Tag: Ryan Donato

Ryan Donato Will Play for the Bruins Tonight. Finally.

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The baby faced assassin will finally be let out of the luxury box as Bruce Cassidy confirmed Ryan Donato will play tonight. After a blistering start to his career in the regular season with 9 points and 5 goals in 12 games, Donato was tasked with riding the pine for the majority of the playoffs.

For a guy with just a dozen NHL games under his belt it wasn’t really a surprise. For such a clearly gifted scorer to be unavailable while the Bruins struggled offensively was tough to watch though. Now with the B’s facing a 2-1 deficit in what amounts to a must win game they’re shaking things up after a sloppy past 2 games. Not to mention ineffective (3 goals in the last 2 games).

What better way to shake things up than to have an absolute sniper floating around on the ice? We saw glimpses of it earlier this year; Donato has an absolute ROCKET of a shot. So while he may not be as polished defensively as they’d like, its time to try something new before this series really gets away from them. This isn’t Claude’s team anymore, we don’t need 12 fourth line forwards who grind and always stay home. This is a faster, more talented, flashier team with young studs like Pastrnak, McAvoy, DeBrusk and “older” guys like Krug and Marchand wheeling and dealing out there in the offensive zone. Lets build on that and we can all reminisce about the Big Bad Bruins later, OK?

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.

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.