Ottawa @ Boston, Oct.28th
Thanks to the CBC, I was able to catch this game tonight! It was an excellent fast paced game right from the start.
Chara was definitely revved up for this one, playing against his former team for the first time. In the opening minutes Chara came out hitting, and in one shift alone Chara nailed two Ottawa players. Patrick Eaves decided to teach Chara a lesson for knocking down his team mates. Unfortunately, Eaves bounced off Chara like he was made of silly putty. To try and stop Chara, Ottawa sent out Brian McGrattan, but before any punches were thrown the two fell to the ice where they were mobbed by the referees. Not long after though, Chris Neil and Wade Brookbank went toe to toe for a short fight. It didn't last long enough as Brookbank tripped and fell to the ice, but Wade still managed to get in a few good shots.
With no scoring in the first period, both teams came out with a lot of drive in the second looking to break it open. Stastny though, forgot which end of the ice he was on and got a good shot off on his own goalie. Thankfully Thomas was there to stop the puck and no harm done. Less than a minute later Thomas made his second highlight real save in two straight games. This one came with only 5 minutes gone in the period, off a point blank shot from Heatley. Thomas was behind the net to play the puck, but it was intercepted and sent out to Heatley in front. Thomas some how made it to the front of the net in time, and while diving across the crease snagged the puck out of the air with his glove (he had already dove by the puck and had to reach behind).
Boston controlled most of the play in the second and won the majority of the face-offs as well. Some of the penalties in the game have been phantom calls and the refs are playing the equalizing game and calling borderline penalties. Jason York had a very good game for a change and actually looked like an NHL defencman.
The referees got involved again, this time giving Ottawa a 5 on 3 PP. Less than a minute in… tic-tac-toe, Heatley scored on a great feed from Spezza through the crease. Thomas nearly picked the puck off as it went across the crease, but was helpless as Heatley was all alone on the side of the net. Despite the goal the Bruins kept their cool and killed off the remaining PP, ending the second period down by one.
The third period was pretty uneventful, but that changed in a flash as Tom Preissing gave away the puck in the Ottawa zone. Axelsson grabbed it, skated in, and shot the puck over Gerber's right shoulder to tie the game at one. With 6 minutes left in the third Thomas made another excellent save, this time on Spezza as he was streaking in alone off the wing. Two minutes later, the Bruins were on the PP and Chara scored the eventual game winner with a slap shot from the point. As if to try and give Ottawa a chance to come back the referees called another penalty on Boston that just didn’t happen. It was tense in the last 30 seconds and I couldn't help but think the situation was eerily similar to the end of the Montreal game. The Bruins made it through though, and held off Ottawa for the much deserved win.
Hopefully, with two good starts from Thomas, Lewis will call on him more often.
Chara was definitely revved up for this one, playing against his former team for the first time. In the opening minutes Chara came out hitting, and in one shift alone Chara nailed two Ottawa players. Patrick Eaves decided to teach Chara a lesson for knocking down his team mates. Unfortunately, Eaves bounced off Chara like he was made of silly putty. To try and stop Chara, Ottawa sent out Brian McGrattan, but before any punches were thrown the two fell to the ice where they were mobbed by the referees. Not long after though, Chris Neil and Wade Brookbank went toe to toe for a short fight. It didn't last long enough as Brookbank tripped and fell to the ice, but Wade still managed to get in a few good shots.
With no scoring in the first period, both teams came out with a lot of drive in the second looking to break it open. Stastny though, forgot which end of the ice he was on and got a good shot off on his own goalie. Thankfully Thomas was there to stop the puck and no harm done. Less than a minute later Thomas made his second highlight real save in two straight games. This one came with only 5 minutes gone in the period, off a point blank shot from Heatley. Thomas was behind the net to play the puck, but it was intercepted and sent out to Heatley in front. Thomas some how made it to the front of the net in time, and while diving across the crease snagged the puck out of the air with his glove (he had already dove by the puck and had to reach behind).
Boston controlled most of the play in the second and won the majority of the face-offs as well. Some of the penalties in the game have been phantom calls and the refs are playing the equalizing game and calling borderline penalties. Jason York had a very good game for a change and actually looked like an NHL defencman.
The referees got involved again, this time giving Ottawa a 5 on 3 PP. Less than a minute in… tic-tac-toe, Heatley scored on a great feed from Spezza through the crease. Thomas nearly picked the puck off as it went across the crease, but was helpless as Heatley was all alone on the side of the net. Despite the goal the Bruins kept their cool and killed off the remaining PP, ending the second period down by one.
The third period was pretty uneventful, but that changed in a flash as Tom Preissing gave away the puck in the Ottawa zone. Axelsson grabbed it, skated in, and shot the puck over Gerber's right shoulder to tie the game at one. With 6 minutes left in the third Thomas made another excellent save, this time on Spezza as he was streaking in alone off the wing. Two minutes later, the Bruins were on the PP and Chara scored the eventual game winner with a slap shot from the point. As if to try and give Ottawa a chance to come back the referees called another penalty on Boston that just didn’t happen. It was tense in the last 30 seconds and I couldn't help but think the situation was eerily similar to the end of the Montreal game. The Bruins made it through though, and held off Ottawa for the much deserved win.
Hopefully, with two good starts from Thomas, Lewis will call on him more often.
Labels: Pre-Game
posted by TreeBob at Saturday, October 28, 2006
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3 Comments:
I think it's way to early to say that Thomas has come around. The problem with Thomas and Hannus is their consistency. Thomas could be very good in the nest games and very poor the 5 next one. Like it or nit it; it's Thomas trademark for years. The scounting report for Thomas it always the same : A guy who can make twilight save or let in a blue line goal. I still think the B's should trade for a goaltender since there's no consistency between the pipes. That said, it depends of the mindset of Chiarelli. If he want to win this year, he will trade for goaltending. If not, he will wait. Next game is against Buffalo and the real test is there.
I know that the offense is struggling but i think that you have to build from back : Goaltending,Defense then Offense. It's good to score goal but you have to prevent others teams to fill up your own net. When you look at Buffalo, they score goals. But their goaltending is solid and that's why they win on a regular bases.
Treebob,
I'll jump on the bandwagon. Keep "The Trapper" as #1 and resign "Torkelson" to the backup.
This was the Bruins best effort so far. It was also Chara's best game - hopefully he keeps it up and it wasn't only because it was his ex-team.
We have a window of hope after that game - for the 1st time this year the Bruins made me smile.
Go Bruins!!!!!
Still not sold over here. I think this team should lump it with Toivo since Thomas isn't the future of this franchise. Toivo may not be either, but no one will know until he's given a chance to play out there every day. And, if Toivo isn't the answer, one should forget about Tuukka Rask who was the 21st overall selection in the '05 draft. We've got good, young goaltending, they just need to play.
Trying to make a move for a goaltender at this point seems unwise. The ones that might be available are more than likely in time share situations (Nabokov, etc.) and may not be much better than Thomas or Toivonen. And the good ones are hot commodities and would probably take a boatload of players/prospects to get them. That's also the kind of trade a middle road team makes to increase their chances of going far in the playoffs...not a trade a team at the bottom of the standings makes.
If we're going to try to fix problems, I'd try moving Thomas...if possible...for a scorer or for defensive help. I wouldn't make a move for goaltending.
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