When we started this blog, the plan was for me to fill the appointment of sports guy in residence, and until now I really haven't been fulfilling my duties. Why? Fuck, because I've been watching goddamn sports the whole time. But after a game 7 like that, where our beloved B's finally took a deciding game over the canadiens (I refuse to capitalize canadiens for the same reason I don't capitalize bitch) it was time for me to put in my two cents.
First of all, what a game, what a series. It seems silly to say, but here it really is true. Two teams could not have more opposing hockey philosophies, yet be any more evenly matched. The strength and team defense of the Bruins and the speed and quick strike attitude of the canadiens perfectly evened out over the course of the series, and ultimately the difference was an overtime snipe by underachiever turned 15 minute hero Nathan Horton. So while we should of course enjoy this momentous win for now, I can't help but look ahead to the team that caused us all so much misery last year, the Flyers.
Although the Flyers certainly have their own problems, with the most glaring one being goaltending, they did just beat a team with American hero Ryan Miller in goal, an accomplishment not to be scoffed at. So to avoid a repeat of the embarrassment of last year, the Bruins have some gigantic, and I mean GIGANTIC adjustments to make.
To be perfectly honest, the Bruins did not deserve to win that first round series. Any time the opposing team outscores you on YOUR OWN POWERPLAY for a 7 game series, you should think seriously about disbanding, getting a job in insurance or construction or something, and never again acknowledging that you ever laced up a pair of skates in your life. It's that shameful. It's baffling to me how a team can play such a dominant possession game 5 on 5, but with a man advantage they can barely get the puck into the offensive zone without literally shitting away all hope of a scoring chance, literally. Something needs to change if the Bruins want to have any chance in the second round. Tomas Kaberle, our big midseason acquisition who was supposed to save our powerplay has been, in the words of the great and possibly retarded Jeremy Roenick, "adysmal". He can't make a pass on the powerplay to save his life. Personally I think the Bruins should start with Chara and Seidenberg on the 1st unit and Boychuk and Ference on the 2nd unit. That way you have on each unit one defenseman who can move the puck and one who can blast a one timer that either breaks someone's fibula or finds the back of the net. I don't wanna blame the ineptitude of our powerplay entirely on the defensive pairing, but they are largely responsible for starting the rush and establishing possession in the offensive zone. The forwards really haven't even had the chance to show how ineffective they can be. And boy have they been ineffective.
Leading the charge in incompetence is our media described number 1 line of Krejci, Horton, and Lucic. Scoring the overtime game winner goes a long way toward being forgiven, but their level of play over the last 4 games has been downright awful. Especially tonight, it seemed like the three of them had never met and were thrown together 15 minutes before the game. Numerous times Horton and Lucic were wildly offside while Krejci brought the puck across the blue line. They failed to generate any sustained pressure, and spent most of the time in their own zone, hoping only to dump the puck down the ice so they could get off and reclaim their first line seats on the bench. They need to step up and play like their capable of, or at least what we think they're capable of. We've seen flashes throughout the regular season, but it just wasn't there this opening round series. Hopefully they gain some confidence from the game winner, but realize what they did against the habs was unacceptable, and take it as a personal challenge to show everyone that they are deserving of the number 1 designation.
The discrepancy in powerplay goals was significant, and was probably the reason why the series went 7 games, so one would think that the penalty kill needs improvement before playing philadelphia, but I actually think the penalty kill did pretty well given the circumstances. The problem is taking stupid penalties. The refs in montreal certainly played a role in game 6, but two many men on the ice is unacceptable. The high sticking on Bergeron with under 3 minutes to go is unacceptable. Taking a penalty to negate your own powerplay is goddamn unacceptable! The Bruins seem to do this more than any other team in hockey, and it absolutely kills me and any chance of breaking out of the powerplay slump. It's gotten to the point where I'm starting to think the Bruins know their powerplay sucks so they'd rather take their chances 4 on 4. The Bruins are gonna take some penalties as a result of their strong aggressive style of play. But if their also taking stupid penalties on top those, they become wary of getting their noses dirty for fear of taking a penalty, and ultimately that makes the team weaker. The Bruins aren't playing to make it to the second round. They're playing to win the whole damn thing. Anything less just won't be good enough for this fan base. If they don't clean up the dumb penalties, it'll be just another year of bitter disappointment we've all grown accustomed to with this team.
I really don't mean to be such a downer after a great win over our biggest rivals, but the Bruins need to learn to think like the Celtics, who learned to think like the Red Sox, who learned to think like the Pats. The Bruins have accomplished nothing yet. They're moving on to the next round, but no sane observer could say that their performance was cup worthy. The Bruins have a lot of work to do between now and Saturday. As a realist I'd say there's too much to fix for this team to make a legitimate cup run. But, as a fan with no actual affiliation with the team but still refuses to shave throughout the playoffs, I say bring on philly.
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