P.J. Axelsson signs with Swedish team

The Stanley Cup of Chowder blog is reporting and the Boston Herald is reporting it too, that Bruins forward P.J. Axelsson has signed a 4-year contract with Frolunda of the Swedish Elite League. I want to wish Axelsson the best of luck there as he gave it all for the Bruins during his 11 years here as one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL. Axelsson played a total of 797 regular season games, scoring 103 goals and having 287 total points. In 54 playoff games he scored 4 goals and had 7 points. He won't be forgotten and he will be missed.

Bruins vs Hurricanes game 4 summary

The Bruins lossed 4-1 in game 4 to the Hurricanes and will be facing playoff elimination on Sunday when game 5 takes place in Boston at 7:30pm EST. The stats for game 4 are below.

In the first period, at 4:54, Eric Staal scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0 Hurricanes.

In the second period, at 2:37, Marc Savard scored (5)  a power-play goal, assisted by Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder to tie the game 1-1.

In the third period, at 2:52, Jussi Jokinen scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 Hurricanes. At 14:31, Sergei Samsonov scored to make it 3-1 Hurricanes. At 15:41, Eric Staal scored to make it 4-1 Hurricanes.

Tim Thomas made 27 saves on 31 shots against him. Cam Ward made 20 saves on 21 shots against him.

Chuck Kobasew and Rod Brind'Amour got into a semi-fight at the end of the game. I'll post that up on the site when I get a chance to create video clips of the other fights from this season and playoffs. I'll also be posting other stuff like some goals and hits from this season and playoffs from the Bruins so stay tuned for that.

Eric Staal and Zdeno Chara roughing
Photo courtesy of AP

I'm just in total shock of this series as the Bruins have not looked like themselves in this series. I don't know what is wrong, but they got to bring it in game 5 on Sunday night or they are out. The Hurricanes are just playing great and mistake-free. The Bruins got to get back to their ways from the season.

Looking at the playoff stats for the Bruins, I found some interesting numbers. Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, and Stephane Yelle are all a -2. P.J. Axelsson is a -4 in the playoffs. Blake Wheeler has no points in the playoffs (8 games played).

Bruins vs Canadiens game 2 summary

The Boston Bruins won 5-1 in game 2 against the Montreal Canadiens. Game 3 will be on Monday. I will be doing a live game post update as well for that game. The stats for game 2 are below.

In the first period, at 9:59, Marc Savard scored a power-play goal assisted by Steve Montador and Phil Kessel. It was Savard's first goal of the playoffs. At 15:12, Chuck Kobasew scored his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron.

In the second period, at 0:46, Alexei Kovalev scored. At 5:45, Shane Hnidy scored his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by P.J. Axelsson and Marc Savard. At 8:13, Marc Savard scored a power-play goal, his second goal of the game/playoffs, assisted by Michael Ryder and Dennis Wideman. At 19:57, Michael Ryder scored a power-play goal, his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Marc Savard and Tim Thomas.

No scoring happened in the third period.

Tim Thomas made 30 saves on 31 shots against him. Carey Price made 21 saves on 26 shots against him. Jaroslav Halak came in at the start of the third period and made 5 saves on 5 shots against him.

Who knows, maybe Halak will get the start in game 3. We saw Halak get a start in the playoffs when Price was a little shaky in the Bruins-Canadiens series last year.

Bruins vs Canadiens game 1 live update

Game 1 between the Bruins and Canadiens will be starting soon. Stay tuned to this post as I'll be updating it as the game goes along. Here are the lineups for both teams for game 1 (source):

Bruins lines:
Axelsson-Savard-Kessel
Lucic-Krejci-Ryder
Recchi-Bergeron-Kobasew
Wheeler-Yelle-Thornton
Chara-Ward
Hunwick-Wideman
Stuart-Montador
Thomas

Scratches: Bitz, Ference, Hnidy


Canadiens lines:
Tanguay-Koivu-Kovalev
A. Kostitsyn-Plekanec-D'Agostini
Latendresse-Lapierre-Kostopoulos
Higgins-Metropolit-Laraque
Hamrlik-Komisarek
Schneider-Brisebois
Gorges-Dandenault
Price

Scratches: S. Kostitsyn, Stewart, O'Byrne, Weber


Update @ 7:13 PM
Milan Lucic with a huge hit on Patrice Brisebois.

Update @ 7:15 PM
Power-play for the Bruins coming up. Plekanec received two minutes for hooking.

Update @ 7:22 PM
Milan Lucic and Georges Laraque having some words. Lucic doesn't fall for the trap and just smiles at Laraque.

Update @ 7:30 PM
Another power-play for the Bruins, penalty on Roman Hamrlik.

Update @ 7:33 PM
Phil Kessel scores and it is 1-0 Bruins. Carey Price complains to the ref thinking he had the puck covered. It was not a power-play goal.

Update @ 7:35 PM
P.J. Axelsson and Zdeno Chara with good checks on Laraque. Laraque keeps trying to get Chara to take a penalty. Big Georgie go sit on the bench where you belong.

Update @ 7:38 PM
It's 2-0 Bruins as David Krejci scores on a backhander after some nice forechecking by Milan Lucic. And the crowd starts chanting "Carey!"

Update @ 7:40 PM
Higgins scores for Montreal, and it is 2-1 Bruins now.

Update @ 7:46 PM
The first period is over. Bruins lead 2-1.

Update @ 8:04 PM
The second period just started.

Update @ 8:11 PM
Patrice Bergeron gets a two minute penalty for hooking. Montreal on the power-play.

Update @ 8:17 PM
Bruins kill off the penalty. Lucic with a few big hits.

Update @ 8:26 PM
Plekanec gets two minutes for elbowing. Boston on the power-play.

Update @ 8:30 PM
Bruins don't score on the power-play. The Bruins are now 0 for 3 on the power-play.

Update @ 8:33 PM
Stephane Yelle gets called for a goalie interference penalty. Not sure about that one. Montreal on the power-play.

Update @ 8:38 PM
Alexei Kovalev scores with a wicked shot over Thomas' glove, wow what a shot. It's tied 2-2 now. It was not a power-play goal.

Update @ 8:40 PM
The second period is over and the game is tied 2-2.

Update @ 8:58 PM
The third period just started.

Update @ 9:18 PM
Bruins to go on the power-play as Josh Gorges takes a dumb cross checking penalty.

Update @ 9:21 PM
Zdeno Chara scores on the power-play with a big slap shot. Bruins lead 3-2.

Update @ 9:27 PM
Looked like P.J. Axelsson got injured blocking a shot. Hopefully it is not that serious.

Update @ 9:32 PM
P.J. Axelsson is back on the ice and looks ok.

Update @ 9:37 PM
Montreal pulled the goalie, Lucic stole a pass, went in and passed to Phil Kessel for the empty net goal. Lapierre then went in and tried to rough up Kessel, and then everyone got in it, scrum ensued. It's 4-2 Bruins now. 13.4 seconds left.

Update @ 9:47 PM
The game is over now, Bruins win game 1 with the score 4-2. There was a scrum at the end of the game with everyone getting involved. Steve Montador and Latendresse were first involved with each other. Mike Komisarek goes after Matt Hunwick of all people and tries roughing him up with face washes and gloved punches. The telecast showed Hunwick with a bloody right eye, and it looked like Bruins players were trying to get the attention of the refs after the game maybe for an eye gouge penalty or something.

Before the playoffs, the NHL told all teams they didn't want message sending at the end of games. And I'm guessing what happened tonight in the Bruins game, some players may get in trouble such as Lapierre or Komisarek.

Game 2 is on Saturday at 8pm EST. Should be another good one.

Update @ 2:01 PM on 4/17/09
You can watch highlights of the game and video of the scrums at the end of the game on ESPN.com.

Bruins get by Lightning 5-3

The Bruins beat the Lightning last night to extend their winning streak to 5 games, as they have won 14 of their last 16 games. They had a really good first period, ending it 3-0. Milan Lucic scored a power-play goal, his 7th goal of the season; Phil Kessel scored his 17th goal of the season; and Michael Ryder scored his 7th goal of the season. In the second period, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored his 5th goal of the season, a power-play goal to make it 4-1 Bruins. In the third period, the Lightning scored two goals to make it interesting as the Bruins from the second period on didn't play the same as in the first period. Seemed like they sat back a little expecting the Lightning to just give up. P.J. Axelsson closed out the game with an empty net goal, his first goal of the season.

Tim Thomas played in this one and made 26 saves on 29 shots against him. Thomas is now 11-3-3 with a 1.90 GAA and a 94% save percentage. Meanwhile Manny Fernandez is 8-1-1 with a 2.09 GAA and a 92.6% save percentage. Both goalies are playing great and the Bruins defense is playing good as well.

Is it me or does anyone else notice the huge amount of off-sides calls when Blake Wheeler is on the ice? Either when he has the puck or doesn't have it, he goes off-side or causes off-sides a lot. Hopefully he improves in that area. Although he is a surprise to be playing this well with 9 goals, 6 assists for 15 points, with a +15 rating, and he has the highest shooting percentage on the Bruins with a 23.1% percentage.