Bs v Hawks: The good, the bad, the ugly

I save the best for last, so we'll start with:

The Ugly

:28 into the game, Marc Savard took an awkward hit, tweaking his knee, went down and didn't return. Word from Julien is he'll be having an MRI today. This is so very not good. 3rd key player to go down in 3 games. Are the Bruins jinxed? If anyone knows a good protection charm to put on the remaining players, now might be the time to get that done.

The Bad
Obviously #1 here is the 5-2 loss. But let's be a little realistic. This is a Franken-Bruin team against the top team in the league. That they scored 2 goals was a blessing if we're going to be honest about things. #2 is that Tim Thomas was pulled after the 4th goal, a 65' wrister of Duncan Keith's that rang in and down off the crossbar. My first thought after that goals was, better pull Tim, and sure enough Coach did. Whether it was a mercy pulling, or a sending-a-message pulling, I don't know. But Tuukka managed to keep the Hawks to only one goal in the remaining period in a half. Sometimes I wonder if Timmy has a Vezina hangover. Sidenote: my 5 year old niece thinks it's cheating by catching the puck. Oh I have much to teach her. Morning lessons in goal-tending commencing in 3.... 2.... 1.

The Good
My favourite part.  Where to start. Let's start with what we all know is my favourite: The return of Milan Lucic.

Now, listen. You can't expect a guy to miss 18 games in a row, who has played a total of 10 (now 11) games this season, and jump back on the ice his first game and kick ass. Yeah, he was rusty. Yeah his hands looked a little heavy. Yeah he wasn't quite back in the groove. But the point is, he's back in the lineup, and with Mark Stuart and Andrew Ference out, despite not being a defenceman, Looch's presence is needed, desperately. No one's afraid of Adam McQuaid or Johnny Boychuk. For what it's worth, Looch had 16:23 of ice time, 5 hits, and was a -2. Considering how the game ended, that's a successful return.

Good #2: Satan scored his first goal as a Bruin, and his first goal in 6+ months. Am I the only one who finds hilarious irony in the word "Satan" being above the #81? No? Good.

Good #2a: Blake Wheeler once again had a multi-goal game, scoring off of Johnny Boychuck's rebound, and figuring in on Satan's goal. If it's not Wheels with the multi-goal games, it's Krejci or Boychuk. I'm liking this new trend. Welcome to the new guard.

Good #3: Johnny Boychuk's first NHL fight, vs Hawks tough guy Colin Fraser. A continuation of Derek Morris' first-period fight with Fraser. JB, however, got the point across a little better than did DeMo.

I'm really starting to love JB. If he's not breaking glass with his slapshots, he's breaking faces with his fists, or sending crisp passes up ice. This guy's a keeper, and giving how our D is dropping like flies (dear God, please don't let Chara or Wideman go down, please please please), he should figure to be in the lineup for a while still. Here's hoping Julien keeps him even once Ference and Stuart are healthy.

Don't forget the Frozen Fenway tonight, the marquis game being the Battle of Comm Ave with puck drop at 7:30 pm. That should be a great atmosphere. It should be around 18°F with snow at when the Eagles and Terriers take the ice. They're college kids, they can take it! Go Eagles!

Up next for the Bruins are the witless/winless Rangers. Unless you count that last time they played the Bruins. I mean for God's sake, the THRASHERS beat them last night. If the Bruins can get their game a little back on track, and re-group with Savvy out (or, miracle of miracles, with Savvy back on the ice having nothing more than a teeny tiny minor tweak), there's no reason this team can't be beat. I mean it's the fucking Rangers, c'mon.

Figuring shit out

I haven't really known wtf to say about either the 'Hawks or Leafs games yet. I mean, Krejci was amazing in the Hawks game, and wow that building is quiet during play. It only really got loud if there was a good play, a hit, or a goal.  Then in the Leafs game, the B's came out hard, and the Leafs seemed pretty willing to keep giving them the puck. But yeah, I'm gonna blame the past two losses on Stuart, Wideman, Morris (HALF THE D-CORPS!) being out. I'm not going to finger point any particular player and say step it up... OK yes I am. Marc Savard, step it the fuck up already. This time last year you had 29 assists. Right now you have 8. You gonna let Big Joe outshine you like this? That's so not right.

There's also a little something that's been nagging at me. Three games Schenn sits out, the Leafs handily win two. His first return he plays 19:44, the Leafs lose. Second game, against the B's, he played 10:48, and they won. Stats don't tell all the tales, and his physical play was definitely up to par (I particularly liked watching he and Sobotka go at it (btw, it's Suh-boat-kuh, not Soh-bot-kah)), but it's little things like that that make me curious. Can one defenceman make that much of an impact on a team's W/L record? I know THREE can. Or the absence of three.

Also: RE Boychuk's hit on Stajan... first off, Happy Birthday, Matty! Keep your head up. Secondly, yeah I can see how people would say, it was a headshot, Johnny should be suspended, but he shouldn't. Stajan had his knees bent, he was in a defencive crouch stature, his head was down, and Johnny's kind of tall. He didn't leave his feet until the contact had been made and STAJAN NEEDS TO KEEP HIS HEAD UP. Especially in the neutral zone, c'mon. That's where the greatest open-ice hits happen! I will say I'm confused why Chara didn't get a penalty after the ensuing melee, and it's always nice to see Komisarek bleeding. But that was just a game lost due to inexperience on the blue line. Hunwick, Chara and Ference can't do it all alone. Tuukka needs his guys in front of him knowing what to do.

In other news, what's the word on who's going to be in net for the Classic? Here is what I think. Timmy, I love you, I really go - GO CATS GO! - and I get that you're the current Vezina winner. But right now, last night excepted, Tuukka has the hot glove. Unless that goes downhill significantly over the next week and some, I really think Rask should start. Now maybe they can switch off halfway through? But that makes it more of a ... "we're not so serious about the 2 points as we are the novelty of being in Fenway." It's a tough decision that'll have to be made. And we'll see over the next 5 games who plays their way into the spot. But man I'd hate to be either of those guys right now.

Pictures later. I have windows to cover with insulating film (YAY SNOW!).