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: 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?

Post-game notes: Panthers vs Bruins 3/15/12

Fuck.

Post-game Notes: Penguins vs Bruins 3/11/12

Well… That sucked. I think if I were to choose the absolute worst game of the regular season this year, it would be this one. Is this rock bottom? Does it get worse? CAN IT PLEASE NOT GET WORSE? I don’t care to delve into this game too deeply, it was just too ugly. Let’s do bullet points.

Post-Game Notes: Devils vs. Bruins 3/1/12

The past month or so was rough if you’re a Bruins fan (though to be fair to Leafs fans, we are relatively spoiled). 4 weeks of boring, sloppy, inconsistent hockey, crappy post-game excuses, ho-humming and empty promises. February is over. The playoff push has begun and this month will not be kind to the Bruins. I think it was important to start it off on a good note, especially against the Devils, who have forced their way into playoff contention after a mediocre first half.

Post-game notes: Bruins vs Senators (2/25/12)

Coming in to this game there was a lot of chatter about how important it was going to be for the Bruins to end this road trip on a good note and tighten their grip on the division, because the “red hot” Ottawa Senators were closing in on them for the division lead (some even believing that Ottawa could take command of the division for the rest of the season if things shook out in their favor in this home-and-home). This seems to have been the case every time the Bruins play the Senators and the results have always been the same.

Post-Game notes: Bruins vs Wild 2/19/12

I’m not gonna lie to you all, I only got to watch half the game yesterday because I was at work, and I ended up listening to the other half of the game on the radio on my drive home. It’s probably better this way, because I find it’s easier to deal with frustrating losses when you don’t have to see the looks on the Bruins’ faces when they pour 48 shots on a slightly better-than-average goalie and can’t score.

Bad Timing

Less  than 24 hours after allowing 3 goals on 10 shots and getting pulled in Wednesday’s brutal loss to the lowly Buffalo Sabres (and in the midst of some more Tim Thomas controversy), Tuukka Rask felt the need to express to Finnish sports magazine Urheilu Lehti how he really felt about his standing as a backup:

The truth is I want to play more. I don’t want spend my entire career on the bench. It feels like no matter how well I play, I’m on the bench in the next game. Even if I get a shutout it’s not enough.

Uh oh.

10 Thoughts – 2/7/12

1. Good win on Sunday by the Bruins. The Capitals have struggled as a team this season but they’re still a phenomenally talented group of individuals and Ovechkin seemed to be back to form. Hopefully this will give them some momentum going forward. Funny though, a couple of weeks ago the Capitals beat the Bruins 5-3 without Ovechkin. Ovechkin comes back and the Bruins win 4-1.

Pre-game notes: Capitals vs Bruins 2/5/12

Oh, there’s a hockey game today? Could have sworn there was some other sporting event going on too… Can’t remember what it is… It’s gotta be pretty important though, right?