Bruins vs. Coyotes LIVE!

Back in Boston for the fifth of a six game homestand where the B's (42-13-9) will look to avenge their 4-2 loss to the Flyers on Tuesday night. The Coyotes (27-31-5) and the Bruins both will look different than they did 24 hours ago, with the Bruins adding Mark Recchi and Steve Montador and the Coyotes clearing house and apparently starting over.

Gone from Phoenix are Derek Morris and Olli Jokinen. Jokinen was signed just a summer ago to be Phoenix's star center, but not being in the thick of the playoff race will make a GM do crazy things and blowing up the team is one of those things.

Good news for the Bruins tonight, Milan Lucic returns after a two game absence with a "body injury." We all know it was his hand. This is excellent news for the club, you've got to believe the Bruins will rediscover some of that physicality they were missing over the last 2/3 of the Flyers game.

Recchi and Montador are suited up and skating around pregame. Brick muses that Recchi will likely be on the left with Savard and Kessel. He's not sure where Montador will fit in, and as I said after the trade happened, I'm not quite sure either.

Even the Boston Globe's Bruins blog isn't sure, they're best guess is that Byron Bitz sits so PJ Axelsson can move to the checking line.

Remember, it's another night of Jack Bingo! Hopefully less frustrating that Tuesday night's version.

I find it terribly satisfying that the Coyotes have yet to make the playoffs in Gretzky's three seasons as coach.

Bruins lines in warm-ups..

Forwards:
Mark Recchi-Marc Savard-Phil Kessel
P.J. Axelsson-Patrice Bergeron-Chuck Kobasew
Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
Milan Lucic-Stephane Yelle-Shawn Thornton

Defencemen:
Zdeno Chara-Aaron Ward
Andrew Ference-Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart-Steve Montador

Goaltending:
Tim Thomas

Looks as if Bitz, Hunwick and Hnidy are gonna sit tonight. Has to be disappointing for them. I'm disappointed to see Hunwick sit, but let's see if Montador can help Lucic make this team the physical beast it can be.

First Period

Ilya Bryzgalov starting for the Coyotes tonight. My guess is he could have a long game.

17:50 - "D to D." Mark an X for me Jack, we're off to a good start. Early two minutes haven't been too exciting, teams feeling each other out. The Krejci line looked to have the best movement, but it's way too early to make any calls on things of that nature.

15:25 - One too many passes. Kessel breaks in with Recchi two on one, passes over to Recchi, back to Savard, back to Recchi and it skips to the wall. Gotta pull the trigger boys.

13:49 - Bruins defending extremely well. Coyotes can't keep position in the Bruins end. Also, I don't think I've seen Shawn Thornton put a shot on net yet, they always go wide.

12:51 GOAL 1-0 Bruins - Chuck Kobasew! Perfect pass from Bergeron along the halfwall to find Kobasew in the slot, who beats Bryzgalov with the shot. Now that the Bruins have the lead, let's see the intensity and energy remain constant and not drop off as it did on Tuesday.

11:58 - PING! Recchi re-directs Wideman's slap shot off the crossbar and out of play. Recchi's had two clear-cut scoring chances in three shifts on the ice. You can tell he's definitely excited and energized to be on this team.

10:32 - Brick talking about Wheeler facing his old team, despite never suiting up for the Coyotes and how there's "money on the board" for him to do well and score. Brick sounds serious about this. Gambling? Sounds sketchy.

10:00 - "Wing to wing." Mark it.

Ooh tempers flaring as Chara crushes Prucha into the boards. Looked like a completely clean hit. Appears to be a penalty, as Jack says "because he's 6'9"." Well it's called interference. Chara pretty much steamrolls through him. It's a bit of a wishy-washy call. Julien certainly does not agree.

7:59 PPG 1-1 - Scottie Upshall loves playing the Bruins! Wideman turns it over at the halfwall, it's flipped into the slot by Lindstrom and Upshall backhands it past Timmy Thomas.

It was Upshall who tied the game at one on Tuesday night as well...

6:04 - Shane Doan going in for hooking. Bruins have responded to the Coyotes goal favorably. Let's see if that can continue here. Brick thinks the B's will run the overload toward Savard.

5:31 - Recchi misses another chance right at the post, Ryder comes from behind and whiffs on it. I think Rex has a goal in him tonight.

4:04 - Coyotes kill the penalty.

1:40 - Wideman with a dangerous turnover that immediately got a pass to Prucha in front of the net, he couldn't put it over Thomas though. Not surprisingly, the Coyotes coming on a bit stronger after they tied it up and the Bruins seem to let them in it.

Need to play smarter.

After one, the Bruins certainly came out as the better of the clubs, but seem to fall into a comfort zone and get complacent once they achieve the lead. Phoenix clawed back with the power play goal and from then on the Bruins seem to look flat and they lacked some luster.

Let's hope Claude gets them hyped back up in the dressing room.

It's obvious that the Bruins have a clear advantage of Phoenix's youthful defencemen and they need to capitalize on the chances they're given in the offensive zone. Pull the trigger and shoot the puck. If you pepper Bryzgalov enough good things will happen.

Barry says the B's are the best 5-on-5 team in the NHL. Detroit or San Jose anyone? And by the way Calgary is ripping apart the Flyers (4-0 after one) they may have something to say as well.

Interesting. Aaron Ward and Blake Wheeler were both drafted #5 overall by the WIN/PHO organization, but neither actually played for them at the NHL level.

Second Period

19:36 - Phoenix has 5 power play shots and 1 full strength shot. Ouch.

17:15 - Upshall "spoons it" into the corner. X it.

15:23 - Bruins have done an excellent job stalling Phoenix at the blue line and causing a good number of offside calls.

14:08 - Some of the passes Savard has made lately are concerning. Luckily there was no one near it, but Savard shoveled one back for Montador and was a good 5 or 6 feet off on his aim.

12:08 GOAL 2-1 Coyotes - Steve Reinprecht! Nigel Dawes skates in down the right side, feeds it across the zone to Reinprecht who tips it up and over Thomas.

Shades of the Flyers game here...

11:50 - Thomas "fungos" it out of the air. Mark an X.

8:52 - Tempers flare. Thornton and Montador along with Klee all shoving each other around a bit.

7:46 - Chara pushing Lindstrom down. Getting chippy here.

Where's the crisp passing from the Bruins? Everything's skipping or long, or intercepted in the neutral zone. Not taking care of the puck particularly well at all.

7:00 - B's 30 seconds into a power play, Klee was called for interference.

6:42 - Savard all alone can't pick the corner, shoots it wide.

5:55 - Bruins moving the puck quickly, but a lot of wide shots from the point in a disappointing effort.

5:29 - Ference trips Klee out of the box and it's another 'Yotes power play. Five shots on the first.

4:16 - Coyotes moving the puck really well, Thomas is able to pounce on the puck beside the net for a cover.

3:28 - Two pucks slid just past the post on that power play. Bruins are fortunate to kill it off. Where's the energy, where's the intensity? For the second straight game the Bruins are failing to follow their usual game plan and now a younger, less experienced club is taking advantage.

1:00 - Showing a bit more fire in these last couple of minutes. Can it carry over?

:10 - Bruins almost level it before the end of the period. Montador takes a terrific rip from the point that goes wide. Wideman gets it and takes a huge rip, Savard gets it and takes an impossible angle shot that flies toward the blue line.

Bruins down a goal after two. Lucic is hitting well, but he's not being hugely productive on the checking line. There's been a lot of sloppy passing, too many turnovers, not playing well on the forecheck and the tempo isn't high enough.

The Bruins need to pull a 180 to get back in this.

Barry thinks that Ference looks "a lot more confident" at the point on the power play than Bergeron does. Does it have anything to do with Andy being a defencemen? Seriously. What kind of commentary is that?

And now I listen to Barry tell me everything I just typed into the post five minutes ago. Yawn.

An unrelated exchange through AIM...

Casey: GILL LAYS DOWN AND BLOCKS A SHOT
Justin: take him off the ice!

Looking at Jack Bingo on NESN, I have missed Juicy Rebound, He Bangs Him, Save By Thomas and Stick a Fork in It... I am X'ing those off.

Third Period

18:58 - Bruins 2nd in the NHL with 76 third period goals. Also have the best 3rd period defense.

18:15 - Lucic is with Savard and Kessel. Someone heard me.

15:00 - It's getting tough to watch the Bruins miss pass after pass after pass.

12:32 - Not a whole lot.. brewin right now. B's got an icing, but couldn't win the face off.

11:00 - Here's the pressure and energy we've been looking for. Kessel walks in and snaps it wide. Bruins skating a lot harder. Lucic sends Michalek down like a... sack of flour? Thank you, Jack.

8:39 - Boston finally dominating physically here. Throwing bodies around with reckless abandon. Bryzgalov is getting a lot of work but he's holding the fort down. Terrific energy from the B's, but they need a result from this.

6:51 - Lucic comes in on Bryzgalov 2 on 1 and can't control the puck. Oh woe is the Bruins.

6:11 - Krejci has certainly been one of the best Bruins on the ice tonight. Seems to be playing his heart out, trying to make things happen. Give the kid a little help, please.

3:35 - Urgent, urgent... emergency. Yes. Foreigner completely sums up the Bruins style of play right now.

3:11 - Bryzgalov is huge again! Slid across from Lucic to Ryder who tries to force it by Ilya, but the 'Yotes goalie makes another fantastic save. The desperate Bruins can feel this one slipping away.

1:38 - Tikhonov throws a big elbow into Montador's head. Bruins on the power play for the rest of this game. Surprisingly Thomas is still in net... for now.

:35.4 - A scrum in front of the net at the beginning of the power play, but nothing doing. Ference is on for Thomas, Chara moves to the front of the net. Fantastic game from Ilya Bryzgalov tonight.

And the Phoenix Coyotes have beaten the Brins 2-1. With a ton of new faces and an incredible performance from, Bryzgalov the Coyotes deserved their win. However, the Bruins once against came out complacent and stayed that way for 40 minutes. The urgency shown in the third period is something they need to come out with from the start and stick with for 60 minutes.

After scoring 12 goals in the first two games of this homestand, the Bruins have now scored 6 in the last three, all losses.

I've said it once and I'll say it again, the Bruins won't make it out of the first round of the playoffs if they continue to give this sort of effort.

Jack Bingo fails to deliver once again tonight, but Jack put forth a strong effort to get us closer...


So with the Blackhawks on tap, Claude and company are going to have to once again look to motivate these Bruins for a full sixty minutes. I'm starting to wonder if they're running out of steam after such a torrid start to the season. The opponents that come from here on out are odds on to be better teams than the Coyotes, so hopefully this game can snap the Bruins back out of it.

Bruins v. Flyers LIVE!

Here we are on a frigid evening in the northeast, ready to watch some physical hockey between the Boston Bruins (42-12-9) and Philadelphia Flyers (33-18-10) at the Hub of Hockey.

The Flyers come to Boston hoping to end a two-game skid, while the Bruins are hoping to bounce back from their 4-3 OT loss to Washington on Saturday afternoon. If you remember, Tim Thomas was asleep at the wheel when Alexander Semin blasted it by him from 80 feet away. Yes. Eighty feet.

The B's boast a rather sexy 21-4-5 record at the TD Banknorth Garden, but they are just 4-1-4 in their last nine here. It was also the Flyers who beat the Bruins last month which led to Philly going on a nice little win streak.

Some Bruins notes before we get started:

Matt Hunwick will be playing left wing tonight. He played there Saturday, recording a pair of points and looking fairly good for someone out of position. During yesterday's practice he skated on a line with Marc Savard and Phil Kessel. I like this, I like it a lot.

The Bruins and Flyers are both rumored to be interested in Derek Morris, along with any other living, breathing rearguard the NHL has to offer. (Except Hal Gill.)

Milan Lucic is once again a scratch, as he was on Saturday. Remember that beatdown he gave Mike Brown? His hand is still recovering.

Claude Julien and company are looking for a bigger performance out of David Krejci tonight after he missed a goal and then coughed away the puck to Ovechkin on Saturday. It wasn't his best day, but there's plenty of confidence that he'll be back to usual.

Lastly, tonight is the first night of Jack Bingo~! During the game as Jack Edwards says certain phrashes, I will get to mark an X off on my bingo board. I'll post the finished board at the end of the blog, after the game.

There is great satisfaction in placing the first X right through Jack's yellow-toothed grin.

Pregame

Jack gives us a fascinating fact. In a 24 game span earlier this season, Savard and Kessel combined for 23 goals and 40 assists.

That's absolutely disturbing. Then again, you've got to think that Hunwick is gonna have a ton of fun playing with these two.

First Period

Oh my god, Manny Fernandez is in net against the Flyers?

19:20 - Andrew Ference and Scotty Hartnell are already at it, trading a couple of punches, but the gloves don't come off.

18:48 - Scottie Upshall absolutely crushes poor Matt Hunwick at center ice.

17:12 - Joffrey Lupul sent to the box for a hook on Wideman.

Couple of long shots and forced covers at either end of the ice thus far, but nothing truly threatening.

16:00 - Chara kills Flyers captain Mike Richards. He doesn't care who leads the NHL in short-handed goals much.

15:11 - Bruins have a couple of chances toward the end of the power play, including Kobasew snapping a shot wide from the slot. Bruins were very sharp with their passing and maybe should have scored.

13:43 - Michael Ryder sent to the box for a trip. Flyers have been atrocious on the power play latelty. It was ugly against New Jersey this weekend.

11:43 - Bruins have now killed 9 of 10 penalties with Michael Ryder sitting in the box.

Come on Jack, we need some of your ridiculous catchphrases.

8:40 - Bergeron loses an edge going into the corner and is absolutely leveled by Carle.

Still no major chances from either team. There's a lot of physical play that's making this a joy to watch though.

8:06 - Niittymaki makes the first huge save of the night. Bruins cycle it around well and it skips to Krejci to the right, has a writer destined for the top half of the net, Niitty in full butterfly extends with the glove. As Jack said, "LARCENY!"

7:26 - Another Bruins power play as there's too many men of the ice.

5:35 PP GOAL 1-0 Bruins - Quick puck movement, the Bruins move it around the umbrella and Patrice Bergeron beats a well out of position Niity for the goal. Just as I was about to groan to Casey in IM about Bergeron and PJ Axelsson being on the same power play line...

Chara and Savard credited with the assists. Savard has been such a catalyst on this home stand.

3:40 - Wideman sent to the box for a high stick. Flyers have come back fierece since the Bergeron goal, strong on the forecheck and creating chances in the B's zone. This penalty kill will be a decent to test of Manny's mettle. Depending on if Philly has figured things out while up a man.

2:01 - While the Flyers are on the power play, it's important to show a graphic telling us that they have yet to allow a short-handed goal this season.

:46 - You've got to feel bad for Manny when he can't even clear it out from his own trapezoid.

And we're through one period, the Bruins up a goal. They're showing good energy and even better intensity. The Flyers are matching that intensity, plenty of great hits. There's certainly a good amount of vitriol between these two teams and it'll be great to see the gloves drop sooner than later.

Also, what gives Jack? The closest you come to with any phrase is "Larceny" but the box on your damn board is "Grand Larceny." My assumption is I can't count it and I won't. So after one period, the only thing that has an X over it is Jack's face. Smirking at me because he refuses to say any of the phrases on this board.

2nd Period

18:30 - Hunwick looking solid on that left wing tonight. As I suspected he would.

18:11 GOAL 1-1 - Scottie Upshall ties it at one! Savard looking to pass and goes tape to tape onto Upshall who skates in alone and beats Manny under the right arm.

Looks like Savard never saw Upshall coming. Upshall snaked through traffic and just got to the puck as if it were intended for him.

16:19 - Yelle and Bitz crashing the net as Niity covers it. Hartnell comes in from behind and knocks Bitz head first into the crossbar.

13:50 - Nice work by the B's, Krejci works it around the back of the net, Wideman takes a slap shot that deflects all around, falls to Blake Wheeler who can't get the backhander up high enough and Niitty is able to save and cover.

13:03 - During the pause in play, Chara knocks Hartnell to the ice with a quick rabbit right, Coburn tries to get involved and the refs are there to break it up before it goes too far. This was after Hartnell took Bitz into the crossbar and then left his feet to take out Ryder.

So Chara's in the box for roughing and delay. Hartnell's in the box for a couple of minutes as well. Flyers back on the anemic power play. The Bruins outshot the Flyers 1-0 on the last Phily power play.

11:55 -Fernandez "fungos" it out of the air. That's close enough to "Mid-Air Fungo Job" for me. Let's mark us our first X since Jack's face.

9:35 - "D to D for Stuart." Another X. Jack is on a roll!

8:42 - Expert left wing Matt Hunwick into the box for a high stick. Time for another Flyers non-power play.

6:30 - The Flyers are once again killed off, despite Mike Richards creating a couple of chances for his side. They can't snap off the pass, or a Bruin is there to tangle up the puck before it gets to Manny. Yet another good kill for the B's.

5:13 - Hartnell takes about 15 steps into Michael Ryder in front of the Flyers bench and is right called for boarding. It's a B's power play.

4:26 - Jeff Carter (first mention!) skates in two on one and Manny stops the wrister.

2:36 - Bitz rings the iron and the puck falls straight down! Niitty doesn't see it, but falls back onto it for a cover. So close to a Bruins lead here.

Brickley's mic has died. Jack Edwards is alone. I am scared.

After two periods, shots are dead even at 17. I've got the feeling the Flyers got the best of that period, they seemed more physical (maybe mostly Hartnell) and they seemed to have more energy. The Bruins played intensely, but there seemed to be some lethargy sinking in on them. Bitz's ringer off the post was their best shot along with Wheeler's backhand.

Savard has given the puck away a couple of times, including Upshall's goal. Let's see the turnovers and sloppy play cut down, bring up the tempo and get the lead back.

Intermission grammatic fun with Mike Millbury: "They need to stay physically without crossing the line."

Third Period

19:47 - Random, I think tech guy comes on the air a bit, and then says "I gotta get back to my Jack Bingo card." Jack Bingomania is sweeping the New England area. Catch it!

Now say the damn phrases, Jack.

18:18 - Wing to wing! Jack gives me hope.

17:38 GOAL 2-1 Flyers - Simon Gagne! Andrew Alberts blasts it from the point and Gagne makes a beautiful deflection, knocking it onto the ice and under Manny's glove.

16:36 - I don't know if it's the Flyers being "physically" without going over the line wearing on the B's, or if they don't care that much at the moment.

14:40 - "Ference bangs him." We'll take it as an X for "he bangs him."

14:17 GOAL 3-1 Flyers - Former Bruin Mike Knuble! The Flyers making things happen with the chip in. Worked down behind the net, pushed out in front to Knuble in the slot who fires it past Fernandez.

Not looking good for the B's now.

13:03 - Hartnell sent to the box. Shocking. Bruins need to score a goal here.

9:20 - Nothing doing for the B's. Lots of sloppy passing. Flyers not doing so much either, game has gotten mired down a bit. Seems as if the Flyers are out to simply kill off the last nine minutes here.

6:51 - Coming a bit to life now, the Bruins force a face-off to Niitty's right.

4:48 - Flyers just hanging back in layers and dumping it over the heads of the Bruins and taking their sweet time. Bruins are showing some urgency in the offensive zone however, they need to put more shots in on Niitty, but the Flyers are actually looking strong in defense for a night.

4:28 - Kobasew being sent to the box for an ultra-rare holding the stick penalty. I'd say things are looking dire now.

3:35 PP GOAL 4-1 Flyers - Simon Gagne's second! Bruins trying to create chances even short-handed, Richards has it back in the zone, slips it across for Gagne, Manny has already dived in the opposite direction and Gagne simply puts it past him.

1:53 - Brick surmises that the Flyers simply wanted it more in the third period. I agree wholeheartedly.

1:30 - Jeff Carter sent to the box for hooking. The Bruins looking for three goals int he last 90 seconds.

:41.7 PP GOAL 4-2 - Stephane Yelle! Mark Stuart rips a terrific wrister from the point, deflected perfectly and in by Yelle.

That's all the Bruins are going to get though. In a game where they performed extremely well in the first period, fairly well in the second, they completely and utterly gave up in the third. They were overpowered and outmatched by the Flyers over the course of the last 25-30 minutes of the hockey game and certainly didn't deserve any points with their effort tonight. Like Brick said, Philly showed that they clearly wanted this more.

It's almost as if the Bruins didn't show up on the ice in the third. There were chances here and there, but the Flyers defended well, collapsing and layering themselves, not letting the B's get anything through.

What started as a sparking homestand with a dozen goals in two games, has now seen an OT loss and a listless third period in a 4-2 loss to the fourth place Flyers.

I'm sure Claude's going to have some harsh words for his boys after this one. They started to look more like they did in that woebegone road trip than they did just a week ago.

How'd Jack Bingo go? Not so well, Jack disappointed us all and audio difficulties throughout the third period made it difficult. Here's the board anyway:


Jack's gotta do better for us against the Coyotes on Thursday.