Miller Time

Yeah. The B's stayed on their usual, season-long path of consistent inconsistency. They lost last night, 3-2 to Buffalo. Tim Thomas let up 3 really soft-looking goals (I think he was screened on one of them, this fluttering slo-mo wrist shot that looked like a softball eephus pitch.); he looked really bad, off-balance and searching for the crease/posts. I think that's why Cload yanked his ass. Timmy needs to go back to yoga class and summon his Vezina mojo.

• "What have you done for me lately?" asks the Bruins fandom, as TT was booed and Rask cheered wildly.
• Wideman Suckage Chronicles continues. Like sands thru the hourglass, so is the massive suckage of Dennis Wideman. He was -3 last night and continues to be squirrely whenever the puck gets near him. He get booed whenever he touches the puck, like when Chara gets booed in MTL whenever he touches the puck.
  
• Craig Rivet is a dick. Maybe it's my residual hatred left over from his Habs days, but he's a dick and Lootch wanted to kill him, but the linesmen separated them a few times. Disappointing.
• Seidenberg is making a case for being re-signed. Trade Hunwick, trade Boychuk. Noted Minnesota recently, "Boychuk is NOT a defenseman. Nice shot...but that's it." The d-pair of Boychuk & Hunwick is an atrocity and an insult to the concept of "defense".
  
• Sobotka was 9 out of 10 from the faceoff dot.
• OH YES, that was Chara laying out ex-BC pissant Nathan Gerbe at center ice in the middle of the 2nd period.
  
• The Canes beat the Thrash last night, keeping the B's dim playoff hopes alive.
  
• Seidenberg is der scheisse.
  

B's Extinguish Flames

Yesterday, the B's turned in one of their better efforts of the season and whupped the Flames, 5-0. Tim Thomas with the shutout. Goals by ahhhh Bergeron (off Flames' d-man skate), Krejci (kinda likea half-wrister/slappa that picked the corner on Kiipprruussooff), Chara (charging thru the slot on the PP, walked in alone and beat Kipper high blocker side), Seidenberg (looking nearly Bourque-like (that's Ray, not Rene) a one-timer from Wideman (2 assists) with Sturm screening, and Recchi diving on a shot to cap the scoring.

• Quietly pleased with Thomas' shutout. He didn't have to work too hard, though he did deal with 3 or 4 collisions with Flames players. I can't be a Timmy-hater even if his GAA is 5.00. Cload appreciated his mental toughness because he was on the bench the past few games. Holy shit, Cload, TT is an even bigger journeyman that you. Any guy who spends his life in minor league hockey/overseas hockey and finally breaks into the NHL at age 28 - I think "mental toughness" and resiliency are pretty much a given at that point.
• Just for shits 'n grins, let's compare the journeyman-ness of Cload & Tim Thomas. Cload, in 12 years, has played for: Oshawa Generals, Windsor Spitfires, Port Huron Flags, Salt Lake Golden Eagles, Milwaukee Admirals, Fredericton Express, Quebec Nordiques, Baltimore Skipjacks, Halifax Citadels, Kansas City Blades, Moncton Hawks. Tim Thomas, in 17 years, has played for: UVM Catamounts, HIFK Helsinki, Birmingham Bulls, Houston Aeros, Hamilton Bulldogs, Detroit Vipers, AIK Solna, Karpat, the P-Bruins, Jokerit Helsinki, Boston Bruins. Okay, maybe they're sort of equal in the bus mileage accrued. Nevermind.
  
• Thornton dispatched Regehr in a 3rd period fight. Wasn't much of a fight, just mostly grappling, with Thornton connecting on maybe 2 punches. But he got the takedown.
• I'm tellin' ya, Sobotka HAS to drop the gloves one of these days. He's flying around the ice, hitting folks, and it's great because he's a spaz and will take on anyone, but he's gotta answer the call one of these days...he was also 10 of 11 from the faceoff dot yesterday.
  
• I prescribe the following remedy for Wideman and his season-long suckage: He needs to go to a cabin in northern Ontario or something, kill a large wild animal with his bare hands, and then eat it. Maybe have that Mantracker guy chase after him, too.
• I'm warming up to the presence of Seidenberg on the blue line, maybe we can make room for him to be re-signed over the summer. TRADE HUNWICK.
  

The Bruins Hate Us

Why can't this team win at home? After turning in 2 gritty efforts on the road, they come home, throw 50 shots on Tampa (The 'Ning, as Minnesota chooses to call them) and lose 5-3. Surely, many fans were pumped to see the Bruins return to form (sort of) on the road - and wanted to see the same type of effort/physicality last night. It was there for the most part, I guess. But the game lacked a fight, even with noble gas Xenon Konopka and league turd Steve Downie skating for the other side. But Niittyymmaakkii, despite being a rebound machine and helping the Bruins all he could, held the fort as the shots rained down. Ya know, at least if we make the playoffs, we'll play all games on the road as the 8th seed. So maybe sucking at home won't be so bad. Meanwhile, I'm gonna put my head back in the oven.

• Row 12 mused aloud last night, "Hey, what's our record with Trent Whitfield in the lineup"? I looked it up. In 2009-2010, 4-8-3.
• Wideman, he's just one metric ton of suck out there, huh? Wow.
• I used to have Steven Stamkos on my fantasy hockey team, but I did not keep him for this season. So in case my posts didn't already show that I don't know anything about the game, there's additional proof. (Instead I kept...Kimmo Timonen.)
  

Andrew Ference Signs 3-year Extension

According to Darren Dreger and now Matt Kalman, who might just be quoting Dreger, the deal carries with it a cap hit of $2.25M per year. This seems high to me and the commenters are out in full force on the Globe's blog post. He had previously only carried a cap hit of $1.4M and hasn't exactly proven to be durable. He played in 59 games in '07-'08, just 47 last year and he has already missed 22 games this year. Now, the surprising statistic here is the Bruins are just 5-12-5 in those 22 games meaning they are 28-15-7 when he is in the lineup. He first got injured in the Ottawa game shortly after the Winter Classic where the Bruins played very well. The next game was against Chicago where Savard exited on the first shift. Ference then missed the next 14 games and the Bruins went 1-9-4 in that span. He returned just in time for the 4-game winning streak prior to the Olympics. Maybe something can be said for this, but the Bruins were missing Savard and Bergeron for much of that stretch as well.

I just don't think he is worth that much for what he brings to the table (8 assists in 50 games and questionable durability). Right now, the Bruins are committed to four defenseman for next year (with cap hit in parentheses): Chara ($7.5M), Wideman ($3.875M), Ference ($2.25M), and Hunwick ($1.45M). Stuart and Boychuk are RFA's and Seidenberg is a UFA after this season. Wideman and Hunwick have been MIA this season.

It makes you wonder what Chiarelli has in store for the offseason. I still think Peter wants Tomas Kaberle (who will be in the final year of his contract and will no longer have the no-trade clause this summer). This signing has me worried that Mark Stuart might go the other way for Kaberle. Mark Stuart fits the Brian Burke mold and would give Burke the salary relief he needs on his back end.

B's take the Thrash out.

One thing about this blog is that I can tap into my inner Boston Herald and come up with lame-pun headlines like "Take out the Thrash" or "Set the Thrash out on the curb for pickup" or something like that.
Rask pitched a shutout last night as the B's won, 4-0. Goals by, ah...Lootch, Satan, Krejci, and Begin.
The play was physical, but Atlanta couldn't keep up. Fight between Thornton & Boulton was pretty good. Jack Edwards was particularly effusive about Boulton's character, it was even a little weird. Not many fans in Atlanta, and a lot of them were B's fans. Now the B's are within, ah, 2 points? of 5th place. What is going on? Personally, I'm hoping for a Round 1 matchup vs. the Penguins, I think it would be very emotional out there, we could just pound them into submission like we should have last week.

Whaaaaaaaat?

I'm sure one of my fellow contributors will chip in with a more detailed account of tonight's game.

Full disclosure- I've been working a ton of nights, and have unfortunately missed many games, Including tonight. I do have it recorded, and plan on watching it tomorrow. (Tivo is so much better than VHS.)

However, from all accounts (texts messages from the 311 crew) and the recaps I have read of the game it actually leads me to be more angry than happy.

Why? B's showed grit Sunday, and from what I've heard tonight (except for Wideman, who should be the first causality in the offseason moves.)

I just don't get it. You play an inspired game and beat a hot team good tonight. You play hard, you play physical, you score goals. Why can't you do this every night? You lay a DUD against the Pens Thursday in the highest rated regular season game in NESN history. You've played heartless hockey most of the season. Yet tonight, you play a helluva hockey game.

Granted, I guess I'm the only one that can be cynical enough to be frustrated with a convincing win. I"m just baffled. Who are these Bruins? Can they actually muster enough to give a team a go in the first round of the playoffs? (still planning on an early exit, IF they make it.)

Prove me wrong B's. Can you show some intensity from here on out and go into the playoffs hot? Man, I hope so.

But in the meantime, you still baffle me. Every game.

Who Knew?

The Thrash are hot on the heels of our Bruins for the last playoff spot in the East. Suddenly, Tuesday night's game in Atlanta is the headline matchup on the NHL sched that night (I'll also be watching the Florida/Toronto game closely which has significant lottery implications). I would be remiss not to mention the Phoenix/Chicago game that is also on Tuesday night. Derek Morris' new team has reeled off NINE straight victories and are currently tied with Chicago for the CONFERENCE LEAD. They passed San Jose over the weekend with a couple of dramatic victories. On Saturday, they came back from two goals down in the 3rd against the aforementioned Blackhawks to win in a shootout. This is a great story. Dave Tippett is a lock for the Jack Adams.

Our Bruins have 11 games remaining and the teams around them are all down to their final 10. Yesterday's victory over the even-more-pathetic Rangers basically wiped the blueshirts out of the race. If the Rangers and Panthers were to win all of their remaining games, they would only have 91 points. If Carolina, Tampa, or the Isle did the same, they would have only 88 points. These teams are all effectively finished which makes tomorrow's matchup against the Thrash a "huge one" as Jack Edwards would say.

Also, take a look in front of the Bruins and you will see some teams that are ripe for the picking. Three teams (OTT, PHI, MTL) are just 3 points ahead of the B's and they have a game in hand on all three of them. Ottawa has really been struggling (losers of 5 straight and 1-7-1 since the Olympics) and Philadelphia is now relying on Brian Boucher in goal. It's possible that one of these teams could be the odd team out if Atlanta keeps winning. Ottawa goes to Montreal tonight in a big game for each of them. As Bruins fans, we're just rooting for anything but a three point game.

If you want to be optimistic, 5th place is still well within reach with a strong finish. For the Bruins to have a chance in the first round, they need to avoid the Caps who they just don't match up with. So, the priorities these final three weeks are:

1. Toronto needs to stop winning and hold onto the #2 position in the lottery
2. The Bruins need to make the playoffs
3. The Bruins need to finish better than 8th to avoid the Caps in the first round

It was great to see some physical play from the B's yesterday and actually see an opposing team that was afraid to venture into the corners (a novel concept guys!). How about Mark Stuart getting hit from behind and then getting up to put a headlock on Gaborik? I also enjoyed Stuey's lookaway facewash of Brian Boyle that had the local Boyle all hot and bothered while probably playing in front of friends and family.

Also note that our boy Bitz had a goal and an assist for the Panthers in two games over the weekend!