After winning 3 straight against subpar opponents, the Bruins have faltered against a pair of quality teams. They mounted a nice comeback Saturday night to salvage a point against the Kings, but still found themselves down 3-0. That happened again last night, except for the comeback part.
I hate Claude Julien and his "style" of play. He's too static, and that can be seen on the ice. The players don't react and independently adapt to what the opposition does. The Lightning owned the neutral zone with their 1-3-1 alignment, and the Bruins did little to change that.
Under Julien, the Bruins struggle whenever their opponents do anything that isn't standard.
And the Lightning didn't do much standard last night. They're fast, aggressive, deceptive, and always moving forward. I don't recall seeing a Lightning defenseman gather the puck in his zone, wait behind his net for a change, pass to the other defenseman, and continue with a basic A-B-C breakout. Instead, they skated. They pushed.
Rask got another hard luck loss. And while the defensive play of the Bruins was unfortunate, their lack of offense was the real killer. The box score credits the Bruins with 27 shots. I don't remember about 20 of them.
Thankfully, the Bruins will be in Miami Wednesday night to play the lowly Panthers. The B's crushed them 4-0 last week.
I remember the days when the Patriots absolutely owned the Colts. The National Sports Media would drool over Peyton Manning's regular season numbers, then they'd come to Gillette and get pummeled. Since then, the Colts have had the better of the rivalry. They'd won 5 of the last 6, and quite often in dramatic/painful fashion.
That was close to happening again last night. Too close. At times, the Patriots defense allowed some big plays. But they also made big plays, intercepting Manning 3 times. Peyton entered the game having thrown a mere 4 picks all season. He nearly doubled his total in one night of work.
The fact of the matter is the Patriots only scored 10 points in the second half, after putting up 21 in the first. At the beginning of the 4th, they were held to a field goal after driving to the Indianapolis 7. After Indy made it 31-21, the Pats went 3 and out, only taking 40 seconds off the clock. At 31-28, the Pats had a 4 play drive.
We can lament the defense all we want, but they are who they are. They're young, athletic, and inexperienced. If you put them in front of a guy like Manning for long enough, they'll get picked apart.
The offense, however, has experience, has talent, has multiple facets. It simply has to do better at the end of games. It's funny to hear everyone ripping the defense after they collected 3 turnovers and the offense did nothing in the 4th quarter.
But in this NFL, wins are priceless. If I were a Jet fan, I'd be criticizing my team for barely winning game after game. There's no elite team in the League. There's no "balanced" team out there that's very good in all phases of the game.
The Patriots have a very short week before heading to Detroit to play on Thanksgiving. This has trap game written all over it, as it's sandwiched between the Colts and the Jets. Hopefully the Patriots learned some lessons in Cleveland.
Milan Lucic scored a hat-trick last night, which gives him 10 on the season. That surpasses his total for all of 09-10, and he's got more than a good chance at beating his career best of 17 set the season prior. Yet he wasn't the top performer of the night. Tuukka Rask stopped 41 shots en route to a shutout, and his first win of the season.
For good chunks of this game, the Panthers were just a bit better than the Bruins. The Panthers also had 10 minutes worth of Power Play time. Tuukka kept the game even, then kept it at 1-0 for about 30 minutes, waiting for Lucic to explode.
The big difference for Lucic this season has been his skating. He's moving around, getting to pucks, crashing the net. That's how he scored all 3 of his goals (it was a "natural hat-trick" by the way, which means he scored all three in a row, uninterrupted by another player's scoring), by getting himself in position to make plays.
He's also developed a nice in-stride shot. His goals are rarely pretty, but they're never ugly. Being with a guy like Nathan Horton seems to help too. He had an assist on all three of Lucic's goals.
Lucic stands at +12, with 10 goals, and 7 assists. He's only amassed 18 penalty minutes, but that's because he's using his strength to make productive plays, not to send messages. Shawn Thornton can do that quite well.
The Bruins have won 3 straight, but they've hardly faced world-class opposition. Florida have the 5th worst record in the NHL, and the Devils are 3rd worst. The Rangers are tied for 15th in the League.
But wins are wins, hat-tricks are hat-tricks, and shutouts are shutouts. The LA Kings (5th best record) come to town Saturday night.
There are rumors that Adrian Beltre has been offered a 5 year deal by the Oakland Athletics worth $64 million. The Sox would be fools to match this. Beltre is only 31, but his career is an up and down roller coaster of inconsistency. And he's known for having a big year when his contract is up, only to fall off the next season.
Victor Martinez turns 32 in a few weeks, and he plays a more physically demanding position than Beltre, and he doesn't play it very well. His 2010 campaign wasn't as productive as Beltre's, but it's just one year in a steady stream of consistent performances. He'll hit .280 to .300, with an OBP between .340 and .380, and slug between .460 and .500. Because of this offensive reliability, Victor Martinez is worth a 5 year deal.
Martinez will not catch forever, and should be moved to 1B and/or DH. But he can catch for a year until Ortiz's contract runs out, then move to DH. He's a better hitter when not catching anyway. In the meantime, the Sox can find a more permanent solution to their catching situation.
And that's the other big difference between Beltre and Martinez. The Sox can lose Beltre, then trade for or sign another good corner infielder to replace his production. That's not going to happen very easily at catcher.
Beltre's not worth any deal longer than 3 years. Victor Martinez, due to his consistency, and the immediate lack of depth at his position, is.
This was one of the more boring games of the season. Both the Bruins and Rangers play very defensive styles. "Positional," was the word that best describes it. And if not for breakaway goals from Seguin and Recchi, this game goes the other way. Also, without another Vezinian performance from Tim Thomas, this game goes the other way.
I don't like how Julien is playing Seguin. Lining him with Paille and Thornton is a misuse of talent. Give him two or three shifts with Lucic and Horton. I'd also love to see Seguin and Recchi on the same line. The Bruins are without centers, and it's a good opportunity to move Seguin around as he learns how to be an NHL center. Don't put him on a line with Paille (45 career goals) and Thornton (18 career goals).
I also didn't like how the Bruins played when they went up 3-1. The Rangers became more aggressive on the forecheck, and once again, this baffled the Bruins. Eventually, the turnovers turned into a goal.
The Bruins' Power-Play is now 2 for 19 since Krejci left the lineup. As much as that demonstrates Krejci's cleverness, it also shows a severe lack of offensive talent and wherewithal on this team. Role-players like Jordan Caron and Daniel Paille and even Patrice Bergeron are supposed to be the complimentary pieces to the puzzle, not the core components.
Yesterday, I was very direct in my criticism of Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart. But today, I have to praise them for what they did last night. They each put up $5,000 to buy tickets for members of our Armed Forces, and encouraged fans to donate money as well. Over $70,000 in tickets were given away to men and women in uniform. As someone with a brother in Afghanistan, and one of my best friend's stationed at Fort Hood, and just as an American, I thought that was pretty cool of Wheeler and Stuart.
And it was especially nice to see them both have a good game. Wheeler firing a sniper shot and Stuart deploying some heavy artillery.
The Bruins hadn't led in a game for over 135 minutes until Michael Ryder squeezed one between Brodeur and the post. Horton also returned to the scoresheet with his 8th. But the real star of the show was Thomas.
A 28 Save Shutout might not seem stunning on paper. But Thomas survived an early onslaught, attacking the puck-carrier in vintage Tim Thomas style, yet remaining square to the shooter at all times. Then in the 3rd, he stayed strong as the Bruins do what they do best: play careless hockey with a 3 goal lead.
Maybe with a healthy Tim Thomas, the Bruins could have preserved their 3-0 lead in Game 7 against Philly. Maybe.
But speaking of last night's 3rd period, it did leave a sour taste in my mouth. With Thomas and Rask, it's hard to imagine blowing a significant number of 3 goal leads in the regular season. But the lack of focus and care in last night's 3rd is indicative of a much more alarming problem.
This team has mood swings. They play with casual overconfidence when they're leading. Instead of smelling blood in the water, or holding their foot down, they ease up. They lose focus, make careless passes in the neutral zone. And against top-tier teams, that will inevitably lead to disaster.
But the Devils are not a top-tier team. They have the 3rd worst record in the NHL, along with the most losses. So I'm not too overly impressed with the Bruins' 3-0 win. But after the last week and a half, I'll take it.
And these guys were funnier when they imitated New Jersey coach John MacLean, not when they mocked him.
And since his name was John MacLean, dressing up as Hans Gruber would have been much funnier.
Apart from the 5 goal explosion in the 3rd period of the Pittsburgh game, the Bruins have only managed 4 goals in their last 4 games. To be fair, they're missing Marc Savard: the quarterback of the Power Play unit. And David Krejci: the playmaker that's been spearheading the 1st line. But there are just so many players on this team that simply don't score goals. And that's fine, because they usually do something else. Shawn Thornton and his linemates bring energy. Andrew Ference has become a decent defenseman (when he doesn't try to go beyond being Andrew Ference). And role-players like Daniel Paille can at least participate in a decent penalty-kill.
But what does Blake Wheeler do?
Seriously, what's his purpose?
I'm still no Michael Ryder fan, as he remains a Hab in my eyes (although unlike a Canadien, he actually got penalized for his diving on Saturday). But Ryder has an identity. And in the 30% of the time he's actually playing well, he can score goals.
What's Blake Wheeler, though? Who is Blake Wheeler? What's his identity? Is he a grinder? No. An igniting energy guy? A playmaker? A high slot Glen Murray type? A low slot Mark Recchi type? A fighter? A scrapper? Does he win battles along the boards? Does he trigger the rush through the neutral zone? No. He does nothing but fail.
So many Bruins' offensive possessions end with Blake Wheeler having the last touch. And it's not because he's scored, it's because he's either missed the goal completely, or turned the puck over.
He had an easy scoring opportunity on Saturday. Bergeron made a brilliant drive to the net on a Power Play, found a slit of space between Elliot and the post, and as the puck lazily dribbled across the goal-line, all Wheeler had to do was use his stick as a pool cue and nudge the puck forward. Instead, he missed. Not the net, but the puck. The curved blade of his stick glided over the puck, almost as if Wheeler intended to not score. Then he literally punched the puck over, in a goal that was instantly disallowed.
The announcers called it "unlucky," I call it unimpressive, untalented, and unworthy of a spot on this team.
Oh, and remember when he completely missed the goalmouth on a breakaway? Aiming for Elliot's glove, he hit the glass behind the net.
And then there was the time he tried lobbing the puck into the offensive zone, only to miss all 6,000 square feet of the zone and launch the puck over the glass and into the stands.
It's time for Wheeler and his $2.2 million cap hit to be launched out of Boston, and I don't care if it's a trade, or if he's released, or if he's run out of town, or if he's quietly eliminated by the Newfoundland mafia.
Then there's Stuart. Who, to his credit, serves a purpose. I've always compared Stuart to cavemen, to Neanderthals. And he definitely brings that aggressive, physical savagery to the game. It's slightly scary for opponents when Mark Stuart is on the ice. Unless they're trying to score a goal. In which case, he's quite the helper.
His caveman aggression seems to come with caveman intelligence. And on Saturday, he again was a key part in an opponent's goal. This time, you can say Chris Neil got away with a light bit of interference on Ryder. Then again, Stuart was screening Thomas enough to make Sean Avery jealous and/or proud.
Stuart's giveaways, and his constant mishandling of the puck are verging on Dennis Wideman levels of sabotage. Stuart is a great physical force, but there's a reason why Neanderthals are extinct. And that's what Mark Stuarts should be in Boston.
The Bruins need to get offense from somewhere, but it won't come from the Blake Wheelers of the world. It also won't come from the Shawn Thorntons, Jordan Carons, Gregory Campbells, and Brad Marchands of the world. This team has a lot of fake-depth, in that filling out the lineup isn't a painful struggle, but there are very few truly good players you can put out there.
Goaltending, defense, and a grinding offense. Those are the things this team can do well. And the likes of Blake Wheeler can't grind. Neither can Michael Ryder. And the likes of Mark Stuart can't figure out how to play good defense. Adjustment is needed.
"The Cleveland game was an aberration." Yes it apparently was. But not to be a total buzzkill, so was this. It's true, the Patriots did go to Pittsburgh and dominate. They played well in all three aspects of the game. And they haven't had a road win this big in a very long time (November 4, 2007 @ Indianapolis, in my opinion).
But let's remember how forlorn we were a week ago. We should try to avoid getting too high after this win. Let's also remember that the Steelers played most of this game without Hines Ward. Taking Hines Ward from Ben Roethlisberger is like taking the bullets out of a gun.
That being said, the biggest difference between this week and last was the play of Tom Brady. He went from barely completing half his passes, to completing about 3/4. He was throwing deep, outside, inside, all over the place. He also ran for a touchdown on a nice goal-line read. When he brings his A Game, the Patriots become a very difficult team to beat. When he doesn't, they're essentially a .500 team.
Gronkowski must have had a good week of practice, as he was Brady's favorite target. And it worked out well. Three TD catches for the tight-end, who caught 5 passes total for 72 yards. 8 different receivers caught passes.
The offensive line has been simply stellar all year long. And the defense finally showed up with a consistent pass rush. But give an assist to Pittsburgh's shaky O-Line for that.
There's still plenty of football left to play, but at least the Pats are back on the right track, have a big road win under their belts, and enter a tough stretch of games on the right foot.
