We’ll find out Saturday night after the puck drops whether the Bruins’ all-out outstanding performance in Philadelphia Thursday was a one-night eruption brought on by general manager Peter Chiarelli’s pregame speech and the news that center Marc Savard will probably miss the season, or if it was the start of the Bruins’ resurgence as one of the hardest-working teams in the NHL. [Read more →]

Here’s a cool little video courtesy of Daywalker Productions. It should be noted that Matt Cooke had a fight last night with Rob Niedermayer of New Jersey. Pittsburgh lost the game, but Cooke won the fight. Maybe he considers that a tune-up for Thursday.

Cooke

The airwaves, the newspapers and the Web sites — at least those that treat hockey as an equal sport here in the U.S. — are filled with predictions and warnings about what might unfold on the ice at TD Garden next Thursday, when Pittsburgh and arch-villain Matt Cooke visit the Bruins.

Allan Maki of the Globe and Mail weighed in Friday on the matter. Obviously, things are getting blown way out of proportion. The Bruins, as they proved Thursday in Philadelphia, are not as soft as they looked Sunday in not retaliating for the cheap shot on Marc Savard by Cooke. And they’re also not going to do anything that will even be in the same area code as what Todd Bertuzzi did to Steve Moore. [Read more →]

We know that whether he stays with the Bruins for years to come or continues his NHL career elsewhere, Mark Stuart is going to wear a captain’s ‘C’ someday.

In a 5-1 rout at Philadelphia Thursday night, Stuart showed the type of leadership he usually reserves for those times he deems it necessary in the locker room by fighting both tough guys Daniel Carcillo and Ian Laperriere and setting the tone early against the would-be Broad Street Bullies.

For a complete recap of the game, log on to Yahoo! [Read more →]

Savard

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli Thursday evening announced that center Marc Savard met with neuropsych doctor Dr. Kelly McInnis at MGH.

The report from that scheduled meeting was that “it doesn’t look good for the rest of the year,” according to Chiarelli.

The Bruins are in Philadelphia taking on the Flyers Thursday night without their star center, who suffered a Grade 2 concussion as a result of a hit by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke Sunday.

Bruins forward Shawn Thornton is carrying on the tradition started by former Bruins defenseman Aaron Ward. Thornton, along with 98.5 The Sports Hub, will host the Third Annual Cuts for a Cause at Ned Devine’s in Boston March 31 from 3-5 p.m.

Admission will be $10 and the bidding for the chance to shave the head of one of the participating Bruins players will begin March 17. All proceeds will benefit the Boston Bruins Foundation and MassGeneral Hospital for Children’s Pediatric Oncology Unit.

Guerin

In the immediate aftermath of the Matt Cooke hit on Marc Savard, I was highly critical of the other players in the NHL, in particular Cooke’s teammates, who never seem to speak out about predatory hits unless it happens to them or someone on their teams.

Well, a couple veteran players have finally decided they’ve seen enough of their colleagues go down because of blatant attempts to injury by other players. In Edmonton, defenseman Sheldon Souray had some great points in a piece by Mark Spector at Sportsnet.ca. Cooke’s teammate Bill Guerin also spoke out to urge an all-out ban on hits to the head.

It’s about time some guys realized that the next time, they could be on the wrong end of a hit to the head and it’d be better to legislate those plays out first.

Sturm

Barring a major slump over the season’s final 18 games, winger Marco Sturm should not be forced to share in the blame for the Bruins’ horrid offense all season.

Lost in all the hoopla over the Matt Cooke non-suspension and the Bruins’ overtime loss to Toronto Tuesday was that Sturm scored his 20th goal of the season that night against the Leafs — in just 59 games played. He has now reached 20 goals in eight of the last nine seasons, a streak that was only broken by his season-shortening knee injury of last winter.

To read the rest of this story, log on to ESPNBoston.com.

Wideman

If you’re always wondered what Dennis Wideman’s Boston condo is like, Christopher Muther of the Boston Globe has a short story about the defenseman’s bachelor pad today.

Of particular interest is the bit about Wideman installing a pool table instead of a dining room table. Now we know how Wideman relaxes away from the rink. No word, however, on whether opposing players continually steal the cue ball after he shoots it.

Campbell

Some might look at NHL discipline czar Colin Campbell’s inconsistent and incoherent decisions when it comes to suspensions and fines and think he’s mad as a hatter. But now we know for sure he’s more like another character from “Alice in Wonderland.”

By saying that there was no way to punish Pittsburgh forward Matt Cooke for his concussion-causing blow to Bruins center Marc Savard last Sunday, Campbell was in effect declaring: “Off with their heads!”

Now, physical resemblances between Campbell and The Red Queen (shown here as played by Helena Bonham Carter) aside, here’s what Campbell told TSN about his decision to let Cooke get away with the hit unscathed even though he suspended twice in the last year for similar hits.

The Red Queen

“I know Matt Cooke is a repeat offender, he’s been suspended twice in the last year,” Campbell said. “I can’t suspend Matt Cooke for being a repeat offender, I have to find a reason. Right now our rules say that shoulders to head are legal. Matt Cooke did not jump, and did not do anything that we found illegal in his actions even though again you don’t like what happened. [Read more →]

It was just 18 months ago when Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli declared his love for Darryl Sutter’s Calgary Flames clubs, in particular the 2003-04 Stanley Cup runner-up club, at the outset of the Bruins’ 2008-09 season.

Then if it wasn’t enough of a tribute to those Flames that Andrew Ference, Chuck Kobasew and Stephane Yelle already dotted the Bruins’ roster, on their way to winning the Eastern Conference in the regular season the Bruins also picked up Steve Montador. The ‘08-09 Bruins played with the heart and grit that was synonymous with that championship-caliber Flames team as much as the best Bruins clubs of the previous 35 years. [Read more →]

While Jack Edwards is often a master of hyperbole bordering on mania, his recent column on NESN.com about the Marc Savard-Matt Cooke incident is right on the money.

I disagree about the conclusion that the NHL has anything against the Bruins. The fact is there are about 27 other teams that at one point or another the last few seasons that have taken issue with both Colin Campbell’s tortoise-like approach to doling out punishment and his inability to exact any meaningful justice with suspensions that wind up looking more like vacations. [Read more →]

Penner

Rookie defenseman Jeff Penner logged 9:17 of  ice time over 13 shifts Tuesday night in the Bruins’ loss at Toronto. He posted an even rating and was credited with three hits.

In playing his first NHL game, the former collegiate free agent became the seventh player in the history of the Alaska Nanooks NCAA program, according to the Nanooks’ media guide, to skate at the game’s highest level. Most recently, New York Rangers forward Aaron Voros and Chicago defenseman Jordan Hendry represented the Nanooks in the NHL.

That Penner, an undrafted player out of a little-heralded school, made the NHL in just his second full pro season is a great story. But it’s also an indictment on the Bruins’ depth in the organization on defense. [Read more →]

Nikolai Kulemin took advantage of Michael Ryder’s impersonation of a bowling ball (with Tim Thomas as the 1 pin) to score the game-winner 4:10 into overtime Tuesday night in Toronto.

For the complete game story, check out Yahoo!

Some quick-hit thoughts on the game:

•Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci both stepped up their games in Marc Savard’s absence. It’s amazing how offense-minded Bergeron can become when Savard is out, and how Bergeron’s game doesn’t suffer in other areas. Why he doesn’t do that when Savard’s in the lineup is a mystery to me. [Read more →]

The Bruins already knew they’d be facing Toronto without Marc Savard against the Leafs tonight. Then came the even worse news, as they found out that defenseman Zdeno Chara wouldn’t be available because of an undisclosed injury. [Read more →]