Boston Sports Then and Now

Boston Bruins forward #48 Chris Bourque

When the Boston Bruins acquired Chris Bourque from the Washington Capitals in exchange for failed prospect Zach Hamill, they were looking to acquire a winger with some offensive upside to replace the departed Benoit Pouliot on Chris Kelly’s third line. Bourque has been a career minor leaguer with the Capitals organization. He won two Calder Cup championships with the Hershey Bears in 2009 and 2010. Bourque also received the Jack Butterfield award for playoff MVP in 2010 with 7 goals, 20 assists, and a +7 in 21 games.

Despite all his success in the AHL, where he has 132 goals, 263 assists, and a + 50 in 398 games, he has never been able to translate his excellent minor league offensive output into anything significant at the NHL level. For years it was a question in Washington as to whether or not he ever really got the chance. The Capitals were loaded with offensive weapons in Bourque’s time there like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Alex Semin. With so many offensive weapons available, Bourque played in a checking role detrimental to his play style, and left off the powerplay where he plays his best hockey.

So you can imagine that AHL veteran was pretty happy when he was acquired by his hometown Boston Bruins, the team his father once played for. Bourque was signed to a two year deal and was to be given an opportunity to make the team out of camp. I cannot say if he would have given the presences of Jordan Caron, Jared Knight, and Ryan Spooner, but he was definitely going to get a shot. The lockout delayed his chance to join the NHL Bruins and he was sent back to the all too familiar AHL with the Providence Bruins. Bourque took his time with the baby B’s and ran with it, he led the team in scoring with 8 goals, 2o assists, and a plus 2 in 32 games up until being called up to play in Boston.

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Past moments of early March have seen the Bruins trade away one legend in Ray Bourque and acquire another in three-time champ, Mark Recchi. While the 2013 Bruins are playing great, it’s time to take a look back at other historic moments the team has seen in early March. This is This Week In Boston Bruins History. 

Ray Bourque played his final game with the Bruins on March 4, 2000.

March 3:

On March 3, 1957, the Bruins won their 800th game in franchise history, beating the Montreal Canadiens, 5-2.

On March 3, 2007, Tim Thomas started his 15th consecutive game for the B’s in a 3-1 win over the Canadiens. Thomas went 9-6 during the 15-game stretch while allowing 2.86 goals per game and posting two shutouts. He would then get his first off day since Jan. 30 in favor of Joey MacDonald.

On March 3, 2008, the B’s lost, 10-2, to the Capitals. It was the most goals they have allowed in a game since giving up the same amount in another 10-2 loss to the Maple Leafs on Jan. 4 of the previous season and they have not allowed more than that since. Washington scored six goals in the first period, including the 50th, 51st and 52nd for Alex Ovechkin. Thomas started the game and was pulled twice in favor of Alex Auld.

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This week’s Bruins history takes a look back on hockey history in Boston, focusing on some big trades, milestone victories and a few important birthdays with a special look at how the B’s have fared on games played on the extra day – Feb. 29. This is This Week in Boston Bruins History: Feb. 24-March 2.

Feb. 24:

On Feb. 24, 1934, the Bruins lost, 9-4, to the Senators in Ottawa. The nine goals allowed tied their season high for the 1933-34 season with their 9-2 loss to the same Sens on Jan. 4.

On Feb. 24, 1962, they fell to the Maple Leafs, 7-2, in Toronto in the 13th game of a 20-game winless streak. They would go on to finish the season with a record of just 15-47-8.

On Feb. 24, 1973, the B’s won their 40th game of the year, 7-5, over the Kings in Los Angeles. With their fourth straight win, they improved to 40-17-5.

On Feb. 24, 1980, Boston beat the expansion Oilers, 4-2, for the fourth straight time in their first season. They would beat them in the first meeting the following year as well before finally losing to them in their sixth meeting in January 1981.

On Feb. 24, 2004, the team played to the final 0-0 tie in their history. It came against the Islanders in the first of three consecutive overtime games for them. Felix Potvin made 33 saves for the Black and Gold.

Felix Potvin posted a 12-8-6 record for the B’s in 2004.

Feb. 25:

On Feb. 25, 1939, the Bruins finally lost their 10th game of the season, 1-0, to the Leafs in their 40th game. They would go on to win their second Stanley Cup. The Canadiens lost their 10th game of the year on Dec. 15 – to the Bruins.

On Feb. 25, 1962, the B’s allowed six or more goals for the 18th and final time of the 1961-62 season in an 8-0 loss to the Black Hawks. They would finish last in the NHL with 306 goals allowed on the season.

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Phil Esposito will celebrate his 71st birthday on Feb. 20 and he has celebrated some pretty big achievements on it in the past.

As will be the case in most weeks with a team with as much history as the Bruins, this week’s is no exceptions when it comes to firsts, lasts or incredible feats. This edition of This Week In Boston Bruins History features the birth and accomplishments of a legend, the parting of ways with a now-enemy, the return of another legend in a different uniform and the final go-around with those Oakland Seals among much more. Feb. 20, in particular, has been a huge day and it might be hard to believe that what has happened on that date could really happen.

Also, in honor of Presidents Day being today, my research shows that there have been 30 players with presidential last names to ever lace them up for the Bruins. The most common name of the bunch has been Jackson with five followed by four Wilson’s and four Taylor’s. Dougie Hamilton and Aaron Johnson are two members of the current team with a presidential last name. Here is the extremely improvised full list:

The list of Bruins with presidential last names.

Feb. 17:

On Feb. 17, 1929, the B’s beat the then-two-word Black Hawks, 3-0, in a game played in Fort Erie, Ontario. The Bruins would go on to win their first Stanley Cup at the end of the year with a 2-0 series win over the Rangers.

On Feb. 17, 1931, they beat the New York Americans, 2-1, in overtime to improve to 23-7-4 with their sixth straight win.

On Feb. 17, 1955, the Bruins played their only game in a seven-game stretch that did not result in a tie. The 10-2 loss at Chicago was sandwiched directly in between six ties.

On Feb. 17, 1970, they played their final game against the short-lived Oakland Seals before they became the California Golden Seals. The game ended in a 3-3 tie and three months later, the B’s won their fourth Stanley Cup.

On Feb. 17, 1993, the Bruins won the 2,100th game in their franchise history. The opponent? None other than the Canadiens. Dave Reid and C.J. Young each scored a pair of goals in the 5-2 win at Montreal.

Feb. 18: 

On Feb. 18, 1951, the Bruins beat the Black Hawks, 7-3, in their first game in a week.

On Feb. 18, 1953, the team began a winless seven-game road trip that was sandwiched between two home wins. They lost, 4-2, to the New York Rangers and went 0-5-2 on the roady to fall to 22-26-12 on the year.

On Feb. 18, 1981, the B’s acquired forward Mike Gillis from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Bob MIller. If that name sounds familiar, it should. Gillis is the current general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. You know, the one who hates Brad Marchand.

On Feb. 18, 2011, the Bruins acquired defenseman Thomas Kaberle from the Maple Leafs for Joe Colborne, a 2011 first-round pick that turned out to be Rickard Rakell and a 2012 conditional second-round pick. On the same day, they acquired Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik from the Atlanta Thrashers for Mark Stuart and Blake Wheeler. Both Kaberle and Peverley were instrumental in the team’s first Stanley Cup championship since 1972.

Also on Feb. 18, 2011, the B’s beat the Senators, 4-2, to improve to 33-19-7. Dennis Seidenberg scored his second game-winning goal of the year at 15:20 of the third period and Marchand added some insurance 32 seconds later.

Rich Peverley was acquired by the Bruins on Feb. 18, 2011 and helped them to go on to win the Stanley Cup.

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Do you remember when Andrew Ference was acquired? Now you know.

Yes, in February, 2013, the Bruins are off to their best start ever and riding a three-game winning streak. But, that’s not all this franchise has to offer. Over the last 89 years, the Boston Bruins have been one of the greatest franchises in the NHL and woven quite a history.

This weekly piece will take a look back at some of their most significant wins, acquisitions, coaching changes and a whole lot more. This is This Week In Boston Bruins History: Feb. 10-16.

Feb. 10:

On Feb. 10, 1942 the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens, 8-1, to improve to 21-11 on the year. Roy Conacher led the team in goals with 24 in the 48-game season. They would go on to finish third in the NHL out of the original six with a second-round playoff loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

On Feb. 10, 1951, the B’s would beat the Canadiens, 6-0, to improve to 17-22-13. The win snapped a five-game winless streak. The local boys would finish fourth in the league again and suffered a first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Maple Leafs after losing four straight when the calendar turned to April.

On Feb. 10, 1972, they beat the Vancouver Canucks, 9-1, at the old Boston Garden. It was the 38th win of the year for the eventual Stanley Cup champions, who lost just 13 games the entire season. If nothing else, it’s always nice to beat Vancouver.

On Feb. 10, 1985, Gerry Cheevers coached his final game for the Bruins in a 4-3 loss at Chicago. Boston fell to 25-24, but that record wasn’t good enough to keep him around. He was replaced by Harry Sinden, who would lead the team to an 11-10-3 record the rest of the year, but couldn’t get them out of the first round of the playoffs where they again fell to the Canadiens three games to two.

On Feb. 10, 2007, the Bruins acquired Andrew Ference and Chuck Kobasew from the Calgary Flames in exchange for Wayne Primeau, Brad Stuart and a 2008 conditional fourth-round draft pick that turned out to be T.J. Brodie. It was the last trade that these franchises have made. In six years with the Bruins, Ference has appeared in 335 games and registered 32 points while also earning alternate captain honors at the start of the 2012 season.

Feb. 11:

On Feb. 11, 1941, the B’s won the 400th game in their franchise’s history by beating the Red Wings, 4-0. They improved to 18-7-10 with the win and went on to win their third of six Stanley Cups at the end of the season.

On Feb. 11, 1950, they dropped a tough 9-4 game to those same Red Wings in the third game of a nine-game winless streak. The five-goal differential was their worst home loss of the entire season.

On Feb. 11, 1968, the team tied the St. Louis Blues for the first time in the series between the two. The 3-3 Saturday tie left them at 26-18-10 and they would finish third in the NHL’s East Division before another first-round playoff loss to Montreal.

On Feb. 11, 1969, Boston beat the Chicago Blackhawks, 7-3, to improve to an impressive 33-9-12 before going on a four-game losing streak. Their 42-18-16 record was second in the league, but a familiar result loomed in the playoffs: a loss to the Canadiens in six games in the second round.

On Feb. 11, 1997, the Bruins lost, 5-1, at Calgary to start a six-game losing streak and seven-game winless streak on a seven-game road trip. Five different Flames scored in the game. Boston’s goal was scored by Barry Richter and assists went to Adam Oates and Jozef Stumpel.

On Feb. 11, 2012, they registered their first ever shootout win against the Nashville Predators, 4-3, at home. They improved to 34-17-2 with shootout goals from Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron. Tim Thomas stopped both of the shots he saw in the shootout.

Feb. 12:

On Feb. 12, 1939, the team’s four-game winning streak came to an end with a 3-2 loss to the Rangers. Not ones to get discouraged, they would go on to win the Stanley Cup later that same season.

On Feb. 12, 47, the organization retired Dit Clapper‘s No. 5 prior to him coaching them to a 10-1 win over the Rangers. In 20 seasons with the Bruins, Clapper scored 228 goals and complied 246 assists for 474 points. He ranks ninth on the franchise’s all-time list in games played with 833.

On Feb. 12, 1955, the team began an eight-game winless streak with a 5-5 tie against the Rangers at home. They wouldn’t get another win until facing off against the Rangers again on March 2.

On Feb. 12, 1961, the Bruins beat the Rangers, 8-3, to improve to a lowly 12-32-11. It was their only win in a 13-game stretch in the middle of the season. The team would finish 15-42-13 and way out of playoff contention with just 43 points on the year. Apparently they play the Rangers a lot on Feb. 12. And guess what? Tomorrow’s Feb. 12 and they play the Rangers.

On Feb. 12, 1988, The B’s beat the Edmonton Oilers, 7-4, on the road. That’s ironic because they would go on to get swept by Wayne Gretzky and the boys in the Stanley Cup Finals. Randy Burridge had a goal and three assists for Boston. Kevin Lowe was minus-3 for Edmonton. It was the fifth straight win for the Bruins.

On Feb. 12, 1995, coach Brian Sutter won the 100th game of his career in a 2-1 win on the road at Buffalo. Ray Bourque had a goal in the game for the Bruins, who improved to 7-3-1 on the strike-shortened season.

On Feb. 12, 2000, the team ended a brutal two-game stretch by losing to the Panthers, 5-1. Over those two games, they were outscored, 10-3, by Florida and the Rangers on consecutive days.

On Feb. 12, 2002, they topped the Canucks, 2-1, in overtime with the game-winning goal coming from Glen Murray in their last game before the Olympic break. Murray would score both Boston goals and the team improved to 32-16-4-7 at the time of the Salt Lake City games.

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Chris Bourque was the difference in this one as this first-period goal led to the Bruins’ sixth win in eight games.

We’ve seen it before from this Bruins team. A player removed from the lineup because he’s just not the best option at the moment only to be forced back in by an injury to another. In the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, it was Shawn Thornton who was pulled for the hottest rookie in the world, Tyler Seguin only to be pressed right back into duty in the next game because of the injury suffered by Nathan Horton.

Interestingly, the current situation involved Thornton again, but this time he was the one getting hurt. Chris Bourque was removed from the Bruins’ starting lineup for the Buffalo game on Thursday because he had done virtually nothing for the team in the first six games of the season. It would be the only game he missed, however, due to the concussion suffered by Thornton in Thursday’s loss. I guess the time off was all that Bourque needed as he provided the first and only goal of the night for the Bruins and they left the sold out Air Canada Centre with a 1-0 win over the Maple Leafs in the 12th shutout of Tuukka Rask‘s career. What a difference a few days make.

“I knew I could do it,” said Bourque, who hadn’t scored an NHL goal since Dec. 30, 2008 with the Capitals. “It’s just going out there and proving it. Just happy to contribute. Kelly and Pevs made a hell of a play there, I just drove and put it in the open net.” After going the first six games of the season without one, the third line has a goal two assists in each of the last two.

There was no doubt he was relieved to get his first goal as a Bruin and his first in more than four years. His fist pump celebration mirrored that of another Bourque – a quite famous one who wore No. 77 for 20-plus years in the old Boston Garden – and his father, Ray.

Chris Bourque celebrates the game-winning goal and his first in the NHL in over four years.

The goal came at 8:54 of the first period and was made possible by the speed of Chris Kelly. He dished the puck to Rich Peverley on the right side and then burst down the middle, beating every Leaf to Peverley’s dump-in. He made a nifty backhand pass to the front of the net, where Bourque would poke it in before knocking the net off its moorings. He now has two career goals in the NHL.

“There’s your net drive,” exclaimed a mighty satisfied Jack Edwards from the press box.

Boston improved to 7-0-0 in their last seven meetings with their rivals from north of the border while outscoring them 37-10 in that span. They have scored 5.29 goals per game in the team’s last seven meetings and allowed only 1.43 goals during the stretch. Their 1-0 shutout last night was their first of 2013 and Rask’s first since a 9-0 win over the Flames last year. Like Seguin and Dougie Hamilton, who was playing his first NHL game in his hometown of Toronto, Rask also was acquired from the Maple Leafs. He landed in Boston after a straight-up swap of him for Andrew Raycroft between the two teams in 2006.

The game began with some fireworks just over two and a half minutes in when Lane MacDermid challenged Mark Fraser just inside the blue line. While the fight likely ended in a draw, it was the Bruins who capitalized on the momentum and got the goal six minutes later.

It looked like the Leafs had tied it up later in the period, but the goal was disallowed after it was ruled that Nazem Kadri had made incidental contact with Rask and interfered with his ability to defend the net. The call bailed Adam McQuaid out as he had an opportunity to make what looked to be a pretty easy clear, but shot the puck right into the stick of a Leafs’ player.

The B’s kept control of that momentum for the rest of the period and much of the remainder of the game. Toronto was never really able to get anything going. The B’s outshot the Leafs 12-7 in the first and 34-21 for the game. It was tied for the lowest shot total they have allowed all season (21 on opening night).

More importantly, the team ended their stretch of four games in six days with three wins and six out of a possible eight points and though they would have a Seguin goal disallowed themselves later in the game, found a way to put the Buffalo loss behind them and get back on track. They would, however, lose Brad Marchand for the remainder of the game as he made incidental contact with goalie James Reimer and then slammed into the boards shoulder first. Bourque would play much of the third period with Seguin and Patrice Bergeron.

“It was a real good game on our part,” said head coach Claude Julien. “I’m really proud of the guys – the way they’ve handled this week. You hope it becomes contagious.”

Well, apparently fights are contagious for MacDermid, who squared off with Fraser again in the second. This time, it was no contest. After landing a few quick punches, “Dermy” got the take down rather easily. He now has three fighting majors in seven career NHL games.

Lane MacDermid got into it with Mark Fraser twice on Saturday night.

Boston’s penalty kill, ranked third in the league through their first eight games, killed off all three of Toronto’s power-play chances on the night, including one in the final two and a half minutes of the game when Seguin was called for a slash. Zdeno Chara was big on the game-clinching penalty kill and Bergeron just missed an open net on a clear.

Gregory Campbell also stepped up on Saturday and played a big role with new linemates in the absence of Thornton and Daniel Paille. He logged a season high 14:21 of ice time while doing the work to kill penalties and also saw a lot more 5-on-5 action with the absence of Marchand.

Also stepping up was Johnny Boychuk, who was all over the ice towards the end of the game, sacrificing his body and blocking shots. This was the kind of defense that was blatantly absent in the seven-goal game against the Sabres just two days prior.

“That was out type of hockey defensively,” said Rask, who finished with 21 saves. ” It was just a very solid effort.”

That it was. If both the defense and the third line can build off of the performances they put forth last night, things will only get better for the Black and Gold.

Jamie Tardif, 28, made his NHL debut in the game and registered eight shifts for the Bruins. After playing in 449 AHL and ECHL games in seven professional seasons, he finally set foot on NHL ice. He even led the team out of the locker room pre-game, though he was the only one of them on the ice for a while as the B’s played a little joke on the rookie.

Since 2007-08, Bourque has played in just 40 NHL games for the Capitals, Penguins, and Bruins.

Dennis Seidenberg led all Bruins with 24:22 of ice time in the win.

Julien said after the game that Marchand was cleared to return to the game, but they kept him out of the third period to be “cautionary.”

Thank you Kessel. Even though neither Seguin nor Hamilton contributed on the only goal of the night, it’s still nice to be polite. The former Bruin registered just eight shots on net and has no goals through eight games in 2013. Since leaving Boston in 2009, Phil Kessel has a minus-18 rating against his former team.

The three stars of the game were Reimer, Rask and Bourque.

The Bruins improved to 6-1-1 atop the Eastern Conference with 13 points and will take three much-needed days off before getting back in action on Wednesday night as they head to the Bell Centre to take on the 5-2 Canadiens for the first of four times this season. Toronto fell to 4-4 in the eighth spot in the East and will host the Hurricanes on Monday night.

Follow me on Twitter @RealAndyLarmand.