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Boston Bruins Blogger •
Often times in hockey, all a snake-bitten player needs is a lucky break to get back in a groove, be it a fluke shot here or a fortunate bounce there. For Bruins' forward Vladimir Sobotka, it was a lack of luck that helped turn the tide on Saturday afternoon.
With the B's and Oilers scoreless near the end of the 2nd period in a Halloween matinee game at the TD Garden, Sobotka and linemates Blake Wheeler and Daniel Paille were in the midst of a dominant shift in Edmonton's zone. After being turned aside repeatedly by Nikolai Khabibulin, the Bruins finally found the back of the net as Sobotka ripped one over the Oilers' netminder. Unfortunately for Boston's 22-year-old center, the puck was a half second tardy as time expired just before his wrister found twine.
After a solid outing up until that point, the trio returned in the third period determined to get the Black and Gold on the board. 20 minutes of hockey later, the B's third line had a combined total of six points on the afternoon, all stemming from the final frame.
Just 2:47 into the period, Sobotka gathered the puck and fed the sophomore winger Wheeler for a quick snap shot that eluded Khabibulin, putting the B's up 1-0. With Boston playing dominant defense, led by an extra snarly Zdeno Chara and cool, composed rookie netminder Tuukka Rask making all the necessary stops, the B's maintained their one goal lead until Wheeler and Sobotka connected once more.
It was Wheeler playing the role of setup man this time around, hitting Sobotka with a perfect saucer pass to Khabibulin's right. The Czechoslovakia native got just enough of the puck to propel it into the open net, giving the Bruins what would prove to be an insurmountable two goal cushion. The goal was Sobotka's first NHL tally since back on December 21, 2008.
"Vladdy [Vladimir Sobodka] is starting to find his game again with us that we saw a few years ago and liked. He is more in your face type of player. In doing that he is still capable of making some good plays, doing the right things, and scoring goals. He has been better in the last three games without a doubt." Head Coach Claude Julien said.
"I think Blake Wheeler’s confidence is growing. He is starting to play much better, when he is confident. With his skill level good things are going to happen. Paille is one of those guys who is going to fore-check and put pressure on other teams. His skating is so good he is going to create some turnovers and create some chances for that line. Right now those three have formed a pretty good threesome. They have formed a good line."
With each member of the third line collecting two points apiece, Julien appreciated seeing different faces step up to score goals other than the usual suspects.
"Tonight was one of those nights that they came up big for us. You have heard me say it many times throughout the year; you need different people to come up big for you.
Especially when you are fighting to score goals. You need more than just the obvious guys
to score goals and that was the line that made us with this game."
For Wheeler, who registered his 4th goal of the 2009-10 season, it wasn't the first time Sobotka's performance had impressed him.
"Well he does that every night. The last two games he’s had like 13 hits or something. I don't know what he had tonight but I talked to him before the game a bit and said it’s great to get five or six hits but let’s try to score." The B's winger said.
"He tears up the AHL [American Hockey League], he’s a very offensively talented player, so I said let’s get three hits and a goal and an assist and that will be a good night. I don’t know what he had for hits, but I think we tried to focus a bit more on the offensive side. But he works so hard every night so it was just a matter of time before he got rewarded."
United initially last Saturday against the Senators, Wheeler has noticed chemistry building between Sobotka, Paille and himself.
"I think now we are starting to understand where we are going to be more, kind of the tendencies of each others game." Wheeler said. "Once you know those things, it’s second nature it’s where Vladdy, I don’t think he knew I was going there but he had an idea somebody was going to be going to the net there so when you are able to do stuff like that, split second, not looking, that’s how you score goals."
Their dynamite performance in the third period came directly from the confidence they gained together in that last minute shift of the second period.
"Well I mean that’s where the ball really started rolling there. We had a great shift at the end of the period. About 25 seconds of nonstop pressure on the goalie and we were about a second short from getting a goal there. I think we were feeling really good about our game, feeling really good about ourselves the first two periods. Sometimes it just takes hard work to get rewarded and the third period we were rewarded."
GAME NOTES
*Andrew Ference, Mark Stuart and the third line of Wheeler, Sobotka and Paille were +2 on the day.
* Tuukka Rask needed to make just 19 saves to blank the injury/illness plagued Oilers. Rask now has two shutouts in nine career starts in the NHL.
* The Bruins now have a streak at over 204 minutes of holding Edmonton scoreless. The last time they shutout the same team three consecutive times was back in the late 1920s against the now defunct Pittsburgh Pirates. Each of those contests, however, ended in 0-0 ties.
* The game marked the 400th NHL contest for Michael Ryder and the 200th for Daniel Paille.
The contest was also the 800th of Ethan Moreau's career.
* After allowing 8 goals on their first 25 penalty kills, the Bruins have been successful 17 of the last 19 times shorthanded, and have stopped their opponents on the PP 12 consecutive times at the moment.
The B's will return to action tomorrow at 1:00pm to take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. New York is currently in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division at 8-5-1 (17 points), five points behind the first place Penguins.
JC
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With the B's and Oilers scoreless near the end of the 2nd period in a Halloween matinee game at the TD Garden, Sobotka and linemates Blake Wheeler and Daniel Paille were in the midst of a dominant shift in Edmonton's zone. After being turned aside repeatedly by Nikolai Khabibulin, the Bruins finally found the back of the net as Sobotka ripped one over the Oilers' netminder. Unfortunately for Boston's 22-year-old center, the puck was a half second tardy as time expired just before his wrister found twine.
After a solid outing up until that point, the trio returned in the third period determined to get the Black and Gold on the board. 20 minutes of hockey later, the B's third line had a combined total of six points on the afternoon, all stemming from the final frame.
Just 2:47 into the period, Sobotka gathered the puck and fed the sophomore winger Wheeler for a quick snap shot that eluded Khabibulin, putting the B's up 1-0. With Boston playing dominant defense, led by an extra snarly Zdeno Chara and cool, composed rookie netminder Tuukka Rask making all the necessary stops, the B's maintained their one goal lead until Wheeler and Sobotka connected once more.
It was Wheeler playing the role of setup man this time around, hitting Sobotka with a perfect saucer pass to Khabibulin's right. The Czechoslovakia native got just enough of the puck to propel it into the open net, giving the Bruins what would prove to be an insurmountable two goal cushion. The goal was Sobotka's first NHL tally since back on December 21, 2008.
"Vladdy [Vladimir Sobodka] is starting to find his game again with us that we saw a few years ago and liked. He is more in your face type of player. In doing that he is still capable of making some good plays, doing the right things, and scoring goals. He has been better in the last three games without a doubt." Head Coach Claude Julien said.
"I think Blake Wheeler’s confidence is growing. He is starting to play much better, when he is confident. With his skill level good things are going to happen. Paille is one of those guys who is going to fore-check and put pressure on other teams. His skating is so good he is going to create some turnovers and create some chances for that line. Right now those three have formed a pretty good threesome. They have formed a good line."
With each member of the third line collecting two points apiece, Julien appreciated seeing different faces step up to score goals other than the usual suspects.
"Tonight was one of those nights that they came up big for us. You have heard me say it many times throughout the year; you need different people to come up big for you.
Especially when you are fighting to score goals. You need more than just the obvious guys
to score goals and that was the line that made us with this game."
For Wheeler, who registered his 4th goal of the 2009-10 season, it wasn't the first time Sobotka's performance had impressed him.
"Well he does that every night. The last two games he’s had like 13 hits or something. I don't know what he had tonight but I talked to him before the game a bit and said it’s great to get five or six hits but let’s try to score." The B's winger said.
"He tears up the AHL [American Hockey League], he’s a very offensively talented player, so I said let’s get three hits and a goal and an assist and that will be a good night. I don’t know what he had for hits, but I think we tried to focus a bit more on the offensive side. But he works so hard every night so it was just a matter of time before he got rewarded."
United initially last Saturday against the Senators, Wheeler has noticed chemistry building between Sobotka, Paille and himself.
"I think now we are starting to understand where we are going to be more, kind of the tendencies of each others game." Wheeler said. "Once you know those things, it’s second nature it’s where Vladdy, I don’t think he knew I was going there but he had an idea somebody was going to be going to the net there so when you are able to do stuff like that, split second, not looking, that’s how you score goals."
Their dynamite performance in the third period came directly from the confidence they gained together in that last minute shift of the second period.
"Well I mean that’s where the ball really started rolling there. We had a great shift at the end of the period. About 25 seconds of nonstop pressure on the goalie and we were about a second short from getting a goal there. I think we were feeling really good about our game, feeling really good about ourselves the first two periods. Sometimes it just takes hard work to get rewarded and the third period we were rewarded."
GAME NOTES
*Andrew Ference, Mark Stuart and the third line of Wheeler, Sobotka and Paille were +2 on the day.
* Tuukka Rask needed to make just 19 saves to blank the injury/illness plagued Oilers. Rask now has two shutouts in nine career starts in the NHL.
* The Bruins now have a streak at over 204 minutes of holding Edmonton scoreless. The last time they shutout the same team three consecutive times was back in the late 1920s against the now defunct Pittsburgh Pirates. Each of those contests, however, ended in 0-0 ties.
* The game marked the 400th NHL contest for Michael Ryder and the 200th for Daniel Paille.
The contest was also the 800th of Ethan Moreau's career.
* After allowing 8 goals on their first 25 penalty kills, the Bruins have been successful 17 of the last 19 times shorthanded, and have stopped their opponents on the PP 12 consecutive times at the moment.
The B's will return to action tomorrow at 1:00pm to take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. New York is currently in 2nd place in the Atlantic Division at 8-5-1 (17 points), five points behind the first place Penguins.
JC
ROCK THE VOTE: Fan Poll Friday: The Best Hockey Gift You've Ever Received
QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, CONCERNS?: Email HockeybuzzBruins
ARCHIVE FOOTAGE: The HockeybuzzBruins Youtube Channel
FOLLOW ME TO FREEDOM: JC's Tweets
BOOKWORM: The Details of JC's New England Hockey Book in the Works
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