Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Bruins game 2 review

So the second game of the season brought to town the detroit red wings, a team playing on the slow end of a back to back, and even worse, three games in four days. Obviously this makes portraying an accurate barrometer for the game difficult, so i'll focus on some other aspects of the game that wouldn't have been as dramatically effected. Torrey Krug had a goal and an assist, both on the power play and finished the night +1 making his stat sheet appear successful. Here is the problem. When you have a team with dead legs as Detroit obviously showed pretty much from the opening face-off, your goal should be as a team to put your foot on the throat of your opponent, take an early lead, and go through the motions for 60 minutes. On two particular occasions, and who knows, their may have been more i didn't notice, Krug pinched into the attacking zone on what were basically unmakeable plays, and failed to break the play up or seperate his opponent from the puck leading to odd man rushes going the other way. These plays are so anti Claude system, that they really stick out. Two games in a row this has happened, and in the first game it lead directly to a goal. However, the news ain't all bad regarding what has become one of Boston fans favorite players. His ability to move the puck out of the defensive zone, and in the attacking zone has brought such an amazing light to a dismal power play that we have been forced to witness since the Mark Savard era ended. He is here for a reason, and will remain here as long as he learns to picks his spots when pinching. Now that that is covered, the rest of the game can be summed up very easily. The power play looked great with Chara camping down low in front of the net. For anyone who thought this was a bad idea, (i.e. everybody) it just goes to show that you can think outside the box every once in a while in Claudes system and have success. My argument from the beginning was that his power play couldn't be any worse, so what the hell? Give it a shot. And boom, success. Tuukka Rask again played amazing, making 25 saves. Detroit came in beat, had a loser mentality all game, especially from its veterans, didn't play an ounce of physical hockey on either end of the ice, and the final score reflected such a game. In the past the Bruins have done two things poorly. Perform in matinee games, and take advantage of a wounded opponent. This is a great sign for things to come. 68 more wins to 70. Bruins 4 Detroit 1 ... Bruins 2-0-0 Coming in next on thursday 10/10, the bruins welcome the Colorado Avalanche.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Bruins Game 1 review

Bruins 3 - Lightning 1 bruins 1-0-0 1st in atlantic The start to what i'm predicting is the nhls first 70 win team. the night began with a montage that had one two many clips from the blackhawks series just three months ago. perhaps a little extra motivation. then the team and coaches were introduced and rene rancourt gave us the anthem to get things underway. two fist pumps. for the game itself, line three consisting of reilley smith, chris kelly, and jordan caron looked the best from start to finish. excluding chris kellys beautiful penalty shot goal which was off a terrible call, caron and smith used their speed all night to keep the puck in the attacking zone. caron who still isn't a lock to stay on the ice all season, proved he can hang with the nhl crowd. He attacked the corners using speed and strength and unfortunatly had a goal taken away due to a quick whistle. line one, with lucic, krejci, and iginla showed at times how dominate they could be. the difference between this season and last is that iginla isn't going to let the other two take a single shift off, let alone entire weeks at a time. And that is not a shot at nathan horton. it takes three guys to suck it up. this line can move the puck together as good as any line i've ever seen on the bruins. Lucic looks primed to take a gigantic step forward this season and become a top skater and player in the NHL. Iginla, unhappy about a clean hit he received decided to fight radko gudas to a draw. however, for this team to be successful they have to play with that chip on their shoulder. make the other team afraid to get hit, and to make hits. line two, of eriksson, bergeron, and marchand had some early struggles getting the puck out of their own end, but like the rest of the team, were dominate by the third period. marchand is so quick with the puck. he elludes defensemen like barry sanders. all three on this line worked the corners magically, but couldn't connect on any passes into the slot. though bergeron scored, it came on a 3 on 4 penalty kill, where for some reason torrey krug was ahead of the play, if anything just confusing tampa bays goalie lindback enough for the puck to squeeze through his legs. The lone dissapointment came from line four. if their is a line that could be an issue on this team it's thornton, paille, and campbell. We saw them struggle early to get the puck out of their own end, and it showed as Claude didn't roll four lines at any point in the game, something we have become accustomed to, especially in early season games. this team has depth and as good as this line has been for years now, the bruins front office has shown they are not afraid to mix things up. luckly all three know their role as thornton stuck up for mcquaid fighting pierre labrie and paille and campbell played well on the penalty kill. for the power play, i believe the bruins had one full two minute powerplay early in the 1st and it was terrible. the dump and chase method only works when everyone is in position and tampa did a great job of pinching early and holding the blue line. A small sample size, but unimpressive to say the least. the penalty kill saw themselves fighting off two 5 on 3s of both 1:54 and 1:58 minutes long. while tampa bay held possesion the majority of the time, the collapsing triangle and charas healthy seven foot frame down low resulted in maybe one or two legit scoring chances. this, plus the scoresheet saying we scored two shorthanded goals on the night because apparently penalty shot goals fall under that stat shows where this teams heart is. right in the defensive zone. the best offense is a good defense. as for the defense, i could tell chara was getting one to many shifts for opening night. while he is arguably the best defenseman in the game, claude is going to have to trust other people to get it done. that being said, chara looked fantastic. hamilton and mcquaid made sure nobody entered the crease and if they did they got a nice handful of glove. nothing bad to say about seidenberg. johhny rocket looked slow to start, but like others picked it up in the third. The issue tonight, if you can even call it that, was torrey krug. the lone goal tampa scored was all his fault on a terrible pinch down low. a pinch you only make when your down a goal late or something. he was the worst player on the ice for the first half of the game, but beating a dead horse, played great in the 3rd period. a theme i hope to see all season. Finally, what can you say. tuu u's. tuu k's, tuu points. while he couldn't handle a rebound to start the game, tuukkas stay at home fundamentals dominated the game. great scoring opportunities looked like routine shots in practice all night. if anyone was worried about his contract slowing him down, its clear, its only made him better. our next match up is satuday 10/5 at home against divison opponent, Detroit. Detroit will be coming in from a game tonight in carolina.