There is no way around this one. Once you say the hit, even though it lead to a goal, you knew it was bad. The Bruins gutted out a win versus a Flyer team that needed to win. The Bruins did this without David Krejci and Adam McQuaid, short handed they beat down the Flyers. Up 3-0 in the 2nd round, flying high, but I couldn’t be more upset.
The Bruins season was a total disaster, but everything started to change in the playoffs. Suddenly, two goal deficits weren’t insurmountable. Suddenly, the Bruins started playing Bruin Hockey. Miroslav Satan, who did ZERO in the regular season, re-found his game. Satan-Krejci-Lucic line was really clicking. The Bruins were starting to get the breaks that did not come during the regular season.
When Marco Sturm went down, I shrugged. No big deal. No offense (litteraly) to the scoreless Sturm, but he just wasn’t in the flow of the game, and hadn’t been for quite some time. It also allowed the Bruins to dress Shawn Thornton, who probably should have dressed over Sturm anyways. But loosing Krejci, I just can’t see how they can get past this. Sure, they should close out the Flyers, but next round just seems like too much. Sure I could see them beating Montreal, but Pittsburgh… no way. Krejci just did too much for this team. The cog in the hotest line, penatly kill, power play… he played it all. There is a reason the Bruins game Krejci the contract and not Kessel.
So what’s next? Well, there is no reason why they can’t win 1 of 4, so they should dispose of Philly. The logical choice is to put Savard on that line, but I don’t know if he can handle how many minutes the Bruins are going to be asking of him. Also, Savard and Krejci are completely different players, so there is no garauntee that the line clicks. You could give Sobotka the chance to shine, and I really like him, but I am not sure he is up to it. That would be asking a lot of a guy who has two assists so far in the playoffs. The Bruins could also re-shuffle the lines, but that opens up too many possibilities that I am not qualified to judge.
So, in the end, it’s going to take some sort of playoff miracle for the Bruins to drink from Lord Stanley’s Cup. It can happen, it’s just going to take something special. Regardless, this playoff run has made the season satisfying.
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I had been meaning to post this, but it wasn’t long enough and I couldn’t find enough stats to make it better. However, this short bit on Mark Recchi needs to be read and he must get his DAP.
In today’s a couple days ago Boston Globe, Kevin Paul Dupont had a nice piece on Mark Recchi. I had been thinking about writing something about one of the most underrated players in NHL history, but it mostly came down to the numbers. So, here is a little breakdown of Mark Recchi, by the numbers…..
1- Times that Mark Recchi lead the league in a points scoring category (66 assists in 99-00)
2- Times that Mark Recchi’s name is inscribed on the Stanley Cup (09-91, and 05-06)
8- Times that Mark Recchi lead his team in scoring
12- Number of people ahead of Mark Recchi on the NHL all time points list.
14- Times that Mark Recchi has been in the top three on his team in scoring.
16- Number of people ahead of Mark Recchi on the NHL all time assists list.
22- Number of people ahead of Mark Recchi on the NHL all time goals list.
Mark Recchi is a sure fire Hall of Famer. He is the highest scoring player from a draft that included; Mike Modano, Teemu Selanne, Jeremy Roenick, Rod Brind’Amour, Alexander Mogilny, Trevor Linden, Tony Amonte and Rob Blake. At 42 years old, he is still one of the most effective Bruins. Gotta love him.
