Bruins News

"Ultimately, Providence Bruins coach Scott Gordon’s most important job is sending players up the road to Boston. Not counting center David Krejci, who started the season with the NHL Bruins, was demoted for 25 games, then returned to the parent club to stay, seven Providence players were called up to play at least one game in the big league. Forwards Petteri Nokelainen (56 games), Vladimir Sobotka (48), Pascal Pelletier (6) and Jeff Hoggan (1), defensemen Matt Lashoff (18) and Matt Hunwick (13), and goalie Tuukka Rask (4) all saw NHL action."

"In years past, Providence Bruins coach Scott Gordon wasn’t just patient in his quest to become an National Hockey League head coach, he was remarkably wise. He was in no hurry to make the jump...After leading the team to four consecutive winning seasons, with a good shot at the AHL Calder Cup championship this year, it may be time for some higher learning...Sources have speculated he’ll be considered by the Atlanta Thrashers, who hope to name their new coach before the NHL draft next month."

"The Bruins expressed hope at season’s end that captain Zdeno Chara might avoid surgery on his left shoulder. But they quickly moved on to Plan B, and Chara underwent surgery Tuesday to repair a torn labrum. The surgery was not major, but the rehabilitation period may last 3-4 months. Chara is expected to be 100 percent for the start of training camp in September."

"Zdeno Chara had hoped his barking left shoulder would heal on its own. But because of concern the injury might flare up next season, the Bruins' captain underwent surgery Tuesday at Massachusetts General Hospital to repair a torn labrum. Team orthopedist Thomas Gill performed the procedure, which was deemed successful. Chara is expected to be available for training camp."

"A local kid made good and one of the truly good guys in the game, Bobby Allen, endured a season that was as frustrating and, literally, painful, as any Bruin’s in recent memory."

"Good as gone (1): Glen Murray, 0-0 -0 in seven playoff games. Due $4.15 million in 2008-09 and virtually impossible to trade (offers at the Feb. 26 trade deadline weren't worth sacrificing the chance that he might score in the postseason). "

"“The biggest message for me at the end of the meetings with the players so far is don’t expect this to happen automatically again next year. We really have to start from scratch” Julien said at yesterday’s breakup day at TD Banknorth Garden. “We’ve got an opportunity to move forward here if we understand the challenge that’s ahead of us. . . . We’ve got to get better, because if we don’t, we may be in for a surprise here.”"

"Looking back at a very successful season and forward to what could be a fairly uneventful offseason, Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli yesterday sounded like a guy who doesn’t feel a great deal of change is necessary - though he was a bit vague on the details. “We’re not going to do anything drastic,” Chiarelli said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t add somebody.”"

"With the end of every season comes change and, no matter how happy management is with the way the team performed in 2007-08, the Bruins will be no different. The B’s have four unrestricted free agents in defensemen Aaron Ward and Bobby Allen, center Glen Metropolit and goalie Alex Auld. Of the four, Ward and Metropolit have the best chance of returning after serving key roles. General manager Peter Chiarelli has had preliminary chats with the players and was appreciative of their contributions."

"In the games leading up to Boston's 2-1 win over Washington March 8, Zdeno Chara's left shoulder had absorbed some bumps and bruises. But in the second period against the Capitals, when Chara swung and missed on a one-timer, the captain felt pain deep within the shoulder, which hasn't been right since... General manager Peter Chiarelli said yesterday he believes Chara will require surgery. Chara said he hopes to avoid it."

"As expected of a team that had been eliminated from the playoffs, there were frowns and hushed voices in the Bruins' dressing room at the Bell Centre following Monday night's 5-0 Game 7 loss to the Canadiens. But there were also some smiles and heads held high. For the first time in what seems like a generation, there is hope."

"All parties acknowledged that the Bruins had overcome injuries and exceeded expectations by qualifying for the playoffs and taking the Canadiens to Game 7. But they reiterated that starting with this offseason, 2007-08 doesn't mean a thing. "Now it's about being a good team and becoming a better team," said coach Claude Julien. "That's the situation we're going to be in next year. We realize we have to start from scratch. We've gained a lot of respect from around the league to the point where teams are going to play us even tougher. Those are all challenges we see ahead of us.""

"Assume that Patrice Bergeron comes back strong next season (an educated guess says he would have played Game 1 against Pittsburgh if the Bruins advanced). It’s also reasonable to expect there will be an addition or two via free agency, with a goal scorer (Marian Hossa?) maybe at the top of the wish list and a puck-moving defenseman (John-Michael Liles?) also a need."

"As expected of a team that had been eliminated from the playoffs, there were frowns and hushed voices in the Bruins' dressing room at the Bell Centre following Monday night's 5-0 Game 7 loss to the Canadiens. But there were also some smiles and heads held high. For the first time in what seems like a generation, there is hope."

"Chara, who struggled in the first season of a five-year contract, rebounded in 2007-08 under new coach Claude Julien, playing like his old surly self. Yesterday, a day after his season came to an end, Chara was recognized for his performance when he was named one of the three Norris Trophy finalists."

"The Bruins’ rags-to-riches “Rocky” story came to a disappointing and anticlimactic end last night with the Canadiens’ 5-0 victory at the Bell Centre in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series."

"To a man, they noted how proud they were of each other. They were a bruised and underestimated bunch that went toe-to-toe with the top-seeded Canadiens, a run-and-gun, teeming-with-skill club that had claimed 10 consecutive meetings (eight in the regular season, two in the playoffs). But for as high as the Bruins held their heads, the sting of a 5-0 loss in Game 7 before 21,273 frenzied fans hurt more than a one-timer to the teeth."

"Tomas Plekanec said there were times when he felt left out while playing with brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn. "It seems they have a way of finding each other," Plekanec said. "They talk to each other and then it seems they find a way to do something on the ice. Sometimes, I think they don't need me out there, but I don't care as long as they score goals." And that they did last night. Andrei scored two goals and set up Sergei for a third as the Canadiens wrapped up their best-of-seven quarterfinal series against the Boston Bruins with a 5-0 victory."

"Perfection is difficult to achieve, but the Canadiens came close last night as they closed out their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the Bruins with a 5-0 victory before 21,273 towel-waving fanatics at the Bell Centre."

"The Bruins were props. Their assigned role in this production last night was to play the part of the overwhelmed opposition. They were not to interfere with the plot line, which called for Montreal to reassert the superiority of a No. 1 seed against a No. 8. And your Bruins followed the script magnificently, right down to allowing a cherry-on-the-sundae goal with eight seconds remaining in a 5-0 celebration of Canadiens hockey."

"But as much as it’s possible for a goaltender to stand tall after being on the wrong end of a 5-0 score, Tim Thomas is that goaltender. You look at the tape and you’ll see Montreal’s first goal eluding Thomas after it deflected off the stick of Bruin Petteri Nokelainen."

"The Bruins threw the fear of God into the heavily favored Montreal Canadiens and their zealous followers in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. That knowledge proved to be the B’s lone reward."

"Yesterday morning, 35-year-old Glen Murray, the oldest Bruin, pondered appearing in his sixth career Game 7, most of any member of the 2007-08 club."

"Well, it looks like Harry Sinden was partially right when he recently said Zdeno Chara was playing through a rib injury. He was just a little south of the mark."

"Zdeno Chara, the Bruins' larger-than-life defenseman, sat patiently in his stall in the visitors' locker room at the Bell Centre, his feet bare and his skates already whisked away by the equipment managers, and he considered the end of his season."

"Based on body language alone, the happiest and most excited person in the Garden when Marco Sturm scored the winning goal in Saturday’s Game 6 was Bruins vice president Cam Neely."

"Ken Dryden. Steve Penney. Patrick Roy. Now, Carey Price has added his name to the list of upstart Canadiens goalies who have derailed yet another Bruins playoff run."

"An athlete is always the first to know when something is wrong with his body. In retrospect, Manny Fernandez says, he should have done something last summer when his left knee didn't feel right. "I've learned to trust my feelings and listen to myself," he said yesterday morning. "Something in my body told me something wasn't right. There were too many things I didn't do and tried to work through it. Had I listened to my body last summer and had an operation, I would have started the season on a good foot.""

"The Bruins, given little chance to even make the postseason, are on the verge of completing the biggest playoff comeback in their 84-year history. The Canadiens, thought to be their Stanley Cup-starved nation’s best hope to win since they did it 15 years ago, are on the precipice of the biggest choke job in their illustrious 99-year history."

"Game 7 of this epic Boston-Montreal showdown is scheduled to kick off tonight at a sure-to-be-crackling Bell Centre. The thing is, the Bruins have been taking on seventh games for the past month."

"In the second period of Saturday night's game, it was bad enough that Montreal forward Tomas Plekanec stepped out of the box after serving a tripping penalty, took a pass in stride from penalty killer Steve Begin, and tucked a breakaway goal behind Bruins goalie Tim Thomas."

"The Bruins may have figuratively won Saturday’s Game 6 against Montreal by the skin of their teeth. But that phrase applied to goalie Tim Thomas in a much more literal sense."

"Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference quickly dismisses any suggestion that his team has outworked the Canadiens."

"When the Bruins trailed the Montreal Canadiens three games to one early last week, B’s coach Claude Julien said if his team looked at the big picture, the monumental challenge of three consecutive games against a team of Montreal’s caliber just would seem too daunting."

"It’s been 36 years since the Boston Bruins last gorged on champagne from the Stanley Cup, so can we bear to think their championship hibernation may be over?"

"Bruins coach Claude Julien said he wouldn't hesitate to use Patrice Bergeron against the Canadiens tonight in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series. But it remains unlikely that Bergeron will see action against the Canadiens. "It's a doctor's decision and he still hasn't had the okay," Julien said prior to the Bruins' departure for Montreal."

"In one of the most exhilarating hockey games you’ll ever see, the Bruins overcame three one-goal deficits and gave up a late lead before Sturm finally scored the game-winner with 2:37 left in the third period for the 5-4 victory over the Montreal Canadiens last night."

"What emerged from a pulsing TD Banknorth Garden (full house of 17,565 for the third straight game) was this: an eye-popping 5-4 comeback victory over a stag gering Montreal club that's searching for answers prior to tomorrow's Game 7 at the Bell Centre."

"The Bruins stayed alive last night as they outscored the Canadiens 5-4 in what Christopher Higgins described as "a wild-and-crazy game.""

"It was embarrassing. Phil Kessel was one of only three Bruins to play all 82 regular-season games. He potted 19 goals with 18 assists for 37 points. He lead the league with five deciding shootout goals. He even notched his first career hat trick."

"Phil Kessel came to the Bruins as a 19-year-old last year with an impressive amateur resume and the nickname “Phil the Thrill.” The second-year forward has lived up to the nickname over the past two games."

"And so it appeared to be last night at the Garden, when, with 9:56 remaining in the third period of Game 6 of this spellbinding playoff series between the Bruins and Canadiens, the Habs’ Francis Bouillon took a shot that went off the stick of Shane Hnidy and past goaltender Tim Thomas."

"When the Bruins' Game 6 showdown last night with the Montreal Canadiens exploded in a third-period avalanche of goals, it was Marco Sturm shaking them loose."

"Milan Lucic should still be in junior hockey. Vladimir Sobotka was projected to spend the season in Providence. Phil Kessel spent Games 2, 3, and 4 of this first-round playoff series against the Canadiens as a healthy scratch."

"There is a wonderful saying which, if it wasn’t first uttered by a hockey coach, should have been: The harder you work, the luckier you get. For a long time last night, in one of the great hockey games ever played in Boston, it seemed as though it wasn’t quite going to work out that way for the Bruins."

"The most important lesson a young player must learn about playoff hockey is this: As enormously important as every game is, and as incredibly intense and difficult it is to play, treat it like just another game. Just relax and play hockey."

"The NHL's much-anticipated move to an 84-game schedule won't happen for at least another couple of years, if at all, according to Paul Kelly, executive director of the National Hockey League Players Association."

"Marc Savard didn't sleep much Friday night. The Bruins' leading scorer is playing his 10th season in the NHL, but this is his first shot at the playoffs. Obviously, he had never played a Game 6, with the end of season on the line, in front of a frantic home crowd."

"It isn't over yet. And the talented Canadiens now have to play a Game 7 they would have given nearly anything to avoid. In last night's Game 6 at TD Banknorth Garden, Montreal charged, but Boston responded every time, and the underdog Bruins battled to a 5-4 victory. "

" Harry Sinden, mostly retired to Florida at the age of 75, doesn't have much of an impact anymore on the team the Boston Bruins put onto the ice. Since August of 2006, he has served in the vague role of senior advisor to the owner. But Sinden sure did shake up the Bruins last week, and probably earned himself full retirement, when he criticized several people in the organization during a chat with Boston Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy. "