Adding John Tavares to their roster pre-season, the Toronto Maple Leafs were expected to take the Stanley Cup without a hitch, but they trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by 14 points and the New York Islanders are only one point behind them.
Tavares’ former team, who was supposed to be at the bottom of the barrel for this season, is only a point behind them. Auston Matthews, who spent a portion of the season recovering from injury is one of Toronto’s few bright spots, but even his 1.21 points per game has not put him in the league’s top ten. Their team stats have not exactly been top tier, either. Center Mitchell Marner is their top point-getter with 63, which is only 10th best in the National Hockey League. Tavares is 24th with 56 and Morgan Rielly is 32nd with 52. In two of the last three seasons, the top point-getter on the Cup-winning team was in the top three of point-getters in the entire NHL. The numbers do not bode well for the Maple Leafs if they keep up these poor numbers. They are also only 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, the overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings who are the third worst team in the Eastern Conference. Their other four losses are to the Arizona Coyotes, Florida Panthers, Colorado Avalanche, and the Boston Bruins. Boston is the only one of these teams who are in a position to acquire even a Wild Card spot. That brings up another interesting point involving the Bruins. Their mean age is 26.03 years old, meaning that they are a very young team that Toronto will have to contend with for years to come, which hinders their shot at future Cups, as well. Why is that so important if Boston is struggling to hold onto a Wild Card spot? This season, the Bruins and Leafs faced four times, three of which Boston won. One of those Boston wins was in Toronto. Boston also won two of those games by three goals or more, losing their only loss by two goals. Now, the Leafs are only slightly older than the Bruins, their mean age is 26.33 years old, but their record against this young Boston team shows that they will have troubles with Boston in not only this year’s postseason, where the two have a high chance of playing each other, but in future seasons for at least the next five years. If teams like Boston are going to be such a roadblock for the team that was supposed to have an easy road to the Stanley Cup this season, then the Leafs are in for some major issues. Not to mention that a team from perpetually warm Tampa Bay, Florida is beating them at a game played on ice, something Tampa has not seen naturally occurring since December 23 of 1989. Toronto is in trouble and is ultimately a disappointment to their fanbase. Jesse A. Cook “Maple Leafs Aren’t Everything They Should Be” February 6, 2019
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Going 7-1-2 in their last ten games, the Boston Bruins have skated into fourth place in the Eastern Conference. Behind scoring from Charlie McAvoy, David Backes, David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand, the Bruins have soared into a pretty playoff position.
In fourth, if the season ended now, Boston would face the fifth place Toronto Maple Leafs. That’s not exactly an easy series for Boston, as they lost to Toronto in their two matchups this season 3-2 and 4-1 to the Leafs on November 10th and 11th, respectively. However, in December, Boston went on the rise. Chad Zimmerman, a writer for the Causeway Crowd, a division of FanSided, said, “The Boston Bruins five game win streak was snapped on Thursday night (December 28, 2017) in a disappointing loss. At least they have a good chance to rebound.” Yes, Braden Holtby and Alex Ovechkin led the Washington Capitals to a 4-3 victory over Boston, but they took the B’s to a shootout where only one goal was scored. A hard fight against the second best team in the East and the sixth best in hockey is a sign of good things to come in 2018. With the Tampa Bay Lightning way ahead in first place with 58 points, the Bruins are not thinking about catching them, yet. While first is a long shot, at 48, they are only three points out second place, currently held by the Caps. The B’s won their last game 5-0 over the Ottawa Senators. Tuukka Rask pitched his 40th career shutout. Ever since head coach Bruce Cassidy threatened Tuukka Rask’s job by starting Anton Khudobin for a couple games, Rask took initiative and has looked as good as he did back in the 2013-14 season when he won the Vezina Trophy. The goaltender has made a huge change, calmed down, and taken back the helm of this Stanley Cup caliber team. Rask has .923 save percentage and Khudobin has a .922 save percentage, the eighth and ninth best, respectively, in the league! With great gloves in the blue crease, Boston is proving a formidable opponent to the other 30 teams in the NHL. In the entire month of December, Rask did not suffer a regulation loss. He went 10-0-1 in the final month of 2017! His steady hand on the wheel is bringing Boston back to their rightful place atop the Eastern Conference and all of the entire National Hockey League! The scrappy Scandinavian skater held his own in the latter half of the 2017 portion of this 2017-2018 season and as January begins, he prepares for a start against the eighth place New York Islanders. Jaroslav Halak and Thomas Greiss split the games at goaltender for New York with Halak playing five more games at 24. Rask has a clear advantage considering Greiss has a save percentage of .884 and Halak .905. In addition to Beantown’s chances at a good spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, while they are just two points behind the third place New Jersey Devils and three behind the Caps, they have played the least games out of any team in the league at 37, tied only by the 14th place in the East Senators and the first in the West Las Vegas Golden Knights. Boston has played one less game than the Devils and a whopping three less than D.C. Happy hockey and Happy New Year! Jesse A. Cook “Behind Boston’s Bruins’ Boom” January 1, 2018 Come early April, the Florida Panthers’ Shawn Thornton famously dropped his skates in a trash bin after his final game. The two-time Stanley Cup champion retired immediately after his final April 9, 2017 game on the road versus the Washington Capitals. They beat the Caps 2-0. Thornton spent the brunt of his career in his beloved Boston with the Bruins. Known as the “Instigator,” Thornton spent 1103 of his minutes in the penalty box. He was best known for his ability to start and win fights with rival players. If you look on HockeyFights.com, 242 of their videos belong to the Instigator. Of course, a fair sized portion of those fights were in the AHL, but that still adds up to 1210 minutes, and that’s just from the videos that the owners of the site deemed worthy of recognition. Starting out with the Chicago Blackhawks, he quickly became a major “hit.” He had two points in 13 games, one goal and one assist, in his rookie 2002-03 season, but that combined with 31 penalty minutes helped start the blue collar career of the great Thornton. He spent one year in the 2006-07 season with the Anaheim Ducks when accompanied by stars Ryan Getzlaf, Scott Niedermeier, and Corey Perry he won his first Stanley Cup. Spending 88 of the minutes of the 48 games he played, it was clear to the entire National Hockey League that you didn’t mess around with him or one of his teammates without suffering the consequences of a blow to the head. The Bruins saw this in him and decided he was the right guy to defend their stars, Marc Savard, Phil Kessel, and Zdeno Chara.
Thus started the long Boston career of the beloved Shawn Thornton: they’d only miss the playoffs once in his seven year tenure and his fellow fourth linemates of Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell helped him build the best fourth line in all of hockey. When Boston won the Finals in the 2010-11 season, a major factor was how there was an unrelenting stream of skill and hard work from the first line to the fourth, mainly perpetuated by Thornton’s ethic of never quitting. The B’s relied greatly on Thornton’s veteran presence to teach the younger players and to show them the type of playing that led to a Cup win. Thornton, now a front office executive for the Panthers, decided that he would only exercise to “not get fat.” He’s officially done with skating, playing hockey, and most importantly, fighting. His second Stanley Cup winning year was his best year as he got himself 20 points (10 goals and 10 assists), and it’s safe to say that Thornton had a great career. Jesse A. Cook “Shawn Thornton: The Last Instigator” June 28, 2017 Boston Bruins’ owner Jeremy Jacobs is now an NHL Hall of Famer… You’re probably wondering why… Well, you’re not alone.
This is not going to be an article explaining why Jacobs deserves this, but the exact opposite. There is no reason why Jacobs should be in the Hall of Fame. You could make the argument that because he was owner when the Bruins broke their 39-year drought and won their sixth Stanley Cup, he deserves some recognition, but shouldn’t Peter Chiarelli really be the one to thank for that? Yes. That entire 2010-11 team was the work of Chiarelli. You could even say that Jeff Gorton deserves some recognition, as well because he drafted a great deal of that team (Chiarelli and Gorton were Bruins general managers), but Chiarelli made the trades to make that team. Jacobs did not of that. Even if he did have some say, as hard as it is to say being a die-hard Bruins fan, but the 2010-11 wasn’t even good! Sure, Tim Thomas, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara, and David Krejci were all in their prime, Tyler Seguin was still showing off his skills in Beantown, and Brad Marchand was on the rise, but they got lucky in the postseason. Granted, they had a fine regular season at 46-25-11, but they were barely able to succeed. Sure, the Flyers went down easy in the second round, but they took their rival Canadiens in Round One to an overtime victory in Game Seven. The Third Round came down to one of the greatest Game Sevens in NHL history with no penalties, Thomas making the save of the century, and a late Nathan Horton goal that decided that Boston would face Vancouver in the Stanley Cup Finals. Along with the Canucks’ Alexandre Burrows biting Bergeron during a brawl, the Canucks’ taking the first two games on the road was not unexpected, but Aaron Rome’s elbowing Horton in the back of the head in the Boston 8-1 Game Three win was. Scraping together a Game Four and Game Six victory, along with losing Game Five in Massachusetts, the B’s brought the series back to British Columbia for Game Seven. The city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada literally burned after Bergeron and Marchand scored two goals each to win Game Seven 4-0 on the road and took the Cup. The Green Guys outside the Canucks’ penalty box were two of the few fans to congratulate Vancouver native Milan Lucic on his new engraving on the Cup, but you can’t say that Jacobs won them the Cup. He was rather stern two years later during the NHL lockout, but his refusal to pay the players more money at the expiration of the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement is what helped cause it. Jacobs is probably one of the most unimportant, uninfluential people in NHL history. His being in Toronto (the location of the NHL Hall of Fame) makes absolutely no sense. Jesse A. Cook “Jeremy Jacobs: NHL Hall Of Fame” June 27, 2017 Heartbreak has befallen both the fans of New England sports and the foes of it, but what are the five best moments that unfortunately still came to no avail? After careful consideration, one from each of the Boston teams was found, except two for the Patriots, totaling to five moments.
NUMBER 5: The Boston Bruins 2013 Playoffs “Bergeron! Bergeron! Bergeron!” chanted Bruins radio play-by-play announcer, Dave Goucher, as Patrice Bergeron jumped into the excited arms of his teammates after the incredible 3rd period and Overtime Game 7 comeback over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Everything had looked gloomy with about ten minutes left in regulation, until Bergeron’s Bruins scored 3 goals to tie the game at 4 apiece and sent the B’s onto the next round and eventually onto the Stanley Cup Finals. Unfortunately, this great upset led to no trophy for Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane’s Chicago Blackhawks took only six games to take home the title over Boston. NUMBER 4: The Boston Celtics 2002 Eastern Conference Finals Versus the New Jersey Nets, the Celtics made possibly one of the greatest single game comebacks in NBA history: down 84-53 at the end of three quarters, Game 3 hopes looked grim for Celtics fans. Fortunately, Paul Pierce led his team to a 41-16 fourth quarter which ended in a 94-90 Celtics win. This was incredible, although the Nets took Games 4, 5, and 6 to win the series and head to the NBA Finals. NUMBER 3: The Boston Red Sox 1975 World Series Game 6 of the 1975 World Series versus the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine is what led to the left field pole on the Green Monster at Fenway Park to be called the “Fisk Pole.” The thriller of Game 6 began with future beloved Bruins singer of the national anthems of the United States and Canada, Rene Rancourt belting out the Star Spangled Banner, it got interesting when Red Sox’ outfielder Bernie Carbo tied the game in the eighth inning, and it ended when BoSox’ Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk swung his arms above his head, waving the ball fair, and hit a walk-off home run. The next game, Game 7, ended with Redlegs’ center fielder, Cesar Geronimo jumping in midair after catching the Carl Yastrzemski fly ball that finished the ’75 series. NUMBER 2: The New England Patriots 2015 Super Bowl XLIX When Russell Wilson tossed the ball to Jermaine Kearse, it looked an awful lot like the ball had hit the ground, but in actuality, the Seattle Seahawks receiver had kicked the ball up before taking control of it. Seattle then took the ball from the spot of the lucky grab and drove down to the Patriots’ one yard line where head coach Pete Carroll told his quarterback to pass the ball instead of handing it off to great running back Marshawn Lynch. Fortunately, this has a happy ending for the Foxboro based franchise because with about 20 seconds remaining in that quarter, which happened to be the fourth, young and unknown cornerback Malcolm Butler made the biggest play of his career and intercepted the ball in the end zone to preserve the Pats’ 28-24 lead and win the 49th NFL Super Bowl. NUMBER 1: The New England Patriots 2017 Super Bowl LI Apart from losing the 28-3 lead, the Atlanta Falcons’ quarterback, Matt Ryan, tossed a seemingly impossible throw to future Hall of Famer Julio Jones, but he miraculously caught the projectile over the out of bounds line and slammed his feet into fair territory before falling out of play having gained the dearly needed yardage. Without that highlight reel play, Atlanta would not have made it into field goal range. Once again, to the delight of all of New England, the Patriots’ opponents would befall great misfortune: after several yards lost due to sacks that would push the Falcons out of field goal range, a Matt Bosher punt to the nine yard line, a Julian Edelman catch that seemed to transcend the realm of human ability, a Danny Amendola touchdown, a two-point conversion, an Overtime period, a James White touchdown, and a Tom Brady MVP Award, with a score of 34-28, the Patriots rendered the incredible Jones play redundant and secured the greatest NFL comeback in Super Bowl history. There have been many incredible plays in New England Sports history that tragically or joyfully did not come to ultimate fruition, but these are the obvious top five. Despite the misfortune that might meet the great city of Boston, it is important to keep in mind that they did win at least one championship in each of the Big Four sports in under ten years. Jesse A. Cook “Five Heartbreaking Failures From Great Plays In New England Sports” June 26, 2017 It’s time for Music City to bring home a cup named Stanley. They made the great offseason move to trade Shea Weber to the Montréal Canadiens for P.K. Subban. The Nashville Predators are now down two games to one to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals. Why, not only will the Preds win the championship series, but why do they deserve it?
It’s not necessarily that Nashville is predestined to win the 2017 Cup, but it’s just that the Penguins shouldn’t. There are several teams that have won too much in the NHL: the Pens, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, etc. Any of the remaining teams could deserve to win, but why is Nashville most deserving? That’s a good question, I mean, why not Sergei Bobrovsky’s Columbus Blue Jackets who had that insane winning streak at the beginning of this 2016-17 season? Why not Brad Marchand’s Boston Bruins who scraped their way into the postseason by beating powerhouses at the end of the year? Why Pekka Rinne’s Nashville Predators? Well, to begin with, they fought off the rallying St. Louis Blues and Anaheim Ducks in the last two rounds. The Blues were the second round matchup and the Ducks were their opponents in the Western Conference Finals. What’s more remarkable is their victory in the first round: The top seed Chicago Blackhawks laughed in the face of the bottom seed Predators before Game 1. How could Roman Josi, P.K. Subban, and Pekka Rinne’s feeble Nashville Predators, who had barely nudged their way past the Winnipeg Jets take on Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, and Corey Crawford’s Blackhawks? Well, in the Game 1 Smashville shutout on the road, the Preds’ Viktor Arvidsson scored the only goal in the first period. Game 2 saw another Rinne shutout with a 5-0 victory which brought the series to Tennessee. Game 3 started out with two Chicago goals from Dennis Rasmussen and Patrick Kane in the second period. In the third, Filip Forsberg took the game into his own hands and fired two goals, one early in the period and one late, past Crawford to tie the game 2-2 and bring us to overtime. It wasn’t until 16:44 in OT that the tie was broken by the Preds’ Kevin Fiala. The current score in the series worried the now horror stricken Hawks fans as they trailed three games to none to the eight seed. Despite the third period goal from Jonathan Toews, the two goals from Josi, one goal from Colton Sissons, and final goal from Arvidsson brought the final score to 4-1 Predators, just confirming the Windy City’s worst fear: they’d, not only lost to, but been swept by the last seed in the Western Conference, Nashville Predators. With 94 season points, Smashville would have missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, yet Chicago had been knocked off by them. Now, we move past the implications for who deserves what more, and to who has more skill. In this series, the defending champ Penguins are favored by 145 points to win. Now, that does not mean they’ll win Games 3 and 4 276-131; it means that if you bet one dollar on the Predators winning, and they do, you win $145. Pittsburgh is clearly heavily favored to take this series, which would be their third since 2000 and their fifth total. This year is Nashville’s first appearance in the NHL Finals. Despite the previously presented information, Pittsburgh gave up more goals than Nashville. The Preds also have won a higher percentage of faceoffs than the Pens, which, when combined with the apparent lacking defense of Pittsburgh, does not come out with a Pittsburgh victory. Now, Rinne, after yesterday’s game is 1-9 against the Pens; and his newfound momentum and complete steely-eyed nature in front of the net will almost assuredly carry Music City to their first NHL parade. The Predators have given up very few goals this postseason and are neck and neck with Pittsburgh for goals scored. That combination does not add up for the Pennsylvania side of the coin. The Predators have faced great adversity this season and they have really excelled of late. No team is more deserving of this Stanley Cup victory than the Predators of Nashville, Tennessee. Sidney Crosby and the Penguins of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania have had their fun, but like LeBron James in the NBA with his Cavaliers of Cleveland, Ohio, they will most likely lose on their quest to defend their title. Jesse A. Cook “P.K., Pekka, Preds” June 3, 2017 The Boston Bruins are making their first playoff run in a few years, but what are their chances at another Stanley Cup win? At this point, pretty high. They’re a game up on Ottawa, and they won in Ottawa, so that takes away total home ice advantage for the Senators. The rest is merely a game of looking at their lineup.
We begin, however, with this opening series: the last time the Bs made the playoffs, Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals took them down. This time, it’s Erik Karlsson and the Ottawa Senators attempting to do the same. The season series has tilted the Sens’ way, 3-0-1, but now Boston has momentum. They won a close game 2-1 on a late Brad Marchand goal off of the ricochet of Patrice Bergeron shot, and a defeat such as this can be crushing for a team. The Sens are definitely tired after that game, and despite their next match being Saturday, it takes time to recover from such a loss; especially against this brand new Beantown lineup. That brings us to my next point: Charlie McAvoy, Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson, and Anders Bjork make the Bruins a much more formidable foe to any squadron they matchup against. Combined with an un-mischievous Marchand, a terrific Tuukka Rask, a skate-breaking Bergeron, and a functioning defense, Boston has a great shot at Banner 7. JFK did not play very much and Bjork has yet to be called up, but McAvoy played 24 minutes and 11 seconds on ice. On the Marchand goal, he sent the puck out from behind the net to David Pastrnak who passed it to Bergeron where he fired a shot on goal and sent a ricochet to Marchand who won the game. McAvoy didn’t get an assist on the play, but he did a fantastic job setting it up. If JFK and Bjork can play like Good Ol’ Charlie, Boston is set for years and years and years to come, as well as at least one more Cup win this June. Now, we have to take a moment to talk about Marchy’s temper; he’s a hothead, but after years of laying rather dormant, he’s committed three offenses this year (one of which was merely last week). In January, he slewfooted the Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall, which means that he committed a “dangerous trip.” A week later, he did it again to Tampa Bay’s Anton Stralman. Last week, he cost himself a couple games worth of ice time by spearing Tampa’s Jake Dotchin in a, uh… rather, uh… “tender area.” Let’s just leave it at that the all-star has to work on keeping his temper under control. Despite his wildness, Marchy is quite the player. He had 85 points, 39 goals, and 46 assists, as well as winning Game 1 of the Boston Bruins’ 2017 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs run. He was also named to the Atlantic Team in the 2017 NHL All-Star Tournament alongside Boston goaltender, Rask. They may be young, inexperienced, inconsistent, and mercurial, but the Bruins have a shot at the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2014. Wednesday’s game was knotted up at 1-1 for a good long while, but after the rebound from a Bergeron bullet, the game turned to Beantown; and Marchy makes two. Jesse A. Cook April 14, 2017 “And Marchy Makes 2” Under the new management of Bruce Cassidy, the Boston Bruins have an astonishing 7-1 record. Longtime head coach, Claude Julien was fired and then went off to the B’s rival, the Montréal Canadiens a week later, yet he only has had a 3-3 record. Why has Cassidy worked so well and why is Julien on what looks like what might be the tail end of his career?
Cassidy spent years at the helm of the Providence Bruins, the American Hockey League affiliate of the Boston Bruins, so he’s worked with a good amount of the current NHL roster for Boston and they’re familiar with him. Star David Pastrnak, despite having only one year of minor league experience, has been with Bruce Cassidy longer than Claude Julien. Ryan Spooner, Brandon Carlo, and Frank Vatrano have better chemistry with their new head coach because they spent a year or more of their careers with Cassidy, and a couple months under Julien. Julien has led a team to the playoffs since the 2013-14 season when Boston lost a 7 game bout with the Canadiens in the second round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Now, his former team is primarily made up of new faces, players like the minor leaguers or players like David Backes, who were signed or traded for. It is tough to try to appeal to the new guys while keeping your veterans happy, but Claude just simply had too much trouble with it, so Montréal made him the new guys that the team had to acclimate themselves to. As an added bonus, he has to impress everyone in the Habs’ organization. That’s some odds against him, but if he’s really only hit a slump, southern Québec will have another Stanley Cup contender team. Familiarity is tremendously important to the success of an organization, but that moral boost really contributes to a boost in play level and skill. Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin have really stepped up their play in net and the offensive attack has really been far more powerful. Brad Marchand, Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and David Krejci have all been incredible of late; scoring off the charts and having masterful passing abilities. Nevertheless, there is always the possibility of Cassidy being a mere flavor of the month. He is only the interim leader, so there is always the possibility that his coaching could decrease in value and Boston will ultimately fail in their Stanley Cup goal. Is the Cassidy Craze nothing more than Lin-Sanity, the Tebow-Pocalypse, or Boston’s own Morgan Magic? Who can say, but currently, the Killer B’s are on on what looks like the fast track to their seventh championship victory. Jesse A. Cook March 1, 2017 “Bruce Cassidy And The Stanley Cup Bid” |
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