Why History Won't Repeat for B's

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Here we are, one year after the beginning of last year's second round debacle, and the situations are eerily similar. In the 2010 playoffs, the Bruins beat Buffalo in Round 1 and took a commanding 3-0 series lead over the Flyers in the semi-finals. We all know what happened in the rest of that series so I won't repeat it here. In this year's playoffs, the Bruins won a nail-biting game 7 against Montreal with Nathan Horton's clutch goal.

Today, they have that same 3-0 lead over the Flyers and are hoping to wrap up the series tomorrow night at the Garden. Already the nay-sayers have come out, drawing comparisons to last year's series and claiming the Bruins might blow the lead again. A few words come to mind here, but I'll some up those claims with just one word: ridiculous. The 2011 Boston Bruins are NOT the same team they were last year. If you watched the first 3 games of the series then you know that. If you take a look at the roster then you know that. Allow me to ease your minds and give you a few reasons why the Bruins will move on to the Conference Finals.

1. Healthy Roster

The Bruins aren't dealing with the loss of key players due to injury like last year. David Krejci has been excellent in this series, but we all remember what happened last year. He got hurt in game 4 last year, and his injury is one of the biggest reasons the B's lost the series. With 5 goals and 4 assists, he's had a tremendous playoffs so far despite the Flyers trying to knock him off his game. He'll continue to play well and have an impact in all zones as long as he stays healthy. Dennis Seidenberg also got hurt before the playoffs last year and his speed and skills were missed. Many people criticize his defensive end play but he has steadily improved over the cource of the playoffs and at times had been our best d-man. His puck-moving skills were missed last years but he's here now and ready to play.

2. Different Flyers Team

This is also a different team that the Bruins are facing as well. Speedy winger Simon Gagne (who scored four goals on us in last year's series) is on the Lightning now. He was a constant scoring threat last year and now with him gone it's one less thing to worry about. Chris Pronger is also a year older, and although he is still a feared defenseman, he's battling with injuries as well. He missed game 3 and even if he returns to play tomorrow, he won't be 100% and the Bruins will continue to take advantage of that. Jeff Carter, perhaps the most offensively skilled forward on the Flyers, missed games 1 and 2 and he clearly wasn't completely ready to play either. The Flyers are a strong team, but not strong enough to come back from this deficit.

3. New Faces

The Bruins' roster contains a lot of familiar faces, but there a lot of new players that Chiarelli has brought in since last year. Besides the return of Krejci and Seidenberg from injury last year, he's aquired a few new players both via trades, free agency, and our own farm system. Nathan Horton and Greg Campbell were brought in from Florida and have had a tremendous impact in the playoffs. Nathan Horton has 5 goals this playoffs, including two OT game winners. Campbell has been a very reliable defensive player on the PK and centers the energetic fourth line. Chris Kelly from Ottowa and Rich Peverly from have developed great chemistry with Michael Ryder on the third line and bring a constant scoring threat. Tomas Kaberle is a very skilled defenseman, and although he is not producing offensively as much as we expected, has improved out puck-moving abilities as a team and makes our power play better. Finally, Brad Marchand has earned his roster spot from the beginning of the season and has excelled in every facet of the game, being one of the B's best players night after night.

4. Won't Get Fooled Again

If nothing else can be taken out of last year's debacle, it's a learning experience. Claude Julien and his squad took a hard learned lesson and used it to build on this year's team. Just watching the games, you can see that they're playing with an intensity seldom seen before. They're scoring goals, finishing checks, winning one on one battles, and playing pristine defense. If you watched Game 3 then you know what I'm talking about. They just did everything right. They're determined not to let it happen again. They're confident, aggressive, having fun, and most importantly, they're winning.

5. Goaltending
Look, I'm not blaming Tuukka Rask for last year's implosion. In fact, he played great last year, even during the playoffs. But Tim Thomas is stellar. Save after save, he stands on his head and keeps his team in the game. He's a lock for the Vezina (knock on wood) and there isn't a goalie alive that I'd rather have between the pipes right now than Tim Thomas. Look down the other end and you'll see a revolving door in the Flyer's net. They've already used 3 different goalies so far this playoffs, including Michael Leighton, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Brian Boucher. The Bruins have absolutely embarrassed Boucher and Bobrovsky so far, and the Flyers will continue to struggle there. Defense wins championships, and a good defense starts with a great goalie. Bruins got it. Flyer's don't. It's that simple.

See ya soon, Lightning.
  

I Love This Man. And Get Me That Jacket.

Last night was #winning of epic proportions. Nathan Horton delivers in the clutch again. Whether you're a fan of him or not, let's be real. The man is absolutely delivering in the clutch situations. Backs against the wall in Game 3, Horton buries a goal early. Overtime in Game 5, a game you simply can't let the Habs win and take a 3-2 lead back to the Bell Centre, and he nets the winner in double OT. And then last night, in the most pressure-filled situation since last year's game seven (and easily the highest-pressure moment of Horton's career) and he blasts home another winner. Is Nathan Horton a winner? It sure seems it. I've said all along that this team just lacks a winning culture. Sure, it would be nice to have a Jonathan Toews on our team who can just take over a game. But it is possible win without those guys. You just need the swagger that winners have. Hopefully the Bruins can start to get that swagger. A game 7 victory is a step in the right direction. Not to mention Horton rocks the freshest jacket in North America right now. I need that jacket. Would consider selling my soul for it.
 

Bruins, Do This For Me. Huge, Quickly.

It doesn't get much bigger than tonight across the NHL. Talk about excitement. Two Game 7's and a Bruins-Habs matchup. Six hours of heaven for a hockey fan (or maybe more than six hours, given the way these playoffs have gone). Both of the other matchups have ramifications for B's fans. The Flyers-Sabres game will help determine who Boston would play if they advanced to the conference semis (again). Out west, the Canucks are on the verge of blowing a 3-0 lead and erasing Boston from the top of the wall of shame when it comes to that horrific type of collapse. B's fans will surely be clicking back and forth between those matchups.

But the real deal happens at the Bell Centre, home of the Montreal National Diving Team. Wait. Check that -- the Montreal Canadiens, who have won more Stanley Cups than any other franchise in the history of the league. That's pretty impressive... why do they need to dive? They're pretty damn good. Just play the game. It's tough to respect a team that plays with more cowardice less class than anyone else on planet earth. But I digress. This isn't about the Habs, it's not about PK Subban being a whiny little bitch, it's not about Max Pacioretty tweeting from the press box between periods. It's about the black and gold, who control their own fate each time they take the ice.

That's it. There's nothing more to it. They control their own fate. When the B's bring their skating game, when they are motivated, when they stick to their identity -- they win. And I'll be dumping my pants if they don't win, because I don't want a game 7. The last two times we've had a game 7 at home, we've lost. The last time we had a game 7 versus montreal, which was the year directly prior to the aforementioned losses, we lost that one too. I don't want anything to do with game 7. You gotta do this for me, tonight. Huge, quickly. Wrap it up in 6, boys. Shut them up for the summer.
 

Sergio Ramos Ruins Everything

Sick move Sergio. Real Madrid finally wins whatever this huge trophy commemorates and Ramos drops the trophy off the roof of the bus for it to be subsequently mashed by the bus. This is comparable to if the Bruins won the cup and Chara tripped over the carpet skating around with it, subsequently chucked it off the boards, had it break into forty pieces, and then the zamboni plowing over it and turning it into liquid silver. The only difference is that no one on Sergio's team has the balls to flip off the other team's crowd.
 

Beantown Breakdown 4/11 Recording

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

You probably thought Christmas was the most wonderful time of the year, right? I mean, even the songs say it's true. And I guess the B's and Habs play each other around that time of year, as well. So it's a strong argument. But make no mistake about it. If you're a Boston sports fan, there is no better time of year than right now.

The Red Sox play the rubber game of a set with the Yankees tonight. The Celtics battle the Miami Heat for playoff position, all the while preparing for a matchup with what will be either the Sixers or the Knicks in round one. And the Bruins travel to New Jersey for their regular season finale, a meaningless game that serves as their final tune-up before the ever-hyped matchup this week in the opening round against the hated Montreal Canadiens. Now we just need the Patriots to scrimmage the Jets and it would literally a Masshole's fantasy month.

The C's still have a few games left (and the Sox have more than a few left), so I'm focusing on the B's and the Habs right now. Some will say it's the greatest rivalry in sports. Being a hockey fan and a huge Bruins fan, I have a natural bias toward the affirmative on that issue. But what you cannot argue with is the fact that it is absolute insanity when these teams meet -- this season more than any in recent history. In the past three games these teams have played, let me remind you how things went.

On February 9th at the TD Garden, the Bruins topped the Habs in an 8-6 bull fight that featured 182 penalty minutes and all-out brawls. Typical bad blood between the black and gold and bleu blanc rouge. In a carry-over effect on March 8th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the Habs beat the B's 4-1. More significantly, though, that marked the game during which Zdeno Chara blasted Max Pacioretty into the stanchion and sparking a Montreal police investigation. Police investigation? It was ridiculous. But in the finale of their season series, the B's blasted the Habs back at the Garden by a 7-0 tally on March 24th. It's been the ultimate roller coaster, and it will be the ultimate matchup dropping the puck in just a few days.

It is the most wonderful time of the year. Will we finally see the expectations surpassed?
 

?

Would someone mind explaining to me what the hell is going on? 0-6? I can't write anything about this team until they win a baseball game. The Red Sox posts are on hold until further notice.

  

Daisuke Hopes to Stop the Bleeding

Fasten your seatbelts, folks. This season is going to be a roller coaster. We'll be fortunate to not pull all of our hair out by October.

It's disappointing that a team that has so much hype, while making $160 million combined in salary, is currently 0-4. All of the Red Sox "strengths" look weaker than ever. The starters, to say the least, are shaky. And offensively, for a team that added two of the best players in the game at their respective positions, only Dustin Pedroia has an average over .300. With really no reasoning as to why they have started so poorly, the advice I have to offer is this: Relax.

Yes, every sports station (like, say, ESPN) will pull out these random statistics about how no team since the millennium made the playoffs with a 0-4 record. And then they'll attack the rotation, say that Carl Crawford is too old, suggest that Papelbon be traded, Francona fired, and Pedroia be moved to catcher. Does this sound outlandish? Yes. So just relax.

Since there are 158 games to go, I'm going to suggest that Red Sox Nation hold off on the panic button until further notice.

Daisuke toes the rubber tonight to try and stop this nonsense. I can't believe we are relying on him to stop a 4-game skid, but we are. He looked good in the spring, so we'll see what happens.a

Sox Seek Answers in Series Finale

This season hasn't started the way you expected, huh? Two brutal losses on back-to-back days have pitted the Boston Red Sox in a two-game hole behind the New York Yankees in the AL East just two games into the 2011 campaign. For all the talk about how this Sox team was good enough to surpass the 100-win plateau, all of us are left wondering -- what has gone on the past two days?

For starters, our pitching has been pitiful. That's what it boils down to. The offense has been somewhat productive, but the production is only coming from a select few. It's great to see Ortiz hitting for power. Adrian Gonzalez looks to be an incredibly pure hitter and something to be excited about. Jacoby Ellsbury is showing that he is capable of leading off this lineup. But those have been the biggest bright spots. Carl Crawford is still hitless in a Sox uniform, and he hasn't looked pretty doing it. Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been equally inept connecting the bat with the ball. But the offense has at least been manageable. After all, they can't be the most optimistic unit up there when their pitching staff spots the opposition leads that a grand slam would hardly chop into.

Lester was good for stretches, but he was off his game for the most part. Lackey, meanwhile, got boom roasted. Completely torched for 9 runs in less than 4 innings of work, including a big fly for a grand slam by old teammate Adrian Beltre. The bullpen has been equally bad with a few exceptions. Bard got wrecked in the opener. Last night, it felt like no one was capable of retiring a Ranger. It's clearly no reason to panic, but if the Sox will win 100 games -- hell, if they will even win the AL East (the Yankees are still good, you know) -- they will need to clean up their act on the mound. I know last season was injury-decimated, but it was also plagued by drastic underachieving from the pitching staff. Boston can't afford another similar season of production from those guys.

They play 162 games in a season. The Sox can still go 160-2. Or they could also go 2-160. The talk is irrelevant. No one ever won a world series from media praise. They win the rings by playing the game. There are 29 other teams out there trying to achieve the same goal. You have to earn everything you get. Hopefully it's a fun and successful summer and not a repeat of last year's dog days.
 

UB Writers MLB Predictions

Opening Day is finally upon us. Even though the Sox have to wait an extra day, several teams have kicked off their regular season schedules. If you're a baseball fan, you're smiling -- it's the greatest time of the year. Even for the casual sports fan here in Boston, this marks the best time of the year, too. Bruins and Celtics heading for their playoff schedules (playoff tickets anyone?) and the Sox kicking off their long tourney aimed at a World Series title. Nonetheless, three UB writers, including myself, have made their full set of player predictions for the upcoming season. We'll include a team prediction sometime soon as well, with standings and postseason predictions. But for now, take a look at the future of this season according to DRob, Average Joe, and Burga.