Pre-game Notes: Islanders vs Bruins 3/31/12

Apologies for the lack of post-game notes the other night. I was actually at the game and the rest of us were pretty busy I think so it just sort of slipped our minds. Hard to keep up with these when there’s games every other day!

Anyway, the Bruins failed to clinch a playoff spot the other night versus Washington, but by virtue of the Penguins beating the Sabres last night, our boys are officially in the hunt to repeat. I guess it kind of would have been nice if they could have clinched a spot themselves but for the most part they are in control of their own destiny. Time to lock up the division and maintain home-ice advantage.

Pre-game notes: Capitals vs. Bruins 3/29/2012

Its strange to think that two weeks ago we were in full on panic mode and now, with a win/OT loss tonight we’ll clinch a playoff spot. The Bruins have really turned things around recently, winning the last three games and just looking like they’re about to surge going into the playoffs. Classic Bruins. Scaring the crap out of us then flipping the switch. Tonight is a must win because A.) Playoff spot hello and B.) I feel meh about Alexander Ovechkin

Depth of the NHL: 20+ Goal-Scorers

Last night I heard Jack make a comment about the Bruins with 20+ goals. It got me thinking, do the Bruins really have the most depth in the NHL? Even according to the numbers?

I took it upon myself to find all the 20+ goal scorers in the NHL. I sort of power-ranked the NHL teams according to the amount of 20+ goal scorers on the team. If there’s more than one team with say, 3 then I just put the rest in alphabetical order. I took no other stats into account.

Post-game notes: Kings vs. Bruins 3/25/12

I’m keeping this one short and sweet. Going into this matchup, I honestly believed we were going to lose. When I lined everything up and weighed everything out between the two teams, I saw the Kings walking away with the W. I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome.

Pre-game notes: Kings vs. Bruins 3/24/12

The Bruins are on the west coast this weekend which means Bruins fans will have to stay up late and cheer for the black and gold until the early hours of the morning. Tonight’s match up against the Kings should prove to be an interesting match. And yes, Los Angeles does have an ice hockey team. The Kings have just regained first place in the Pacific division while the Bruins hold on to the Northeast division with a three point lead against Ottawa. With playoffs just around the corner, the Bruins need to pick up the pace and win this game. If they can win the majority of these next nine games, they can enter the playoffs on a good note and maintain their momentum. But first thing’s first – they need to win more games.

The Best of Cabbie Presents: The Podcast with Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin

I spent a good portion of my afternoon listening to this hilarious podcast on iTunes with TSN’s Cabbie Richards and reality star Evan Starkman (who is actually really hilarious, what?). Well anyway, Cabbie’s got this podcast show thing called “Cabbie Presents: The Podcast.” Today he interviewed Milan Lucic and Tyler Seguin (separately) and boy was it a good time. I sat there at my computer, pausing the audio every 3 seconds to quote the guys because some of the stuff they were saying was just golden.

Post-game notes: Maple Leafs vs. Bruins 3/19/12

Something about playing the Maple Leafs brings out the absolute best in the Bruins. Maybe the “Thank you Kessel” chants really pump them up. Maybe the Leafs are just the type of team that the Bruins can straight dominate with ease. Whatever it is, no one is complaining. This was the sixth and final meeting between the two teams this season, and the Bruins have swept them for the first time in two decades.

Photo of the Day 3/17/12

Post-game notes: Flyers vs. Bruins 3/17/12

The Bruins have an ugly record in matinee’s this season (and while wearing their 3^rd jerseys). They came into this game donning some heinous green St. Paddy’s Day jerseys and a 4-7-2 record in afternoon games.

2 of those wins came against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Now let’s make that 3 out of the 5. Guess you could say we “have their number” in matinees this year even if I hate saying that.

Before I get this whole thing started let me just throw something out there:

I like to say the Bruins play their best hockey with their backs against the wall, when everything is on the brink of absolute disaster, that’s when they pull through. I had actually been saying this over the last few horrendous games “they play best when everything goes wrong, they’ll turn it around” but I’ll admit I gave up because, well, I gave up on the team. I was starting to believe the season was actually over and there was always next year. And while I wouldn’t say the faith is completely restored, there is definitely hope. But let me get to the point, here’s my theory: the warnings of the Senators catching up to the B’s and possibly stealing the Northeast Division simply wasn’t enough to get Boston going again. Ottawa had to actually leapfrog them and send them to seventh place for a wake-up call to occur. When Brad Marchand spoke those words “wake-up call” before the game, I believed in them. There was some glimmer of hope there and I believed his words.

Another note: When the B’s aren’t doing too hot, I hate all of those stupid statistics that say “the Bruins are blah blah and blah when so and so drop the gloves” and Tim Thomas is “blah blah and blah against Philly in the last blah match-ups.” Sometimes those numbers are aggravating and completely irrelevant. Let’s just think about the NOW. Who cares about what our record is when there’s a fight and who cares about what Timmy’s record is against Philadelphia because right now he’d let in a Joe Corvo goal it’s that bad. Lucky for us Thomas had a very solid performance today. And lucky for us, Corvo didn’t play.

Pre-game Notes: Flyers vs Bruins 3/17/12

Welp. The Senators beat the Canadiens in overtime last night and became the Northeast Division leaders for the first time since November 30th. For the Bruins, losing the division lead means plummeting to 7th place in the Eastern Conference, 4 points out of 6th place (and 5 points out of 8th). Turns out the Senators have another game tonight against Toronto, so a Bruins loss and another Senators win today would mean that home-ice advantage in the playoffs for our dear black and gold would be all but a pipedream.

In the end, they did this to themselves. Now they have to fight their way back out of it. The hope is that such a tremendous slide would galvanize them to action, but do they have what it takes left in the tank to finish off this season strong?