Horrible.

Tonight was a perfect example of "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory". The Bruins had come back to lead the Pens...and with only 0.4 seconds left - only to lose it in OT, 6-5. The game was over. 44.1 seconds left - and Paella forgets to shoot for the empty net...then Begin misses an empty net attempt...then Bergeron's stick breaks on an empty net attempt. Horrible. Then Wideman has a brain fart on a Pittsburgh clear-in, and Pascal Depuis scores an easy goal to win it in OT. Most Horrible.
random crap

• Good to see some scoring. Krejci (close in, off a rebound), Wheels, Sturm (deflecting a Chara slapshot with the inside of his left thigh), Morris (he still sucks), and Ryder (wicked shot) had goals.
• You better believe that Jack Edwards made a comment regarding composite sticks and Bergeron's stick breaking in the final seconds. He also commented on Godard's "fisting ability".
  
• More crazy saves by Thomas, two on breakaways by Malkin & Crosby each. Yeah, he let up 5 goals, but the final score could have been a lot worse.
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• I'm telling you, the Marchand Experiment has to end. He shanked an empty-net opportunity.
• The NHL's secret flow chart for determining suspensions.
  
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• Maple Leaf Suck Watch: They lost tonight, 5-2 to Calgary. 29th in the league with 11 points. 30th in the league is Carolina with 8 points.
• Evgeni Malkin hails from one of the most polluted cities on the planet, Magnitogorsk. Mutant? Sweartagawd he's got a couple eyes on the back of his head. I'm not sayin', I'm just sayin'.
• Looch was at the NESN desk in between periods. Ya know how Howie Carr's got that "Wizard of Uhs" thing with Ted Kennedy? Play a Ted K. clip, and count the "uh"s? Winner gets a gift cert to the Kowloon or something? Well, he should switch that game over to Looch.
  

Got Looch?

The latest Bruins news from Causeway Street is that Milan Lucic has signed a 3-year contract extension worth a total of $12.25M.
I'm somewhat ambivalent, not because I think Looch doesn't deserve the money, but rather because I sense that this means that the Bruins will have a hard time keeping Marc Savard. I think other capologists would agree. I'd start to quote numbers, but www.nhlnumbers.com and www.nhlscap.com have not updated their respective roster matrices. But generally speaking (going off of Minnesota's analysis), the Bruins have about $15M to play with in the off-season to get 5 forwards, 3 d-men and Tuukka. I see Marchand & Hamill staying up with the parent club next year, as well as at least Boychuk. Maybe their relative cheapness will help shoehorn in some deal for Savvy.
But gee whiz, when Looch hits the ice, you can't help but grin whenever he delivers a punishing hit, knocks in a cheap goal at the crease, or changes the play due to opponents' fear of getting crunched in the corners. From a marketing standpoint, the guy is probably worth more than the money that is coming to him. Cam Neely has Looch as the centerpiece in re-making the Bruins in his own image.
Recurring themes in my grumblings to folks who sit in 311, just random crap:

• Does it feel weird to hear a National Anthem performed by anyone OTHER than Rene Rancourt? No offense to the others who have performed the song (notoriously difficult to sing, and props to anyone who has the stones to attempt it in a sports arena), but it just seems "off" if it ain't Rene. The National Anthems (both American & Hoser) are not auditions for American Idol, so cut the melismata.
  
• I lament the lost art of the backhanded shot. Recently, Lord Bitz had a shorthanded breakaway and Joe Corvo bit real hard on Bitz' fake, as did Cam Ward. Bitz had all sorts of net to shoot for, but couldn't roof a sexy backhander past the goalie, and ended up scuffing some dribbler on Ward. HORRIBLE.
• NESN has been airing their bracket for most classic NESN-televised hockey game. I know I should be rooting for all of the milestone Bruins games, but in a non-Bruin-centric, pure hockey fan kind-of-way, I think that Ron Tugnutt's 70 save performance was one of the best games I ever saw on tv, and definitely the most insane goaltending performance ever. It was just pure animal.
• All Section 311'ers have to agree with me when I say that there's something intrinsically wrong with The Mayor watching Confederate Flag hockey 2000 miles away while the Bruins and the Sox are playing on the same night, one right after the other.