The Boston Bruins dropped tonight’s contest to the Washington Capitals by a score of 10-2. This game was undoubtedly the worst Bruin game of the season. The first period was especially painful as the Bruins looked completely ineffectual when it came to attempting to stop the Capitals. Watching that first period was only slightly less painful than receiving a shot to the testicular region from someone wearing a brand new pair of cleats...I assume…
The Bruins came out in the first period and proceeded to stink things up fairly efficiently. I guess they had to have a terrible period again sometime. The whole thing was just painful to watch. It also left me feeling sorry for myself since I had two more periods of crap to watch (I’m selfish, sue me). The first period was totally disappointing. It was sort of like looking forward all day to a new episode of your favourite sitcom only to find out that the new episode is one of those lame clip shows. Just 32 seconds into the game, the Bruins’ P.J. Axelsson seemed to abandon or lose track of the puck in order to go off the ice for a change. Unfortunately, that puck was picked up by Matt Cooke who skated a few feet and then fired it past Aaron Ward and into the net. Ward may have screened Thomas a little bit but it was a very nice shot by Matt Cooke in any case.
The Capitals then took a too-many-men penalty and I thought “oh good, the Bruins have a shot of getting back into this thing.” Sure enough, the power-play was fruitless and it looked as if the Capitals were all using those heated blades while the Bruins struggled with those crappy old non-heated blades (maybe the league should look into that). After that lousy power-play, the Capitals went right back to work. Backstrom would proceed to set Ovechkin up for the next two goals of the game. Ovechkin showed exactly why he is the league’s best goal scorer by making Tim Thomas look totally foolish. AO managed to pick the top right corner off on a partial break and it was just a thing of beauty…you know…if you like that sort of thing.
That brought the score up to three to nothing but the pain wouldn’t stop there. No sir…not by a long shot. Shortly after the second Ovechkin goal, Matt Bradley would put another one by Thomas and up the score to four to nothing. That would be it for Tim Thomas in the first who, in a hockey first, was actually pulled off the ice by a giant hook (I’ll have evidence of that as soon as someone who knows how to use photoshop sends me some).
At this point, my cousin, another Bruin fan, phoned me up and the following conversation occurred:
Cousin: “Do you still have the TV on?”
Me: “Unfortunately.”
Cousin: “Are you going to watch the rest of this?”
Me: “I have to. I’ve got to write about it.”
Cousin: “Well, good luck with that.”
Me: “Yeah.............”
After that conversation, I debated just posting a blog that simply said “nothing happened tonight and no hockey was played.” That or claiming I write the Capitals blog and the logo on the main page changes depending on who the Caps face. I didn’t think either option would really go over well so I decided to suck it up and slog on.
So with Alex Auld in the net, the Bruins set back to work and promptly were scored upon again by Ovechkin, who I now hate. At this point, I was now worried because not only did I have to watch this, I had to write about all of these friggin’ goals afterwards. The way this game was going, I was worried this blog would have to be 20 pages long. Finally, Brooks Laich scored on Auld and the Caps would go into the first intermission with a measly 6-0 advantage.
Also in the first period was the second worst fight I have ever seen (not including a few I saw in high-school when the drama club got a little frenzied). I’m talking about Chara’s attempt to rally and energize the team by taking on Brashear. The only fight lamer than this one was Chara vs. Laraque. The two big guys just stared at each other, then no real punches were thrown and they sort of fell over. What a gyp. That was like watching one of the “stare-off” contests from the show Big Train.
Unfortunately, the second period started as scheduled. Tim Thomas was shuffled back into goal, probably because Alex Auld is scheduled to take on the Florida Panthers tomorrow. The second period did start surprisingly well for the Bruins as Dennis Wideman managed to score on the power-play. He slapped the puck at the blue line and it looked like Huet had trouble seeing it. I thought “alright, now Phil Kessel is going to explode for five goals and tie things up.” Things didn’t quite work out that way as Backstrom was sprung and he beat a diving, flat-footed Tim Thomas with a backhander. The score was 7-1, a bottle of scotch was calling to me and I wondered if Washington was just finally catching up for all of the abuse that Boston has heaped onto them over the years.
Shawn Thornton, responding immediately after the Backstrom goal, started fisticuffs with Donald Brashear. Brashear was, no doubt, not tired from his previous “scrap” (though I would drop the letter s) with Chara. This fight was much better than the previous one. Shawn Thornton came out swinging and took the early lead but then Brashear stormed back and laid some solid ones on Thornton. Thornton then shifted the momentum back his way and landed a couple of light punches and then grappled Brashear to the ice. It was a good battle but I think Brashear was the slight winner. Overall, I commend Shawn Thornton for the gutsy performance. A moment after the fight, Matt Cooke was called for boarding Chara. Chara was slow getting off the ice but he did compose himself for the power-play. The power-play produced a few good Bruin chances but it was, in the end, all for naught.
Of course, as if the team being a collective minus 25 on the night at this point was not enough embarrassment, Donald freakin’ Brashear scored on Tim Thomas. That wasn’t a typo and, yes, hell may have just gotten a little frosty. Shortly after the Brashear goal (man I hope I never have to type that again) Marco Sturm scored to put the score to 8-2. That’s right, it was comeback time again. The second period would end at that score.
Just like the second period before it, the friggin’ third period just had to exist. Olaf Kolzig came into the game for Huet as Huet seemed to tweak his back. Maybe Huet was alright but there was no point in leaving him in the game since it was well in hand. Two minutes into the period, Thomas gave up his seventh goal on the evening and Laich made the score 9-2. Alex Auld was then put back in the net.
For the rest of the third period a bunch of pasty white guys skated around doing stuff. Who cares? Really though, it looked like both team checked out until the Caps received a two-man-advantage and it was almost like they were forced to score which put the Caps up 10-2. Tom Poti took a puck to the face during that two-man-advantage - it was shot at him by a teammate - and he would go to the bench for attention. 10 -2 would be the final score as the game finally drew to an end.
My message for Tim Thomas regarding this game would be as follows: thank you for taking the brunt of tonight’s game. It wasn’t your fault the Bruins lost but, thanks to you and your willingness to stay in the game, the Bruins have been given a good chance of winning tomorrow night’s game.
The Bruins looked like they were going at half speed tonight. That was made worse by the fact that the Caps looked like they were approaching ludicrous speed and had gone plaid. You just know part of this was Huet bringing some of his Hab mojo over to the Caps. The Bruins did just fine against the Caps before he showed up. Anyways, these freak-show games happen once in a while. Remember, the last time Thomas was pulled in a game, he went on to have an incredible streak of great games. The Bruins have to get pissed off but stay organized too in order to bounce back from this tomorrow night.
In the grand scheme of the season, this game really wasn’t that big a deal and it’s obviously not a real good indicator of how good the Bruins are but, man, what a stinker. I sure am glad that’s over.
Where’s the Tylenol?
-Gerz
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