What the Hell is Going On?
Blatant and simple question, and a valid one at that. What's going on with the Bruins? Seven games ago, the average Boston sports fan would have told you, "this is the year!!! Sayonara 1972!!!" After going 1-3-3 since their previous 7-game win streak, though, Bruins nation has been plagued with an uneasy feeling. A 5-2 shellacking from the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night didn't help, either. This team's power play has had immense struggles since acquiring the supposed answer in Tomas Kaberle. Their goaltending has failed to produce at the same level it has all year, but I'm not about to place any blame on those guys. If you ask me, the goaltending has bailed out this Bruins team on more than their share of occasions. Defensive breakdowns are starting to get magnified now that Thomas isn't standing on his head every minute of every game. It's a big reason to be concerned if you're the Bruins. They'll try to right the ship against a much-improved New Jersey Devils team tonight at the Garden. One bright spot lately has been Tyler Seguin, who is playing with more intensity and doing more of the dirty work. He was Boston's best forward in that ugly loss to Toronto, creating several scoring chances on his own and getting robbed on two occasions by a red-hot goaltender. Look for Seguin to be a continued spark of energy as this team tries to gel back into form.
While the Bruins were getting toasted in Toronto on Saturday night, the Boston College Eagles took home their 10th Hockey East Championship by defeating the Merrimack Warriors, 5-3. Merrimack was a great story this season and had beaten the Eagles twice in three previous meetings, but their mojo couldn't last long enough. The teams were tied in the third period, but Cam Atkinson blasted home a one-timer to take the lead for good with less than half a period to go. It was Atkinson's second goal of the third period and his league-leading 30th of the season, helping him earn MVP honors and earn Boston College yet another trophy. Led by one of the very best lines in the nation (Atkinson, J. Whitney, Gibbons), you can look for the Eagles to make a major splash in the NCAA tournament. They square off against Colorado College on Friday night, March 25th, at 9 PM. The game is at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis.
The NFL made some rule changes today. I find it funny how successfully we can just ignore the fact that there's a significant work stoppage going on. Regardless, kickers will now kick-off from the 35 yard line instead of the 30, and touchbacks will continue to be placed at the 20. I'm not really sure that I care about this rule change at all -- kickers are just going to get more touchbacks than they already do. There are already some kickers who consistently boot it out of the back of the end zone. They're just going to kick it through the uprights now. Whatever. Just start every possession at the 20 by default if that's what you're trying to get at. Secondly, though, they made a good rule change. All scoring plays will be reviewed by the booth if necessary. Just like in the last two minutes. Didn't you ever think it was a little bit stupid that a team could just be blatantly robbed of a score simply because they had no challenges left? Fortunately for the teams that were hurt by cases like that, the NFL has made a simple yet effective rule change in that department. As for the other one, though, I'm not so sure.
I'm not going to devote a section to them just yet, because I gotta run. But the Celtics got a huge win last night and helped to show people they have it in them when it comes down to crunch time. So I'm not panicking like others are. The C's are fine -- all they need is for Doc to tell them they're soft. That will get KG & company fired up.
