Yahoo’s Ryan Lambert opines that the Boston Bruins are truly as good as advertised. After dispatching the Red Wings Saturday afternoon, the Bruins solidified their spot in the Atlantic top three, and are within two points of the Maple Leafs, with three games in hand. Not bad for a team that struggled in its first 15 games and looked anything but a playoff team. Lambert writes that it wasn’t fair to judge them so early–especially since they were besieged by injury. Lambert writes that since going 6-7-1, the Bruins are 12-3-1 since and their possession numbers, which rank fifth in the league, are a pretty good indicator of a solid team. Lambert tips his cap to bench boss Bruce Cassidy, who he says has gotten the most out of a team that featured aging vets and younger players trying to find their stride. Lambert adds that the play of youngster Charlie McAvoy has been above and beyond everyone’s expectations, calling the 20-year-old defenseman the “crown jewel” of Boston’s “stable youngsters.”
- The Buffalo News’ Nick Veronica writes that Sabres’ owner Terry Pegula admits the team desperately needs scoring to turn the corner. Veronica reports that Pegula was on WGR-550’s show, The Instigators, and spoke about how dire the goal scoring situation was for the Sabres. For fans looking for hints as to what Pegula would do to address it, Veronica writes that he spoke of his excitement regarding the Sabres prospects wh who will be playing in the World Juniors over the course of the week. Pegula cited Alex Nylander, Casey Mittelstadt and Marcus Davidsson as the prospects he’ll be keeping an eye on.
This is the Bruins team I was expecting to see this year.
Much better than what I was expecting tbh
I went and saw a playoff game last year, and saw McAvoy play, and he’s been the guy I was expecting to see ever since that game.
Bruins are playing smart hockey which is different than the always defensive hockey under Claude. To think that this team has fielded a complete expected team 3 times this year is nuts. Cassidy should get some love for Coach of the Year if he keeps this up.
Mexicans who don’t speak English and wait at Home Depot to do random landscaping and construction work know the exact same amount about hockey as Ryan Lambert.
He was only ever hired to make Puck Daddy look good by comparison. Like an ugly girl who hangs out with the ugliest girl.
Pastrnak, McAvoy, Marchand, and Rask are the main reasons the Bruins are so good. Bergeron and Debrusk haven’t been bad either.
I’m hoping Bjork can grow into a player soon too. I wasn’t expecting them to be quite on the level of 12-3-2 or whatever it is right now, but I was still hoping they’d resign Stafford because they could use a veteran presence who can add some scoring in the bottom 6.