Tuukka, Z Spin Past Panthers
Buoyed by another great Tuukka Rask outing and an unreal Bobby Orr-like goal from Zdeno Chara, the Bs completed their Florida sweep with last night’s 4-1 pasting of the Sons of Wayne Huizenga. The third straight win gives the Bruins a 7-1-1 road record and 11-2-2 overall as they begin a punishing schedule from now until the end of the regular season. Their 24 points has them two points from the #1 seed with three games in hand.
Goals by Milan Lucic, Chara, Chris Kelly (his first), and Dan Paille (ENG) were more than enough for Rask, who was beaten only by Tomas Kopecky thanks to yet more sloppy play from the fourth line/third D-pairing combo. Rask stopped 34 of 35 shots, including several third period testers when the Bs were trying to sit on their two-goal lead.
The Bs had to kill off four minutes in penalties after Milan Lucic justifiably retaliated against Mike Weaver after the Panther boarded Lucic right next to a clueless ref (I believe it was the atrocious Chris Lee). Normally, those kind of penalties are dumb back-breakers. But Looch could have been seriously hurt and the no-call enraged him to the point that he cross-checked Weaver then gave him a few rabbit punches when he went down. I had no problem with it.
And it turned out not to be a problem for the NHL’s leading PK unit, as they killed off both minors and even had a couple of shortie bids. The Bs have allowed just three goals in 58 chances, good for a 94.8 clip—almost five percentage points higher than the high-flyin’ Blackhawks.
It was another solid win by a team that looks to be cleaning up aspects of their game over the last few games to establish more consistency. It couldn’t come at a better time with 33 games in the next 61 days, starting tomorrow on Long Island against a frisky Isles squad.
A few more buds for your post-Oscars bowl (I love you, Jennifer Lawrence)…
*Dennis Seidenberg had a typical workmanlike game with eight hits and five blocked shots in 22:17 of ice-time. The German was essential on the killing of the Looch penalties.
*Thanks to the pair of nice games (save for Tampa’s second goal), Rask helped lower his GAA to 1.97 and get his SP up to .925. But he still needs to watch his glove side, particularly with goals that seem to find a way under his arm pit. And it’s apparent that Tim Thomas Jefferson was giving him puck-handling lessons for the last few years. Otherwise, he’s been great.
*Bs bench bosses need to make sure that last pairing doesn’t end up out there with the fourth line until guys clean up their act. I love Andrew Ference and what he brings to the team/locker room but he’s been struggling more this year than he has in his entire Boston tenure. He’s a savvy vet and he should have a handle on how to fix things. And there’s still plenty of time to work out whatever the kinks are. If not, it’ll be interesting to see what the front office does (i.e. how much faith do they have in #7 guy Aaron Johnson).
*Per HNIC’s Elliote Friedman, realignment is a go for next year. In addition to the current line-up, the Bruins division will also add Detroit and the two Florida teams. The Bruins can potentially play anybody for the Stanley Cup except for teams in their division. Please, please, please give us a rematch of the ‘74 Final with Philly. The new set-up is also great for the FLA teams given the plethora of snowbirds with Original Six ties (four of the O6 will be in same division). It’s not a stretch to think it just might keep the Panthers in Sunrise. Tampa, contrary to popular belief, has a great fan base and isn’t going anywhere.
*I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I’m the only guy who had Ang Lee offset his Ducks puck line loss last night.