B's Lose in SO, 4-3

Someone please put Toronto out of their misery, huh? The Bruins could have done some good by pounding this team down, stepping on their neck in order to sweeten that draft pick. But, the B's are laying down now that the 3rd seed is all but wrapped up.

• HOLY SHIT, if I have to see Cload drop the ball when it comes to shooters in the shoot-out, I'm gonna freak. Ryder is NOT shootout material, not when a hack like me can figure out that, if he even gets it on net at all, he's going low glove. "Hands guys", Cload - send Krejci, Bergeron, and Seguin EVERY TIME. Cload is as soft as puppy shit when it comes to Ryder.
• Seguin, pushing around Luke Schenn in a scrum. Better pick on someone smaller, kid. Schenn would ruin you. But at least Seguin's pretending to get pissed.
  
• Kessel, throwing a punch at Marchand. Oh, that woulda been good. According to the Herald, Marchand did a fake golf swing in front of the TOR bench. I missed it. But that's an awesome move. Kessel got a lot of boos last night, but no "Kessel sucks" chants.
• No Horton/Phaneuf III tonight. They really hate each other, it's awesome.
  
• Yeah, losing to the Rangers 1-0 was lame - I dodged the game to go skiing (Dumont Cup, right, where the announcer makes up the moves the freestylers do on the spot, I swear, right, "oh, he just did a fakie back-side 1260 spongecake with a dab of cool whip". shutthefuckup, asswipe.) Lundqvist OWNS the B's, so I'm not terribly looking forward to that matchup in the playoffs.
• Holy shit, the organist kicked into "Brass Bonanza" the other night, I almost hurled. It's like a mating call for the male Whaler fan when he seeks the companionship of basement-dwelling, Crisco-eatin' female Whaler fans.
  
• The 3-0 win by the B's over the B'hawks had to be possibly the most complete win I've witnessed all season, maybe even better than the pee-pee smackin' the B's gave the Habs a week earlier. I dunno. It was just a damn fine game.
  
• Note that Resident NHL Commie Andrew Ference follows Arsenal. As we all know, futbol is for commies. (caveat emptor, LGT American Thinker. Wear a rubba.)
• Dennis Wideman has a hematoma.
• Stan Jonathan at the game last night. The original #17 barely got a standing ovation, as the pink hats in the crowd said "who?" in between mugging for the jumbotron and dicking around with their iphones. Pound-for-pound, one of the toughest dudes to play for the B's, I can't embed this video enough onto this blog. Here he is, destroying Pierre Bouchard's face. Poetry.
  

Where is our puck-moving d-man?

Random junk, let the irrationality and misinformation begin:

• Roster from the other night indicated that Blake Wheeler likes Steely Dan. It corresponds with his laid back ways. The Dan is cool, but Wheels is not. I hope he's packaged up with a pick and sent away for our future d-man.
• Chris Kelly on his way from Ottawa. A dude from the Chiarelli days, it seems as though he's a PJ Axelsson-type with better finishing skillz. Good on PK, responsible defensively, great locker room presence, etc.
• Speaking of skillz, dontcha hate Hal Gill? Man, he sucks.
  
• Mark Stuart has worked his way back into the lineup after Boychuk started sucking and found his way to the press box. Stuey hasn't beaten anyone up yet, but here thinks he's suppressing some serious rage, being supplanted by Kampfer, so I think whoever is going to pay, is going to pay big and they will be bloodied.
  
• No "Kesssss-elllll" chants from the crowd the other night, so Kessel used this as a reason to actually play a somewhat decent game, scoring 2 goals to help beat the B's, 4-3. He was booed every time he touched the puck, but it didn't cause unforced errors like previous times. Chara checked Grabovski into the boards and it didn't appear to be a bad hit, but the dude fell to the ice, then tried to get up and fell again. I didn't think his head was involved but he appeared to be woozy. Didn't affect him skating thru the porous scoring the winning goal with a minute left, though.
  
• It appears that Horton has settled into a deep coma.
• Having Recchi on the point during the power play feels weird, but at this point, I think Cload is trying anything for PP goals, I can't blame him for trying something, anything, to get results.
• Where is our puck-moving defenseman? I mean, really, we have this conversation every year, and every year they do nothing. Lame.
  

B's get shut out

• B's got shut out yesterday, 2-0.
• Some dude (Dennis Kulyash) in the KHL shot a 110.3 mph shot the other day. You know how certain radar guns are faster than others, like in baseball ("yeah, he hit 98 on the Jugs gun")? I mean, the device was probably calibrated by the Russian mob or something. As far as I am concerned, it never happened.
  
• Phil Kessel was benched, then moved to the 3rd line for the Maple Leafs. He has a 10 game scoring drought, and is -22. Ron Wilson and he are not getting along. Kessel gets picked last for the All-Star draft, gives an awkward interview, wins a wimpy Honda. Ladies & gents, Phil Kessel is the gift that just keeps on giving, yeah?
• got nuthin'.
  

Thank You Kessel

I love winning. Dontcha love winning? Like, it's better than losing?

The Bruins raked the Leafs into the forest (running out of Leafs/autumn/defeat items here) last night, 2-0. Tim Thomas with the shutout. GAA of 0.60 and a save percentage over .980, who woulda thunk it?

• That Seguin kid, he's gonna be something someday. Snapped home a shot, displaying quick wrists, beating Gustafson. Bergy also connected again on the PP with a rising one-timer from the point, beating Gustafson high-glove.
• Nathan Horton didn't get on the scoresheet tonight but he scored in other areas just as important. He got into a scuffle with Dion Phaneuf and handled himself okay. Apparently it had been going all night, just verbal stuff, then after a faceoff, the sticks, gloves, helmets all came off and Horton went after him like a hurricane, roundhouse blows. Horton got the takedown, but Phaneuf performed some Phaneuf-ery and punched Horton after Horton threw him down. That got Horton pretty hot, so he kept punching away while Phaneuf was on the ground. Horton got the extra 10 for that, but it was worth it. I never though Horton was the type to throw down, but check out this battle with Arron Asham. Took him to the woodshed there. Nice work there, kid.
  
• Yah, surely you've heard about the chant (sounded like it started in Balcony Sec 314 or so) of "Thank You Kess-el" after the Seguin goal. It was pretty loud and among one of the better chants witnessed at the Fleet Garden in awhile. Great fun. As usual, the Loge was oblivious to there even being a hockey game on the ice. Game program lists Kessel at, no lie, 6-2 202 lbs. My ass. He's 5-10 and about 185 soaking wet, holding an anvil. He said he couldn't care less about the chants, etc. but we know we're in his head - which is why we chant & boo. Behind that tow-headed exterior lies a fragile, awkward, and sensitive lad...and we're going to destroy him emotionally, brick by brick.
  
• Mark Stuart pretty much mugged him in the corner, stole his lunch money, Kessel fell, and the crowd went nuts. Yeah.
  
• Milt Schmidt night at the TD Center, I missed most of it due to heavy traffic getting into the city. Dude is 92, appeared as alert as ever, started playing w/ the B's at age 12 or something, held all positions in the organization. I can barely skate.
  
• Key Word to Last Night: "Toxic". I musta said "holy shit, the d-combo there is toxic" about 400 times last night. Usually Ference was one of those 2 d-men. During the post-game, Beers said Ference has been doing well, but ya know, if I can tell you suck, then you suck. McQuaid was in for the injured Boychuk. I'd rather see Bartkowski or Kampfer.
• Ryan Spooner update: 7-8-15 totals in 10 games for the Peterborough Petes, slipping to 31st in scoring.
• Trade Wheeler. Do it soon, get some picks for him. Banish him to Phoenix or someplace where we won't see him. Saw a toddler with a Wheeler jersey on my way out, I almost called DSS because that's just child abuse right there. My buddy's 13 year old son almost started liking Wheeler during the B's/Rangers game and I diverted him to Seguin.
  
• Guy who sat to my right smelled like my late grandfather. Some cologne/aftershave from the 40's was employed there, methinks. And the dude talked to his wife the whole game, pretty much sewed a quilt and bought a few purses during the game as well.
  

Blackhawks Scalp B's in Shootout

Yup, the shootout sucks.

The Bruins hung around last night, scored some opportunistic goals around the crease (with some help from the 'Hawks goaltender - he was awful at controlling rebounds)...Krejci scored 2, and Paella & Boychuk scoring the others. Chicago's depth in the shootout, however, is pretty, uh, deep. Bergeron & Wheeler were stopped in the shootout. I think Thomas played pretty well - the B's were under assault a lot of the time - but blown coverages and bad passes led to some of those Chicago goals. The Bruins seem to play differently (i.e., worse) in front of Thomas than in front of Rask. I dunno.
random crap:

• Matt Hunwick was back at defense, plus Wozniewski played - wearing #44 - which reminds me not of Danny Ainge but of Wes Gardner.
• Winter Classic Tickets and Winter Classic Legends tickets have arrived. With the media blitz starting yesterday, I have to admit I'm getting somewhat pumped up for this event.
• Kessel-mania III tonight - Bruins in Toronto this time. I sense Kessel will have a better game than the 2 in Boston, but the Bruins should still win tonight. BONUS: I hope Jack Edwards quaffs a huge stein of Kessel-flavored haterade before tonight's game and spews some vitriol over the airwaves.
  
• I hope there are some beatdowns tonight. Maybe even a line brawl. Toronto's just the right bunch of thugs we need to face to glue this team together. Look for Savvy to do one of his patented two-handed slashes to the back of the knee when the ref's not looking. Then he'll chase after the smallest dude on the ice and rabbit punch him when he's prone.
• Last night, Jack/Brick had to remind us of the Brandon Bochenski for Kris Versteeg trade.
• Speaking of lopsided trades, check out this top 10 list of NHL lopsided trades.
  

Kessel Who? Part II

The Bruins pounded the Leafs again, 5-2 on Thursday night. The game was actually a lot closer than the score indicates, as it was 3-2 throughout most of the 3rd period, with a big momentum shift towards the Leafs after they scored 2 quick goals after the 2nd intermission. Goals by "Caveman Strong" Mark Stuart (the contributor known as "Minnesota" has indicated that Stuart is his favorite player, "Geico: So easy, Mark Stuart can do it"), Derek Morris (he still sucks. Can't play defense. He's a pylon out there.), Krejci (super sweet breakaway goal - Toskala got smoked. THE MATRIX IS BACK!), and 2 late, clutch goals by the Recchin Ball.
Kessel was, once again, left off the scoresheet. The anti-Kessel fervor was still high, as the fans now believe that Kessel can't handle the booing. KPD slapped Kessel around in this article, it is recommended reading. KPD also wrote about the Bruins not missing Kessel back in October in the New England Hockey Journal. It is finally available here. Check it out, it's pretty good.
random crap

• Apparently, huge fight in Section 304. Minnesota called it "the fight of the year".
• got nuthin'.
  

Kessel, Phil Kessel Who?

Friday night's game vs. MTL never happened. I don't know what you're talking about.

The Bruins put forth an excellent effort to slap the Maple Laffs down Saturday night, 7-2. Savvy got a hat trick (the crowd seemed confused, and weren't sure if he got the trick or not), Bitz himself got 2 assists, so hopefully the world is back to normal. The B's are 7-1-1 in their last 9, and the league whipping boys come back Thursday for a re-match ("Kessel-mania II").
Oh yeah, some punkass named Kessel returned. Got 2 SOG, was -3 and got an assist on Chara's goal. The chants & boos were fun. I rather enjoyed the return of Phil'n the Villain, to hear the crowd attack him with boos.
I personally think the team took great umbrage at Kessel being a weenie over the summer and into training camp. In the Ottawa-based blog "Down Goes Brown", author Sean McIndoe wondered at the beginning of the season, "Will chemistry suffer now that entire team is no longer united by their desire to punch Phil Kessel in the face?" I'd have to say "no" - they're still using the punkassness of Kessel as a unifying force - I think experiencing playing against him made them step up their game.
The icing on the cake was, of course, former Maple Laff prospect Tuukka Rask being a total slut in net, stopping over 30 shots. Everyone kinda got lazy towards the end of the game, waiting for it to finish, and that's when Toronto got their garbage-time goals.
random crap

• Heard in the stands, "wow, we just make this organization [Toronto] our bitch."
• Former Toronto property Brad Boyes with 7-9-16 totals with the St. Louis Blues. I think I'll have to form a list of players who don't suck who used to play in the Toronto system, and aren't there anymore, just as a demonstration of JFJ's asshattery.
• Jay Leach has been picked up now by the San Jose Sharks. Good for K-Tap, as Jay is now chasing the dream in Worcester with the Sharks as opposed to the Hamilton Bulldogs (MTL's AHL affiliate).
• Kid who sat next to me fell down twice trying to leave his seat. He tried the old, "I-don't-want-to-bother-the-row-I'm-in-so-I'll-step-on-the-chair-in-the-row-in-front-of-me-and-go-thru-that-row" spiel. No dice. He fell. We laughed.
  

Kessel is no Jay Miller

Kessel "fought" last night.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VQlaEPCxNA

Just a waltzing, grappling match with barely any punches thrown. It will probably be ranked as one of the top 5 worst fights of the year.

B's win again - Life not so horrible

Don't look now, but your favorite hockey team is 6-0-1 in their last 7 games. It certainly doesn't feel like it, with all of the shootouts and stuff.

Last night, the B's beat the Lightning, 4-1. The line of Bergeron, Sturm, and Recchi was insane. Thomas was also nuts, stopping 38 or so shots. Okay, I'm too lazy to check the box score to publish any real numbers.

Watch the drama unfold on Saturday, as Phil Kessel comes back to Boston. I predict that he will be booed lustily. Maybe some B's fans will take it to the gutter and throw batteries at him, Philly-style. Either way, I don't think he'll be greeted nicely. More on this Saturday.

The contributor known as Minnesota is really hating Wheels these days: "He reminds me of Landon Wilson - same body type, same skill set, same number". Landon Wilson ("land of the lost" according to KPD) disappeared in Europe for awhile, but resurfaced in North America recently by signing with the Dallas Stars. He currently plays for the Texas Stars in the AHL. We'll try to have the Mayor grab his autograph someday.