Awesome Night At The Garden: Seguin Lights Up Bs As Team Likely Loses Kelly For Season
Just an ugly one at the barn last night. Early in the first, Chris Kelly went down awkwardly and seemingly without any contact. He was writhing in pain on the ice for several minutes before being helped off and the Bruins later announced he’d be getting surgery today for a fractured left femur and his recovery time will be six-to-eight months.
Then in the game, Tyler Seguin reminded the Bruins yet again that they made probably the second worst trade in Boston sports history. The 23-year-old netted his seventh career hat-trick (which leads the league since the ’11-’12 season) to help lead his fire-wagon Dallas Stars to a 5-3 win. Seguin’s first tally gave him his 300th career point and he’s already tied Mike Modano in franchise history with his sixth hat-trick. Seguin in his third season with the Stars, Modano played TWENTY combined years in Minnesota and Dallas. Tell me why, again, Boston traded this kid? Because the people whose season ticket prices have nearly doubled since Seguin was drafted certainly were never given a valid reason. Games like last night hammer home just how much of a huge error it was to give up on him. Oh and did I mention he’s probably the best bargain in the NHL at $5.75M through 2019 in a deal given to him by, ironically enough, Peter Chiarelli. Like Feits said last night, this one is gonna sting forever. Moving on…
The Bs came out with a energetic first but then faded in the final two stanzas as the Stars’ speed and talent gave their D, PK and goalie fits. After a nice four game winning streak and jump in the standings, the Bs looked like they turned a corner. And they did. But last night showed them that there is still plenty of work to be done and if they stop playing their game against talent, they’ll going to pay the price.
A few more buds for your bowl…
*Tuukka Rask is starting to look like he should only play road games as he once again failed to come up with a needed save or two, giving up five goals on just 19 shots (three were DAL PPGs). To his credit, Rask did own up to his latest subpar night.
*People love to bitch about Kelly’s deal (like it’s his fault Chiarelli gave him a generous deal) but his loss is huge for this team. Well-liked, well-respected, versatile veterans that can kill penalties and get plugged in anywhere are the glue guys you need to win in the playoffs, as we saw in 2011 when Kelly earned that deal. Here’s wishing him the best.
*Of course he still came off the ice upright even with a broken fucking femur (the biggest bone in the body), he’s a hockey player.
*The Bs could do a lot worse than Max Talbot to replace Kelly. Talbot has been a bit of an odd-man out as the team has been auditioning some youngsters this year. But with just a $1M deal, he seems to be the logical replacement, particularly when you consider he has a similar skill set as Kelly. (UPDATE: Bs called up Talbot during this writing.)
*Colin Miller got his first career NHL goal on a first period rocket. So far, the newer Miller has looked like a pretty solid D-man. Certainly not perfect but he’s only 23 and projects to be a legit Top-4 on this team.
*Poor Loui Eriksson plays another solid game and pots two goals but was again overshadowed by Seguin.
*Things don’t get an easier for the Bs as they take on the red-hot Alex Ovechkin and the Caps in D.C. tomorrow night.
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