Bruins 5 - Penguins 1

This was an absolutely outstanding game played by the Bruins tonight. They were making crisp passes that were smart and on the tape. This team really looked inspired proving that Tuesday's beating of the Senators was not a fluke. Every man on the ice was doing his job and much more. The Black and Gold limited shots by either blocking or taking away opportunities by their positional play to make things easier on Tim Thomas. Thomas is at his best when he does not need to face multiple shots each time down the ice. It was excellent defense, superb goaltending, fantastic breakouts, and terrific pressure in the offensive zone when Pittsburgh was attempting breakouts that made the difference tonight. Malkin was a ghost tonight, in fact, he barely even had an impact on the game. This may have shown Hossa where he should sign this summer...

I loved every minute of tonight's game. Of course, how could I forget? Mr. Lucic...



I wish I done this post before I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday but, hey, that happens.

Five in a row boys. Keep it going!

Bruins Notes For Tonight

Chuck Kobasew, who missed the last two games with a groin injury, will return to the lineup tonight against Pittsburgh. Kobasew skated with David Krejci and Milan Lucic during the morning skate.

Claude Julien didn't tip his hand on who will not play tonight, but the guess is that Peter Schaefer and Petteri Nokelainen will be the healthy scratches.

Tim Thomas will start tonight.

Shane Hnidy was the only Bruin not to skate this morning. Julien said it was a minor issue and that Hnidy will be at TD Banknorth Garden tonight.

Tonight's expected lineup:

Axelsson-Savard-Murray
Sturm-Metropolit-Kessel
Lucic-Krejci-Kobasew
Reich-Sobotka-Thornton

Chara-Wideman
Ference-Ward
Stuart-Hnidy

Thomas

Pittsburgh Notes

Marian Hossa, acquired by Pittsburgh five minutes before Tuesday's 3 p.m. trade deadline, will play his first game as a Penguin tonight. Hossa will wear his usual No. 18, which was given up by injured forward Adam Hall.

"It's definitely a relief," Hossa said. "Finally everything's over. I can start a new page and get a good start with a new team."

Hossa said he heard whispers about landing in Boston, where he would have been reunited with fellow Slovakian Zdeno Chara, former Atlanta teammates Marc Savard and Glen Metropolit, and ex-Senators Peter Schaefer and Shane Hnidy.

"I heard news about Boston too, but it never happened," said Hossa. "I always enjoy playing with Big Z. Maybe one day again. We'll see."

Ty Conklin will start tonight.

Ex-Bruin Hal Gill said he didn't expect being dealt by Toronto on Tuesday, but was happy to arrive in Pittsburgh. "I feel like they want me," said Gill, which brought a response from new teammate Ryan Malone. "We love you Skillsy. We really do," cracked Malone.

Senators Coach Canned

Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray fired head coach John Paddock today. Murray will now take over the duties behind the bench.

McKeon's Take: The only reason why I am posting this is because it looks like the Bruins 4-0 domination last night was the straw that broke the camel's back. Nice job boys.

Fluto's Notes 2-27-08

Boston Globe

*Chuck Kobasew made it through practice today, an indication that he will be ready for tomorrow's game against Pittsburgh. Kobasew recalled he felt a stinging pain when he first suffered the groin injury against Florida last week, but said he felt fine today. Claude Julien termed Kobasew as probable.

* Phil Kessel, the team's biggest trading chip, said he wasn't distracted by any trade talks. "If you get traded, you get traded," said Kessel. "You can't do anything about it. You can't control it."

* Andrew Alberts had an on-ice session with strength and conditioning coach John Whitesides after practice. Whitesides pushed Alberts hard through the session. One drill had Whitesides clutching onto Alberts, who sprinted through the neutral zone while pulling the coach. If Alberts continues his progress, there's a chance he could practice with his teammates next week.

* Julien guessed that Marian Hossa would skate with Evgeni Malkin tomorrow on Pittsburgh's No. 1 line. If that's the case, the Bruins are sure to deploy Zdeno Chara and Dennis Wideman against the line, and also send out P.J. Axelsson, Marc Savard, and Glen Murray.

* Julien was surprised by Ottawa's performance last night. "We've seen this team enough to know that their confidence level is just not there," said Julien. "This was not a team that I recognized. With the talent that they have, they just didn't seem like a confident group."

* Tim Thomas is expected to start tomorrow.

Boston 4 - Ottawa 0

If the trade deadline naysayers could see the Bruins now they would be shocked, as they claimed to have hitched a ride off of the Bruins wagon. Well, I'm sure they didn't stray too far and they will hop back on momentarily. Thus, making them bandwagon fans, and no longer a fan.

Outstanding game by all parties in Black and Gold. Tim Thomas was as solid as gold, the grind line (sorry Detroit) did their job and created energy from the drop of the puck as the Reich-Sobotka-Thornton combination started the game. The defense also did not allow many opportunities to a very potent Senators line-up.

To quote from a previous post from today...

We may see a lot of jump in the Black and Gold tonight as many guys will be relieved that they do not have to move. Confidence from upper management in not disrupting the team's chemistry should be a huge morale boost for this club.

Minus a letdown at the beginning of the 3rd period the team played solid at both ends of the ice all game long. This team showed that it has the intensity, the chemistry, the desire, and the skills to play in June.

Great game boys, it was very entertaining to watch.

Tonight's Lines vs Ottawa

No live blog tonight. It's been a long day at the computer and I need a beer and the big screen...

Based on pregame warmups:

Axelsson-Savard-Murray
Sturm-Metropolit-Kessel
Lucic-Krejci-Schaefer
Reich-Sobotka-Thornton

Chara-Wideman
Ference-Ward
Stuart-Hnidy

Thomas

* Martin Gerber (23-10-2, 2.67 GAA, .912 save percentage) will start in goal for the Senators.

Stand Pete

The headline says it all. General Manager Peter Chiarelli stood still and did not make a panic move that would have sacrificed the depth of this organization. If you really think about it, the Bruins come out as huge winners in all of this. No one near the Bruins in the playoff hunt improved significantly in any way shape or form. In fact, the Bruins could grab a five spot just from not making a move! If the Bruins can maintain a strong defensive play and score when opportunities arise this team could do damage. Chiarelli did not sacrifice any of the future and this team could still potentially open some eyes in a very weak Eastern Conference.

We may see a lot of jump in the Black and Gold tonight as many guys will be relieved that they do not have to move. Confidence from upper management in not disrupting the team's chemistry should be a huge morale boost for this club.

I may be doing a live blog, I'll keep you posted.

Funny Feeling About Hossa

I still have a funny feeling that Chiarelli could pry Hossa out of Atlanta without giving up Phil Kessel in the 11th hour. The Thrashers may get desperate heading toward 3 O'Clock and make a desperation move so they don't lose Hossa this summer for nothing.

Update 2:58

Hossa To Pittsburgh...wow...when Crosby comes back the team is ridiculous.

***Remember, trades can still be announced if they were already in the process***

[3:00] [TRADE DEADLINE] [3:00]

From the Bruins website 3:09 pm
"The deadline has, indeed, passed and we stood pat."

A few more trades have been and may yet to be announced...check the stat tracker below

Roster Mishap?

Phil Kessel is not currently on the Boston Bruins roster on their website. Is this a mistake or is Hossa coming to town?

Update 1:45 pm

According to TSN, Phil Kessel's absence is merely due to a paper transaction to make him eligible for the AHL playoffs. I'm not sure why he would do this now. I'm kind of lost on it so, I'll just let it play out.

Update 2:19
From the Bruins Website
Jim Benning, From the 2 o'clock podcast:
"Phil never got traded...we're keeping Phil. Phil is part of our future and he's a Bruin."

Jim also said:
"We got one more thing in the fire, here. We'll see how that turns out."

Trade Deadline Tracker

To Predators: Jan Hlavac
To Lightning: 7th Rd Pick
[3:49]
-
To Thrashers: F Joe Motzko
To Capitals: F Alex Giroux
[3:26 pm]
-
To Ducks: Jean-Sebastian Aubin
To Kings: 7th Rd Pick
[3:25 pm]
-
To Ducks: D Marc-Andre Bergeron
To Islanders: 3rd Rd Pick
[3:23 pm]
-
To Rangers: F Fredrik Sjostrom; G David LeNeveu; F Josh Gratton
To Coyotes: F Marcel Hossa; G Al Montoya
[3:21 pm]
-
To Panthers: Chad Kilger
To Leafs: 3rd Rd Pick
[3:18 pm]
-
To Red Wings: Brad Stuart
To Kings: 2nd Rd Pick; 4th Rd Pick
[3:15 pm]
-
To Wild: Chris Simon
To Islanders: 6th Rd Pick
[3:11 pm]
-
***Remember, trades can still be announced if they were already in the process***

[3:00] [TRADE DEADLINE] [3:00]

To Pittsburgh: RW Marian Hossa; RW Pascal Dupuis
To Atlanta: RW Colby Armstrong; C Erik Chistiensen; C Angelo Esposito; 1st Rd Pick
[2:58]
-
To Rangers: Christian Backman
To Blues: 4th Rd Pick
[2:50 pm]
-
To Pittsburgh: D Hal Gill
To Toronto: 2nd and 5th Rd Pick
[2:38 pm]
-
To Capitals: LW Matt Cooke
To Canucks: LW Matt Pettinger
[1:36]
-
To Islanders: D Rob Davison
To Sharks: 7th Rd Pick
[1:31 pm]
-
To Capitals: C Sergei Federov
To Blue Jackets: D Ted Ruth
[1:10]
-
To Avalanche: D Adam Foote
To Blue Jackets: Conditional 1st Rd Pick and conditional pick on Foote resigning
[1:01 pm]
-
To Senators: F Martin Lapointe
To Blackhawks: 2008 6th Rd Pick
[12:36 pm]
-
To Avalanche: D Ruslan Salei
To Panthers: D Karlis Skrastins; 3rd Rd Pick
[12:23 pm]
-
To Hurricanes: RW Tuomo Ruutu
To Blackhawks: LW Andrew Ladd
[12:16 pm]
-
To Capitals: G Cristobal Huet
To Canadiens: 2009 2nd Rd Pick
[11:53 am]
-
To Stars: C Brad Richards; G Johan Holmqvist
To Lightning: G Mike Smith; C Jeff Halpern; W Jussi Jokinen
[11:42 am]
-
To Sharks: D Brian Campbell
To Sabres: RW Steve Bernier; 2008 1st Rd Pick
[11:28 am]
-
To Panthers: D Wade Belak
To Leafs: 2008 5th Rd Pick
[11:14 am]
-
To Devils: D Bryce Salvador
To Blues: RW Cam Janssen
[10:30 am]
-
To Flyers: C Vaclav Prospal
To Lightning: Alexander Picard; 2009 conditional draft pick
[10:03 pm]

Bruins Hossa Bubble Popped?

According to Ross McKeon (no relation) on Yahoo Sports there are already two trades set to happen tommorow. One of them involves Hossa and neither of the trades involve Boston.

The Dallas Stars will acquire Tampa Bay Lightning center Brad Richards in a multi-player trade and Atlanta Thrashers right wing Marian Hossa is heading to the Montreal Canadiens before the NHL trade deadline, an executive within the league said Monday night.

The Habs just got a whole lot better my friends. Still looking forward to tomorrow...

Update 6:21 a.m.
Here is a morning read (and another) that describes why Chiarelli backed out of the deal. It looks like we have a talented and smart GM on our hands. A rental without a guarantee would not help the team right now. Excellent job Pete!

Deadline Thoughts

At 3 P.M. on Tuesday afternoon the trade deadline will come to a close. All NHL rosters will be set (except for call-ups/send downs, and the occasional waiver wire pick-up) and teams will make their push for the playoffs or set themselves to give prospects experience and throw in the towel for 2007-2008. I feel as if tomorrow could be a busy day. I heard on ESPN that since 1994 there have been moves in the double digits every year. Here are my deadline thoughts...

-I am having difficulty committing to one side or another on whether or not Hossa will be dealt here. Some say that a deal was nixed as soon as Chiarelli came out and claimed that Kessel will remain a Bruin. I still feel that Chiarelli still could trade Kessel for Hossa but, could also trade other high end prospects for him as well. What is worse? Chiarelli coming and saying "I am trying to trade one of our best prospects," and not completing the deal potentially making Kessel feel unwanted; or Chiarelli saying "I am not trading Kessel," and then landing the best player at the trade deadline. With the latter Chiarelli can respond to the media with, "A opportunity to obtain a player like Hossa does not come very often. I felt that our team needed a player like Hossa. This decision has nothing against Phil as he is a terrific young talent with a lot of potential to do some terrific things in this league. We want to wish him the best of luck and thank him for all he did here." What's the best scenario? Thank you.

-Bruins fans need to understand that it is rather difficult to move under-productive players like Hnidy and Schaefer. Please, for the sake of your sanity, and mine, stop making trade offers that bring back great young talent for Hnidy and a pick from teams competing for a playoff spot. I know Bruins fans have had to live with the infamous Thornton trade but, before you make these inane offers, put yourselves in the shoes of the opposing GM and see if you would make the trade. Come on folks this isn't NHL 08 where the opposing GMs can not reject trades.

-If Hossa does not come to Boston, there is a 99% chance that the Bruins will not be able to sign him in July. It is more likely than not that any team that trades for him will sign an extension. Don't be sold on him coming here in his prime if he isn't a Bruin come 3:01 Tuesday afternoon.

-If Chiarelli does not make a move tomorrow he is not a bad GM. This program has a lot of promise for the future and it would be a federal offense if he traded a bunch of prospects away. According to reports from people who have access to their locker room, the team chemistry is very high. The 2004 Red Sox won with a great group of guys while other teams with a bunch of stars didn't have as much heart and fun. Look at the New York Rangers the past few years.

-The asking prices of some of the guys like Hossa and Jokinen are so high because so many teams are inquiring about them. Once it gets closer to three o'clock the asking price could sky rocket or it could go low if the GMs are really desperate to get a guy out, i.e. Hossa. There is still a very small chance that the Bruins could obtain Hossa without Kessel but, it is very minute. If it starts to get closer to three o'clock and he hasn't been dealt, keep an eye out for this scenario.

Looking forward to tomorrow...

Forsberg Signs

That's right, Peter Forsberg is back with the Colorado Avalanche. This wasn't a trade but, is this the drop that breaks the dam? Only time will tell...

Update 11:19

Sorry I didn't get this out earlier, I was out for a late dinner. Prospal was sent to Philadelphia for a defenseman and a pick. Not a bad deal for Philly. I'm glad I didn't miss a Bruins trade but, I will do a Deadline Thoughts post after a load of laundry...

Another Former Sen Rumored

Boston Herald

The Herald is reporting that the Bruins have some interest in former Ottawa Senator and current Chicago Blackhawk, Martin Havlat. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said that some of the big names will stay in town by tomorrow's trade deadline (Tuesday, 3 P.M.) but, Hossa will not be one of them. Unfortunately for hopeful Boston fans, Hossa may not be wearing Black and Gold Tuesday night because of the awfully high asking price. Although it is not out of the question, Hossa looks to be headed elsewhere as they were seeking out Phil Kessel whom Chiarelli wants to retain.

McKeon's Hossa Take: I would love to see him here but, if the asking price hurts the farm system then it's useless. I truly believe in Chiarelli at this point. He is trying to rebuild this franchise after being handed nearly nothing. Remember how good the prospects and the farm system were before Chiarelli? How good is Providence now? The future is bright, I rest my case.

Havlat Take: Havlat as a Plan B doesn't seem like a terrible option. I have a feeling he would work well with Marc Savard on the first line as he has a terrific scoring talent. My approval (like I have any pull with the Bruins front office) would depend upon the asking price. According to Sportsnet.ca he can play either wing...hmm...versatile.

Bergeron on WEEI

Some time after 1:30 today, Patrice Bergeron will field questions from Dale Arnold and Mike Holley on WEEI. Be sure to tune in and support one of our favorite Bruins!

Update 1:48
Patrice sounded very confident about coming back this season while speaking on WEEI today. He mentioned that he is taking this very slow because of the severity of the injury but, he is taking everything in a positive light. With his positive attitude it seems like the best positive result can come from all this, full health. Bergeron also mentioned that these last two days (skated for the first time in as many days) he turned a corner in his recovery. Think about how Bergeron sounded compared to today's interview. He has done a 180 since then. The next corner will probably be him practicing with the team again.

Get well, Patrice! We can not wait to see you at full health wearing the Spoked B in the Garden again.

Suggestion Box

With 13 days in the books here at The Spoked B I feel like we have made some pretty successful strides in such a short period of time. I think it can mostly be attributed to all Bruins fans for being so passionate about their favorite team and the sport of hockey. Never let that passion go. I was curious if anyone had any suggestions for the site. Maybe things you would like to see or things that you have seen thus far that rub you the wrong way. Please leave your suggestions in the comment box or feel free to e-mail them to the address on the side bar. I hope you all continue to read and comment as you have. The site doesn't work without you guys!

Thanks and go Bruins!

-McKeon

Long Term IR Update

Chiarelli said he is confident Patrice Bergeron will try skating “any day now,” and also noted that it is not out of the question that goalie Manny Fernandez (knee surgery) could play again this season. Fernandez will resume skating in the coming week.

“There’s a chance he might play in Providence,” said Chiarelli. “Or who knows? He might be ready for a game here.”