Hurricanes Take Second Straight Over Bruins, Boston Loses Control With 72 Penalty Minutes

The 2011-12 Boston Bruins are a team without an identity right now and one that is struggling desperately to find consistency.

Their four biggest issues at the moment are scoring, maintaining focus, playing well in front of backup goaltender Tuukka Rask and of course the power-play.

In tonight's 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes (3-2-1) at TD Garden, the B's (2-4-0) were plagued by the first three of those said problems. The silver lining was that they snapped the horrid 0-for-22 stretch on the power-play.

Boston has yet to post back-to-back strong efforts let alone wins so it should come as no surprise that they also fell to 1-3 on home ice. Yes it would be easy to blame the referees for some shady calls against the Bruins (72 penalty minutes, 4 game misconducts), but if we're being objective it was mostly their own fault.

The B's outshot the Hurricanes 34-23 and hit two posts (by Joe Corvo and Jordan Caron) to one (Brett Sutter) for Carolina but that all doesn't matter.

Carolina knocked off Boston for the second time in six days and this time, goaltender Cam Ward (33 saves) was nearly flawless. Rich Peverley (3rd of the season) finally scored a goal in front of Tuukka (19 saves), the first he's received in two starts, notching a power-play strike at 10:59 of the third to cut it to 2-1. Dennis Seidenberg and Corvo (who survived a nasty hit/fall in the first period) had the assists.

Chris Kelly sparked the team with a fight against Sutter that occured only 29 seconds before Peverley's screened snapshot went by Ward. For a guy that's not known as a fighter at all, this was Kelly's first in a Bruins uniform, it was good to see that somebody cared enough to step up when the team is playing like garbage.

Just as the crowd finally got into it, Nathan Horton picked up a dumb penalty 31 seconds later trying to goad Hurricanes supposed toughguy Tim Gleason into a fight. It didn't work and Carolina got the last laugh as Horton plus Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic (not to mention Zdeno Chara in the second period) were all tagged with 10-minute misconducts.

The Hurricanes took advantage with a pair of 5-on-3 goals by Eric Staal (3rd of the season) at 13:26 and Tuomo Ruutu (1st of the season) at 14:58 to put it away.

Anthony Stewart (2nd of the season) got Carolina off to a quick start as he scored off a rebound just 2:47 into the first period. Joni Pitkanen (2nd of the season) doubled the lead at 10:19 in the second period on a blast from the slot.

This was a really strange game and nothing illustrates that more than the fact that Bruins head coach Claude Julien got ejected late in the third period since he'd seen enough of the one-sided calls. It was nice to see that kind of emotion out of Claude, it marked the first time he was ejected in Boston.

Would you believe me if I told you the B's have only scored a pitiful 11 goals in the first six games? Yuck. Their next game is Thursday as old friend (haha yeah right) Phil Kessel (the NHL's leading goal-scorer with 7 goals) and the Toronto Maple Leafs come to the Garden. Let's hope for a better performance from this team.

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Bruins Fall to 1-3, Lose in Raleigh

The Bruins continued their disappointing start to the 2011-12 season, dropping their third of four games last night to the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2.

Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin scored for the Bruins, while Tim Thomas made 31 saves in the losing effort. The stars of the night for Carolina were Joni Pitkanen and Yuri Tulusty, whose strong effort all game long was rewarded with a goal in the third that turned out to be the game-winner.

The first period featured some great back and forth action including a great stop by Thomas on the Hurricanes first real scoring chance of the game. After a wide shot produced a weird carom behind the net, Tulusty found the puck at point blank range in the slot. Thomas came out of his net to challenge the shooter and absolutely stoned him one-on-one.

Carolina netminder Cam Ward also had a key stop early on in the first.Johnny Boychuck unleashed a blast from the right wing that was turned away by Ward, only to find the struggling Milan Lucic on the doorstep with a wide open net. Lucic couldn't bang home the rebound, thanks in large part to Eric Stall's defensive effort in the crease.

Carolina scored first on the power play, as Pitkanen set up with the puck on the half wall. Cradling the puck, he forced Zdeno Chara to make a decision. Rather than pursuing the puck, Chara retreated towards the crease in an attempt to cover Staal, who is always a threat to score down low. Taking advantage of the extra space, Pitkanen let off a shot that got by Thomas and gave the Canes a 1-0 lead.

Carolina doubled their lead in the early stages of the third, when Anthony Stewart beat Gregory Campbell and then went low stick side on Timmy, a save he should've made.

The Bruins then quickly responded as Seguin scored on a bad angle wrist shot that beat Ward high gloveside. His partner in crime Marchand scored halfway through the third, one timing a redirected pass from Patrice Bergeron to cut the lead to one. That was all that the Bruins would get, as their attempt with the man advantage failed.

The B's have to rebound and quickly. They will face an extremely skilled Blackhawks team on Saturday night. It's still earl, but they can't afford to let this season get away from them early on.

Game Notes:

* Although the power play hasn't produced at all this year, they have certainly made strides in their strategies. Seguin has looked very comfortable on the man advantage, especially with open ice. He is starting to become more aggressive, especially without the puck, which is one of the reasons why Julien put him on the top line to replace the injured David Krejci.

* The best example of this was leading up to his goal in the third. He started off close to the Bruins bench, but curled to the opposite side of the ice, before taking a pass from Horton and simply skating around McBain before putting a shot on net. His movement without the puck is going to set him up to make plays in open ice, especially on the first line.

*Much has been made of Lucic and Horton's slumps throughout last season as well as the first few games of this season and for good reason. They have started out slow and haven't really been aggressive thus far but last night was a step in the right direction for both of them, putting up their highest shot totals of the season and generating several scoring chances, none better than Lucic's open net chance.

*Although I need to see Lucic finish better. He walked in all alone in the third and unleashed his patented ice level wrister that Ward kicked away. Lift the damn puck!

*Scary moment for the B's when Adam McQuaid knocked his own ass out when he caught an edge and slammed his head into the boards behind the net. He was clearly on dream street and eventually went into the dark room to get treated. I dont think that he will be playing on Saturday night. Look for Matt Bartkowski to get some more playing time in Darth Quaider's place.

*McQuaid could've just been looking for a KFC Double Down and a Bud Light in the locker room though.

*I love the new presentation on Versus. The ten-year deal with NBC has made the NHL a bigger player than ever in American sports. With the NBA out for the first few weeks, now is the best time for the league to grab all the attention they can. Hockey pretty much every night? Hell yeah!

*Doc Emerick is becoming insufferable. I like his goal calls but that's pretty much it, he screams on nearly every shot. However, I did learn that Tulusty means "fat" in his native Czech language. I wonder what "Beckett" translates to.

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Hurricanes Pick Up Their First Win Of Season, At The Bruins' Expense

It is less than a week into the 2011-12 NHL season so pardon me if I can't quite work up a lather yet about the Boston Bruins' lame beginning.

The defending Stanley Cup champs have gotten off to a slow start; their first road game of the season was tonight at the RBC Center in Raleigh Center and the host Hurricanes (1-2-1) picked up their first win with a 3-2 triumph over the B's (1-3-0).

With seven goals in four games, it's clear that putting the puck in the net has been Boston's biggest issue so far. Let's not forget that the power play is still a hot mess, off to a rousing 1 for 18 start (picking up where they left off in the playoffs).

David Krejci missed the game with a midsection injury so Tyler Seguin got the bump up to center on the first line with Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton flanking him. Boston still needs Krejci but for one game at least, Seguin (1 goal, 4 shots, 7 of 9 on face-offs) was a more than suitable replacement.

B's goaltender Tim Thomas (1-2-0) got his third start and yet again, it wasn't his fault that his team failed to get two points. He made 31 saves but was the victim of some bad luck and a shaky defense in front of him.

Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward (26 saves) showed why he's one of the more underrated guys at his position with a strong showing.

After a scoreless first period, Carolina opened the scoring 42 seconds into the second frame with a power-play strike from defenseman Joni Pitkanen (1st of the season). Former Bruins great Tomas Kaberle and Jussi Jokinen assisted on the goal. Pitkanen was by the face-off dot and he took forever to fake a shot twenty times before finally unleashing a low one that found its way past Thomas. It appeared like Erik Staal screened Thomas on the play, regardless he should not have been able to park there so easily.

Boston bumbled through three straight scoreless power play chances and predictably, they didn't get a call the rest of the night (the B's had the last three penalties).

When Carolina's Anthony Stewart (1st of the season) scored 3:42 into the third (from Tim Brent and Tim Gleason) on a shot that trickled past Thomas at the post, I was firing off an angry Tweet but Seguin interrupted my venom with a sick top-shelf wrist shot just 25 seconds later. It was his first of many this season, from Horton and Adam McQuaid. It was a juicy glimpse of what Seguin can do when he has room to shoot.

Something called Jiri Tlusty (1st of the season) iced it with his game-winner at 13:32 from Brandon Sutter and Patrick Dwyer. He was unmarked in the slot and made Thomas and Co. pay for that.

Boston was about to go on another ill-fated power play but Patrice Bergeron hit Brad Marchand with a nice cross-ice feed for a one-timer and the Bruins' second goal (Marchmont's second of the season). Former Hurricane Joe Corvo had the second assist at 16:35.

I'm not going to say time ran out on the Bruins since it never really felt like they'd ever tie it before regulation ended.

McQuaid ran head first into the boards (how many times has he done that in the last year?) in the third and didn't return. Don't be surprised to see him held out of the next game with Matt Bartkowski getting another shot after being a healthy scratch for the last three contests.

It won't get any easier as the B's will remain on the road the next few days before meeting the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night. After failing to really show up against two subpar teams (Carolina and Colorado), expect Boston to at least make a game of it in Theo Epstein's new home.

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