Bruins Finish Fourth in Regular Season

With it being the last game of the regular season for the Boston Bruins, two points have never been more important. With a win, the Bruins will win the Northeast division and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. With a loss, the Bruins will be the fourth seed in the division, but will have home ice edge. Basically TWO points decide the first round of playoffs for three different Eastern Conference pairings.

Since it’s a “need to win” kind of the night, the Bruins kept the same lineup as last night and Tuukka Rask would get the start opposite Robin Lehner. 

Peverley (Credit: Flickr/Slidingsideways)

The “need to win” vibe was definitely filling the TD Garden right from the start. Most notably I want to point out former Senator Kaspars Daugavins who would end up leading the team with 3 shots on net (of 13 for the B’s) after the first. He’s been very good the past few games and hopefully will pick up his first B’s goal soon. With 3:01 left in the first, the Senators would get the first goal of the night. Erik Condra would get his fourth goal of the season. Soon after, Milan Lucic would drop gloves with Chris Neil. Two fights in the last three for Looch, it’s safe to say he’s back! The Bruins would end the first on the PK with Brad Marchand getting a late slashing call. Despite being down, the B’s would be leading the Senators in shots on net 13-9.

Depite being on their supposed “A-Game” the Bruins haven’t been registering any goals on Lehner. It’s clear that they are trying to pick up the two points as much as the B’s. The Bergeron line once again brings pressure and gets several good shots on net but no goals past Lehner. With under 10 minutes to go in the second, Jared Cowen would make this a 2-0 game for the Senators. This is not the time for the B’s to be letting high point goals…or any kind of goals in. With exactly two minutes remaining in the game, the Bruins would go on the power play. Usually, that really doesn’t do much for the B’s scoring wise but apparently it woke the B’s up. With just 3.4 seconds to go Wade Redden would chip the puck to Rich Peverley for the Bruins to get a power play goal and make it a 2-1 game. Boston is still out shooting Ottawa 28-19 after two periods. Now the third period is more important than ever!

It took 14 seconds into the third but Dennis Seidenberg and the Bruins would tie the game.  Looch and the Daug Man would both get assists on the goal. That would be Daugavins first point as a Bruin and like I said earlier this was overdue. Just so we’re keeping track that would technically be two goals in 18 seconds for the Bruins. With 3 and a half to go, Ottawa would once again get the lead. Plain and simple, they caught the Bruins standing still. Jean-Gabriel Peageau would get that goal for the Senators. The Senators would seal the deal with an empty net goal.

With the loss, this means the Bruins are now the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and will take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. That series is set to start Wednesday!

 

Northeast Showdown Between Bruins and Senators

This is the fourth meeting of five between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators and thus far the B’s are 3-for-3. Tonight they look to make it four and continue their perfect record against the Senators.  They have won in regulation, over time, and a shoot out against the Ottawa team. With two points on the line, and the Bruins currently riding the Montreal Canadiens coat tails for first place, this game is important. While Boston is fighting for first, Ottawa isn’t too far behind as they trail the B’s by four points in standings. So let me repeat again: this game is IMPORTANT!

(Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

B’s back on track?
After dropping two games, the Bruins picked up a much needed win Sunday against the Buffalo Sabres. Not only was it was win, but it was a shut out for goalie Anton Khudobin. Their recent set back is what has put them in second place in the division so hopefully Sunday’s win was a step forward. If they Bruin want to win, all four lines need to show up to play. Sunday’s win was about the first line of David Krejci, Milan Lucic, and Nathan Horton. And while that’s all fine and dandy, there are many players on this team that need to step up especially considering the trade deadline is fast approaching.

Senators first stop: Boston
Ottawa is about to enter a seven game roadie and what better way than to begin at the TD Garden. The Senators are coming off of a 4-0 shutout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs after previously winning three straight games. Now obviously Ottawa hasn’t exactly done well when facing the Bruins this season but they are looking to change that tonight. Goalie Robin Lehner will most likely get the start as he has the previous three times against the Bruins.H e allowed two goals in each of the three previous games, and one of those includes 44-save effort in his season debut back in February.

Who’s Hot:
Since the Senators did get shut out anyone that was hot has cooled off. However before that game forward Mike Zibanejad had a four-game point streak. For the Bruins like I said before it’s all about the Krejci line. Krejci scored his first goal in seven games, and Horton also scored in Sunday’s win.

Injury Report:
The B’s are still without Adam McQuaid (shoulder) and Chris Kelly (tibia) though it was reported that both skated yesterday so hopefully this is a good sign. Meanwhile Ottawa will be missing enter Jason Spezza (back), defenseman Erik Karlsson (Achilles), Milan Michalek (knee), Craig Anderson (ankle) and Jared Cowen (hip).

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

Boston Overcomes Ottawa; Prepares for Pittsburgh

Tonight win for the Boston Bruins wasn’t pretty, but it was their third in a row. The Bruins would come from behind to take the Ottawa Senators in a 3-2 shoot out win. Tuukka Rask would pick up yet another win in net making 28 saves, againsts Senators goalie Robin Lehner.

Krejci picked up tonights shootout win for Boston (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

The game started off with a Senators goal and within 8 minutes of the game, the Bruins were down by two. To be honest, all of the lines were snoozing and it took all of those minutes for the B’s to register one measly shot on goal. But eventually they snapped out of it and in the last minute of the first Shawn Thornton fired a knuckle puck passed Lehner to put the Bruins on the board. It was nice to see the fourth line working hard to break through Ottawa’s solid goaltending.

Second period Daniel Paille would tie up the game on a nice wrist shot. Clearly it was the fourth line’s time to shine for Boston. Unfortunately in this period we would lose Chris Kelly to what appeared to be a knee to knee shot from Ottawa big man Chris Neil. Kelly had to be helped off the ice and I think it’s safe to say he won’t be in the lineup tomorrow against Pittsburgh.

Third period both Rask and Lehner were on their A-game not letting any goals get passed despite solid effort from both ends. The game would go to OT and from there a shoot out. Eventually in round 4, David Krejci would get the win for the Bruins.

This was the Bruins tenth straight road win this season but they won’t get a day to rest as tomorrow they head to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. The Bruins are the only Eastern Conference team Pittsburgh has yet to face. Boston doesn’t exactly have the best record when it comes to facing the Pens but hopefully some of tonight’s momentum will carry over.

The Penguins have won four straight at home and that is partly due to their ranked third power play unit (25.7%). They have scored a power play goal in 15 of their last 18 games. As we know, the Bruins don’t have a great power play BUT they have the NHL’s best penalty kill. Basically this is going to be a good match up on this note alone.

As much as I don’t want to talk about Sidney Crosby because I really really really don’t, is one of the NHL’s leading scorers thus far for the month of March. However he’ll have to go up against Bruins leading scorer (12 goals) Brad Marchand.

Goalie wise, Rask may get the start in net though there is a chance we could see Anton Khudobin as Rask started tonight in Ottawa. Khudobin is 4-1 in his starts this season and has provided great relief for Rask.

The game against the Penguins tomorrow night starts at 7:30 and you can check it out on NESN or NBCSN!

Can the Bruins win four in a row and continue their perfect road streak?

Bruins Battle Back in Boston

At the end of this game one team would continue a win streak, while the other teams would come to an end. After a long trip on the road, the Boston Bruins returned home to the TD Garden to take on the Ottawa Senators. This was the first meeting between the two teams and with both teams on the hot streaks that they would, I would have expected this game to be a little more exciting.

Tuukka Rask would get the start in net for the B’s against Robin Lehner.

Patrice Scores the game winner! (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

The first period came and went. It was penalty after penalty with neither team being able to capitalize on the man advantage. The Bruins power play was there to play but didn’t make any move. At home, they have yet to score. On the other hand, the Bruins penalty kill was once again spectacular.

That was until the second period but I’ll get to that in a minute. 5:48 into the second, Nathan Horton got a wrist shot passed Lehner for his seventh goal of the season. You can credit the assist to Dougie Hamilton and Milan Lucic. And then the B’s PK streak came a close at 27. Jim O’Brien will get credit for that goal. As sad as it to see the Bruins penalty kill let a goal in, I have nothing but good things to say about the PK so I won’t say anything bad.

Third period also came and went but with a combined 69 shots on net, only two managed to get by Rask and Lehner. That right there goes to show that the goaltending on both ends was solid through the night.

The Senators would start the Overtime period with the extra man for 1:29 as Looch got a delay of game call. This would be the fifth OT game for the Bruins. Before the OT period would end, the Bruins would pick up the win thanks to a shot from Patrice Bergeron off of Dennis Seidenberg. The place would go wild, the goal would be reviewed, but eventually the B’s would get the 2-1 win.

This would be the fifth straight win for the Bruins. They’ll play next this Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning at 1pm.