Bruins Play Well; Lose In Game 1

When the Canucks scored last night, my wife took the usual position of SWAT gear and riot shield ready for the black and gold tornado that was about to tear through our living room. To her surprise, when the game ended, I looked at her and said “its bed time” and didn’t throw my usual 28 year old temper tantrum. I don’t know why this happened because when Boston played Tampa, our living room was at Defcon 4. It could be that the Bruins played so well last night that having a goal scored in the final 30 seconds didn’t really surprise me.

Many people were expecting the Bruins to get their doors blown off in Game 1. We’ve heard it all…Ryan Kesler is amazing, the Sedin twins are the best thing to skate on frozen water, Roberto Luongo is so good the Vezina Trophy is being renamed “The Lou”. People were predicting outrageous scores. I saw 6-2 Canucks, 5-1 Canucks, 7-0 Canucks. It’s amazing to me that people who are “supposed to know hockey” don’t really know the game at all.

Boston is a defensive minded team and last night they showed why. They played their best defensive game of the playoffs last night despite the refs making terrible calls on both sides. Wait a minute, you mean that I’m saying the refs were bad to the Canucks too? Yeah I am. It’s obvious that they tried to control the game, but the Bruins penalty kill stood up to the task and killed off every penalty they faced.

In fact, the Bruins penalty kill and defense was so good that the Canucks couldn’t get a shot off in the first 12 minutes of the second period. Sure, the Bruins got lucky on a few shots (the shot that rang off the left post comes to mind) but the Canucks were just as lucky. I reviewed my DVR during lunch and Kesler was offsides, but why bitch about it now? We can’t go back in time and make the correct call.

Both teams played very well. Tim Thomas was electric in net last night for Boston. Right from the drop of the puck Vancouver tested Thomas with a flurry of shots and Timmy stood up to every one of them. He stopped rebounds, breakaways, one-timers…all except for one because his team left him out to dry. That’s really what the game winning goal came down to. It came down to (another) bad move by Boychuk and an ill advised line change that left Thomas alone with two Vancouver players. 99% of goalies won’t make that save, it just won’t happen.

So the recap is pretty short but that’s because there isn’t much that needed to be said. The game was so close that either team could have pulled it off in the last minute. I guess we’ll have to wait until Game 2 to see how this plays out.

Wait a minute…

Thanks to Kelly at Blackhawks Down Low for that one!
Something did happen of note. Alex fucking Burrows took a bite of Patrice Bergeron during a scrum after the first period. Yeah, you read that correctly. Burrows fucking bit Patrice Bergeron. Can you believe that!?

Here’s what I want to know, what was going through Burrows’ head when he did it. I believe it was EJ Radek on Twitter that said (and I’m paraphrasing) “I don’t believe in biting a player, but when your hand is in his face what do you expect?” that’s like saying “I don’t believe in robbery, but if you have $20 in your hand what do you expect?” It’s horseshit and the fact not many people are up in arms about it is kind of shocking.

I’m not saying you should run out and talk to your city councilman or call 9-1-1 over it, but HE FUCKING BIT HIM. What’s next for Burrows, a face tattoo and an appearance in Hangover 4: Lost in Tokyo?

My feeling is that if the roles were reversed, there’d be a lot more talk about how bad the Bruins are. “Well look at that team. They fight after games, their players squirt water on fans and now they’re biting people. Boston is classless, fuck Boston.” You and I have read and heard all of this bullshit before from cities across North America, but when it happens to the Seattle of the north, no one says boo.

I also love that Cam Cole, the second largest toolbag outside of Tony Gallagher, “writes” “Come on, Patrice Bergeron. It’s a man’s game. Get a tetanus shot, and move on.” What a joke this guy is. I can appreciate some first class homerism, I watch Jack Edwards for 70+ games a year, but this is resource room bad. There’s some traffic to your shitty piece you stupid douche.

In summation, fuck you Burrows.

(click the image for a high-res shot of it. Thanks to Eric!)