Tonight's Game and KPD

If the Bruins lose their 11th straight at home tonight, you can a stick a fork in me, I'm done thinking we will make the playoffs. The Maple Laffs traded away everybody and are bringing an AHL team to the TD Garden tonight. They also have a coach who put everything he had into the Olympics and has to be suffering from a complete lack of motivation himself. If you lose to this team at home, you do not deserve to make the playoffs.

Also, with the overwhelmingly bad will that Peter and staff generated amongst the fan base yesterday, can you imagine what a loss tonight will do to amplify that?

KPD offered his take on it today and pointed out that Raffi Torres or Alexei Ponikarovsky would not have brought Lord Stanley's Cup here to Boston. I agree with you KPD, but you left out the part about how the Seidenberg/Morris deals were made to clear cap room for a SMALL boost to the offense that Peter failed to provide. Peter traded away some of the future by sacrificing the 2nd rounder the Bruins had from Tampa to only get a college d-man and a 4th round pick in 2011 back. The supposed improvement over Morris that Seidenberg brings isn't going to lead to a victory parade in June either, so why sacrifice a potential top 40 pick on draft day for him? Remember, he's a UFA just like Morris at the end of the season.

Basically, it would have been better to do nothing than what Peter did yesterday - he proved to us that he didn't have things planned properly and that he couldn't pull the trigger when he needed to.

Someone, anyone to play with Savard would help this team. When Savard's line is not a threat, it makes this team very easy to play against. Raffi Torres or Alexei Ponikarovsky would have helped - to what degree is a question, but you cannot tell me they would not have helped at all. Miroslav Satan remaining in the lineup hurts - he's going to have to bag a hat trick tonight to get me off his back...

NHL News and Notes

Papa Smurf Steps Down
I had predicted Gainey would be gone by Thanksgiving so I was a little off, but still, this was long overdue.  The Canadiens let him go down gracefully by putting up the "it's time for me to leave" front.  As one commenter on TSN said: "The only GM Glen Sather ever fleeced" (The Scott Gomez deal).

Ryan Getzlaf Could Miss Olympics
I'm with Don Cherry and think Steven Stamkos should get the roster spot if Getzlaf can't go.  The leader in the clubhouse seems to be Jeff Carter since he was supposedly the last forward cut, but who has been better than Steven Stamkos in the past few weeks?

Leafs Lose to Sharks
The Leafs moved closer to lottery position on Monday night.  I watched this game and I must say that Kessel looked very good.  He had a goal and a very nice assist in the game.  The good news for us as Bruins fans is that J.S. Giguere looked very human after starting his Leafs career with two straight shutouts.  Heading into Tuesday's action, the Leafs had the 2nd worst record in the league.

Isles In Trouble
After a solid start to the season, the Islanders have fallen off the earth.  This is bad news for us as Bruins fans since they find themselves only 5 points ahead of the Leafs heading into Tuesday's action.  After winning a shootout at home against the Panthers on January 21, the Isles have not won a game.  And they haven't even acquired a point (0-7-0).  Get it together on Long Island and stay ahead of the Leafs fellas.

The Rule of 94

Generally speaking, it takes 94 points to make the playoffs in the East.  Since the lockout, the 8th place team in the Eastern Conference has had 92, 92, 93, and 94 points.  The Bruins have 31 games to go and have to get 40 more points to reach 94.  This means finishing 20-11-0 or 18-9-4...no small task.  They better start by getting at least 10 points out of these 9 games before the break.

The Toronto Maple Leafs could win every single one of their final 28 games and they would finish with only 100 points.  Lottery here we come!

Also, NHL 94 is arguably the best in the series - the advent of the one-timer in hockey video games changed my life.   Enjoy Mario Lemieux scoring on a one-timer from Jaromir Jagr:

Wayne Primeau Helps Bruins

...funny that I mentioned Wayne Primeau yesterday. Last night I watched the Leafs/Kings game and he made a soon-to-be-healthy-scratch type turnover to Dustin Brown that allowed the Kings to go ahead 3-2 and they never looked back. By the way, Drew Doughty is a great player - take a close look at him on Saturday when the Kings visit our Bruins - you won't be disappointed.

I can't say I've ever watched more Leafs games in all my years with NHL Center Ice. The Leafs between periods studio show talked about the Bruins pick and how they would be insane to trade it away for Ilya Kovalchuk. One of the guys also said that Ilya might be planning to get traded and then decide to go to the KHL next season and leave whatever sap bets the farm on him 'holding the bag'.

Go Leafs - KEEP LOSING! In other Leafs news, they are expecting Komisarek and Grabovski back from injury shortly. Hopefully this doesn't help their play any.

NHL News

Georges Laraque is finished as a Hab - Bob Gainey (Papa Smurf) healthy-scratched Laraque (Hefty Smurf) for the rest of the season which leaves them with no enforcer. Gomez (Greedy Smurf), Gionta (Baby Smurf), Cammalleri (Handy Smurf) and crew have their work cut out for them to make the postseason.

The Leafs lost in OT to the Ning last night. They took a too many men on the ice penalty in OT and Marty St. Louis cashed in on the power play. Remember, we need the Leafs to finish in the bottom 5 overall to give us a chance at the #1 overall pick in June. Right now, Tampa Bay occupies that magical 26th place overall position with 50 points, which is 6 points ahead of the Leafs. The way the Bruins are playing, they might be in the lottery too - only 4 points ahead of the aforementioned Ning.