Five Minute Major: B's Effort Not Enough, Now No Phaneuf
Much was made heading into this weekend’s pair of games about how the tilts against Buffalo and Los Angeles would show just what the Bruins had left in them for the rest of the season. The keeper of the white flag had been put on alert and the trade winds had begun circulating around the team and the league in general (before blossoming into a full-fledged windstorm on Sunday, but more on that in a minute.)
Well, another weekend and another pair of losses for the Black and Gold. The only tangible silver lining is that the B’s picked up one point in a shootout loss against the Kings on Saturday to at least stay two points back of the final playoff spot.
(AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
The tough pill to swallow is that the Bruins could/should have had the win over the Kings. The B’s again had a lead in the third period and saw it wash away. They had the better of the chances and energy in the overtime period. Michael Ryder scored in the shootout and Tim Thomas made a nice save on Michal Handzus to extend the breakaway contest. Marc Savard put together a nifty move to give the B’s a chance to win in sudden-death shootout.
Then, the bad luck came back to the B’s as it has done so often this season. Thomas made the save on Ryan Smyth’s offering, but Tank’s momentum carried him – and more importantly the puck – over the goal line to extend the skills contest. Finally, in the sixth round, Jarret Stoll beat Thomas with a quick shot to snag the extra point.
Now, I was unable to watch the game against Buffalo on Friday because of “ladyfriend commitments”, but the energy from the Bruins on Saturday was much better than I have seen in a game since the trip out west two weeks ago. The Bruins showed signs of being a competent hockey club. They took the body in all three zones. They made the right pass. They converted on power play chances. If a team does those three things on a consistent basis, it will win its fair share of games. The problem facing Claude Julien’s team at the moment, however, is that it has to be greedy. It can’t just settle for its “fair share” of wins. Time is of the essence and desperation has started to kick in (or at least it should have.)
After the game with the Kings, Julien said, “Overall, we feel we’re turning the corner and heading in the right direction.”
The thing is … that direction leads squarely to the best hockey team on the planet – the Washington Capitals. The team that kick started this horrendous season on Opening Night rolls into the Garden on Tuesday riding a 10-game winning streak while scoring more times than Tiger Woods at the AVN Awards.
For a team looking to gain some confidence – and points – Alex Ovechkin and his band of merry men are not exactly who you hope to line up against. Now, if the B’s go out and beat the Caps, then this becomes a potential season-changing win and all is right in the Hub of Hockey again. That’s the beauty of sports. Impending doom can become 
joyous celebration and vice-versa.
Anyhoo … I was informed by the warden of this sports writing prison that I have been negligent in providing you with a “Five Minute Major” over the past few weeks. It seems I was too busy writing quality satires picked up by national outlets and orchestrating the fastest-growing Bruins podcast this side of…well, anywhere. My bad, bossman.
Rather than get sent to the hole without any dinner, I have buckled down and come up with five tidbits of hockey goodness to start your week. Sit back, crack open a Fresca and enjoy this week’s “Five Minute Major.”
1. Why did the Bruins look like an actual hockey club this weekend? It may have had something to do with the guy wearing No. 91. Welcome back, Marc Savard! In his two games back this weekend, Savard came up with two assists and a shootout goal. His assist on Friday shows exactly how much he means to this team. His team down two, Savard initiated the breakout with a cross-ice pass to Zdeno Chara. The puck cycled back to him along the right wing and he carried the biscuit into the zone where he hesitated a bit, allowing time for Milan Lucic to work to the middle of the ice. He dished a silky pass to Looch barreling down the slot, who fired a wrister past Ryan “Brick Wall” Miller to get the B’s back in the game.
His assist on Saturday was a bit more fortuitous as he gathered a puck that bounced off the linesman and sent a pass to Marco Sturm who scored. Still, the quickness and confidence with which he fired the pass has been missing while Savvy was on the injured list. Too many times over the past few weeks, the Bruins have had to make the perfect play to score. With Savard on the ice, he can turn nothing into something. Much like Maverick, he is dangerous.
2. Ok, pardon me for a while as I get out my soapbox and climb up for a rant. Ready? Good.
Anyone who watched the game against the Kings on Saturday witnessed the best hit by a Bruin since Andrew Ferrence steamrolled Dallas’ Steve Ott last season. Early in the second period, Mark Stuart did what he does best. He caught a forward swinging toward the neutral zone with his head down and popped him a good one. Watch the video, it’s a beaut.
Okay, we’re back. What was wrong with that whole thing? The fact that Wayne Simmonds came at Stuart after the hit. I wrote a column a few weeks ago about how hockey players are the toughest athletes. I am beginning to question that after this season. There was a time, back when the world was a better place, when a big check against your team was answered with a bigger check of your own. You get nailed? Take a number and wait your time. It may have been later in that game or it could have taken three months.
Now, when a player is railroaded, he or his teammates get their jock straps all up in a bunch and feel the need to fight. If Stuart came in with his elbow or stick (for reference see any check from a Philadelphia Flyer or Dallas Star) than I can understand a riot getting set off quickly. But, Stewie came in with his shoulder and caught Anze Kopitar with his head down. Clean hit, get up and move on. If you want to get retribution, wait for the right time. But, in this day and age, Simmonds challenged Stuart and Stewie knew it was coming. A player shouldn’t have to fight because he did his job cleanly.
Yes, Kopitar is L.A.’s best player and that comes into account in this situation. But watch the play. Peter Harrold, channeling his inner B.C. Eagle, made a bonehead play and almost got his team’s best player sent to Mass General. If anyone should have been punched in the face, it should have been Harrold. How great would it have been if Kopitar got up and punched Harrold?
In my day (granted my day involved club hockey at Georgetown) big, clean hits were part of the game. Yes, head shots should be monitored and steps should be taken to get them out of the game. This was a textbook shoulder check to the logo – the way I was taught to check in Pee Wee. Even Kopitar knows it was clean. After the game he said, “I’m pretty sure that if it wasn’t clean, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” Anyways, that’s my rant. Soapbox is away and we are back to normalcy.
(Note from Chas at 12:53 p.m. – And to literally add injury to insult about Simmonds’ overreaction, it was announced after practice today that Stuart will be out until after the Olympics with a broken finger suffered in the fight. Makes sense. Simmonds acts like an asshat and the Bruins player is out a month…)
Dion Phaneuf
3. While you were busy on Sunday with the Pro Bowl or the Australian Open, things got a little interesting for the Bruins in their pursuit of the first overall draft pick this summer. The Toronto Maple Leafs, whose first round pick the B’s possess after the Phil Kessel deal, made two huge trades to change the face of their team. The Leafs first acquired defenseman Dion Phaneuf from Calgary and then traded for former Stanley Cup-winning goalie J.S. Giguere. The Leafs dealt six players from their current roster for those two plus Fredrik Sjostrom (just a guy) and a prospect. This deal improves the Leafs’ defense a bit as Phaneuf is a former Norris Trophy finalist and Giggy is an improvement at goal over Vesa Toskala who he was traded for.
The good news for the Bruins is that while the goals allowed may decrease, the goals forward is sure to also go down. To acquire the two players, the Leafs had to deal four of their top eight scorers. Matt Stajan had 41 points and was the only center capable of working with Kessel and now he is gone. Niklas Hagman led the team with 20 goals and is now in Calgary. Ian White was second among defensemen on the team in points and was shipped out. Jason Blake is now in Anaheim, taking his 10 goals with him. The Leafs have some young players waiting to step in, but that will most likely not be enough to keep them out of the bottom three in the NHL.
They have lost six in a row and the only thing keeping them from the cellar is the fact that Edmonton has dropped 13 in a row. This may make Toronto better in 2010-11, decreasing the overall value of next year’s first-rounder the B’s have and increasing the likelihood it is included in any big trades the Bruins may make in the next month.
4. Speaking of trades and the Bruins, the stance here remains that the B’s will not make a big deal unless this team comes out of the next week with a feeling that they are still, surprisingly just “one player away”. If after home games against the Caps, Canadiens and Canucks the Bruins are back in the top eight or keeping pace while rounding into form, the possibility of a trade increases.
Will this year’s Toronto pick be dealt? Absolutely not. Could the B’s deal their own first or any of next year’s? Possibly, if it is the right deal. The Bruins could have been in on Phaneuf, but apparently a deal for the B’s would have cost something like three or four NHL players (Wheeler and Krejci as the centerpieces.) Still, if the B’s make a deal, it should be for a defenseman.
Scott Neidermayer of the Ducks should be on the move and would fit in nicely for a few months and shouldn’t cost as much as Phaneuf did. The B’s are still mentioned as a possible landing spot for Ilya Kovalchuk, but I don’t see that happening. If the Bruins were first in the division and third in the conference right now, I could see the big splash being made. They would need him to compete with the Caps and Penguins. Bringing him in as a rental this year may get you to the playoffs, but most likely as the 7th seed. A miracle run to the Cup would be a bigger surprise than Scott Brown winning the senate seat.
Look for Peter Chiarelli to look into a veteran player whose contract is up after this season and won’t cost him any of his building blocks. However, if someone will take Tim Thomas off his hands, Chiarelli should load Timmy’s pads in his car, thank him for the playoff run in 2008, show him his Vezina Trophy and $5 million dollar a year contract and point him in the direction of ticketing and check-in. Nothing against Timmy, but that contract will destroy this team at some point.
5. Finally, I am taking off my professional hockey skates and dipping into the collegiate ranks. Tonight is the first night of the 2010 Beanpot over at the TD Garden.
B.C. takes on Harvard at 5 p.m. and B.U. plays Northeastern at 8 p.m. The Beanpot is always one of my favorite sporting events and I have been to about nine of them live. Seeing the Garden full of the student sections, alumni and hockey fans gives the barn a great feel. Sure, B.U. wins almost every year, but as a life-long Terrier fan that makes it even better.
The games are on NESN and 98.5 The Sports Hub tonight, so when you get home from work, tune in and watch some local kids play their hearts out on the big stage. My picks, Harvard beats B.C. in overtime in game one and B.U. skates away from the Huskies late.
That is all for now. Big week ahead for the B’s with the best team in the league in town followed by the hated Habs. No better place to keep up to date than here.
Check out Chas and some of the best Boston Bruins bloggers on Tuesday (2/2) night at 10 p.m. on a special “Bruins only” 4SportBoston podcast!
2 Responses to “Five Minute Major: B's Effort Not Enough, Now No Phaneuf”
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The Bruins should go full throttle after a game changer of some kind. The Bruins need to jump start this team some how. As you mentioned a trade may only get them in seventh place but in hockey you just need to get into the tournament. The Bruins may be the show with the current roster.
.-= joe gill´s last blog ..Breakers Share Silver Lining Following Loss of Sol =-.
Phaneuf is overrated. Burke will leave Toronto in financial turmoil like he did in Anaheim, and Vancouver before that.