Playoff links – Lord Stanley Cup is on the line

Boston Bruins (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think the Washington Capitals are going to have a hard time matching the Boston Bruins grit and toughness. The Bruins play their best when they're playing a rough and tumble brand of hockey. Just ask the softer Vancouver Canucks who were brutalized by the Bruins last season.

Katie Carrera, Washington Post --- The Bruins – or if you prefer, the big, bad Bruins – have a reputation for toughness. Their brand of hockey comes with physicality and snarl. They like to push teams around between whistles and get under opponents’ skin afterward.

While fighting isn’t really common in the playoffs, one doesn’t need to drop the gloves to be tough to play against and physically dominate a contest or series. Boston’s knack for such things precedes it, but the Capitals believe they can hold their own.

“I think we’re alright,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can throw the body around, too. We’re not a team like them where we come out and always do that, but we do that when we need to — and we’re going to need to in this series.”

The TD North Garden is a tough play for visiting team to play on any given day. Pierre LeBrun from ESPN looked at the five toughest arenas to play in druing the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

4. Boston Bruins Well, I guess you can ask the Vancouver Canucks to vouch for whether playing in Boston is any fun. The Canucks were destroyed in three games in Beantown during the 2011 Cup finals, which reinforced what a tough place it is to play in especially come playoff time. The Bruins are the NHL's toughest, most rugged team and that meshes well with a New England crowd that likes its hockey that way. All of which makes for an electric, and intimidating, atmosphere.

Former NHL Official Kerry Fraser is concerned about inconsistency in today’s NHL Refs. Well that makes two of us. I thought the officiating in last season’s Stanley Cup playoffs was bad, but could have been worse. I hope we don’t have anyone biting anyone this year.

As the NHL playoffs kick off this week, Kerry Fraser says he’s concerned about inconsistency in today’s refereeing.

“Right now, the game is very fast and it’s hard for young officials without the experience to keep up with the pace,” said Fraser, who retired a year ago as the most senior referee in the National Hockey League.

During the playoffs last year, too many refs were inconsistent when it came to major infractions, said Fraser, who officiated for 30 years. And the supplementary discipline doled out by the league hasn’t helped.

“There were head shots when players were sometimes suspended and sometimes not.

“The referees became confused seeing what was happening upstairs with suspensions or lack of, and it created inconsistent officiating,” Fraser said.

The "media" is still concerned about Timmy Thomas missing the White House event. Can we just play hockey? I could care less if Thomas takes a stand on his personal Facebook page or has a political message on the back of his goalie mask. The last time I checked Thomas was an American Citizen and is afforded the right to free speech. [Boston Globe]

Reporter: "Given the setting, that's it's in D.C., is there any concern on your part about the White House stuff getting kicked up and all that stuff …"

Thomas: "Thanks guys, we finally got somebody to get me out early."

The Washington Capital have issues in net right now. [Boston Globe]

Assuming Tomas Vokoun (groin) and Michal Neuvirth (leg) won’t be ready for Game 1, 22-year-old Braden Holtby will get the call to start the playoffs between the pipes. Holtby has never appeared in an NHL playoff game.

Holtby will be backed up by Dany Sabourin. The Capitals recalled the ex-Bruin from Hershey today.

Stanley Cup playoffs 2012: Alex Ovechkin vs. Zdeno Chara matchup could affect Capitals-Bruins outcome ...

Here are the various prediction on the series between the Bruins and the Capitals. Anyone who has seen the Capitals play know that they have a lot of fire power and I don’t think the Boston Bruins will be looking past anyone.

Dan Steinberg, Washington Post --- NHL.com doesn’t provide game predictions, but all seven of the site’s writers say the Bruins will win the series.

The NHL Network’s Craig Button agrees, although his colleague E.J. Hradek took the Caps. (Two out of four NHL.com international writers also took the Caps, for what that’s worth.)
Both of CBS Sports’s “Eye On Hockey” writers take the Bruins. TSN’s Scott Cullen says Bruins in six. Yahoo’s Nick Cotsonika says Bruins in six. The Toronto Sun’s Chris Stevenson says Bruins in six. Sporting News’s Jesse Spector says Bruins in five. Canadian site SportsNet says Bruins in five. And four of five Pro Hockey Talk writers say Bruins in 5, with the fifth, Ryan Dadoun, taking the Caps in 7.

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Jason Chimera blows up Adam McQuaid

Check out this hit by Washington Capitals forward Jason Chimera on Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid. Chimera was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for this hit. Don't expect any further discipline from the Vice President of Players Safety Brendan Shanahan because the hit happened to a Boston Bruins player Chimera doesn't have a history of being suspended or fined by the NHL.

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Michael Komisarek vs. Milan Lucic

The Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Mike Komisarek and Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic don't like each other very much. I am surprised that Komisarek would fight Lucic again after all of the time Lucic has absolutely worked him over. [Example 1] and [example 2]

Interesting comments from Brendan Shannahan

Boston Bruins bench (Photo credit: slidingsideways)

I find it funny that Brendan Shannahan felt the need to comment on this situation, there is perception around the league that certain teams aren't going to get a fair shake because of his bias against those teams. Whether it's deserved or not, it's a perception that is out there. As a Wild and Bruins fan, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say that I have seen things that are questionable and grounds for scrutiny.

Just today the NHL suspended Tyler Meyers for a very similar hit that went unpunished this season, more specifically, these were some of the same kind of hits that the Wild and Bruins players were a victim of but no punishment was levied to the perpetrator. There seems to be one set of rules for Stars and a different set of rules for the goons and third and forth line players.

D.J. Bean, WEEI --- As for the Bruins in general, Shanahan responded to the idea that he has a bias against the B’s when it comes to suspensions. Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference have all been suspended this season for various infractions.

“It’s funny, people in Boston might think I have something against the Bruins, which is so absurd and crazy,” he said. “It makes you feel any better I can promise you all I have to do is flip on my Twitter page, or if I ever wanted to venture onto the internet, almost every team in the league thinks there a specific reason I hate their market and hate their city as well.

“I have to defend why I don’t hate Pittsburgh, or why I don’t hate Montreal, or why I don’t hate Buffalo, or why I don’t hate Minnesota. For Boston, it’s even more absurd, quite honestly. Talk about a team I grew up admiring. Cam Neely is probably the one player I tried to model my game after more than anybody. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team you grew up admiring, or a team you played for, there’s so much scrutiny in this job, you can do this job and you can’t sleep at night, if you don’t do it with as much integrity as possible. That doesn’t mean you’re perfect. You would love to have a perfect season in sports. You can objectively look at this hit and disagree with the assessment, and that’s fair. That’s always going to be fair. But it’s absurd to suggest in any market that we have a grudge or have it in against anybody.”

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Malkin not disciplined

Another questionable hit on a Boston Bruins by a Pittsburgh Penguin and another Penguin escapes punishment by the NHL. So basically, don't expect a player to get suspended if they hit a Boston Bruin with a questionable hit.

I could see how Boston Bruins fans might question the NHL and their judgement. Also, I think that Brendan Shanahan is basically a fraud and no better than Colin Campbell, there are one set of rules for star players and there is another set of rules for tough guys and goons. One could also make the argument that, if Milan Lucic or Brad Marchand had hit Malkin or Sidney Crosby with a hit like this, they would've been suspended or at least fined by the NHL. 

Mike Cole, NESN --- The Bruins have been the victim of some suspect hits over the years in Pittsburgh, and once again, the league has allowed the Penguins to skate without punishment.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that the league will not discipline Pens star Evgeni Malkin for his hit on Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk which came in the third period of the Penguins' 5-2 win over Boston on Sunday.

While the hit was not nearly as bad as the hit Matt Cooke leveled Bruins center Marc Savard with two years ago, there were some that thought Malkin would be looking at least a fine.

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Milan Lucic vs Brandon Prust Fight

The New York Rangers lead the National Hockey League with 53 Fighting Majors, the Boston Bruins are in second in the NHL with 50 fighting majors. That is after adding three more fighting majors in today's game between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers.

This is probably a fight that the Rangers Brandon Prust will soon want to forget, I think he bit off more than he could chew by fighting Boston Bruins tough guy Milan Lucic.  Ironically, the New York Rangers punching bag forward Brandon Prust leads the New York Rangers with 17 Fights.

That was only the fifth fight of the year for Milan Lucic. 

As you can see by the video the Bruins forward Lucic got the better of Prust and worked him pretty hard and I doubt that Prust would want to do that again.

Goon and Lucic agree on Fighting

Image via Wikipedia

Huh! I looks like Boston Bruins tough guy Milan Lucic has the same stance that I do when it comes to Fighting in Junior Hockey. In fact he is saying many of the same things that I have.

“I’m totally against it,” Lucic told The Province on Wednesday.

“I think there will be more injuries because there’d be no fear of fighting. The game will become dirtier. And, for myself, I don’t think I could have made the NHL the way I did without it.”

 Lucic, maintains, though, that fighting in junior “kept me out of trouble because it’s a way of getting my aggression out.” . [The Providence]

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Corvo expects Turris to answer the bell.

The @injuryninja visited the Boston Bruins again as both Joe Corvo and Johnny Boychuck left the game on Saturday night after big hits. The Chris Neil hit on Johnny Boychuck was clean, the Kyle Turris hit on Corvo was a dirty hit that warranted supplemental discipline from the NHL.

True to form the Senior VP of Player Safety and Hockey Operations Brendan Shanahan did nothing again and proved that he is no better than the guy that preceded him. Hell, let's bring back the Colin Campbell Wheel of Justice.

If we learned anything from Shanahan this season,  we have learned that if you're a player that plays for the Boston Bruins or the Minnesota Wild, don't expect the NHL to protect you, because your fair game and the NHL isn't going to do anything a player that takes a run at a player from either team. 

The Boston Bruins now have three to four players on the shelf with post concussion type syndrome. In my opinion, three of the four hits where of questionable and of the dirty variety, lets review the hits, there was the  Tom Sestito hit on Nathan Horton, the sneaky elbow by Hal Gill on  Richard Peverly and of course the elbow by Kyle Turris on Joe Corvo (video embedded above) all questionable hits that should have warranted some kind of supplemental discipline in my opinion., I mean the could have at least humored us and given the offenders the max fine.

This morning while I was reading my twitter feed today I saw this tweet come up today. Apparently, Joe Corvo is expecting Kyle Turris to answer the bell and fight him on Tuesday Night. That ought to be an entertaining slap feast that will be an instant non classic on Youtube.com

Personally, I would rather see Milan Lucic beat Kyle Turris to a pulp so the Boston Bruins can send a mess that it's not acceptable to run one of their players, especially if the League isn't going to protect them.

With all of the talk from the hand wringing puritans that want to  banning fighting in the NHL, lets point out to them, that none of the four players listed above suffered a head injury from a hockey fight, three of the four player were hit and concussed with questionable, dirty checks, that I would classify as bush league and hits that need to be eliminated from the game of hockey.

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Adam McQuaid vs. Ryan White

Good hockey fight as the Boston Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid works over Hab's punching bag Ryan White. The Boston Bruins are second in the NHL in fighting majors with 42.

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Milan Lucic works Patrick Kaleta like a speed bag

Nothing makes me happier than watching Boston Bruins tough Milan Lucic guy work over a rat like Patrick Kaleta.

Kaleta is one of those players that thinks he is pretty tough when he is out on the taking runs at other teams skilled players. I am actually surprised that Kaleta fought a guy like Milan Lucic.



At the end of the night Kaleta catches the ire of Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid. McQuaid  decided he had seen enough of Kaleta's on ice antics and absolutely clobbers the Sabres rat in the head with a monstrous right hand.

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Video of Tom Sestito hits on Steven Kampfer and on Nathan Horton

Tom Sestito is a known for his ability to rack up penalty minutes, today Sestito put two questionable hits on two Boston Bruin's players, both Bruins players were hit a long time after they had gotten rid of the puck.

Tom Sestito's questionable, late hit on Nathan Horton was the reason Horton had to miss the rest of the hockey game. Here is what Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julian had to say on the hit.

"He was kept out for the obvious [reasons]," Bruins coach Claude Julien said after the game. "It was kind of a head injury. He's just being reevaluated right now. That's basically all we know and that's as far as we've gone with the evaluation." [NESN.COM]

It would not be an understatement to say that this was a nasty game and there were three fights and a six fighting majors handed out during today's game. Milan Lucic worked over Tom Sestito at the 01:24 mark of the first period.

Compare and contrast

This is video proof to prove the hypocrisy of the Vancouver Canucks fans and the Vancouver media. There are a lot of hockey fans that whine about every thing the Boston Bruins do. This just proves that the Vancouver Canucks are just as bad as the team that they are whining about.

There are fans that think that there's actually a league conspiracy and that the NHL favors the Boston Bruins because Colin Campbell's son Greg Campbell plays for the Boston Bruins.

This video is from last years Stanley Cup Finals in game one where Vancover Canucks Defenseman Dan Hamhuis hits Boston Bruins forward  Milan Lucic low just like Brad Marchand did on Sami Salo and in the process Hamhuis injured himself. There was no penalty on the play, nor was there was there a suspension. Why the double standard? Yet there are fans from the Canucks and other fan bases as well as people from the hockey media calling for Brad Marchand to be suspended.  Why wasn't Hamhuis' hit suspension worthy? Where is the out cry? You can imagine the whining if Marchand isn't suspended or at least fined. [Box Score]

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Benoit Pouliot scores a highlight goal against the Panthers

Check out this goal by Bruins forward Benoit Pouliot, some are saying it's will be a candidate for goal of the year. Pouliot was signed as a free agent by the Bruins in the off season and had to fight to stay in the line up. Pouliot has started to catch fired the last month and has points in four of his last five games. Pouliot-Zach has been playing on a line with Richard Peverley and Chris Kelly.

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Will Lucic be suspended?

Bruins forward Milan Lucic has a hearing Monday for his hit on Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo, the big question is, will Lucic be suspended for his hit on Rinaldo. I would have to say, based on what I saw in a recent ruling by Brendan Shanahan; comparing Dion Phaneuf's hit on Zach Kassian and Milan Lucic's hit on Zac Rinaldo, I would say no, this hit was not as bad as that hit.

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Milan Lucic hit on Zac RInaldo

Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for this hit on Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo. In looking at the video, and watching the game, I don't think you will see a suspension to Milan Lucic.

The reason I say that I don't think that Lucic will be suspended is that last night Toronto Defenseman Dion Phaneuf  buried Buffalo Forward Zack Kassian into the boards and wasn't suspended. In my opinion that hit was worse than Lucic's hit on Rinaldo. So I don't see a this and there was no suspension given to Phaneuf.

I know that if Lucic isn’t suspended by the NHL we are going to hear the conspiracy theorist claim that the NHL is in bed with the Bruins because Colin Campbell’s son Gregory plays for the Boston Bruins, however, I don’t think this hit is suspension worthy.

After Milan Lucic's questionable hit on Flyers goon Zac Rinaldo, who has been in eight fights this season, goes after and challenges Bruins forward Nathan Horton to a fight. As a Bruins fan, I get a little worried  seeing one of the Bruins top six forwards, who has suffered a concussion in the past year, fighting an experienced fighter like Rinaldo. Rinaldo (1g-4a—5pts) is a cement head and is on the ice for one thing. Rinaldo is there to fight and cause havoc, you would think he should have challenged Lucic to the fight.

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Hey Seguin set your alarm clock.

Image via WikipediaForward Tyler Seguin (13g-12a—25pts) is the future of the Boston Bruins and is the leading scorer for the Bruins so far this season and he leads the Bruins second leading scorer Milan Lucic by 5 points.

Boston Herald --- “He missed a team breakfast and a team meeting this morning,” said GM Peter Chiarelli, explaining Seguin’s absence from the lineup vs. the Jets. “He didn’t wake up. Honest mistake. But we have team rules. We abide by them. He has to abide by them. So that’s the reason for his scratch.”

The Bruins flew from Pittsburgh late Monday night, arriving at their Winnipeg hotel at around 2 a.m. today. Chiarelli said this was not the first time Seguin has broken such team rules.

“He’s had a couple of instances before,” said the GM. “I don’t see it as a problem. I see it as a young player who sometimes forgets to set his alarm. We gave him a couple of passes (in the past). It’s a young kid who’s learning to be a pro — and is a heck of a player.”

That being said it’s time to grow up and get to the meetings when you’re supposed to, a mandatory meeting means that everyone needs to show up. I also think it’s time for some of his teammates to make sure that he doesn’t miss anymore meetings.

Canucks' Raymond 'will never be the same'

Here is a follow up on former on former UMD Bulldog Mason Raymond, sounds like he had a very long painful struggle to get back to the NHL. This story was in today's Vancouver Sun, the video of the hit in question is included above.

Vancouver Sun --- Run into the boards by Boston Bruins defenceman Johnny Boychuk, who held down Raymond’s head as he rammed the Canuck backwards, Raymond suffered not only a fractured spine but damaged nerves and tissue.

“It’s a serious injury that’s going to take some time,” he said. “Things have changed back there. It will never be the same. I’m not going to get into specifics, but I had some serious damage back there. I’ve got issues back there. I’ve got to deal with them all the time. That’s part of life. Is it going to be perfect? Probably not. But I’m at a stage where it’s very good and I continue to work and do things that are going to make me feel I’m in a good spot.”

Raymond spent most of last summer in a back brace and when training camp began in September the 26-year-old from Cochrane, Alta., was still unsure if he’d play again in the National Hockey League. Sometime in the fall, he crossed the threshold between “if” and “when” and three weeks ago he began practicing with teammates.

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Milan Lucic runs over Ryan Miller

Wow!!! Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic absolutely mowed over the Sabres all-world goalie Ryan Miller. To quote Andy Brickley, "just because the goaltender is out of net doesn't make him fair game." Brick also said, "that's a penalty you don't mind killing as a player." What concerns me more is the reaction from Ryan Miller, if he had made contact with that big goalie stick he could have been looking at a suspension.

Bruins re-sign Brad Marchand

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Boston Bruins fans breathed a collective sigh of relief today as their up and coming star forward re-upped for two more seasons. Brad Marchand was a restricted free agent and was coming a great post season where he scored 11 goals and added 9 assists in 25 Stanley Cup playoff games. Marchand was a major reason the Bruins won the Stanley Cup this past season.  Marchand’s deal is worth about 5.5 million over two seasons.

Fluto Shinzawa; Boston.com --- The Bruins have confirmed that Brad Marchand has agreed to a contract extension. According to TSN, Marchand has signed a two-year, $5 million contract, giving him an annual cap hit of $2.5 million. Marchand will earn $2 million this season and $3 million in 2012-13. Marchand will be under contract and alongside his teammates when camp officially opens on Friday at TD Garden.

“From the get-go, I never was going to miss a day of camp,” Marchand said during a conference call. “I never wanted that. I wanted to be here the first day and show everyone I wanted to be here. I wanted to go through the whole camp with the guys and be part of the team. I’m very happy it didn’t have to come down to [a holdout] and that we could get a deal done before camp.”

Marchand’s extension was framed primarily by the two-year, $5.75 million contract that Logan Couture signed with San Jose. Couture, one of three finalists for the Calder Trophy last year, scored 32 goals. Marchand scored 21 goals and 20 assists.

Brad Marchand still unsigned.

Bruins restricted free agent forward Brad Marchand who had an impressive run during Stanley Cup Playoff (25 games 11g-8a-19pts) is still unsigned and without a contract. Going forward I think the Bruins are going to need Marchand in the mix if they want to make another run towards the Stanley Cup. If you forgot how good Brand Marchand was during the Stanley Cup playoffs take a look at this highlight video.

BOLTON, Mass. -- The Bruins assembled at The International in Bolton for the annual Bruins Foundation Golf Tournament on Monday, and Brad Marchand was once again present with his teammates.

Marchand has been skating with the Bruins in their captain's practices, but the restricted free-agent forward remains without a new contract with veterans due to report to training camp on Friday.

The fact that Marchand remains involved in team functions gives reason for some optimism that a deal will be reached soon, but both sides remained relatively mum on the state of the negotiations.

"I'm not going to comment on that," Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said. "I can say that I love the way he plays and he's a very good player for us."

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