Chara

No. 2: Every team reports to training camp with no less than clinching a postseason berth as goal No. 1. But in the case of the 2007-08 Boston Bruins, the situation might’ve been more dire than for most teams.

Out of the lockout, the club has missed the playoffs two straight years. With  Claude Julien taking the reins, the Bruins were onto their third coach since the labor stoppage. And in a city used to championship bubbly from two of its major sports teams (and anticipating it from a third), another postseason no-go would’ve been a disaster.

Behind goals from Zdeno Chara and Phil Kessel, the Bruins pulled off a 2-1 win over Ottawa April 4 to secure their first trip to the Stanley Cup playoffs since 2004. For an encore they pushed the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens to seven games in the first round of the playoffs. Both achievements are most worthy of the Top 10 Bruins Stories of the calendar year ’08. (more…)

Weight

New York Islanders center Doug Weight is enjoying a bounce-back season despite the struggles of his young, rebuilding club. He leads the Isles in points (29) and his minus-11 is obviously more a reflection of his team’s poor defensive play than his own. Dan Martin in today’s New York Post reported that the solid numbers plus Weight’s age and contract (he’s signed for just this season) could make him a target of trade rumors. However, Weight says he’s content to stay on Long Island.

MK: What else is Weight going to say? He’s too classy to ask out. But any player that truly doesn’t want to go to a contending team probably should hang them up.

If the Boston Bruins are forced to place Marco Sturm and/or Patrice Bergeron on long-term injures reserve at some point, the 38-year-old Weight would be a great trade target. His $4.3 million doesn’t fit under the Bruins’ cap as currently constituted, but he’d be the perfect rental player for a team looking to end a more-than-three-decade-long Stanley Cup drought — especially considering the extra jump he seems to have in his step right now. Obviously, acquiring Weight — or a player like him — will become more of a necessity should Bergeron not be able to return to full health. While most Bruins fans obviously don’t want to think about Bergeron replacements and would rather see him just get back in the line-up, remember that Weight was a good-luck charm of sorts for the  ’06 Cup-winning Carolina team that acquired him at the deadline.

Here’s one for you to ponder before and after the ball drops in Times Square:

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Bourque

The son of NHL Hall of Famer and Boston Bruins legend Ray Bourque, Chris, achieved a milestone last night skating for the Washington Capitals in a win over Buffalo.

Bourque scored his first NHL goal to give the Caps a 2-0 lead in a game they won 4-2. (more…)

O'Ree

Over at CBC.ca they report on former Boston Bruins forward Willie O’Ree receiving Canada’s highest honor — the Order of Canada.

In the story, O’Ree expresses his desire to one day be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, which along with the Order of Canada and his induction in the New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame would give him a trio of honors that he deserves. O’Ree, of course, broke hockey’s color barrier with the Bruins in January 1958. O’Ree has been the director of youth development for the NHL’s diversity program for numerous years — influencing the likes of New Jersey goaltender Kevin Weekes and others to pursue hockey as youths. (more…)

Crosby

Most times, the Boston Bruins put on a victorious performance that just makes their opponent shake their collective heads. But last night’s 5-2 win at Pittsburgh by the Black and Gold caused the Penguins to call a players-only meeting immediately after the game, as Dave Molinari reports in the Post-Gazette.

Rob Rossi in the Tribune-Review reports that Penguins assistant coach Andre Savard thinks it’s important for the NHL that Original Six teams like the Bruins are back to being a factor. Rossi also writes about the Pens’ postgame meeting, which captain Sidney Crosby refused to speak specifically about.

St. Pierre

What do you get as a reward when you score your first goal of the NHL season and help your team take down the defending conference champion? A trip to the minors.

The Boston Bruins this morning announced that center Martin St. Pierre, who chipped in with a shorthanded goal last night in the 5-2 win at Pittsburgh, has been assigned to Providence (AHL). In five games with the Bruins, St. Pierre also registered one assist.

Also, the Bruins placed center Patrice Bergeron (concussion) on the injured reserve list.

Bergeron

No. 3: Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Randy Jones’ hit from behind on Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron was probably the lowest point of the Black and Gold’s calendar year of ’07.

Looking to bounce back after a dismal 2006-07 season, the last thing the Bruins needed was to lose their best two-way player for an extended time. After the hit, it was learned that Bergeron suffered a Grade 3 concussion — the most severe type, and one that would keep him out of game action for the remainder of the regular season.

The year 2008 got better for Bergeron as it moved on — starting with his return to the ice for a light skate in late February, through his workouts that had him ready to play (with doctor’s clearance) had the Bruins moved to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and then his return to game action in the regular season when the Bruins opened their current season in Colorado Oct. 9.

Little did he know that this year would close much the way the previous one did, and Bergeron’s trials and tribulations dealing with concussion problems is an obvious pick for the Top 10 Bruins Stories of ’08. (more…)

Savard

The Boston Bruins defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, behind three-point nights by Marc Savard and Dennis Wideman in the first half of a home-and-home series tonight at Mellon Arena. You can read the game recap at Yahoo.

Here are my notes and thoughts:

•The Bruins’ power play had been 0 for its last 14 before Zdeno Chara lit the lamp on the man-advantage with 4:46 elapsed in the second period. (more…)

Thornton

Last week, Dave Caldwell of the New York Times detailed how fighting majors in the NHL are up 15 percent from last season and 75 percent over three years ago.

Oddly enough, the Boston Bruins — widely accepted as one of the toughest teams in the NHL — aren’t following that trend. Last season through Dec. 29, the Bruins had compiled 29 fighting majors, according to hockeyfights.com. The Bruins finished the regular season with 52 fighting majors. (more…)

The top two scorers in the NHL — Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby — will face one of their stiffest tests of the season against the top team in goals allowed, the Boston Bruins, tonight at Mellon Arena. The Bruins are allowing just 2.11 goals per game through their first 36 contests.

Malkin (15-44-59) and Crosby (15-34-49) have plenty of help though, including Jordan Staal (11-10-21), who tonight will become the youngest player ever to reach 200 games played in the NHL. Another historic note: Crosby will be skating in his 250th career game, and according to the Elias Sports Bureau his 114-229-343 points total is the sixth-most by a player in his first 250 outings. (more…)

Talbot

The Pittsburgh Penguins will be looking at their home-and-home series with the Boston Bruins, which starts tonight in Pittsburgh, as a perfect chance to start their climb toward the top of the Eastern Conference — where the Bruins, of course, currently reside.

Dave Molinari in today’s Post-Gazette reports that the Pittsburgh players aren’t blaming their head coach Michel Therrien or his staff for the club’s recent sluggish play. Molinari also writes about the Penguins’ good fortune when Maxime Talbot scores a goal. However, he hasn’t found the back of the net in 19 games.

Penguins forward Matt Cooke was on hand for Sunday’s Cleveland Browns-Pittsburgh Steelers game and he witnessed Ben Roethlisberger suffer a concussion. That prompted Rob Rossi to tackle the subject of head injuries in the Tribune-Review. Rossi also reports that former Bruins defenseman Hal Gill will be back in the Pittsburgh line-up after missing 10 games.

Fernandez

No. 4: One of the low points of the calendar year 2007 for the Boston Bruins was that their $4.5 million acquisition, Manny Fernandez, had to undergo season-ending knee surgery in December.

Acquired to give the Bruins the No. 1 netminder they’d always desired (but didn’t realize they already had in Tim Thomas), Fernandez became a non-factor in the franchise’s resurrection under new head coach Claude Julien.

But this story of disappointment turned to one of triumph in the second half of ’08 and Fernandez’s return to form and his combining with Thomas to give the Bruins the best goaltender tandem in the NHL earned its spot among the top 10 stories of the year. (more…)

Thomas

Among all the statistics that add up to explain why the Boston Bruins woke up this morning atop the Eastern Conference and neck and neck with San Jose for the most points in the entire NHL, one sticks out in my mind as the most astonishing: road winning percentage.

Through their first 21 road games, the Bruins have compiled a 14-4-3 record — a league-high .667 road win percentage. The fast start is a far cry from the away records the Bruins compiled last season (20-13-8) and the year before (17-22-2).

Goaltender Tim Thomas has been a major reason for the club’s ability to continually prevail away from Boston. He’s received the majority of the Bruins’ road starts (14) and compiled a 10-2-2 record with a 1.82 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and three shutouts. (more…)

Stajan

There are probably worse things than can happen to an NHL player during the course of a game, but when it comes to the time leading up to the opening faceoff there’s nothing more embarrassing or damaging than an injury suffered during pregame warm-ups.

Toronto Maple Leafs center Matt Stajan is the latest NHLer to suffer an injury during his club’s pregame soccer ritual. Leafs general manager Brian Burke confirmed to The Sun’s Steve Buffery that Stajan has a condition known as hyphema in his right eye as result of a soccer ball in the face. Stajan will be restricted in his activity for one to two weeks.

MK: This would be the worst nightmare for the Boston Bruins, who enjoy some raucous soccer exhibitions before their games both home and away. The team has had enough on-ice injuries already, so battling an off-ice one could be crushing. Of course, there’s no reason to ban soccer. Teams should just do a better job of instituting some guidelines and maybe have an assistant coach or trainer watch the games if players who have millions of dollars on the line won’t be a little bit smarter and in-control.