason fight vs. the Caps. You're not very good. One could argue that maybe he'll turn out like Mike Lowell in the Beckett trade. But probably not. He'll be a nightly scratch within 10 games. Already, I am not a card-carrying member of the Greg Campbell fan club.
  
• Zach Hamill - still not progressing at the speed that Chiarelli, et al. would like, he's still too slight (also, Max Sauve, who looked HORRIBLE in the pre-season, he's too light)
  
• Jordan Caron - looks like the real deal for next season, when all the old guys are gone after winning the Stanley Cup.
• Nathan Horton - has displayed a willingness to shoot and scored a nice goal on Carey Price in MTL (saw the replay - Price knew the wrista was coming and Horton still beat him easily), but has also displayed his usual lack of grit ("too many blow-bys along the boards", noted Minnesota.). But the line of Lootch, Krejci, and Horton is looking pretty sick.
• Tyler Seguin - seems to have picked up the speed of the game quick enough, but we thought he lollygagged a bit, Savard-style, on the line changes. Apparently, he scored some sort of hat trick or something in Ireland, but couldn't see the game. So no highlight reel stuff yet.
• David Krejci - seems to have returned to form - he showed some sick sick moves during the Caps game. I have him on my fantasy team, so he'll probably get hurt.
• Patrice Bergeron - probably looked the best out of anyone in training camp. He's going to have a monster year. He'll eclipse Mike Richards as the top 2-way center in the Eastern Conference.
• Zdeno Chara - has looked shaky to me so far, looks a little behind on the plays. But he delivered that sweet pass to Seguin for Seguin's first preseason goal.
• Whatshisname Bartkowski - please stick around and replace Adam McQuaid.
• Brad Marchand - this experiment has to end. I know he scores a few goals here and there, but the cheapness/sandpaper to his game I can't abide. Not looking for Matt Cooke-types here, time to drop 'em and show us you're willing to do more than be a pest. We have better wingers in the system.
• Andrew Ference - holy shit. What a black hole of suck this guy could be. I dunno, man. I mean, at least he'll get hurt and we'll only have to see him for 30 games. Will spend this season replacing Wideman as the d-man that makes us cringe whenever he handles the puck.
• Lootch - returning to form. Awesome. Beat down some hump during the Caps game and it was like Christmas. Showing some soft hands again. Fumbled a hot pass from Horton ("that had some hasenpfeffer on it", noted Minnesota) in the slot during the Caps (or Panthers) game that shoulda been a layup one-timer. Gotta nail those looks, Lootch.
• Ryan Spooner - Imagine when he scores goals, the crowd going "SPOOOOOOON". Why are we dicking around with Marchand when clearly this kid's got the goods? The B's sent him back to Peterborough. He's gonna make the team next year and will probably even be around for the playoffs this April.

That's all I got for now, my half-assed analysis...season starts soon enough. I'm cautiously optimistic but I also have a weird vibe that we're going to go 0-10-0 to start the season.

Sad

Here we see the Whaler fan (Whalerus fanus) outside its natural habitat (mom's basement) and attempting to integrate into society. When hunting W. fanus - approach them with caution, make sure your immunizations are up to date (e.g., tetanus), and make sure your bear spray is ready. The blubber of the Whaler fan is prized much like its namesake. Generally, it's belly fat and occasional muscle is cured like bacon and left in a smokehouse for months. After which, the product is sliced and served for breakfast.


The AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, the Hartford Wolfpack, is now known as the Connecticut Whale, thanks to the efforts of some guy.

Bruins "Fan Experience" Poll

So you've heard us piss and moan on this website about damn near everything - well today my inbox provided me with a gift - a survey from Bruins Fan Relations, asking me about my fan experiences. Okay, it's just a survey, but still, I have to take this opportunity to make myself heard.

• The following got "neutral": "Wooo"; Other Anthem Singers; Kelly Malone (I actually feel bad for Kelly Malone. It's this and Subaru commercials for Kelly these days, dunno if she's still on radio. Really, who wants to pimp something as impractical as the SportsDeck?); In-game Music Volume. I know it's wicked loud in the Loge, though.
• The following got "Somewhat Dissatisfied": In-game Music selections. I wrote a comment about retiring "Crazy Train" and anything by KISS. I also asked for more Mastodon.
• The following got "Somewhat Satisfied": Jim Martin (PA guy); Organist; Goal horn
• "Extremely Satisfied": Rene Rancourt, of course.

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• "Neutral": Turnstile Giveaways (magnets. whee.); Game Night Rosters (Chara's favorite meal: Trek bicycles); Concourse
• "Somewhat Satisfied": Ice Girls; Blades. I requested that they launder the Blades suit more often. Ever get close to Blades, just walking by or whatever? He generally smells like a basement.

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• "Neutral": 3 minutes of fame; Intermission contests; t-shirt toss; fan of the game
• "Somewhat Dissatisfied": Kiss Cam; Helmet Shuffle (look folks, it's always #3); In-game statistical info. They never give you enough stats - especially when it's scoreboard-watching time towards the end of the season or if you're a fantasy hockey tool like me "Oh, the Kings are up on Calgary, 6-0...I hope that's Drew Doughty with 6 goals"
• "Somewhat Satisfied": Tune Trivia - mainly so I can flex my music knowledge muscle and impress the ladies; Bruins video intro (needs more Orr)
  
• "Extremely Satisfied": Black 'n Blue Hockey. Who doesn't like Black 'n Blue Hockey?

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• Overall experience? Somewhat satisfied. Most of this stuff is "whatever" to me. Just want to see a fast-paced, well-played hockey game with plenty of emotion, speed, hitting, goals, saves, beatdowns, intimidation, blood, goals, blood, goals ...
  

Miscellany

• They've arrived. Lindsay sent my season tickets via Fed Ex Camel (new service they're providing) and they arrived this afternoon. Hope springs eternal, blah blah, football has started and hockey starts in a month to take us out of the doldrums of means-nothing Red Sox baseball. Yesterday, I watched a buncha hockey fights on hockeyfights.com to get my blood boiling again. The usual: Stan Jonathan, Taz, Stock, Lootch, Thornton, etc.
  
• Have ya seen the video of Cindy Crosby clubbing a batting practice fastball over the right field fence in Pittsburgh? Even with a Hriniak swing, he still manages to hit one out. Bitch.
  
  
• Looks like Quebec City is a little bit closer to getting a new arena, I guess Le Colisee is too old (though I doubt it's called Le Colisee anymore, I think it's now probably named after Pepsi. The only folks who like Pepsi more than southern white trash are French Canadians.) so they gotta build a new one...and presumably a hockey team will follow? I spoze this is good, anything to bring hockey north of the 36th parallel, but if hockey returns to Quebec City, at the same time I'd like to see the Jets leave Phoenix and return to Winnipeg. Down with this Confederate Flag Hockey business.
• Sad-sack Whaler-fan update: there's actually a "Whaler Nation" blog where pasty-faced, overweight, Crisco-eating, sobbing Whaler fans congregate and compare stories about Mike Liut and Geoff Sanderson. They had a reunion a few weeks ago. Read about it here. I would have read it but I had something else more interesting to do like take a nap or clean the cat box.
  
• Whenever I hear "Tyler Seguin", I think of Carl Sagan.

"Tyler Seguin will score billions...and billions of goals. And within those billions of goals, billions of assists. BILLIONS." Yep, your local pink hat will be calling him "Suh-GWEEN". You've been warned.

• Ladies, he's now taken. The Mayor of 311 got hitched last weekend. Not sure, but rumor has it the bride wore gold, the groom wore black, and "Nutty" was played as the wedding march. When she said, "I do", a red light came on, etc. Byron Bitz was the best man.