Boston Sports Then and Now

Krejci and the Bruins bounced Miller and the Sabres

Back in January, as the Bruins were going through an epic losing streak, fans and media called in the priest to prematurely say the last rites on Boston’s season. But Boston hung around the playoff picture as the months rolled on, despite playing sub par hockey.

After getting shut out 3-0 in the “Revenge Game” against Pittsburgh, an effort devoid of any heart or emotion, even the most dedicated fans started to give up. Blogs, newspapers, websites far and wide declared this team had no chance if they were even lucky enough to make the playoffs.

Boston finished the season 10-4-1 after that debacle against Pittsburgh, but still weren’t given much of a chance against Vezina candidate Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres. They were without Marc Savard, Mark Stuart and Dennis Seidenberg. They had a putrid offense in general and scoring against Miller was considered too tall of a task despite their regular season success against the Sabres.

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Buffalo had a lot to celebrate on Friday.

Through five games in their best of seven series against the Buffalo Sabres, the Bruins have given up the first goal in all five games. In three of the five they managed to come back, but the Bruins need to stop relying on late game heroics.

Boston came out flat in Game 5 and played their worst game of the series. Buffalo played hungry and angry after going down 3-1 and outplayed the Bruins across the board. The Bruins failed to match Buffalo’s intensity for 59 minutes of that game. If not for the strong play of Johnny Boychuk, Ryan Miller may have notched a shutout.

The fight, desire and physicality that have made Boston successful this series were nowhere to be found in Game 5. They were a step behind Buffalo the entire game, rarely challenging Miller and ignoring everything that had made them successful.

The worry for Boston is that they have had trouble handling success this season. Their recent success before Game 5, including their 10-4-1 run to climb into the 6^th seed, shows that maybe they have learned from their mistakes.

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Buffalo got the best of Boston in Game 1. How will the Bruins respond?

If their Game 1 show down was any indication, Buffalo and Boston better strap in and get ready for a long, grueling, physically demanding series. Buffalo emerged with a 2-1 victory in Game 1 in one of the more exciting games of the playoffs in a game that was exactly what it was billed to be.

Both Ryan Miller and Tuukka Rask faced more than 30 shots in a back and forth game, but unfortunately for the Bruins, Buffalo beat Rask just one more time than they beat Miller. The Boston offense swarmed Miller, but the leading Vezina candidate stood tall.

Boston dominated the second period, out shooting Buffalo 24-8 and spending almost the entire period in the Buffalo zone. Unfortunately the Bruins lack of finish reared it’s ugly head, but the effort is there. Boston knows they have to score dirty goals to beat Miller, and vicariously Buffalo.

Their defensemen were shooting pucks low to the net, trying to get rebounds or deflections. Their forwards were charging the net, firing shots from all angles to keep Miller off guard. They did everything they needed to do except

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Classic "Adams Division" match-up in Sabres vs Bruins

Boston enters the first round of the NHL playoffs as underdogs, and perhaps that is the best roll for them. Boston did not handle their success from last year very well and did not start playing their best hockey until their backs were completely against the wall. Boston seems to be at their best when they have to fight for every inch of ice.

The Sabres have been at the top of the Northeast Division, and near the top of the NHL, all season long. They are well coached, defensively responsible and have arguably the best goaltender in the NHL this season.

Boston and Buffalo are familiar with each, having played each other six times already this season. Boston won four of the six meetings and enters their match-up with a bit of confidence. Can the Bruins claw their way to a first round victory?

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Boston could be prepared to do a lot more celebrating.

A little more than a month ago Boston was left for dead. They were a team struggling to score, struggling to stay together and struggling to put together anything resembling a 60 minute effort. Fans called in a priest to say the last rites for their beloved Bruins and began to look ahead to next season. As the injuries mounted on the blueline and Savard’s recovery didn’t progress fans gave up hope completely.

But somewhere along the line Boston found reasons to rally. Despite the bad luck, despite the injuries and despite the season long poor play the Bruins found a reason to play their game. They still had trouble scoring but they rallied around each other… they started playing for each other.

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Thomas falling well below expectations for Team USA

Last night’s  Sabres-Bruins tilt told you all you need to know about Team USA’s goalie situation.
Tim Thomas started the season with a great shot to be the starting goaltender for Team USA and through mid-November was neck and neck with Ryan Miller. But Thomas, like most of his Bruins teammates, stumbled through the season as Ryan Miller lit up the league over in Buffalo and Ron Wilson’s decision quickly went from cloudy to slap you in the face obvious. Thomas, once again in his career, was getting snubbed. But for the first time he failed to respond.

Enter Tuukka Rask, the Bruins rookie netminder. Rask was completely snubbed from Team Finland. He’s not even third string. But unlike Thomas, Rask is playing like he has something to prove. He is playing like he should be Boston’s #1 and playing like he wants to start in the Olympics.

In a crucial match-up Tuesday night against the Sabres coach Claude Julien turned to Rask, not Thomas, to go up against Ryan Miller. Rask responded with a career high 43 saves, out dueling Team USA’s goalie and sending Boston to their second win in a row as Thomas watched from the bench. At a critical point in the season, when Boston desperately needed to reverse their fortunes, Tuukka Rask was between the pipes.

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