SB Nation - Michael Ryder

Bruins fall to Islanders 3-2 in disappointing OT loss

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:12:38 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

11 days ago: New York Islanders' Frans Nielsen (51) waves to the crowd as he is called back onto the ice after being named the star of the game after scoring the game winning goal in overtime at an NHL hockey game against the Boston Bruins at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, New York, on Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009. The Islanders won the game 3-2. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

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Despite out-shooting the Islanders 32-19 and controlling the play for most of the game, the Bruins fell to the New York Islanders 3-2 in overtime on Saturday night at Nassau Coliseum. Frans Nielsen got the game winner for the Islanders with a breakaway goal 24 seconds into the extra session.

Michael Ryder and David Krejci were the goal scorers for the Bruins. Tim Thomas got the start in goal and gave 3 goals on 19 shots in the loss. Thomas is now 7-7-4 on the season.

The Bruins will be back in action on Monday night when they host the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden.

85 Reasons to Hate the Canadiens

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:57:01 -0000

More photos » by Winslow Townson - AP

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The Bruins will be in Montreal tomorrow night to face-off against the Canadiens. The Habs will be celebrating their 100th anniversary tomorrow night, which is weird because they have been milking this 100th season thing for 2 years now. Instead of doing my typical game preview, I thought I would do something ~~completely unoriginal and hacky~~ different. TSN recently came up with a list of 100 reasons to love the Canadiens, so I decidedly to come up with a rebuttal. The following are 85 reasons to hate the Montreal Canadiens (in no particular order) to celebrate 85 years of Bruins hockey.

1. Almost all of their Stanley Cup wins were a direct result of an unfair player allocation system

2. 2008

3. 2004

4. 2002

5. 1989

6. 1987

7. 1986

8. 1985

9. 1984

10. 1979

11. 1978

12. 1977

13. 1971

14. 1969

15. 1968

16. 1958

17. 1957

18. 1955

19. 1954

20. 1953

21. 1952

22. 1947

23. 1946

24. 1931

25. 1930

26. Their lame fans that flood the streets of Boston

27. Their fans celebrated a first round win over an 8 seed by set their own city's police cars on fire

28. One of their greatest players ever has a nickname that sounds like a sex toy

29. One of their former "coaching masterminds" can't even read a children's book

30. Their fans are living in the past.

31. Ken Dryden F__ that guy!

32. Patrick Roy Just a poor man's Marty Brodeur

33. They are a bunch of purse snatchers

34. They have better diving form than Rodney Rangerfield in "Back to School"

35. Guy LaFleur His son is a creep and the old man isn't much better

36. Ole! Ole! Ole! Ah how cute. You got a little song you sing.

37. I feel guilty every time I order a Molson

38. Who calls for a stick measurement in the Stanley Cup Finals?

39. Their dumb fans that would rather have a team of French Canadians than a competitive team

40. Their jailbird throwback jerseys

41. I hate any team that has a Gionta on it

42. The Habs couldn't give the B's much of a series last year and I think it hurt the B's in Round 2

43. They love to play chippy, but rarely answer the bell

44. Maxim Lapierre's gutless late hit on #81 last year

45. Mike Komisarek's eye gouge on Matt Hunwick

46. George Laraque's idle threats

47. They are the NHL team of choice for Vermont's dirty hippies

48. Most of their forwards aren't tall enough to ride most of the rides at the amusement park

49. Their fans think it is classy to boo the American national anthem

50. They undeservedly got a bunch of their players in the All-Star Game last year.

51. To quote Bill Burr: "their silly little fans who act like they live in Paris even though you can see the place from Vermont"

52. Celine Dion almost bought the team and nobody in Montreal seemed to be embarrassed about this

53. Habs fans boo Chara every time he touches the puck and even the most die hard Habs fan couldn't tell you why.

54. I need to use a passport and my poor high school French to see them play in Montreal

55.

56. They used to employ Mike Ribiero (Timmy's pick)

57. They used to employ Shayne Corson (Timmy's pick)

58. Ryan O'Byrne's turtle move

59. Claude Lemieux gutless puke

60.

61. Guy Carbonneau looks like a movie villain

62. They won the majority of their Stanley Cups in the Original 6 era

63. They thought Hal Gill was a solid off-season pick-up

64. "Too Many Men on The Ice"

65. Red, White, and Blue used to respectable colors

66. The Habs 164 different retro jerseys they have used to commemorate

67. This has been the longest "year" ever

68. Youppi That thing is just flat out creepy

69. They are own by a Brewery, but they can't figure out how to control their team like Doug and Bob McKenzie in "Strange Brew"

70. They hate Michael Ryder

71. They are the only team to get Patrice Bergeron to drop the gloves

72. They cut Mr. Kathryn Tappen

73. Carey Price's haircut

74. Kovalev faking an injury in the 2004 playoffs

75.

76. 1 beer per person limits at The Garden for B's-Habs games

77.

78. The Habs went to a Christian retreat called "Teen Ranch" for team bonding

79. This Guy who took his wife's name and wears a personalized Habs jersey with his new last name on it.

80. Their confused fans

81. Tom Kostopoulos' flying elbow

82.

83. Glen Metropolit used to be a guy you could root for

84. No matter where the B's finish they always seem to draw the Habs

85. Because they are the Habs. You are supposed to hate them.

Bruins blow late lead, grind out 4-3 win over Ottawa in SO

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:56:28 -0000

More photos » by Michael Dwyer - AP

25 days ago: Boston Bruins' Michael Ryder, right, celebrates his goal in the shootout against the Ottawa Senators in an NHL hockey game, Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009, in Boston. The Bruins won 4-3. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

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For the third straight game and the 11th time this season, the Bruins found themselves in an overtime game. The Bruins held a 3-2 lead late in the third period after Dennis Wideman's power play goal midway through the third period put them on top, but the Bruins weren't able to hold on for the win as Milan Michalek's goal with 19.2 seconds remaining in regulation forced overtime. The game eventually went to a shootout, where the B's prevailed thanks to a goal by Michael Ryder and some big saves by Tim Thomas, who redeemed himself after giving up a soft goal to Michalek late in the third period.

The Senators struck first on their first shot of the game 4:52 into the game when the Bruins turned over the puck in the defensive zone and Milan Michalek fed the puck to Daniel Alfredsson, who fired a quick snap shot from the slot that beat Tim Thomas.

The Senators added a power play goal by Milan Michalek two and a half minutes later. With Marc Savard in the box for high-sticking, Patrice Bergeron lost an edge and took a shot off his leg while he was sprawled on the ice essentially creating a 5 on 3 for Ottawa. Daniel Alfredsson "set up in Gretzky's Office" and found Michalek on the right wing side of the Thomas' net and Michalek's tough angle shot found the back of the net for the 2-0 lead while Bergeron limped to the bench without putting weight on the leg. Bergeron tried to give it a go his next shift but quickly returned to the Bruins bench and headed down the tunnel to the dressing room. He was able return to the Bruins bench late in the first period and played the rest of the game.

Despite only putting 5 shots on goal in the first period, Ottawa skated off the ice after the first 20 minutes of play with a 2-0 lead.

The Bruins cut the lead to 2-1 with a power play goal by David Krejci 59 seconds into the second period. Mark Recchi lugged the puck into the Ottawa zone on the left wing and sent a centering pass to David Krejci, who skated right down the middle of the ice and beat Brian Elliott with a backhander up high.

The Bruins tied it up at 2-2 on a power play goal from Michael Ryder at 9:57 of the middle period. Zdeno Chara held the puck at the point and passed the puck to Michael Ryder at the left half-wall. Ryder skated into the slot and fired a quick snap shot that found the back of the net for his 7th goal of the season.

The Bruins got their third power play goal of the game with 10:41 remaining in the third period when we floated a wrist shot from the high slot that found its way past Elliott for the go-ahead goal with Mark Recchi providing the screen at the top of the crease.

Ottawa tied up the game with 19.2 second remaining when Milan Michalek's tough angle shot from the left circle skimmed off Tim Thomas' left pad and into the far side of the net for his second goal of the game.

After five minutes of scoreless overtime hockey, the game headed to a shootout.

Shootout

B's 1st Shooter: Bergeron skated in deep and lost control of the puck.

Sens 1st Shooter: Alex Kovalev faked a shot on the forehand and missed the net on the backhand.

B's 2nd Shooter: Blake Wheeler fired a forehand shot that was handled by Elliot.

Sens 2nd Shooter: Right pad kick out by Tim Thomas

B's 3rd Shooter: Krejci's backhander hits the post.

Sens 4th Shooter: Jason Spezza's shot missed the net

B's 4th Shooter: Michael Ryder's fired a shot that beat Brian Elliott up high on the gloveside. 1-0 Bruins

Sens 4th Shooter: Thomas shutdown Mike Fisher with a left pad save to seal the win for the B's. Bruins Win

Final - 11.28.2009	1	2	3	OT	SO	Total
Ottawa Senators	2	0	1	0	0	3
Boston Bruins	0	2	1	0	1	4

Complete Coverage >

Notes:

- The win gives the Bruins sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division.

- The Bruins set a franchise record by going to the shootout for the third straight game.

- The Bruins out-shot the Senators 33-22.

- The Bruins went 3 for 5 on the power play. This was only the fourth time this season that the Bruins scored 2 or more power play goals.

- Tim Thomas (19 saves) looked a little rusty in his first game back from a hand injury, but played well enough to get the win and made some big stops in the shootout.

- Zdeno Chara and Steve Begin were the only Bruins skaters not to register a shot on goal.

- Mark Stuart blocked 4 shots

- Daniel Paille recorded 5 hits.

- The B's are off until Wednesday when the host the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden.

3 Stars (as selected by 98.5 The Sports Hub)

1st Star: David Krejci (goal, assist, 56% on face-offs)

2nd Star: Daniel Alfredsson (goal, assist, +2)

3rd Star: Michael Ryder (regulation goal, game-winning shootout goal)

Bruins edge Thrashers 4-3 in shootout win

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:27:57 -0000

More photos » by John Amis - AP

about 1 month ago: Boston Bruins right wing Michael Ryder, center, celebrates his goal with left wing Marco Sturm (16) as Atlanta Thrashers center Marty Reasoner (19) skates away during the second period of their NHL hockey game Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)

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The Bruins gave up another lead in the final minute of regulation, but managed to escape with a 4-3 shootout win over the Atlanta Thrashers on the road Thursday night.

The Bruins got off to a quick 1-0 start, when Marco Sturm went to the net and Mark Recchi put the puck on his tape and Sturm's quick one-timer from the slot beat Ondrej Pavelec.

Michael Ryder made it 2-0 with 1:49 left in the first period after he deflected in a shot from Blake Wheeler.

Atlanta cut the Bruins lead to 2-1 when Nik Antropov tipped Tobias Enstrom's shot past Tuukka Rask at 9:20 of the second period.

With Mark Recchi in the box for a high-stick, Ilya Kovalchuk fired a slapper from the high slot to tie the game up at 2-2 with 5:37 left in middle period.

Michael Ryder's scored his second goal of the game to re-gain the lead for the B's on the power play with 3:15 remaining in the second period. No, that isn't a typo. The Bruins actually scored a power play goal. David Krejci collected the puck behind the net and fed a pass to Ryder, whose quick tough angle shot from the left circle found the twine.

The Thrashers knotted it up with 41.1 seconds in regulation off of a wrister from the right circle via a feed from Ilya Kovalchuk.

After a scoreless overtime session, the Bruins headed to yet another shootout:

Atlanta's 1st Shooter: Rich Peverley fired a forehand shot wide on the gloveside.

Boston's 1st Shooter: Patrice Bergeron skated in right to left and made a hard stop and cut back to his right and tucked the puck past Pavelec. 1-0 Bruins

Atlanta's 2nd Shooter: Slava Kozlov was denied on the backhand by Rask with the left pad.

Boston's 2nd Shooter: Blake Wheeler appeared to have Pavelec beat, but lost control of the puck

Atlanta's 3rd Shooter: Ilya Kovalchuk's shot is stopped by Rask. Bruins Win

Final - 11.19.2009	1	2	3	OT	SO	Total
Boston Bruins	2	1	0	0	1	4
Atlanta Thrashers	0	2	1	0	0	3

Complete Coverage >

Notes:

- Tuukka Rask turned aside 32 shots.

- Lesson of the night: Good things happen when you got to the net. Sturm's goal and Ryder's first goal were both a result of getting to the front of the net.

- This team is bound and determined to give all their fans a heart attack at some point during this season.

- Milan Lucic made his return to the lineup. He wasn't too much of a factor, but it was nice to see him back out there. He logged 14:01 of ice time (all even strength) and had 2 shots and a hit.

- Michael Ryder had a 2 goal night. Ryder has historically been a slow-starter and this seems like about the same time that he caught fire last year.

- The Bruins are back in action tomorrow night in Buffalo. I completely forgot about tomorrow's game, so Timmy is bailing me out with a preview.

Habs vs Former Habs at the Quarter Point

Robert L — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:00:24 -0000

I haven't taken a look at this since the 10 game mark (October 27), but it seems that the former Habs players are now gaining a slight edge on their current counterparts.

At the quarter season point, it is still too soon to draw much of a conclusion, especially considering how unstable the Canadiens' lineup is these days

Most of the players on both sides have kept up their early season pace going, with exceptions being Tanguay, Lang and Koivu, who have picked it up for the former Habs and Marc-Andre Bergeron, who now leads all Canadiens' D in scoring. Tailing off somewhat, are the Bruins' Michael Ryder and Steve Begin.

Most notable among these statistics may just be the save percentages - added to this list for the first time here. I chose to include them for obvious reasons, that being the Canadiens duos numbers as compared to the former netminders now tending goal for stronger clubs.

The Habs much maligned duo of Halak and Price take a beating a little too often, but as it appears here, they could just as well be the team's saving grace.

*Players below are ranking by points and not in comparison.

Jaroslav Halak 8-5-3-0 2.62-9.04 / Jose Theodore 13-5-3-4 3.24-8.83 (Capitals)

Carey Price 13-5-8-0 2.99-9.06 / Cristobal Huet 15-9-4-1 2.25-9.02 (Blackhawks)

Marc-Andre Bergeron 14-3-4-7 / 21-4-7-11 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 20-4-2-6 / 19-0-8-8 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Jaroslav Spacek 21-1-5-6 / 19-2-5-7 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Paul Mara 21-0-6-6 / 15-2-4-6 Ron Hainsey (Thrashers)

Josh Gorges 11-1-1-2 / 6-0-2-2 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Hal Gill 14-1-0-1 / 16-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Totals - Defense　

Habs: Total GP: 101 / Goals: 10 /Assists: 18 / Points: 28

Former Habs: Total GP: 96 / Goals: 8 / Assists: 26 / Points: 34

Tomas Plekanec 21-4-15-19 / 20-6-10-16 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Mike Cammalleri 21-8-8-16 / 19-3-9-12 Mikhail Grabovski (Maple Leafs)

Brian Gionta 19-8-5-13 / 18-4-8-12 Alex Tanguay (Lightning)

Scott Gomez 21-2-9-11 / 20-5-6-11 Robert Lang (Coyotes)

Glen Metropolit 15-4-6-10 / 18-4-6-10 Alex Kovalev (Senators)

Travis Moen 21-4-3-7 / 20-2-7-9 Steve Begin (Bruins)

Andrei Kostitsyn 21-2-4-6 / 15-2-6-8 Saku Koivu (Ducks)

Maxim Lapierre 21-1-4-5 / 20-4-3-7 Michael Ryder (Bruins)

Max Pacioretty 21-2-2-4 / 20-2-5-7 Sergei Samsonov (Hurricanes)

Guillaume Latendresse 21-2-1-3 / 14-3-2-5 Arron Asham (Flyers)

Georges Laraque 8-0-1-1 / 20-2-3-5 Christopher Higgins (Rangers)

Matt D'Agostini 11-1-0-1 / 20-1-0-1 Tom Kostopoulos (Hurricanes)

Totals - Forwards　

Habs: Total GP: 221 / Goals: 38 /Assists: 58 / Points: 96

Former Habs: Total GP: 224 / Goals: 38 / Assists: 64 / Points: 102

Totals - Team

Habs: Total GP: 322 / Goals: 48 /Assists: 76 / Points: 124

Former Habs: Total GP: 320 / Goals: 46 / Assists: 90 / Points: 136

Incidentally, I'm not much of a video gamer when it comes to such things as NHL 2010 or EA Sports and stuff. (I used to joke that X-Box sounded like a former girlfriend!) A reader of this site has been looking into aligning the teams above against one another for a series of games. That sounded like an interesting offer, and I took him up on it. Once the results come forth, you'll read about it here.

Habs vs Former Habs - October 27

Robert L — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:15:37 -0000

The Canadiens players made some interesting gains on their former counterparts this past week. A pair of 5 goal games didn't hurt matters.

A pair of quick clarification notes for starters.

I've flipped Markov for Bergeron and Bouillon for Hainsey for no other reason than it is more interesting to follow players who are actually pointing. By mid-season or later, depending on Markov's return date, I might just list 7 defensemen per side.

Additionally, the players ranked side by side aren't neccessarily being compared to one another. There's been some confusion or misunderstanding about this. Players on both sides of the columns are ranked simply by points. If that happens to align one against another, you can draw your own conclusions on that note.

Now onto the interesting bits:

The biggest jumps on the Canadiens' players side were made by Cammalleri, the NHL's second star of the week, and Glen Metropolit, who returned from his rib injury and has posted consistently in three games played. Gionta, Gomez and Plekanec have had some multi-point games to shore up their totals as well. Among the depth players, there's a few added digits alongside the names of Moen, Lapierre, Pacioretty and D 'Agostini.

Among the former Habs, most have had a quiet week with just a point or two through three games. Perhaps the biggest surprise continues to be Steve Begin, who potted a couple of goals this past week, to add to his 4 assists. The same goes for Arron Asham, who's an anomaly on this list, as the sole player not cast off during the Gainey regime.

The six Canadiens defensemen have 7-11-18 totals through 11 games. The former Habs D comes in at 3-9-12 in roughly 9 games played on average.

Mara, Spacek and Bergeron have 3-9-12 on their own, while defensemen the Canadiens let go last season, Komisarek, Bouillon, Schneider and Dandenault are pointless.

On the surface, Canadiens forwards have 22-36-58 totals, while the former Hab forwards come in at 22-29-51. The former guys have played a few games less each, so it is still pretty much an even draw in that category.

Here's where it gets a bit more revealing:

Gomez - Gionta - Cammalleri: 11-14-25

Koivu - Tanguay - Kovalev: 4-5-9

A second tier of reel ins versus castoffs would look like this:

Moen and Metropolit: 4-7-11

Kostopoulos and Begin: 3-4-7

The removal of Lang (1-3-4) from the Canadiens center position seems to have helped Plekanec (2-8-10) return to a form shown two years ago.

Here's the rundown on all players:

Jaroslav Halak 5-4-1-0 2.28 / Jose Theodore 7-2-2-2 2.55 (Capitals)

Carey Price 6-2-4-0 3.36 / Cristobal Huet 8-4-2-1 2.49 (Blackhawks)

Paul Mara 11-0-5-5 / 10-1-3-4 Mark Streit (Islanders)

Roman Hamrlik 10-3-1-4 / 9-1-2-3 Francois Beauchemin (Maple Leafs)

Jaroslav Spacek 11-1-3-4 / 8-0-3-3 Craig Rivet (Sabres)

Marc-Andre Bergeron 4-2-1-3 / 8-1-1-2 Ron Hainsey (Thrashers)

Josh Gorges 11-1-1-2 / 3-0-0-0 Sheldon Souray (Oilers)

Hal Gill 11-0-0-0 / 9-0-0-0 Mike Komisarek (Maple Leafs)

Mike Cammalleri 11-5-7-12 / 11-3-6-9 Mike Ribeiro (Stars)

Tomas Plekanec 11-2-8-10 / 10-3-3-6 Michael Ryder (Bruins)

Scott Gomez 11-2-5-7 / 10-2-4-6 Steve Begin (Bruins)

Brian Gionta 11-4-2-6 / 9-2-3-5 Mikhail Grabovski (Maple Leafs)

Glen Metropolit 5-1-5-6 / 9-3-1-4 Alexei Kovalev (Senators)

Travis Moen 11-3-2-5 / 10-1-3-4 Robert Lang (Coyotes)

Andrei Kostitsyn 11-1-3-4 / 10-1-3-4 Sergei Samsonov (Hurricanes)

Maxim Lapierre 11-1-2-3 / 6-3-0-3 Arron Asham* (Flyers)

Max Pacioretty 11-1-1-2 / 10-1-2-3 Saku Koivu (Ducks)

Guillaume Latendresse 11-1-0-1 / 12-0-2-2 Christopher Higgins (Rangers)***

Georges Laraque 8-0-1-1 / 9-0-2-2 Alex Tanguay (Lightning)

Matt D'Agostini 9-1-0-1 / 10-1-0-1 Tom Kostopoulos (Hurricanes)

Habs Total GP: 179 / Goals: 29 /Assists: 47 / Points: 76

Former Habs Total GP: 160 / Goals: 25 / Assists: 38 / Points: 63

Week Three / After 7 games: F 112-15-26-41 / 117-15-31-46

Week Two / After 5 games: F 80-12-20-32 / 67-8-22-30

Week One / After 2 games: F 33-6-11-17 / 23-4-13-17

On the former Habs front, a player I always appreciated was Chris Higgins. A reader asked about him on Saturday, suggesting a parallel between him returning to Montreal and the similar storyline of Kovalev's return a week earlier. Sadly, Higgins storyline never quite materialized. He took an untimely penalty and found himself in John Tortorella's dog pound for the third period. Rangers' fans are seriously worried about him.

Role Players Shine as Flyers Beat Bruins in Shootout, 4-3

Geoff Detweiler — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:31:17 -0000

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[Recap] - [Boxscore] - [Complete Coverage] - [BOS Reaction]

Receiving goals from Chris Pronger, Darroll Powe, and Arron Asham should always be a luxury. Having Ole-Kristian Tollefsen lead the team in points is just unusual. With two assists and a fight, Tollefsen was a most unlikely player of the game selection by the CSN broadcast.

Claude Giroux netted the lone goal in the shootout and the Flyers won when Michael Ryder found iron on the Bruins third and final shot. Ray Emery finished with 23 saves on 26 shots, including more than a couple highlight-reel saves. Overall, Emery had a solid game for the Flyers, even with the huge rebound he let up on the third Bruin goal.

Concerns about the Flyers long-layoff were seen early, but went away quickly. After going up 1-0 on a Chris Pronger slap shot, the Flyers found themselves down 2-1 in the second period. But a mere 65 seconds after falling behind, Darroll Powe slammed one home from atop the crease to tie the game back up. Less than 5 minutes later, Arron Asham broke down the right wing on a great outlet pass from Tollefsen and shot far corner, beating Tukka Rask to give the Flyers a 3-2 lead.

After a quiet game from the officials (three penalties called through the first 58 minutes), Simon Gagne was called for hooking with just over 90 seconds to go in the game. The call was questionable, but the Flyers almost won the game when Jeff Carter stole a cross ice-pass (seriously, do teams not watch film?) and broke in all alone on Rask. The goalie wasn't fooled though, and the stage was then set for Claude Giroux to net the game winner.

After the jump, random thoughts, Questions with Answers, and the Comment of the Night.

Random Thoughts:

As mentioned in the comments by Ben Feldman, Emery left his crease in the shootout. Hopefully this trend continues.
Dan Carcillo continues to be an image of discipline. After taking a dangerous hit from behind, he showed some displeasure, but kept just cool enough not to draw a penalty. He walked the line today, but you know he would have jumped it last year.
Ian Laperriere had a very good game. He had three hits and a blocked shot, finishing a +1 with just under 16 minutes of ice time.
Coach John Stevens did a good job dishing out the ice time tonight as all 20 skaters finished with over 10 minutes of ice time. Chris Pronger still managed 28:16 though.
Fourth line production was huge tonight. Darroll Powe's goal was assisted by Dan Carcillo and OKT, while Danny Syvret and Mika Pyorala were also on the ice.
Danny Briere, Jeff Carter, and Scott Hartnell each finished a -2 on the night, while Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn were a -1. Every other Flyer skater was a +1. This is becoming a worry, as the five are now a combined -21 on the year. They are also the five worst Flyers in that category.

Questions with Answers:

How does the defense as a whole perform after a terrible group outing last Saturday? This was a very good game for the defense. They got one goal and four assists from their blue line tonight, and Boston's goals came on a screen, a deflection, and a juicy rebound in the slot where Kimmo was draped all over his man. See next answer.
How long does the Syvret/Tollefsen getting more minutes experiment last? At least for this game. Syvret logged 14:18 tonight, with more ice time in the third period than he saw in the first. Tollefsen logged 11:58, also with more time in the third than he saw in the first. The pair both got more ice time in the second period with the long change, but they played well overall.
Can the well-rested Flyers take advantage of a team coming off of a game last night? Well, they won. The Bruins came out stronger, but the Flyers quickly matched their energy level. In the third period, it appeared as if both teams slowed down after a physical second and start to the third, but at least the Flyers didn't appear tired as they did in Florida last week.
How many hot dogs are consumed by the Wachovia Center crowd on dollar dog night? Travis, what's the final tally? Travis: 21,235 -- six by me.

Comment of the Night:

"John Boruk looks BA in this pic. Asham looks like he is about to come over the boards and eat the camera."

flyrsfrk05

Just checking in....early season thoughts and a new topic for discussion

timmorrison23 — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:16:23 -0000

Haven't posted in a while, hope all the chowder heads aren't getting too worried about our boys in black and gold. To say that the team has been inconsistent would be a gross understatement. But please keep in mind people that we are only on game 6 of the regular season. I believe the Bruins are too good, too talented, and too well coached to play this poorly long into the season. I love the way the 4th line has been playing, from my view Morris has been solid, and I think Michael Ryder and Marc Savard have looked fantastic.

Now on to more recent developments, specifically the Chuck Kobasew trade. I think Peter Chiarelli made a very strong move here. Kobasew had a very heavy cap hit, and let's face it, is a pretty common player in today's NHL. How many players could you find across the league that could give you the production that Kobasew did? And the fact that Chiarelli got a 2nd round pick for him, as well as the 2 prospects is really icing on the cake for me. Package that with the other 8 draft picks the Bruins have in the 1st and 2nd round in the next 2 drafts and I really can't wait to see what happens at this years trade deadline!

Now in substitute of my usual top 5, I figured I would change it up a bit with a new sort of top 5. What would your all-time bruins line be of players that YOU have SEEN play.

Andy Moog

Ray Bourque Zdeno Chara

Sergei Samsonov Marc Savard Cam Neely

Ryder riding shotgun on the first line

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:06:21 -0000

More photos » by Ryan Remiorz - AP

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Last year, the Bruins gave up on the Savard-Ryder combo very early in the season, but after a disappointing start to the '09-'10 campaign, Claude Julien might shuffles lines and bring Michael Ryder back up to the first line. Ryder skated on the first line today at practice, occupying the right wing spot alongside Marc Savard and Marco Sturm, who shifts back to his normal left wing position. Milan Lucic dropped back down to the second line and Blake Wheeler shifted over to the right wing.

Marco Sturm - Marc Savard - Michael Ryder
Milan Lucic - David Krejci - Blake Wheeler
Mark Recchi - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton - Steve Begin - Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara - Derek Morris
Andrew Ference - Matt Hunwick
Mark Stuart - Johnny Boychuk

"When he works hard he creates chances and when he works hard he's strong on the puck. And with Sturmy with speed and then Savvy. You know, we hope that somehow something can come out of that. Just trying to tweak it a little bit and see what comes out of those combinations."

- Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien after today's practice on Michael Ryder being moved up to the first line

Bruins can't survive Avalanche 4-3

Stanley Cup of Chowder — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:07:15 -0000

More photos » by Steven Senne - AP

2 months ago: Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask, of Finland, top, is unable to stop a shot into the net by Colorado Avalanche's Scott Hannan, bottom, in the first period of an NHL hockey game, in Boston, Monday, Oct. 12, 2009. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

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The Bruins may have had a bit of a tryptophan hangover after having too much turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. The Bruins came out of the gate sluggish, giving the Avalanche an early 2-0 lead. The B's made the game close, but the Avs ultimately handed the B's a 4-3 loss.

The Avs got on the board first, when Milan Hejduk scored a powerplay goal 6:15 into the game with Matt Hunwick in the box for a hook.

Colorado would strike again just 37 seconds later when Scott Hannan found the back of the net off a rebound from a long shot by David Jones to spot the Avs an early 2-0 lead.

The Bruins spent 5:02 on the powerplay in the opening period, but just couldn't seem to convert with the man advantage and filed off the ice to the dressing room down 2-0 after one.

The Bruins pulled to within one at 7:45 of the second period. Patrice Bergeron set up behind the net and fed a pass out front to Mark Recchi at the left circle, whose quick shot beat Craig Anderson for his first goal of the season.

The B's evened the game up 2:25 later with a goal in transition. Micheal Ryder threw a puck on net from the right wing boards and Blake Wheeler batted the puck out of mid-air while driving to the net for his second goal of the season.

The Bruins PK woes continued when Marek Svatos put back his own rebound with 6:28 reamaing in the second to give Colorado a 3-2 lead.

The special teams problems continued for the B's on the power play. With the Bruins on the man advantage with 3:10 left in the middle period, they coughed up the puck in the neutral zone when 3 black jerseys collapsed on the puck, which sprung David Jones in on a breakaway. Jones fired a hard wrister from the slot that beat Rask for the short-handed goal and a two goal lead.

Michael Ryder pulled the B's to within one at 6:24 of the third period on a backhander off a rebound in front.

The Bruins showed a lot of intensity and controlled the play for most of the third, but it was too little, too late as the Bruins dug themselves into a hole early and were not able to stage another comeback.

Final - 10.12.2009	1	2	3	Total
Colorado Avalanche	2	2	0	4
Boston Bruins	0	2	1	3

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Notes:

- Milan Lucic and Kyle Quincey got into a bit of a wrestling match after the final whistle.

- Special teams play continues to be a major issue for the B's. The Bruins were only able to kill off 1 of 3 Avs powerplays today and were 0 for 5 today.

- Patrice Bergeron was 72% from the dot (13 of 18)

- Johnny Boychuk was +2 and recorded 4 hits in his '09-'10 debut.

- Colorado blocked 21 of the 53 shots that the Bruins directed towards goals (32 shots on goal).

- The Bruins return to action on Friday night when they travel to Dallas to take on the Stars