Tag: Patrice Bergeron

Tuukka Rask and the Bruins Avoid Near Disaster to Pull Out Game 7 Win

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Holy hell what a game. As many of my buddies that are not Bruins fans texted me last night; that was an incredible game, probably the best game of the entire first round of the playoffs. As a Bruins fan though? That shit was beyond stressful. From puck drop that game was a sprint and luckily, despite some massive miscues, the Bruins pulled out Game 7 in exciting fashion.

I’ve never been a TRADE TUUKKA guy. I think he’s fine. He can flash the mitt sometimes, but he’s not a top 3 goalie. He’s just not. Among goalies with at least 30 Games Played this year, Tuukka Rask ranked 15th in Save Percentage at .917, 17th in Shutouts with 3, and 15th in Quality Starts with 30. Its not like he was a workhorse either, he was 18th in Games Played with 54, which are the fewest games he’s played since the lockout shortened 2012-2013 season.

He’s also not a complete bum. He was 6th in GAA at 2.36, but holy shit does this guy have a scary tendency to disappear in big moments. Going into last night Tuukka was 1-2 with a .849 Save Percentage in Game 7s, which is cringe inducing. Still, thats a small sample size and anything can happen in a Game 7.

So what happens 2 minutes into the game? Tuukka gives up a goal. Ok, ok it was a powerplay goal so its hard to get on him too much, but this is a bad sign.

Bruins tie it 3 minutes later on a goal from Jake DeBrusk!

Less than 2 minutes later, Tuukka gives it right back.

Tuukka, buddy, you have got to be shitting me. Are you trying to get run out of town? I’m still waiting for Ol’ Milk Crates to make an appearance.

If you’re not familiar with that reference, back in 2009 when he was still playing for the Baby B’s in Providence, a young Rask gave up a goal to lose a game in a shootout and he went berserk. He goes after the ref, throws his stick, skates off the ice, walks down the tunnel, and then reemerges to chuck milk crates onto the ice like an absolute psycho. Thats the guy I wanna see. A crazy asshole.

Not to mention the short handed goal Rask gave up to Kasperi Kapanen in the 2nd period. It was a disaster of a play from the Bruins in the offensive zone ON THE POWER PLAY, and Marchand got bodied trying to get back in coverage. But still, Tuukka got deked out of his goddamn shorts.

It was an all around ugly play. If you want to be the man on a Stanley Cup winning team you need to pull some saves out of your ass every now and again, which Tuukka hasn’t done a ton of this series. He had a huge night in Game 4 for 31 saves, but he followed that up by getting yanked in Game 5. To make matters worse, Freddy Anderson was making Superman saves all night at the other end of the rink. Hell even Joey Hags was calling for the B’s to yank Tuukka.

Imagine that? Imagine your $8 Million/year goalie getting yanked in a Game 7? That would have been disastrous.

It wasn’t just Rask though as Boston was sloppy all night long. Whether it was fatigue or injuries piling up, they just could not clear the puck out of their own zone and they were turning it over in the offensive zone constantly.

Luckily the Bruins were shot out of a rocket in the third period scoring FOUR unanswered goals (including an empty netter) all but removing the necessity for great goaltending.

We also got this laugh out loud interview with Matt Grzelyck after the game. Keep in mind that NESN cut to this on-ice interview like 20 mins after the game ended so its not like it was live.

One more thing, how about DirecTv pulling a Newman and refusing to work in the rain?

Its 2018. I can talk, text, tweet, and stream the Bruins on my iPhone, but DirecTv can’t figure out how to not completely crumble every time the doppler radar gets a little spotty.

Now we move onto the second round where the Bruins will take on an even tougher opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Awesome. If the Bruins play the way they played in Games 3-7, they’re going to get their teeth kicked in. If they play more like they did in Games 1-2 then they’re in business. Tampa finished as the No. 1 seed in the East with 113 points, winning 54 games, and they have an absolutely stacked roster. BUT the Bruins need to remember they went 3-1 against that team this year. As good as Tampa has been, the Bruins have had their number in the regular season. Now they just have to translate that to the postseason. See ya Saturday for Game 1.

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.

Bruins Resign David Pastrnak for 6 Years and $40 Million

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NBC Sports – The Boston Bruins have finally found a way to get restricted free agent David Pastrnak under contract, according to TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger. Pastranak new contract is reportedly for six years and $40 million (annual average value of $6.67 million).

BOO YAH! I’m not gonna lie, I was getting increasingly worried the Bruins were going to fuck it up with yet another young stud player. We saw it with Phil Kessel, then Tyler Seguin and then most recently with Dougie Hamilton. With all the talk going around the past couple of weeks about how far apart the Bruins and Pasta’s camp were on negotiations its great to see this deal finally get done. And at a reasonable average annual value too. $40 million over 6 years works out to about $6.6 million per year, which makes him the fourth highest paid player on the Bruins, according to Spotrac, ahead of Brad Marchand, but still behind David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask. That should make everyone happy.

I’m just glad Peter Chiarelli didn’t fuck up this team’s cap salary from the other side of the country after setting the market with the absolutely absurd Leon Draisaitl contract of 8 years at $8.5 million per year. The Bruins clearly weren’t approaching that type of money nor should they have. I love Pastrnak, I’m a proud owner of a No. 88 t-shirt jersey and I think he’s gonna be a superstar in this league. But 8 years at $8.5 mil for a 21-year-old with one breakout season is crazy talk. Glad the Bruins were able to meet in the middle though and get a deal done. After months of the Red Sox, Pats, and Celtics stealing headlines, finally some shine for the Bruins.

PS – That $40 mil should buy a LOT of new tattoos at Boston Barber and Tattoo Co.