Stanley Cup of Chowder - Bruins fall to Sabres 7-4: Vanek is good, Bruins' defense is...well, not.David Pastrnak is legend.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/11233/stanley-fave.jpg2013-01-31T22:11:31-05:00http://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/rss/stream/37010312013-01-31T22:11:31-05:002013-01-31T22:11:31-05:00Bruins lose: Thomas Vanek, you guys. Thomas Vanek.
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<figcaption>Alex Trautwig</figcaption>
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<p>Thomas Vanek, you guys. Thomas Vanek.</p> <p>Every year I somehow forget how good Thomas Vanek is until he scores shrifty-five goals against the Bruins. Welp.</p>
<p><b>Good things about that game:</b></p>
<p>- Brad Marchand's goal. Lord have mercy, what a thing of beauty. Love it when he proves that he's not just a nose and a mouth on skates.</p>
<p>- Patrice Bergeron didn't get seriously hurt.</p>
<p>- Um....the P-Bruins won tonight. That's good, right?</p>
<p><b>Terrible things about that game:</b></p>
<p>- First regulation loss. Blah.</p>
<p>- "Our guys, defensively, were just totally out of it....defensively, I guess you could say braindead." Yeah, you're fucking right they were, Claude.</p>
<p>- Power play is 3 for 28. I don't get it. At what point do they actually make an effort to fix this, or is it just something they allow to flounder in favor of the rest of their game being great? How long do we have to gnash our teeth about this before Geoff Ward gets the boot?</p>
<p>- Dear Zdeno Chara: why did you do most of the things you did tonight? Chara and Boychuk were a disaster on the ice in this game. Twice they were beaten down the ice (thanks, Vanek) , Boychuk was horrendously out of position at least three times that I saw, and leaving Vanek alone with Rask is just cruel.</p>
<p>- In all seriousness, Kind of worried about Dougie Hamilton's head after that elbow by Drew Stafford. After seeing guys like David Perron come back and finish a game after a headshot by Joe Thornton - and then sit out a full year because of a concussion - it's always a worry to see. Hoping Shanahan takes a look at it, at least.</p>
<p>- Shawn Thornton is hurt. Hopefully not too seriously.</p>
<p>- Lindy Ruff is a jackwagon. Really, a timeout when you're up 7-4 with 12 seconds to go? Go home Lindy Ruff.</p>
<p><b>Sort of neutral things about that game:</b></p>
<p>- Hahaha, the Sabres are more effective without Patrick Kaleta. Who'da thunk it?</p>
<p>- John Scott the skating pylon played a whopping 4:28 tonight and took 7 minutes of PIMs. I wonder how long it will take for him to have more PIMs than TOI this season?</p>
<p>- Steve Ott was relatively invisible out there tonight, which was nice I guess.</p>
<p>- Mikael Grigorenko looks GOOD. So does Tyler Ennis, and obviously Vanek. Maybe the Sabres should actually focus on skill guys..............NAHHH.</p>
<p>Will find Corsi charts later. Stay tuned.</p>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2013/1/31/3939456/bruins-sabres-recap-loss-7-4sarahconnors2013-01-31T18:30:05-05:002013-01-31T18:30:05-05:00Punchisize!™ (GDT: Sabres @Bruins, Round 1)
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<p>The exercise that's sweeping the nation!</p> <p><img src="http://i.imgur.com/AonlEeD.png"></p>
<p>Hi, I'm <span>John Scott</span>, and I want to talk to you about a revolutionary new workout: <em>Punchisize!™</em> Ever since I started using <em>Punchisize!™</em>, I've gotten promotions at work, impressed friends and family, and even grown more hair. For just 5 easy payments of 39.99, you too can make <em>Punchisize!™</em> work for you!</p>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2013/1/31/3938610/punchisize-tm-gdt-sabres-at-bruins-round-1Cornelius Hardenbergh2013-01-31T10:31:27-05:002013-01-31T10:31:27-05:00Bruins vs. Sabres: MacDermid in, Bourque out
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<figcaption>Kevin Hoffman-US PRESSWIRE</figcaption>
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<p>It's kinda weird that six games in a 48 game season have gone by without a Bruins game against a team in their own division, right?</p> <h4>Just the Facts</h4>
<p><b>Game time</b>: 7:00PM EST at the TD Garden. TV Broadcast: New England Sports Network (NESN). Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub.</p>
<p><b>Rival SB Nation Site</b>: <a href="http://diebytheblade.com" target="_blank">Die By The Blade</a> (game preview <a href="http://www.diebytheblade.com/2013/1/31/3935008/buffalo-sabres-vs-boston-bruins-preview" target="_blank">here</a>)</p>
<p><b>Records</b>: Bruins (5-0-1) vs. Sabres (2-3-1)</p>
<p><b>Projected Sabres lines: </b></p>
<div style="text-align: center;">Vanek - Hodgson - Pominville</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Ott - Ennis - Stafford</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Foligno - Grigorenko - Hecht (obligatory "you gotta be jochen! joke)</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Scott - Ellis - Gerbe<br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br>Myers - Leopold</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">Ehrhoff - Sulzer</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Sekera - Regehr</div>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align: center;">Miller</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Enroth<br><br>
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<p><b>Projected Bruins lines (UPDATED FOR LACK OF BOURQUE):</b></p>
<div style="text-align: center;">Lucic - Krejci - Horton</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Marchand - Bergeron - Seguin</div>
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<b>Paille </b>- Kelly - Peverley</div>
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<b>MacDermid </b>- Campbell - Thornton<br><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><br>Chara - Hamilton</span></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">Seidenberg - Boychuk</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Ference - McQuaid</div>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align: center;">Rask</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">Khudobin</div>
<h4><span style="font-size: 1.25em;">Preview:</span></h4>
<p>It's been over a year since the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TERA-GY2K1o" target="_blank">hit heard round the world</a>. Can you believe it? Damn this lockout. While the Sabres have definitely gotten tougher in the aftermath of that game, it hasn't seemed to translate to success quite yet this year. After winning their first two games, they proceeded to lose their next four, most recently losing to Toronto in overtime on Tuesday night.</p>
<p>That Tuesday night game saw a few impactful moments for the Sabres; their highly-touted rookie, Mikhail Grigorenko, scored his first goal. (You may remember Grigorenko as the center of an age debate around the draft; him being Russian and all, the Canadian media seemed bound and determined to paint him as being older than he claimed - somehow it worked, and he fell from top-three down to where the Sabres picked him at 12th.) Check out video of his first goal <a href="http://www.diebytheblade.com/2013/1/30/3931250/mikhail-grigorenko-scores-first-nhl-goal-buffalo-sabres" target="_blank">here </a>- granted it's against Toronto, but still pretty nice; he finds the rebound from Mike Weber's shot from the point and just backhands it in through traffic.</p>
<p>The flip side of Grigorenko's success against Toronto was the loss of Patrick Kaleta to a hit by Mike Brown. Kaleta was taken to the hospital to deal with some neck pain; if you watch the video, it appears that Kaleta goes to get the puck along the boards, sees Brown coming, and turns his back to try to draw a hit-from-behind penalty. How...classic Kaleta. The Bruins definitely won't miss him tonight.</p>
<p>The Bruins, meanwhile, are coming off that 2-1 shootout win against New Jersey. They played fairly well against the Devils, maintaining solid offensive zone pressure and quality puck possession numbers. In<a href="http://www.inlouwetrust.com/2013/1/29/3931044/new-jersey-devils-take-boston-bruins-limit-lose-2-1-shootout/in/3691291" target="_blank"> In Lou We Trust's game recap</a> from the other day, they kindly include Corsi charts; if you're bad at fancy stats like I am, it's still pretty easy to figure out that the differential between shots, blocks, misses, and goals for and against should be a positive number (you want your team to do those things more than you want those things done to your team, obviously.) Here is Boston's chart from the game the other night:</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1419675/1-29-13_Bruins_Corsi_Chart_medium.png"></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><img alt="1-29-13_bruins_corsi_chart_medium_medium" class="photo" src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1419675/1-29-13_Bruins_Corsi_Chart_medium_medium.png"></p>
<p>The Bergeron line struggled a little more than most, but considering how good they are on a regular basis, that struggle won't last. Look for them to have a big rebound game.</p>
<p>For all of those saying Lucic "needs to fight Scott," also? Don't be dumb, please. If anyone's going to take on Scott it'll likely be Thornton - but even giving up Thornton for five minutes against the massive pylon that is John Scott is a big mistake.</p>
<h4>Verdict:</h4>
<p>Bruins will win this one. Buffalo doesn't have the offensive prowess to outduel the Bruins at this point; Tuukka Rask has also been historically excellent at shutting down the Sabres.</p>
<h4>Never forget:</h4>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/BC_JTU4yotw" frameborder="0"></iframe> <br id="1359646128991"></p>
https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2013/1/31/3936662/bruins-sabres-game-7-previewsarahconnors