Bruins assign Martins Karsums to Providence

After the Bruins win against the Atlanta Thrashers last night, the Bruins sent forward Martins Karsums back down to Providence (AHL).

The Bruins beat the Thrashers 4-2. Patrice Bergeron did not play due to the flu. Aaron Ward also did not play which seems like he re-injured himself on Friday against the Thrashers. Phil Kessel (19th goal), Michael Ryder (9th and 10th goals), and Dennis Wideman (7th goal) scored the goals for the Bruins. Manny Fernandez played in net and made 20 saves on 22 shots against and is now 9-2-1.

It was good to see Zdeno Chara come in and stick up for teammate Phil Kessel as Thrashers' defenseman Boris Valabik was whacking away at him and pushing him around. Not much of a fight but it sent a message. Kessel extended his point streak to 15 games. The Bruins have won their 11th consecutive game at home. The Bruins next game is on Thursday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Bruins sign Aaron Ward to an extension

The Bruins have signed defenseman Aaron Ward to a multi-year contract extension. I think this is another good re-signing by the Bruins. First Kobasew and now Ward. Ward showed throughout the season and playoffs just how tough he is while playing in pain and injuries. He's one of those guys that every team would love to have.

Patrice Bergeron injury update

The BostonHerald.com has an article from today's paper by Stephen Harris with an update on Bruins' injured center Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron is hoping to come back this season, but I personally think it's kind of a long shot because of the severity of the injury, but if anyone can do it, it's Patrice Bergeron.

Bergeron took a small - but significant - step forward this week. He has been working out since Monday on the elliptical trainer, which basically combines a stair-stepper and a treadmill.

"It feels good so far," he said. "We're slowly but surely doing some more stuff. I started doing the elliptical for six minutes and now we're up to between eight and 12 minutes. It's getting there. It feels good just to do something, and to be around the players again and have a chance to see them more often. In my mood, I feel more happy. I want to do more stuff now.

"When you work out, at least there's something to look forward to the next day. You don't just get up and sit around, stay in bed all day. It feels like you're doing something."

Other Bruins Injury Updates
On Saturday night the Bruins play at the Toronto Maple Leafs. It also seems Bruins' defenseman Aaron Ward will be able to play Saturday even after sustaining a neck injury against the Penguins. Chuck Kobasew, who missed the game against the Penguins, might play against Toronto. Peter Schaefer still won't play because of a sliced bruised shin. Bobby Allen will play if one of the regular six defensemen cannot play.

Another Flyers cheapshot against the Bruins

As I'm typing this it's 5-3 Bruins with the lead. But the big story is that there was another cheapshot on another Bruins' player by a Flyers' player. This time it was Flyers' Scott Hartnell who elbowed Andrew Alberts in the head, while Alberts was on his knees against the boards. What the hell is wrong with some of these players? Alberts was on his knees against the boards and Hartnell sees this and still hits Alberts. Luckily Alberts was able to get up and go to the dressing room mostly on his own. Hartnell got a 5-minute boarding major and a game misconduct. Hopefully Hartnell gets suspended for this hit to make a statement that these head shots and hits from behind need to stop. But I'm expecting the league office to not do anything since Alberts was not carried off in a stretcher.

Before this cheapshot there was a hit by Ben Eager on Zdeno Chara which could also be seen as dirty. Eager hit Chara as Chara had his back to Eager and was passing or shooting the puck into the Flyers' zone. Aaron Ward didn't like it and went after Eager and challenged him to a fight but rather than dropping his gloves Eager elbowed Ward in the head. So Ward tackled and wrestled him down onto the ice and wouldn't let him up. Earlier in the game Eager fought Jeremy Reich and Reich got the decision in that one. Eager turtled in the end of that fight as he looked like he didn't want anything to do with Reich.

Update at 9:42PM
The game has just finished and the Bruins won 6-3.

Scott Hartnell elbowing Andrew Alberts' head into the boards

(Picture courtesy of Getty images)

Ward speaks about the Bouillon cheap hit on him

Reading this BostonHerald.com article, Aaron Ward was quite open with his thoughts on the Francis Bouillon elbow to his head which gave him a concussion.

The below quotes are from article mentioned above, by Aaron Ward about the hit:

"I felt it was a cheap hit," Ward said. "I've watched it on video and I don't know how I can draw any other conclusion. But I've had past dealings with the National Hockey League. I've learned to set my expectations low. And they met them. Nothing is going to be done. It's done. It was deemed an accident."

Ward gave a shot there to the NHL and Colin Campbell. But it's a shot well deserved. There have been hits and things that players don't get suspended for or they get suspended for a low amount of games (such as the Randy Jones cheap shot on Patrice Bergeron).

Ward on the NHL not suspending Bouillon for his cheap shot:

"I'm not surprised with the end results," said Ward. "We've talked about taking head shots out of the game. It didn't happen. I've just got to move on at this point. But in my estimation I don't understand what's going on. The puck's 140 feet away on the other side of the rink. Why he comes out of the penalty box and veers toward me while I'm circling back to get out of the zone, I don't get. The videotape speaks for itself. The elbow comes up. I'm still at a loss to understand."

So Ward probably thinks the hit was intentional as I do, while Bouillon says it was accidental. Quote from Bouillon:

"I didn't see him," Bouillon said. "I was coming out of the (penalty) box and I was trying to get back into the play. I was looking at our net and all of a sudden I hit him (Ward). I didn't know how it happened but then I looked at our (video)tape and he was turning around and he didn't see me.

It will be interesting the next time these two teams meet, which is on Saturday, November 17th at Montreal, and if Ward and Bouillon will have some words or if Bouillon will stand up as a man and take responsibility for his cheap shot. But when you hit someone when they're not looking, that is not being a man at all.

Bruins lose more than a game

With last night's 2-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens they are now winless in four straight games. Besides another loss added to the Bruins record, they also lost Aaron Ward to another cheap hit to the head. Bruins' defenseman Aaron Ward was hit in the head by Canadiens' visor-wearing defenseman Francois Bouillon. He came out of the penalty box from his stupid shooting the puck over the glass penalty and hit Ward, who didn't have the puck, in the head with his elbow.

Claude Julien on the hit (source):

"I think from what we saw, seemed like an elbow to the head on that play," he said. "It's what we've seen anyway so as far as he’s concerned, we haven't received the final update or diagnosis. Obviously, he got the elbow in the head and we know what happens from there."

What is it with these head shots? I just don't get it. There is no more respect anymore it seems. Hopefully Bouillon gets suspended for the head shot. With Randy Jones only getting two games for hitting Patrice Bergeron from behind and injuring him, I'm expecting that the NHL won't do shit and that little pussy Bouillon will get away with that cheap hit. It's just ridiculous.

Bruins win back-to-back games

With the Bruins beating the Montreal Canadiens last night in a high energy game, tonight's game against the New Jersey Devils was big. The Bruins need two points from as many games as possible to make any kind of playoff push.

In yesterday's game against the Canadiens, the Bruins lead 2-0 after two periods. The atmosphere at the Garden was electric with a lot of Montreal Canadiens fans as the Garden was sold out. The crowd would have went more wild in the first period if Mike Komisarek accepted Jeremy Reich's challenge to drop the gloves and fight him, but Komisarek showed his Canadiens true colors by chickening out. In the third period Sheldon Souray scored to make it 2-1. Later in the period Glen Murray scored his 28th goal to make it 3-1. The Bruins held on and won the game 3-1 making them 31-28-5.

Tonight the Bruins played at the New Jersey Devils. In a surprise move, the Bruins' coach Dave Lewis started new backup goalie Joey MacDonald, who the Bruins claimed off waivers from the Detroit Red Wings on February 24th. This was a back-to-back game so I can see Lewis' reasons. The scoring started in the first period with Aaron Ward throwing the puck at the net and somehow it got in behind Martin Brodeur. In the second period Marco Sturm scored a short-handed goal on a breakaway to make it 2-0. In the third period Devils forward Mike Rupp scored to make it 2-1. But the Bruins came back less than two minutes after the Rupp goal, with Brandon Bochenski scoring his 10th goal of the season to make it 3-1. He scored in the Canadiens game as well. P.J. Axelsson added an empty net goal to put the game away 4-1.

Goalie MacDonald played well, making 26 saves on 27 shots. Rookie Phil Kessel had two assists, his second game in a row that he had two assists. Patrice Bergeron also recorded two assists in this game. Bochenski had a goal and an assist. The Bruins are now 32-28-5 and 11th place in the Eastern Conference standings with 69 points. The Toronto Maple Leafs are in 10th place with 71 points and the Montreal Canadiens are in 9th place with 72 points. The Bruins next game is against the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. It's too bad the game is on Versus. They'll probably go to commercial when there are scrums or fights. I want to watch the Bruins games on NESN and not Versus. Geez, the NHL needs a new television deal. Who but hardcore hockey fans even know what Versus is?

Bruins make two deals at the trade deadline

The Bruins are currently 30-28-4 after losing 7-2 against the Florida Panthers on Saturday and losing 3-2 against the Atlanta Thrashers on Monday. The Bruins play the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.

Tuesday was the NHL trade deadline and the Bruins pulled off two trades. Both of them had me scratching my head trying to figure them out. First the Bruins traded defenseman Paul Mara to the New York Rangers for defenseman Aaron Ward. I know Mara hasn't played well this year but he's been a Bruins that has showed passion and intensity in games. He has also shown us that he will stand up for teammates and for himself. Mara is better offensively but Ward is better defensively. Mara was making a little more than Ward so the Bruins lower their cap a little. Ward is 34 years old, has played 60 games this season, scoring 3 goals, and has 10 assists for 13 points, along with 57 PIMs. Ward does have three Stanley Cup rings, one came last year with the Carolina Hurricanes as the other two came with the Detroit Red Wings. Dave Lewis knows Ward from his days with the Detroit Red Wings so you know Lewis likes this deal.

The second Bruins deadline trade was trading forward Brad Boyes to the St. Louis Blues for young defenseman Dennis Wideman. I know Boyes has struggled this year as well but he's young and he has skills as he showed us last year. I think the Bruins gave up on him too fast. Wideman is 23 years old, and is in his second NHL season this year. This season he has played in 55 games, he has scored 5 goals, and has 17 assists for 22 points, along with 44 PIMs. I have heard that Wideman is not that good defensively, as he is offensively minded. Will Wideman be playing defense for the Bruins? If so who will be sat out, Jason York I'm hoping. Or will Wideman be converted to play forward?

There are two videos below of the new players that the Bruins got. The first is of Aaron Ward fighting Picard of the Flyers. The second video is of Dennis Wideman taking on Canucks' Alex Burrows.

Aaron Ward vs Picard


Dennis Wideman vs Alex Burrows