Maple Leafs 2, Bruins 1 (Series tied 3-3)

That 4-1 pounding in Game 1 seems like ages ago.

This Bruins team really pisses me off. They no longer hold leads. Not in games, not in series. It was once a trademark of this team under Julien, that when they were up 2, they'd win. And once again, they've blown a 3-1 lead.

James Reimer has gained all the confidence in the world. And why not? He has all of southern Ontario behind him, and the Bruins have allowed his success. The B's forwards have not been able to consistently get body position in front of the net in order to take advantage of the rebounds Reimer allows. Is Marck Recchi available tonight?

Some Bruins have improved in this series over their regular season form. Milan Lucic, for instance. Nathan Horton as well, although in Game 6 in the box score claims he played 17:38 and I didn't notice him on the ice at all.

Other Bruins, such as Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin, have played worse than their regular season form. Neither have scored. Marchand has 2 assists and is -1. Seguin has no assists and is even. In the regular season these two combined for 34 goals and were the top 2 goal-scorers on the team. No THREE Bruins could combine for that many goals. Marchand and Seguin scored 27% of the Bruins goals in the regular season. So that's one fourth of the offense not producing in this series.

I also think the Bruins aren't as talented as we thought they were. I think this team essentially has two fourth lines. The third line has been meaningless in these games. Kelly and Peverley are both -3. So not only are they not scoring, they're getting scored on. Which goes against the Claude Julien system.

This team has scored 17 goals in the series. The Krejci line has 9 of those. Defensemen have 5. So only 3 goals have been scored by lines 2 through 4. Three goals from 9 forwards.

Horton and Lucic are each +8 in this series. Krejci is +7. The Bergeron line is -1. The Peverley line is -3. The Campbell line is even. Only one line is scoring. The second line can't score. The third line isn't scoring, and is allowing goals. The fourth line is doing what it does with its minimal ice-time. Only two lines are doing their jobs. The Bergeron line is capable of doing better. I don't think the Peverley line is.

This Game 7 tonight is an important game for the direction of this team. With a win, then things are fine. With a loss, then there needs to be a serious reevaluation of the coach, the staff, and the roster.

-The Captain

Islanders 2, Bruins 1

Before last night the Bruins had won 5 of 6, and yet their fans were unhappy. Why? Because their play was uninspired, relaxed, inconsistent, and sometimes careless. They played the same way last night, against a decent team struggling for a playoff spot, and it bit them.

When is Milan Lucic going to get a healthy scratch? Or be once again demoted for the 3rd line (for longer than a game)? Claude Julien had the balls to scratch Phil Kessel in the playoffs. He kept Tyler Seguin on the bench as he developed. And this season he's moved Seguin to the 3rd line. Is Julien afraid of Lucic? This guy is playing with half a heart for almost all of his shifts.

The Bruins wore camouflage warm-ups pre-game, Lucic seems to wear camouflage during games because he is invisible on the ice.

And he makes the most obvious and dumbest mistakes with the puck. In his defensive zone he attempted a BLIND, slow, backhanded pass across the width of the ice. Of course it was intercepted. Lucic has no conception of where he is on the ice, and how careful he should be in certain spots.

Dougie Hamilton was a healthy scratch. Because Adam McQuaid came back. I guess Matt Bartkowski is better than Dougie Hamilton these days. If solid, mistake-free hockey is so important to Julien, why does Bartkoswki get rewarded for it and Lucic evades punishment for lack of it?

And has Hamilton been making mistakes? Has he been costing this team goals? He's been helping them score goals. He's been playing very sound at his position, especially considering his age. Hamilton was a healthy scratch. Why? Because taking care of the puck is vital. Unless you're Milan Lucic.

I apologize for my vexed frustrations. This team is like a rock band that has a great drummer, good guitarists, a capable bassist, and lead singers that sound like cats being anally raped. They ruin the whole act. And the manager seems to favor the singer over everyone else.

The B's travel to Raleigh to play the godawful Hurricanes. That should be a win, despite how crappily Lucic plays.

-The Captain

Bruins 5, Devils 4

This team really pisses me off sometimes. They get a few bounces, make a few plays, and find themselves up 4-0. And that's when you get nervous. Because this team tries to run the clock out. They let the Devils back into this game, and that's just too bad. They lose Brad Marchand to an elbow to the head, get a 5 minute Power Play, then fail to get a shot on goal, and allow one in their own end.

It's the same on/off switch crap with this team. I'm tired of seeing Milan Lucic cruising around like it's an open skate. I'm tired of forwards that don't move in the neutral zone to help the defensemen break out. I'm tired of seeing Julien forced to put Jordan Caron on the ice in a Power Play because Lucic and Nathan Horton are lollygagging.

This team now sits in first place in their division. And that's great. But after a game like this it's difficult to be happy. The Bruins had this game in the palm of their hands, and they nearly dropped it. One unfortunate bounce in the last 37 seconds and they might have lost a point.

And the Devils aren't an elite opponent. They're a borderline playoff team, struggling through injuries.

The Bruins host the Islanders tonight. The Islanders are in a tight playoff race, 6th through 10th in the Eastern Conference are covered by 4 points. The Islanders are tied for 7th and are 11-5-2 on the road. The Bruins will need to play a full game, and not just parts of a game.

-The Captain

Jets 3, Bruins 1

Can you lose a game because of your Power Play?

Yes.

The ineffectiveness of the Bruins' Power Play is the primary reason they lost to the Winnipeg Jets last night. The Bruins were given multiple chances to add to their lead, and they never did. The best way to protect a 1-goal lead is to make it a 2-goal lead. The Bruins struggled to even get shots on goal with their PP unit, which is simply inexcusable.

How can you not get a single shot on goal in 2 minutes when you have 5 skaters and your opponent has 4? How is that possible? How is it possible to do it again?!?

Why is it that Ryan Spooner, in his 2nd career NHL game, gets 3:34 Power Play ice-time?

Why?

This lack of a minimally effective Power Play has cost the Bruins a handful of games this season. And I'm concerned that in the playoffs it might cost them 1 or 2 games in a series, and that will be the difference between advancement and elimination.

I'm becoming alarmed with two other issues the Bruins are having...

#1: Inability to hold leads in the 3rd period.

#2: Apparent fatigue.

The Bruins under Claude Julien have been renowned for their ability to hang on to a lead. They simply don't lose when they have a lead in the 3rd period. That was the past. Now, they seem to struggle in the 3rd period. That is mildly alarming.

The fatigue issue raises a red-flag that is larger and brighter. Because there is no reasonable explanation for it. The Bruins are reasonably young. Other teams are playing similarly condensed schedules. And Julien prides himself on rolling 4-lines, not giving all the ice-time to just the top 10 skaters. And it's not as if Anton Khudobin is playing poorly when Rask rests.

This team is getting outworked, out-skated, out-everything late in games. And there's just no excuse for it. It's a job. Time to work.

Bruins are in Ottawa Thursday night.

-The Captain

Max Pacioretty is a Douche

"Jealousy," Pacioretty told reporters. "We're at the top right now and reading comments like that is awesome. If we're in last place, they wouldn't be saying anything about us, but we're in first place and it's the best feeling in the world."

I haven't been watching hockey very long, but I've never managed to dislike a team as quickly as I have the grown to dislike the Canadiens. He seems to be talking up being in "first place"  and "at the top" quite a bit. It's true that they show up first in the standings, but that's a 2 point lead (equivalent to one win) with the Bruins having played 3 fewer games.

Julien Rants About Canadiens

“The frustrating part is that you end up with 17 minutes in the penalty box when you should have been on the power play. It’s as simple as that,” Julien said. “It’s frustrating because tonight, as everybody saw, there was a lot of embellishment and this is embarrassing for our game, embellishing. Right now, they’ve got over 100 power plays so far and it’s pretty obvious why. We’re trying to clean that out of our game and it’s got to be done soon."

This has been a complaint about the Canadiens for as long as I remember. They can't keep up with the roughness of the game, so they take dives to cause penalties. Part of it is just the game, and it's on the ref to notice the difference, but part of this is just such typical Canadiens style of hockey. Over the past 10 years I have noticed how soft they have gotten. They get pissed when a team like the Bruins come around, because they can out-physical them at every turn. The NHL really needs to get it's hand on this, because if it doesn't it's going to become like soccer, and no one wants to see that.

Bruins 2, Canadiens 1

The Bruins continue to roll, improving to 7-1-1 on the season. This is a really strange feeling because of the Lockout. It's February 7th and we've only seen the Bruins lose 1 game in regulation. That's just weird.

Tuukka Rask has been the biggest reason. He only faced 21 shots last night, but some of them were very tough to stop. He's been outstanding this year. His style looks completely different from the 2009-10 season, when he'd collapse into the net. He's challenging shooters now, cutting down the angle, making himself as big as possible. And he can read the game very well, especially for a 25 year old.

The offense hasn't been overflowing. The power play is still painfully inept.

Tyler Seguin has a scorer's instincts, though. He improves any line he is on. I liked how Claude Julien shuffled up the lines, putting Seguin with Krejci and Lucic. Those line shuffles helped win the game.

It seems like we're much deeper into the season than we actually are. There are 39 games left to play. Under normal circumstances I might try to restrain myself from being too positive.

Fuck that, though. We waited months for hockey and now our team is on top of the Eastern Conference. This is fun and I'm going to enjoy it.

-The Captain