By Wayne Whittaker, Boston Bruins Correspondent In recent years, Bruins fans may have grown accustomed to playoff overtime games. Thursday night’s Game One victory over the New York Rangers was just the latest in a memorable string of post-season overtime victories for the Boston Bruins franchise. With Game Two approaching, now seems like a good ...
On Thursday night, fans were treated to 60+ minutes of hockey between two teams days removed from a grueling seven-game series in the first round of the 2013 NHL postseason. For the first 40 minutes of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, it was pretty obvious that both the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers were feeling the effects of their Game 7s played on Monday night. It was sloppy hockey from two tired teams in a game that seemed to be headed for irrelevancy, surely not to be remembered in playoff folklore for it’s thrilling moments and edge-of-your seat exciting.
Things changed in the third period, but hey, that’s nothing new–especially for the Bruins.
Game 7 proved once again what Bruins fans have been witness to over the past few years: anything can happen, especially in the playoffs.
It was a frightening first round series for New York Ranger fans. Down 2-0 to start the series, and down 3-2 after a game five OT loss, the Rangers found themselves staring elimination in the face before shutting the Washington Capitals out in back to back games to take the series in seven. It was ...
By Wayne Whittaker, Boston Bruins Correspondent I’m still not 100% certain that actually happened. There’s no way. This team? They’re the ones that blow 3-0 leads. They’re the ones that underachieve, collapse under pressure, that rally late but come up empty. This was the team that was supposed to lose Monday night. But instead, here we are, ...
A lifeless Bruins team rose from mediocrity to play their hearts out for one another and for themselves. They battled back from a three-goal deficit with 10 minutes to play in the game to force an overtime. The confidence and energy of the players on the ice were as high as any time in the playoffs thus far. The Bruins were winning Game 7. And nobody saw it coming. Not even me.
The Boston Bruins failed to finish off the Maple Leafs in Game 5, but don’t compare this team to the 2010 version.
The Boston Bruins can’t play like they did in Game 5 because if they do, there’s going to be a Game 7 and if there’s a Game 7–well, that’s not good.
The team has this problem with complacency. They start out strong, get ahead of their opponents, and then they stop. Everything stops, actually. They stop skating, stop hitting, and stop any type of effort that helps them to maintain a lead. It has been apparent in games this season and now the Bruins are doing it in the playoffs.
So here we go again.
By Mike Miccoli In Game 2 on Saturday night, the story wasn’t that the Bruins couldn’t keep up the momentum, it was that the Maple Leafs played on a higher level, looking like a different team than Game 1. As for the Bruins? Well, they just weren’t good enough. Make no mistake about it though, ...
Attention Boston Bruins Fans… the time has come… to Panic! … Actually, the exact opposite. Grab your towels, folks: While talk radio and the blogosphere* consistently eschew reason for histrionics, the B’s status is far from bleak. The Boston Bruins struggles are well documented. With an offense far from the juggernaut of ’11-’12, a powerplay ...
