The Bruins ended the 2010-2011 season with a win and began the 2011-2012 season with a 2-1 loss to Philadelphia last night. The evening was also a production of the team's coronation as Stanley Cup. A firetruck brought the Cup to the Garden through a gauntlet of uniformed police, firefighters, and soldiers. The players brought the Cup to the ice and raised the new banner with help from Bruins' legends like Bobby Orr, Derek Sanderson, and Milt Schmidt.
1
Results tagged “claudejulien”
The Bruins look to tie up the Stanley Cup final at 1-1 tonight after a disappointing loss to open the series on Wednesday. They are used to opening a playoff series with a loss, just ask Montreal and Tampa Bay.
We know you know the Bruins won last night and play Vancouver for the Stanley Cup, beginning on Wednesday. We didn't know what to expect last night and were pleasantly surprised by an intense, penalty-free contest that illuminated many of the hockey's finer points, including great goaltending, grit, and toughness. For example, Steven Stamkos played after he seemingly broke his nose. That doesn't usually happen in baseball.
After the Bruins barely beat the Canadiens last night, Jack Edwards basically handed them the Stanley Cup with his monologue on the meaning of the victory. The Globe said of Edwards: "Love him or hate him, his commentary adds comedy and enthusiasm." Of course. Donald Trump must be proud.
The words "seventh game" provoke a sense of drama for sports fans. For the Bruins, recently, a seventh game means a loss. Boston is 9-10 in seventh games in club history, and is 0-3 since 1994, when the Bruins beat, you guessed it, Montreal. We won't discuss 2010.
Despite leading 3-0 at the game's midpoint, the Bruins lost to the potentially playoff bound New York Rangers, 5-3, after five unanswered goals that included three third-period scores. Boston led 3-2 deep into the last period before three goals in the last four minutes.
Memories of the Bruins 7-0 thrashing of the Canadiens were long gone on Saturday as the New York Rangers earned a 1-0 playoff-esque win at the TD Garden. Henrik Lundqvist backstopped the Rangers to the win with 26 saves en route to his 11th shutout this season. Only Derek Stepan beat Tuukka Rask, who stopped 22 other N.Y. shots. Boston could see N.Y. or Montreal as a first-round playoff opponent.
Glen Davis and Ray Allen scored 20 points each as the Celtics overcame a 51-40 halftime deficit to steal an a href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap?gid=2011031903">89-85 win over the New Orleans Hornets last night. The third quarter was crucial as the Celtics used a 23-6 surge to take a 67-64 lead they never gave back.
After three straight losses, Bruins management seems upset. Peter Chiarelli got a new player and Claude Julien called their play "unacceptable." Part of the problem is that Phil Kessel, who had never scored a goal against the Bruins, scored twice, including the score that tied the game in the third, to power Toronto to a 4-3 win over Boston. Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, and Patrice Bergeron scored goals in the loss. Tim Thomas allowed two late goals.
The last time we saw the Bruins and the Celtics, they were leaving the TD Garden playing surface in defeat. Both teams hope to bounce back today as they have competing national TV games on tap. The Celtics hope to beat the Heat again today after losing to the Lakers, 92-86, on Thursday. The Bruins got embarrassed by the Detroit Red Wings, 6-1, on Friday night and complete the home-and-home set this afternoon. Coach Claude Julien expects the B's to put in a better effort today.
The Celtics tangle with the Philadelphia 76ers tonight. We know Doc Rivers will have the boys ready for the 76ers with the Green looking for a 14th straight win. But, he's got the big picture in mind, too. Kendrick Perkins and Jermaine O’Neal both practiced with the Celtics yesterday. Perkins is still 2-3 weeks from full contact drills, while O'Neal might go tonight.
One rivalry is confined to the hot stove. One is buried under the turf at the Meadowlands, at least unless the Jets pick up enough of their shattered psyche to earn a return trip to Foxboro in January. And one can only bubble so much, when the sixth seed in the East is on the line. It's time to start a new Boston/NY fire. And maybe it happens tonight in Madison Square Garden.
Danny Ainge liked what he saw from the guys in green in Thursday's 112-107 beating of the Heat. He told the Herald that the Celtics mood might be even more important. He said:
In a small and faint way, you have to feel bad for Phil Kessel. Not only was he traded to the Leafs, not only has he utterly and completely failed to take any sort of revenge against the Bruins (one assist in seven games) - but last night, he had to be there while his replacement became a full-time player, scored a goal, and launched the Garden crowd into a rousing chant of "Thank You Kessel". Ouch.
The Boston Bruins' four-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Saturday. The Rangers scored two goals just 27 seconds apart in the first period and spent two periods holding the Bruins off.
Wow. A lot happened this weekend. Some of it good. Some of it bad. Some of it inexplicable. Let's start with the good news.
It's one game. And it could have been worse.
Somewhere between "walkoff HR by Julio Lugo" and "26 points, 15 rebounds for Rasheed Wallace" lies the recent clutch performance of the Bruins' Dennis Wideman. Having spent the whole year in a funk beyond funk, booed off the ice multiple times, Wideman suddenly has the announcers raving about his energy, and suddenly has a big time goal to his credit.
However and whenever the Bruins season ends, whether it's with unexpected glory or a quick thumping by the Capitals (if not before), they can take last night's game with them as a reminder that they can be something special, and they can find that certain something within to keep them going. If you want to play an '80s-style montage for the B's, this would be the time.
So much for momentum.
After dealing with the Rangers and Thrashers, teams right below them in the playoff hunt, the Bruins squandered a chance to put up some points against an even lesser foe, losing 5-3 at home to the Lightning. Another Garden crowd sent away angry. Steven Stamkos and Paul Sczcechura scored two apiece for Tampa Bay, who's clinging by their fingernails to any shred of playoff hope, though seeing the Bruins had to encourage them.
Tuukka Rask has been worse for the psyches of Atlantans this season than General Sherman. Rask notched his second straight shutout of the Thrashers, 4-0 last night, giving the Bruins two desperately-needed points to create a little distance between themselves and the other playoff hopefuls.
Yes, the Bruins managed to achieve this modest goal yesterday, treating their fans to an actual win. A win that really matters, even, since the 2-1 decision over the Rangers pushed New York down to five points out of the playoffs and helped the B's keep a one-point lead over the hot Thrashers for that final spot.
Ulf Samuelsson. Bill Laimbeer. Bernard Pollard. And now, Matt Cooke?
He wasn't the man of the hour - we'll get to that - but we're not going to pass up a trip through the headlines on a night when Miroslav Satan scored the game-winner for the Bruins. The Globe: "Satan has a hand in Bruins' win". ESPN: "Satan scores lone goal in SO...". And probably more, but it's hard to Google his name without getting sucked into the Internet for hours.
Where do you go after suffering what might be the worst loss in franchise history? (Hyperbole? How many other 5-52 teams have the Celtics ever lost to?) Do you give up on basketball? Walk the Earth like David Carradine and Jules Winnfield?
Sure, our team may have been unceremoniously thrown out of the playoffs. We may be getting older, showing weaknesses, and be in for a few years of uncertainty and anxiety. But for a few hours, last night, it didn't matter that the Patriots were firmly in the middle of the NFL pack, because we got to watch the Colts unravel on national TV on the game's biggest stage.
So sayeth Milan Lucic, whose overskating led to the game-tying goal yesterday at the Garden, as the Bruins' tour through the various circles of Hell continued with a 3-2 shootout loss to Vancouver, their 10th in a row.
1925. Coolidge was President. The New Yorker debuted, and The Great Gatsby was published. Yogi Berra, Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcom X were born. And the Bruins had a nine-game winless streak.
Want to blame the refs? You can. It's quicker and easier this morning than facing another Bruins loss, another opportunity squandered, another miserable morning.
Imagine you're an Ottawa Senators fan, and you were late to the game last night because of Ottawa traffic. (Ottawa has traffic, right?) So you get to Scotiabank Palace late in the first period, you grab some poutine and a couple of Molsons, find your seat, look up....and see your team is already down 4-0 to the Bruins. How long until you leave to beat that postgame traffic? At least the poutine was delicious.