THE CITY OF BOSTON’S BEST COMEBACK EVER ?

BY KEVIN FLANAGAN

BOSTON SPORTS DESK CORRESPONDENT

BOSTON – If you are lucky enough as a sports fan you will get to witness a handful of games during your life that will be so thrilling and so unexpected that you will never forget where you were and what you were doing when they ended.  Monday night’s Bruins/Leafs game 7 was one of those games.

Whether it was Bird stealing the ball against the Pistons, Adam Vinatieri kicking 2 field goals in the snow bowl or Dave Roberts stealing second in game 4 against the Yankees they are moments that are forever emblazoned in our memory.

When Toronto’s Nazem Kadri scored early in the 3^rd period last night I pulled the string on the Bruins’ season and took to social media and my laptop to begin to bash the team.  I began by calling a car service to arrange for the transportation of head coach Claude Julien’s trip to the airport and made way to the shed to grab my sledgehammer so I could begin to dismantle the roster brick by brick.

And I know I wasn’t alone, social media is a very social thing.  My Facebook page was littered with similar sentiments from some very diehard Bruins believers and it quickly became a somewhat mean-spirited streaming pity party.

When Nathan Horton scored at the 9:18 mark of the 3^rd period I was already about 200 words deep into the rip job that I intended for this spot and my fingers were spitting fire.  When Milan Lucic potted their 3^rd goal with the extra attacker on and 1:22 left I had already begun editing my piece when I received a text from my brother saying “I hope you didn’t turn the game off”.

He should know better.  But I still didn’t believe.  I just thought it was a cruel joke and they were getting my hopes up only to deepen the pain seconds later.

Boy was I wrong.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fans have long been compared to the pre-2004 Red Sox fans who long gave their hearts to teams that didn’t deserve them.  Over priced and under performing teams with no threat of a championship became the norm.  So when they made the playoffs for the first time in 9 years and seemed poised to pull the upset it is not surprising that what happened to them last night was down right Red Soxonian.

Less than 2 minutes away from winning game 7 on the road and a series that no one thought would go more than 5 or 6 games as an underdog the game seemed to be theirs for the taking.  Just when victory seemed to be in their grasp it disappeared like the ghost that will haunt their sporting memory forever.

When Patrice Bergeron scored to tie the game with 51 seconds left I was suddenly all in again.  I hopped from my chair, leapt to the center of the room and starting screaming loud enough to wake the neighbors.  As the towels handed out at the start of the game began to litter the ice (rumor is it was actually encouraged by Bruins players in order to gain a much-needed breather) I made my way back to my chair and thought to myself there was no way they could stage such an epic comeback only to lose.

The end of intermission marked the end of my time in my chair and when Bergeron’s game winner hit the back of the net (by the way there could have been no better choice to play the hero) I began my dancing and screaming again.

Amazing.

In the coming days the focus will shift to the next series against the Rangers, what the lines will be etc, etc.  Not today, not for me.  Today I will revel in the exhilaration of the unexpected.  Today I will celebrate the reason I watch the games, to see something I have never seen before or maybe never will again.  Today I will celebrate history and the fact that I got to see it.  Today I will celebrate the fact that I am no longer part of the pre-2004 Red Sox fan base that has relocated to Toronto.

Years from now there will be hundreds of thousands of people who will claim that they were at the Garden to witness last night’s historic comeback.  That always happens with games like this.  For me I will always remember where I was and how I danced when the cardiac kids on Causeway Street sent the Garden crowd into 7^th heaven.

CARLYLE …”I THOUGHT WE RAN OUT OF GAS….”

 

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS HEAD COACH RANDY CARLYLE
On what Toronto was thinking being up 4-1…
Just try to chew the clock, get the game down. You know they scored the one goal that gave them some life and we got it to a minute and a half and you knew the goaltender was going to be coming and we give up a goal that we thought, we still had a chance with the goalie out and they found a way to push one over the line.  It just seemed like we ran out of gas.

On whether he felt the officiating favored Boston…
I will reserve my comments towards officiating.  Obviously, the playoffs are a different breed and I don’t truly believe that every little thing should be called in the playoffs, but I think if there is things over the top or on the fine line of being overaggressive, that’s my belief.  The chintzy little push on the hands or something like that or hook on the hip.  To me, it’s — playoffs are about competing and let the players decide and that’s really all I’ve got to comment about on the officiating.

On the late collapse in the third period…
As I stated, I thought we ran out of gas.  We knew they were going to come with a push and it seemed that we stopped they started to pinch their game down the wall.  They started that early in the third and we capitalized on it, but we couldn’t seem to execute for the full 20 minutes of the third period.  We scored two or three goals off of rushes that we exploited them, pinching, and had support underneath and got a two on one I think the [Nazem] Kadri goal. We had another breakaway goal, [Matt] Frattin missed on the breakaway and we weren’t executing in getting some things off of it.  When you build a 4-1 lead you want to check, check, check, and as I said I thought we just ran out of gas as far as our group.

On how long it takes to assess what happened and the group…
Again the assessment goes on a day to day basis and when you get in situations like this you see the character, you see the claw, the clawing and scratching and fighting for space on the ice and there are some people that really elevated their play and it does change your opinion on some individuals and for some it reinforces what you thought.

On how hard it is to lose when so many players who didn’t necessarily contribute during the season, but did during the playoffs…
Well losing is tough and losing the way we did after a 4-1 lead. There’s nothing you can say to explain how and why it happened, it happened and for us as a coaching staff we’ll take some time in the next couple of days we’ll evaluate and let the emotions subside here a little bit before we meet and we’ll be doing a lot of assessing between now and the draft I’m sure.

On whether the team deserved a better performance, or if that’s a moot point…
I think that’s a moot point. I think what we did is we proved that we can compete and this is a sharp learning curve for some of our younger players that this is what it’s going to take and we did a lot of good things, but we still didn’t find a way to close it out. So that’s the difference. One goal, one bounce, one body check, one blocked shot could’ve made the difference for a win or a lose in the series and we laid it out on the line and we played hard. And the most disappointing part for me is we lost two games in our building and that when you’re in the playoffs very rarely can you afford to lose two in your building of a seven game series. It makes the mountain that much more difficult to climb.

On how Milan Lucic brought out his inner Cam Neely during the third period…
Yeah, he’s a big, aggressive guy and he works hard and he got physical. The hit on Gunnarson was borderline over aggressiveness, but the referees didn’t see it that way and then you move on. You can tell that they’re a veteran team that found a way to get it done and they probably can say they didn’t play their best games in the series, they still found a way to get it done so you got to take your hat off to them.

 

PATRICE BERGERON PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING GAME-7

 

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD PATRICE BERGERON
On this being the craziest game he’s every played in…
Yeah, for sure, it’s one of the craziest ones I’ve been a part of. We stayed resilient—I guess that’s what I can say. We found a way. Not necessarily the way we would’ve liked to play the whole game, but like I said, we showed some character coming back in the game and we found a way in overtime. We had the momentum, I thought, and our legs were back. It felt good.

On the criticism his line faced before tonight…
You know what, I have high expectations of myself. I’m probably my hardest critic. Whatever pressure it outside of me, I don’t really worry about it because I know I bring higher expectations than anyone else. It’s about finding a way and showing some character, and I thought we did that tonight. Everyone has to step up in the playoffs and tonight was my turn to do it for my team.

On the turning point in the game…
I thought we had some good looks. We had some good chances. We couldn’t get those rebounds. I think right away, once they scored that second goal, I thought our guys stayed positive even though we were down by three. We said we could do it and then that big goal from that line there was huge for us and got us some momentum. We kept pushing at it and we found a way with the extra man.

On his emotions after the tying goal…
Yeah, it’s a big game. You obviously want to win and that tying goal was definitely huge for the team and also for me. It was a great feeling and emotions were very high, obviously. It was fun. It was a fun ending.

On if he’s surprised his shot went in…
Oh, I don’t know about that. Honestly, when I shot it and I got it through the first guy, I knew it was a pretty good shot. I couldn’t see it going in, but I knew it was close. Fortunate enough, it went in.

On the satisfaction of scoring the game-winner
To be honest with you, it’s not something that I really think about anymore. You learn from the past. That’s always something that I’ve tried to do—learning from the experience good or bad. That time, I’d like to see that one again, but it’s last year. This year I was confident and I felt good. I had some really good looks throughout the series. I had to put the puck in and it didn’t go in, but if you keep working at it, the bounces are going to go your way at some point. It did when it mattered, I guess.

On assessing where the team is and where they need to improve …
Consistency is the biggest key, I guess. Every game night in and night out and especially in the playoffs, it’s huge. We’ve been up and down throughout the series, but I guess we got to learn from that. Now we’re in Round 2. Like I said, it’s making sure every game is the only one we need to worry about. I guess refocusing every time.

On the team’s confidence after the win…
It gives you a lot of confidence when you’re able to come back from a three-goal deficit in one period—and late in the period, too. It gives us some confidence heading into the second round. We’ve said it before, the first round is a tough one to go through. We found a way and now it’s all about the second round.

On what was going through his mind when they went down 4-1…
Honestly, even though it’s not a good feeling, I thought the guys stayed with it, stayed on the task at hand. That second goal, like I said, really lifted the bench and the guys. Two goals and we knew we could do it at that point with the time we had left. Yeah, I thought the guys showed a lot of character coming back in it. We definitely made it interesting for us and for the fans, also. We’d like to do it a better way, but at the same time, like I said, it builds character and confidence at the same time.

On staying calm when down 4-2 with a few minutes left…
I know two minutes is not much for two goals, but we really felt like we had enough time to do it. We did that in Toronto as well, getting that goal. We moved the puck real well. We opened up a lot of plays by staying poised with the puck and knowing where guys were going to be around us. It was a great play by all of us there. One was at their spot where they needed to be. It was a great play by Looch [Milan Lucic] to get that rebound and then great screen by Zee [Zdeno Chara] for the fourth one.

On playing with Jaromir Jagr…
I thought that today we had some really good chances, really good looks. We found a way. Like I said, the puck finally went in and that’s all we needed to get some confidence. Throughout the series I had some really good looks that I had to put the puck in, and I knew that. I did tonight and I did it when it mattered.

 

IT’S TIME FOR GAME 7……

BY KEVIN  HARRIMAN

BOSTON SPORTS DESK PUBLISHER

After listening the Boston Bruins Coach Claude Julien, it was clear that he is putting this game on his players.   Julien was not at a loss for words during his 5:50 press conference tonight. The following were highlights from his Q and A:

The players need to do their jobs

We need better puck management, especially 5 0n 5

Andrew Ference will not play tonight..   

The locker room is confident

We can’t play our best hockey after we fall behind 2-0

Dougie Hamilton played better in Game 7 than he did in his first appearance earlier in the series..

Julien also hinted at some line changes for tonight’s Game-7. When asked about Jaromir Jagr moving, his response was..”you’ll have to wait and see..” There is much speculation in the media room that Jagr will be moving to the second line.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

1) Boston needs to charge the net

2) Brad Marahand and Tyler Seguin need to do something….anything

3) Shawn Thonrton and Milan Lucic need to set the tone from the start of the game with VERY physical play..

4) David Krejci needs to see more time on the power play…

5) Jaromir Jagr was brought to Boston at the trade deadline for this situation…score goals in the playoffs..He needs to finish in front.

6) Zdeno Chara needs to play at the level he is capable of…

My  guess is that if  the majority of these items don’t happen, the Bruins’ season is  done along with some of these player’s time in Boston. Two years of 1 and done is not going to make it…

 

 

MILAN LUCIC AFTER PRACTICE AUDIO

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2156653/0505_Lucic_Postpractice_Audio.MP3

LUCIC STATISFIED WITH TEAMS EFFORT

BOSTON BRUINS FORWARD MILAN LUCIC
On if it felt good clicking on all cylinders…
Yeah, I think from a team standpoint, we talked a lot about turning the page on how the season ended and the way we were playing the last 10 games and them getting that first goal on the power play, 15 seconds into the power play kind of sucked the life out of the crowd, but we knew that we at least needed to score one goal to win the game and we stayed focused and the fourth line came up big and made a great play and Redds [Wade Redden] was able to power one past the goalie for the first one.

On how much that lifts the team…
Yeah, I think it was the first time in a long time where we really pushed the pace and you can see in the first period that we wanted to come out with a better outcome than being down 1-0 or just being tied 1-1 and we were pushing and pushing and pushing. So, we’re just focused on what we need to do to be successful and it was great that everyone was able to step up and contribute, but in saying that it’s only one game and there’s a long, long road ahead and I know with a great coach like they have they’re going to make certain adjustments and come out even harder in game two.

On how important it was to get Nathan Horton back …
Yeah, it’s another game winner for him, here in the playoffs and his not that short playoff career and he stepped up and scored some big goals and he’s been a big part of this hockey team since he’s been here and I even said it, it was a big loss not having him a part of our group last year heading into the playoffs and it’s good to see him healthy again and helping us win.

On if he could tell early on how on point Krejci was…
Yeah, I think his playoff stats get overlooked a little bit, especially because he led the whole playoffs in goals and points in 2011 and I think I saw on TV after the game that he has 50 points in 60 playoff games, which is pretty impressive for a guy like him. So, I’m just fortunate that I get an opportunity to play with him and like he said in his interview, we just got to do whatever we can to keep it going.

On the nastiness level out there tonight…
Yeah, I think the intensity was definitely picked up a lot. It wasn’t like any game that we played in the regular season. I think there was a lot more intensity on the ice and also in the crowd. Even what we went through in that Buffalo game after the whole [Boston] Marathon [tragedy] but still I felt like that intensity was at it’s highest that we felt all year, here today, which that’s what makes playoffs so much fun.

On if  playing physically brings the best out of him…
Yeah, it’s a part of my game. It’s the way I have to play and like I said, we just got to keep it going.

JULIEN UPBEAT FOLLOWING WIN OVER BOLTS

CLAUDE JULIEN PRESS CONFERENCE

On if he was happy to see that response from his team after the loss in Philadelphia…
Yeah, like I said this morning, we’re going to find out quickly if it was just a little bump in the road or whether it was a step back. I thought our guys played hard tonight. I’m not looking perfection, I’m looking for reaction. Overall, I thought we played hard, we moved the puck quickly, when there was a breakdown Tuukka [Rask] was there to make the big saves. I was pretty happy with the game, I know that if we keep playing that way we’ll only get bet better.

On how much the team feeds of Milan Lucic when he is playing the physical game he was tonight…
Yeah, [Andrew] Ference did the same thing, he stood up. But there’s other guys that threw some big hits, but Milan [Lucic] is know for that, he’s known when he’s at his best, he puts a lot of fear in other  players on other teams just with his forecheck and finishing his checks at the end of that. Also, when being challenge he handled himself pretty well, so there’s no doubt our guys will feed off that kind of stuff. It doesn’t mean he has to go out there and fight every night, he just has to play hard the way he’s been doing lately and things are starting to come around for him.

On what the pairing of Zdeno Chara and Dennis Seidenberg did well tonight…
Well, again, it was a bout shutting those guys down [Tampa Bay], and there was a couple of breakdowns even, but it’s pretty hard to contain that lien because they’re so good. Two of those guys are in the top scoring in the league and you know they’re going to get some chances, you want to minimize it. Whenever there was a breakdown Tuukka [Rask] made some big saves, but they’re a pair that has done a good job in the past in the playoffs. They hadn’t played together this year, so it’s just about giving them, I guess, a feel, a taste of it again, so if need be, when playoffs come around and depending on who we play, we may have that option, as well.

On how important it is to have Tuukka Rask playing well going into the playoffs…
It’s important for him, obviously, and what we’ve been through, I think a lot of players right now, you still see certain guys fighting the puck a little bit, but at the end of the day, our goaltender plays a big role in your success. A game like tonight, if we don’t have good goaltending, the minute you get a breakdown the puck could be in the back of your net. You need a guy to stand tall and be good and you need a guy to go into the playoffs with confidence, hopefully that’s what Tuukka’s creating here.

On what he means when he says he’s not looking for perfection, but reaction…
Reaction, to play with some emotion, play with some grit, desire, determination. I saw all those things tonight. The identity of our team is as such, we’re a team that prides ourselves on being a physical team, a team that’s hard to play against. We have to create that, the rest of the game will come along. That’s what we’re looking to see from our guys for 60 minutes and I think they did a good job of playing a full 60 tonight.

On tonight’s turnovers…
Well no, I think it’s what I mentioned – there were still some mistakes. I think you know, you look at Brad [Marchand] he’s frustrated, pucks keep jumping over his stick, and you know at some point you start squeezing your stick a little bit more. But those are the things that I thought created some turnovers. And at least it wasn’t like the other night from you know not thinking well or not being like I said focused enough that you made a bad decision. For us tonight those breakdowns sometimes were pucks jumping over sticks, or you know we forced a pass versus shooting. Those are the kind of breakdowns we had. But those things will come around if we stay focused on playing the way we did tonight.

On Wade Redden…
Yeah he’s been pretty solid. And you know, you see the odd mistake from him like everyone else has those little mistakes, but overall he’s been a pretty solid player. He’s been a smart player making good plays. And he’s a guy that certainly helps on our breakouts, because if the walls are taken away he’ll find that centerman and he’ll make a good tape-to-tape pass and I think that’s important.

On the Merlot line’s goal…
Well I thought they played the type of game that we expect that line to play, and I thought they were really good. They were one of our good lines tonight where they created a lot. And then they just kept their game simple they way they have to keep it simple. But there’s some confidence there – you know, Soupy [Gregory Campbell] making that pass and [Daniel] Paille not hesitating, great shot and the goaltender didn’t have much time to get across. So overall making the right plays and keeping pucks in down low and battling. And Thorty [Shawn Thornton] the same thing. Not only that but they’ve had some challenges at times this year where they weren’t making good line changes and leaving the next line I guess hanging is what we would use as a term. But they were sharp in all those areas tonight, so I thought they were good.

On the penalty kill…
Yeah you know, I mean it’s mostly – a lot of the hiccups in the past have been you know, not getting pucks out when you had a chance to and the longer you stay in your own and the more tired you get the more chance there is of getting scored on. But we made some good changes, but we also made sure pucks got out tonight.

On using all of his tools (bench, yell, compliment, show good/bad video) in his coaching toolbox to reach Milan Lucic…
I was going to say, after all of those things you don’t have much left in your toolbox, right?

On if he did all of those things…
Absolutely, we tried everything. But at the end of the day it became Milan’s [Lucic] approach to it. You know, at one point a player kind of realizes – you know listen, I’ve got to get myself going here, this is what they ask. And you know, at one point you have to think that one of those tools got his attention. And he’s become a good player again for us. You know, I thought again tonight he did exactly what ignites our team and what ignites our fans. And you know, when he’s like that he’s at his best. So I certainly like the direction he’s taking, and if he keeps going that way we can’t ask for better timing I guess.

JULIEN CALLS IT LIKE HE SEES IT…..PULLS NO PUNCHES

BY KEVIN HARRIMAN

BOSTON SPORTS DESK PUBLISHER

After listening to Boston Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien‘s press conference Thursday morning, it was easy to understand that the coach is not happy with his team.

A 1-5 record in your last six games  will do that to a coach. Add in the fact that the Bruins will start the playoffs next week and you have a recipe for disaster.

BSD Correspondent Kevin Flanagan wrote a piece yesterday asking if the Bruins players were trying to get their coach fired. The premise, while extreme, has to be considered.  Julien has tried many moves over the past two months. Different line changes and healthy scratches have provided little relief.

Give Julien credit for sitting Rich Peverley, Milan Lucic, Dougie Hamilton and Shawn Thornton. Peverley has been slightly better and Lucic played better in spurts after having been shipped to the fourth line and sitting a game, but none of these moves has paid long lasting dividends.

Julien has also called out Tuukka Rask for his performance last week  (Rask manned-up following his last loss in goal, taking responsibility) and this week it seems he has targeted Nathan Horton and David Krejci.

In today’s press  conference, Julien was asked about Horton’s status. The coach responded quickly with….”he skated this morning”

When asked about if he had a preference to just rest Horton until the playoffs, the coach fired back…”It depends on his situation here..”  Not exactly a vote of confidence if I’m reading between the lines. Likewise with Krejci, Julien was asked if Krejci’s late goal against the Flyers was a turning point for him. The response was candid and detailed,

“Yeah, but he turned the puck over, he just turned around and it went right on his stick. You guys know your hockey, so you know there’s a lot that happened before that brought it to that. So, it’s too easy to just look at one player and jump on him after that and say, ‘well, he scored a goal so everything is okay.’ I think David’s [Krejci] a good player for us, he’s had different wingers lately, now we’re trying to build a little bit of consistency in our lines and hopefully get a better feeling of our team and our group.”

So will the 2013 version of the Boston Bruins turn this around heading into the playoffs next week, or do they come up short for their coach. I’m thinking they are going to come up short. Maybe one and done again.

 BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN PREGAME

On having to play another team tonight that is out of the playoffs and trying to be a spoiler…
Well, it’s a team that I thought played a really good game last night – I watched them play. You just have to look around the schedule and the other night all the playoff seeded teams, almost every one of them except for Washington, lost. It goes to show you that teams aren’t giving up, they’re coming out and playing some solid hockey. When you know you’ve only got X number of games left, and you want to finish on a positive note, you play your best. That’s what we should expect from Tampa tonight, is that they’re going to come in and play well. They have the players to be a team that can certainly be, what you call, spoilers. There’s more than one, so we have to be ready for them.

On Nathan Horton’s status…
He skated this morning.

On if Horton is day-to-day…
Still day-to-day, skated this morning, so he’s on the right track. Day-to-day means he’s not in tonight, but we don’t know where he’s going to be by Saturday’s game, and same thing with Sunday. He’s progressing well.

On if there is a preference to just rest Horton until the playoffs…
It depends on his situation here.

On if this season has underscored the importance of practice to work through bad habits…
There is, there is. It’s not us, but we’re talking about us right now. It’s the whole league, and I know a lot of coaches have complained about that because when you don’t practice, little things creep into your game. Little by little it becomes a bigger issue, there’s a lot of things that have crept into our game that’s become a challenge for us. You wish you would have had more time in between games and you wish it was more of a normal schedule, but it isn’t, so you’ve got to deal with the situation. That’s what we need to do right now is deal with it. I think a lot of it is where you can’t practice, you’ve got to focus better and make sure you keep those good habits. That’s where the challenge is right now, is our focus, as I mentioned the other night, wasn’t really there. We weren’t ready to play and we weren’t ready to do the things that was going to give us success. Did we take a step back? I think tonight’s an opportunity to prove that we haven’t and it was just a bad game. Just got to go out there and play hard.

On the importance of feeling good and playing well heading into the playoffs…
It is, it is. I’d rather go into the playoffs feeling good about ourselves than not. You’ve seen other teams that have struggled and then they start the playoffs and it’s a whole different story. I’d rather not go there, I’d rather be the confident team. Either way, to me, we’ve got to make sure we come out here tonight and play a good game. It doesn’t mean we have to blow the doors out, but we’ve got to go out there and show that there’s some steadiness, there’s consistency, and there’s a control in our game that allows us to feel good about our team.

On how this year’s team is different from the 2011 team…
I don’t know, to be honest with you, the feeling around the team, in the room two years ago, I’m not even sure I remember that as much. We were focused on what we had to do here. You hate making comparisons because that’s like saying, ‘oh, we went through that two years ago, so we should win the Cup this year.’ Every year is a different year, is a different challenge, so you take the situation that you have in front of you and you try and deal with it the best you can.

On how he would describe his team’s identity at this point…
It’s not where it should be, but there’s, I guess, an opportunity to get there because we’ve shown it on different occasions, not much in the last half, but we’ve shown that it’s still there. We just have to grab it and hold on to it.

On if there has been any point in the last month where he’s felt that the team had it’s ‘feeling’ back…
There’s certain games where we’ve come out and said we felt pretty good about it. Again, I think we’re looking at what’s happening right now, and rightfully so, because we haven’t played the greatest in the last, whatever, month and a half. There’s been some ups and downs, but at the same time, it’s been a real challenge with no practices and all that stuff. You’ve got to look at the realistic pictures and see where we are. We’re second in our division, which is not that bad. But we’re not happy with our game right now and that’s what we’ve got to get back, is that identity, I guess that energy that we showed in those games that we played well. Let’s not forget that we’re in a pretty good position or can finish in a pretty good position here. The year wasn’t that awful, it’s been a challenge for almost every team you talk to, or you get a chance to talk to. They’re saying the same thing right now with their teams.

On how much emphasis he is putting on having lines together before the playoffs…
We’re getting close to it. I think there’s something to be said about that. You want to get, I guess, some sort of a feeling of what you want to do, but we’re almost healthy, so it’s getting close to that.

On if he hopes that David Krejci builds off of his goal against Philadelphia…
Yeah, but he turned the puck over, he just turned around and it went right on his stick. You guys know your hockey, so you know there’s a lot that happened before that that brought it to that. So, it’s too easy to just look at one player and jump on him after that and say, ‘well, he scored a goal so everything is okay.’ I think David’s [Krejci] a good player for us, he’s had different wingers lately, now we’re trying to build a little bit of consistency in our lines and hopefully get a better feeling of our team and our group.

On if Carl Soderberg has been able to focus enough to develop and understand his role with all of the distractions around the team…
Yeah, I think he’s gotten better every game, so that’s a sign that he’s doing okay. Again, what happened on the 15th, we can’t forget it. Like I keep saying, let’s not think that we’re going to forget it, but we’ve got to put that aside. When it comes time to play the game, we can’t use that as a crutch, we should use it more as a motivation, motivational tool and say, ‘listen, we want this city to feel good.’ Well, let’s win some hockey games here and not use it as an excuse. This is where we have to be professionals and deal with that situation.

On if he feels Soderberg is comfortable at center…
He can be good there, but so can [Chris] Kelly. Tonight, I plan on using [Chris] Kelly at center and putting [Carl] Soderberg back on the wing. It’s okay for him to feel comfortable there, but at the same time, I have to make a decision. Do I take a guy that’s already a pretty good centerman, a good two-way centerman and put him in a weaker spot because I want to please this guy? Or do I do it the other way around? I’m just trying to get a feel here and see how he does on the wing. Again, by playoff time, I’m going to have to make a decision of who’s playing where and go from there. That’s why we have those three games to look at that.

On if he has a good feel of what he has on the back end…
Yeah, I think right now it’s just a matter of us deciding what we want as a fit back there. But I don’t think there’s anybody that doesn’t know what their job is at this point in this season, or what their role is, I guess.

JULIEN CALLS OUT RASK, MAKES NO COMMITMENT TO PLAYING LUCIC ON SUNDAY

BOSTON BRUINS HEAD COACH CLAUDE JULIEN POSTGAME

On his assessment of the Bruins’ play today…

I didn’t think we played a bad game. If we scored some goals today, I think everybody’s walking out of here happy with the effort and the commitment that was put into this game. But when you don’t score goals, it tarnishes a lot of things. That’s the unfortunate part. I thought we came in with a lot of emotion, we were physical, we had lots of chances. I thought we played a pretty good game. But at the end of the day, you end up with a loss, and unfortunately you look at the amount of chances you had, and then the shots, and you didn’t score enough. This is where we have to get better. We have to score a little bit more at one end, and we need some timely saves at the other. If we can fix those two kinds of things, it’ll certainly help our record.

On if the Bruins were deflated after not scoring in the second period…

I don’t know if it was deflated, it was just an unfortunate thing. The puck’s in the goaltender’s skates, he’s standing straight up, so it’s not a frozen puck, and unfortunately should’ve been a goal. Those are things that we keep running into, and you’ve got to overcome those things.

On giving Pittsburgh too many power play opportunities…

Well, they’ve got a pretty good power play, whether they’ve got two guys missing or not. Even with those players in the lineup, the way we played today would’ve certainly made it a good game, but we had to be a little more disciplined, and I guess you’ve got to stay out of the box. Your penalties have to be good penalties, otherwise it ends up costing you.

On Carl Soderberg’s NHL debut…

I thought he handled himself well for his first game. The one thing he is, he’s a smart player and he’s going to figure it out pretty quickly.

On any update on Nathan Horton…

No, not yet. Obviously the injury came from the fight. I’ll let you guys know whenever the final evaluation is made. That could be later on tonight, or tomorrow morning at the latest.

On if he saw how Nathan Horton sustained an injury…

I don’t know. I haven’t even looked at the replay, I haven’t had a chance to look at any of the video of that stuff. I looked at other things instead.

On the Bruins’ penalty kill…

You’re not going to point a finger, but your goaltender’s got to make some saves, too, at the right time. He’s got to make some of those saves. The first goal was in the five-hole, right between his legs, and he knows that he’s got to have those. I’m not just pointing at him, but he’s got to be better. Your power play, a lot of times, is as good as your goaltending. I thought we did a better job today of getting pucks out of our own end than we did the other night. Everything has to fall in place for your penalty kill to be good. We needed some timely saves, that’s what I talked about, also, we can’t give them opportunities to shoot where that other goal from [Kris] Letang came. He just walked from the wall and took a wrist shot from the top of the circle.

On if he was encouraged by the physical play he saw from his team…

Well, that’s what we’re asking our team to start doing, get that edge back that we’ve had. It’s a start, but we’ve got to keep that edge, but we’ve got to polish off other parts of our game. Like I said, we’ve got to be better around that net area. There’s a lot of loose pucks there, just got to be willing to go there and find those pucks and win those battles. There’s not too many pretty goals anymore and it’s all from second and third efforts.

On wanting to take good penalties…

Yeah, there are good penalties that are good penalties, but obviously when you get caught retaliating and one guy gets caught it’s obviously not a good penalty. Some of those penalties are not good penalties, some of them are maybe from laziness and all of a sudden you’ve got to drag guys down. Depends on the situation. But obviously we didn’t have some great penalties today, we certainly didn’t get the breaks either the other way, that’s for sure. But we’re used to that.

On if there was anything Pittsburgh was doing that was drawing them into taking penalties…

Well, no, not really. I mean [Jussi] Jokinen is the type of player – I mean, we took some penalties, but it’s pretty obvious that it’s a cheap shot from [Matt] Cooke, the typical same guy, he’s got to go low and get a guy right around the knee area and turns his back. Same thing, Jokinen’s been having his stick up all game and the guys eventually get it, but you always hope you have people that will see those kind of things and call it right. That’s not in our control.

On if he has gotten what he needs to see out of his club going into the last few games…

I think we’re heading in the right direction with what we showed today. Like I said, we’ve got to fine tune parts of our game. Obviously, the physicality today and the emotion was good. If you get some finish to go along with that, you’ve got more goals. Obviously we’re sitting in here, we’re talking about how good our team was today, but when you don’t win it’s a loss and we have to find ways to win hockey games. It’s true, we’ve had injuries, we’ve had new guys in and out, but that’s the hand we’ve been dealt.

On if he will put Milan Lucic back into the lineup tomorrow…

I don’t know guys, I think I need to reevaluate our whole team here. We’ve had some issues obviously, some injuries, some guys that are banged up. I have to look at all of that stuff after I’m done with you guys.

On the video of first responders that was shown during pregame…

It’s hard for me to pinpoint how all those things are associated. I liked the energy of our fans, there’s no doubt about that, they came in here and did a great job again. It certainly makes it easy for a team to get motivated, and I thought our team answered well. The first period we had some good chances, we played well, we had some great chances in the second period, too. I thought we lost our intensity a little bit in the second where they got a little bit of life, but we took it back. Unfortunately, they scored that goal to tie it up. Overall, I think we fed off our fans and we were hoping our fans would feed off us with a win, but that’s the only place that is disappointing when you look at the final outcome, is that we didn’t come up with.

BRUINS SCRATCHES PITTSBURGH

WADE REDDEN

KASPARS DAUGAVINS

MILAN LUCIC

DOUGIE HAM,ILTON

JAY PANDOLFO

AARON JOHNSON…

 

Any surprizes in this group for you ??

KEVIN HARRIMAN