Category: Bruins

This is a Connor Clifton Appreciation Blog

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Full disclaimer since I do possess a degree in Big J Journalism, I am a bit biased on this because we are both Quinnipiac grads, but it’s time for people to put some respect on Connor Clifton’s name.

With his all around game as an energy guy that’s not afraid to lay the wood and mix it up, not to mention his rocket of a slapshot, Clifton needs to be in the lineup every single night. Since he was inserted into the lineup by Cassidy in Game 3 (plus Halak taking over for Tuukka) the Bruins have looked like a more energetic team that’s playing with an edge.

Just look at last night’s 3rd period 4 goal explosion that all happened in just 6 minutes and 51 seconds; Clifton was making huge plays in every facet of the game.

And that was immediately followed by Clifton getting into position for a rocket to tie the game at 2 and really swing the momentum in the B’s favor.

Marchand followed that up just a minute later with a slick goal of his own, followed by a goal from Jake DeBrusk (2nd of the night) less than 3 minutes after that.

I’m not saying a third pairing defenseman has been the difference in this series, but I am saying Connor Clifton finished with a goal, an assist, was second on the team in hits with 3 (+ 5 in Game 3), and led the team in +/- at +2 last night. Not too shabby for Cliffy Hockey. There’s a reason the Bruins gave the QU grad a 3-year extension last summer with one year still left on his deal.

With their No. 1 goalie done for the season, Pastrnak’s return date a complete unknown, and an old veteran laden team the B’s desperately need some energy and production from the young guys and Clifton has done just that.

We’ve Got Bruins AND Celtics Playoff Games Tonight!

By on • ( Leave a comment )

I won’t lie, living in semi-quarantine for the past 5-6 months has been a mixed bag of misery for all of us so night’s live this take on even more significance than ever before. Two playoff games in one night was alway a luxury, but when you have nothing to watch for months except Netflix and reruns of Bar Rescue then you really appreciate this kind of sports overload. So kudos to Adam Silver for leading the way with the idea of putting an entire league into a bubble.

Boston Bruins (-1.5) vs Carolina Hurricanes
Bruins Lead the Series 2-1
Puck Drop: 8 pm, NESN
Breakdown: After Tuukka left the B’s in a precarious position by opting out of the season…the morning of a playoff game…Jaroslav Halak stepped in and played pretty damn well (minus the ugly goal he gave away trying to play the puck behind the net). So while it was en vogue to bash Tuukka for a number of reasons, many Bruins fans have ironically gotten exactly what they were hoping for: a new goalie. Halak was obviously never supposed to play in the playoffs because he’s the backup, but he’s not your typical backup. Since Tuukka never played well with a heavier workload, he and Halak have basically been splitting time evenly the past 2 seasons. Granted Tuukka was 2nd in the NHL this year in GAA, Halak wasn’t far behind at 7th in the league so we’re still in pretty good hands all things considered.

Boston Celtics (-5.5) vs Philadelphia 76ers
Tip Off: 6:30 pm, ESPN
Breakdown: The Celtics have had a lot of success against the Sixers in recent years, winning the last four playoff series the two have played against one another. Not to mention the C’s have beaten the Sixers in 18 of the last 24 regular season matchups. Now the Sixers are without Ben Simmons who suffered a season ending knee injury. Philly was already a dysfunctional mess before that so while I am always fearful of what a motivated Joel Embiid can do on any given night, I think the C’s win the series in 6 games.

Win a FREE Bear Force One T-Shirt for the Cup Run

By on • ( Leave a comment )
I just found an unopened Bear Force One t-shirt at The 300s HQ so what better time than now to run a giveaway? Just enter your email address below and we’ll pick one random winner this weekend!

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with the site owner and Mailchimp to receive marketing, updates, and other emails from the site owner. Use the unsubscribe link in those emails to opt out at any time.

Processing…
Success! You're on the list.
 

Dale Arnold Just Got Bagged Dressing Like a Mannequin On Live TV

By on • ( 1 Comment )

Dale Arnold so hot right now, Dale Arnold.

Apparently this is an old TV trick for guys when they’re sitting down, but come on Dale you’re making it too easy for people. You can get a suit tailored for literally less than $100 at Men’s Wearhouse.

As one would expect, Twitter took Dale to the woodshed.

Bruins Take Game 1 With a Double OT Winner from Patrice Bergeron

By on • ( Leave a comment )

First off let me just say, watching a game from 11 AM-3 PM is a gigantic pain in the ass if you have a job that requires even moderate human interaction. I went from watching on my TV to streaming on my phone as I jumped on a client Zoom, then a client called my phone and as I was switching the stream back to my laptop I was just in time to see the Bruins celebrating. Damnit.

Now that I got that off my chest, the Bruins dodged a bullet there and are lucky to get out of there with a win. They controlled the game for long stretches, but let mental errors nearly bury them. After going up 2-1 the Hurricanes challenged the goal claiming goaltender interference.

The Bruins rightfully won the coach’s challenge, which automatically resulted in a two minute minor on the Hurricanes for delay of game. So how do the Bruins capitalize on a massive momentum swing like that? Well Pastrnak almost immediately throws a slap dick cross ice pass that gets picked off and taken the other way for a shorthand goal to tie the game at 2.

While I don’t love the fact that the old veteran filled Bruins team had to play an extra 20+ minutes of hockey, I did take some morbid pleasure in how ridiculous bubble hockey has become already. After 5 OTs last night pushed the Bruins game back to this morning, the Bruins double OT game today then pushed the Islanders game back 90 minutes and around and around we go.

The Bruins are back at it Thursday night at 8 pm as they try to take a 2-0 lead in the first round series.

Brunch With the Bruins Today at 11 AM Because Bubble Hockey is Unpredictable

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Hope you don’t have, ya know, a job and can actually watch this rescheduled playoff game. Thats exactly why they normally schedule these games after 5 pm, but hey bubble sports are unpredictable so what are you gonna do? The Blue Jackets-Lightning game went into 5OT last night or if you’re fancy, quintuple overtime. Those guys played over 150 minutes of hockey last night, which is like 2.5 games played consecutively.

Apparently the NHL needs 90 minutes between games to get the ice back into shape, which had the Bruins 8 pm puck drop continuously moving backwards. So when the 3 pm game didn’t end until after 9 pm the NHL figured lets just kick the Bruins to the morning rather than have a game go until 2 am. Something the Red Sox could learn a thing or two about…

Now we have the first Bruins playoff game in over a year taking place before high school lunch at 11 am.

If however you’re one of the lucky ones and don’t have work today (or you’re just a raging alcoholic) then this is setting up to be quite the day.

Bruins. Playoff. Hockey. Tonight.

By on • ( Leave a comment )

The Boston Bruins are playing playoff hockey tonight. I repeat, Playoff. Hockey. Now lets all ignore the fact that this is a little weird for Round 1 to be starting on August 11th and lets also ignore the fact that the Bruins were far and away the No. 1 team in the NHL for months only to get relegated to the four seed after a bad 3 game stretch. Because none of that matters now. It’s playoff hockey time which means I get to booze out of my Stanley Cup glass once again.

Now, the last playoff game the Bruins played in was a crushing letdown on home ice to let yet another Cup slip through their fingers, but this year’s team was the best team in the NHL all season long. So hopefully the boys can shake off the rust and get their shit together tonight or this COVID interrupted season could be over for good before anyone even realizes they were back.

Make sure you’re properly hydrated for tonight’s game and just start watching this on repeat until puck drop.

Fire Flames Jersey Alert: Baby Bruins Are Going Back to the Future

By on • ( Leave a comment )

A lot of Back to the Future content here on The 300s lately, but have you seen these jerseys? My goodness. I gasped when Big Z tipped me off to these bad boys. *This* is how you do a minor league jersey promo.

Where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

Bravo Providence Bruins, bravo.

The Bruins Invented a Totally New Way to Lose, Fall to 0-7 This Year in Shootouts

By on • ( Leave a comment )

The Bruins have been pretty bad in shootouts for as long as I can remember. I used to attribute it to Claude Julien just using wacky shootout lineups with absolute scrubs going before guys like Bergeron. Well, this year they have been even worse. In fact after blowing a 3 goal lead and then losing in yet another shootout last night, the Bruins fell to 0-7 on the year in shootouts. Even worse was the fashion in which they dropped this one.

Holy hell. What’d Marchand spot a pretty blonde behind the net? The only reason I even knew it was possible to lose like this is because I accidentally did the same exact thing once in NHL 2009 on Xbox 360. I literally just laughed out loud as this unfolded.

So the Bruins continue their run of embarrassing shootout performances, which is odd considering they have two of the leading goal scorers in the league in Marchand and David Pastrnak. The Bruins may need to hire an outside consultant like Sparky Polastri to shake things up a bit.

On the Road Again? No Better Place to Be for Game 7

By on • ( Leave a comment )

As I’m sure you heard last night, this 2019 World Series was the first best-of-seven postseason series in the history of major North American sports where the road team won all seven games. Pretty remarkable. What’s also remarkable is how well road teams have fared in winner-take-all Game 7’s over the past decade. Not all that long ago you could bet your house on the home team in Game 7. Not any more.

When the Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 7 of the 2009 Stanley Cup Final they were the first team in any of the North American major men’s sports leagues to win a Game 7 of a championship round on the road since, fittingly, the Pittsburgh Pirates won Game 7 of the World Series on the road in 1979. For nearly 30 years, no road team won a championship round Game 7 on the road.

For the Penguins, they were the first NHL team to win a Stanley Cup Final Game 7 on the road since 1971. During the 38 years in between, road teams were 0-6 in Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s. Since 2009, road teams are 3-0 in Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s.

The San Francisco Giants got Major League Baseball road teams off the Game 7 schneid in 2014, when they defeated the Kansas City Royals in Game 7 of the World Series in Kansas City. In between the 1979 Pirates and 2014 Giants, road teams were 0-9 in World Series Game 7’s. Since 2014, road teams are 4-0 in Game 7 of the World Series.

More recently, the Cleveland Cavaliers got NBA teams of the Game 7 scheid when they defeated the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals. The last NBA team to win Game 7 of the Finals on the road had been the Washington Bullets in 1978. In the 38 years between, road teams went 0-6 in Game 7’s. The 2016 NBA Finals was the last NBA Finals to go seven games.

Across all three leagues (because the NFL, obviously, does not play series), no road team won a Game 7 in the 1980s (0-for-7) or the 1990s (0-for-4). Road teams were nearly blanked in the 2000s (1-for-8), too, until the 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins won the Cup in Detroit. That means road teams lost a mind boggling 18-straight winner-take-all Game 7’s. They’re 7-3 this decade, and have won the most recent Game 7’s in all three leagues. That includes the last NBA Finals Game 7, the last three Stanley Cup Final Game 7’s and the last four World Series Game 7’s.

After losing 18-straight Game 7’s from 1982-2006, road teams in all three leagues are 8-3 in championship round Game 7’s since.  So what changed? Some ideas:

  • Air travel is much easier today than it was in 1984 when the Lakers had to fly to Boston for a Game 7 in the (presumably 94°) Boston Garden (the NBA still followed a 2-2-1-1-1 format at that time). The Cleveland Cavaliers probably had a bit of an easier time flying to the Bay Area in 2016 when they defeated the Warriors on the road in Game 7.
  • With more players changing teams more frequently, there may be less of a home-field advantage.Justin Verlander didn’t pitch in Game 7 on the road in in 2017, but hear me out. He got traded from Detroit to Houston on August 31st that year. If he had pitched in Game 7 of the World Series in LA, would it have been much different for him than if he had pitched in a Game 7 in Houston? He was traded there less than two months earlier. I know that athletes don’t live like us, but his pad in Houston in October 2017 was probably more like Ryan Bingham’s condo than he would care to admit. He probably wasn’t rolling out of bed in a mansion in Houston at that time before he rolled up to the ballpark.

    Derek Jeter, on the other hand, had quite the home field advantage. In 80 career playoff games at home he hit .332 in with 12 home runs and 29 RBI in 322 at bats. In 78 road playoff games, he hit .284 with just 8 home runs and 27 RBI in 328 at bats. Playing for one team for 20 years gets you a really nice routine, I suppose.

  • It seems as if home teams have been awfully tight at home in Game 7’s recently. The Bruins at home against the Blues just four months ago seems like a pretty good example of that. I don’t know how/why the psychology of playing at home would change over the last decade, but maybe fans tweeting on their phones all game and taking selfies has changed the energy levels in these venues? That would certainly seem to hurt the home teams more than the road teams.
  • A combination of point #1 and #3. With air travel being easier (and cheaper) than ever, maybe more fans are following their teams on the road for Game 7? I bet the Boston Garden was 98% Celtics fans in 1984’s Game 7. What percentage of Minute Maid Park last night was Nationals fans? I’m not sure, but I bet it was substantially more than 2%. That could certainly change the vibe of a building, too.

Whatever the reason, one thing is certain. Boy am I glad I don’t bet on baseball.