Five Minute Major: ‘B’ Thankful

Posted by Chas in Bruins on November 24th, 2009 | one response

5MM2 As the Bruins approach the Thanksgiving holiday, there sure is a lot for them to be thankful for. The roster that the Claude Julien filled out last night in St. Louis was as close to the Opening Night lineup as has been seen since the middle of October. That group then went out and dispatched of a pretty decent Blues team, 4-2. The combination of renewed health and increased success surely will make the turkey and fixings taste a bit better come Thursday.

The Bruins have been one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference over the past 10 games, climbing from near the bottom of the conference standings to the middle of the playoff race. The biggest concern when the injuries to Marc Savard and Milan Lucic came down was treading water and not getting too far behind in the push for the postseason. Turns out that the Bruins went 8-4-4 while two-thirds of their top line at the start of the season were on injured reserve. Along the way, some new pieces were added and players regained the form that made them so valuable in the first place. A potential worst-case scenario has played out in a very positive manner for the Black and Gold.

In honor of Thursday’s holiday, here are five things for the Bruins to be thankful for in today’s “Five Minute Major.”

Savard

1. The return of Milan Lucic and Marc Savard. The Bruins’ top center and their young power forward had not been in the lineup together since Oct. 16 in Dallas, a 3-0 Bruins win. The loss of Lucic and Savard in back-to-back games could have been a season-ender for the B’s. However, the team pushed on with reengineered roles for many players and a refocused emphasis on team play. The team picked up 20 points in 16 games without the duo, more than keeping pace in a talented Eastern Conference. However, for this team to go anywhere substantial in the playoffs, Savard needs to be out there dishing assists and Lucic needs to be creating space and opportunity with punishing checks. In his three games back, Lucic has scored twice, jumping in a nice 2-on-1 with Byron Bitz in Buffalo and then showing some nice touch with a mid-air deflection last night in St. Louis. Savard was a non-factor on the scoresheet in first game back last night, but his presence on the power play appeared to give the team more confidence and allowed Patrice Bergeron to slide back to the second unit, where he was expected to be all season.

2. The revitalization of Patrice Bergeron. Speaking of Bergeron, he is now consistently showing that he may still be the Bruins’ best all-around player. Two full years removed from a Grade 3 (very bad) concussion that had him out for basically a whole season, he has all of his tools back. There were signs of his growth at the end of last year where he was a big factor in the playoffs, but this year he has taken it to a whole new level. He leads the team with 18 points on 7 goals and 11 assists. He amiably handled being the #1 center and top-power play captain for the time Savard was out. Now, with Savvy back, Patrice can move back to the second line and second PP and give the B’s the depth down the middle that was so important last year. Against the Blue last night, he assisted on all four goals while leading the forwards in ice time and winning 69% of his faceoffs. He is in his sixth league (fifth actually skating) and is only 24 years old. Remember, he played three full seasons before he was 22 and had 69 goals and 142 points over those three years. If he keeps trending back in that direction, this team becomes much more dangerous.

3. Tuukka Rask. The young netminder in his first full season in the NHL is showing that the promise and predictions associated with him were not off base. He has played nine games this season, and is 6-2-1 with a GAA of 2.28. He has started the last four Bruins games with Tim Thomas nursing a minor injury and is 3-2 over that span. He is the sound, positional goalie that is the antithesis of the acrobatic Tim Thomas and has shown the ability to steal a game. If Thomas had a nagging injury last year, Manny Fernandez would have trumped him with a torn groin or something. Now, Thomas can rest and make sure he is 100% because the Bruins have a young star in the making ready to go. In fact, the Bruins locked up Rask for a few years with a contract extension, giving the B’s a 1-2 tandem for the next three years.

Begin & Thornton

4. Steve Begin and Shawn Thornton. For the first part of the season, these two combined with Bitz to make the Bruins’ fourth line its best line. That isn’t a good thing for a hockey club. However, it is also a good thing for a hockey club. In no way do you want your grinders – expected to give 9-11 good minutes of forechecking, defense and pugilism – outplaying your big-money superstars. However, you do want them setting an example and showing the guys in the room that full effort is required for success. A player like Thornton knows what his role is and what his talents are. He is not going to try and do too much, just do what he does best. So night after night, he is throwing his body around and keeping other teams honest when it comes to taking liberties with a Bruin. The odd goal or point from him is icing on the cake. Begin, known as a pest while playing with Montreal, has shown that he is not just a Sean Avery-type player but is also a reliable penalty killer and faceoff man. His nine points have been valuable from the fourth-line center role, but his penalty killing has been even more important. Since him and Daniel Paille have taken an increased role in killing penalties, the Bruins have been one of the best teams in the NHL at doing so. The B’s have allowed just three PPG in their last 12 games (39-of-42 for 93%) and climbing from 30^th (last) to 4^th in the league.

5. Claude Julien. The man behind the bench could have been in serious jeopardy. He lost two of his top forwards in two nights and was mixing and matching minor leaguers and mid-range NHLers for a few games to get his team on the ice. The Bruins, a team picked to be at the top of the East and a possible Stanley Cup contender, were in danger of falling far out of the playoff hunt. A free fall like Bruins fans have seen before could have led to calls for his head. Rather than accept injuries as an excuse, he focused his troops on rallying around the difficulty and playing sound hockey. Team defense and careful execution with the puck kept them in games and gave them a chance to steal some wins. Now, his team is in 6^th place in the conference and one point out of first in the Northeast Division. He finally has a chance to work with the full deck he expected to have and can play his complete brand of hockey. If someone else had been behind the bench (Lewis, Dave or Ftorek, Robbie or Kasper, Steve) the 2009-10 season would have been over before it really started. Instead, Julien has used adversity to motivate and teach and the B’s are better for it

Looking ahead for the Bruins, three games in five days to finish the week are on the docket. On Wednesday, the B’s are in Minnesota to skate against the Wild in the final game of a four-game road trip. A win makes the Bruins 4-for-4 on the roadie and officially seals the fact that the Bruins are back at full strength. Then, it’s the traditional Black Friday home game at noon against New Jersey. The Devils are 7-2-1 over their last 10 games and 9-2-1 on the road. The noon game is always a crapshoot as teams can be thrown off by the early start and the crowd is usually half-asleep. The next night, division-leading Ottawa is in town in a big-matchup that the Bruins will be very up for. A run through this weekend by the B’s will provide some serious notice to the rest of the league that the Black and Gold are ready to play at the level expected at the beginning of the season.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

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