Eastern Conference Showdown: Bruins Versus Islanders

After winning last night against the New Jersey Devils, the Boston Bruins return back home to take on the New York Islanders. With the win last night, the Bruins moved into first in the Northeast division and are a point ahead of the Montreal Canadians. Both the B’s and the Habs play tonight so the Bruins will need a win if they are trying to stay the number two seed in the Eastern Conference.

Can Pevs maintain his point streak? (Credit: Flickr/Slidingsideways)

A Costly Battle for the B’s:
The Bruins were already without Patrice Bergeron, now the question is how serious was the elbow to the head Brad Marchand took last night? Bergeron was seen practicing on the ice this morning so hopefully that means he’ll be back before playoffs. However, Marchand was being evaluated this morning and there is still no word on his injury. Another bright side because let’s be serious with all these injuries we could use one, is that Adam McQuaid may return to the lineup tonight. Quaider is a solid defenseman and I have been saying the B’s defense is weak lately so maybe this will turn that around.

Islanders Playoff Bound:
For the first time since the 2006-07 season, the New York Islanders are on the verge of clinching a playoff invitation. In their past nine games, the Isles are 7-1-1. They are currently tied for 7th place with the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers with 44 points. Needless to say they will be coming into this game looking for two points.

Bruins Look for Sweep:
This is the third and final meeting between the two teams in regular season with the Bruins having one the previous two. In those games, the Isles were outscored 8-3. Tuukka Rask got the start for both those games and with him sitting out last night, it’s expected he’ll start tonight. If playoff’s started today the B’s would be the second seed and the Isles the seventh, meaning they would play each other. When you watch the game tonight keep that in mind!

Who’s HOT?
Jaromir Jagr (four assists) and Rich Peverley (one goal, three assists) have each tallied four points over the past two contests. Isles center John Tavares has three goals and three assists over the past five games, while winger Josh Bailey is 2-3-5 over the same span.

You can check out the game tonight at 7pm on NESNPLUS!

Bruins Busy Stretch Begins

Starting tonight the Boston Bruins will play 31 games in 66 days. With a shortened season, every game is equally important and there is no room for errors. Tonight the Bruins will take on the New York Islanders, hoping to make it a 4-out-of-5 wins roadtrip. The Bruins are 11-2-2 while the Islanders are 8-10-1. The Bruins are obviously off to a great start but they’ve only played 15 games thus far while everyone else has played at least 17. To make up for it, it’s full speed ahead for the team in a playoff paced schedule.

Tuukka Rask has been on his A-Game thus far! (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

B’s Nearly Perfect PK:
Game after game, the Bruins penalty kill proves to be consistent. The B’s lead the league with a 94.8% of penalty kills that leads the NHL by a fair margin. In 15 games, the B’s have let up only 3 power play goals. In their most recent game Sunday against the Florida Panthers, the Bruins PK was 4-for-4. They have gone 6 straight games without letting up a goal with a man (or sometimes two) down (19-for-19).

Optimistic Islanders:
This is the second time the two teams are meeting, with Boston taking the first match but don’t count out the Isles just yet. They have won 4 of the last seven games, including a 5-1 victory over defending Eastern Conference Champs New Jersey Devils. After a few bad seasons, you can only go up right?

Who’s hot:
Once again, Tuukka Rask is mentioned in this section for his strong goaltending. His is 5-0-1 in his last six starts, and in that stretch didn’t give up more then two goals. Islanders, you can have Tim Thomas! All kidding aside, Rask’s strong performance is definitely part of the reason the B’s have done so well thus far.

On the Isles side of things is Center John Tavares who is tied for the League lead with 13 goals and 12 assists. He is in the top three in the NHL in total scoring. Basically, he should have a target on his back tonight.

Puck drops at 7:30 tonight and you can check out the game on NESN or NBCSN!

For the Islanders side of things here on Aerys Sports, click here!

 

Tim Thomas Traded

Bye Timmy! (credit:flickr/Slidingsideways)

Well friends the day has come. Today is the day that goaltender Tim Thomas is officially no longer a part of the Bruins organization. It was just announced/ my twitter is currently blowing up with the news.

As of now, Thomas is now a member of the New York Islanders. In exchange for Thomas, the Bruins will get a conditional  2nd round draft pick in either the 2014 or 2015 draft. He will, however, not be playing for the Isles this season as he is on  leave. He did say he wanted to play next season so potentially the Isles could have a good goalie for next year.

Thomas was in the final year of his contract and since he wasn’t playing at the moment, he was basically taking away the B’s chance to sign someone new. Well now that he’s gone, the B’s have $5 million in cap space to play around with as the trade deadline approaches.

On the other hand, the Isles picked up Timmy to make sure they were over the cap floor.

So I guess it’s a win, win for everyone? Well us mostly.

In the end thanks for everything Tim Thomas, good luck whenever hockey and or your three f’s take you!

Bruins Remain Undefeated at the Garden

As the Bruins took the ice for tonight’s meeting against the Islanders, they looked to remain on top of the Eastern Conference.  The only way to do so, by winning.  The first couple of period didn’t go quite as the Bruins had hoped they would, the first period bringing a 1-1 stale mate as Shawn Thornton and Keith Aucoin tallied the first goals for their respective teams.

To begin the second period, the Bruins were sloppy. They weren’t able to maintain possession of the puck and in turn, it cost them

The Bruins huddle after a goal scored in the Black and Gold Scrimmage (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

a goal as Keith Aucoin walked right in and beat Rask unassisted just before the halfway mark.  The gal seemed to ignite a spark in the Bruins squad as they began to pick up the pace, Gregory Campbell putting a wrist shot past Rick DiPietro off of a David Krejci blast just four minutes later, sending yet another period deadlocked at the finish.

The Boston Bruins are a third period team. This is a statement that has been made for years and is a well-known fact to most Bruins fans. With the momentum the Bruins carried through the tail end of the second period, they came out ready to play the way they knew how.  The Bruins controlled possession through the entire twenty minutes, dominating offensive opportunities, despite deadlocking shots at 6 a piece. At the 7:07 mark of the third period, captain Zdeno Chara was able to notch his first of the season with a blast from just inside the blue line, reinstating the lead for Boston.  Patrice Bergeron was able to net the insurance goal of the game, which was a pretty goal worthy of a highlight reel.  As Bergeron went in towards DiPietro, he waited for him to commit before pulling the puck from the back hand to the forehand and tucking it between the goalie’s skate and the post for his first of the season.

The Islanders pulled DiPietro in desperation in the final minute of play, and the Bruins were able to keep the pressure and force a tired Islanders team to block shots.  Despite valiant efforts from Tyler Seguin and Zdeno Chara ,who aimed high and hit the post respectively, the Bruins were unable to get the empty netter, but still skated away with their third home victory and two more points in the standings by a final margin of 4-2.

Dougie Hamilton awaits the puck (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Dougie Hamilton proved just how valuable an asset he is to the Bruins squad as he earned himself the first star of the game with his first multi-point night of his NHL career with two assists.  He had over 16:00 minutes of ice time and registered a +1 and 2 hits along with numerous attempts at scoring.  When team mate Shawn Thornton was asked what he thought about the rookie he stated:

“He’s always got his head up and he shoots with a purpose, not just to shoot as hard as he can hes always looking for lanes or a stick or bodies.” (via post-game interview with Naoko Funayama)

The Bruins are set to take on the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday evening for the first  meeting of the season.  The Canes are currently 2-2-0 on the season, picking up a victory as well tonight against the Buffalo Sabres. Face off is scheduled for a 7:00PM start and can be seen on NESN or heard on 98.5 the Sports Hub.

Will the B’s Remain Unbeaten?

In the first three games this season, the Bruins have managed to pick up 5 out of 6 points. This is exactly the start the boys needed and tonight they look to continue it against the New York Islanders. This is the first of three meetings between the teams, and the first of two times the Islanders will come to the TD Garden. Last year, the Bruins took three out of four games against the Islanders, though the lone victory for NY came in Boston.

It’s Tuukka Time in Boston! (Credit: Flickr/Steph Vail)

The Bruins as of now are unbeaten, but they will need to work on scoring but as they have only managed seven non shootout goals thus far. In each of the Bruins victories against the Islanders last year they scored six goals.

The Islanders in a nutshell:
In the past five seasons, the Islanders have missed the playoffs so it’s safe to say little was expected this year. HOWEVER, they are coming to Boston off of a 7-4 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They are currently 2-1-0 for the season.

Who to watch out for:
–John Tavares has 5 assists in two games.
–Michael Grabner has 3 goals and 5 points in three games.
-The Islanders penalty kill is currently 10-for-10 and have a shorthanded goal.

Bruins best:
-Both Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand lead the team with 2 goals apiece in 3 games.
–Tuukka Rask has proven that he is the B’s number one goalie having a 2-0-1 record with a 1.95 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage.
-The “new and improved” Bruins power play finally scored their first PP goal.
–Dougie Hamilton picked up his first (of many to come) NHL points.
–Nathan Horton scored his first goal of the season, and first goal in a year after coming back from a concussion.

Injury Report:
The Islanders will be without forwards Josh Bailey (knee surgery) and Jesse Joensuu (groin). On the Bruins end, their only injury is Dennis Seidenberg and he is considered day-to-day. As of this morning, he was on the ice practicing with the team so he could very well return to the lineup tonight.

Puck drops tonight at 7pm and you can check out the game on NESN!

For a look at the Islander’s side of the game, check out Arbour Day!

Can the Bruins Rob the Rangers?

Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Today the Bruins look to beat the New York Rangers to avoid a series sweep. Currently the Rangers have won five straight and nine of the last eleven games against Boston.  The last meeting between these two teams was at Madison Square Garden on March 4, where the Rangers took the Bruins in a 4-3 victory.

The fate of these two teams in the playoffs rides on the outcome of a few earlier games on the schedule today, as it usually does around this time of the season.  If the Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers secure the #1 spot in the East with a win today.

The Bruins could already be Division Champions by the drop of the puck today, should the Ottawa Senators lose to the New York Islanders in regulation today.  If the Senators do in fact win, the Bruins still have the opportunity to clinch the Division title with a win against the Rangers today.

With so much riding on the line, adding the fact that the defending Cup Champions are looking to avoid a series sweep and the Rangers are in the running for the Presidents’ trophy, today’s match up should prove to be entertaining.  It could easily provide a nice preview to say Eastern Conference Finals?

Today Bruins Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand are competing against each other to be the team’s leading high scorers, while Chris Kelly is looking to improve his personal best 20 goals, something that hasn’t been achieved since in the AHL in 2004-2005 for the Binghamton Senators.

“I’ve never scored 20 in the NHL and a perfect example of a product of being on a good team. Everyone plays hard, everyone plays together and plays for one another.”-Chris Kelly (via Bruins News)

Currently the Bruins are playing some of the best hockey fans have seen since the November-December burst and with a victory meaning they clinch the Division, you can bet they are going to be bringing it all to the table today.

“We went through a lull there when we didn’t play with lots of energy, and we didn’t focus that well on our game plan so it made it hard for us to win hockey games,” Julien said. “But I think our guys are back on track now for probably a couple of weeks, and focusing more on what we need to do and push each other to do it well. And because of that, we’ve found our game again.”(via Bruins News)

Watch the Bruins take on the Rangers today at 7:00pm EST at Madision Square Garden and battle it out in what is sure to be one of the best games of the season.

You can watch the game on NBCSN or listen to it on 98.5 the Sports Hub.

 

 

Turco’s Time to Shine

Today the Bruins took on the New York Islanders at the Nassau Coliseum for the 176 meeting between the two teams.  Marty Turco got the nod in net and Mottau the nod to suit up as both Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid sat out for today’s game.  Marchand, Bergeron and Seguin started the game off, but the opening shot would come from Chris Kelly who would ring it off of the post. There was great tempo to start thegame, but it wouldn’t be until 18:11 that the Bruins would capitalize. Milan Lucic won a battle for a loose puck with Marty Reasoner by the Islanders net, fed it over in front to Krejci who banged it in for a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately the Bruins got caught celebrating as just 29 seconds later Kyle Okposo snappeda wrist shot over Turco’s glove hand from the high slot. Heading into the second period the shots were tied at 7 a piece.

To start the second period off Islanders Michael Haley had been looking for a fight all day and found a partner with Gregory Campbell for a scrappy go around, essentially getting the take down. As for momentum gain, there wasn’t much stemming off of this fight, but leave it to Chris Kelly to get the ball rolling once again as he intercepted a pass off the boards while flying into the offensive zone, beating Montoya high glove hand for his twentieth of the season. Kelly became the 6th Bruin this season to reach the 20 goal mark, putting Boston as the first team to have 6 players iwth 20+ goals. That is the definition of depth. While the Bruins are 17-0-0 when Kelly scores, PA Parenteau would cut the Bruisn lead once more as he got a back door pass from Tavares to tie the game at two. Going into the third period the Bruins would be shorthanded to start with David Krejci serving a lazy slashing call to finish out the second period.

Throughout the first twenty minutes of play the Bruins weren’t warranted a single power play, and needed to establish themselves more offensively.  In order to do so they needed to come out strong in the third period, and that is just what they did. Off of the opening face-off Marchand was able to bring the puck into the offensive zone for an opportunity on Montoya right off the back, then Jordan Caron would go to ring one off the post. At 3:13 the efforts would pay off as Marchand beat Montoya between the pads, giving them their third lead of the game.

Throughout the opening minutes they did a good job slowing things down and setting the puck up, providing Marchand with his team leading, 27th goal. Tyler Seguin at 10:37 ties Marchand for the team-high 27 goals as he slapped one from the top left hand circle and went high glove on Montoya giving the Bruins their first two-goal lead, making up for his two giveaways and missed open net shot earlier on in the game. Seguin definitely accepted the challenge to step it up in third period, registering a goal and assist in the opening half of the period. 14:53 PA Parenteau would strike again from just thirteen feet out as he gets a wrist shot past a diving Turco, bringing the Isles within one. As if to be expected Tyler Seguin once again sets up a goal for Patrice Bergeron coming around the net, making a pass to Marchand, then rushing in to feed it to Bergeron, giving the Bruins a 5-3 lead with just 3:41 remaining. In just 24 seconds later David Krejci gets his career-high 23rd past Montoya off a nifty backhand feed from Lucic, sealing the fate of the Bruins as victory. This would be the first time the Bruins have posted six-goals against the Islanders this season as they close out the series with a 3-1 edge.

The next game is Sunday, April 1 at 7:00pm EST against the New York Rangers.

New York State of Mind: Bruins @ Islanders

Will today be another big game for #46? (Credit: Slidingsideways/ Flickr)

With the Buffalo Sabres losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the Boston Bruins clinched the playoffs as the number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. This is the fifth straight year the B’s will make the playoffs and with the recent luck the team has been having I’m as optimistic as ever. Having said that the team still has five games left in the regular season to play.

The first is a matinee game against the New York Islanders. The Bruins took the first two games against the Islanders back in November scoring 6 goals in each game. However in the last meeting between the teams on March 3rd, it was NY that picked up a 3-2 win. With the playoff clinch the B’s have a little less to worry about, but I don’t think they’re trying to tie the series with the Isles for the season.

For Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau, this game brings them back to the Nassau Coliseum where they played last season and this season until the trade deadline as Islanders. But 39 year old Rolston isn’t too concerned with revenge.

“When you’re younger and you play a former team it might be a little nerve-wracking, but in this situation not so much,” said Rolston. “I’ve been around a long time. It’s about trying to well yourself as an individual and play well as a team.”(Via CSNNE)

Injury wise Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid will not make the New York roadtrip after being cut over his left eye in Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals. Dennis Seidenberg, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game because of a cut on his leg, will be making the trip and could play. Islander wise, goalie Evgeni Nabokov is out with a lower body injury.

As for who’s hot right now, Zdeno Chara has 5 points in his last 6 games and David Krejci has 5 points in his last 4. Those two are definitely the players that I will be watching out for in today’s game.

So Bruins fans enjoy that our boys are in the playoff’s once again, and enjoy the last 5 games of the season!

Puck drops at 1 and you can watch the game on NESN.

Breaking the Habit

Tuukka Rask went for a butterfly save in the second and never got back up (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

This afternoon the Boston Bruins took on the New York Islanders at the TD Garden looking to find consistency in their victory column, yet fell short once again. It seems they have fallen into a familiar win-lose-win pattern, becoming frustrating for everyone involved on and off the ice.

Despite being the first team to score in the closing minutes of the first period, the Bruins quickly gave up their one-goal lead just 2:26 later, a recurring theme as of late. While the play was a lot of back and forth movement and presented the Bruins with two power play opportunities, they were unable to capitalize and stayed tied at one heading into the second period leading the shots on goal 12-10.

The second period started out much like the first, Isles winning the face-off and the Bruins peppering Nabokov with shots from Krejci and Lucic. There was even a nice attempt from newcomer Brian Rolston (former Islander) and Benoit Pouliot, but it came up short as Pouliot’s stick snapped on the play. Athough they sported solid efforts in the second period, a quality the team has been lacking, the confidence would be knocked down a peg as goaltender Tuukka Rask went into a butterfly save and didn’t get back up. He waived the trainers over and was escorted off of the ice by teammates and medical staff, putting goaltender Tim Thomas in with just under half of the period remaining. With just 4:25 remaining Moulson from Tavares put the puck in behind Thomas and gave the Islanders their first lead of the game, closing out the second period.

Going into the third period the Bruins would have the edge in shots, leading 27-17, four of which belonging to team-high scorer Milan Lucic (along with Brad Marchand at 22). Despite losing Tuukka in the second period, the Bruins came out to battle in the third, having opportunity after opportunity on Nabokov. The shot that would make the difference would come from a pass from Zdeno Chara up to Tyler Seguin who used his speed to carry himself into the zone and make it all look easy as he put the puck in the back of the net to tie the game at two. (Seguin’s goal would also put him at the top of the team with Lucic and Marchand at 22 goals a piece) The Bruins carried the momentum throughout the third period, acting unharmed as teammate Daniel Paille went down the tunnel and never return, holding onto his mid-section. The atmosphere would feel eerily similar to that of the Cup Finals, with the Bruins wanting the win for their fallen team members. Unfortunately, with just over four minutes remaining the Islanders would catch a lucky break off of an un-called icing and sink the game-winner. It would later be stated that the Bruins thought MacDonald had iced the puck, allowing them to swiftly go through the zone and score. However, Claude Julien had some choice words of his own regarding the matter:

“We’ve got to play to the whistle, and you know, maybe it was icing, but, again, we still could have handled it better than we did.”(via @NHLBruins)

While it is still early on in the month, the Bruins have a few habits they need to break coming out of a not-so-great month of February. While Johnny Boychuk returned to the line-up tonight, Tuukka Rask will not be returning any time soon as he was seen spotted leaving the Garden on crutches and is not making the two-game road trip with the team along with Andrew Ference, suffering from a lower body injury.  Currently there is no update on forward Daniel Paille, but he is not expected to be making the trip either, leaving room for goaltender Michael Hutchinson and forward Lane MacDermid of the Providence Bruins to show their stuff. The Bruins head to New York to take on the Rangers at 12:30pm EST Sunday afternoon, looking to bounce back and break the habits that seem to be hindering them.

Two in a Row?

David Krejci looks to continue his scoring streak! (Credit:slidingsideways/flickr)

The Boston Bruins haven’t won two in a row since January but they’re looking to finally get over that speed bump today in a matinee game against the New York Islander. The Islanders are hanging out at 14th place in the Eastern Conference while the Bruins are 2nd. I would say this means great things for the B’s for the game today, however when it comes to playing bottom ranked teams the Bruins aren’t exactly amazing. The B’s have won the last two against the Islanders this season  scoring 6 goals each time. This game is important for the simple fact that the B’s are holding onto first place in the Northeast division by only 3 points with the Ottawa Senators in second.

Who’s Hurt:
Andrew Ference left Thursday’s game in the third with a lower body injury and wasn’t at practice yesterday. Rich Peverley is on route to return in the next 4-6 weeks with a MCL sprain in his knee. On the bright side, Johnny Boychuk has been skating with the team after getting a nasty hit last Saturday though when he returns is still unknown.
On the Isles side goalie Al Montoya left their road trip early with an upper body injury and was replaced on the roster by Anders Nilsson. Defenseman Dylan Reese is out with a knee injury but is expected to return soon.

Who’s Hot:
David Krejci!! Let me just say how happy this makes me to put him in this category. After Tyler Seguin joined Krejci and Milan Lucic’s line, the results have been magic. Krejci and Seguin both ended their scoring drought but Krejci decided to not just end it but trample it with a hat trick. Islander wise the Bruins need to watch out for scoring machines Matt Moulson and P.A. Parenteau.

Who to Watch For:
With Ference and Boychuk out, I expect to see former Islander and newly acquired Bruins Mike Mottau get in the lineup. Mottau is excited to play against his former team and had this to say this morning:

“You might know some tendencies of their forward play, or their D and what they try to do – their systems and stuff.” added the new B’s D-man. “But overall it’s just the same game and no friends out there.” (Via NHLBruins)

Today’s game is really going to come down to the goals. The Islanders have been very quick to get on the board lately but the Bruins still hold the edge of the team. I think the Bruins just need to not get complacent. The new lines seem to be working well and after today’s game we could either FINALLY have two wins in a row or be right back where we started. As for who is getting the start, I’m thinking Tuukka Rask but we’ll just have to wait another hour or so to find out!

Puck drops at 1 on NESN.