David Krejci is supposed to be the Bruins’ No. 1 center.
He’s talked about serving in that role from around the time it looked like Marc Savard might never be the same right through present day. And for long stretches of the last several years, Krejci has been that player.
Chara/By S. Bradley
In his defense, Toronto coach Randy Carlyle was giving the Bruins and coach Claude Julien credit for their ability to get the Zdeno Chara-Phil Kessel matchup on the road almost as well as they do it at home.
But in telling the media Sunday that he thinks Chara might play close to 35 minutes for the Bruins in Game 3 Monday at Air Canada Centre, Carlyle showed he’s not much of a student of recent Bruins history.
Ference/By S. Bradley
Defenseman Andrew Ference just completed his second league-imposed suspension for an illegal hit in as many seasons.
This ban was just one game, and the Bruins missed him in Game 2 Saturday, as they dropped a 4-2 decision and let Toronto tie up the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at one game apiece.
Jagr
Jaromir Jagr didn’t make any excuses Sunday for his poor play in the tied-up Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series against Toronto so far.
In fact, Jagr didn’t say anything. When approached for an interview, he put up two hands, said he had to fix something, packed up his equipment bag and made a bee line for the Bruins’ players’ lounge while several media members made bewildered looks about what just happened.
Kessel has woken up/By S. Bradley
Wake up, everybody. It’s playoff time in the NHL.
If some of the Bruins’ better offensive talents didn’t get the wake-up, now’s as good a time as any to shift out of regular-season gear and play as though the season is on the the line.
Dougie Hamilton
Many like to call the time around the trade deadline the “silly season.”
When it comes to coach’s comments, one could also apply that title to the playoffs.
Peverley might be back/By S. Bradley
Just in time for Game 1 of the Bruins’ Eastern Conference Quartefinals series with Toronto, the entire team got healthy.
That allowed coach Claude Julien to align three of his forward trios the way he had them at the start of the season.
Julien
The NHL is abuzz with debate over the hit Eric Gryba threw at Montreal forward Lars Eller Thursday night in Game 1 of the playoff series between Ottaw and the Canadiens.
Eller had to leave the ice on a stretcher and spent the night in the hospital with facial injuries and a concussion.
Ference
Defenseman Andrew Ference’s ability to play for the Bruins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against Toronto Saturday was part of the collateral damage from the physical play of Game 1 Wednesday.
Boychuk/By S. Bradley
Andrew Ference earned himself a hearing Thursday afternoon with the NHL discipline office to discuss his elbow to the head of Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski during Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at TD Garden Wednesday.
Ference got away with one/By S. Bradley
Andrew Ference was caught by CBC cameras delivering a healthy elbow to the head of Toronto center Mikhail Grabovski during the Bruins’ 4-1 win in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Wednesday at TD Garden.
After the game, Ference pleaded ignorance about the play in question.
Krejci/By S. Bradley
It looked like it was 2011 again the way Bruins center David Krejci played Wednesday night.
And it looked like 2007 again the way Wade Redden played in the Bruins’ 4-1 win against Toronto in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals at TD Garden.
Phil Kessel/By S. Bradley
As soft-spoken and aloof as he is, it’s hard to believe Phil Kessel hates anything.
So it’s no surprise that although the TD Garden crowd has often broken out chants of “Thank You Kessel” to mock the Toronto Maple Leafs sniper in the years since Kessel’s trade out of Boston, he says he holds no ill will toward the Hub.
Center David Krejci famously led the entire NHL in playoff scoring during the 2011 run to the Stanley Cup championship.
But the way things started that postseason, Krejci was nearly a goat instead of a hero in those playoffs.
It’s probably impossible to pair two teams playing worse entering a first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series than the Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs right now. Those two slumping teams will start their series Wednesday night at TD Garden.
