Bruins' Bad Karma Begins to Catch Up to Them

It was bound to happen...

What a burn it must be for Bruins fans to not only lose Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals last night in Vancouver, but to lose at the hands of none other than Alex Burrows, biter extraordinaire.

No doubt, Mike Murphy of the NHL's corrections bureau needs a new prescription for his glasses. Yeah sure, Bergeron's hand was in his face, but Burrows definitely should have been suspended, at least one game, for his despicable act. It definitely crossed the line. We could see his teeth come down, for crying out loud.

Of course, the same applied to Zdeno Chara when he shoved Max Paciorretty into the turnbuckle back in March. Again, Murphy reviewed the play and the response was no suspension.

What comes around goes around Bruins fans.

And so Burrows plays, scores the game's opening goal, one that Timmy Thomas should have had but wasn't flush against the post; gets an assist on the game's tying goal in the 3rd period; then becomes the overtime hero once again scoring 11 seconds in while becoming the 2nd fastest OT goal scorer in Stanley Cup playoff history -- with Montreal Canadiens' forward Brian Skrudland holding that honour after taking a beautiful saucer pass from Mike McPhee to score back in 1986 against the Calgary Flames, yes!

This was from the last round, but I love this picture of Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher. The guy is intense, and maybe a bit nuts. Don't worry Guy, you'll win a cup when you coach the Habs.

What was even more beautiful about the Burrows goal -- to me at least -- is how it truly exposed that the Bruins are completely outmatched against the Canucks and have been lucky to have gotten to this point:

Andrew Ference, a hack of a defenseman who gave the finger to the Montreal crowd earlier in the playoffs (more bad Karma for Boston) passes to nobody and has it picked off after the Bruins won the opening faceoff. Two quick passes and Burrows is flying in on the left side. Big Z Chara cuts off the angle and Burrows does exactly what I was waiting for -- he fakes out Thomas who is like a mile out of his net (almost 12 ft. to be exact) and ends up trying to go around him to angle it in. But he's forced behind the net by Chara and Thomas who tried to trip him.

However, Chara and Thomas got caught up for just a split second, allowing Burrows to gain a step on Big Z and swing around to put the puck into the open net.

Thomas overplays pucks and did so all night but somehow he gets away with it, like he has all season long. He makes a lot of crazy saves that are of his own making to begin with (i.e. covering up his own mistakes). Chara gave up the puck deep in Boston's zone for Vancouver's tying goal in the 3rd and should have been able to push the much smaller Burrows off the puck (however, there was no turnbuckle present so I guess it makes sense).

Ference, well he's just a loser and always will be. He can stay with the Bruins as long as his career lasts as far as I'm concerned.

Skill vs. brawn folks. And you know what? The Bruins, they don't really even bring the brawn. Tell me who is battling and hitting for this team? Horton? He's just waiting for open nets. Lucic? He's been a terrific disappointment even with his goal last night. Chara? Forget it. Boychuk maybe and Seidenberb are both clearly Boston's best dmen this playoffs. Chara hasn't played to his abilities; Kaberle -- he'll be looking for work in about a week and McQuaid? He's a whoda
f!@# !!

Boston took 3 OT wins agains the Habs in the 1st Round. Habs win one of those, Habs win. Finally Boston lost an OT game. Thank you hockey gods for restoring my faith in you.

At times Boston looks like a fish out of water when the Canucks turn up the pace. They just can't keep up with a fast-paced game. They were riding on confidence after breaking through Luongo in the second, but aside from that period, they've been outclassed ALL THE WAY.

I hope it continues.

Vancouver is now up 2-0 heading into Boston for Game 3 on Monday.

Go 'Nucks!!! Go Habs too!!

Speaking of the Habs, the team re-signed veteran dman Hal Gill to a one year, 2.25 million deal this week. I have to admit, I didn't like Gainey's original signing of the big man, because I'd seen him at his worst when he was on the Leafs. Then, somehow he found his role when he played on the Penguins Stanley Cup winning team. Now, he's a big-time leader who mentored Subban this year and was terrific with Gorges as a shutdown tandem last year.

With the hopes that the Habs' top four dmen will stay healthy this coming year (Markov, Gorges -- yes I think they both will be re-signed -- Subban and ??) Gill can play less minutes and be that much more effective. Bravo Hal, you're a good guy and a class act and worthy of the Montreal Canadiens jersey. Have a great 2011-2012 season.

And with that, there should be some more fun and excitement regarding signings in the following weeks leading up to July 1. I expect Markov and Gorges to be resigned. Kostitsyn too. We'll see what happens.

MAKE IT EIGHT!!! Quebec City, YOU'RE NEXT!!!