So the Boston Bruins didn’t win the Jarome Iginla signing, but tonight they’ll face off against him and the Pittsburgh Penguins at the TD Garden with two points on the line. The Bruins have recently joined the Pens in the Eastern Conference Playoffs but are still trying to fight off the Montreal Canadiens for first in the Northeast Division. This is the last time the two teams will meet in regular season this year. However there is a chance they could have a rematch come playoff time.

Brad Marchand rejoined the B’s following a concussion (Credit: Flickr/ Slidingsideways)

Bruins Refocused:
Naturally playing Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres was tough for the Bruins as it was the first major sports event in Boston since the Marathon bombing. Emotions were high for players and fans alike but the B’s weren’t able to pick up the win after a come from behind win from Buffalo. You can bet tonight they will be more focused on picking up a win especially since Pittsburgh has won the past two games this season. In their last three the B’s have been winless BUT they have recently regained two key players back into the lineup by the names of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. They reunited with their linemate Tyler Seguin and the three seemed like they were never apart.

Penguins Powering Through Injury:
Despite being without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins are well on their way to securing the Eastern Conference title. They have won five in a row and a win tonight against the Bruins would take away the B’s chance of top stop of the Eastern Conference. As of right now the Penguins are four points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for the top overall seed in all the teams.

Looch Out?
In practice yesterday, Claude Julien had Milan Lucic practicing on the fifth line meaning there’s a chance he’ll be a healthy scratch tonight. This should be no surprise to anyone watching this season as Looch has slipped tremendously and isn’t his usual gritty self. If Lucic is scratch it’s expected that newly acquired Swedish prospect Carl Soderberg will get the start. If that is the case it will be Soderberg’s Bruins debut.

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

*Both teams will be wearing jerseys that have “617″ and ”Boston Strong” patches that will be auctioned off for One Fund Boston.

Bruins lost to the Pittsburgh Penguin 5-3 in regulation Tuesday night at the TD Garden. (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Last night the Boston Bruins took on the Pittsburgh Penguins for one of their last three games of the regular season. Coming off of a hard fought victory over the New York Rangers Sunday night, it was expected that the Bruins would be roaring and ready to go, with the mind set of playoff hockey. With an atmosphere mirroring what they can expect to see in the weeks to come from their home town crowd.

The two teams met up for their fourth and final time this season, Pittsburgh holding a 2-1 edge with Malkin scoring a goal and 3 assists for the Penguins, as Crosby had been out since their December 5th match-up with concussion-like symptoms.  The Bruins gave Marty Turco the nod in net with Providence call-up Anton Khudobin as the back up, giving veteran Tim Thomas, a days rest. It would mark Turco’s fifth game starting in net. Unfortunately, Pittsburgh would get on the board first with star Sidney Crosby snapping a shot past Turco, just 7:41 in.  Though there was a lot of back and forth action in the first, the Bruins didn’t show as much tempo and aggression as they had against the Rangers, the wear and tear showing in the way they carried themselves. The Penguins would go on to score again at 14:58 with Tyler Kennedy sneaking one just over the red line that Turco was unable to stop, and just as the period was about to end, good ole Benoit Pouliot crafted a nifty backhander on Johnson to cut the Pens lead to one.

As the second period began, the Bruins came out with the speed and aggression they lacked in the first, like a completely different team. Just 18 seconds in Milan Lucic sniped one top shelf on Johnson, tying the game at two.  Unfortunately, referees began to come into play as the aggression between the two teams rose, so did the penalties, resulting in a five on three advantage for the Penguins, providing them with two power play goals, giving them a 4-2 edge heading into the third period.

Being a typical Bruins fan, it was expected that the Bruins would come out of the locker room surging with energy, ready to wipe the ice with the Pens as Andrew Ference tried to build momentum at the end of the second by taking on James Neal in a lengthy bout. Sadly, this only lead to more heartbreak as Crosby went on to score another goal on Turco, only to be greeted with a Mike Milbury approved “Crosby Sucks” chant from the crowd.  The most exciting part of the third period came from the Lucic-Krejci-Peverley line as David Krejci threw the puck up ice to Lucic who threw a nice backhand, cross0ice pass to Rich Peverley, beating Johnson stick-side high. While there may not have been any fights in the third period, the physicality was still very much a factor as defenseman Johnny Boychuk went down hard to the ice and would need help getting back up off of a collision in the neutral zone.  For Pittsburgh it would be Joe Vitale who would get in the way of a Chara blast, taking the puck right to the face.

The Bruins lost to the Penguins 5-3 in regulation, by the two goals the referees gave to the Penguins in the second period with a five-on-three advantage, stemming from a bogus tripping call.  The Bruins provided a good effort against the Penguins, but didn’t play a full sixty from every player. There were shining moments that came few and far between that ended up hurting them in the end. While the Bergeron-Marchand-Seguin line had a few good opportunities, the Penguins shut them down with ease. As they head into the playoffs, they are going to need to find their legs and get a full, solid effort from all twenty guys on the ice. They are en route to Ottawa to take on the Senators with veterans Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and Tim Thomas staying home, along with Johnny Boychuk who is getting an MRI on his left leg this afternoon, though thoughts remain hopeful for the defenseman. Lane MacDermid, Anton Khudobin and newcomer Torey Krug all get their chance in the spot light as Julien rests his key players for what is hoped to be a lengthy playoff run.

Chris Kelly and Tyler Seguin (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Today the Bruins look to beat the New York Rangers to avoid a series sweep. Currently the Rangers have won five straight and nine of the last eleven games against Boston.  The last meeting between these two teams was at Madison Square Garden on March 4, where the Rangers took the Bruins in a 4-3 victory.

The fate of these two teams in the playoffs rides on the outcome of a few earlier games on the schedule today, as it usually does around this time of the season.  If the Pittsburgh Penguins lose to the Philadelphia Flyers, the Rangers secure the #1 spot in the East with a win today.

The Bruins could already be Division Champions by the drop of the puck today, should the Ottawa Senators lose to the New York Islanders in regulation today.  If the Senators do in fact win, the Bruins still have the opportunity to clinch the Division title with a win against the Rangers today.

With so much riding on the line, adding the fact that the defending Cup Champions are looking to avoid a series sweep and the Rangers are in the running for the Presidents’ trophy, today’s match up should prove to be entertaining.  It could easily provide a nice preview to say Eastern Conference Finals?

Today Bruins Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand are competing against each other to be the team’s leading high scorers, while Chris Kelly is looking to improve his personal best 20 goals, something that hasn’t been achieved since in the AHL in 2004-2005 for the Binghamton Senators.

“I’ve never scored 20 in the NHL and a perfect example of a product of being on a good team. Everyone plays hard, everyone plays together and plays for one another.”-Chris Kelly (via Bruins News)

Currently the Bruins are playing some of the best hockey fans have seen since the November-December burst and with a victory meaning they clinch the Division, you can bet they are going to be bringing it all to the table today.

“We went through a lull there when we didn’t play with lots of energy, and we didn’t focus that well on our game plan so it made it hard for us to win hockey games,” Julien said. “But I think our guys are back on track now for probably a couple of weeks, and focusing more on what we need to do and push each other to do it well. And because of that, we’ve found our game again.”(via Bruins News)

Watch the Bruins take on the Rangers today at 7:00pm EST at Madision Square Garden and battle it out in what is sure to be one of the best games of the season.

You can watch the game on NBCSN or listen to it on 98.5 the Sports Hub.

Will today be another big game for #46? (Credit: Slidingsideways/ Flickr)

With the Buffalo Sabres losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, the Boston Bruins clinched the playoffs as the number 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. This is the fifth straight year the B’s will make the playoffs and with the recent luck the team has been having I’m as optimistic as ever. Having said that the team still has five games left in the regular season to play.

The first is a matinee game against the New York Islanders. The Bruins took the first two games against the Islanders back in November scoring 6 goals in each game. However in the last meeting between the teams on March 3rd, it was NY that picked up a 3-2 win. With the playoff clinch the B’s have a little less to worry about, but I don’t think they’re trying to tie the series with the Isles for the season.

For Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau, this game brings them back to the Nassau Coliseum where they played last season and this season until the trade deadline as Islanders. But 39 year old Rolston isn’t too concerned with revenge.

“When you’re younger and you play a former team it might be a little nerve-wracking, but in this situation not so much,” said Rolston. “I’ve been around a long time. It’s about trying to well yourself as an individual and play well as a team.”(Via CSNNE)

Injury wise Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid will not make the New York roadtrip after being cut over his left eye in Thursday’s game against the Washington Capitals. Dennis Seidenberg, who didn’t play in Thursday’s game because of a cut on his leg, will be making the trip and could play. Islander wise, goalie Evgeni Nabokov is out with a lower body injury.

As for who’s hot right now, Zdeno Chara has 5 points in his last 6 games and David Krejci has 5 points in his last 4. Those two are definitely the players that I will be watching out for in today’s game.

So Bruins fans enjoy that our boys are in the playoff’s once again, and enjoy the last 5 games of the season!

Puck drops at 1 and you can watch the game on NESN.

Marty Turco(Photo Credit: the_mel/Flickr) and Tim Thomas (Photo Credit: Steph Vail)

There is no denying that a team’s most important and valuable player is their goaltender. In most cases they make or break the team. As of late the Bruins goaltending is struggling. With an injury to back-up goaltender Tuukka Rask and back-up back-up goaltender Anton Khudobin, GM Peter Chiarelli signed former Blackhawk Marty Turco to a contract.

At the start of this season, Turco was unable to find a team so he joined the Red Bull Salzburg of the Erste Bank Hockey League in Austria. Throughout the trade deadline Turco’s agent had been trying to find him a deal to get back into the NHL and with Tuukka being out 4-6 weeks (closer to the six week mark), Chiarelli saw him as a solid piece to the puzzle.  He brings the Bruins depth and veteran presence with ten NHL seasons under his belt notching 273-165-26-40, with a 2.35 goals-against-average, a .910 save percentage and 41 career shutouts.

On March 11, Turco got his first nod in net as a Bruin as he relieved Tim Thomas against the Pittsburgh Penguins. While he faced twenty shots on net, he only allowed two of them to slide by unfortunately resulting in a 5-2 loss. Afterwards Turco admittedly stated that it was different going from Olympic-sized ice that he had been playing on to standard rink size, but that with each minute he felt more and more comfortable.

“It’s all a little different, a change of scenery. Just becoming a little bit more accustomed to it is the goal, making saves will probably help with the mental game. It’s all about confidence”-Marty Turco(via Boston Bruins Official Site)

Confidence. A word that has been slung around along with consistency as of late. In order to move forward the Bruins need to have complete confidence in their goaltending and themselves.

Taking a look at Tim Thomas‘s performance as of late, there is room to speculate as to whether the team is sensing the veteran is off as much as the fans are. In 9 out of the last 11 games opposing teams have been able to score on the Bruins on the opening minutes of the game. While this isn’t entirely Thomas’s fault, he does share part of the blame, allowing soft goals to squeeze by him more often than not.

In order for a team to have success they have to have confidence in one another and it is essential to have it in your goaltenders. Turco has been working diligently to get his timing back and feel more comfortable in between the pipes, while Thomas has been working his tail off starting in eight of the last nine games and relieving Rask in the other.

While it may take a couple of games for Turco to be confident in himself and find his legs again, Thomas will have an opportunity to rest. (Even if he states he is ‘fine,’ his performance says otherwise) Time will tell for the Bruins net minders and until then, fans are going to have to bear with the team as they try to find their way back to the victory column and race for the Cup.

Kris Letang and Daniel Paille battle for a puck (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Tonight’s game sported heavy hits and even heavier hearts as the Pittsburgh Penguins went on to defeat the Bruins 2-1 at the TD Garden,but it wasn’t because of lack of effort.  As soon as the puck hit the ice to start the first period the Bruins put the pressure on, Seguin and Marchand leading the way. It was only five minutes in when they would get their first real scoring opportunity with a line drive from Seguin that went just wide of Fleury and the net. They sported really good energy through the entire first period and had a much better fore-check. It wouldn’t be until under ten seconds left in the first that Evgeni Malkin would get a rebound off of a drive from James Neal and bury it behind Thomas to put the Penguins up 1-0. To the naked eye the Bruins owned much of the first  period, they just needed to focus on getting more bodies in front of the net to create more opportunities. As Gregory Campbell put it during the first intermission:

“We’ve showed the capability of scoring goals, it’s really about shutting other teams down now. . . As a team we have to collectively regroup after a fairly good one and build on that.  We have to stay aggressive and focus on getting chances and another goal.”

» Continue reading “Heavy Hits and Heavy Hearts”