The Bruins Began Their 2023-24 Regular Season Campaign With A 3-1 Victory Vs. The Blackhawks

 

    It seems like only yesterday that the Bruins were choking away a 3-1 series lead and losing another excruciating Game 7 on their home ice, this time to the Panthers in the first round of the playoffs last spring. You cannot blame Boston's fans for having even more PTSD after the Bruins made the best regular season in NHL history nothing but a useless footnote. With that said, it is time to move on with our lives and focus on a new season for the Black and Gold. Additionally, with how terrible the Red Sox and Patriots are these days, we need the B's and the Celtics to be the title contenders that we believe them to be. Tonight, the B's hosted the Blackhawks (1-1-0) at TD Garden and they turned in a solid performance that resulted in a satisfying 3-1 win for the home team. 

    The league schedule makers did the Bruins a favor since Chicago had played last night (an unexpected 4-2 triumph in Pittsburgh). The Blackhawks received an early boost by their young phenom and the No. 1 overall pick center Connor Bedard who scored his first career goal at 5:37 of the first period with a nifty wraparound. Bruins goaltender Linus Ullmark (20 saves) was a little slow to react and the baby-faced 18-year-old Canadian corralled a rebound and quickly twisted around the cage to net what will be the first of likely hundreds of goals in the NHL. Former Bruins Taylor Hall-who later left with an upper body injury following a check from B's defenseman Brandon Carlo-and Ryan Donato (the pride of Harvard) provided the assists on Bedard's historic tally. Chicago's lone lead was brief though as Boston tied it up less than six minutes later. Left wing Trent Frederic deftly tipped in Carlo's shot from the point at 11:22. Rookie center Matthew Poitras picked up the second assist, the first career point for a 19-year-old who burst onto the scene at Boston's training camp and earned himself a surprise spot in the opening lineup. 

    It was knotted at 1-1 after the first period but the Bruins slowly started to take over against the understandably tired Blackhawks in the second period. They took a 2-1 lead midway through the frame that served as an early dose of Bruins porn for their always thirsty fans. Old friend and left wing Milan Lucic made his triumphant return to the Garden with a nice backhand assist to right wing David Pastrnak who ripped a low shot past Chicago's backup goalie something named Arvid Soderblom (30 saves) at 13:09. After scoring a career-high 61 goals last season, it is unlikely that Pastrnak will reach that lofty height this time around but as long as he can bag 40+ goals, the Bruins will take it. Boston led 2-1 heading into the third and you had a feeling that Chicago was gassed out. 
    Each club was 0-for-3 on the power play so the B's had to wait until the Blackhawks pulled Soderblom for an extra skater to finally put this one to bed. In his first official contest as captain Bruins left wing Brad Marchand won a puck battle along the wall and unselfishly gave up the puck to Pastrnak for an easy empty-net goal at 19:04. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy registered the second assist on David's second goal of the night. Overall, it was a fun game for the B's who saw two of their recent draft picks make their NHL debuts: center John Beecher and right wing Jakub Lauko who teamed up with Lucic on the very effective fourth line.

    Boston will practice for a few days before their next matchup-on Saturday night (7, NESN)- Nashville (0-1-0) pays them a visit. Following that matchup with another Western Conference club, the B's are off to California (San Jose, LA then Anaheim) and a return date with Chicago as their first road trip of this season is four games long. We are a few weeks away from Halloween so the weather is still pretty decent in New England and unless you are a hardcore fan, it is hard to focus on the Bruins this early. However, winter will be here soon enough and the Pats could be the worst team in the NFL so local sports fans need a team to put our unrealistic hopes on. Hello Bruins (and Celtics)! Longtime Bruins centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are now retired plus there is a decent amount of new faces on this roster. Last season was a forceful reminder that the regular season in hockey is mostly useless other than qualifying for the playoffs. Regardless, the NHL postseason does not start for a long time so we need entertainment until then and this likeable group should fill that void very well indeed.

With Judon & Gonzalez Likely Out For Rest Of The Season, Bill Belichick Brings Back J.C. Jackson

    By any measure, Sunday's game at Dallas (3-1) could not have gone much worse for New England (1-3) as they got embarrassed 38-3-the worst loss of Bill Belichick's head coaching career-in front of a national TV audience. It was so gross that I did not feel like writing about it afterwards since how many different ways can you get the obvious point across that they suck? The pain from that debacle will last for a long time since the two best players on the Patriots-defensive end Matthew Judon (bicep) and cornerback Christian Gonzalez (shoulder)-each suffered what seem to be season-ending injuries that will both require surgery. Facing a brutal 1-3 start for the third season in a row, Belichick worked the phone lines and came up with a cornerback that we all know very well: J.C. Jackson. This morning, LA traded Jackson to New England along with a seventh-round pick in 2025 for a sixth-round pick in 2025. Sweetening the deal for Bill is the fact that the dopey Chargers are paying almost all of his salary ($9.33 million) for the rest of the season with the Pats only on the hook for $1.5 million. 

    Back in the good old days when the Patriots were one of the best teams in the NFL every season (you know, because they had Tom Brady), a move like this would be universally lauded. Instead, this is a frustrating move now for a couple reasons: 1) I understand that New England's defense just lost two standout players but Bill spends way too much time and money on that unit to begin with while he completely ignores the offense. 2) If the Chargers did not pay most of Jackson's money, is there any chance that Belichick would pull the trigger on this deal? Nope, because he loves cheap deals more than actual talent which is totally backwards if you want to win championships. Jackson is still only 27 years old and in his sixth season in the league (4 in New England and 2 in Los Angeles) but he has become the latest poster child for a guy that rightfully cashed in on a career season (he was an All-Pro his last season with the Pats and second in the NFL with 8 INTs) but he has done nothing since then.

    He ended up only playing seven total games with the Chargers after hurting his knee in Week 7 last season and in Week 3 a few weeks ago, things got so bad that he was a healthy scratch. After accumulating 25 interceptions as a Patriot and becoming an unlikely star who was undrafted out of Maryland, he only snagged one pick with LA. His monster deal in free agency-5 years, $82.5 million-runs through 2026 so you can bet that no matter what, New England will not want to pay that so he will probably be gone from Foxborough once again when this miserable season comes to an end. It is also troublesome that Belichick only appears to be interested in hiring coaches (Bill O'Brien) that he has already worked with or getting players that have previously played for him. If you only surround yourself with familiar faces and players that nobody else wants, how are you supposed to grow and gain new knowledge? 

    For this and many other reasons-quarterback Mac Jones had the worst game of his life against the Cowboys-the Pats are clearly at another pivotal moment in their franchise history. They host the Saints (2-2) on Sunday (1, CBS) at Gillette Stadium. New Orleans' quarterback Derek Carr (shoulder) is banged up so even if he plays or if goofball Jameis Winston is the starter, this should be a winnable game. However, other than the Jets, it is tough to favor New England against anyone else at the moment. They have so many holes on their roster which was mediocre at best to start the year. Judon was a legitimate Pro Bowler and Gonzalez looked like a steal and an early favorite for the Defensive Rookie of The Year. They are in such rough shape that we all hope that Jackson starts on Sunday after only being back here for a few days. Have you seen fellow cornerback Myles Bryant try to play football? Even if the Patriots win a rock fight against the Saints, it is hard to see them getting the requisite nine or ten wins that it will take to reach the playoffs this season.

Celts Made Another Major Trade: Robert Williams & Malcolm Brogdon To Portland For Jrue Holiday

 

    With training camp starting this week, it was nice to see the Celtics finally show some urgency to win their first NBA title since 2008. After seeing the Bucks acquire superstar point guard Damian Lillard last week, Boston responded by trading center Robert Williams and point guard Malcolm Brogdon to Portland (along with a 2024 and 2029 first round pick) for point guard Jrue Holiday. We have always overrated Williams but for many reasons, I truly do not think that you will miss him all that much unless you love alley oop dunks and highlight reel blocked shots in the regular season. I liked Brogdon very much but Holiday is unquestionably better as a two-time NBA All-Star (including last season) and more importantly, an NBA champion with the Bucks in 2021.  

    Williams had always been such a tease as a Celtic, often flashing incredible athleticism and talent but his game never really developed offensively and he is one of the most injury prone players in professional sports. Truthfully, he is a bit of a dinosaur in the league since big men that do not shoot 3-pointers are almost totally extinct. Brogdon was only here for one season but he was a true pro and the Sixth Man of the Year but you knew something would happen when the C's tried to trade for him over the summer to the Clippers while they wanted him to get surgery on his elbow (that severely limited him in the playoffs) but he disagreed. I know that he was close with Jaylen Brown so hopefully this move does not piss off Jaylen too much. Likewise, Time Lord was tight with Jayson Tatum so same deal there. 

    More than anything, this aggressive move by the C's proves that Brad Stevens understands that they cannot wait around for the next championship to appear out of the mist. For too long, the franchise has acted like they are the Warriors or the Bulls in the 90s in terms of multiple titles in recent history when they truth is that all they have is two bitter losses in the NBA Finals (in 2011 vs. the Lakers and in 2022 vs. the Warriors) since capturing their 17th title 15 long years ago. As long as they have a healthy Tatum and Brown, they will always be in the mix in the Eastern Conference and for the Finals. You don't win championships because of role players and bench guys but Boston clearly needed to upgrade its roster that was way too thin behind their top two players.  

    Besides being a very solid player who averaged 19.3 points per game, 7.4 assists per game, 5.1 rebounds per game and 1.2 steals per game in 2022-23, Holiday is an adult. He is 33 years old and married to former USWNT star Lauren Holiday who has battled some serious health issues since she was forced to retire early. Jrue is a good but great shooter (38.4% on 3-pointers and 85.9% free throw percentage) who has famously struggled with his shot in the postseason but you can always count on his outstanding defense, leadership and winning mentality. He won't beat himself and force things searching for his points. This is all to say that both on the floor and in the community, I think that he should be an excellent fit (much like Brogdon was) for the Celtics and someone that is very easy to root for.