NHL History & News

On Monday, June 6 2011, Boston Bruins defeated Vancouver Canucks 8-1 in Game 3 of Stanley Cup final. Even though tens of thousands of hockey fans remained optimistic on Monday at the new and improved Canucks viewing area in downtown Vancouver at least until second intermission, the score was disappointing. The Canucks saw their best of 7 final series lead cut to 2-1.

The Bruins settled other scores in the third period, once the score was settled. While Kesler and Dennis Seidenberg wrestled at centre ice, Milan Lucic motioned to the mouth of Alex Burrows with his fingers in an endboards scrum.

When Mason Raymond executed a toe-drag move on Seidenberg and ripped a forehand that Thomas made a pad save on before recovering to get a glove on the winger’s rebound backhander, the Canucks had the best chance to open scoring.

Early in the second period, the break the Bruins were looking for came though. With a broken stick Edler tried to move the puck and it started a sequence that ended with an Andrew Ference point shot finding its way through a crowd. When Kesler dove to stop a Recchi cross-ice, power-play feed the Bruins caught another break. The effort deflected off the stick of the Canucks centre and between Luongo’s pads.

After Henrik Sedin coughed up the puck on the power play, Kesler then simply couldn’t hold off Marchand. Before roofing the puck to make it 3-0, the Bruins winger went wide and waited for Luongo to go down. To turn it into a laugher, Krejci and Daniel Paille then scored.

Just like last year when the Boston Bruins played the Philadelphia Flyers, Boston holds a three games to zero lead in the best of seven second round series. However, this time around the Bruins are hoping for a different outcome than last year’s playoff collapse. Last spring the Flyers became the third team in NHL history to come back from a three games to none deficit and win a playoff series. With last season’s collapse fresh in their memories, I would not bank on the Bruins failing to put away the Flyers this year.

The Bruins are a -170 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 5.5 in NHL Betting Odds.

Using a combination of excellent goaltending along with a high powered offense, the Bruins have cruised to this commanding three game lead. The Bruins jumped on the Flyers with two quick goals in game three’s first sixty three seconds to take a commanding lead in the game and ultimately the series. So long as the Bruins do not let their guard down, it will be hard to envision Philadelphia making another comeback like they did last season against the Bruins.

Game four is scheduled for Friday night at eight o’clock. If the Flyers hope to stave off elimination, they will need to play a much better all around game and get more production out of their team leaders. Also, the Flyers goal tenders will have to step up and play their best game of the playoffs if they hope to extend their season for another game.

This weekend the Philadelphia Flyers will take on the Boston Bruins in the first game of their 7 game series. These teams may be tired by the end of this series as they just got done playing in a couple of very difficult matchups.

In hockey betting lines the Flyers are a -135 moneyline favorite and the over/under total is 5.5.

Both of these teams needed all 7 games to finish off their opponents in the first round of the playoffs despite being two of the best teams in the league. Against the Buffalo Sabres the Flyers were engaged in a difficult series for now. They managed to close out the series with a convincing 5-2 victory over Buffalo while the series was close.

In the Eastern Conference, during the season these teams were the 2nd and 3rd best teams. They should both be ready for a hard fought series as both of these teams were solid at home and even better on the road.

In terms of playing on both sides of the ice the Bruins are a slighting more well-rounded team. They are the 2nd best team in the NHL in goals against as they are the 5th best team in the league in goals per game. Even though the Flyers are just the 11th best team in the league in goals against, they are a slightly better team offensively, as they are the 3rd best team in the league in goals per game. If they hope to take the victory in this series they will need to buckle down defensively.

As both of these teams have all of the tools necessary to win this series this may be the best series in the playoffs this season.

when the Boston Bruins take on the Philadelphia Flyers.

Two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference square off on Sunday when the Boston Bruins meets the Philadelphia Flyers.

With Boston at 15-1 and Philadelphia at 8-1, NHL odds have both teams among the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

Only seven points behind the Flyers who are in first place currently, Boston sits in third place in the Eastern Conference. By only six points Boston also trails Washington for second place. Boston would love to catch either team ahead of it in the standings to secure that home ice as this tight race among the three division leaders means home ice throughout the playoffs is still up for grabs.

Both Boston and Philadelphia need to make sure they win their respective divisions first while both teams would love to beat each other out for first place overall in the Conference. Philadelphia is only five points up on the Penguins with ten games remaining as they are being pressed by a red hot Pittsburgh team that has gone 6-2-2 in its last ten games. Even though the Boston Bruins has two games in hand, for now they are only three points ahead of rival Montreal. The Bruins appear to have an easier road to securing the division title with these extra two games.

As both teams will use this game as a measuring stick to determine what they need to correct heading into the playoffs hockey fans can expect a hard fought contest this Sunday. Both squads will be playing their hardest to figure out which is the best way to beat each other come playoff time with a good chance these two teams will meet again sometime this spring.

On Saturday night two of the top teams in the NHL will meet, when the Boston Bruins travel to Vancouver to play against the Canucks. With a win on Saturday Boston will look increase its division lead over the Montreal Canadiens, which is currently four points. The Bruins will use this contest as a measuring stick to see how it fairs against the best team in the West as they have struggled against some of the better competition from the Western Conference.

For this matchup NHL Betting Odds will be available on Friday night.

As the Boston do not play again after meeting Calgary on Tuesday night, they will be well rested for this game on Saturday. As both of those special teams rank in the middle of the league in effectiveness, perhaps the extra days of practice will enable the Bruins to get their power play and penalty kill in order.

In the NHL, Vancouver on the other hand has some of the best special teams play. The Canucks, currently ranking 1st on the power play and 4th on the penalty kill; they will look to take advantage of the Bruins on the special teams when these two teams meet on Saturday.

With 3.3 goals per contest and the lowest goals against per game at 2.3, Vancouver also boasts the best goals per game average. It is easy to see why the Vancouver Canucks have the best record in the league, with all four of these facets of the game clicking.

It could be a long night for the guys from Boston as the Canucks should be able to score some goals and cruise to a victory, if the Bruins struggle to stay out of the penalty box.

With the NHL getting back into high gear after the All-Star game, NHL fans will be treated to a contents of two of the better teams in the entire league when the San Jose Sharks travel to Boston to take on the Bruins Saturday night.

NHL Odds are not yet available.

Even though San Jose is struggling in the standings right now, the Sharks still figure to be one of the favorites to win the Western Conference come playoff time.

Boston is currently third in the Eastern Conference and leads Montreal by only four points in the standings. Despite a mediocre power play that currently sits at 16th in the league, Boston continues to rely on one of the best goal tending tandems in the league to win games on a nightly basis. The offense is doing pretty well also as the Bruins average 3.0 goals per game.

After making it to the Western Conference finals last year the San Jose Sharks have been a bit of a disappointment so far this season. Struggling to find any consistency on offense and defense has really slowed the down the Sharks in the first half of the season. If San Jose wants to make another deep playoff run they will need to get things going in a hurry, especially since they are tied for 8th place in the West with two other teams.

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins team captain, is adamant that he desires to stay and play NHL with the Boston Bruins. He even indicated he would like to remain there for the rest of his professional career. His present contract will end July 1, 2011. However recent investigations concerning front-loaded and long term contracts have stalled talks about extending Chara’s contract.

There are many aspects to settling contract terms. The NHL and the NHL players association have to agree upon changes, or amendments, which will affect how contracts are handled. There is some discussion about contracts with decreasing values to prevent long term contracts.

The New Jersey Devil’s deal with Ilya Kovalchuk seems to be the main hold up in contract talks. His 15 year contract worth a hundred million dollars was finally approved Friday of last week. This came with an agreement between the players association and the league.

Now that amendments concerning long term contracts have been approved by the league the standstill should be over. Bruin’s representative, states that the new negotiations will be beneficial for every one involved. This will help players and general managers work through contract negotiations much quicker than before.

With agreements finally being reached between the NHL and the NHL players association the guidelines will be a lot clearer. This will make talks run much smoother for every one concerned.

On June 25 at the NHL Entry Draft, only two NHL teams get to select Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin. The Bruins are the holders of the second overall pick and will likely select whichever player wasn’t taken by Edmonton with the first pick, by virtue of a trade with Toronto.

With a pair of first round selections, the Bruins are one of three teams. It seems much more likely that they will take whoever is left out of Hall and Seguin, although there have been rumors that Boston may package the second overall pick in a deal for a goal-scoring forward that can help right away.

For the Plymouth Whalers, Hall plays left wing for the Memorial Cup Champion Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) and Seguin plays center. Having twice won the Memorial Cup, Hall is the more famous of the two. Seguin, however, was NHL Central Scouting’s top North American skater in the year-end rankings and has a tremendous shot and a special combination of skill, speeds, and size.

Leaving the Bruins to take Seguin, the consensus is that Edmonton will use the first pick on Taylor Hall. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli has stated that they would be happy with either one and his scouts have no favorite between the two. Even though they are relatively deep at center, they will still use the second overall pick on Seguin should the Oilers take Hall.

Bruins goal tender Tuukka Rask led the NHL in save percentage and in goals allowed and will gladly welcome more help on the blue line. They will consider defensemen Dylan McIlrath, Derek Forbert, Mark Pysyk and Jonathan Merrill, when they pick again with the 15th overall selection.

The wings are another area of concern for Boston. They need to pick up some wingers to help out and they are deep at center (and will be even more so if they end up with Seguin). They will be very active in terms of trades at the draft, so it is very likely that they could package either the 15th pick or the 32nd pick in a deal to bring in some new talent on the wings.