Blog.WBRU

The Boston Bruins found themselves shocked in front of a full house of 17,565 when the Buffalo Sabres snapped the Bruins’ winning records with a 4-2 win at TD Banknorth. The Bruins entered the game riding a 10 game win streak and 14 game home winning streak. The black third jerseys…new intro pump-up video…”Lets Go Bruins!” chant from crowd to start the game…the game started with electricity and energy. However, the Bruins quickly found themselves in a hole falling two goals down.

The game consisted of a vicissitude of cheers and crowd enthusiasm. Phil Kessel’s Powerplay Goal from Savard gave them momentum but was lost immediately to a Stephen Yelle penalty. Milan Lucic provided his usual physical presence with 7 hits but it was not enough to rally his team to score. The Bruins had plenty of scoring chances but could not find the back of the net. Players after commented that the “bounces did not go their way”.

• First time Tim Thomas wore black third jersey…first loss in black third jersey.
• Dennis Wideman played 32:32 minutes. Career high.
• Aaron Ward did not return for the second period. He was missing due to a “charlie horse”.

GAME HIGHLIGHT: In 12th minute of 1st period, Ward placed a hit along the Bruins defensive end boards. A boy with his faced pressed against the glass was launched back and returned to his father holding his head. Unlike Ward, he returned in the second period.

Despite the loss, the Bruins are still on top of the NHL. Their next game comes on Tuesday versus the Minnesota Wild.

-Kit

After the Boston Celtics dispatched the New York Knicks 124-105 tonight, and the Boston Bruins downed the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Saturday afternoon, the two teams did more than just solidify their standing atop their respective conferences. They ensured that nobody going to the TD Banknorth Garden to cheer on the home team has gone home dissatisfied for over a month.

The Bruins, winners of 22 of their past 26 games, last lost in Boston on October 23rd against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They continue their five-game roadtrip Tuesday night and do not return home to play again until January 1st against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Celtics are no slouches either. They haven’t lost at the Garden since November 14 (85-94 to the Denver Nuggets), and are currently riding an 18-game win streak to tie the best start in NBA history at 26-2. They face the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday night before embarking on a four-game west coast journey of their own, returning to Beantown to face the Washington Wizards on January 2nd.

If the Celtics win Tuesday night, the Garden home win streak will be secure through the end of 2008. There’s no official statistic on the longest combined home win streak for NBA and NHL teams that share a venue, but this is pretty good. Oh yeah, the two teams have lost a total of two games at home this season.

Must be those five dollar hotdogs.

-BS

The Boston Bruins beat the Thrashers, 4-2, tonight at the Garden after beating them last night down in Atlanta. Michael Ryder found the back of the net twice, David Krejci had 3 assists, and Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist.

• [Kessel Streaking] With the first goal of the game off his own rebound, Kessel extended his point streak to a league-leading and career-best 15 games. After the game, coach Claude Julien called him, “a threat every night.”
   
• [Papa Fights] Late in the second period, Boris Valabik started getting chippy and pushing Phil Kessel behind the net. Right before it looked like it might escalate, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara stepped in for his 21-year-old teammate. Chara grabbed Valabik by the neck of his jersey and pounded on him for a fight decisively in Chara’s favor. He received 17 penalty minutes for his actions, but Julien called Chara’s decision, “the right thing to do” and “for the right reasons.” Goalie Manny Fernandez talked about how Chara is like the father of the team and Kessel is really important to them. Big Z proved exactly why he’s got the big C on the front on his jersey.
   
• [Quick Starts] The Bruins went up 4-0 after 12 minutes on Friday against Atlanta and tonight they also got off to a fast start, going up 2-0 after 14 minutes.
   
• [Sell Out With Me, Oh Yeah] The Bruins are now 11-0-0 in their last 11 home games. Tonight was also a sellout, their 5th of the season.
   
• [Goalie Goalie] Goalie Manny Fernandez picked up his 9th win. He and Tim Thomas have now alternated the past 6 games. How good are they? They are both in the top 5 of the NHL in goals against average. According to Julien, who commented on the general strategy of switching between the two, “right now it’s working well for us.” He went on to say, “if one guy gets so hot that he’s just going to take the ball and run with it, and the other guy’s just average, I’m going to play the one guy more than the other.” That, by the way, happened when Thomas got really hot for a stretch. Further, Julien commented on whether this strategy will help the team late in the season. “There’s no doubt that we’ll have fresher goaltenders by the end of the year.”

Sometimes statistics are misleading. For instance, if I told you that the Detroit Red Wings outshot the Boston Bruins more than 2-1 in the first period tonight, you probably would think the Bs weren’t doing so hot. But despite letting Detroit get plenty of time around their net, Boston was up 2-0 after 20 minutes. In fact, 40 minutes later, after being outshot 30-19, the Bruins had secured a convincing 4-1 victory over the reigning Stanley Cup Champions.

Sometimes they aren’t. Take for instance the 41:14 goals scored to goals allowed by the Bruins in all of their home games this November. What do you know? They’re 8-0 at home during the month, a streak that now puts them in a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with the NY Rangers.

And what more fitting way for Boston to cap off its impressive streak than by cheering for a guy named Manny. With Tim Thomas out once again due to illness, Manny Fernandez got his second consecutive start in the net and made it count, saving 29 of Detroit’s attempted strikes. And he didn’t even fake a knee injury.

But despite the Bruins success, you have to feel for the city of Detroit. This past week, the Redwings are 1-3, the Lions reached 0-12, and their auto manufacturers continue to fall further into the toilet. Okay, so maybe you don’t have to feel for them, but the city isn’t exactly hitting its peak.

As for the Bruins, they head down to Florida to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday. Regardless of the stats, hopefully the wins will keep on coming for the Bs.

-BS