Bruins ran over Miller/By S. Bradley
BOSTON — Tyler Seguin is red hot and the Bruins’ offense is on fire.
Boston downed Buffalo tonight for its fifth straight win, with Seguin scoring twice.
The second-year forward now has at least a goal in four straight games, while he has points in six straight. The Bruins have scored 30 goals in their last five games after they scored just 21 in their first 10.
“The way we’ve just been playing lately, it’s been, offensively, all around pretty much, it’s been pretty impressive,” said goaltender Tim Thomas, who earned the win with 21 saves. “It’s been pretty fun to play behind, and there’s some pretty good stuff out there. You’ve got Seguin coming of age, and other guys, we’re really clicking right now and getting some things done. It’s pretty fun to watch.”
Here’s my game story from NHL.com.
Other than the eight goals, there were other fireworks during this battle of Northeast Division rivals. During the first period, Milan Lucic and Buffalo goaltender Ryan Miller collided. As I wrote for NHL.com, Miller was none too pleased with Lucic after the game. Miller left after two periods due to an “upper-body injury.”
You can re-live all the action with this photo gallery courtesy of Sharon Bradley Photography.
RD- I didn’t say Miller was classless, I said what he did was classless. Huge difference. His only intention in speaking to the media there was to call out Lucic. It was just him acting pissy.
John, seriously? Calling a POS a POS after the game is classless but running a goalie needlessly is what? Miller’s put in some serious miles for team USA but the moment he says something bad about a black and gold angel, he’s classless. Even PCL is calling it a garbage play? Lucic has been doing stuff like this since he was brought up and I applaud Miller for risking the fine to call out Lucic for the cheap shot. Krejci goes to the press about other players all the time. What’s the issue with that (beginning with Krejci)?
Bruins16,
You are 100% correct. The sabers should have responded but they didn’t. I guess it’s because it’s simply falling into the Bruin’s trap. Get into a fight fest with them and it doesn’t end well. Also, Leblanc is on a 6’1 frame (at least that’s how tall he was at 16) and he’s a center. We desperately needed a scoring center with size so he was a good fit. Being -3 in the AHL doesn’t mean much. Hamilton is pretty weak this year so I wouldn’t look into that too far.
JPT your my favorite contributor to this site (aside from MattK of course)
I understand the league wanting to protect goaltenders much like football wants to protect quarterbacks. Nevertheless when they leave their crease to handle the puck, they should not have license to roam without concern for being checked. Lucic did charge Miller, however, and deserved the penalty. I thought Buffalo would respond to the infraction with bit more spirit.
JPT/RD
When I talk about the draft, look at 2009. Your Habs passed on Jordan Caron and selected Louis Leblanc. Louis is at Hamilton at a -3, while Jordan Caron makes the B’s NHL roster. And if you remember a couple of games, when Phaneuf left his feet to hit Kelley, Caron defended his teammate. If the Habs management felt Leblanc would do that, he wouldn’t be in Hamilton. But at 178 lbs., he probably would do a “P.K. Subban” and look for a linesman to hide behind, instead of shoving Phaneuf to the ice. Enough said?
Bruins16,
All great points. I’m wondering which Lindy Ruff sabre team will play Monday night, on Versus, against the blanc, bleu et rouge?
John – I’m totally with you – that swing of the goalie stick could break a guy’s femur. Yeah, Miller got hit – actually he got bumped, and no goalie is going to get hurt from that. You don’t want to get hit – stay in the cage. Miller’s all mouth b/c he sucked it big-time last night and must have felt foolish flailing around missing everything. Could Looch have side-stepped him. Yes, but he could also have put himself in a compromising position by doing so. To guys like JPT – its friggin’ hockey, dude. Don’t be such a poofter! But then again – if you weren’t a poofter, there’d be nothing much left, I suppose.
Last night’s game was all about takeaways and really nice puck movement. You know.. for a ‘goon’ squad I can’t believe how much talent they have. The passes from Bergeron to Seguin, and then Seguin to Marchand were just gorgeous. No one on that team completes that pass to Marchand but Seguin (except for Savvy), and we’re just now scratching the surface of what that kid can bring.
JPT
I’m dating myself here, but I can remember Yvon Lambert, Kirk Muller, and Bob Gainey hitting goalies. If you look at the tape, Lucic doesn’t have much chance to avoid Miller. I don’t think the Boston Bruins salivate to fight someone at anytime. They do play a physical game, that is their style. Why do you think the Habs have signed or tried to sign some of the people they have in the past couple years? They would like to be more physical. Do you think Guy Lapointe, Serge Savard, and Larry Robinson didn’t play physical? Your team has done a poor job in the draft. You have drafted too many small skilled forwards, some of whom don’t compete when they been checked a few times.
RD
Good teams defend their teammates. The Sabres should have gone to Miller’s aid, if they felt it was a cheap shot. If they don’t have any players that will do that, then they need to make a trade or draft better. And yes, the Bruins have played better. The Bergeron line has played well, but I’m disappointed that Sidenberg, Boychuk, and Campell haven’t received more accolades.
@RD Miller wasn’t being “straight” with his comments after the game, he was acting like a petulant child. I recognize that the Lucic play was a penalty because the rulebook says that Goalies are not fair game when they leave the crease, but what Miller said/did after the game is about as classless as it gets. Sit around in a suit in the locker room for the sole purpose of calling an opposing player a POS. Additionally, his huge swing of the stick after the play exhibited an inordinate amount of malice. The sole purpose of that action was to try to hurt another player.
That lead-in paragraph combined with the pic made me laugh out loud!
Milan “do you know who I am” Lucic himself said the bruins would never have tolerated what he did to Miller. To defend him after that just doesn’t make sense guys.
I applaud Miller for being straight with his comments after the game. Guys like Krejci do it all the time. We’re too PC these days. When a play stinks, call it for what it is…not just an “unfortunate incident”.
Apparently there was a hockey game too. Bruins are looking much better than they did earlier in the season.
Bruin16,
For sure if someone ran Thomas the Bruins would have done something because that is what they play for. They salivate at the thought of fighting for any reason. The Seguin shirt was going to be for Burke for all the help he gave Boston in building their team, I guess you could say a colusion/Christmas gift. I am waiting to hear from Matt today saying I won the shirt as I predicted at least 20 cheap shots by the Bruins and that cheap shot by Lucy counts for at least 10.
Had to like the B’s at the face off dots, 36-11 B’s advantage after two periods and 45-25 after 3. Bergeron and Campbell had their way on FO’s.
The “buttery” sabres were chasing the puck all night long. It’ll be tough to keep scoring 6 GAG…I’d settle for them scoring 5 GAG.
Anybody else find it curious that Miller’s neck didn’t bother him until the B’s scored “3″ 2nd period goals?
Anyway, Caron and Hamill played well.
You came out of the net Miller. You were in Looch’s way. Get over it. Peverley sure didn’t look injured tonight!
JPT
I don’t think Lucic went out of his way to hit Miller. He was going after the puck and it didn’t look like he had much time to stop. I do think, however, if someone did that to a Boston goalie, there would have been much more of a reaction from other Boston teammates. Even your team, Hal Gill would never stand for that.
Hope the Seguin shirt fits on you.
Bergeron line among the best in the league right now. Bruins need to take advantage of their schedule with the next 3 games very winnable the way they are playing right now.
“I just stuck around because I just wanted to say what a piece of [expletive] I think Lucic is,” Miller said to the Buffalo News. “Fifty pounds on me and he runs me like that? It’s unbelievable. Everyone in this city sees him as a big, tough, solid player. I respected him for how hard he played. That was gutless. Gutless piece of [expletive].”
Ha. Best quote of the year by far and we are only in November. Gotta love that Miller. I still laugh at Lucy skating as fast as he can away from George Laroque.
1. Garbage from Lucic. Didn’t like it. Miller’s assessment is pretty acurate, imo.
2. This team is speedy!