The Bruins are Back!

Their marketing slogan for the 2009-10 season was "Big and Bad are Back" in reference to the "Big Bad Bruins" teams of the 70s and 80s, but for stretches of the season, all the Bruins resembled was the bad part. That all changed following a disappointing loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in which Boston failed to find the back of the net or stand up for a fallen teammate, two things that the Bruins teams of old were known for. Since that game, the team finished out the regular season playing a much tougher more inspired brand of hockey, even without key players like Marc Savard, Dennis Seidenburg, and Mark Stuart. The Bruins took this new energy and physicality into the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against their division rival Buffalo Sabres.

It was not easy, and it certainly was not pretty, but that has never been the Bruin way. The Bruins represent a city and a fan base that takes pride in toughing it out and embraces being the underdog. These are the same people who dutifully stood by the Red Sox for eighty-six long years between championships. Ever since standing their ground at Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill, the people of Massachusetts have been defined by their resilience and two-hundred something blizzard filled winters have not kept them from leaving. Just as Bostonians kept coming back to the Sox and Patriots after years of disappointment, they stood by the Bruins in the good times of Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, and Johnny Bucyk, the bad times of Joe Thornton, P.J. Stock, and Andrew Raycroft, and the present times, sometimes brilliant, sometimes pathetic, of Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and Tuuka Rask. There were times this season where I was frustrated and mad at the team, but sticking with them makes it all the more rewarding when they do play well. This is something fair weather fans will never realize.

It was not until Game 6, the series clinching game, that the Bruins were the first team to score. Buffalo scored first in each of the first five games, but the Bruins kept rallying back. Prior to game six, Boston had the lead for nineteen minutes of the entire series, scoring winning goals in the third period in Games 2 and 3 and winning in sudden death overtime in Game 4. Defense and the phenomenal play of rookie goalie Tuuka Rask kept them in the series.

The defining moment for the series, I believe, was Johnny Boychuk's hit on Matt Ellis in Game 3. Boychuk leveled Ellis on a clean open ice hit that brought the crowd at the TD Garden to their feet. It is not often in hockey that something other than a goal or a fight gets a crowd that excited, but that was one of them. That hit defined the way the Bruins would play throughout the series.

The Bruins kicked it into high gear for this series and everyone on the roster made contributions in the series against Buffalo. Dennis Wideman and Matt Hunwick, two defensemen who had been playing poorly most of the year, had significantly stepped up their game once the regular season ended. Wideman, the Boston media's whipping boy throughout the season, played very well when the Bruins were behind in games and helped them get back in. A moth ago, I would have been shocked if someone told me that Claude Julien would put Wideman and Hunwick on the ice at the same time in the playoffs, but I would have been even more shocked if someone told me they were playing really well together in the playoffs.

Another player who deserves recognition is Mark Recchi. In this series, Recchi became the third oldest player in history to score in the playoffs at the age of 42. Recchi also made a great hit followed by a pass to a wide open Patrice Bergeron to set up a key goal. He has been playing as well as anybody in the NHL in his advanced years.

Things only seem to be looking up for the Bruins in the future. In the upcoming draft, Boston will be able to select either Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin with the second overall pick. Both players have superstar potential, but I am willing to bet they both would rather play for a playoff team right out of the gate like Boston instead of the Edmonton Oilers, who had the league's worst record this season.

In the next round, the B's will play either the Pittsburgh Penguins in a rematch of the infamous game where Matt Cooke took out Marc Savard, or the Philadelphia Flyers in a rematch of this year's Winter Classic. Savard might be ready to play by then, and I hope to see that he gets his personal retribution against Cooke if they play the Penguins. The next series will be tough, but the Bruins are a team that expects it to be tough and they will hopefully play the same brand of hockey they used to defeat the Sabres.

The Final Push

With an underwhelming and bizarre regular season almost over, the Boston Bruins can clinch a playoff berth today with a win over the Carolina Hurricanes this afternoon. Thus far, the Bruins season has been disappointing to say the least, but if they make the tournament, anything can happen. This is true in hockey more than any other sport.

The Bruins have had chances to prove themselves time and time again this seasons. They had countless opportunities to win over their passionate, but championship hungry fan base. For months now, people in Mass. media have been calling out Peter Chiarelli for building this offensively challenged team. People have criticized Claude Julien for using injuries as an excuse for the teams struggles and not lighting the fire and anger that defined the Bruins franchise for decades. For most of the season, Dennis Wideman has been the scapegoat for all of the Bruins on-ice issues. All of this can be forgiven if the Bruins revert back to the Big Bad Bruin way in the playoffs. If they show some toughness and show the Causeway Crowd that they will not go down without a fight, there will be anticipation and optimism heading into next season.

The Bruins have been playing better recently. Ever since the humiliating loss to Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, the Bruins have turned it around. In the Pittsburgh game, all the hype was about the Bruins getting payback for Matt Cooke's cheap shot on Marc Savard. Savard's teammates did not fight for him in the game he got hurt, and the effort on the ice in the next game was nothing to be proud of either. With the exception of Shawn Thornton's beat down of Cooke two minutes into the game, the Bruins seemed lifeless on the ice next to the high powered Penguins team. Since that game, however, the Bruins have been playing a much more inspiring brand of hockey. They still have difficulty scoring. Marco Sturm is the only 20 goal scorer on the team, and Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci are the only players with 50 points or more. On the other hand, the Bruins play very good defense as a team. Anchored by rookie goaltender Tuuka Rask, the Bruins have allowed only 195 goals all season. The New Jersey Devils are the only team that has allowed fewer this season. If you think about it, it is pretty impressive that the team that scored the fewest goals in the NHL this year has a shot at the playoffs. The Bruins defense is underrated and has not gotten the credit it deserves this year.

Having said that, the Bruins defense is currently plagued with injuries. Mark Stuart, Andrew Ference, and Dennis Seidenburg are all out, possibly for the entire playoffs. This means that players like Matt Hunwick and Dennis Wideman really need to step it up if they Bruins want to make any noise this post-season. Wideman has been playing better lately. he scored a goal in the Buffalo game a few nights ago and he has been playing solid defense for a few weeks now.

The Bruins also need to find a way to score more early and often to have any success. In the playoffs they will face Washington, New Jersey, Pittsburgh, or Buffalo at some point. The Washington Capitals have a very prolific offense that can intimidate people, but their biggest weakness is their goal tending. The Caps expressed an interest in acquiring Tim Thomas from Boston earlier in the year so they could have a more stable net. Historically, teams that have dominant goalies have made runs in the playoff and sometimes get further than they were supposed to. The other three teams that the Bruins might play have superior goalies to Washington: Martin Brodeur for the New Jersey Devils, Ryan Miller for the Buffalo Sabres, and Marc-Andre Fleury for the Pittsburgh Penguins. All three of those teams are teams the Bruins are capable of skating with and being competitive with.

The main concern I have for the Bruins this year has been leadership. I know Zdeno Chara is the captain and he is the defending Norris Trophy winner, but he does not seem to be the angry vocal leader that an NHL locker room needs. Somebody needs to step up and really take on the role of pumping up the team and motivating them. I do not know it that player is Bergeron, or Mark Stuart, or Tuuka, or veteran winger Mark Recchi, or enforcer Shawn Thornton, but somebody has to do it. Claude Julien does not seem to be the fiery motivator in the locker room. Julien is a good Xs and Os guy but there should be a player who inspires this team to play to their fullest potential. They might not be able to win a series against Buffalo, or Pittsburgh, or Jersey, or Washington, but they need to at least show us that they can hit hard, and make those teams earn every point they score. The slogan going into the season was "Big and Bad Are Back", so they need to prove that this is true.

If the Bruins can gain some momentum from a strong showing this year, next year should be a huge bounce back season. Thanks to the dismal play of the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Bruins have a 67% chance of getting either the #1 or 2 pick in the draft. Chiarelli has been criticized for the signings he made, but I still think this was a great move. Phil Kessel is a great scorer but clearly did not want to be in Boston. It is good that they have a chance to really improve the team for the long run with this draft because they need another scoring force. Kessel can stay in Toronto. The Bruins will be better off without him.

Whatever happens in the next few weeks, the Bruins will still be my favorite team. I can only hope that they get better and that they play tougher hockey, but only time will tell. Just last year, they were the class of the Eastern Conference. I hope they get there again. It is too bad that they declined in play this year when we were supposed to be celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1970 Stanley Cup winning team. Hopefully by next year, the Big Bad Bruins will make their return.