Bruins Clinch Playoffs; Bested by Buffalo

Before I get into the game between the Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres, I think it’s more necessary to talk about the pregame ceremonies that took place at the TD Garden. After cancelling Monday night’s game, the Boston Bruins returned home to give Boston something to cheer for after the bombings on Marathon Monday.

Chris Kelly scored his 100th NHL goal tonight! (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

It started with this Boston Strong video which featured photos from the Marathon.

And if that didn’t give you enough chills, then check out this video of the National Anthem sung by 17,565 strong plus Rene Rancourt of course. I’m proud to be from Boston and I’m proud of supporting a team that supports where they reside.

Okay now lets get this recap moving. So Anton Khudobin got the nod in net opposite Buffalo’s Ryan Miller. The Bruins and Sabres always have interesting games and for some reason despite being pretty low down in standings, Buffalo always manages to threaten the B’s. There are so few games left and the B’s have had so many opportunities to clinch the playoffs and tonight was no exception. If the B’s managed to get at least a point from tonight’s game they would be playoff bound officially.

5:45 into the first period, the Bruins were first to get on the board thanks to a Daniel Paille wrist shot. That was Paille’s 9th goal of the season and Chris Kelly would get the assist. As the period got into the final minutes, the Sabres would go on a power play off of a Zdeno Chara interference call.   Thomas Vanek would take advantage of this and tie up the game at 18:20 with a power play goal.

It would take until the halfway point of the game for one team to strike again and fortunately it was the Bruins. Kelly would get the goal with Paille and Andrew Ference getting the assists. This was Kelly’s 100th career goal! The Bruins were outshooting the Sabres by a lot but Miller being the solid goalie that he is, wasn’t letting in any cheap shots.

Third period the Bruins were shorthanded A LOT. Fortunately we have a solid penalty kill because it was necessary after Milan Lucic’s double minor. Despite being shorthanded the Bruins actually led shots on net for the third period. The final minute was winding down, the Bruins on the power play and then Buffalo would score at 26.6 remaining in regulation. Believe me when I say I wish I was joking. Cody Hodgson would score the deflection goal to tie up the game.

With the start of Overtime, it’s official that the Bruins clinched the playoffs! Yay happy thoughts. Overtime came and went and nothing came from it so friends it was onto the shootout we went.
Here’s how it went:
Tyler Seguin -Miss
Vanek- Miss
Patrice Bergeron –Miss
Nathan Gerbe –Miss
Brad Marchand -Miss
Drew Stafford– SCORE!

Buffalo would win and the Bruins would remain tied with the Montreal Canadiens for the top spot of the Northeast Division. This game would end with both teams saluting the crowd, proving that no matter the jersey everyone is Boston Strong right now.

B’s are back in action Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Bruins Shut Out Sabres

It took until the final ten minutes of regulation for one team to show up and make goals happen,  and fortunately it was the Boston Bruins that decided to be that team. The Bruins took to the ice tonight against the Buffalo Sabres looking to bounce back from back-to-back loses this past week. And while it took a LONG time for the B’s to get any sort of momentum, they eventually did.

Anton Khudobin would earn his second shut out as a Bruins stopping 26 shots on net, while Ryan Miller would take the loss for Buffalo. Boston is now one point away from first place in the Northeast division, falling behind the Montreal Canadiens.

Krejci’s line once again proved they were valuable! (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

The two goals that the Bruins would score would come less than three minutes apart and were brought to you by the B’s top line. David Krecji would be the first to put the Bruins on the board with 7:06 remaining in the game. Matt Barkowski would get his first NHL point off an assist to that goal, and Nathan Horton would pick up his 9th assist of the season. With 4:16 left Krejci would return the favor to Horty setting him up for a tap-in goal. Milan Lucic would also get an assist for that goal.

This is the third win for Boston in eight games which isn’t exactly something to praise. Fortunately it is the end of March now so ideally that would be the end of the brutal March slump.

The boys have the day off tomorrow but return home Tuesday night to take on the Ottawa Senators.

Bruins Beast the Sabres

In the second meeting between the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins looked for redemption after a 7-4 beating in Boston. This time the teams would meet in Buffalo and it would be Anton Khudobin against Ryan Miller in net. After 60 minutes of play, the B’s would get their revenge in a 3-1 win. This win gave the Bruins an 8-1-1 record, making it their best 10-game start in team history.

Bergeron would get the game winner tonight! (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

Shawn Thornton, Daniel Paille, and Brad Marchand would all return to the Boston lineup after being out the past few games with injuries. Lane MacDermind, Aaron Johnson, and Jamie Tardif would be the healthy scratches for the B’s.

I’ll break down the game by period!

Bruins Versus Sabres: Who’s Streak Will End?

Tonight the Bruins look to go for their longest season-opening home winning streak in over 22 years. The last time the Bruins opened a  home season to 5-0-o was back in the 1990-1991 season when they played at the Boston Garden. Now  to do so they’ll have to get past the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres, on the other hand, are looking to end a steak of their own as they’ve lost the past four games.

Happy Birthday Seguin! (Credit: flickr/ Steph Vail)

Bruins picked up an OT win on Tuesday night proving that not even a hot dog can slow down the team (watch the video if you don’t know what I’m referring too). It took six rounds before Brad Marchand would get the game winner, his first shootout goal of his career.

The Sabres are coming off an OT loss from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. Now they are looking to get back on track against on the NHL’s hottest teams.

Bad Blood With Buffalo:
This is the first of five meetings between the two teams, and if history repeats itself it will be nothing short of a battle. Boston and Buffalo aren’t actually chummy when it comes to playing against one another.  Last year the teams fought a total of 6 times within six games. Now that the season is shortened and they’ll have to see each other sooner than later, I can only imagine the fight total will increase.

Look for goaltender Ryan Miller to get the start for Buffalo and look for Bruins fans to be nothing but “pleasant” towards the goalie. In our end, look for Tuukka Rask to be in net!

Who to Watch Out For:
–Thomas Vanek has 7 assists for Buffalo in five straight games. Vanek’s 25 goals and 49 points versus Boston are his highest totals against any opponent.
-Miller has won six of his last seven starts against the Bruins behind a 2.47 goals-against average.

Bruins Best:
–Nathan Horton  has 2 goals in his last two games.
-Rask is off to a 4-0-1 start. His save percentage (.932) and goals-against average (1.74) are both fifth in the League. Needless to say, it’s TUUKKA TIME in Boston!

Fun Fact:
-It’s Tyler Seguin‘s big 2-1 today and I’m sure he’ll be looking for some birthday points. Happy Birthday Tyler! Enjoy some legal celebrations AFTER the game!

Injury Report:
Buffalo will be without  Patrick Kaleta who suffered a neck injury Tuesday. He didn’t make the trip to Boston. Also,  Robyn Regehr (lower body) is listed as day-to-day after missing Tuesday’s game. Bruins wise the boys are looking healthy, the only questionable player is Adam McQuaid who sat out Monday and Tuesday due to a family death. It is expected he will return tonight.

Puck drops at 7 tonight on NESN! Make sure to check back here after the game for a recap from Steph!

5 Things You Need to Know About Buffalo @ Boston

Tim Thomas will get the start tonight! (Credit: Slidingsideways/Flickr)

1) Tonight marks Tim Thomas seventh straight game in net. This will be the first time , however, that Marty Turco gets to suit up and serve as backup goalie. Julien wants to make sure that Turco is 100% ready to return to the NHL before he is put in as starter.

“Turco is our backup. If he has to go in, he has to go in,” said Claude Julien. “He’s not new to this league. But there’s no doubt I’m talking about making him a starter. I’ll play it by ear. (CSNNE.com)

2) For these two North East rivals this is the fifth out of sixth time they will be meeting this season with Buffalo holding the lead 2-1-1. Standing wise, the Bruins hold an 11 point lead from Buffalo in the North East division.

3)Optional practice for the Bruins today showed good news in the form of Benoit Pouliot ready to go tonight. Tuesday against Toronto Pouliot suffered a lower body injury and did not practice with the team yesterday. Pouliot’s ability to play means that Providence player Max Sauve won’t be making his NHL debut after he was call on an emergency basis.

4)Tonight the B’s have a chance to win two straight, something they haven’t been able to do since January 10th-12th. This is the B’s 11th attempt at two consecutive wins and I can only hope that 11th attempt will come to an end tonight.

5)Buffalo wise, I expect Ryan Miller to get the start. Miller has won 7 of his last 9 contests and always seems to bring his A-game in Boston. I don’t expect this game to be an easy win for Boston but I do think it’s winnable!

Puck drops at 7 on NESN! Look for a recap right here on A Cup A Bruin after the game!

Bruins Silenced by the Sabres

Rask and Thomas failed to shut out the Sabres tonight (Credit:slidingsideways/flickr)

Tonight the Bruins looked to pick up another two points against the Buffalo Sabres, a team sitting 18 points below them in the division. Tuukka Rask got the start having a 4-3 record with a 2.28 GAA in 9 games against the Sabres. In the Buffalo net, Olympian Ryan Miller, aka the guy that Lucic made a fool out of not too long ago. Typically, Claude Julien waits to announce his starting goaltender, but tonight he didn’t making me feel pretty confident about Tuukka Time. However, that confidence was crushed when Rask was replaced early in the second period for Timmy “I speak my feelings through Facebook” Thomas.

Shawn Thornton and Cody McMormick threw the gloves down early in the first which was Thornton’s 100th fight of his NHL career. Well at least he won that. Unfortunately you don’t get points for fights which the Bruins could have used because shortly after, Christian Ehrhoff scored with a shot off of a Bruins’ player. What looked like the Bruins evening the score with a goal from Milan Lucic ,ended up being waved off as an incidental contact with Miller. Late in the first a cross-ice pass through the slot to Captain Jason Pominville made it 2-0 Sabres. After the first shots on goal were in favor of the Bruins and Patrice Bergeron was the only positive winning all 8 of his face-offs.

Second starts and Ennis scores making it 3-0 for Buffalo and with that Tuukka Time came to an end. Thomas came into the relief position and started off very strong. That was until Patrick Kaleta scored with yet another unanswered goal. I would like to say that things got better and that the B’s got their act together just in time to come from behind and win, but things just got worse then ugly. Too many penalties and basically the team just looked a mess. They let their frustrations get the best of them and a big example of that was Shawn Thornton, who got a 10 minute misconduct in the second for back to back fights along with a five minute major and two minutes for instigating. That period eventually ended, THANKFULLY!

In the third Pominville scored his second goal and eventually Drew Stafford scores completing the 6-0 shutout. Seemed to me like the team was more concerned with fighting than scoring goals and it was a sad game to watch. If this recap didn’t have to get done, I probably would have changed the channel at some point. I guess the only way to go from here is up. It’ll be interesting to see if line changes are made in the next few days as the team moves on to face the Nashville Predators at home on Saturday.