The Garden was rockin’ tonight as the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Boston Bruins put on a show that contained more twists and turns than a small intestine. The two games I most enjoyed watching last season were a Bruin win on December 23 against the Habs and a Bruin win (4-3 SO) against the Pens on November 22. The Pens have definitely made my list again. I’m not sure what it is about these two teams but when they play, it ends up looking like old time hockey. By old time hockey, I don’t mean the 60s or 70s, I mean the open and exciting hockey from the 80s and early 90s.
Sure the Bruins came back from a four goal deficit to force a shootout, but that wasn’t what made this game special. Both of these teams fought like two hobos wrestling over a giant sandwich: hard and viciously. And while Pens fans may not have the same feeling about the game because their team ran into penalty trouble last (I find I often forget how I felt at the beginning of a game based on what goes down in the last ten minutes) but since the refs seemed to have it in for the Bruins to start off with, I think it was even.
Beside the score, so many other things happened tonight:
1. Chara and Laraque ended up putting on one of the most comedic displays I have ever seen. Think long and hard. When have you ever seen two guys stare at each other with their mits up for so long without throwing a punch? Then think even harder. Other than tonight, when have you ever seen two guys drop the gloves, size each other up (of course that could take extra time for these two guys considering their size), fall over - Chara lost his balance and decided he was going to take Laraque down with him - and then get sent to the box for a delay of game penalty? What in the name of all things Neely was that?
As if being so wimpy that they got called for a delay of game penalty when they dropped their gloves wasn’t enough, they decided to do it again…with the same freakin’ results. At that point in the game, the Bruins were down 3-0 and I started thinking “I wonder if a new episode of House is playing tonight”. The sad thing is I hate the show House. When I was on Kevin Lee’s Sens talkcast earlier this week, I was asked by Katie Villeneuve whether or not I thought Chara would fight McGrattan during last Tuesday’s game. I said I didn’t think they’d fight but that I’d love to see it though I would prefer to see Lucic take on McGrattan. In my mind I was picturing Chara and McGrattan falling over on the one side and Lucic throwing punches like Vitali Klitschko on the other side…sort of like in Seinfeld where George is deciding between a game of frolf (a mix of frisbee and golf) or helping Jerry with some invitations. I think tonight I would’ve preferred it if Lucic had the chance against Laraque over Chara. Now that would’ve been something worth seeing.
2. Sidney Crosby got into his first NHL fight. I’m not sure that he landed a clean punch but he was scrapping and swinging with heart. It was good to see it to be honest, though, speaking of heart, I’m sure it sent Mike Therrien looking for a defibrillator. He (Crosby) and Andrew Ference got into a little scrap in the corner which just escalated. How many pushes to the face does it take to actually goad Crosby into a fight? I think the answer is three. Anyways, even though he and Ference are about the same size, I think this is another fight I would’ve preferred Lucic to handle. Sure it would be totally unfair to Crosby but I’m only a little ashamed to admit that I’d like to see it. By the way, was anyone else confused about the fact that Ference drew the extra two minutes in that little bout? I guess that was the NHL mandated “extra two because you fought Crosby, stupid” penalty.
3. The third thing that happened tonight had nothing to do with the actual hockey game. I figured out that I am officially putting Jack Edwards ahead of Rick Jeanerette and Chico Resch on my list of hockey announcers that I can’t stand. He talked about Sidney Crosby way too much tonight. After about five minutes of hearing about Crosby, I decided that I would rather listen to the complete works of Celine Dion than another five minutes of Jack Edwards. The Bruins have hosted Dany Heatley and Vincent Lecavalier this year too but I didn’t hear about them half as much. I’m not sure if someone blackmailed Edwards into this but he laid it on way too thick. If you’re not going to gush about Lecavalier when he comes to town, then don’t gush about Crosby. What really pushed me over the edge was when Malkin scored his second goal (both of his goals were fantastic) and the first thing that popped into Jack’s mind was how Crosby just scored his third point on the play and how awesome he is and how the world would just be a better place if everyone were more like Sid. I guess Grand Moff Malkin is chopped liver. So for his inability to put any real meaningful context into games, his Austin Powers-esque smile (from the beginning of the first one), and the creepy way he stares at Brickley when Brickley is talking (instead of looking into the camera like Brickley does when Edwards is talking), Jack Edwards gets my vote as number one on the list of hockey announcers that I can’t stand. I think that places him number two overall for all sports combined, just behind Joe Morgan. It’s nothing personal but I can’t stand him in his current role and I bet I’m not the only one.
The first period started with the Bruins dominating and Ty Conklin stepping up. Ty, who is more notable for having a cool name than being a solid goalie, looked pretty good all through the first where he stopped all fourteen shots that he faced. Tim Thomas, however, seemed a little rusty and the Pens managed to swing the momentum their way. The first goal scored against him was the result of a defensive screw-up, a nice pass from Crosby, and a great wrister from Lord Malkin. There’s no way that one could be pinned on Tim. Crosby’s goal - the second goal of the game - can, however, be pinned on Thomas. Chara had Crosby pretty much stitched up and all Thomas had to do was protect the side of the net Crosby was on but, like a crappy insurance company, he failed to deliver adequate coverage. The third goal looked to me like it went in for two reasons. Firstly, Baron Malkin has a nice shot. Secondly, Thomas saw it when it was too late because he was being screened by his own d-man. Mercifully, that would be all the scoring in the first period.
The second period got off to another good start for the Pens as Erik Christensen popped one by Thomas. This is about when Thomas decided he had had enough. Martin Brodeur is the best goalie ever at doing this. Martin can let a couple of bad ones get by him, or even just get beat, and still manage to steal the game. I think that’s why he does so well in international play. Thomas made beautiful save after beautiful save for the rest of the game and he kept his team alive as he redeemed himself from his slow start. But, sadly for the Pens, as Thomas got better, Conklin got worse. Maybe the two are karmically connected. They should do some tests to figure it out. For example, my brother and I once mapped out a timeline of his ups and downs in life versus the ups and downs in Tony Danza’s career. It turned out the two were karmically connected. As you can probably guess, my brother is doing fairly well right now.
The next two goals in the second period were Bruin goals. The first was a crazy bouncing puck that Sturm managed to tip past Conklin. The second was another odd shot that P.J. Axelsson managed to flutter by Conklin. I really like typing and saying the word “Conklin.” It just sounds goofy to me. Conklin.
The third period was again all Bruin. Petteri Nokelainen and Dennis Wideman tallied to tie the game at four and send it to overtime. The OT period was controlled mostly by the Pens but nothing big really happened. The Penguins finally prevailed in the shootout which caused Tim Thomas to flip out. The downside to having a goal scored on the Bruins: losing the game. The upside: watching Thomas react. He looks like he’s just completely disgusted with himself to the point that he just wants to smash something. There’s that millisecond where you think he might actually do it, but he usually ends up restraining himself. That millisecond is hilarious to me. At that point, things could go either way and his brain has just an instant to release the required endorphins to prevent a rampage.
All in all, what an entertaining match-up that was. In my last blog, I criticized the crowd at the Garden saying they sounded like Leonard Cohen on valium during Tuesday’s game. Tonight, they were the perfect hockey crowd. When something bad went down, they were there. When something good went down, they were there. When Chara and Laraque circled each other the second time in what looked like some strange mating ritual, they booed…perfect.
Player evaluations:
P.J. Axelsson: P.J. can play. He was solid all night and in every situation, including faceoffs. He also scored a timely goal and was willing to do whatever he had to do to make the proper play at the proper time.
Milan Lucic: Milan and Bergeron are my 1A and 1B favourite Boston Bruins (not necessarily in that order). I like Bergeron’s skill, versatility and leadership but Milan Lucic just kicks butt. He was officially credited with two hits tonight. If Milan had just two hits, then I’m Jimi Hendrix. He worked perfectly in front of the net on the power-play and he made some nice passes this game. Plus he’s just a monster. Lucic needs a nickname and fast. I’ll take suggestions in the comments for this and if there’s a good one, I’ll use it from now on. Looch just isn’t going to cut it. I want something good.
Zdeno Chara: I know he tried to fight but, really, what the hell was that? Aside from that, he had a so-so night. He was minus two and the Pens got the better of him a couple of times but he also made some really nice plays and kept the puck in the offensive zone at a few crucial times.
Dennis Wideman: I thought Wideman was excellent tonight. I hope my Mortal Kombat analogy from the second last blog helped him score his goal tonight. Dennis is definitely the most improved Bruin since camp and I’m becoming a lot more comfortable with him, even if I’m not completely sold on his defensive abilities.
Andrew Ference: I think Andrew has been off his game since he has returned from that twisted knee. He has been allowing the opposition a little too much space to operate. He is keeping up his scrappiness but not his positional play. By the way, when you have a chance to fight Crosby, you should always make sure you deck him good. It’s your instant ticket into the next 20 years of highlight reels.
Aaron Ward: He was a lot of fun to watch tonight and he had great hustle. He kept his feet moving a lot, played over twenty-five minutes and came out of the game with an even plus/minus when most other d-men did not. Shot blocking and the like are his game and he’s good at what he does.
Some game notes and observations:
Glen Murray left the game with a “mid body injury”. Losing Glen would be a huge blow to this team. He has been good offensively as of late but he’s also been one of Julien’s most trusted players all year. He plays a lot of ice-time for the Bruins and he provides a lot of veteran presence so let’s hope he’s not hurt too badly.
The Bruins are still a special-teams nightmare, even if they did score three power-play goals tonight. They’re letting up far too many short-handed chances and it’s usually for a stupid reason that these chances come about. Also, their four-on-four play still stinks. At least they didn’t all just fall down like they did when Buffalo beat them in OT earlier this year but they definitely didn’t look like they had a clue what they were doing out there.
The Bruins drastically out-shot their opponents, this time by a total of 41-29. In classic Bruin fashion, the total shots stat is a meaningless stat with which to gauge this game.
The Bruins are still having trouble with their dump and chase game. They get the dump part but what they don’t understand is that some players have to already be skating after the puck while the dumping is going on. It’s called dump and chase. Not stop, dump, stare, chase, and then get back to the blue-line quick!
All in all, what an entertaining game that was. Congratulations to the Pens on the hard earned two points. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go seal myself away somewhere so that I don’t hear the name Sidney Crosby (it pains me to even type it) again tonight.
Next up: Brad Boyes rolls into town with the St. Louis Blues on Saturday. This could be painful.
-Gerz
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