Bruins Answer The Bell, Solve Holtby In 4-3 Thriller

Three games into the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Boston Bruins finally proved that Capitals rookie goaltender Braden Holtby isn't the second-coming of Patrick Roy. Not yet at least.

Tonight at Verizon Center, Boston beat Washington 4-3 in Game 3 to take a 2-1 series lead. After scoring two goals combined in the first two games, the B's were able to get traffic in front of Holtby (25 saves), roll four lines (that all had tangible contributions) and grab their first lead(s) of the series.

For the third consecutive game, this one looked to be headed for overtime but Bruins captain Zdeno Chara saved Boston from that dicey scenario with a clutch goal at 18:07 in the third period. Patrice Bergeron and Dennis Seidenberg assisted on Chara's first of the playoffs, a one-timer that was a low missile that Holtby could not stop.

Washington scored the first goal but Boston was able to rally twice (down 1-0 and 2-1) to tie it and eventually take a 3-2 lead. The Capitals scored with six minutes left in regulation, a backbreaking goal on a truly putrid defensive breakdown by the B's.

Alexander Semin (1st of the playoffs) scored a power-play goal with four minutes left in the first period. His screened wrist shot found its way past Tim Thomas (29 saves) with assists from Brooks Laich and Alex Ovechkin.

After a slow first period, the Bruins woke up early in the second as Rich Peverley (1st of the playoffs) squeezed one past Holtby 35 seconds in. It was a save that the rookie should have made, the first semi-soft one he's allowed thus far. Nevertheless, a first line forward for Boston finally produced a goal. Chara and Andrew Ference had the helpers.

Before I could even tweet about that goal, Washington scored 13 seconds later. Laich's flip/dump pass found Ovechkin and his shot was deflected by Seidenberg past Thomas. Ovie's first of the playoffs was also assisted by Roman Hamrlik.

Daniel Paille (1st of the [playoffs) made sure Boston wouldn't face another deficit after two periods. He scored on a rebound at 9:38 with assists to Greg Zanon and Gregory Campbell.

A good sign for Boston is that they had jump to start the third and scored an early goal, again. Brian Rolston (1st of the playoffs) scored on another juicy rebound by Holtby. Funny how average a goaltender can look when you get some bodies in his field of vision and don't settle for 50-foot shots. Chris Kelly and Chara assisted on Rolston's first playoff goal for Boston since 2004.

Laich (1st of the playoffs) tied it at 3 after a home-run pass from Nicklas Backstrom found him alone by the Boston bench. He skated in on Thomas and roofed a forehand shot. Mike Green had the second assist.

Game 4 is on Thursday night in D.C. so these teams will have an extra day off to let the hatred build. I didn't think the Capitals had it in them but I guess their head coach Dale Hunter has brainwashed them into taking cheapshots (Examples: Jason Chimera spearing Brad Marchand in the balls and Backstrom picking up a 10-minute match penalty at the final whistle). By the rulebook, Backstrom will miss Game 4 but Hunter said in his postgame comments that he thinks the NHL will rescind it. We shall see about that. Oh and Karl Alzner (who?) made fun of Milan Lucic by making a crybaby hand gesture after a scrum. Haha have fun dealing with that crazy Karl.

There's a big difference between being up 3-1 in a series or tied 2-2 so I have faith that the Bruins will be focused and as a result, they'll play well. Please for the love of God, can they score a power play goal? They were 0 for 5 this evening which makes them 0 for 11 in the playoffs.

UPDATE 4/17: Backstrom had his disciplinary hearing today and his suspension is upheld, he will miss Game 4 on Thursday for his cross-check of Rich Peverley at the end of Game 3. Huge loss for the Caps and a really dumb play by him.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Kelly's OT Winner Delivers Game 1 To The Bruins

Are you ready for another unforgettable ride with the Boston Bruins?

Chris Kelly scored 1:18 into overtime tonight as the B's blanked the Washington Capitals 1-0 at TD Garden in Game 1 of their quarterfinal series.

It's been a pulsating start to the 2012 NHL playoffs as four of the seven games so far have gone to overtime. The defending Stanley Cup champs were able to stay focused when other teams might have become discouraged.

Caps rookie goaltender Braden Holtby (29 saves) was excellent, although I think he'd love to have another chance to stop Kelly's shot. Benoit Pouliot sprung Kelly on a partial breakaway and he was able to snipe it in the far corner from some distance. Brian Rolston had the other assist on the winning goal. I'm not saying it was an easy save or a bad shot but Holtby did make some more difficult stops earlier in the night.

By picking up his sixth career playoff shutout, Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (17 saves) was able to stay awake despite only facing seven shots in the first two periods. After carrying the play for the first two frames, Boston watched as Washington (9-3 shot advantage) looked like a different team in the third.

It being the postseason, the Bruins' woeful power-play from last spring appeared to carry over as they went 0 for 4, including a 4-minute advantage. Plus, they picked up a 2-minute penalty on the Capitals right after the 4-minute one expired so they basically had six straight minutes of a power-play, yet it yielded no goals.

If Washington was going to steal a game in Boston, this was the blueprint for such an upset. They didn't allow the Bruins too many good chances (even though they outshot the Caps 30-17) and for the most part, they were able to match Boston's physicality. Alex Ovechkin was clearly a marked man as he was hit hard on nearly every shift, sometimes two or three times.

Game 2 is Saturday afternoon at TD Garden (3 p.m. on NBC). Boston doesn't have to change anything, I expect Washington to play like the more desperate team in that one. The Bruins already proved that they can win a low-scoring game so don't be surprised if it opens up more as the series progresses.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Marty Turco Might Not Be So Worthless After All

I can't think of a much better way for the Boston Bruins to wrap up their last significant road trip of the 2011-12 regular season.

Not only did they get Rich Peverley back on the ice but backup goaltender Marty Turco (25 saves; 1-1-0) survived more than four minutes as the B's (44-28-3) held on for a 3-2 win tonight against the Ducks (32-33-11) at the Honda Center.

Boston has righted the ship, winning four out of its last five games after losing a season-high four in a row.

Boston went 2-1 in California, including consecutive wins on back-to-back nights. With only seven games left in the regular season (and due to the fact that he's ineligible for the playoffs), this at least showed that Turco should get another start or two down the stretch.

The offensive revelation for the Bruins the last few weeks, particularly on this trip, was the third line of Chris Kelly, Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston. Tonight, they combined for two goals and four assists.

Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period and a 3-1 lead in the third but they had a few anxious minutes when Lubomir Visnovsky (6th of the season) scored an unassisted goal with 2:29 left in regulation.

Zdeno Chara (12th of the season) potted the first goal at 4:37 of the second on an unassisted slapshot past Jonas Hiller (22 saves). Before the Honda Center game ops guys could cue up Weezer's "My Name is Jonas,"-they really play that-Pouliot (13th of the season) finished a pretty pass from Kelly and Rolston at 5:59.

My hero, 41-year-old Teemu Selanne (24th of the season) got the Ducks on the board at 9:11 of the second thanks to a power-play goal. He tipped Cam Fowler's shot from the point with Ryan Getzlaf picking up the other assist.

If Pouliot's goal was pretty, Rolston's (7th of the season) in the third was a work of art. He blasted a one-timer from Kelly that was all started thanks to Pouliot's breakout pass before he got crushed along the boards in Boston's own defensive zone.

The regular season is rapidly ending, the Bruins only have seven more games. Four at home, three away, all against Eastern Conference teams (5 playoff teams, 2 that will miss out). A busy week (four games) begins on Tuesday as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. When last seen, the Lightning hung a 6-1 loss on the B's in Tampa on March 13. It was probably the low point of the season (not including October) so Boston shouldn't need much motivation.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

Bruins Send Maple Leafs Down To AHL Or At Least They Should Have

6-0. 36-10. That's the season series and cumulative score respectively between the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs.

The B's (42-27-3) saved one final beating for the pitiful Maple Leafs (32-33-8) and they handed it out tonight at TD Garden, 8-0.

This is exactly the type of game Boston needed as they head out on a three-game road trip in California. After beating the Flyers in a shootout on Saturday, this last ass-whooping of the Leafs should do wonders for the Bruins' confidence.

It was all about Boston's third line as Brian Rolston (1 goal, 3 assists), Benoit Pouliot (2 goals, 1 assist) and Chris Kelly (1 goal, 1 assist) all had monster games-for them.

Before you could say Curtis Joseph, the Black and Gold were up 4-0 just 12:42 into the first period. Kelly started it off with his career-high 18th of the season. After a pass from Pouliot, he walked in on James Reimer and worked a backhander around him at 2:25.

Even more embarrassing for Reimer was Gregory Campbell's goal (his 8th of the season) at 5:40. It was something out of Pee Wee hockey as Campbell took the puck from behind the net and beat Reimer to the post to stuff it in.

Pouliot (11th of the season) added a tip-in from Johnny Boychuk and Rolston at 10:58 then Brad Marchand (24th of the season) capped it off with a power-play roof job at 12:42. Tyler Seguin found Marchand with a fastball of a cross-ice feed.

Campbell had fought Jay Rosehill before Marchand's goal and then Shawn Thornton absolutely crushed former Canadien Mike Komisarek shortly after Marchand's goal. Ironically, Komisarek was the one that got it started. Haha good idea.

Boston poured in three more goals in the second on backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson: Pouliot got a one-timer from Rolston, Zdeno Chara (10th of the season) scored with a blast on the power-play and Rolston (6th of the season) finished it off with a snipe.

Seguin (26th of the season) added one more goal late in the third. I didn't mention Tim Thomas (31-18-0; 5th shutout of the season) until now since he only had to make 13 saves. Really. Toronto had two shots in the first period.

The Bruins begin their California trip in San Jose on Thursday night. In their only other meeting, the Sharks won 4-2 in Boston on October 22 which was a lifetime ago. San Jose is right on the cusp of the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference so they have plenty to play for.

UPDATE 3/21: Rich Peverley will make the trip to California with the Bruins, meaning he could possibly play on Saturday or Sunday. Also, they recalled Trent Whitfield and sent Max Sauve down to Providence.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

The Boston Bruins Make Two Trades Right Before The 2012 NHL Trade Deadline

Just like last season, the Boston Bruins swooped in at the last second to make two minor moves before the NHL trade deadline ended at 3 p.m. ET this afternoon. Let's hope that today's deals can have an impact like last season's (Rich Peverley and Chris Kelly) and the same end result: another Stanley Cup in June for the Black and Gold.

The B's acquired forward Brian Rolston and defenseman Mike Mottau from the New York Islanders in exchange for prospects Yannick Riendeau and Marc Cantin (neither of whom I'd ever heard of).

In the other trade, the Bruins dealt defenseman Steven Kampfer to the Minnesota Wild for defenseman Greg Zanon.

Non-Pink Hat Bruins fans will remember Rolston fondly. He previously played in Boston from 1999-2004 (338 games) and he has scored 20+ goals seven times in his career. At 39-years-old and in his 17th NHL season, he is quite long in the tooth but he can still skate (always one of his biggest assets) and he's an excellent penalty killer capable of playing all three forward positions.

A native of Flint, Michigan, Rolston has played in 1235 NHL games on five teams (Devils, Avalanche, Bruins, Wild, Islanders). In his career, he's totaled 339 goals and 407 assists with his best season coming in 2005-06 with the Wild: 34 goals, 45 assists (both career-highs). Good piece of trivia: he was part of the Ray Bourque deal to Colorado with Rolston going the other way-to Boston.

With Peverley out with a knee injury, I think you can count on Rolston basically taking his spot. He provides veteran leadership and experience plus he won a Cup with the Devils back in 1995. This year, he has four goals and five assists in 49 games on a garbage team.

Mottau is also familiar to hockey fans in New England since he's from Avon, MA (he must be one of the only pro athletes from Avon) and he went to Boston College. He was a stud for the Eagles, winning the Hobey Baker award (top college hockey player) in 2000 under Jerry York.

At 33-years-old, Mottau's pro career never took off like most expected with him bouncing between four teams (Rangers, Flames, Devils, Islanders). He's dealt with concussions and numerous injuries. This season with the Islanders, he had two assists in 29 games (he was activated on Sunday).

Zanon is the possible gem of the bunch, in the Dennis Seidenberg mold of a defensive defenseman. He was second in the NHL last season in blocked shots (212) so he figures to play right away with Johnny Boychuk out with a minor concussion. Both him and Mottau are left-handed shots which is something Boston had coveted for the playoffs when Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara will certainly be reunited. In 432 career games between Minnesota and Nashville, Zanon has 11 goals and 43 assists.

Kampfer was a victim of a number crunch and bad luck as far as injuries go. He showed promise last season but when this one started, he could never get on track (he kept getting hurt) and other guys passed him. He's young, mobile and a good player so hopefully he finds his place for the Wild-a more middle of the pack franchise. If nothing else, the original Bruins tweeter will be missed for his social media aptitude.

To make room for these three new players, who are all expected to suit up tomorrow night as the Bruins host the Ottawa Senators, Boston sent down three players to Providence: defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk and forwards Carter Camper and Max Sauve. Of the three, I thought Bodnarchuk was sent down yesterday and I didn't know Sauve was around. Camper made a nice first impression in a very short first taste of NHL life. He'll be back.

In the NHL as a whole, there were no big trades made. Columbus swapping Jeff Carter for Jack Johnson from Los Angeles last week went down as the biggest move while today was especially slow and tedious. By staying the course and believing in what they've built the last few seasons on Causeway Street, the Bruins have set themselves up for another memorable spring. All three of these new players were very low risk and odds at least one or two of them will fill a hole and prove valuable almost immediately.

UPDATE 2/28: Rolston and Mottau are expected to play tonight for the Bruins vs. Ottawa while Zanon should make his B's debut on Thursday vs. New Jersey.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate