Bruins Game 2: Turnovers Don't Hurt This Time

To say that the Bruins looked better in the second game would be an understatement of the obvious. The hit the ice with more intensity and energy with Krejci, Ryder and Chara all just missing some early goals. The first power play showed some great movement and tons of shots even though only 4 were credited as being on goal it seemed like the team put 10 or more into the area. But then the giveaway reared it’s ugly head and Boychuk lets Korpikovsky loose on a shorthanded breakaway. Thomas took over where Rask left off stopping it and keeping the Coyotes off the board. This would be the theme for the game, Thomas doing everything he can to keep the turnover’s and poor defense from turning into Coyote points.

The bright spot for the Bruins was that their work in the offensive zone was much more consistent. The Krejci line still was a force and Phoenix had a hard time throughout the game keeping them in check. The rest of the team really needs to work hard to keep up with their intensity throughout the game. Other offensive standouts were Wheeler working with Caron and Recchi working with Seguin. The power play was solid even though they didn’t get any points off of it, I can see that if they work this hard on it all year long they will improve on last years numbers. Having Seguin with Recchi on the second power play line will help as well. Two of the three goals were scored by the first line, in fact 4 of the 5 Bruins goals are from the first line which is disturbing. The goal everyone is talking about, and rightly so, is Seguin’s breakaway which was started by an even more impressive pass from Ryder. I noticed that Seidenberg started to get involved in the offensive end in the third period as well and hustled back at one point to stop a 4 on 3.

The biggest issue in the game was that the Bruins defense was too soft and the team turned the puck over too much and gave up too many breakaways. I counted  at least 3 in the first period alone and neither goalie will be able to stop them all, just look at Rask the night before. Thomas was lucky that the Coyotes missed an empty net twice in the third period. The Bruins were not very physical in their own end either, The defense likes to follow the puck and try to poke check instead of knocking the player off of the puck. At one point in the Second period Seguin was battling for the puck in the Phoenix end and when Yandle was able to get the puck on a pass and walk it through to Thomas with  three Bruins watching him and not hitting him. Earlier in the period Marchand, Chara, and Campbell all watched as Stempniak skated the puck into the Bruins zone and was able to get a shot off about 1o feet from Thomas. It just seems like they are afraid to get a penalty called on them or would rather trust that the goalie will stop the puck if they don’t block his view.

The Bruins announcers gave the team a perfect 10 but there were way too many easy chance for the Coyotes to give the team more than a 7 out of 10 rating. The team was credited with 42 hits which is actually more than Phoenix but I would say they need to get more physical and it goes with out saying that the odd man rush turnovers need to stop or else this will be a long season. The first line has 9 points, rest of the team 6, not a good ratio to start the season. But there is definitely a ton of positives to take out of this game as well as the first and the season is young and if the turn around after the second period of the first game is an indication they will only get better an fix the problems.

Bruins opening night

Disappointing is the first word that came to mind after watching the Bruins game when I got home from work. OK, maybe not the first word, but the first word that I would want my son to read when he reads my blog. The first line of Krejci, Lucic, and Horton were great all game long and I can’t wait to see what the Seguin, Recchi, and Bergeron line will do will do on the power play as well. Wheeler was another standout all game long, throwing his body around and taking shots, very nice to see. Rask was solid in net even though he gave up 4 goals because it easily could have been worse.

The first period started well for the Bruins, the first line fought hard and moved the puck well but couldn’t get anything going. In fact early on the Bruins offense was moving the puck well and patiently waiting for something to open up, trying hard to take advantage of the Phoenix giveaways. Unfortunately patience is what did them in all night long on offense, at times no one wanted to shoot the puck. The first goal of the game by Phoenix came off of a weird bounce that popped out over the goal from behind on a shot from near the blue line. Vrbata was patient enough to wait for it to come below the top of the net and poked it home. It was a pretty goal and not Rask’s fault. After that Rask was able to stop two different breakaways that came about after giveaways by Chara and Recchi.
Boston got three power play chances in the period and couldn’t get anything going on any of them, lots of passing and dumping but very few shots to show for it. Phoenix was lead by Hanzal, Prucha, and Vrbata as they set the tone for the team and were forces all game long.

If the Bruins played like they did in the first and third periods for the entire game they will have a ton of success all year long. But then there was the second period, lazy play throughout for all but the first line, Wheeler and Rask. The defense couldn’t decide if they wanted to watch the puck or follow the puck and neither was the correct answer. The second goal of the game, this one by Pyatt on a pass from behind the net was way too easy for the Coyotes. Then came another giveaway, this one by Paille, and the third one was the charm for Phoenix as Upshall takes it in on a breakaway and gets it by Rask on the right side. That wasn’t the end of the poor defense, it took just under minute on their first power play for the Coyotes to go up by 4 goals. The Bruins left too much room in the middle of the zone and Belanger just walked in and put it by Rask who had no shot as the puck went from right to left and back again with ease.

The third period saw a new Bruins team come out lead again by the Krejci line and some heavy hitting by Wheeler, Chara and Campbell but it wasn’t enough to get them back into the game. Horton got the first Bruin goal of the year with an assist from both of his line-mates and gives us all something to look forward too. Campbell then tried to get tough but it ended up being a spin fight and he and Fiddler fought, I use the term loosely here,  to a draw after they got dizzy and fell down. Horton came through again, this time on the power play and got them within 2 goals with 11 minutes left in the game but the team couldn’t get anything else going.

I liked the energy of the first 10 minutes of the game and the entire third period but a team that only plays half of the game will not be in the playoffs at the end of the year. At least it looked like the team got straightened out in the second intermission so we will have to hope that continues. The Krejci, Horton and Lucic line look like they will be a force and if Wheeler can keep it up that will be a big help as well. Seguin made some pretty passes, that one in the first period to Recchi on the power play was great and should have been put home, but we will have to give them some time to gell. It’s only the first game out of 82 and they won’t win them all but the second period was very disturbing.

Sharks vs. Blue Jackets period 1

It really looked like the Sharks were going to run away with this game and not look back. But 2 goals in under a minute got them back into it and gave them lots of life. Thornton and the sharks were pushing them around all over the place and taking advantage of the power play early. They also killed off 3 minutes 55 seconds of consecutive power play minutes by the Jackets before scoring when they got up a man. The only early bright spot for Columbus was they won the first fight by a TKO as Boll knocked McLaren went down twice before the Refs stepped in.
Then Huselius scored on the power play to get the Blue Jackets on the board and 15 seconds later Umberger got a gift and tied the game. The Sharks were definitely getting more chances on offense in the first period and Marleau just missed an open net towards the end of the period. The goalies both had good and bad points but Niemi looked better as a whole, the second goal was not his fault as the defense let him down and gave up the puck in their own end.

Wild vs. Hurricanes 1st period

I have to dvr the rest of the game but here are my thoughts on the first period. The Hurricanes defense apparently feel that Cam Ward needs some extra exercise because they are just letting the Wild and Koivu especially pepper the net from all angles. The score could just as easily be 3-0 instead of 1-0. Minnesota is definitely being more aggressive and showing that they are better than what they showed yesterday.

Leafs Habs

All of Montreal was waiting for Carey Price to show how terrible a move it was getting rid of Halak but it was the defense that let them down instead. Hal Gill and Tomas Plekanec both helped in giving up the first two goals. Gill pinched on a give-away and gave up the one on one with Kessel in which Price did well but couldn't keep his left leg from moving into the goal and letting in the puck. Price was great the rest of the game giving up only one more goal and keeping the Habs close. The last goal by MacArthur was possible because both Kostitsyn and Spacek let him walk right through the middle and he had his choice of which part of the net he should hit with the puck. If the Canadiens don't play better defense this year then it won't matter who is in the between the pipes it will be a long season.
For the Leafs it was a great win that set's them up for a much better start on the season. For whatever reason the team was never able to recover from last year's loss in OT.But the Leafs defense was solid for most of the time and what few lapses they had Giguere was there to keep the puck out of the net. They at least have matched  last years win total for October after game 1, gives them a lot of time to improve.

Penguins vs. Flyers

The pre-game ceremony was all about the new Penguin arena, the game ended up being about the Flyers rookie  goalie Bobrovsky. The Penguins had the early energy and peppered the Flyers goalie with 15 shots in the first period but he held tough and got a couple lucky breaks as well. The Penguins couldn't get anything through and gave up the first 2 goals of the game and the arena to the Flyers and couldn't come back. They were able to get within 1 goal under a minute into the 3rd period but gave up a shorthanded goal about 4 minutes later which took some of the air out of the building. Even when they got the next goal you still had a feeling this would be Bobrovsky's night. Fleury did well in the Penguin's net and made some stellar saves but the Penguin's defense was overmatched by the Flyer's physicality and gave up a few too many breakaway's including the shorthander. If the Penguin's defense plays like this throughout the season then the offense will need to be getting 4 or more goals a night to give themselves a winning record.
The Flyer defense was the unit setting the tone of the game, it seemed like players were diving in front of every shot and you could tell that they were all making an effort to help their rookie goalie get comfortable early. It's only the first game and as opening night home games go the pre-game ceremonies may have done more to hurt the Penguins than give them a home edge because the Flyer's did a better job focusing their energy.

Hockey game 1

And so it begins!!!!
The hockey season has officially started...woohoo!!!
So Carolina wins 4-3 over the Minnesota Wild, good game but Minnesota gave up a three goals in the second period with some shoddy and lazy defense. The stars of the game for Minnesota were Guillaume Latendresse, Mikko Koivu, Brent Burn, and Cal Clutterbuck. For the Hurricanes it was Anton Babchuk, Joni Pitkanen, Brandon Sutter, and Cam Ward.
Sutter scored two of the Huricane's goals and Babchuk seemed to be all over the ice on the power play when he was out there. Clutterbuck was making his presence known whenever he was out on the ice with seven hits and zero penalty minutes. Koivu and Matt Cullen look like they will be logging a lot of ice time for the Wild this year as they were both over 21 minutes, Cullen was over 23 minutes, and were on the ice more than all but 3 of the Hurricanes players (all defensmen).
Both goalies did well to keep the scoring what it was, with Ward having to get a couple acrobatic saves to keep the win for the 'Canes. Backstrom was under the gun in the second period when the defense let him down but other than that he was steady and made the saves he was supposed to.