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Monday night’s Bruins/Flyers contest was being billed as the preview to the NHL’s Winter Classic. Seeing as the official “Countdown to the Classic” is now at a staggering 18 days (thanks, Garden HDx!), might as well be accurate. Well, almost.
The Flyers have been suffering through a cold streak–only two wins in their last ten games, while the Bruins have been on the upswing, clinching at least a point in nine of their last ten games. With new coach Peter Laviolette behind the Flyers bench, Philadelphia will be coming into Boston itching to turn things around. The problem? The Philadelphia Flyers aren’t exactly an easy team to beat. But neither are the Boston Bruins.
First Period:
Dan Carcillo is a punk with his dirty, hippie mustache. I haven’t seen much of Carcillo in person, but understand the heat he gets around the league for being an agitator. Zdeno Chara gets a roughing call after Carcillo initiates an after the whistle shove. Over/under on time it took for Carcillo to grow the few hairs above his top lip will be set at 10 days. I’ll take the over.
A ton of missed chances for the Bruins. Byron Bitz, Mark Recchi and Chara all had scoring opportunities had it not been for a bad bounce of the puck. Another close one for Boston was from Vladmir Sobotka early on in the first. A dislodged net called off the goal that was already in the net along with Flyers’ netminder Brian Boucher.
Hey, these Flyers guys aren’t pushovers, huh? Scott Hartnell tried to tango with Sobotka before Mark Stuart rushed to the scene near the players’ benches to interfere. What seemed like a mismatch favoring Hartnell, turned into a matching penalty for the two skaters for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The physical play between the two easily makes the Winter Classic something to look forward to. In fact, the first period screamed physicality. So much that it actually inspired the squirt youth hockey team that skated in between periods to actually start a brawl. I kid you not, this was the best first period intermission I have ever seen. Nothing like a bunch of eight-year olds throwing punches at one another during an NHL game.
Flyers 0, Bruins 0.
Second Period:
The Bruins continue to play defensive hockey while keeping their game physical. They’re definitely the better of the two teams on the ice, it just isn’t indicative of the fact on the scoreboard. Sweet revenge on the botched no-goal call earlier from Sobotka. He’s able to net one late in the second and gave the Bruins the first score of the game. Of course it’s one of the grinders, Sobotka is second on the team with 67 hits, who get the goals.
I’m beginning to like the top-line pairing of Marc Savard and Blake Wheeler, but I just can’t get used to Byron Bitz skating on the first line. In my opinion, the best chemistry to be seen by any line all year has been when Bitz was paired with Steve Begin and Shawn Thornton. Find me a better fourth line in the league that could play defensive hockey with a dash of scoring. It might be time to throw Marco Sturm back on the first line while Milan Lucic is still injured but if not, taking a shot at an experimental component wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world for the B’s. Preferably someone who could keep up with Savard’s crisp passes.
Tim Thomas looks confident tonight and has been playing consistent hockey in between the pipes so far. This says a lot considering my mixed feelings on the goalie. With the way that Tuukka Rask has played versus Thomas’ latest performances, it seems that the 2008-09 Vezina winner was able to calm his nerves. Maybe no YouTube-worthy saves, but I’d rather have a solid performance with no-goals allowed instead.
No intermission brawl yet, just the Bruins ice girls tossing t-shirts shaped like Chipotle burritos. I immediately text one of my best friends knowing that three of his favorite things (Ice Girls, Bruins and Chipotle burritos) are simultaneously occurring at the same time in the same place.
Bruins 1, Flyers 0
Third Period:
The Bruins started the period looking lost and uninspired. The first goal from Flyers rookie James van Riemsdyk was a simple tip-in that Thomas couldn’t get his eye on in time. The second? A rocket from the point off of the stick of Kimmo Timonen. The third? Read on.
Goons like Hartnell and Carcillo do not contribute much to hockey teams other than their ability to rile up opponents and the writers of their opponents. Hartnell took a stupid penalty that could have backfired maliciously for Philadelphia. Luckily, Timonen has better aim than 95% of fans in attendance taking any type of accuracy challenge in between periods. The Bruins six-on-four at the end of the night did no good for the team. Hartnell gets away. For now.
Just wondering where the officiating was in tonight’s game? The referees had a despicable amount of missed calls, late whistles and a general knack of just plain getting in the way. I’m not too sure how hard these officials worked tonight. Apparently they missed all of the “Winter Classic Preview!” hype. Second only to, of course, the overhyped Kesselmania.
If anything, this was a great preview of the Winter Classic. If and when the Bruins decide to play a full 60-minute game of hockey, the game may be slightly closer. The physical game will be there though, and the rivalry is slowly brewing between these two teams.
Final score: Flyers 3, Bruins 1.
Follow Mike for live Bruins updates during all home games at twitter.com/bruinsmike.
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