Category: Bruins

Bruins Do Just What You Thought They’d Do and Blow It to Force Game 7

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This is starting to have a very 2010 feel to it when the Bruins blew a 3-0 series lead to the Flyers and then a 3-0 lead in Game 7 to lose that series. That was one of the most stunning collapses I’ve ever seen. Granted it spurned the B’s on to winning a Stanley Cup the following year, but I’d rather not repeat that type of implosion here.

After dominating the first 2 games it looked like the B’s might actually sweep Toronto. Seriously, they dominated the Maple Leafs beating them 5-1 and 7-3 before splitting the next two. Throw in an incredible 31 save night from Tuukka in Game 4 (did you know you need your goalie to steal a game in the playoffs?), which he immediately followed up with getting pulled in Game 5.

If he has a bad game tomorrow night I fully expect ol’ Milk Crates to come out.

Now the Bruins, who were challenging for the No. 1 seed in the East until the final day of the season, and seemed set to cruise through the first round, are suddenly faced with playing a Game 7 they want no part of. Thank god its at home, but quotes like this from Toronto are what worry me the most:

Thats the problem. The Bruins have allowed Toronto to get comfortable.

Ridiculous plays like this from Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen did not help either, especially with half the fans ready to bench Rask.

The longer this series goes on the worse I feel and last night I started to feel that creeping sense of doubt. These guys might actually blow this thing.

There has also been some questionable officiating, which actually went both ways for the B’s last night. They dodged a bullet when the refs called a goal back after replay showed the Leafs player basically punting Tuukka’s blocker out of the crease. But then they got hosed late in the game after they’d already pulled the goalie to get the extra man and the refs swallowed their whistles on a clear interference. I still don’t understand that.

For a team thats been so good all year long it would be a huge disappointment to bow out in the first round, especially in this fashion. The Bruins are clearly built for the long term as Don Sweeney somehow rebuilt this team on the fly infusing the veteran core with young studs like Charlie McAvoy, Jake DeBrusk, Brandon Carlo, and Ryan Donato. But this could be the last serious playoff run with guys like Chara, Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand, and Tuukka all playing together at a high level. Don’t waste that.

Speaking of young studs, I think its time to make some changes Bruce…unleash the baby faced assassin.

Welp for better or for worse we have the most exciting night in sports coming to Boston on Thursday: Game 7.

ADDRESSING THE QUESTION ON EVERYONE’S MIND: Did Brad Marchand Lick Leo Komarov?

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Boston.com – Brad Marchand is never afraid to get under an opponent’s skin….The 29-year-old utilized what can best be described as an unorthodox method of trying to take Maple Leafs forward Leo Komarov out of his game. In the midst of some standard pushing and shoving, Marchand drew close to Komarov and even appeared to lick him.

Not since “Who shot J.R?” or “Is Tony Soprano dead?” has the world (Boston) been gripped by a question to this extent. Did Brad Marchand, aka Noseface Killah, the NHL’s greatest agitator, indeed lick an opponent in order to get in his head?

Now this is not only “unorthodox” but it is also extremely unsanitary. The last thing the B’s need is for Marchand to have to sit out with some sort of bacterial infection that stemmed from gland on gland contact. Lots of sweat in saliva in this equation folks and I’m sure there are alllll sorts of germs swimmin around in the sweat of a Toronto-livin, Russian hockey player.

To answer the question, there is only one alternative explanation which is that Marchand was shit-talking Komarov Green-Durant style and that the camera angle made him appear closer and much more licky. That’s really it. If I was Marchand’s Charlie Kelly and I had a background in opponent licking law, that would be my only out.

In reality however, let’s be honest, yes, 63 licked his opponent. And yes he did it to psych him the fuck the out. But he didn’t do it for himself. He didn’t do it for the team. He did it for us, the city of Boston, and for the chance to bring us home a 7th Stanley Cup. That is why our guy licked another grown man.

Playoff hockey man, there’s nothing like it.

Nazem Kadri Needs to Be Suspended for This Scumbag Hit in Game 1 of Bruins, Maple Leafs Series

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So last night Tommy Wingels was on the wrong end of a completely unnecessary cheap shot from Toronto’s Nazem Kadri. Wingels was chasing a puck and boxing out a Maple Leafs player before he lost his balance and ended up on his knees. Nazem Kadri apparently saw this as a ripe opportunity to tee off on Wingels’ cranium.

Thats not even the worst angle either. The video above makes it look like a cheapshot, which is bad enough. The full view though shows Kadri literally sprinting across the ice to really lay into this hit.

Unbelievable. Granted he received a 5 minute major and was ejected from the game, but come on man that hit goes beyond dangerous. Wingels looked like he was on another planet too once he actually picked himself up off the ice.

Well at least Kadri expressed a little remorse after the game right?

“I was committed to the hit and ended up falling,” Kadri said after the game.

Hey look, man, tell me you don’t like my firm, tell me you don’t like my idea, tell me you don’t like my fuckin neck tie, but don’t tell me you brained Tommy Wingels because you were “falling.”

Now he’s clearly going to get suspended, but this shouldn’t just be a one game slap on the wrist. If Marchand gets suspended 5 games for table topping a guy, Kadri needs to get at least that for targeting a defenseless player’s head while also charging across the ice and leaving his feet. Thats a trifecta of unnecessary.

NHL Player Safety‘s list of what’s taken into account when deciding on discipline (literally the first two) pretty accurately describe the hit on Wingels.

“… In deciding on Supplementary Discipline for On-Ice Conduct, the following factors will be taken into account:
(a) The type of conduct involved: conduct in violation of League Playing Rules, and whether the conduct is intentional or reckless, and involves the use of excessive and unnecessary force. Players are responsible for the consequences of their actions.
(b) Injury to the opposing Player(s) involved in the incident.”

Since I don’t really follow Toronto hockey all that closely outside of Auston Matthews goal totals, I’m not super familiar with Kadri’s suspension history. Turns out he’s a habitual line stepper.

  • On November 13, 2013, Kadri delivered an elbow to the head of Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Bäckström. As a result, the NHL’s Department of Player Safety handed Kadri a three-game suspension
  • He received four games for illegally checking Edmonton Oilers forward Matt Fraser in the head
  • On April 4, 2016, Kadri was again suspended by the NHL after he delivered a cross-check to the head of Detroit Red Wings centre Luke Glendening. Kadri received a four-game suspension for the incident, effectively ending his season, and as a repeat offender under the collective bargaining agreement he was also fined $200,000.

Throw the book at this dickhead.

Was Sunday the Best Sports Day of the Year?

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Sunday may have been the best sports day of the year with the Red Sox, Celtics, and Bruins each playing home games all while the final round of The Masters was going on.
Patrick Reed won his first green jacket yesterday and I don’t think anyone summarized that battle down the stretch better than the wifey:

Reed had a slim lead heading into the final 9 and Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Rickie Fowler were all gunning for him. Reed was putting his body on the line though, broken hands be damned.

Rory couldn’t capitalize on a couple of missteps by Reed and imploded himself so he was out, but Spieth was putting on an absolute show shooting -9 on the final day to almost come all the way back to take it, finishing 2 back.

Rickie Fowler once again sexed up the whole course with his wardrobe:

Fowler quietly and maniacally hunted Reed down like the goddamn Terminator and almost pulled it out. It ultimately wasn’t enough as he finished 1 back as Reed set himself up to 2-putt his way to the victory. I watched the last 2 hours of The Masters at a bar by the Garden and the energy was awesome.

During all this, the Red Sox were getting their teeth kicked in on Sunday afternoon and after starting the year 7-1 I wasn’t too broken up about it. Eduardo Rodriguez looked lights out in his first start back since knee surgery with 7 K’s through 3 innings though.

Throwing 73 pitches in 3 innings is not exactly peak efficiency though. So I left my house and headed to the bar to watch the end of The Masters. After sitting down with a couple Bud Lattes the bar had both golf and the Sox on and it was some of the best TV I’ve seen all year. Boston orchestrated a huge comeback scoring 6 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning. All with two outs in the inning. Incredible.


Kind of a kick in the junk that Xander Bogaerts got hurt as he’s been red hot absolutely crushing the ball. But this team looks real good so far. I’m not gonna get crazy after a bunch of W’s against teams like the Rays and the Marlins who are likely going to set baseball back 20 years in the state of Florida this season, but hey you play who’s on the schedule.

Meanwhile the Celtics and the Bruins, who both lost in uniquely painful ways, played back to back games at the Garden. Props to the crew thats responsible for flipping that arena from a basketball court into a hockey rink in like 2 hours. The C’s blew a game to the Hawks that they should have won, but this team is fighting tooth and nail with bench players as we head into the playoffs.

Once the C’s wrapped up the Bruins were going against the Panthers and just need a W to clinch first place in the East. Now they obviously lost following a listless effort from the team, but the buzz around the city was palpable on Sunday.

AND to top it all off it was Rene Night with the Bruins honoring the legendary National Anthem singer who is retiring after 42 years with the team. I was at the game last night and let me tell ya, the crowd was Fired. Up. about Rene. I think possibly more so than they were for the actual game. The Bruins also really dug deep with the giveaways, completely mailing it in by giving away Rene Christmas Ornaments (in April) that were from 2010 to random rows of fans.

There were sports on TV basically from the time you got out of bed until the time you went to sleep. You don’t get that very often, but Christmas came early yesterday.

New and Improved Golf Channel to Feature NHL Playoffs!

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In one of the most absurd sports media moves since the Outdoor Life Network acquired the cable broadcast rights to the National (Indoor) Hockey League in 2005, two NHL playoff games will be broadcast on Golf Channel on April 18. A pair of Game 4’s – Lightning @ Devils and Ducks @ Sharks – will be broadcast on Golf Channel on the evening of Wednesday, April 18.

As ridiculous as it sounds, though, it’s probably not that bad of a move. Golf Channel is available in about 79 million households, compared to about 81 million households for NBCSN. Not a massive difference. Both networks trail well behind in household availability to the two other cable networks that will air some NHL playoff games, CNBC and US Network. CNBC is available in almost 94 million households and USA Network is available in 94.3 million households.

It sounds strange to say this but if you are an LA Kings fan living in Boston, you might be better off if the Kings game airs on USA Network instead of NBC’s main cable sports outlet, NBCSN. My grandmother has been getting USA Network since the first Bush administration in the early ’90s. It is doubtful that she gets NBCSN.

A lot of people like to poke fun at the NHL’s television situation, but that’s not the point of this blog. The move to put two games on Golf Channel is mildly amusing, but is likely more about attracting eyeballs to Golf Channel after the Masters rather than a comment on the NHL’s television ratings. It might appease more hockey fans if these games aired on the NHL Network instead of Golf Channel, but that would be far worse for the product. According to the most recent estimate I could find, the NHL Network was only available in about 37 million homes. Ask yourself how many MLB playoff games you’ve ever watched on MLB Network. I know my answer.  ZERO.

As a Bruins fan, I like seeing the B’s and Leafs on NBC in primetime Saturday night. I just worry about that game going to double overtime. If that game has to be finished on NBCSN to make way for a new episode of Saturday Night Live, then the NHL might have a real beef with its television partner.

Ryan Donato Leaves Harvard Early to Go Pro and Shine for the Bruins

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For the second year in a row the Bruins are leaning on a rookie just days removed from his final college game as the team enters its home stretch.

Last year it was Charlie McAvoy. This year its Ryan Donato AKA the kid who carried the USA Olympic team with 5 goals in Pyeongchang. Donato made his debut last night and despite playing his final game at Harvard less than a week ago, the 21-year-old looked right at home and notched 3 points in his NHL debut. Not to mention his first career goal came on an absolute ROCKET.

The kid can play. The Youth Movement is in full swing! Nobody is loving this influx of young talent more than David Krejci.

It would seem like the Bruins are doing their best to reconstruct the 2018 Olympic team that ironically featured 0 NHL players at the time with Donato and recently signed Brian Gionta.

I’ll admit it, I did not expect the Bruins to be nearly this good this year, but goddamn is this a fun team to watch.

Introducing the First Bruins T-Shirt from The 300s. BUY! BUY! BUY!

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We needed a Bruins shirt and I’m not looking to just print any old shirt so this one took a while in the think tank, but it. is. here. This Bruins t-shirt is fresh as lettuce and is a must have for any self respecting B’s fan. Show some respect to Rene and this Bruins pre-game tradition by picking one up now. Shoot an email to the300sred@gmail.com to pre-order yours before the first shipment goes out.

Tuukka Rask Injured in Bruins Practice

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Hey Bruins, I don’t have time for this shit right now. I’m still mourning Gordon Hayward’s broken ankle from last night. I don’t need this.

According to Joe Haggerty Anders Bjork “crashed” into Rask during a drill and Tuukka had to be helped off the ice after looking “woozy.” Well thats just great. I got Hayward traumatizing me last night with his leg, now we got Rask getting dropkicked by his own teammate, all while former Bruins goalie prospect Malcolm Subban is 2-0 and leading the division for Las Vegas. Hey Anders, little advice for ya bud:

So Long Malcolm Subban, We Hardly Knew Ye

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ESPN – Goaltender Malcolm Subban was claimed off waivers by the Vegas Golden Knights, Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney said Tuesday. The Bruins waited until Monday to waive the 23-year-old, with most teams already set in goal, hoping to sneak him to their Providence affiliate, but the former first-round pick was claimed by Golden Knights general manager George McPhee.

We hardly knew ye, indeed. Well, except for the 2 games you started and got absolutely annihilated by real NHL players, giving up 6 goals on 22 shots (a scorching .727 save %).

While you never want to give up on a young player you invested a lot in (24th overall pick), its been five years and it probably just wasn’t gonna happen for him in Boston. Still it sucks to have the Bruins squander another asset, getting nothing for Subban. Sweeney basically said Subban’s trade value was so nonexistent that he couldn’t get anything for the goalie. The Bruins tried to sneak him through waivers, but the Golden Knights claimed him so his trade value couldn’t have been that barren.

While Subban certainly ate a bag of dicks in his limited opportunities between the pipes for the Bruins, he is still only 23 and goalies tend to age like fine wine. You routinely see older guys figure it out or get hot or find the right situation and go on a tear for a season or more. Tim Thomas anyone?

He was 32 when he landed the Bruins starting job full-time and he was the oldest player in league history to  win the Conn Smythe at 37 years old.

So Subban could still figure it out, but its also a reminder that goalies routinely come out of nowhere. So maybe just don’t blow top draft capital on them.