Well, well, well...Since last we spoke about the Bruins, when they won 5-4 on Looch's hat trick, they have journeyed across the continent, playing the Best (well, only) NHL teams in Alberta and British Columbia, before returning to the Garden to play some pretty good teams from the States. And what did they do? Beat the Oilers and Canucks with back-to-back shutouts, then lost a close one to the Flames in Calgary, and whompped the (North) Stars back in Boston, while racking up a bajillion penalties in a game I only caught half of as I was at a belated Halloween Party. After exacting revenge for their earlier clunker against the Leafs, that brings us to tonight.
The high-flying, first-place Sabres come to town, riding the league's leading scorer and the league's hottest goalie. The Bruins fail to show up for the first part of the game, falling behind 1-0, and then realized that they played the Sabres hard once, and dammit, they can do it again. The end result was a quality 3-1 win featuring more solid hits, some nice crisp passing, sharp goaltending, and a good PK. With the Leafs helping out a bit in Toronto, the Bruins end the night finding themselves in first place (tied in points with the Sabres, but since they own a better record head-to-head, the B's have the top spot). This makes their week a rather important one, but we'll get to that. First, Three UP and Three DOWN:
UP
1. Chuck Kobasew. In his first game back since breaking his leg Opening Night, Chucky pots a goal and grabs an assist, and shows what kind of impact he can have on a team that was already playing pretty damn well. Hopefully a sign of things to come.
2. Manny Fernandez. While I admit I'm more of Thomas guy, Manny has shown that he can be a dependable netminder who will be able to shoulder his share of the load as the season goes along. If they can keep both Thomas and Manny healthy and rested, the team should be in pretty good shape in net. Though, if they can't, we get to see what Tuukka Rask can do, so...hmm. At any rate, the B's are set in goal for the time being, and are getting some quality saves in the meantime.
3. The 4th Line. I know that I already gave Kobasew a spot, but I have to just give the guys on the 4th line their due. With the arrival of Yelle, the 4th line has become a consistent contributor to the nightly effort, both physically and on the scoresheet. In addition to Chuck's work, Yelle and Shawn Thornton (quickly becoming one of my favorite Bruins) added assists, and though I miss Nokelainen simply because I can't call them the New York Times Line anymore (get it?), I'm liking what I see. They might not be flashy, but they epitomize the mantra of this team that they Don't Quit.
DOWN
1. Honestly it's hard for me to come up with something here...uhm, early play? Again, it seemed the Bruins didn't punch in for a full 60 minutes of work today, but as they made up for it with the extra effort in the 2nd and 3rd, I'm willing to let it slide this time. Just...try to show up on time, guys?
2. Power Play. Granted, they didn't have a lot of chances, so it might not be fair, but the B's couldn't quite seal the deal again tonight. They're one of the last teams not to have a 5-on-3 goal, and they went 0-fer again tonight. Just a nitpick, really. It'll happen.
3. Whoever's in charge of quality control with the composite sticks. Seriously? I've seen something like 12 sticks break already this year, and that's just in the games I've been watching. Patrice had a shot muffed by his stick blade snapping off, and careening up into the air. Sometimes it's on a slash or something, but they hockey gods seem to like having the B's flub their broken stick shots when there's a wide-open goal in front of them.
So, call me excited. I can't wait to see if the Bruins can build off of this momentum, and keep around first place (or, at least, a higher seed than last year). I said before the season started that it was paramount for them and for their fans to get off to a good start, and they've done that. They've only played one shitty game (which I had the misfortune of being at), and they ride into this next week neck and neck with the Sabres and Habs.
Thursday's game is HUGE, which it would have been anyway. But this way, if the Bruins win at home against Montreal, beating the Canadiens for the first time in the regular season since 2006, it'll send a message. To the Habs and their fans, it'll say "Stop. Shut up. We're here, we're gonna play you hard, and we're not gonna stop until the last buzzer sounds. So bring it." To the city of Boston, it'll say "We're legit. We might not be up to par with the other sports teams in town yet, but we're making noticable progress, and we're a good solid team. We're gonna be in this thing all year, and we're in FIRST GODDAMN PLACE so get us some media coverage already!"
God, I love this game...
M
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