The Bruins will look to keep the good times rolling after two strong contests against the Rangers and Senators.  The Bruins have won their last two games, while the Panthers will be looking to stretch their current winning streak to two.  Needless to say old friend Dennis Wideman will be making his return to the TD Garden tonight, I wonder if the Bruins fan will welcome him with a "Thank you Wideman" chant if Nathan Horton scores?

Know your enemy:

Florida Panthers

Head Coach: Peter DeBoer

Leading Scorers:

Goaltending:

Injuries:

Game Notes:

     -Johnny Boychuk will be a "game time decision" according to Joe Haggerty of csnne.com.

     -Tonight also marks the 1st game for Gregory Campbell against his former kitten mates.

     -Yes you read the Panthers stat window correctly, Marty Reasoner is the 3rd leading scorer.

     -Public Skate kicks off at 6:30.

The Bruins were looking to keep their strong play as of late going Saturday night against the Rangers at the Garden.  However after two strong games, the Bruins couldn't mThis ake it three falling to the Rangers 3-2 in front of the home crowd.  Anyone watching this game could tell you this was easily the roughest game of this young season, and the fists and hits were flying even in the first period.  The Rangers were spotted to an early 2-0 lead with goals from Artem Anisimov and Alexander Frolov, and after a few fights between Shawn Thornton/Derek Boogard and Milan Lucic/Brandon Prust the Bruins finally got into this game. With the Bruins on a 5 on 3 powerplay Zdeno Chara made it 2-1 with a blast from the face off circle, it was Chara's second goal in as many games. 

 The 2nd period went much as the first did for the Bruins.  The teams traded goals, with the Rangers getting a break away goal by Marc Staal and the Bruins getting yet another goal from Nathan Horton.  During the 2nd period the Bruins lost Johnny Boychuk to injury and he didn't return to the game.  Going into the third the Bruins upped their tempo and poured on more offense in an effort to try and tie the game, but ultimately fell short losing 3-2. 

Game Notes--

     - Tuukka Rask looked pretty sharp as this game progressed, gave up 2 goals on his first 9 shots, but made some very big stops in the 2nd and 3rd.

     - This was a very rough and chippy game, several fights, injuries to both teams, and big hits thrown on both sides.

     - Tyler Seguin looked much stronger tonight in the eyes of this humble blogger.

     -  Will there be a game this season where an opposing team doesn't leave Nathan Horton alone in the slot for and easy goal?

 After attending the Bruins rookie game Wednesday night, I was very excited to see many of the young kids in action again.  I arrived at the Garden with my "Habs Suck" t-shirt, sinister goatee, and McDonalds breakfast in hand.  This years session wasn't nearly as crowded as last years (I attended the 1st session, and Tyler Seguin was playing in the 2nd, my thought on why it wasn't quite as packed).  Before I launch into my comprehensive coverage of training camp, I feel the need to address the "used equipment sale" that the Bruins have on the concourse. 

There were a few tables spread out, and I decided to look around at what they had for sale. Practice worn jerseys, used sticks and gloves, ok cool I think.  Then I walk down a bit further and see a table of locker room name plates.  There were some real recent Bruin all stars here, Dave Lewis, Petteri Nokelainen, Pascal Pelletier, Petr Kalus, and Paul Mara just to name a few.  The I saw something that made me stop dead in my tracks, mostly because I was seriously considering shelling out the $200 bucks and getting it, a life size Zdeno Chara "We Want It" banner.  However after debating for about 10 minutes I decided to pass and go inside to my seat.

So now on to my coverage of training camp:

-- Break Away drills

     This essentially was 4 players cruising in from the blue line one after the other and taking breakaways.  Adam Courchaine and Nolan Schaefer both looked pretty sharp here. Brad Marchand and Nathan Horton had some nice goals.

--Break out/2-0 drills

     This was a drill where 2 forwards cross and break out from their defensive zone and break in on the goalie.  Joe Colborne (who was sporting a full cage thanks to his newly broken nose) and Brad Marchand looked very good here, David Krejci looked very sharp as well.  A funny moment happened when Lane MacDermid tripped over the red line after crossing with Jared Knight. 

--Red line breakaways

     This drill was very fun to watch, it was players getting a full sprint from the far end of the ice, picking up the puck at center ice and breaking in on the goalie. Tim Thomas was in for this one and got schooled pretty bad.  He only had 5 stops out of 12 breakaways.  Jared Knight looked very fast and can definitely stick handle, Michael Ryder rang a few shots off the post and crossbar. 

--1 on 1 drills

     This drill was the shortest of the day, basically one on one with a goalie.  Jeff Penner got burnt a few times on this drill, Shawn Thornton while not known for his hands had some very nice dekes, Nathan Horton has an extremely quick release and a very heavy shot.

--3 on 2 drills

     This drill was good to watch, it was 3 forwards coming in on an odd man rush against 2 defenseman.  Adam McQuaid and Zdeno Chara were paired for this drill and looked very strong, not giving up any goals or good chances in 5 tries.  Brad Marchand, Blake Wheeler, and Zach Hamill were lined up in this drill and looked very good, they scored 3 goals in 4 tries.

--Puck Battle/Corner drills

     This was the best drill of the day, the puck was thrown into the corner behind the net and players were battling for possesion to get a shot on net.  Zdeno Chara absolutely owned this drill, he was very physical and didn't allow a single shot on net.  Brad Marchand again looked very good here, his is very fast and elusive on his skates.  This drill definitely got very chippy, especially when Shawn Thornton was going against Zdeno Chara.  The best part of the drill was when Julien had the players switch roles and the defenseman were the puck carriers against the forwards. 

     That was the end of the session and my day at training camp.  Some players who stood out to me, Chara, Marchand, Horton, Knight and Krejci.  I think I speak for all of us when I say lets drop the puck already!

The Bruins have announced they have traded Vladimir Sobotka to the St. Louis Blues for the rights to Boston University defenseman David Warsofsky.  Sobotka is a restricted free agent coming off his entry level deal. Warsofsky is entering is junior year at BU, GM Peter Chiarelli stated he has no plans of asking Warsofsky to skip his remaining time at BU.

Round Two--

     32nd Overall-- 

     Jared Knight, Center, London Knights, 5'11 190 lbs.

           So in round 2 the Bruins grab another center.  Reading up on Knight I found that he also plays right wing, as he did for the London Knights.  Knight had 87 points in 130 games for the Knights, including a 36 goal campaign last season.

     45th Overall--

     Ryan Spooner, Center, Peterborough Petes,5'10 175 lbs.

          With their 2nd pick in the 2nd round the Bruins pluck another center.  Spooner plays wing as well as center much like the two other Bruins picks.  Spooner had 112 points in 109 games for the Petes.

Round Three--

     No Selection due the trade for Dan Paille

Round Four--

     97th Overall--

     Craig Cunningham, Left Wing, Vancouver Giants

     With what seemed like an eternity between picks the Bruins had plenty of time to evaluate their next pick.  That Pick was Craig Cunningham.  Cunningham had 37 goals and 60 assists for the Giants, who were also Milan Lucic's old team. Cunningham played with Lucic in his first season with the Giants, and has been training with Lucic lately.

Round Five--

     135th Overall--

     Justin Florek, Right Wing, Northern Michigan

     I am very surprised the Bruins to this point haven't drafted a defenseman.  In the fifth round they opt for winger Justin Florek out of Northern Michigan.  He had 35 points in 41 games this past season.  He is a big boy at 6'4 200lbs.

Round Six--

     165th Overall--

     Zane Gothberg, Goaltender, Thief River Falls High School (Minnesota)

     Hey at least it's not a forward.  In 25 games he posted a 1.84 GAA and .922 save percentage. He has verbally commited to the University of North Dakota

Round Seven--

     210th Overall--

      Zach Trotman, Defenseman, Lake Superior State University

     Finally the Bruins get their defenseman. In 36 games he had 8 points, the 6'4 210 lb defenseman is a tough stay at home defenseman.

Round One--

     2nd Overall-- 

     Tyler Seguin, Center, Plymouth Whalers, 6'0 182 lbs.

           What else is there to say about Tyler Seguin that hasn't been said in the weeks leading up to the draft.  173 points in 124 in two seasons for the Whalers, including a 48 goal campaign last season, to go along with 26 points in 20 playoff games.  He is NHL ready, is a natural center, but can also play the wings.  While it is arguable that Taylor Hall is the better "fit" for the Bruins, as a fan you can't be too upset when a player of this caliber comes to you in the draft.  He will likely slot in 2nd or 3rd line to start the season. 

According to multiple reports the Boston Bruins have re-signed veteran winger Mark Recchi.  The team has said that Recchi will make the same $1 million dollar salary as he did in the 09-10 season.  According to CSNNE.com when Peter Chiarelli was asked about Recchi, Chiarelli called Recchi "a wonder, and a huge help with mentoring the younger kids".

     The Bruins will skate down to exit 16W tonight as they faceoff against the Devils.  The Bruins will be looking to get back on track after losing 3-2 to the Sabres last night, and the Devils will be looking to bounce back after a  bad loss to the hands of the Flyers 5-1. 

Know Your Enemy:

New Jersey Devils

Top Scorers:

Goaltending:

Game Notes:

- It will be Tuukka Rask in net tonight for the Bruins against Martin Brodeur for the Devils.

- Andrew Ference is out again tonight, with Matt Hunwick taking his spot in the lineup.

- 7:00 face off.

     What was a promising start for the Bruins turned out to be a crushing loss at the hands of the Sabres on Monday night from the TD Garden.  With some great plays by Michael Ryder and Zdeno Chara, David Krejci was able to keep his strong play going with a goal that put our Bruins up 1-0.  However that lead wouldnt last, as they Sabres answered with 3 unanswered goals.  Buffalo behemoth Tyler Myers took a harmless shot from the point that looked liked it deflected off Dennis Wideman to tie the game at 1.  The Sabres increased the lead with a backhander by Paul Gaustad that also deflected off Wideman to make it 2-1 Sabres.  The onslaught of mistakes and bad bounces continued later in the 2nd period when Tim Kennedy put a shot on Tim Thomas that somehow trickled through to make it 3-1 Buffalo.  That would ultimiately spell the end of the night for Tim Thomas.

     Tuukka Rask came in to replace Thomas midway through the 2nd period and looked to close the door on the Sabres and get his team back in the game.  The Bruins came out for the 3rd period with the tall task of getting 3 pucks behind Ryan Miller, who was solid all night.  The Bruins applied the pressure and ultimately cut the lead down to 3-2.  Dennis Seidenberg blasted a shot from the point that popped up in the air and fell behind Miller, barely crossing the goal line.  Unfortunately for the Bruins it was too little too late as the Sabres escaped with a 3-2 win in front of a disappointed TD Garden faithful.

Game Notes-

- with the loss the Bruins fell to 16-16-6 on home ice.  In this humble writers opinion if you are going to win in the playoffs you have to play your best hockey on home ice.

- to me this game felt a lot like the Bruins/Lightning game from last week.  Tons of shots on net (Miller had 40 saves). And almost every mistake the Bruins made wound up in their net.

- David Krejci is definitely playing his best hockey of the season right now, reminds me of a few years ago when Marc Savard was out with a back injury and Krejci was on fire as well then.

- I think we may have seen Tim Thomas in his last start of the regular season.

  The Bruins will look to keep their 7 game road trip going in the right direction today in Pittsburgh.  Both of these teams are coming off of wins, with the Penguins beating the Stars 6-3 and the Bruins beating the Islanders 3-2.   

Know Your Enemy:

Pittsburgh Penguins

Record: 

Leading Scorers:

Goaltending:

Injuries:

Game Notes:

- As of this posting there is no official word on Tuukka Rask for today's game, but I would fully expect Tim Thomas to be in net again today.

- This is a big test for the Bruins, they have been playing better lately, winning 6 of their last 7, including 5 in a row on the road.

- Face off is at 3:00.

   Hello boys and girls! It's been a while since I've chimed in, so I figured I would come in and drop a line.  I am going on my first Stanly Cup of Chowder sponsored Bruins road trip vacation this week, as I will be flying out to L.A. tomorrow morning before I take in the Kings game on Saturday.  I am very excited for this as it is the first time I will ever see the Bruins play on the road (I don't count any of the trips I made to the Mall in Hartford, because that was hardly even a drive). 

     Before I do set off on my flight I thought it would be fun to put on our thinking caps for a bit.  If you were Peter Chiarelli, given the rash of injuries and inconsistencies in the Bruins play for a large chunk of the season both offensively and defensively, what would you do?  Would you pull the trigger on a trade now, before the Olympics? Or would you choose to wait it out until the trade deadline is upon us in March.  And if you were to make a deal give me some names of players who you would trade and any potential targets you would like to try and acquire. 

     For me if I had the power I would look at teams like Edmonton, Carolina, or St. Louis since they are falling out of their playoff races at the midpoint of the season.  If I were PC I would go after a puck moving defenseman, like a Lubomir Vishnovsky of the Oilers(8 goals, 18 assists in 39 games, cap hit of 5.6 mil through 2012-2013). Or if cap issues prevent me from making a larger scale move I would target a guy like Joe Corvo of the Hurricanes (4 goals, 8 assists in 27 games, cap hit of 2.6 mil and is a FA after this season).

So what would you do puck heads?

     After a disappointing effort and frustrating loss at the hands of the Rangers, the Bruins will look to shake off their Winter Classic hangover tonight when they visit the Ottawa Senators. 

Know Your Enemy:

Stopping the Sens:

Goaltending:

Injuries:

Game Notes:

- Miro Satan will be making his Bruins debut tonight, skating on the 3rd line with David Krejci and Blake Wheeler, most likely wearing #81 in your program.

- Before his 4 goal outburst on Sunday against the Flyers, Alex Kovalev was standing mightily at 7 goals, talk about a vanishing act.

-Tim Thomas gets the start in net tonight.

- With no official word on Patrice Bergeron and his hand injury, it would be my guess that Milan Lucic will take Adam McQuaid's roster spot on either Thursday or Saturday when he returns.

- Speaking of injuries the Senators are without 2 of their top guns. Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson are both out for tonight.

- Face off is at 7:30, Game Thread on the Chowder at 6:30 7:00.

     The Bruins dropped a chance to sweep their mini Florida series with a very frustrating loss to Tampa Bay 2-1.  The first period was a solid one for both teams, with the only strike of the first going to Tampa.  Off of a funny bounce on a dump in by Kurtis Foster that Tim Thomas couldn't handle, the much maligned Vinny Lecavalier dished what is most likely the easiest goal Alex Tanguay has ever scored for the 1-0 Bolts lead.  During the 1st period the Bergeron line looked good, especially Dan Paille (who has proved to be quite a find by the Bruins). 

     The 2nd period didn't go quite as well for the Bruins.  The Lightning really dominated the play, out shooting the Bruins 23-7 in the period.  If not for the play of Tim Thomas this game could've gotten out of hand very early.  Martin St.Lous would add to the Tampa lead on the power play on a puck that trickled through the pads of Thomas to make it 2-0.  This was by far the worst period the Bruins have played in quite a while.

     The 3rd period was a better period for the Bruins.  Marco Sturm was able to cash in again for the Bruins lone goal of the night when he rang a slap shot of the post and in.  It is great to see Sturm starting to get on a roll here.  The Bruins had 2 good chance to tie the game late in the 3rd when Marco Sturm hit the post again, and then with a late power play.  However the Bruins were unable to capatalize and as a result fell 2-1.

Game Notes:

- Thomas played well enough to steal this one for the Bruins, unfortunately they couldnt pull a comeback out for him.

- In the 2nd period Mark Recchi was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, for a guy like Recchi to get called for something like that must have really taken something.  Would love to know what happened here for that to get called.

- Dan Paille was shaken up a bit off an apparent slash, the last thing this team needs is yet another injury.

- As I said earlier, Marco Sturm appears to be getting on one of his hot streaks, tonight was his 3rd goal in 4 games.

The Bruins will look to sweep their golf trip Florida road trip tonight against the Lightning in Tampa.  The Bruins, who are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games will be looking to add to a 3 game win streak, while Tampa who are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games will just be looking to turn things around. 

Bolts by the numbers:

Head Coach: Rick Tocchet

Bottling up the Lightning:

Goaltending:

Game Notes:

- In somewhat of a surprising move given the schedule of the week and some meaningless game on New Years Day , according to boston.com it will be Tim Thomas in net tonight for the Bruins against Mike Smith of the Lightning.

Milan Lucic skated with the team this morning, but remains on the IR and will not play tonight.

- Face-off is at 7:30, public skate here on The Chowder at 6:30.

     The Bruins will continue their 4 game road trip, which started last night with a much needed win in Atlanta, tonight against the Sabres.  The Bruins will look to push their win streak to two games, while the Sabres will be looking to get back on track after a 6-2 loss to the Panthers. 

Getting to know the Buffalo Sabres:

Record: 12-5-1

Head Coach: Lindy Ruff

Leading Scorers:

         Player               Goals    Assists     Points      GP

Tim Connoly                  4              12             16          18

Derek Roy                     4              10             14          18

Thomas Vanek              6               6              12          16

Goaltending:

          Player               Wins        Losses         GAA          GP

Ryan Miller                     12                3             1.97           16    

Patrick Lalime                 0                  1             4.14            2

Jonas Enroth                   0                  1             4.14            1

Injury Report:

Boston:

     Marc Savard skated this morning, but is questionable to play.

Buffalo:

     No Inuries to report.

Notes:

     -This should be a pretty fiesty game, as the Bruins are only 3 points back of the Sabres in the Northeast Division.

     - According to Kevin Dupont,  it may be Tuukka Time yet again in Buffalo tonight.

     - My favorite Bruins vs Sabre memory is by far this one that I got to see in person!

     What began as a pretty solid night for the Bruins certainly did not end that way, as the Bruins suffered a crushing loss to the Islanders 4-1 at the TD Garden.  The Bruins and Islanders both played a pretty solid 1st period with both teams getting some solid goal scoring chances.  The Islanders took the lead 6 minutes into the period.  After a crucial offensive zone turn over by the Bruins Matt Moulson cashed in on a feed by Jack Hillen for the 1-0 lead.  The Bruins had a great chance to make their mark on the game early with a 5-3 power play, however as the case has been lately they were only able to manage 5 shots on net during their 2 man advantage.  After the 1st period the Islanders led 1-0.

     The 2nd period started out strong for the Bruins, as they buzzed and created many solid scoring chances.  After Blake Wheeler, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci were all turned aside by "The Pride of UMass Lowell" Dwayne Roloson, Daniel Paille was finally able to cash in.  With David Krejci working the puck strongly against John Tavares, Paille snuck to the net and tucked in a backhand off a the dish by Krejci.  Unfortunately for the Bruins the lead didn't last long.  With the 2nd period winding down, Tuukka Rask handled the puck behind the net, he tried to pass it up the boards to Zdeno Chara, however the puck bounced right to RIchard Park, he fed Matt Moulson in front for his 2nd goal of the night and a 2-1 Islander lead.

     The 3rd period went much as the 2nd did.  Only 2 minutes into the 3rd the Islanders and John Tavares struck again.  John Tavares fired the puck on net, as it went towards it deflected off Matt Hunwick to put the Islanders up 3-1.  With just under a minute left in the game Trent Hunter would put the exclamation point on the win for the Islanders and make it 4-1. 

My 3 Stars of the Night

1)Dwayne Roloson - he was very solid and made big stops when he needed to.

2) Richard Park - he had 3 helpers tonight and was around the puck seemingly all night.

3) David Krejci - looked fantastic tonight, the lone bright spot for the Bruins, was flying all over the ice.

     With today being Halloween, our home town Bruins did all they could to give their fans some treats to leave the garden with today against the Oilers.  I was at the game today, albeit it was a predominantly young crowd since it was a matinee game.  From the opening puck drop the Bruins established what I believe to be two of their biggest reasons for today's win, their fore check and the tone of physical play.

     The 1st period was pretty even with both teams getting a few scoring chances, and some solid defense and goal tending by both Tuukka Rask and "The Age-less Wonder" Nikolai Khabibulin (it feels like he has been in the league for 20 seasons). The teams went into the first intermission with zeros across the board.  Period 2 was a bit lopsided in the Bruins direction.  At one point the Bruins were outshooting the Oilers 14-8, and were really carrying the play.  Through the entire game the Bruins were led by the line of Blake Wheeler, Danielle Paille, and Vladimir Sobotka.  They really started to click in the 2nd period.  Despite some solid physical play and the better scoring chances by the Bruins the game was scoreless through the first 40 minutes of play.

     Period 3 was basically the Wheeler,Paille,Sobotka show for the Bruins.  This line was all over the ice, both defensively and offensively.  Roughly 3 minutes into the period their hard work finally paid off.  With Vladimir Sobotka applying some great work along the boards behind the Edmonton net and gaining the puck, Blake Wheeler cut to the front of the cage and dropped a trick into the Edmonton pillow case for a 1-0 Bruin lead.  This line would terrorize the Oilers again about 5 minutes later.  After winning a puck battle in the Bruins zone, Sobotka jumped up for a two on one rush with Wheeler.  Blake Wheeler made a nice aerial touch pass to Sobotka who put it past the 'Bulin wall for a 2-0 Bruin lead.  That would prove to be the eventual game winner, as Rask made the lead stand up for his team.  The Bruins only let 19 shots get through to their young goalie, but he turned them all aside for the shutout. 

     My Halloween themed 3 stars of the game:

1) Zdeno "Chainsaw Massacre" Chara, was an absolute beast today, he set the tone with his constant physical play and in your face style against Dustin Penner

2) The line of "Psycho" Sobotka, "Poltergeist" Paille, "Blair Witch" Wheeler, they were by far the Bruins most effective line for the full 60 minutes tonight. Scoring both goals, and playing very solid defensivley.

3)  Tuukka "Tales from the glove side" Rask, was good when he needed to be, stopped several flurrys and a few breaks by the Oilers to earn the shutout.

   In another weird scheduling quirk the Bruins will play another back to back game, tonight against the Flyers.  This is the first meeting of the young season for the Bruins and Flyers.  The boys in black and gold will look to stabilize their play, while the Flyers will look to snap a 3 game losing streak.

Notes:

-Simon Gagne has yet to score a goal this season, that just made me smile as he is one of my most disliked hockey players

- Riley Cote should worry less about tatooing his fans and more about actually cracking the lineup.

-The Flyers are 5th in the league on the powerplay, clicking at a rate of 27.3%.  While there penalty killing is also ranked 5th, killing off 88%.

-For more on the Flyers check out broadstreethockey.com

 Boys and Girls, I give you the Philadelphia Flyers!

Record: 3-2-1

Leading Scorers

Injuries

Goaltending

     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

     Anybody who saw the 09-10 "season opener" will tell you the Bruins didn't show up.  Well Saturdays game against the Hurricanes was the polar opposite of the team we all saw Thursday night.  The Bruins dominated all 3 zones of the ice for the full 60 minutes, and walked out of the Garden with a 7-2 thumping of the Hurricanes.  The 1st period certainly carried over the intensity from the 7 game war that these same two teams played last May, with the Hurricanes and the Bruins playing very physical.  But at 4:06 of the first the Bruins took the lead, and never looked back.  With the B's on a powerplay Derek Morris blasted a shot from the blue line that Cam Ward kicked out, Michael Ryder made an attempt at the rebound before Marc Savard buried it to give the Bruins the 1-0 lead.  The Bruins would add two more goals in the first by Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler to make it a 3-0 lead.  Once the 1st period horn sounded the B's held a 21-7 shot advantage, were up 3-0, and Carolina was in disarray having used their timeout after the Bruins third goal.

     The 2nd period went much like the 1st did.  The Bruins continued to hammer the Hurricanes at every turn.  Marco Sturm cashes in on a feed from Marc Savard to make it 4-0 Bruins at 10:37 of the period, much to the delight of the Garden faithful that was the end of Cam Ward for the evening.  From the onset of the game Ward looked very uncomfortable in the net.  He was giving up huge rebounds and was clearly off his game from the opening puck drop.  Roughly 2 minutes later the Bruins welcomed Micahel Leighton to the 09-10 season by pumping another powerplay goal past him.  This time it was courtesy of Dennis Wideman and a nice cycle of puck movement by the Bruins.  Carolina finally got on the board with about 5 minutes left in the period when Scott "bleeping" Walker tips home an Aaron Ward shot from the blue line.  The Bruins kept the foot on the gas and made it 6-1 about 2 and a half minutes later.  Andrew Alberts, who looked awful on defense and equally as awful when he dropped the gloves gift wrapped a turn over to Steve Begin, who then fed it to Shawn Thornton for the goal.  In the final minute of the period things got very chippy.  Jay Harrison of the Hurricanes did his best to rally his bench when he dropped the gloves.  Too bad for him it was Milan Lucic who answered the bell for the Bruins, when this fight was over Harrison was a bloody mess and the crowd was roaring.  Before the teams headed to the locker rooms there was another dust up with Zdeno Chara and Tom Kostopolous, with Chara certainly imposing his will on Kostopolous. Lots of penalties here with Chara and Kostopolous getting roughing double minor and game misconduct penalties. At the end of 2 the Bruins held a 6-1 lead.

     The third period was certainly more even sided than the 1st two.  At 2:41 Eric Staal made it 6-2 with a power play goal on a wrister that beat Tim Thomas.  About 6 minutes later Matt Hunwick got into the action with a goal of his own off a beautiful cross ice pass from Marco Sturm, I was pretty sure I heard Jack Edwards use the tic-tac-goal for this one.  Just to round out the game there was another fight with about 11 minutes left.  Andrew Alberts laid a pretty heavy cross check to Marco Sturm late in the 2nd, so when Shawn Thornton asked him to tango in the third the veteran defenseman knew he should answer the call.  Thornton hammered him much like the Bruins hammered the Hurricanes in the game.  The game ends with the final of 7-2, the Bruins really dominated from beginning to end in this one. 

     Now every cup of chowder needs certain ingredients to make it just right, in my opinion that is salt and pepper,a nd oyster crackers.  So my 3 stars of the night will be named in that fashion.

Salt- Marc Savard, a goal and two assists, very strong in all 3 zones tonight.

Pepper- Steve Begin, was a physical force all night, and added 2 helpers.

Crackers- Marco Sturm, scored a goal while riding shot gun with Savard and Lucic, was all over the ice tonight.

Another solid week of responses, so I will keep it going. This weeks topic is your top 3 Bruins draft "oops"

1) Johnathan Aitken- 8th overall in the 1996 NHL Draft

     Played all of 3 games with the big club, had a 41 game cup of coffee in the NHL with Chicago in 03-04.

2) Evgeni Ryabchikov- 21st overall in the 1994 NHL Draft

     Played 0, that's right 0 games with the big club, and 0 games in the NHL for that matter.

3) Dmitri Kvartalnov- 16th overall in the 1992 NHL Draft

     Had 1 good season with the Bruins in his rookie season, where he scored 72 points in 73 games. He played only 39 games for the big club the following season and was never seen or heard from again.

Lets hear who makes your list!..........

I decided since S.O.C already gave you a season preview, that I would put an interesting spin on mine.  So I ran my preview through my Xbox 360 NHL 10!  This includes the roster as is currently constituted. No Phil Kessel, add Morris and Begin.  I did not make any trades during the course of the season.

- I have Johnny Boychuk making the big club and staying up for the season.

-The Bruins finish with a record of 49-23-10, good for 2nd place in the Eastern Conference behind Washington.

- The Bruins come out of the gate pretty slow going 12-10 in the first 22 games. But they really coast at the mid point of the season, going undefeated in January and losing only 4 games before the end of February.

- At the close of the season Marco Sturm and Michael Ryder are your leading goal scorers with 33 and 42 goals respectively.  Marc Savard records a 110 point season, 72 of the coming by way of the assist.  David Krejci is your +/- leader with an astonishing + 32.  Tim Thomas goes 38-15-5 with a 2.78 GAA during a real trying season of a lot of bumps and bruises for him.

- The Bruins get to the Conference Finals where they run into a fiesty Pittsburgh Penguin team.  The series goes to Pittsburgh in 6 games, it was a very hard fought series as 3 of the games went to OT.

- Zdeno Chara repeats as the Norris Trophy winner.

- Mark Recchi retires at the end of the season.

Sounds like a good season to me, except for the bounce by Pittsburgh.  Lets hope Sturm, Ryder and Savard put up those kinds of numbers!

     Just wanted to chime in with my thoughts and impressions of the a.m. session of training camp today.  Got to the Garden at about 930, which was perfect for me because I was able to snipe one of the complimentary breakfasts that the lovely folks at the Garden provided.  Once I finished that I headed down to the loge and took my seat, with my trusty notebook and pen in hand.  From loge 10 row 4 here are my thoughts:

-During warm ups the players were doing sprints, Tim Thomas tripped over the blue line and got a good laugh out of the crowd.

-1st Drill: Breakaways, Adam Courchaine(G) looked very sharp, he turned aside all the shots he faced.  Recchi andRyder both looked sharp even though they basically played 3-bar and hit all the posts.

-2nd Drill: 1-1 Breakouts, Bergeron was flying all over the place, his stick handling and skating legs looked to be in midseason form all morning.  Johnny Boychuk (D) looked very solid as he broke up Ryder and Wheeler a few times, Chara tried to lineup Ryder and pin him to the boards but missed and got a good laugh from the crowd. Jeff Penner(D) looked a little bit rusty, he got beat pretty badly by Wheeler and Bergeron.

-3rd Drill: 5-2 Powerplay (5 players on offense, 2 defenseman), Lucic and Bergeron were clicking really well, they put a few pretty ones past Matt Dalton (G), Ryder may have the hardest wrist/snap shot I have ever seen, he uncorked a few eye openers from the top of the slot.  Rob Kwiet (D) looked very strong, active with his stick and very good on his skates.

-4th Drill: 2-2 Puck Battles, Chara hammered Lucic with a big hit in the corner, woke the crowd up a bit.  Boychuklooked strong again here, he played very physical with any forward he was matched against.

-5th Drill: 5-5 Offensive Zone play, Courchaine looks sharp here again, he gets very big in the net.  Bergeron was all over the place again, had a lot of good looks and almost scored a few.  Mark Stuart played very well here, had a good scrum with Recchi in front of the net.

     After that things kind of quieted down, a lot of fans began heading for the exits.  All in all it was a good take, there was maybe 200 people there.  I thought a few of the younger guys looked pretty good while skating with the "big boys".

Players that stood out to me:

Bergeron, Ryder, Wheeler, Kwiet, Stuart, Boychuk, and Chara

     Just wanted to get some chatter going for the weekend, I am hoping to get to training camp on Sunday, so hopefully there will be a post on that later this weekend.  Is anyone else besides myself and S.O.C (my abbreviation for Mr.Chowder) very intrigued by these latest Phil Kessel developments?  It certainly looks to me that his days are indeed numbered.  Which is heartbreaking to me as he is my favorite current Bruin, I would love to see him comeback.  Since I got 5 reply posts such a thunderous response to my "Top 5 goalies" post, I decided to make it a weekly thing.  This weeks category:

Top 5 Bruin Tough Guys Not Named Neely,Lucic, or O'Reilly

1) John "The Wire" Wensink -I could watch his fight videos at Half-Time Pizza all day

2) PJ Stock -Pound for pound (no pun intended) was one of the toughest fighters I have ever seen

3) Stan Jonathan -Even on the ground he was a true tough guy.

4) Willi Plett -Nobody ever remembers his Bruin days, a true dark horse in this topic.

5) Shawn Thornton -I really enjoy watching him play night in and night out, hits like a truck and punches just as hard.

Lets hear yours................

Just wanted to say hello to the faithful readers of the chowder.   I am really excited to have the chance to write about or share my opinions (regardless of how wrong they actually may be) about the Bruins.  There are few things in this world I follow or am as passionate about as the Bruins.  I look forward to talking hockey with you "chowdah heads" in the future. 

In honor of this being my first post i would like to make a quick list for you to respond with your personal top 5

Top 5 Bruin Goalies not named Thomas,Cheevers,Moog

1) Jeff Hackett

2) Vinny Riendeau

3) Blaine Lacher (he was amazing for that half season after the lockout!!!!)

4) Jon Casey

5) Bill Ranford part deux (not his first stint pre-moog)

Since the "unofficial" kickoff to the 09-10 season is upon us I figured I would throw out the obligatory preseason predictions/outlooks post.......

I think the Bruins finish 2nd in the East behind Pittsburgh

I think even with the addition of Pronger, Philly finishes 5th because they have absolutely no goaltending

I think the top 5 in the East are 1. Pittsburgh 2. Boston 3. New Jersey 4. Washington 5. Philly

I think Chara repeats as the Norris winner

I think Lucic pots 22-25 goals this year, Kessel resigns a few weeks into the season, Rask plays more than we all think he will, Ryder gets over the 30 goal mark, Shawn Thornton goes full handlebar moustache all season

i am very excited with this signing....i think morris is what this team needs, a strong puck moving defenseman, and he is coming cheaper than Kaberle wouldve.........i know alot of people arent happy with the steep tag of 3.3 million, and i agree that it is a bit high, but as the monicker goes "in the new nhl, puck moving defenseman are at a premium".......looking at morris' career stats i do agree with Stanleycupofchowder that Morris is a minus player, but look a little closer and those minus years were for some awful Phoenix teams....he had some very solid years with Colorado and a few good years with Calgary before his prison sentence in Phoenix....i like this move alot, even if it means that kessel is gone......here is a link to his career stats, check it out boys and girls http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/players/stats?playerId=636

according do Bob McKenzie on TSN...........he "would be shocked" if Kaberle isn't a Bruin by the end of the draft......he said that even if they "agree to a deal" they wont be able to announce it until during the draft since Kaberle and the Leafs have weird stipulations in his "no trade clause"........i think that this is a good deal for the bruins..........kaberle is a good player and fits alot of needs that this team has

while i hate to say/see it happen (he is my favorite offensive player in the league) i really think that kessel is gone......but i dont have the doom and gloom outlook going forward because it is basically impossible for the Bruins to get good value in return (either through draft pick compensation or players in a trade).....just read this on hockeybuzz.com........take it with a grain of salt thought as it is from Eklund..........http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog/Eklund/Jay-Bo-to-VAN-e4-Blues-and-Pronger-e3--Isles-may-fly-1-to-Nassau/1/21717

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/player?statsId=3983

After signing David Krejci for three years and almost $12 million dollars the Bruins may not have the cash to retain Kessel, who will be a restricted free agent next month. He would likely earn around $4 million next season and could be dealt to free up salary cap room. The Avs have been rumored in the mix.........this is per fox sports........pretty interesting considering who the Avalanche could give in return if it was a player for player trade....they have some moveable parts 3 guys id target if i were PC 1) Wojtek Wolski, has a cap hit of 2.8 million for next year and is a RFA after next season 2) Brett Clark/Ruslan Salei both make 3 million and are UFA after next season and 3) *this is a hockey man crush ive had for a while* Milan Hejduk, he is on the books for 3.9 next year and is a UFA after next season.

*cap info from http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=COL

went to the game saturday nite......i have to say that if the barn down on causeway st can stay filled with black and gold jerseys waving our towels like that and be that loud from the start of them game right through to the end then this team will be very hard to beat at home........just wanted to throw out an idea i have......do you think that that Colin Campbell and his board of colleagues looked back at the last game against montreal from the regular season, where Lucic got a game misconduct for pulling down Komisarek from behind, and he admits "maybe i lost my head for a while there and didnt keep my cool."..........just saying that if you look at both of these situations and them happening within 10 days of eachother maybe this is why the league decided to hand out the suspension............