The B's are playing a tough, tough December schedule, and they have been snakebit. In December, they have 3 home games and 9 on the road, including 5 outside of the Eastern Time Zone. On top of that, Samsonov and Murray have missed games because of injury, they lose Nick Boynton early in the third game after the trade, and they were even without Brad Stuart (flu) yesterday. 7 points in 7 games since the trade. No one would be complaining about that if they had not been so bad before the trade.

Look at Joe's numbers before the trade and look at who he had on the team, and look at Joes numbers after the trade, I think he is the same player, just a few more points because of the talent around him.

I just can't see trading your franchise player to "shake up" the team, especially when he is the only Franchinse player you have. You trade for better players around him, you dump the coach you dump the shitty GM that had "the upper hand" in the draft / offseason and came out of it with shit.

You've already said this several times and have completely ignored the fact that the Sharks had FEWER points than the Bruins at the time the trade was made. If Joe's got talent around him now, it wasn't doing dick before the trade.

Joe's stepped up his game a notch since the trade, which is to his credit. It's to his detriment that he did not do so while in Boston.

Th. . . That's Blaine Lacher's music!!

The frustrating part of this season is that they aren't far from being a legitimate contending team...or at least they weren't. Ditto for 06-07 if they manage to get a brain or two in the front office and keep some of their key players heading to free agency.

Kevin P. Dupont, posting in HF forums, claims that any NHL team can send down anyone on a long term contract and be rid of their $ from the salary cap. The exception is the so-called "Shawn McEachern" clause that states any player that signed when he was over the age of 35 will have his cap # continue to count.

If true, no NHL team has salary cap woes that is willing to eat money. Interesting conundrum for the 34-year-old-when-he-signed pile of disappointment named Alex Zhamnov, eh? Would the Bs dare do such a thing and attempt to reverse their penny pinching image with studs like Zdeno Chara and Wade Redden potentially hitting the UFA market this summer?

you think its possible that the style of coaching or team "system" has something to do with Joe's better numbers with the Sharks? i think he's playing the same as he did before. if he really was going to step up his game we'd see him score a few more goals than he has since the trade.

Well it would seem according to some people the bruins have the toughest schedule in hockey, and everyone else has a cakewalk season. It's a professional f'ing hockey team, THEY should be looked at as a "tough" opponent shouldn't they? Pffth w/e.

It is a FACT that the Bruins have a tough schedule in December and an easy one in January. 7 points in 7 games including 5 on the West Coast, almost all against tough opponents is just not that bad. It only seems bad because of the way the team crapped the bed completely in November, when they had an easier schedule.

By the end of the month the Bruins will have played 24 of their 38 games on the road, including a several Long road trips. it has been a brutal schedule so far, particularly the December schedule

The next time you add something useful to this thread will be the first.

I think EJ (and now Big Mike) have been quite persuasive in showing that the Bruins have a pretty damn tough schedule this month, and the Sharks do not. The Bruins are having a bad season, no doubt about it. But it's OK to note the schedule while also holding MOC and Harry accountable for the poor season.

Agreed, it's getting fucking tiresome.

If they weren't in the bottom 5 in the league in home win % this wouldn't even be an issue... they really needed to step it up in the few chances they had at home. also scoring nearly 1 goal per game since the trade isn't going to make it any easier.

Well, that's the best game they've played all year tonight. Even better than the game against Ottawa, IMHO.

Great to get a home win. Great to beat a divisional rival again. Great to really have the game in control the whole night.

The key to me was killing off that 5-on-3 shorthanded situation. That seemed to give the team a boost and help carry them through the rest of the game.

I could get used to this winning thing. It's a nice feeling.

Zhamnov showed glimpses tonight of what he can provide. And Hannu, man when he's on he's terrific. Another great game from him tonight.

Back at 'em in Toronto tomorrow.

Hard to say, since Ottawa is a much better team than Toronto, but it was certainly an excellent team effort by the Bruins.

I was there to see it. The last game I saw was also Bruins/Leafs about a month ago. In that game, the Bruins lost 4-1, but it was a very different Bruin lineup. Kevin Dallman, Jiri Slegr, and Nick Boynton played in that game; tonight we had Brad Stuart, Brian Leetch, and David Tanabe.
Up front, Joe Thornton, Dave Scatchard, Shawn McEachern, and Colton Orr were replaced by Patrice Bergeron (out with the flu that night), Wayne Primeau, Marco Sturm and Dan LaCouture.

Brad Stuart is the guy who impressed me the most. He made Hal Gill look good (or at least, not bad)! Hal hasn't had it this easy since he was a rookie playing with Ray Bourque. Stuart has the tools to just effortlessly make plays that would have been awful for the Bruins. He's the best all around defenseman on the Bruins, and a much better player than Nick Boynton.

Brian Leetch had a great night, too, playing almost 27 minutes, picking up three assists (although I thought one of them should have gone to Murray), and flying all over the ice.

I also thought the rookie pair, Alberts and Jurcina, had a nice game.

Up front, the Bruins had a strong, 60 minute team effort. Once again, they hurt themselves by taking a lot of penalties, but their PK was very good, and they did not try to sit on their lead in the third.

Alexei Zhamnov, Wayne Primeau, and Brad Stuart each scored their first Bruin goals. Glen Murray played his best game in quite some time tonight, and he and Zhamnov were starting to get into rhythm.

It will be interesting to see how the Bruins do in Toronto tomorrow night!

Great effort by the B's tonight. Hannu had a terrific game tonight, and from my view on the balcony the only goal he gave up was an absolute snipe. Glove fully extended, the puck still squeezed past, right onto the post.

I was extremely impressed by our penalty kill throughout the game. It was extremely difficult for the Leafs to get anything set up at all, and the double minor kill was impressive as well.

And despite the even shots, Toronto didn't have the puck in their zone often. And when they did, they had a hard time making anything out of the swarming B's breaking up their plays. Great physical work in the neutral and offensive zone by the Bruins, their forechecking and cycling was very effective tonight. They certainly had a slew more of good opportunities than the Leafs, and that was no easy team. They dominated what I thought was going to be a very tough Leafs PP.

Definitely one of the best efforts tonight. Seems to me that the best efforts come when Hannu is on as well.

They took the body more tonight than they have all season. The forwards did a good job backchecking. They outhustled Toronto. All in all, a very good effort.

It's funny to read how much people liked last night's game. I was at the game and, honestly, the Garden was LIFELESS! The place looked to be about 35% vacant and there was no noise.

So, even though the Bruins got a W, I left halfway through the 3rd period because it was so boring.

They must have prompted the crowd to "Make Some Noise!!!" about 400 times last night.

Interesting fact for the Joe apolgists to mull over:

The Bruins have 9 points in 8 games since the trade. None of the teams they have played since the trade were below .500, and those 8 games included their 5 game West Coast swing. They have even done this in spite of losing Nick Boynton for all but 2 games, missing Murray for 3 games and Samsonob for a pair, and even not having Stuart once.

How many games before the trade did it take for the Bruins to pick up the same 9 points? 14 games. None of them on the West Coast, half of the games were at home, and they played (and beat) two below .500 clubs - two more than the bruins have faced since the deal.

There is no other conclusion but that they are a better team now.

Really? Up in the balcony it was packed pretty tight, down low there were some open spots, but less than usual B's or C's games I've seen. It was quiet for some stretches, but it got pretty loud at the right points. Maybe it seemed louder because it was the guys up high that were making all the noise. And the Make Some Noise sign only came up 3 or 4 times, all after some pretty big swings for the B's anyway. Seemed like a high-tempo Garden last night compared its usual quiet state.

Missing the last half of the 3rd was probably the problem though. The last half of the 3rd and the last minutes of the 2nd were the loudest.

It'll be a big test tonight against Belfour and the Leafs at their place. Any guesses to whether it's Hannu or Raycroft tonight?

Paper and NESN said it was a sellout

According to pregame Hannu is between the pipes again tonight.

Yeah, just heard this on WBZ as well. Good for him, he certainly deserves it. I think we'll be find, he was rested for about a week before last night.

This is a propos of nothing, but does anyone know if they sing the American anthem if two Canadian based teams are playing? Ive always wondered that but obviously never seen a game in Canada b/w two Canadian clubs. Couldn't think of where else to put this. Tangent over.

What a fucking shock. STUPID penalty by Tanabe and it cost the team. Probably costs them the game too, the way Belfour's been playing tonight. Great penalty-killing, jack-offs.

One step forward, 2 steps back.

That first penalty on Jurcina was such a poor call. I can see calling a hook on Jurcina there but Allison went down like he took a shotgun in the back. As Edwards pointed out, on a hook you should fall backwards, not go flying 4 feet in the air ahead of you.

This is unbelievable. 7 straight penalties on the B's and they add 2 minutes on Zhamnov for unsportsmanlike. I hate blaming the refs, but it seems a little ridiculous that one team has 7 consecutive PP opportunities including two 5 on 3's.

The last call on Zhamnov was horrible. Allison was diving all night but that was the worst of them all.

The Bruins consistently put themselves in a position to be penalized. Yeah, Allison was diving, but there's little doubt the slow-footed and/or lazy AZ had his stick in the midsection of any Leaf he was attempting to check tonight. After the penalty, to drop your stick and pout with less than 4 minutes to go in a 2-1 game is just ridiculous. Grow up Alexei. I'd love to see him watch from the pressbox after the holiday.

Or, enjoy the wonders of the Providence Place Mall with the P-Bs and spread his cap moneys elsewhere.

Boston Herald

That's actually the way I felt upon seeing Zhamnov get four. I hated him before, when he was simply a waste of a roster spot. Now, if all he can do is throw fits when things don't go his way at critical points in the game, he's a waste of oxygen. SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU TALENTLESS MANWHORE.

Sadly, though, this was the model of this team: it just doesn't matter. Who cares if we have a chance to be within 5 points before the holiday break? We're pissed because we're not getting the calls. Wanna hint on how to get those calls? Work for them. You hustle at every opportunity, you dive, skate, pass, shoot, and defend harder than anyone else, regardless of your ability to do any of those. Honestly, I feel sorry for guys like Leetch and Toivonen, who seem to be doing everything they can to keep this team on their shoulders while the rest of the team jump up and down, making the job that much harder. God, this team is so frustrating...

I didn't catch the game, but want to echo the recent Allison comments. In a Leafs game earlier this year, I explicitly remember him flopping on the ice with little/no physical contact to cause it. Was he really this much of a pussy when he played for Boston? Was I too partisan to realize it?

Of all the "major" sports, the NHL has the worst officiating. By far.

Wow - I had them written off. Sorry B's - great comeback. First time all year they looked alive after they got down.

Any Bruins fan that predicted a comeback after Ovechkin scored to make it 3-1 in the 3rd is lying. When this Bruins team goes down late, they roll over and die. Tonight, for once, they actually decided they weren't going to take it.

Hannu has certainly had better nights. The second goal was a definite softie, and worse, it was shorthanded, and only a minute after the Murray goal (how many times can we say that since the Trade?).

I'm not going to overplay the importance of this game. The Bruins won by pure percentages. 43-18 shot advantage? They should've won that game easily. However, the fact that they came back down 2 with a little more than 8 minutes left is something to hang their hat on, but only if they build on it from there.

Fun game to watch, and I certainly was not expecting anything after the Ovechkin goal (who, btw, will have a better career than Sidney Crosby). But, they turn it around and end up winning. I am liking the "Trade" more than ever right about now.

Not the first time - they beat Edmonton in OT after falling behind 3-0 and 4-3.

That was a nice comeback win. The Caps are a team the Bruins should beat, but I think goaltending kept this one a lot closer than it really was.

Thoughts:

1. Washington's SHG was a real soft goal, one that Toivonen needs to be able to stop. This was not one of his better games, but I will take the result. It was good to see them not give up.

2. Nice to see Murray and Zhamnov continuing to get untracked. I still haven't seen a strong, 60 minute effort from those two, but tonight they stepped it up when it mattered.

3. Brad Stuart is the best player on the Bruins. Even without the GWG, the guy is simply everywhere and does everything. He doesn't quite have Leetch's offensive flair, but he can skate, play at both ends of the rink, hit, and even make Hal Gill look good! He's the closet thing they have had to Bourque since Bourque.

4. Alberts and Jurcina had another good game. I like both of them. I'd still like to see their role increased a little bit and Gill's role reduced.

5. David Tanabe gets a lot of knocks, but I think he is a great leader by example. The Bruins finally have some guys who go all out, all the time, and Tanabe belongs on that list. He was the first guy in the face of the Cap who tripped Toivonen.

6. The Bruins have only 3 power play goals since the Thornton trade. One of them was scored by Patrice Bergeron playing forward. The Bruins need to stop using him on the PP point and get him back up front where he belongs. I would give Jurcina a shot at some PP point time. He seems to have a nice low shot which he gets on net.

7. I liked seeing Leahy back. Green/Leahy/Lacouture did a good job as 4th line.

Good points all around, EJ, except that I don't like Jurcina on the PP. His shot is almost never on net (he sailed a few well wide against Toronto). I do agree that Bergeron should be a forward on the PP and that these should be the PP units:

PP 1:
LW: Samsonov
C: Zhamnov (getting better each game)
RW: Murray
LD: Leetch
RD: Stuart

PP 2:
LW: Sturm
C: Bergeron
RW: Boyes
LD: Slegr
RD: Tanabe/Axelsson

100% agreed on Stuart as well. He's a better player than Gonchar or Leetch (at this point), and he's definitely the best defenseman the B's have had since Bourque.

I did not get to see the game tonight, but I'll say this: if it's fair to say that the Bruins are a desparate enough hockey team that there can be no moral victories in games where they play hard but lose, then to me there can't be any moral defeats where they play sloppy but win. A win is a win and they needed the 2 points badly. The fact that they were able to get them on a night when they were not at their best and had to make a comeback is just fine by me.

I don't want Slegr in uniform, so I don't consider him an option on the PP. Out of Jurcina, Gill, Alberts and the forwards, I'd say Milan is the best option.

Wow, I thought Ovechkin's goal sealed it...nice play from the B's.

Nice comeback win. I doubt it'll be a momentum-shifting thing, despite what the OLN guys said, simply because inconsistency has been this team's hallmark since the first faceoff of the season. But it's nice to hope.

They are a different (better) team since The Trade, though.

Is this finally the night that Sullivan turns the permanent #1 goalie slot to Hannu Toivonen? Granted the D hasn't been great in front of Raycroft, but this is nuts.

Yikes still watching teh BC game. 6 goals in 10 minutes so far in the B's game. Wow

Three assists for Brad Stuart!

3 GA by Raycroft in the 1st?

He'll be in Providence before he is traded at this point.

No idea if he had a chance at any of the 3. I flipped over on a BC comercial break and it was said al 3 goals were odd man rushes

I did see the highlights of the second goal, and Raycroft had absolutely no chance on that one

I'm not watching, but I am seeing a 12 save, 5 GAA effort from Raycroft on Yahoo's boxscore. Be my eyes - is he stinking up the joint?

Bruins defense has been porous, and Raycroft hasn't been a whole lot better.

I didn't see the last of the Florida goals, however the first three were odd man rushes. The two by Jokinen were ones he probably should have stopped. Just a poor performance with little confidence. Maybe a stint playing regularly in Providence isn't a bad thing for Raycroft at this point.

5-4 now! Boyes with his second of the night, from Isbister and Bergeron.