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.
We all know that on paper the Pittsburgh Penguins are the class of the Eastern Conference.
Even with Sidney Crosby sidelined, the Penguins’ lineup is loaded with firepower led by Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Chris Kunitz and Jarome Iginla. And the Pens could get Crosby back during their first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders.
Jagr
The Bruins had a full squad on the ice for practice Tuesday at TD Garden.
The group included Jaromir Jagr and Nathan Horton, who both had been away from the team for a little while.
Undoubtedly, I’ll be wrong.
But looking at this year’s Western Conference quarterfinal matchups and considering the shortened season that really did little to slow down the top teams, I just don’t see the potential for any upsets.
Horton/By S. Bradley
When Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli comes out and sounds like a pundit vilifying his team’s offense, then you know the Bruins are in dire straits when it comes to scoring goals.
“You’re not going to win a heck of a lot of games scoring two goals a game,” Chiarelli conceded during a conference call Monday to discuss his team’s upcoming playoff series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
While the Bruins are awaiting the return of Nathan Horton from his undisclosed injury after missing five games to conclude the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs are hoping to have center Tyler Bozak back after he missed the last two games of the season with an undisclosed injury.
If the Leafs have to play any part of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Bruins without Bozak, they will really miss him.
Phil Kessel is coming/By S. Bradley
By losing to the Ottawa Senators at TD Garden Sunday night, the Bruins fell from second to fourth in the Eastern Conference and failed to win the Northeast Division.
