Bruins Continue To Suck At Home, Blow Another Lead As Avalanche Take 3-2 Decision
The Bruins continued their one step forward, one step back routine that has already become tiredly familiar and still lingers 15 games into this season of mixed expectations. But perhaps more alarming than their inconsistency is their horrendous home ice efforts, with last night’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche being the latest example. The Bs have now blown leads in five of seven home games (three two-goal leads) in dropping to a woeful 1-5-1 on Causeway Street. Considering last night was the start of a big five-game home stand, the Bruins need to get their asses in gear and quick before they find themselves with six teams between them and a wild card spot instead of the current two.
The Bs proved again that there’s no lead so irrelevant in sports such as that of the 2-0 first period lead in the NHL. Zdeno Chara (2nd) and Ryan Spooner (4th, a PPG) staked their team to a two-goal cushion less than six minutes into the game to put them in the driver’s seat. Unfortunately, they eventually drove it off a bridge.
Old friend Carl Soderberg, who got a ridiculous raise from the Avs over the summer, and Francois Beauchchemin nullified the lead before the first period ended and the only happy locals were over bettors. The first one looked like one Rask could’ve had but the shooter had too much room upstairs because Rask seems like he’s dropping into the butterfly too soon on many occasions. Even though the second goal looked ugly, it’s tough to fault the goalie when a fast-moving puck abruptly changes direction on its way to see you.
After a scoreless second, the Avs took the lead for good about a third through the third when a wide-open Matt Duchene made Rask pay for Kevan Miller coughing up the puck along the boards. The sluggish Bs could only muster seven third period shots but couldn’t solve Reto Berra for a third time to scrape up at least a point. And much like those aforementioned over bettors, the Bruins once again found themselves on the losing side.
They’ll look to get back on the right side when division rival Detroit comes in tomorrow for a Saturday night tilt. A few more buds for your TGIF bowl…
*Frankly, the Bruins just didn’t look particularly hungry late in the game when a better effort was needed. Something to keep an eye on for this homestand.
*Tyler Randell and Cody McLeod dropped the gloves in the first. But it was kind of a blah scrap with minimal punches thrown/landed.
*Glad to see Dennis Seidenberg back in the line-up after that issue with his pecker. In his first game back after surgery, Claude understandably limited the German’s minutes as he accrued 15:34 TOI. But that number will gradually increase until it’s #1 or #2 for skaters. Expect a little rust early on but also expect a much better Seidenberg than we saw last year. He never really got going on a team that never really got going. Write him off at your own risk but I think he’s got plenty left in the tank and even more to prove after last year.
*Living in Boston, emphasis always get placed on Eastern Mass hockey kids but let’s not overlook MA native Frank Vatrano living out his dream in suiting up for the Bruins. Here’s a nice read on his first home game as a Bruin. There’s a couple of other reads about him on that site. Vatrano certainly isn’t shy about shooting the puck (a good thing) with five SOG last night and 13 in his three NHL games.
*Even though the state of the game has never been better, apparently it’s time to bitch about a supposed lack of scoring once again (scoring is down a “whopping” .14 goals per game through 220+ games this season compared to last season as a whole). This argument flares up every few years it seems with the logic being a 7-5 game is “better” than a 3-2 game or something. The game is fine. The talent pool is as great as it’s ever been, goalies included. This isn’t the ‘Devils made us do it’ ’90s when scoring ground to halt. So leave the nets alone. There’s no need to fiddle with what has worked since forever. If you need to make changes, it’s pretty obvious where.
Trim the fat off the gear but just make sure you keep it safe for the goalies at the same time. Rather than change one of the foundational aspects of a global game, shave an inch or so off a pad or two. Bigger goalies don’t mean bigger nets—they can be beat as much as a small goalie if they’re not good [tired bigger/better joke goes here]. But you can reduce one of the reasons they’re bigger—the gigantic equipment. Try that before you mess with something as major as increasing net size.
*Kudos to the Bruins for recognizing and honoring BPD Officer John Moynihan. And obviously a hearty ‘thank you’ to the heroic Moynihan, who put his ass on the line for Bostonians and took a bullet to the face after pulling over a real POS. Best wishes to him and his family. With all of the bullshit going on around the country right now, citizens of Boston are lucky to have as fine a force as we do—they’re truly a model for the nation right now.
*Non-Bruins Blog Items of the Week. Count me in with my brother bloggers in endorsing Aziz Ansari’s new Netflix show “Master of None”, a fresh and smart comedy that occasionally dips its toes into the drama end. With diversity in Hollywood a seemingly endless story, Ansari and co-creator Alan Yang show us that untapped creative spigots can produce high-quality work that would otherwise not be made. It’s not just high-quality work, it explores new avenues that most viewers have never been led down before. Really looking forward to Season 2…”Trainwreck” had some genuinely funny parts but, like most Judd Apatow flicks, it could’ve been shorter. Still, Amy Schumer showed off some legit chops as Colin Quinn and Tilda Swinton turned in great work as well. And though LeBron was no Kareem, he still held his own pretty good. Give it a B+…”Results” was a quirky indie starring Guy Pearce, Cobie Smulders, and a perfectly weird Kevin Corrigan about gym memberships and pseudo-love triangles. Off-beat but enjoyable.
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