For the second season in a row, the Bruins will be golfing during the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Hours after the Bruins were curb stomped on home ice by the lowly Ottawa Senators, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins to clinch the final Eastern conference playoff berth.
The Bruins butchered their biggest game of the season began with their starting goalie sick with the flu and leaking out of both ends of his body.
In the end, 18,000+ Bruins fans were sicken to their stomachs they were forced to ingest a disgusting dish called “ The Boston Beatdown".
Zdeno Chara's former team the Ottawa Senators squashed all playoff hopes of the Bruins with their 6-1 win in Boston.
In a shocking move, Jonas Gustavsson was the surprise, last minute starter after Rask was stricken by the flu Saturday morning. Inexplicably, the bruins allowed Rask to take the warmup skate. Rask reportedly spent the majorty of the fifteen minute warmups session on one knee or leaning on the bench wall. Rask took a few weak shots then went to th eroom. As the game began. Rask was in street clothes and emergency call-up Jeremy Smith was on the bench in the backup role.
“The Monster” was anything but when he was haphazardly thrown to the wolves by his B's teammates as the Sens scored in rapid fire fashion.
Turnovers, sloppy defensive play, missed opportunities in front of Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond, a Boston University alumnus.
When the Bruins players gathered at center ice to raise their sticks to salute the crowd, the boos intensified and "Fire Julien" chants intensified.
Bruins fans are pissed off and they are not going to rest until they get they wish to se Julien handed a pink slip.
Be careful what you wish for, B's hoks. It might just come true.
The Bruins entered Saturday's matinee the fifth highest scoring team in the NHL. Their offense has been formidable and respected all season long, It's their patch work blue line that has sucked pond water for the past six months. Bruins fans should be booing GM Don Sweeney for not getting rid off 39 year old, broken down Zdeno Chara. Dougie Hamilton, was traded by Sweeney last summer, sure would have been a difference maker for the Bruins this season.
At the end of the day, the Bruins collapsed in the final three weeks of the season. They were okay, not great. Okay isn't good enough. That's not on Julien. That's on Chara, Krejci, McQuaid, Bergeron, Beleskey and the other Boston leaders.
Claude Julien will no doubt be fired for missing the playoffs two seasons in a row.
Who am I kidding? Julien has been fired like twenty times since he first became Bruins head coach.
Bruins fans love to shove the business end of the stick in the general direction of the head coach. Bruins fans are see things through their black and tellow colored glasses and should be blaming their listless players for this season's implosion.
I think that it's assinine to fire Julien, who is considered to be one of the NHL's best bench bosses. Julien would then be free to go to Ottawa or Montreal, two division opponents who may be looking to make coaching changes in the next few weeks.
I've heard from a Boston source that the Bruins might be considering two candidates to replace Julien. They are former New Jersey and Washington head coach Adam Oates and Harvard bench boss Ted Donato. Oates and Donato both played for the Bruins and are tight with Don Sweeney.
I thought it odd that during the first period intermission of the Flyers-Penguins game that Mike Milbury was bumping his gums (as usual) about Julien being a casualty as a result of another failed season with no playoffs in Boston. Milbury has ties to Sweeney and the Bruins as well.
Per NHL source during Bruins game today: "Mike Milbury has again made it clear to Bruins he's interested in coaching should job open up."
If I'm Boston native Jimmy Vesey, a pending unrestricted NHL free agent, I'm not touching the Bruins with a 100 foot hockey stick.
Vesey won the Hobey Baker on Friday night at the Frozen Four in Tampa. Vesey told the Nashville Predators last month that he is no longer interested in playing for them. The Preds drafted Vesey in the 2012 NHL Draft. He played four seasons at Harvard and now reserves the right to select the NHL team that he wishes to play for.
Vesey's father told media on Friday night that he would advise his son to NOT soign and play with the Bruins. The reason? Too much pressure right out of the gate for the 6'3" 200 pound finisher.
If and when the Bruins turf Julien, who still has two years remaining on his deal, the Bruins will become a bigger gong show than they already are. Replacing Julien with Oates or Donato doesn't stop the bleeding in Boston. Oates is a great teacher of skills and he loves the offensive side of the puck, but that isn't what is plaguing the Bruins right now. They suck on the defensive side of the puck. That is hardly Oates' area of expertise. Donato, a 12 year head coach at his alma mater Harvard, has never coached men in the NHL. Coaching scholar athletes in the NCAA is one thing. Coaching millionaire men in the NHL is entirely another. Milbury would be a joke as a head coach. He's a dinosaur. The NHL game passed him by long ago.
Marc Crawford, who recently left SC Bern in Switzerland, would be a good candidate for Sweeney to interview for the Boston job. Crawford knows both side of the puck and has had success in the NHL.
If I'm Vesey, his father and his agent, I'm looking at the other 28 teams in the NHL.
Were I Vesey, I would be looking at teams on the rise like Buffalo, Detroit, and Tampa.
Would I be looking at Toronto?
Hell. No.
The Maple Leafs are looking for the next Wendel Clark, Doug Gilmor, Dave Keon and Mats Sundin.
Vesey would be under intense scrutiny 24/7/365 were he to play in Boston or Toronto.
Vesey and his friend Jack Eichel will be seeing a lot of one another in the days, weeks and months to come. They are friends off the ice and will skate together in Boston. Vesey should pull up a chair and ask Eichel to describe to him the magical moments that occurred during his rookie season in Buffalo. Eichel has been treated like a rock star in Buffalo and the love affair is real.
I spoke with Eichel about Vesey a couple of weeks ago and he told me that he would like to have Vesey playing in Buffalo. Eichel can recruit his own winger this summer. Tim Murray can't speak with Vesey and his agent until August 15, but, Eichel can.
Jack may want to dissuade his buddy Jimmy from playing in Toronto, where Jack recently was dealt a plate of food poisoning. Weird. Eichel was the only Sabres player to be stricken by the food poisoning during a team dinner. Coincidence?
The Sabres played the Leafs four times this season. Eichel played exceptionally well in all four games, collecting a goal and an assist.
October 21: Sabres shootout win; Eichel zero points
March 7: Sabres shootout win, Eichel 20th goal of the season
March 19: Leafs win; Eichel no points
March 21: Sabres win; Eichel assist
Eichel should tell Vesey to stay away from Toronto's restaurants and from Nazem Kadri.
Kadri chirped Eichel hard after the BU Terrier star took him apart in a Buffalo win in early March.
“He has a hard time in his own end, but definitely special with the puck. We did a pretty good job on him.”
Eichel wasn't amused by Kadri's criticism. However, he wasn't go to rip the Leaf yapper in the media. Eichel prefers to save his smack for the ice.
