Tag Archives: Milan Lucic

July 13, 2012 · 5:48 AM

Speaking of Shaking Things Up

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Well to take a break from the Sox and Celtics let’s visit the other team that plays in the Garden. The Bruins basically brought back their entire Stanley Cup winning team only to see them get ousted in the first round of the playoffs. So there has to be some change, right?

What was my biggest criticism of Theo Epstein? His man crushes.

It seems that Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has his own man crushes. To the point that he doesn’t want to shake up the roster too much. He doesn’t want to lose one of “his guys”.

I’ll admit that part of the issue is Claude’s coaching. He has the guys all play in his system. But if you let guys like Lucic or Seguin off the leash, would you have a 40 or 50 goal scorer on the team?

I bring this up because Bobby Ryan’s name has been floated in the rumor mill again. He’s a winger for the Ducks who I think would add instant scoring to your offense. He’d likely improve your dreadful power play as well.

Ryan wouldn’t cost you a Hamilton or Seguin the way a Rick Nash would. He’d likely only cost you a Krejci or Lucic. As much as I like both guys, I’m pulling the trigger on it today if Anaheim says yes.

Krejci is good and makes the guys on the team better. But I think you need to trade something to get something and his contract works perfect with Ryan’s.

If you’re not going to deal for Nash (I’m not trading Seguin) you should really look at Ryan. I think he’d shake up the scoring funk. Well, hope he would anyways. He could come to the team and become another Claude drone in the system.

Bottom line. The Bruins as constructed I don’t think can win the East right now. So to quote Da Guy, Shake It Up!!!

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May 26, 2011 · 6:50 AM

Tired Of Staying Up

After a nice pregame meal at the Tavern in Salem, we were home right in time to see the puck drop. So much for that 8PM start time. Puck dropped closer to 8:15.

Well the Bruins went down 1-0 again, this time 36 seconds into the game. Glad they listened to me and came out and played like their hair was on fire.

The managed to tie the game at one on a nice goal from Lucic on the breakaway. With the defenseman in his way he used him as a screen and went top shelf on game six starter Dwayne Roloson who apparently just needed game five off.

Lucic’s goal was followed up by Krejci’s first of three goals on the night. The Bruins had a 2-1 lead heading into the second period. This is where a hockey team looking to finish off their opponent would come out very hard in the beginning of the period and get that cushion goal.

Not the Bruins though.

Nope, instead of stepping on the Lightning’s collective throats with a goal they decide to get penalized twice and give up power play goals both times. Was this because in the pregame interview Claude said they had been pretty good on the penalty kill?

The team down 3-2 heading into the third period decided to play it like they played the first and give up a goal in 34 seconds besting the 36 seconds from the first. Of course this was another power play goal for Tampa Bay putting them a perfect 3-for-3 on power play opportunities at that point.

Krejci got them to within one but just 29 seconds later StLouis scored the cushion goal the Bruins were looking for at the start of the second. Krejci added another one for his hat trick but the Bruins couldn’t find that last goal.

Honestly at that point had they found the tying goal Tampa would have scored 25 seconds after the Bruins tied, right? I mean, 36 seconds, 34 seconds, 29 seconds, a nice 25 second goal seemed inevitable.

So it all comes down to Friday night. We’ve seen this team lose in the quarterfinals game seven to Carolina and Philly now we potentially could see them lose game seven in the conference finals to Tampa. Something about that sentence doesn’t seem right. Playing at home they should stomp Tampa.

Here’s hoping they find that “fire” before it’s too late.

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May 9, 2011 · 6:01 AM

Excited Doesn’t Begin To Describe

Friday night I went out to dinner around seven. We ate in the bar on the off chance it took longer than an hour and we didn’t want to miss any of the Bruins game. The Red Sox game was on, we saw Francona get ejected, all of a sudden it was hockey time.

The puck dropped and we watched a team fight to keep their playoff run alive. Unfortunately that team fighting for their playoff lives was the Red Wings not the Flyers. Yup, the Herald said the game was on Versus so the bartender put the TV on Versus to see the Red Wings, who dropped the puck at 7PM, up 3-1.

“Um, that’s not the Bruins.”

After some playing with the satellite we found the Bruins game on NESN under the listing of Twins vs. Red Sox. Thankfully the puck hadn’t even dropped when we tuned in. But since we were done we grabbed the check and I relied on my cell phone and the radio to get me home.

I followed on the cell to a 1-0 Bruins lead and actually got in the car as the first period expired. When they dropped the puck on the second period I was home and glued to the couch. Well, to the edge of the couch anyways. After the second period saw the Flyers tie the game I was hoping that the Bruins starting the third on a power play would equal a goal.

We had to wait till after the power play was over to see Johnny Boychuk score just over two minutes into the third period. That calmed me down. I wasn’t comfortable but calmer than I was at 1-1. When Lucic scored with about five minutes left in the period I was completely calm.

Then Philly did what many would argue they should have done all series, they pulled their goalie. Marchand and Paille (who stole the goal from Campbell) scored empty net goals and I did what I’ve done all postseason. I went to Facebook and posted:

“Wooooooooooooooooo!!! Conference Finals!!!!!”

So excited but that really doesn’t even begin to describe it, like the headline says. The last time the Bruins were there was 1992. Do you know what I remember about that? That I ended up having to wear a Penguins hat because I bet a guy that the Bruins would beat the Pens.

Now the Bruins sit and wait for the Western Conference semis to complete so they can start their conference finals series with Tampa. They’ll start it at least without Bergeron meaning that rookie Tyler Seguin will likely dress. I don’t expect him to just replace Bergeron on that line. We’ll have to wait and see.

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April 28, 2011 · 6:37 AM

Seeing Is Believing!

0-3 the last three years in game sevens. In fact they haven’t won a game seven since 1994 (that’s almost 20 years!). You’d think the odds need to play in their favor at some point right? Well, I’ll believe it when I see it.
-Jay’s Sports Blog 04/27/10

It was an intense watch last night. To the point that the wife said, “I can’t watch. If we watch, they’re going to lose.” That was the correct mentality coming into last night. After all, like it says above, they hadn’t won a game seven since 1994.

The Bruins went out to a quick 2-0 lead. Boychuk and Recchi both got on the board within just about the first five minutes of the game. More importantly the Bruins were playing with urgency. They looked to have “heaaaaaaaaaaht” and didn’t seem to want to let up.

Well, Montreal got on the board while Michael Ryder was in the penalty box and cut the lead in half with about 10 minutes left in the period. The Bruins held on for the rest of the period even after an elbowing call on Shawn Thornton where he didn’t even elbow (WTF?) had the Bruins shorthanded.

Montreal tied the game in the second and set up the Bruins season to come down to the final 20 minutes. Many of my friends on Facebook were openly praying that this wouldn’t be the end of the Bruins season. I actually posted “Wake me when it’s over.” Talk about stressful.

Then Chris Kelly, the center the B’s got from Ottawa after Savard was shut down for the season, gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead. I was literally holding my breath.

Then, yet another, “questionable” penalty against the Bruins (I use questionable so I’m not swearing in my post) had the Bruins playing shorthanded again. It was on this powerplay that the Canadiens tied it again. This time with only about two minutes left in the game.

I can’t handle this!

After Tuesday’s loss I ad feared that Lucic was going to be suspended last night. My first thought was the fact that if he did was it really a big deal? He had no points so far this postseason. In fact it could be argued that he had basically coasted through the final month of the season and continued that coast in the playoffs.

Well, it’s a good thing he wasn’t suspended because he was on the ice and assisted Nathan Horton on the…GAME WINNING GOAL!!! The Bruins got the monkey off their back, sent the rival Canadiens home, and now get Philadelphia in the second round for the second year in a row. How’s that Wideman trade looking now? Even better than it has all season.

I have revenge on the mind and hope that the Bruins do as well. Puck drops Saturday at 3PM in Philly. I can’t wait!

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March 9, 2011 · 7:26 AM

Knocked Out

At least it wasn’t a shutout. That’s pretty much all you can take from last night’s Bruins game and it took well into the third period for their one score to be on the board.

Just like that did on Saturday the Bruins came out flat and never really rebounded. They were down 2-0 after one and down 4-0 with about 15 or so seconds left in the second period when the hit that everyone is talking about happened. Zdeno Chara looking to finish his man, checked Max Pacioretty and it really just happened at the wrong spot on the ice.

Pacioretty was hit where the boards and bench meet and there’s no glass. He hit his head in the gap area snapping his neck and being knocked unconscious. He laid motionless on the ice, was taken off on a stretcher and taken to an area hospital where it was confirmed that he had movement in all his limbs.

My take on the hit was that it wasn’t a dirty hit. If it was on the other side of the ice he would have just hit the boards. But because it was in the bench area he was a victim of circumstance more than anything else. Chara isn’t a dirty player (like a Matt Cooke) and I don’t think would intentionally try and injure an opponent.

The B’s got on the board late in the third like I said when Lucic scored his 29th of the season but it was too little, too late.

But why wasn’t Thomas playing? I thought we agreed earlier that Thomas would start against the good teams and let Tuukka play against the NHL’s bottom feeders. Well Montreal is sitting at the #6 seed this morning (now just three points behind the Bruins in the Northeast) so their no slouch. Well it turns out that Thomas hurt his glove hand at the morning skate so Tuukka was forced into the start.

It’s only one game (we can hope Chara isn’t suspended) but it’s two flat games in a row for the Bruins. Time to take a page from Da Guy’s book and for Claude to Shake It Up.

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