Bruins Recap: BC Alumnus Johnny Gaudreau Succeeds in Return to Boston, Helps Flames Win in Shootout

Calgary 4

Boston 3

Final/SO

BOSTON—What better way for the Boston College hockey team to spend a night during spring break than watching former teammate and now Calgary Flame Johnny Gaudreau take on the home town Boston Bruins.

“It is awesome to see him here,” said one former Boston College teammate of Gaudreau. “It’s cool to see him go from BC to the NHL and now to see him play here in the Garden.”

It was even more special to watch him score a power play goal for the Flames.

In the third period, the Flames had a chance to go on the attack while on the power play when Bruins defender Matt Bartowski was called for tripping on Gaudreau himself. With the man advantage, Gaudreau was given the puck while teammate Jiri Hudler set the screen in front of the net. Gaudreau wristed a shot right into the upper right corner of the net for his 16 goal on the year and to put Calgary up 3-2 in the third period.

The Bruins would fight back however.

Fighting for the puck in front of Calgary’s net, Bruins’ forward Loui Erickson would come away with the puck, flipping the puck into the top left corner of the net on the backhand in order to time the game up at three apiece.

The game would then go into overtime tied at three.

Unable to settle it in overtime, the two teams went to the shootout where it took eight rounds before the Flames’ David Schlemko fooled Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to go one way while he went the other, easily gliding the puck into the net for the 4-3 win.

“Our biggest concern is our inability to finish,” said coach Claude Julien. “You saw it in the shootout. We can’t seem to finish well and score some goals.”

The Bruins inability to stay out of the penalty box allowed the Flames to score twice on the power play.

“Little mistakes here and there,” said Julien about the penalty kill’s ineffectiveness. “There were some good screens there and the puck found its way in the net. On the first one I saw Adam McQuaid with his back to the play falling down, if he is facing the play he probably knocks the loose puck to the corner so it was little details like that that are hurting us.”

The Bruins also served consecutive penalties three times throughout the game. In the first period, the Bruins had back-to-back-to-back penalties to end the period.

Johnny Gaudreau had a positive first experience playing at the Bruins’ TD Garden. Along with his goal, Gaudreau had three shots on net while getting 22 minutes and 17 seconds of ice time. He also had an attempt in the shootout that was saved by Rask.

He now has 16 goals and 30 assists on the year. His 46 points puts him second best amongst rookies behind Nashville’s Filip Forsberg who has 52.

“There is no doubt [Gaudreau] should be considered for the rookie of the year,” said one of Gaudreau’s former Boston College teammate.

For the Bruins, newly acquired forward Max Talbot played in his first game since being traded from the Colorado Avalanche to the Bruins. Talbot played on the fourth line along with forwards Chris Kelly and Brian Ferlin.

Talbot served a boarding penalty in the first period along with three shots on net in 10:56 minutes of ice time.

The Bruins look to rebound against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, March 7. It will be the first time the two teams meet since January 10.

Bruins' Deadline Looks Nice on Paper, Now Time to Prove It

Going into yesterday’s trade deadline, the Boston Bruins found themselves facing a dilemma. In a seller’s market, they could have dealt their expendable pieces above their true value or they could have tried to fix the problems of their underachieving team.

The Bruins did both yesterday by acquiring forward Brett Connolly from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for two second round picks and 31 year old center Maxime Talbot from the Colorado Avalanche for forward Jordan Caron and a sixth round pick.

“[Connolly’s] a player that we've looked at for a while,” said Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli on the team’s website. “He's a guy that we think can come in and help us right away and could have a long future for us.”

Connolly is a 22 year old, right shot winger that upgrades the Bruins’ third line immediately. Connolly maintains restricted free agent status at the end of the season as well, meaning that the Bruins can retain Connolly if they so choose to or opt for draft pick compensation if they let him go to another team in free agency.

At 22 years old and a former sixth overall pick in the 2010 NHL draft, the Bruins hope Connolly still has potential to improve his game and become a top four winger.

During the 2012-2013 AHL season, Connolly had 31 goals and 32 assists. Although it has translated to only 18 NHL goals, 12 coming this year in 50 games, a change of scenery and a new system could help elevate Connolly’s play.

Max Talbot, signed through next year as well, provides a short-term fix for the Bruins. Talbot gives the Bruins’ versatility in line combinations. He can pair with practically every line. He can pair on the first line with Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron, while also fitting well with Chris Kelly on the fourth line.

“I would characterize [Talbot] as a glue guy who has played in a lot of playoffs, plays all three positions, is a gritty guy, plays all-out, and we believe he's a good add to our forward group,” said Chiarelli about Talbot via espn.com.

These two players provide upgrades for the Bruins’ roster over the guys they replace. Talbot will outperform Jordan Caron and Connolly will outperform recently released forward Craig Cunningham, Brian Ferlin and anyone else from within the organization that would have gotten the ice time. Talbot also has playoff experience. Caron does not have the same experience and maturity as Talbot.

However, skepticism still arises. Connolly’s future is still unclear.

The Tampa Bay Lightning currently sit second in the eastern conference. As a team that should be trying to add pieces to fix problems, history would suggest that the Lightning would want to hold onto a 22 year old, former sixth overall pick if he really does have any more ability to improve. The trade suggests that Tampa Bay has given up on Connolly and his ability, not the best indication of any possible improvement, but not finality.

Judgment is still out though. The Bruins have a history in finding success within highly drafted prospects that prove as busts for the team that drafted them, such as Cam Neely and Benoit Pouliot.

Although still productive, Talbot’s best days are behind him. Talbot will never be the same player that played in Pittsburgh from 2005-2011.

Averaging 19.4 points per year, Talbot’s upside is in his ability to play in the boards, not his play-making abilities. His skill set does not put the Bruins ahead of the other teams that upgraded at the deadline.

Even though Connolly and Talbot are not season altering, franchise changing players, they do provide key upgrades for this year’s Bruins team without a hefty price tag. They also provide future return as well, as both have the ability to come back for next season.

Bruins’ general manager made two good moves yesterday on paper. Now they have to prove it on the ice.

As Trade Deadline Approaches, Bruins Have Choices to Make

Currently sitting at eighth in the conference, the Boston Bruins are far from perfect. They lost their top center, David Krejci, to injury. Their goalie situation has been a mess and many of their line pairings have struggled to score.

Today, the Bruins will surely make a move a couple moves in order to solidify their playoff push and their attempt to get a better seed. They have already done so by acquiring Tampa Bay right winger Brett Connelly for two second round picks late last night.

“My job is to make the team better,” Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli told writer Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe. “I don’t have any excuses. Nobody has any excuses.”

With or without trading, the Bruins seem likely to make the playoffs. However, the problem is not next year, but the years that follow.

Riddled by salary cap problems, a coach that refuses to change his defense first type system and underperforming players, the team has to make a decision going forward. They can keep the pieces they have now, push for a playoff spot and hope that everything works out, or they can try and trade aging players and wasteful contracts at a time when teams will overpay.

The latter a much harder, timelier project but seems like a better option.

The Bruins organization have locked themselves into a system by giving out generous contracts to players such as Zdeno Chara, Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic, Dennis Seidenberg and others. All have a base salary of $4 million or more for at least two more years. Chara and Seidenberg are locked in for four years each.

Lucic has found success in Boston, scoring 20 or more goals in three out of seven seasons and he currently has 13 goals on the year. Lucic comes at a heavy price however, $6 million a year for two more years. For a slow guy who would probably not do as well outside of coach Claude Julien’s system, other teams probably will not take on that kind of cap hit.

Chara, who is 37 and will be 40 by his contract’s end, has dealt with a leg injury this year. Even though Chara remains one of the league’s best defenseman, he is only getting older and slower.

Seidenberg has also dealt with injuries throughout his Bruins tenure. At 33 years old with four more years at $4 million per year left on his contract, Seidenberg too seems untradeable.

But for Chiarelli and Julien, this is okay because they fit into their system, which makes it worth the salary cap inflexibility.

“I didn’t know it would just keep carrying forward,” said Chiarelli to Shinzawa about the roster. “I didn’t project that. I didn’t project the injuries. But when they happened, you have to change your projections a bit. There’s a lot of subpar performances. Sometimes that happens.”

The problem however, is not injuries, it is the system.

The NHL has moved towards fast-pace, scoring tandems. Most of the better teams display this type of play: Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews in Chicago, Steve Stamkos-Tyler Johnson in Tampa Bay, and Sidney Crosby-Eveni Malkin in Pittsburgh too name a few.

But Julien has his system and it brought him a Stanley Cup. His system worked and the organization believes it still works, it just needs a couple patches sewn on.

“As a general manager, you have to look at everything, including larger deals,” Chiarelli told Shinzawa. “Those are hard to do.”

According to the Boston Globe, the Bruins have also made goalie Tuukka Rask, forward Brad Marchand and Chara untouchable. This adds to a list which includes defenseman Dougie Hamilton, center David Pastrnak and center Patrice Bergeron.

The Bruins keep putting themselves out of the realm of rebuilding. An eighth place finish is not good enough for this fan base, especially after winning the President’s trophy last season but losing to the rival Montreal Canadiens in the playoff’s conference semifinals.

The Bruins had a chance to rebuild and to generate more offense when they drafted Tyler Seguin with the second overall pick in the 2010 draft. Seguin scored 37 goals for the Stars last year after being traded by the Bruins. He has 29 so far on the year.

But the Bruins traded him because he didn’t play defense well enough for Julien.

He gave up on the team’s best prospect in many years because of defense. Defense.

Let’s hope Julien’s stubbornness proves us wrong, that his system can last for several more years, because if not, the fans and the team could be in for a long period of unwanted mediocrity.