Komisarek and Lucic.

You would think after a while that Michael Komisarek would get tired of getting his ass kicked by Milan Lucic. Since Komisarek is done for the season I don't expect him to get a suspension for breaking a stick over Lucic's face.

Was Kessel offsides?

Phil Kessel scored his fourth goal of the series as the Boston Bruins buried the Montreal Canadians finishing the sweep. This is the first time since 1998-1999 season that the Bruins have advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So it was nice after 10 years to see the Habs get closed out in (4) four games.

It appears that on the third Bruin goal Phil Kessel was offsides when he crossed the blue line. Seriously, it wouldn't have mattered because after the Habs scored the first goal the Bruins scored four unanswered goals.

Bruins put Habs on the brink.

Nothing would be more pleasing to me than to see the Boston Bruins beat/eliminate the Montreal Canadiens in their 100th year of existence. For the Boston Bruins Phil Kessel remains hot against the Habs as he got his third goal of the series and his seventh goal in 5 games against the Hab's. Actually make that ten point in his last five games against Les Habs.

Now it's a matter of how many games it takes the Bruins to close out the Habs. This season the Bruins have owned the Hab's going 8-0-1 losing one game in a shootout.

Lucic sentence one game.

Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic has been suspended for one game by the NHL for his cross check on Hab's hack/punk Maxim Lapierre.

NHL: Lucic suspended for 1 game
Posted by Gary Dzen ---- Boston.com
Milan Lucic has been suspended for one game for the match penalty he received in a 5-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens Saturday night. Lucic will miss Game 3 against the Canadiens Monday at the Bell Centre.

Lucic received the penalty in Game 2 after he checked Maxim Lapierre in the head with his stick in front of Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak with 4:32 remaining in Game 2.

"While it is unclear whether Lucic's glove or stick makes contact with Lapierre, what is clear is that he delivered a reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent," said NHL senior executive vice president of hockey operations Colin Campbell in a statement.

Byron Bitz, a healthy scratch in Games 1 and 2, will be in the lineup for Game 3. Bitz will most likely skate with Shawn Thornton and Stephane Yelle on the fourth line. Blake Wheeler, who was on the fourth line for the first two games, should take Lucic's spot on the third line.

Milan Lucic to the principals office.

TSN is reporting that Milan Lucic is being sent to Colin Campbell's office for a hearing for his cross check to the chops on Lapierre's with 4:00 + minutes left in the game. Maybe while the Bruins are at the league office they should show some of the game film of Hab's hack Mike Komisarek and how he is trying to gouge the Bruins player's eyes out. While the cross check may or may not warrant a suspension (it probably does) Komisarek is going to blind someone or hurt their eyes with his bush league face scrapes. I thought it was only the Gophers players that did these bush league moves. (tongue in cheek)

TSN ---- Sources say Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic will have a disciplinary hearing with NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell today.

The exact time of the hearing hasn't been set.

Lucic received a minor and match penalty for crosschecking Montreal's Maxim Lapierre in the neck and head late in the third period of Boston's 5-1 win over the Canadiens.

Following Game 2, the Bruins, hoping to avoid losing one of their stars to suspension, submitted a video clip to Campbell they believe shows Lucic's gloved hand striking Lapierre's neck and head before his stick.

It will be up to Campbell to decide whether all of the factors, including the time of the game, score and Lucic's reaction to Lapierre, who approached the Boston forward in defense of Montreal's Mathieu Schneider add up to a suspension.

Bruins go up 2-0 on the Habs. (Lucic suspension coming)

Nothing pleases me more than watching the Habs go down to defeat against the Bruins.
It has been a long time since the Big Bad Bruins have played this well or this physical. This years team is big, fast and agressive and when they play their game they are very hard to beat.

Lucic to be suspended? It would appear that a suspension is coming for Milan Lucic.

While the Bruins hold all the momentum now that they are up 2-0 in the series, they likely will be without sparkplug Milan Lucic for Game 3, if not longer, for a third period incident in which Lucic cross-checked Montreal’s Maxim Lapierre in the face. Lucic received a two-minute cross checking minor and match penalty on the play.

“(The match penalty) means he is automatically suspended, pending a review,”league disciplinarian Colin Campbell said in an email to Sun Media after the game.

Lapierre shrugged his shoulders when asked about the incident.

“It’s not my business to say if there will be one or not,” Lapierre said, sporting a gash on the bridge of his nose where the stick of Lucic made contact. “In the playoffs, you give some, you get some ... This time I got mine.

“He tried to cross check (Mathieu Schneider). We needed to show them that we have plenty of team unity.”

Lucic was not made available to the media after the game.

So does Lucic get suspended?

This happened at the end of the game and you have to wonder if Lucic will get suspended for a game by the NHL for his vicious high cross check on Maxim Lapierre. Not that Lapierre didn't deserve it, because he did I am hoping the league doesn't suspend Lucic based on the fact that Lapierre came flying at Lucic.

The Montreal Canadians are getting their asses handed to them by the Bruins and their frustration is starting to show and the lack of class by the Canadians as well. Mike Komisarek is also begging for a beat down and his bush league face washes and it has become tiresome and one of the Bruins need to answer the bell.

Josh Gorges vs Patrice Bergeron

This series has been nasty. Patrice Bergeron is not known for his fighting skills knocks the crap out of Josh Gorges. That is the second time in less than two weeks that Gorges has had the snot knocked out of him by a Boston Bruins. Shane Hnidy also had his way with him as well.

Yep Mike Komisarek is still a hack.

I am going to say this is one of the dirtier things that I have seen in some time. Check it out; this is at the end of the game time clock at 0:00 and watch where Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick gets his eye gouged by his a fellow former Wolverine Mike Komisarek. This is why Bruins fans hate Mike Komisarek and he is public enemy number one in Boston. This should make for an exciting game two tomorrow night.

Habs want to play the Bruins.

Check this quote posted below. This should be up in the Bruins locker room either written on the black board or posted on the bulletin board. It would be interesting to see who this unnamed player was. Funny that they would say this to a former Bruin's players as well.

Interestingly enough, former Bruins scrapper P.J. Stock works as a TV analyst for CBC’s “Hockey Night in Canada” and said prior to Saturday night’s Canadiens game that an unnamed Habs player told Stock that the Canadiens preferred to play the B’s rather than face Alexander Ovechkin and the second-seeded Washington Capitals. According to Stock, the Canadiens believe that they can do damage against Boston’s second and third D pairings. That doesn’t exactly scream out the sort of cliched athlete-speak you normally hear from hockey teams prior to a playoff series. Let the war of words — and gloved fists — begin.

Here is why this unamed Hab's logic is flawed. 1.) The Habs have not beat the Bruins in regulation this season. 2.) The Bruins defense has played well against the Habs. The Canadians have scored something like a whopping 12 goals in 6 games that isn't very good. 3.) The Bruins aren't starved for offense as they have seven players with 20 goals or more.

More of the Avery and Thomas incident.

This what Tim Thomas had to say about Sean "Sloppy Seconds" Avery smacking Tim Thomas to the back of his head with his Hockey stick as Thomas was stretching during a TV timeout. What part of that is socially unacceptable does Avery not understand?

"You look up and see who it is," recalled Thomas, "and you're like, 'You've got to be kidding me.' So it was just reflex."
---------snip-----------
Thomas decided to answer this one for himself. "There are some lines that can't be crossed," said Thomas, who graciously gave Avery credit for his gritty, and usually fair, play around the net during the times when there weren't TV timeouts. "He has a hard time figuring out what the lines are."

This is what the Rangers coach John Tortorella had to say about Tim Thomas after took matter into his own hands. Just for the record John I can't believe you think Thomas deserved an extra penalty, the reason he was the aggressor was that he was just whacked a goalie in a vulnerable position in the back of the head by one of your head cases Sean Avery.

Tortorella took issue after the game with the fact that the referees didn't come down harder on Thomas for jumping Avery. During the game's final TV timeout, Thomas had taken a knee between the circles when Avery skated by and raked the back of his head with his stick. Thomas chased after him, pushed him from behind and touched off a melee that ended up with matching minors for Avery (unsportsmanlike conduct) and Thomas (roughing).

"There has to be an extra one given to Thomas," Tortorella said, calling him "the aggressor" on the play, even though Avery - who dodged reporters after the game - could just as easily have put the Rangers shorthanded when they couldn't afford it.

Tim Thomas gets paid.

Former Vermont Catamount and current Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas signed a contract extension for 4 years and 20 million dollars. Just for comparision sake here is what some of the other goalies will be making next season. Bruins goalie Tim Thomas will be making 6 million next season the same amount as Niklas Backstrom. Also, you have to wonder if Thomas is probably the odds on favorite to be the man between the pipes in next year's Olympics.

Henrik Lundqvist ($6.875 million)
Roberto Luongo ($6.75 million)
Ryan Miller ($6.25 million)
Jean-Sebastien Giguere ($6 million)
Niklas Backstrom ($6 million)
Miikka Kiprusoff ($5.833 million)
Marty Turco ($5.7 million)
Tomas Vokoun ($5.7 million)
Cristobal Huet ($5.625 million)
Evgeni Nabokov ($5.375 million)
Martin Brodeur ($5.2 million)
Marc-Andre Fleury ($5 million)

(Source Bruin's Blog)

Kessel still out.

Bruins fans will be disappointed to know that Phil Kessel is still out of the Bruins line up with the dreaded undisclosed injury. Sounds like a shoulder injury. According to the Boston Globe hockey blogger it appears to be a shoulder injury.

Kessel out again
Phil Kessel will miss his third consecutive game with an undisclosed injury tonight when the Bruins take on the Lightning at TD Banknorth Garden. Coach Claude Julien said Kessel is expected to resume practicing later in the week and get back in the lineup next week. It is suspected that it’s a shoulder injury that’s keeping Kessel sidelined, but Julien wasn’t even giving up the vicinity of the injury.

“It’s our job to protect guys,” said Julien with a grin, “and it’s your job to expose them.”…. Manny Fernandez was the first goalie off the ice at the morning skate, indicating he’ll play again tonight. Julien has said that he’s going to at least try to get Fernandez on track.

The GM's at the trade dead line.

Today I was listening to Puck Daddy Greg Wyshynski on XM-204 and he rated the NHL general managers at the trade dead line. I think Wyshynski's grade on Boston is is spot on. My next question is; anyone notice how the Bruins have done since the former General Manager Harry Sinden left the Bruins in 2006? The Bruins have gotten drastically better and have drafted well and have a stable full of good young players. Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli is doing a bang up job getting the Bruins back into the hunt for a Stanley cup championship.

Boston Bruins: Acquired F Mark Recchi and a 2010 second-round pick from Tampa for D Matt Lashoff and F Martins Karsums; Traded F Petteri Nokelainen to Anaheim for D Steve Montador.

After swinging for the fences with Marian Hossa last year (and missing the ball), GM Peter Chiarelli managed like a man with a first-place team yesterday. Recchi's career resurgence now gives him a chance for a Cup, and there's no way that isn't going to energize him even more. Montador is another player already having an outstanding season, and a rather perfect fit for what the Boston blue line needed. Boston sniffed around some high-end deals (like one for Keith Tkachuk), but were unwilling to move a major asset like Phil Kessel. Maybe Lashoff becomes a top-pairing defenseman, and maybe Nokelainen finds his game with the Ducks; it won't matter if Recchi and Montador win a Cup for Beantown. GRADE: A-.

Now! Compare and contrast the two organizations. The Boston Bruins are in the playoffs will probably get the number one seed in the east unless they really fall apart. They also added more high end talent at the dead line for the playoff run. The Boston organization had players in their organization they could use to bargain with and make trades if they need to. Minnesota on the other hand is in a state of disarray. They are barely alive for the eighth and final playoff spot. I don't see a way the Minnesota Wild can manage to make the playoffs this season.

Minnesota also has nothing as far as prospects in their minor league system they can offer to other teams. Minnesota is team made of third liners and has a shortage of talent that can score goals and make plays. Yet they want to hold on to players like James Sheppard who show no sign of ever scoring goals this season or even in this life time. Like Archie said in a previous blog post that Doug Risebrough as managed to screw up two teams in a matter of a decade and smugly sat by and did nothing to better his team. Doug Risebrough should have gotten an F- and for his efforts should be shown the door.

The thing that is also a major head scratcher is that there are no players on the Wild roster that have been division one college hockey players. I want to know how Doug Risebrough can reside in a state with five division one hockey teams and not end up with one player that isn't a former college hockey player. You also have Wisconsin and North Dakota in neighboring states. Boston on the other hand has a roster stuff with former college players; Tim Thomas (Vermont), Phil Kessel and Blake Wheeler (Minnesota), Mark Stuart (Colorado College), Byron Bitz (Cornell), Matt Hunwick and Aaron Ward (Michigan), Chuck Kobasew (Boston College).

Minnesota Wild: Nada. While the team did ink goalie Niklas Backstrom to an extension before the deadline, it did jack and squat otherwise. Pending UFAs Marc-Andre Bergeron and Martin Skoula didn't move. The asking price for Marian Gaborik was too high, so he becomes a de facto deadline move when he rejoins the Wild lineup soon. While he deserves credit for not overpaying for, say, Olli Jokinen, General Manager Doug Risebrough was taken apart by The State of Hockey for his inactivity at the deadline. GRADE: C-.

Bitz makes it big for the Bruins.

Former Cornell Big Red player Byron Bitz is getting his shot with the Boston Bruins and making the best of his opportunity. While staking on the fourth line Bitz has (3g-2a-5pts) in 20 games. As a Bruins fan that watches just about every Bruin's game I have to say that I have been impressed with Bitz so far. (goal 1) (goal 2)

BOSTON (AP)- It wasn't the first time Byron Bitz had a big crowd chanting his name. It had been a while, though.

The rookie fourth-liner scored his second and third NHL goals Tuesday night, leading the struggling Bruins to a 6-1 win over the Florida Panthers in the opener of Boston's six-game homestand.

Bitz's performance had the fans buzzing, just like he used to in his days at Cornell.

"Couple times in college - but 20,000 people's different than 4,000, so it was pretty cool," he said.

Bitz, playing in his 20th game since being recalled from Providence, Jan. 10, scored once in the second period and again in the third as the Bruins won for only the second time in their last eight games.

His second goals made it 4-1 and Aaron Ward and Michael Ryder followed with goals to break the game open. That got the home crowd chanting for Bitz to finish off the hat trick.

He didn't do it, even with a bit of late power play time.

"It would have been nice if it worked out but it?s not that big a deal," he said.

Bad News for Blake Wheeler and David Krejci's line mate.

The Boston Bruins forward Michael Ryder had surgery today. Lets hope he isn't out of the line up very long. Ryder has been playing on a line with David Krejci and Blake Wheeler.

BOSTON—- Boston Bruins center Michael Ryder, signed as a free agent during the offseason to add scoring punch, underwent surgery for a broken facial bone.

The team said the 28-year-old Ryder had surgery Monday for the injury suffered in a game at Ottawa on Feb. 5.

Ryder, who played for the Canadiens the previous four seasons, missed Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Flyers, when coach Claude Julien said he would be out "indefinitely" and that further tests would be conducted Monday.

Ryder has 19 goals and 17 assists this season.

Tim Thomas with the save of the year.

Ok, so I am biased I am a Boston Bruins fan but this is my nomination for the save of the year in the NHL. Check out this sick save by former Vermont Catamount Tim Thomas.

Injuries pile up in Boston. (Kessel out)

Boston got some bad news as their star forward Phil Kessel has mono. Lets hope that Phil won't be out too long. The Northeast division leading Bruins are starting to rack up the injuries --- Patrice Bergeron concussion, Manny Fernandez wrist, Milian Lucic upper body injury, Andrew Ference broken leg, Aaron Ward unknown.

Boston, MA (Sports Network) - The Boston Bruins placed forward Phil Kessel on injured reserve Monday, as the emerging young star is battling mononucleosis.

Kessel had played in all 42 of Boston's games this season, posting a team-best 24 goals with 17 assists for the top club in the Eastern Conference

More bad news Marco Strum is out for the year after surgury on his knee.

Boston, MA (Sports Network) - Boston Bruins forward Marco Sturm underwent successful surgery Tuesday to repair the meniscus and ACL in his left knee.

Sturm will miss the remainder of the season after recording 13 points in 19 games this season for the Eastern Conference-leading Bruins. Sturm led the team last season with 27 goals.

In 11 seasons with the Sharks and Bruins, Sturm has 212 goals and 429 points, eclipsing the 20-goal mark in each of the previous six years.

Bucky Gleason dead wrong on the Bruins.

This is what NHL beat reporter Bucky Gleason had to say about the Boston Bruins at the beginning of this season. This guy's predictions couldn't have been further from the truth. In fact looking at the Northeast Division the current order of the teams is: Boston 60 points, Montreal 48 points, Buffalo 39 points, Toronto 36 points and Ottawa 31 points. The Bruins are tearing through the first half of the season and are the best team in the east nine points ahead of the Capitals.

Prediction: I wouldn't be surprised if the Bruins won the Stanley Cup this season.

Bucky Gleason's Bruins Season Prediction:
Offense:Marc Savard, right, and Marco Sturm were the only forwards who had 40 or more points last season. Patrice Bergeron should be back
after suffering a serious concussion. Michael Ryder had 31 points for Montreal but spent most of his time in the doghouse. Rating: 1.9

Defense: Zdeno Chara, left, was in contention for the Norris
Trophy, presented annually to the best defenseman named
Nicklas Lidstrom. Ex-Sabres prospect Dennis Wideman has
evolved into a very good player. The others are average
(Shane Hnidy, Aaron Ward), shaky (Andrew Ference) or coming
off injuries (Andrew Alberts). Rating: 2.4

Goaltending: Tim Thomas is coming off a career year with a
28-19-6 record, a 2.44 GAA and a .921 save percentage. The Bruins
would have missed the playoffs without him, but can he do it
again? Rating: 3.0

Intangibles: Bergeron will be a major asset, assuming he’s the
same player he was before the concussion. Coach Claude Julien
needs to address a penalty-killing unit that was dreadful last
season. Rating: 2.4

Outlook: The Bruins slipped into the postseason last year
with a late surge, but they don’t have the depth to return.

BRUINS 4 CANES 2

I was watching this game as I listened to the Sioux and MSU game. I just wonder where the heck did this Blake Wheeler come from the guy is on fire and had two goals tonight to pace the Bruins to their seventh straight win (Wheeler goal 1) (Wheeler goal 2).

Having Watched Blake play for three season with the Minnesota Gophers I have to say that I am shocked at Blake Wheeler's play so far. I was ready to classify him as bust. I even thought Wheeler was a soft player that was going no where in the NHL and couldn't understand why the Phoenix Coyotes has picked him fifth over all in the NHL draft? When Blake turned down the Coyotes to sign an possibly play for the Boston Bruins I thought the B's were high. What the heck were they doing? When Wheeler made the Bruins out of camp I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Now I can hear Wheeler saying, "how do you like me now"?