I know not to expect 8 goals a game. I know with the forwards the Bruins have, they'll sometimes struggle to score. That's not too frustrating. They are who they are. But when they fail to keep a lead, it's infuriating.
To be fair, this was the first time the Bruins had a lead in a game, and wound up losing the contest. That's impressive. But how much of that is due to Tim Thomas making unreal stops? And he almost stole another one Sunday night.
The Bruins were 42 seconds from a 2-1 road win. One might argue "they were close to winning that." But throughout the 3rd period, they were closer to losing it. It's just that Thomas kept them up 2-1 with some ridiculous saves.
Although that one came in the OT, you get the idea.
The Bruins once again resumed their bad, undisciplined, porous neutral zone habits in the 3rd period. In their 3-0 win over Philly last week, they maintained the lead by not allowing the Flyers to bring the puck up the ice without expending some effort. It was exactly how the Bruins need to play in order to win.
They're going to find themselves in 2-1, 3-2 games throughout this season, and in the post-season. They don't have the offensive talents to regularly add to their leads, so they need to make it as hard as possible for their opponents to even reach the offensive zone.
Toronto sucks, and the Bruins lost a point up there. It's a shame. Not only do these points add up, but these neutral zone habits have been plaguing the team for years.
The Sox traded three prospects and a player to be named to the Padres for Adrian Gonzalez. The highly touted, highly sought after first baseman is the biggest Red Sox acquisition since Daisuke Matsuzaka. And similar to that circus, it's been just a bit over-glorified.
Gonzalez is a great player. And after losing Victor Martinez, and likely Adrian Beltre, this move makes perfect sense. With the returns of Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, the Red Sox should have a much more potent offense in 2011.
Gonzalez will also benefit from playing 81 games in Fenway, and 0 in PetCo Park. His numbers are markedly better away from his former home field. Despite having that handicap, he hit .298 last year, with a .393 OBP, and 31 homers. He's surpassed 30 HRs each of the last 4 seasons, and is only 28. He's entering the prime of his career.
At the moment, the Sox lineup could look like this:
Pretty good, eh? However, I still can't help thinking how much better it would look with Victor Martinez in that 5 spot. And of course, Carl Crawford occupying an OF position would improve things dramatically. It's still beefy in the middle.
But scoring runs wasn't what undid the 2010 Red Sox. It was, ironically, preventing them. The Sox allowed the 8th most runs in baseball. They were 22nd in team ERA, 23rd in bullpen ERA, 23rd in Save Percentage, and blew the 4th most Saves in all of baseball.
In other words, this team needs pitching in order to have any prayer at once again reaching the World Series. So while this trade is a big step in the right direction, it comes after the Sox took a step back and allowed Victor Martinez to leave. And there's still quite a staircase for the Sox to climb with their pitching situation.
So I'm glad. But hardly thrilled. Like everyone else seems to be.
The Bruins have come out and announced that despite asking Sturm to waive his no trade clause, and despite talking trade with other teams out there, Marco Sturm is still a member of the Boston Bruins.
Here's what happens. Someone hears something, perhaps a leak from the teams involved, about being very near to trading people. This "source" then conveys the info as a rumor to a "reporter." The reporter passes it along to his news "outlet" as a "report of a trade," not an actual trade, just a report. The "outlet" then uses words like "reportedly," or "sources say."
Then it hits the internet and sports radio. It's never been confirmed or announced as an official fact. It's just a report of a rumor that might be close to being a fact. But people like me (I would have written about it if I didn't have to go to work) report it as a fact, give our opinions on the deal, et cetera. Soon, so many people are reporting this rumor, that it feels like a solid fact. Newspapers write stories on their sites, ESPN, TSN, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, everyone has the story.
But it's still a trade in the works, not a done deal. Actually, it seems to be a trade that died. It's pretty clear that the Bruins are actively shopping Sturm. And it's highly likely he won't be wearing a Bruins uniform when he returns from his injuries. But right now, he's still a member of the Bruins.
It's a shame, because he's one of my favorite players. And I'd love to see him and Seguin together on a speed line. But even if he does get shipped somewhere, my Marco Sturm German Olympic jersey will remain my favorite jersey.
I'm going to begin my recap of an 8-1 victory by discussing goaltending and defense. Yes, I really am.
This wasn't one of those "closer than the score" games, the 8-1 fits because the Bruins utterly dominated, and it all started in the defensive zone. Remember, this was a 1-0 game 19 minutes in, and a 3-1 game 37 minutes in.
It's time for me to gushl over Tim Thomas again. He stopped 37 shots tonight. Many of those came early (15 saves in the 1st) before the game was decided. He just sees the puck so well, even in traffic. His puck vision really impresses me. If Whitey Bulger dressed up as a hockey puck, Tim Thomas would find him in 17 minutes.
Now to the defense, who were the real story in this game. Zdeno Chara was on Stamkos like a second jersey. Not only that, his stick-positioning all night was superb, and he cracked a few skulls early on. Seidenberg, Boychuk, and Stuart all had flawless defensive performances. Ference and McQuaid were no slouches either.
The defensive work, along with Thomas, kept it a 0-0 game, then kept it a 1-0 game, then kept it a 2-0 game, then a 3-0 game. A bit of misfortune with a broken-stick turnover allowed it to reach 3-1, then the defense resumed its clamp on Tampa Bay's skill players, and on it went.
When the Bruins got the big lead, the defense didn't yield any easy plays. And that's what allowed the score to inflate up to 8-1.
Marc Savard returned, and although he wasn't on his A-Game, he and Krejci's sudden reappearance must bring some comfort to the team, as players resume their regular duties. Bergeron goes from a #1 center to a #3, and more situational center. Blake Wheeler doesn't have to be a center at all. Seguin can log some time on the wings. Jordan Caron can log some time as a healthy scratch.
Krejci's return has reignited the top line. 3 goals and 6 points from Lucic-Krejci-Horton last night. Both Krejci and Horton were +4. They understand each other so well, it's as if they've been playing together for years, not months.
Speaking of returns, the relatively unheralded return of Johnny Boychuk in mid-November has bolstered the Bruins' defense. He's as physical as Stuart, makes great decisions, is good with the puck, and can really bomb it from the blue-line.
How cool was Seidenberg's goal?
Seven different Bruins scored goals. 12 different Bruins registered points.
Lucic netted his 12th of the season. He's only 5 shy of his career high. Michael Ryder returned to the stat sheet with a nice blocker-side snipe and a pair of assists. Shawn Thornton scored his 5th of the season. His career high is 6. Tim Thomas assisted on the Thornton goal, which gives him 2 on the season, which is a new career high.
And you can say that Thornton's goal was a gift, and it was. And Seidenberg's, although clever, was also a goaltender miscue. Recchi's goal featured some beneficial bounces, and Krejci's second was slightly deflected. Blah blah blah.
The Bruins put themselves in good positions all night. Their defense shut down a prolific Tampa Bay offense, their counter-attack was executed well, and they didn't make many mistakes. Some Lightning errors may have let the score reach 8-1 instead of 3-1 or 4-1, but Tampa Bay NEVER stood a chance in this game after the 1st period. Not even close.
I loved the intensity that the Bruins came out with. Starting the game with the Thornton line was a nice touch.
However, it's difficult to maintain that level of intensity for 82 games. They need to find a middle-ground between last night's sheer ferocity, and some of their lackadaisical efforts in November.
But hey, I'll take it. Bruins play the Leafs in Toronto on Saturday night.
Russia won the bid to host the 2018 World Cup. They beat out competing bids from Belgium/Netherlands, England, and Portugal/Spain. And that makes sense. Russia's becoming more and more of a player in the game of soccer, it's a massive country, a growing economy, and the World Cup has never been played there.
But Qatar winning the bid to host the 2022 Cup is a bit surprising. Only 1.7 million people live there. And granted, it's a rich country, but it's just so tiny. How many soccer stadiums can they have in the 164th largest country in the world?
Qatar defeated bids from the US, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.
I know that expanding the game to new places is important, and 3 out of 4 of those countries have hosted World Cups in recent memory, but Qatar? They don't even follow the "q with a u" rule.
And what about the weather? June and July in Qatar see average daily temperatures surpass 106 degrees. And for night games, enjoy the average LOW temperature of 84.
I'd been hoping that the US would host the 2022 World Cup. And failing that, Australia. But it looks as though if I want to attend a World Cup soccer game, I have to go to kidnap capital of the world Brazil in 2014, or mafia run Russia in 2018, or a country that has a "defense co-operation" agreement with Iran in 2022.
I'm pretty sure the members of FIFA received some A-rab money for all this.
One thing the Bruins lacked in their painful collapse to the Flyers a few months ago was Tim Thomas in net. It's not that Rask had a bad series, he just didn't have a very good one. But last night, Timmy shut down the Flyers, stopping all 41 shots (including a penalty shot) for his 5th shutout of the season.
Fun fact: Thomas didn't collect his 5th career shutout until 13 years after he was drafted. Now he has 22.
But it was really a team shutout. Thomas played his part, but the Bruins as a team blocked 16 shots, 4 each by Boychuk and Chara. They also did something they hadn't done in 6 straight games: score first.
The return of David Krejci has reignited the Bruins' #1 line, and the Power Play. When he was on the ice, the Bruins' entry into the zone was just so much better, so much smoother. That's how Bergeron got his PP goal (technically unassisted, but it was Krejci and Lucic who set events in motion).
Seguin scored on a breakaway. It was nice to see both he and Ryder do something on offense once more. Ryder's settled into a nice drought of production. After 4 goals and 6 assists in his first 12 games, he's contributed 2 goals and 2 assists in his last 11 games. That's Michael Ryder for you. Unreliable and occasional offense.
Lucic's empty-netter was his 11th of the season, and that leads the team. It's both good for him that he's atop the stat sheet in the category, and also kind of scary for the rest of the forwards.
The Bruins now have the best road record in the NHL at 9-3-1. If only they could figure out how to play at home.
Hopefully, they learned a few lessons from this game. They adjusted their neutral zone play and their breakout. They were more fluid on offense. The forwards still aren't physical enough, though. Look at the Flyers. Their top-scorers are also their top penalty-minutes guys. They're big, aggressive, and punishing. There are some forwards on the Bruins like that, but not many. And for a team that struggles to score, they need physical players to win battles on the boards, wear opponents out, draw penalties, et cetera.
As if you hadn't heard, the Patriots play the Jets Monday night. And I for one, cannot wait. Because this is the most important game of the regular season. The winner will likely claim the AFC East title, an inside track to the #1 seed in the AFC, and an almost guaranteed bye in the playoffs as at least the #2 seed.
The loser, even if they finish with the 2nd or 3rd best record in the Conference, will get nothing better than a 5 seed. That means no bye, that means playing on the road.
So if the Patriots lose, they could be forced to travel to Indianapolis or San Diego to start the playoffs, despite having a better record AND beating both those teams in the regular season.
That may sound like a raw deal, but that's just how it is.
So it's safe to say that whoever wins this game will get an extra week off (in this topsy-turvy, anyone-can-beat-anyone NFL, how vital is that?), and get to play at home. The loser gets a tough road game, then another tough road game, then likely another tough road game.
This is not a must win game for either team. It's not like a playoff game, because you can't lose a playoff game and still have a chance to win the Super Bowl. The loser of this game will be in the playoffs, they'll just have a much more difficult road to travel. But the winner will get to skip a round, and play at home.
Marc Savard is close to returning, and we all knew that they had to shed some salary to clear sufficient cap room for him to return. So the Bruins sent Matt Hunwick and his $1.45 million salary to Colorado. In return, they got Colby Cohen, a 21 year old defenseman out of BU. Cohen is known more for his offense. You may remember him scoring BU's OT game-winner in the NCAA Finals a few years back. Word is, he still needs a lot of work to be a good positional defenseman.
What can you say about this deal. The Bruins trade a decent young defenseman who can contribute on offense, and get back a potentially decent young defenseman who can contribute on offense. But they free up cap space for Savard. And they need Savard.
And while I like that the NHL has a salary cap, I just wish there were more ways for teams to hang on to talent that they develop. Exemptions, or other write-offs would be nice. And it'd also be nice if teams like the Coyotes and Predators could be contracted so that average team revenue wouldn't go down, so the cap wouldn't go down.
