By NoontimeSports.com
The Boston Bruins and NHL announced on Thursday morning that Zdeno Chara is one of three finalist for the 2012 James Norris Trophy.
The Norris Trophy is awarded every year to the player who “demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position.”
Excluding Chara, the other two finalists are Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators and Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators.
Zdeno Chara netted the game-winning goal on Monday, which helped Boston defeat Washington, 4-3! (Photo Credit: ChiTown Nation)
By NoontimeSports.com
Happy Tuesday to everyone, and welcome into yet another tremendous edition of the Daily Noontime! Let’s jumpstart the day with some news and headlines from the city of… winners!
* The Boston Bruins earned one-game series lead on Monday, as they defeated the Washington Capitals, 4-3. Zdeno Chara netted the game-winning goal late in the third period, while Tim Thomas deflected 29 shots between the pipes.
* Boston will attempt to earn a two-game lead on Thursday when they return to the ice for Game No. 4. The last time the Bruins led a series 2-1 was against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, which Boston won.
* According to reports – Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom received a “match penalty” at the end of Game No. 3 on Monday, which means he’ll most likely miss the fourth game of this particular series. Also, the league will now have to review the play, too.
* Boston and Tampa Bay concluded their four-game series on Monday, and sadly, the Red Sox didn’t record a sweep, as Sean Rodriguez scored the only run of the day for the Rays. Daniel Bard lasted six and two-thirds innings, and managed to fan seven batters. However, Bard’s only mistake was allowing Rodriguez to score after walking Evan Longoria in the seventh inning.
* The Red Sox will look to snap their one-game losing streak on Tuesday when they welcome the Texas Rangers to Fenway Park — first pitch is scheduled for 7:10pm – Jon Lester opposes Colby Lewis.
* The Boston Celtics will look to earn their third consecutive victory on Tuesday when they travel to New York to face the Knicks — tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm.
* Finally, Wesley Koir and Sharon Cherop won the 116th Boston Marathon on Monday.
Zdeno Chara's third period goal lifted Boston past Washington, 4-3! (Photo Credit: Zimbio.com)
By Matt Noonan
For the second time in five days, Boston ended a contest on the winning end, as the Bruins defeated the Washington Capitals, 4-3 at the Verizon Center.
Here are some postgame reactions and thoughts.
How The Game Was Won: With roughly two minutes remaining, and the score tied, 3-3, Boston’s Zdeno Chara whipped a shot from the nearside wing past Washington’s Braden Holtby, (25 saves) which clinched the victory for the Bruins.
Boston’s Fourth Line Sparked The Offense: Let’s give some props to the Bruins fourth line, which tied this particular match in the second period when Daniel Paille wristed a shot past Holtby. That strike rejuvenated the Black and Gold, and helped them register two more tallies before the buzzer sounded.
It All Starts With Defense: With a chance to earn a 2-1 lead in the series, Boston’s top defensive unit – Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg – ramped up their intensity, and provided some physical blows late in the third period, which helped set up the game-winning goal.
Both players finished the contest with 11 combined hits, and five shots on net.
The Bruins Power Play: Once again, Boston ended another postseason contest with no power play goals. The Bruins are currently 0-for-11 against the Capitals when they have an extra skater, and will attempt to snap their scoreless streak on Thursday, Apr. 19.
Other Notes:
* Washington outshot Boston, 32-29.
* Washington ended the game with one power play goal, but failed to capitalize on their second, third and fourth chances.
* The last time Boston led a series, 2-1 was against Tampa Bay in 2011 during the Eastern Conference Finals. The Bruins wound up winning that particular series, 4-3, and then defeated the Vancouver Canucks to claim their sixth Stanley Cup championship.
By Matt Noonan
BOSTON, MA – It’s never enjoyable to be on the losing end in sports, especially against a last place team in the Eastern Conference, ahem… the Carolina Hurricanes.
Boston proved they’re vulnerable Thursday evening at the TD Garden, as a full capacity crowd watched their hometown Bruins struggle immensely, and earn an ugly 3-0 beating.
“Yeah I think sometimes we’re working, [but] we’re not working smart and there’s a fine line there, and we’re not doing that right, it’s obvious,” said a disgusted Patrice Bergeron.
The Bruins center continued by saying, “We know where to be on the ice, we know how to execute, we know the system and we’re just not doing it. We’re just not in sync and it shows.”
Despite following the “so-called” system, the Black and Gold tallied 47 shots on net in a span of 60 minutes, (22 in the first period and 20 in the third period), but didn’t send a puck past Carolina goaltender Cam Ward, who earned his third shutout of his NHL career against Boston.
“I felt like I was seeing the puck well and for the most part,” said Ward. “I was really happy with my rebound control and we had to get off to a good start because we know that they play extremely hard, especially in their building, [but] to walk away out of the first period with a 1-0 lead, we felt good about that and improved our play in the second period.”
Boston also didn’t compliment Tuukka Rask, who recorded 28-saves between the pipes, and allowed one goal in each period.
“We had a lot of shots, but we just let them see the puck pretty well and didn’t go to the net too hard at times and, you know, let them get those easy shots. But, you know, I mean, tough game,” said Rask.
Carolina has now won six contests on the road this year, two of them in Boston’s barn, which certainly is a red flag for head coach Claude Julien, who appeared quite dumbfounded after his Boston’s eighth loss at home.
“There are certain teams during certain years that will give you a hard time, and they have. They’ve played us well, and they’ve made it hard on us, [but] at the same time, they’ve come in here with lots of confidence, [and] they beat us the last three games, I’d say pretty soundly, and so that’s what the situation is,” said Julien.
The season sweep marks the first time in Carolina history that the franchise has defeated the Bruins in a regular season series, too.
“Tonight we were just really bad. We just didn’t play well,” said Boston’s captain Zdeno Chara. “[It was] just a really bad night for us.”
The Bruins will look to bounce back, and recover from their awful performance on Saturday when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins for a 1:00pm matinee.
By Matt Noonan
BOSTON, MA - Trailing Carolina by one goal, Boston’s goaltender Tuukka Rask, (20 saves) attempted to jumpstart his team’s offense by recording various highlight reel saves. Yet, Rask’s efforts didn’t exactly help, as the Hurricanes took advantage of Boston’s lackluster player to notch their second goal of the evening, which Tuomo Ruutu connected on a backhanded rebound for the score at 16:41.
The Hurricanes tallied 14 shots in 20 minutes while the Bruins finished the period with five.
Boston had numerous scoring chances, but David Krejci, Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara could not poke the puck past Cam Ward, (27 saves).
Interesting Note: The Bruins have been held scoreless following the second period eight time this season. Also, Ward has two shutouts this season, and 18 in his NHL career. (Both notes were provided by the Bruins PR/Media Staff.).
Rajon Rondo was the main reason why Boston snapped their five-game losing streak on Wednesday! (Photo Credit: MassLive.com)
By NoontimeSports.com
Good Thursday morning to everyone, and welcome into another stupendous edition of the Daily Noontime! Here are some headlines, and news from Boston and New England.
* The Boston Celtics snapped their five-game losing streak on Wednesday, as they defeated the Toronto Raptors, 96-73. Although, Rajon Rondo sustained a minor wrist injury in the third quarter, which he believes won’t keep him sidelined for too long. The Celtics will return to the hardwood on Friday when they welcome the Phoenix Suns to town, which is yet another “must win” game.
* The Boston Bruins will look to even their four-game road record at 2-2 on Thursday when they travel to New Jersey to face the Devils.
* The Black and Gold announced on Wednesday that defensemen Zdeno Chara was named one of the captains for the upcoming NHL All-Star game.
* In college hoops on Wednesday, Duquesne defeated Massachusetts, 80-69, while Northeastern edged Georgia State, 60-57.
* Finally, San Diego Chargers linebacker Takeo Spikes told ESPN on that he’s predicting the New England Patriots to win the AFC Championship game on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens.
By NoontimeSports.com
The Boston Bruins announced on Thursday that Zdeno Chara and Tyler Seguin will accompany Tim Thomas, as well as the coaching staff at the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa, ON.
Here’s the press release courtesy of the Bruins public relations staff:
BOSTON, MA – Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara and forward Tyler Seguin will join goaltender Tim Thomas and the Bruins coaching staff at the upcoming 2012 NHL All-Star game in Ottawa, ON, the NHL announced today.
Chara leads all Bruins defensemen in almost every offensive category, including goals (7), assists (18), points (25), time on ice (24:29),
plus/minus (+27), power play goals (5) and shots (110). His currently ranks seventh amongst all NHL defensemen in points, leads all defensemen
in plus/minus and is tied for the league lead in power play goals.A four-time Hardest Shot king, Chara has won the last four Hardest Shot competitions at the NHL All-Star Skills Competitions. Last year, he
broke his own Hardest Shot record with a 105.9 MPH blast in Raleigh, NC. Chara recorded triple-digit shots of 100.4 MPH in 2007, 103.1 MPH in
2008, and 105.4 MPH in 2009 to win those respective competitions.Seguin participated in last year’s All-Star festivities as a rookie. He is Boston’s leading scorer this season with 17 goals and 21 assists for
38 points. He also leads the NHL in plus/minus with a +33 rating.Last week, fan voting determined the first six players for the January 29 game to be held at Scotiabank Place. Thomas earned the highest vote
total among all goaltenders. He has been the winning goaltender during the last three All-Star games, which ties a NHL record.By virtue of winning the Stanley Cup last season, the Bruins coaching staff of Claude Julien and assistants Doug Houda, Geoff Ward and Doug Jarvis will behind the bench.
By NoontimeSports.com
The Boston Bruins announced Wednesday afternoon their 22-man roster for Thursday’s opener against the Philadelphia Flyers.
Here’s their roster according to the team’s press release:
Forwards: Patrice Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Jordan Caron, Nathan Horton, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Daniel Paille, Rich Peverley, Benoit Pouliot, Tyler Seguin and Shawn Thornton
Defensemen: Matt Bartkowski, Johnny Boychuk, Zdeno Chara, Joe Corvo, Andrew Ference, Adam McQuaid, and Dennis Seidenberg
Goaltenders: Tuukka Rask and Tim Thomas
Who are the Top-10 Boston Bruins?
By Dan Rubin
So, as par the norm, I’m going to bring up the rear with my predictions and thoughts on a topic. But, as they say, we saved the best for last.
Most of you might not be aware that, yes, Boston did have a hockey team this decade before 2008, and, yes, they were actually pretty good. The Bruins, in fact, were one of the best regular season teams since the turn of 2000. That did not, obviously, translate to playoff success, winning only the Stanley Cup in 2011, as the most recent flag bearers for the state of Massachusetts. And while the Bruins are certainly the toast of the town, it wasn’t always like this, even though they were a good team.
Indeed, the Bruins can be broken down into two categories – pre-Lockout and post-Lockout. The pre-Lockout successes hinged on one formula backed by a player you’ll see on the list. The post-Lockout Bruins traded that player and rebuilt their organization on the fly, suffering a couple of bad years in there. But that’s what makes the turn of the century so fun to analyze and so fun to dissect.
Here are the nominees, a little bit more in-depth than Noonan and Lindberg, because you probably haven’t heard some of these names and some of them need explaining as to why they are where they are, OK?
Honorable Mention:
Boston had a number of players who were great one-year wonders. They traded for guys to fill out a solid roster but never committed to them for the long haul. Guys like Sergei Gonchar, Bill Guerin and Mike Knuble. They all played for Boston and were solid additions, but they all fled town after their contracts expired, or they were traded when the Bruins front office realized they couldn’t resign them with a cheap owner nickel-and-dime-ing along the way. After the Lockout, this attitude changed with the salary floor and cap, forcing the Bruins to spend money and manage contracts better than before. Needless, to say it paid off.
That attention to tenure is why you won’t see guys like Dennis Seidenberg or Nathan Horton on this list. They are great players, but they didn’t do it over too much. It’s possible they make a revised list in a couple of years (Horton, especially), but I’m basing this on how big of an impact the players made on the organization for an extended period of time, and how good the team would’ve been without them. If you remove Horton, the Bruins are still a great team, but that discounts how much they belong on this list.
Also, it’s worth noting guys like Marco Sturm, who were brought here to replace big name guys, and, even though they weren’t as good, they were every bit the part they needed to play. They had a number of guys like that, and, once again, they left town.
And, finally, the one-year wonder goaltenders. These guys didn’t have the tenure to stick into our list because, let’s face it – the Bruins have never been big on goaltending. Andrew Raycroft put up solid numbers but didn’t play long enough in Boston to warrant a Top 10 rating. Also, Tuukka Rask might be the best goalie the Bruins ever had, but he’s neither done it, nor been consistent enough to be considered in this list.
So here are our Top 10 Bruins of the past decade. There are a ton of guys to choose from, all of which were good, some of which were great.
Tim Thomas is just one of the many who could be awarded an end of the year award.
By Dan Rubin
The NHL’s official final act of the 2010-2011 season will be to hand out its awards amidst the glitz and glamour of Las Vegas. It’s the last day where the league celebrates the season it had, and it closes the book on a magical ride resulting in one team’s hoisting of the Stanley Cup. With news the NHL salary cap and salary floor are both increasing due to increased visibility, ratings, and revenue, there has never been a better time to be a player in the NHL. When free agency begins on July 1, there will be a crop of young stars waiting to make splashes in the new league, but first, we take a look and predict the winners of the major awards to be handed out on June 22, from The Strip.
Hart Memorial Trophy (League MVP):
Nominees: Corey Perry (Anaheim); Daniel Sedin (Vancouver); Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay)
Who Should Win: Perry. Perry posted 50 goals and 48 assists for a Ducks team that finished second in the Pacific Division. He was the only 50-goal scorer in the league this year, a plateau that is impressive unto itself. He also scored a full 18 points more than the team’s second-leading scorer (Teemu Selanne), and he had 16 goals more than the next highest goal scorer (Bobby Ryan). Compare that to Sedin, who had the same amount of goals as Ryan Kesler for the Canucks and Martin St. Louis, who led his team in points by only eight and had a season’s plus/minus of zero. If both Sedin and St. Louis are taken out of the equation, their teams probably have similar seasons to the ones they had. Taking Perry out of the equation puts Anaheim down the barrel of the division and possibly out of the playoffs.
Who Will Win: Sedin. Perry’s plus/minus pales in comparison to Sedin, who posted a whopping +30. Even though he was exposed in the playoffs, Perry doesn’t nearly have the name recognition. And even though he scored more goals than Sedin, the Canuck had a 104-point season that included 63 assists. Overall, Sedin had the better numbers, even if he was on a better team. Plus, the face of the league needs to be recognizable, and voters know that. Daniel Sedin is a much more recognizable name and face than Corey Perry.
