The Fifth Liners

"Everyone in Hockey is asking just what went wrong with Boston's season? What exactly was the factor that made their series go wrong, was it poor planning or were Montreal just too much for them?" Good Question, let's have a look. The Boston Bruins always looked good to advance through the playoffs, especially after being drawn against Detroit in the first round. Wracked with injury and inexperience, the depleted  Detroit Red Wings did well to get a playoff spot and certainly poured heart and soul into the series, but ultimately the Bruins were always going to win. There's two main reasons why things fell apart against the Montreal Canadiens , the first is that the series wasn't managed properly. On the ice the Bruins showed a complacency up front. During the regular season Boston scored 3.15 goals per game, in the playoffs this fell to 2.5. Like in the regular season, Jarome Iginla has been most prolific, having netted five times, while  David Krejci...

After kneeing Brad Marchand in the head while he lay prone on the ice, Pittsburgh's James Neal now has a five game suspension to think about what he's done. Whether he meant it or not, only Neal knows. But in a busy week for the Dept of Player Safety, the decision was made that Neal had time to avoid Marchand. Although Marchand wasn't injured, it was decided that Neal would be assessed five games because of his history. That's the CBA at work again. More time for Neal to get that last minute Christmas shopping done.

The Boston Bruins doubled their advantage in the Eastern Conference with a dominant 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Center! So far their sharp offensive play is proving the difference in this series and at the moment! In the first period- the Bruins ran riot with Brad Marchand' s break away goal after only 28 seconds putting them on their way and  after 14 minutes the lead was doubled by Nathan Horton before the in form David Krecji pushed the Penguins deeper under water to make the score 3-0! Coach Dan Byisma then proceeded to pull Tomas Vokoun from net and returned Marc-Andre Fleury to active duty! Despite Brandon Sutter 's snap shot pulling one back for Pittsburgh with 34 second left in the period, Fleury was to have an equally hard time, this was confirmed when Marchand bagged his second with only 9 seconds remaining! Scoring took a break in the second period but 27 second in the third period, Patrice Bergeron scored to put the game ...

The Boston Bruins welcomed the New York Rangers back to the TD Gardens arena for game two of the series tonight. First Period The Bruins were looking to capitalise on their first game victory but were pinned back for the first five minutes. Adam McQuaid made a desperate diving poke check to deny the Rangers. Boston immediately jumped on this and sent the puck up to Torey Krug who displayed some silky skills to pass the puck between his skates and slot past Henrik Lundqvist .  A few minutes later Ryan Callahan intercepted a stray pass and then won the foot race to go one on one with Tukka Rask . The Rangers' captain made no mistake in finding the net. Rich Peverley gave the Rangers a powerplay when his high stick caught Rick Nash in the face but Boston was not able to take advantage.  Shortly after, captain Zdeno Chara was given a minor for slashing. Bizarrely even though the offence was behind Rask's net, it was the official in the neutral zo...

The Boston Bruins claimed victory in Game One of their series against the New York Rangers with a 3-2 Overtime win at the TD Garden. The game burst into life in the second period when a mistake by the usually consistent Henrik Lundqvist allowed Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara to score and give the home side the advantage. But with two seconds left on the clock, Ryan McDonagh swooped in to level scores! New York went ahead 16 seconds into the third period when Derek Stepan scored, but Bruins fans didnt have to wait long for a response as a long ranger from Torey Krug sealed his first NHL goal on a powerplay and leveled the scores! Goalies Rask and Lundqvist were both kept busy for the remainder of the period but no could find a way past so the game was pushed to overtime. After four minutes of play Brad Marchand scored to give the bruins the victory! Although Boston has secured victory, things will not be straight forward in this series and people should prepare for some interest...

New Jersey's defenseman Anton Volchenkov has been banned for 4 games as a result of this elbow on Boston's Brad Marchand! On the surface it may appear to be not as bad as it seems, but when you consider this action has resulted in Marchand suffering a severe concussion which will rule him out for the remainder of the year- then this ban might just be justified. It's not in the Rafi Torres school of hard hits, but the result has been just as brutal To make your own mind up- view the video at NHL.com http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=665267&navid=nhl:topheads