Fans at the collegiate level of hockey are in a league of their own. Dedicated, passionate and loud, fans turning up at this weeks Frozen Four in Boston will be a rare breed. If you’re attending the games, one color you’ll be seeing in full force, the red of the hometown Boston University Terriers. Just a quick drive from Boston, the Providence Friars will be sure to have quite the fan allegiance in the stands. But we wouldn’t count out support for Omaha or North Dakota either. We’ve altered the basic look for all four teams in the championships. But you can take any team and alter it to show your support.
With the creme de la creme of collegiate hockey facing off beginning tomorrow night, you can bet that the name of the fashion game is pinpointing the team you support at first glance.
A casual, comfortable look is key. As is a look that will bring you through all three periods and the probable after game celebrations on Causeway Street. A reliable bag with a little personality will bring the look together, think pattern, fringe, or a bright color. Lastly, a statement piece of jewelry will complete the look.
If you’re heading to the Frozen Four be sure to dress to impress, while making sure NO ONE questions your allegiance.
Here’s a little fact about me, I should probably be in scone lovers anonymous, I’m addicted. What I’m not addicted to is the caloric intake of the aforementioned scones. Growing up, I associated the thought of a scone, with an elegant tea-party, not a traditional staple in the breakfast regime. They seem fancy and complicated, something to be purchased at the local bakery, not made from home. In reality, they’re fairly simple.
Did you know that a Lemon Cranberry Scone from Starbucks clocks in at 410 calories? And that’s a pretty consistent number from a plethora of places. As you can imagine, I don’t want to indulge in a huge chunk of my caloric intake before I’ve finished my first cup of coffee. That being said, I sat down and began browsing the bookshelf of cookbooks collecting dust in my cabinet–what I found was horrifying. 1/2 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of oil just for starters? No wonder the average caloric value of these delicious treats is so high. But does it really have to be? The answer is no.
A little birdie once told me that applesauce or yogurt made a perfect substitute for oil. This ingenious little trick will save you calories, and in this recipe, open you up to a world of possibilities. Key lime strawberry scone? Orange Cranberry? By using a flavored yogurt, you cut the calories, keep the moisture, enhance the flavor and open yourself up to a world of variety.
What are you waiting for? Skate on into the kitchen and bake, bake, bake!
Lemon Blueberry Scones
Roughly 135 calories per scone (If you make a batch of 12-13)
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup lemon yogurt (I used, 6 oz container of Yoplait Lemon Merengue, and 2 oz Dannon Greek Lemon yogurt, because it’s what I had on hand)
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (Fresh is going to be so much better, but frozen will work as well)
Directions
1. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, with the exception of the blueberries with a hand mixer until a thick, sticky batter forms.
3. Fold the blueberries into the batter with a spatula.
4. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spoon the batter onto the cookie sheet in large heaping mounds, the batter makes 12-13 scones.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350 degrees. I would suggest checking the scones frequently after the 15 minute mark as ovens vary. When the peaks of your scone turn golden brown, they should be done.
Bakers Note: These scones will be a bit more moist than your traditional scone, in the past, I’ve cut the yogurt to just the 6 oz instead of the full 8 oz to give them a stiffer drier feel. But ultimately, I always go back to the full cup because they taste best that way!
Tip: These scones freeze well, if you’re making the batch for just yourself, or two people, freezing half of them is a great solution. Once they’ve cooled, place them in a tupperware container, or ziploc bag and freeze. Taking them out the night before you’d like to use and allowing them to defrost. Popping them in the toaster or 3-4 minutes under broil in the over makes for a delicious treat.
The Chicago Blackhawks clinched a playoff berth last Thursday, but much like that tough win, the team doesn’t look like one on a postseason mission.
Instead of playing with fervor, they often seem to scrape by when they do find ways to win. Sure, the February loss of then-league-points-leaderPatrick Kane was a major blow to the team. With or without him, though, the Hawks haven’t been an authoritative leader this season. Earning a 48-25-6 record, to be fair, they haven’t exactly been a disappointment, either.
Somehow, over the past few years, we fans have become spoiled by the team’s ability to dominate in what’s become an increasingly competitive conference. In 2013, a streak meant a record-breaking number of games without a regulation loss–24. This season, the best streak was eight consecutive wins at the end of November and early December. (So, pardon us if we got our hopes up again.)
Players, however, have been streaky. They were able to rely pretty heavily on Kane, with his 64 points in 61 games pre-injury–especially in his line with Brad Richards (37 points in 76 games with a dry spell in March) and Kris Versteeg (34 points in 58 games, but also coming off a 16-game scoring drought). Richards will miss the final three games of the regular season with an upper-body injury.
Fortunately, Marian Hossa has been an offensive force since February 8–with 26 points in those 27 games. Captain Jonathan Toews now has 66 points in 79 games, with 24 points in the last 27 games. Brandon Saad has 18 points during that time.
And, Patrick Sharp has nine points in the 12 games since March 14. He has 41 points in the 65 games he’s played this season. Young forward Teuvo Teravainen has had three points in the last five games.
Even more fortunately, goaltenders Corey Crawford and Scott Darling have been beyond impressive. Starting netminder Crawford has a .924 save percentage and a 2.28 goals-against average in 55 games. Darling has a .939 save percentage and 1.86 goals-against average in 13 games this season including a shutout March 18.
And then there’s the ebbs to the flows.
Goaltending has had to be exceptional because defense has not been particularly consistent or productive. The team lets an average of 30.4 shots per game by and defense is lacking depth with no consistently solid pairings. While defensive star Duncan Keith is a plus-13 with 45 points in 78 games, Brent Seabrook is a minus-four in 79 games. He has, however, contributed 31 points. Niklas Hjalmarsson is an impressive plus-27 with 18 points in 79 games and Johnny Oduya is a plus-five with 10 points in 73 outings.
On the contrary, Michal Rozsival has 11 points and is a minus-one in 62 games. He’s seen far more playing time than David Rundblad, who has 14 points and is a plus-16 in the 46 games he’s hit the ice. Kimmo Timonen, who is day-to-day with an upper body injury suffered against the St. Louis Blues Sunday, is a minus-three with zero points in 16 games since he was traded. The newly-signed Michael Paliota is yet to hit the ice.
In a 3-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks April 2, the Blackhawks clinched their seventh-consecutive playoff berth. The team hasn’t had such a run since 1991-1997.
The Hawks led in shots 38-36.
Teravainen (helped by Marcus Kruger and Andrew Desjardins), Toews (with assists from Hossa and Oduya), and Kruger scored for Chicago, while Derek Dorsett tallied the lone goal for Vancouver.
The shots favored the Sabres 38-36, as did hits, 20-7.
Beaten by the Blues
The St. Louis Blues out-everything’d Chicago Sunday, except for shots–which the Hawks led by a 39-33 margin. Counting the 24 shots St. Louis blocked versus eight Hawks’ blocks–that’s a lot of attempts not making it in the net.
The Blues won 2-1 going one-for-three in the power play (Chicago was 0/2), winning 29 faceoffs to the Hawks’ 26 and outhitting Chicago 50 to 27.
It was a gritty, physical game as these matchups tend to be.
Rather than sticking to their game of finesse, Chicago tried to match the force of St. Louis and failed miserably. The Blues are ranked sixth in minor penalties and ninth in majors, while the Blackhawks are 28th and 26th, respectively.
Hossa on physicality: “Sometimes we get carried away and that’s what [the Blues] want. That happened a little in the second.” #Blackhawks
Not only did the Blackhawks lose the game, they also lost Richards and Timonen.
What’s next?
On the bright side, Kane has been practicing and the team is optimistic he could make a return before the projected May-June date.
The Blackhawks have three more games before playoffs begin. Their last home game is at 7:30 p.m. CT tonight hosting the Minnesota Wild. The Wild would clinch a playoff spot with a win.
“I think it’s always fun to see a young guy like that get a chance and be excited to play,” Toews said. “It’s just a couple of games–good preparation for whatever might be to come for those young guys. Obviously they’ve had great careers and deserve a chance to be here.”
On Thursday, the Blackhawks head to St. Louis for a 7:00 p.m. CT game. Then they’ll finish the regular season with an 8:00 p.m. CT start in Colorado against the Avalanche Saturday.
Even before the Jets and Kings won their respective games elsewhere, it was pretty much a give that Monday night’s tilt was going to be the Sharks last home game of the season.
Which is a bummer, given how electric the playoff atmosphere is in San Jose. Also, because that meant the last super fun hockey night outfit for a couple of months. Oh the agony!
The occasion required me to go out with a bang, of sorts. Here’s what the finished product looked like.
The Dress: Nevermind big labels or an expensive haul for this outfit. As is well-documented, I’m a big fan of the shift dress, and I got this little department store number marked down to eight bucks. Which is awesome because 1) Any dress under $10 is ridiculous and 2) I felt darn pretty. While horizontal stripes can make the body look wider, the color block along with the varying thickness of the stripes gave more of a “coke bottle” effect. (Plus the colors are spring-y and fantastic. Score!) Although there wasn’t any black in the dress, the cooler dark gray stripes helped pull the ensemble together with black tights and flats.
The Coat Situation: Of course, beiing that my frock was short-sleeved, I needed to bundle up under a jacket while up above ice level. I went with this neutral H&M peacoat because the color didn’t distract from the dress. Also the proportions were jut so: Since the dress hit a little closer to my knees and I was wearing flats, I needed a jacket that was a bit shorter so I didn’t look like I was standing in a hole. (Plus, how do you not love that jacket collar?)
The Arm Party: This dress definitely called for silver jewelry. I went to grab for my big silver menswear watch when I remembered that I had this pink-and-rhinestoned Aldo watch buried somewhere in my mountain of accessories! The pink matched perfectly with the dress–but really, doesn’t pink go with everything?–and I was able to stack a couple extra silver-y bangles on with it and add a multi-knuckle ring to give this girly look some attitude.
And with a long, sad sigh, I bid the winter office adieu fora couple months. See you July-ish for prospect camp, kids. Or maybe before that, you never know. It’s going to be a very interesting summer in Teal Town…
The season is winding down, but that does not mean the Coyotes are. After a disappointing loss to the Sharks in San Jose on Friday night, the ‘Yotes came back with a vengeance and got the win in Arizona on Saturday. In their 5-3 win over the San Jose, Arizona was able to break their eight game home losing streak, and get their first regulation win at home since January 8th.
OEL continues to shine
Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been breaking personal and team records all season long. In Saturday nights matchup, ‘OEL’ notched two goals which tied him with Phil Housley for the single-season franchise record of 23 goals in a season by a defenseman. 23 goals in one season by a 23 year old defenseman. The young Swede is remarkable.
“I’ve been saying for a while that he’s a special player, I don’t really think there’s too many people in the league I would trade him for,” said Shane Doan on Ekman-Larsson this season. “He’s our best offensive player and our best defensive player, he’s special and it’s disappointing he doesn’t get respect nationally that I think he deserves but what he’s doing this year obviously speaks for itself.”
Even though he had a rough start to his season after putting on some extra weight in the offseason, the 6’2″ d-man has surely redeemed himself. Shane Doan is surely right in saying that Ekman-Larsson has not been given the recognition that he deserves. His talent in the offensive zone is unreal. There is a reason why he leads not only his team in goals, but also the entire National Hockey League. His humble way of looking at his season, makes him just that much more respectable.
If this isn’t some optimism for the Coyotes future, then I don’t know what is.
“I just try to play my best every night and try to get better. It’s nice to get a winner tonight. Don’t expect me to score 23 goals every year,” said Ekman-Larsson. When asked about the possibility of scoring 30, he responded with a coy, “that’s not going to happen. I’m just happy to score some goals and I’m just going to try to keep shooting; see if I can find a couple more here.”
Mike Smith: player of the month
The month of March was incredible for Mike Smith. Smith had a .934 save percentage with 12 starts in March, and it is no surprise that the Coyotes named him the player of the month. He had multiple games with over 40 saves, and he carried that into April. He made 42 saves against San Jose and allowed 3 goals, but the offense was able to make up for the goals and never lose the lead.
Unfortunate loss for the Sharks
With Saturday night’s loss, the Sharks are now five points back from the Los Angeles Kings for a wildcard spot. With three games to play for both San Jose and Los Angeles, the likelihood of them earning the coveted spot decreased drastically after Saturday’s game.
Coaches thoughts
“When you are in a situation like ours, you never want losing to become accepted. When your top players come in tonight, and we didn’t play very well last night. There was a lot of pride in there and it was great to see our young leadership tonight,” said head coach Dave Tippett. “We are playing for pride right now and playing against a desperate team, I thought we played well.”
The Pacific Division is a bit like a musical chairs game right now with a number of teams battling for that last chair that will put them into the post-season. When the LA Kings woke up Saturday morning, they held the final Wild Card spot in the Division, but by the time they took the ice at Staples Center last night, the Winnipeg Jets had reclaimed that spot by virtue of their win over the Vancouver Canucks. Backs against the wall again, the Kings fought to reclaim their spot, in a tight match with the Colorado Avalanche from which they emerged winners in a 3-1 contest, and the Jets found themselves standing next to the chair once more.
The game completed the Kings’ season sweep of the Avs and tied the team’s record, set back in 1994, for the lowest number of shots on goal allowed by an opponent. The Avs managed just 10 shots on Jonathan Quick, only one of which went into the net.
In the first period, the Kings dominated the puck possession game and scored the first goal when Jeff Carter used his trademark speed to get down the ice past the Avs defenders, banking a shot off the pads of Semyon Varlamov sending a juicy rebound directly to left-winger Dwight King who popped in his 12th goal of the season for a 1-0 lead.
Having managed only three shots on goal in the first, the Avalanche came back in the second. Just a little over one minute in, Gabriel Landeskog’s shot was mishandled by Quick, and teammate Ryan O’Reilly was right behind to knock in the puck and tie the game at 1-1.
But the Kings took over thereafter, limiting the Avs to just four shots in the second, and taking back the lead at 10:09 when defenseman Alec Martinez – no stranger to game-clinching goals – popped in the eventual game-winner not once but twice. His first shot, which hit the far corner and dropped into the goal before bouncing out, was at first wave off by the referee so Martinez, as he explained in a post-game interview, went after the rebound and put the puck right back in just “for good measure”. This time, there was no doubt and the Kings took a 2-1 lead heading into the third.
With a tenuous one-goal lead, the third period was nerve-racking for fans, but the Kings continued to limit the Avs’ opportunities and play the type of game they’ve become known for – hard-checking and puck-possessing. The Kings’ fourth line with center Nick Shore and wingers Kyle Clifford and Jordan Nolan, seemed particularly effective at cycling in the offensive zone.
Finally, with just under two minutes left in the period, the Kings got the insurance goal they needed when Varlamov, who had started to come out of his crease and head for the bench, was forced back into his goal by a breaking Marion Gaborik who took a long wrist shot from the top of the left circle that beat Varlamov.
It was a win the Kings needed and one they could be proud of in a number of ways. Beyond limiting their opponent to just 10 shots while registering 26 shots themselves, the Kings took only one penalty in the game, blocked 15 shots and delivered 28 hits including a hard check by Robyn Regehr on Cody McLeod. In fact, Regehr – who was recently named a nominee for the NHL’s 2015 Masterton trophy, awarded annually to a player who “best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey” – was named the third star of the night. Regehr racked up two assists, showing that he could move from his usual stay-at-home, hard-hitting role to joining the rush and creating offensive opportunities. Martinez took the second star, while Jeff Carter, continuing his excellent play of late, was the first star. Carter had two assists in the game, bringing his total assists for the season to 32.
While emerging victorious from the game and taking back the Wildcard spot in the West, the Kings will battle to the end for a playoff spot. They head out on the road with four games total remaining and all against Divisional opponents beginning with Vancouver on Monday, Edmonton on Tuesday and a critical match-up with Calgary on Thursday. They’ll return home for their final game of the regular season next Saturday against rivals, the San Jose Sharks, who with a loss to Arizona last night, seem destined to miss the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. Get ready for the next – and final – round of musical chairs.
The San Jose Sharks finally unveiled the name and logo for their AHL franchise, set to relocate from Worcester, MA to San Jose for the 2015-16 season. The move comes with the formation of the AHL West, five teams in total will form the new division in the Western Conference. The San Jose Barracuda will join the Stockton Heat (Calgary Flames), Bakersfield Condors (Edmonton Oilers), Ontario Reign (LA Kings) and the San Diego Gulls (Anaheim Ducks) as part of the shift west, meeting for 68 games over the regular season.
The Barracuda will play their home games in the same building, SAP Center as their NHL brethren, being one of only two teams who will do so. The AHL St. John’s Icecaps, affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets will relocate from Newfoundland and share the MTS Iceplex and Centre along with the Jets in Winnipeg for the upcoming season. It is an unconventional move, the only comparison is the Toronto Marlies who play in the same city as the Maple Leafs but have their own arena.
“We are thrilled to add the San Jose Barracuda to the sports fabric of San Jose,” said San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo. “Hosting another hockey team at the SAP Center will bring more sports fans to our booming downtown and allow more people to take advantage of our excellent restaurants and nightlife.”
With both teams sharing a practice facility at Sharks Ice and playing games at SAP, renovations will need to happen over the summer to expand dressing rooms and other equipment needs. The teams will share several Saturday dates over the season, creating a “Hockey Day in San Jose” with the doubleheader AHL matinee/ NHL evening schedule. Fans will be seated at SAP Center in the lower bowl and just the middle sections of the upper bowl, with the rest being curtained off to create a more intimate fan experience. Of course for giveaway nights when more tickets may sell, the curtains can be drawn back to accommodate the larger crowds. Despite the logistical challenges of two professional hockey teams sharing the same practice facility and venue, the player and team development angle far outweighs the scheduling juggle.
“I cannot overstate the importance of having our prospects play in the same time zone as the parent club and available to our team without a cross-country flight,” said Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson. “This is a tremendous opportunity for our organization to amplify our player development program by providing our staff access to these players on a daily basis. It’s also a chance for our fans to watch the growth of these prospects as players and see the ‘Future Sharks’ in action.”
Indeed, the prospects will be literally down the hall from one another on any given night. A callup may just mean a brief stint in Bay Area traffic if the AHL team is traveling.
The Name and Logo
The San Jose Barracuda will adopt the Sharks colors and as per AHL rules, will wear whites at home and teal on the road. They will also debut a third jersey in orange. Orange has been an accent color for the San Jose Sharks and it was the color of the now defunct ECHL San Francisco Bulls, a one time affiliate of the Sharks.
photo (sharks.nhl.com)
So where did the name come from, the San Jose Barracuda? The name Barracuda was among the names originally considered for the NHL expansion team granted to George and Gordon Gund in 1990. The organization ultimately selected “Sharks” as the name of the franchise. This is a nice bit of history but ultimately the name Barracuda is more business driven. Barracuda Networks is a long time staple in Silicon Valley and has been a sponsor for the San Jose Sharks for many years. Welcome to corporate hockey, “the San Jose Barracuda, presented by Barracuda Networks.”
“We are extremely excited about this innovative partnership with Barracuda Networks, a long-time supporter of our organization and a company who is aggressively active in the field of sports marketing,” said Sharks Sports & Entertainment Chief Operating Officer John Tortora. “We have loved the name Barracuda since the start of this process and it was a natural fit for us to approach Barracuda Networks in regards to this unique partnership. ”
There is no doubt that the logo featured on the jerseys is Barracuda Networks.
“At Barracuda, we take pride in our local communities and have a long-standing relationship with the Sharks organization,” said Michael Perone, co-founder, EVP and CMO at Barracuda. “When we heard the AHL team was moving to the Bay Area, we immediately explored the opportunity to further our partnership with the Sharks to include the AHL franchise. It’s exciting to integrate the Barracuda brand with the team in such an innovative way, and we look forward to a winning season with our new San Jose Barracuda.”
There is only one other team that is so closely tied to its sponsor, the Hershey Bears, whose history with the Hershey chocolate bar company goes back to the 1930s, to a series of amateur hockey matches. With their growing popularity, amusement park owner and chocolatier Milton Hershey partnered with John B Sollenberger to bring a permanent pro hockey club to Hershey. The Hershey B’ars began play in 1932. Facing criticism by New York sportswriters that the B’ars name was too commercial in 1936, Hershey became the Bears.
At the cutting edge of technology, it is no surprise San Jose will boast a hockey team intimately connected with Silicon Valley tech and money, much like the oil and gas industry drive the Edmonton Oilers and their new AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors and AEG Entertainment, a Hollywood powerhouse underpins the LA Kings and affiliate Ontario Reign. With the Barracuda, there is no subtlety, the corporate ties are out in the open, flashing their teeth on team sweaters. Only time will tell how long the partnership lasts and if the team remains viable alongside its NHL roommates, but certainly having a big name partner gives the franchise a bit of security going into uncharted waters. After all, that is what Barracuda Networks is known for.
Saturday night was the Coyotes second to last home game, and I’m already experiencing post-season withdrawals (even though playoffs are still going to be on). The classic black and white is one of my favorite outfit choices because it’s so simple and it still looks so good.
This shirt is such a good simple blouse, but with a twist. It has a very subtle gingham pattern and it makes the shirt different than all other white shirts. I love a good classic, and this is that and so much more!
Black pants and a black blazer are the perfect pieces to pair with a white blouse. When I don’t know what to wear, I can always count on one of the twelve pairs of black pants. As usual, I go with the “third piece” rule that I live by, so I had to throw a blazer on to top it all off.
Ask any Los Angeles Kings fan if it’s “fun” to be a fan of last year’s Stanley Cup Champions and they’ll likely laugh. Everyone knows it’s more fun to win than lose and if you’re a Kings fan, you certainly can’t complain about the Kings’ record over the past three seasons.
That said, all LA Kings fans know that the road to victory with their beloved team is generally a rocky one, fraught with doubt, fear, nervous moments and last-minute, nail-biting decisions. As of last night, the Kings have once again snuck back into a playoff spot, pushing the Winnipeg Jets out of their Wildcard position, and sitting just one point out of the third place Division spot that the Calgary Flames now hold. Despite an offensive barrage on the Edmonton Oilers last night in which the Kings scored a very unusual eight goals, with only five games left, the Kings seem intent on giving their fans the typical regular season dread, where making the playoffs could come down to the last couple of games.
So observers are asking, as they generally do, will the Kings make the playoffs? Or will the defending Stanley Cup champs miss out and hit the golf course in April this year?
Certainly, one might wonder if their luck is running out. A team that generally waits until, as they’ve described it, their “backs are against the wall” to play their best hockey, the Kings always have plenty of doubters and nay-sayers. According to the math skills of Sports Club Stats, the Kings have now moved to a 71.8% chance of making the playoffs – somewhat better than their coin flip odds of making it just a few days ago. Despite the improvement in stats, one might be inclined to bet against the Kings making it this season, particularly since they’ve played more games over the past three years than any other NHL team.
But betting against this Kings team – a team that has stayed largely intact since it won the cup in 2012 and again in 2014, a team that broke all sorts of records by coming back from a 0-3 deficit against their rival San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2014 playoffs, then proceeded to win two more game 7s on the road on their way to the Stanley Cup, a team whose chief architect, GM Dean Lombardi continues to acquire critical pieces at the trade deadlines (Jeff Carter in 2012, Marion Gaborik in 2014 and this season, Andrej Sekera) – would be folly.
The NHL has all sorts of stats and criteria to judge what comprises a great team: goals against, goals scored, plus/minus, Corsi and more. But what they don’t have is a way to measure the intangibles: the way a team pulls together when things get tough, the strength of teammates who believe in each other, the feeling that there is always a chance. How do you measure these crucial “cultural” aspects of a team and weigh them versus the numbers?
These intangibles are the reason the Los Angeles Kings have won two cups in three years. The lack of these intangibles is also the reason why teams that look unbeatable on paper, with top players galore, proven coaching staff and plenty of support from their fan base can still lose in the first round of the playoffs or – shockingly – not make them at all (I’m talking to you, San Jose Sharks…can you say, culture change?).
So will the Kings make the playoffs? I’d bet on it.
Going into Thursday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, the Boston Bruins were sitting in the second wild card playoff spot, three points ahead of the Ottawa Senators and six points ahead of the Florida Panthers. Their win over the Panthers on Tuesday was in large part due to the efforts of the line of Milan Lucic, Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak. Since being put together when David Krejci ended up out with a knee injury, there was some concern about if the recalled Spooner could step up his play. He’d been up before and in his prior chances had not been able to score.
Spooner’s first goal was an overtime winner against the New Jersey Devils and as often happens, once that monkey was off his back, he continued to find the back of the net. With the change in scoring of the Bruins second goal on Tuesday from Pastrnak to Spooner, he now has eight goals in 24 games played this season, along with nine assists for 17 points. He will be the first to tell you though that he doesn’t do it alone. He mentions his line mates frequently and considers himself lucky to have Lucic on his line.
Milan Lucic (Photo: Alan Sullivan)
For Lucic, he’s had to take on a Papa Bear role with his young lineys, which is definitely something new for him.
“Yeah, I’ve never really been in this position where you’re the oldest guy and, you know, a lot more games than both of them put together,” Lucic said after Tuesday’s game. “Just trying to enjoy it and trying to have fun with it—you see they’re having a lot of fun, just trying to have that, I guess, youthful fun like I had when I was their age. It’s become contagious between the three of us. You just want to—as an athlete and as a competitor—you just want to be able to contribute in any way that you can, and it’s nice to get some results.”
And despite being the youngest player in the NHL, it is clear that Pastrnak believes in himself, but he is also keeping his eyes and ears open. He was willing to go down to the Providence Bruins to work on some things. But his joy of the game is clear whether he’s at practice, in the locker room, on the bench or helping his line score.
“He’s been able to mature as a young kid,” Lucic said about Pastrnak. “It’s not easy to do, especially in the best league in the world, and him coming in here and just bring that youthful energy and having a lot of fun living the dream of playing in the NHL.”
David Pastrnakn (Photo: Alan Sullivan)
Consider that for a moment. Pastrank is 18 years old and was drafted in the first round by the Bruins in June, 2014. He came to Boston for development camp and hoped he would get to stay. And that’s exactly what happened. With the exception of his time playing during the IIHF World Junior Championship, when he represented his home country of the Czech Republic. He spent a few weeks in Providence, but since being brought back up, he’s been an active contributor to the team.
The rookie has played 41 games and is just one goal shy of the number of goals that Tyler Seguin—the last true young phenom the Bruins had on the team—did in a full season, and has more assists for more total points. His motivation? Being chosen 25th at the Draft.
“When the draft came, you know, in the summer, I went 25 to become a Bruin, so that means 24 teams passed on me you know and that’s something that pushed me pretty much to work hard,” Pastrnak told media after Tuesday’s game and after being voted the season’s 7th Player Award winner. “Once I will get to the NHL just show the other teams they did wrong and I’m happy the Bruins trusted in myself and I’m trying to give it to them back.”
After their game against the Panthers, I had a chance to chat with Spooner and I asked him what he felt he needed to do to step things up with so few games remaining.
Ryan Spooner (Photo: Alan Sullivan)
“Probably be more hard on the pucks in the offensive zone,” Spooner said. “I mean, as a line we’ve been scoring I think for us, I think we just need to have the mentality that we need to attack more.”
And attack Spooner did during Thursday’s game against the Red Wings. He had six shots on goal—the most of anyone dressed in black and gold—and had an assist on the game-winning goal.
Lucic did not have his usual minutes of play in Detroit and Pastrnak had the least of all the Boston Bruins. Pastrnak’s diminished time on ice could have been a result of how the Red Wings were targeting him with major hits whenever he had the puck or had just gotten rid of the puck. And some of the differences in lines and total ice times could also have been a result of the length of time that Patrice Bergeron was unavailable. Took most of the second period for him to get stitched up after a stick to the face on a faceoff.
Having been down two goals going into the third period, it’s clear that there was talk again during the second intermission, as they must have talked Tuesday when playing the Panthers. Whatever the leadership is saying appears to be working though, because they came out hard and kept it up for almost the entire third period, scoring three goals and winning the game in regulation. The core group has been through these games before.
“There’s probably 60 to 80 percent of the team, I’d say actually, that have won a Cup or been deep in the playoffs,” Spooner said Tuesday. “So for a guy like me, like I haven’t been in this spot before, and just to have guys like that that know like what’s gonna happen is great to have for me. I kind of just sit back and just try to take it all in.”
It will be interesting to see what the lines look like when the team hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, but Lucic has left an impression on both of his line mates.
“[Lucic’s] been in the league for a while now,” Pastrnak told media after the Panthers’ game. “I’m really happy I can play with a guy like [him] and he’s trying to help me and I try to pick up as much experience as I can from him, you know, and I really appreciate he’s been helping me like that.”
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