While the B’s have faltered down the stretch, the Maple Leafs have given the city of Toronto slim hope. Toronto had been one of the hottest teams in the NHL. So hot, that the Leafs have played themselves out of a lottery pick and into the playoff race going into last nights game. Essentially, Toronto had to beat the Bruins in regulation in last night’s game and beat them again on Thursday in order to have a realistic chance.

That chance,  was put to an end. Playing a desperate and motivated hockey club, the Bruins all but ended the Leafs playoff chances by beating them 6-2. That win  put Boston six points ahead of Toronto with six to play. The Leafs would have to surpass the Bruins and four other teams in order to make the playoffs.

You have to appreciate the resiliency of this year’s Bruins club. Toronto was playing for their playoff lives and needed that win. Boston headed into last night’s game, losers of three straight and having the worst month this team has seen all year. Everything was going against the B’s, Washington had won to move ahead of Boston for that final playoff spot (number of wins being the tie-breaker), Marc Savard and Andrew Ference were out with injuries, Big Z was banged up, and the B’s have had a whale of a time trying to find the back of the net. To make matters worst, Boston’s sniper Chuck Kobasew was injured early in the first period and didn’t return.

Boston plays Montreal. Boston loses to Montreal. Sound familiar? That’s because the very scenario has happened all seven times the B’s have faced off against the Habs this season.

The reeling Bruins dropped another one to their northern rivals last night at the Garden. Just how bad have things gotten for the Bruins in the last couple of weeks? The B’s have only managed three wins out of 11 games this month, Philadelphia and Buffalo are within two points of Boston for the final two playoff spots and Washington sits only three points back.

The B’s may have been home last night but it looked like an away game, as Montreal fans flooded the Garden. There were giant pockets of red, white, and blue throughout the sea of fans. Although, Montreal fans are well traveled and Boston is only a hop, skip and a jump from Montreal, as a Bruins fan this is like Fenway Park having more Yankee fans attending the rival game than Red Sox fans.

Boston Bruins forward Glen Metropolithas been nominated for The Bill Masterton Trophy. The Masterton Trophy is awarded to National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. For the second year in a row a Boston Bruin is up for the award.

You may remember last year when Boston’s young forward Phil Kessel won the award. Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer in early December. He played a Dec. 9 game against New Jersey, knowing he would be admitted to the hospital for surgery on Dec. 12. He missed only 12 games before returning to the club.

This year Glen Metropolit didn’t have to overcome life threatening odds but he did endured much of the same uncertainty of playing in the NHL. After splitting time last season with the Atlanta Thrashers and the St. Louis Blues, Metropolit had an extremely difficult time finding an NHL team that was interested in his services. With a rather successful campaign split between the two teams, no NHL GM had called Glen by the middle of the summer.

The Boston Bruins seemingly played the Washington Capitals every other game in the past two weeks. The two met again yesterday afternoon in Washington. After the B’s beat the Flyers in a thrilling overtime game on Saturday, Boston lost to the Capitals 2-1 in a shootout on Sunday. The good news, Boston  gained a point to move three ahead of the cut off for a playoff spot, the point also earns them a tie with the sixth place New York Rangers.

Boston, again played without their captain Zdeno Chara. Big Z missed a fifth straight game with an undisclosed upper body injury Sunday. Rumors that Chara might be shut down for the remainder of the season was dismissed by his agent, “He’s banged up, that’s about all I can say about it,” said Matt Keator. “He’s definitely not finished for the season. He should be fine. I don’t think he is going to miss much time at all.”

As for the game, Chuck Kobasew score again for the Bruins. After going 15 straight games without a goal, Kobasew finally scored his 20th of the season on Thursday in the Bruins’ 3-1 loss to Tampa Bay. After scoring three goals in his last three games, Kobasew has set a new career high in goals with 22.

The Bruins remained ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers in the standings after defeating them 3-2 in overtime. Tim Thomas made his second consecutive start making 24 saves. Chuck Kobasew (21) and Andrew Ference (1) score in regulation. Ference’s goal came with under a minute left in the third period to tie the game up at two. The goal was Ference’s first of the season. Aaron Ward’s slapper half way through overtime, beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron and gave Boston a much needed win. The B’s get right back into action as they skate against the Washington Capitals today at 3. 

Not a good night at the Garden last night. The Bruins played the last place Tampa Bay Lightning and lost 3-1.

You can’t let yourself get beyond frustrated,” said B’s head coach Claude Julien after the loss to the Bruins official website. “Hopefully that one goal will help us get a little confidence [in terms of scoring] and the third period, I thought, was a real good period for us.

“Unfortunately…when you don’t score goals, every little mistake you make becomes a lot bigger than it should be.”

The difference in they game was that exact statement. Tampa Bay capitalized on its chances and the B’s didn’t. Boston seemingly out played the Lightning the entire game, out shooting the Bolts 36 to 26. The Lightning scored on an early powerplay and Boston couldn’t find the back of the net on any of its man-advantage opportunities.

Tampa made it 2-0 on a breakaway goal by Andreas Karlsson. Almost immediately after, Phil Kessel had a mirror opportunity, but Lightning goalie Mike Smith stuffed Kessel on the breakaway. Chuck Kobasew scored the lone Boston goal.

The Bruins woes continued up in Ottawa last night, by falling to the Senators 4-1 at Scotiabank Place. Alex Auld made his third consecutive start making 21 saves on 24 shots. Ottawa’s Martin Gerber stopped 28 of 29 shots the B’s put on net. Highlighted by a great save on Phil Kessel’s point blank opportunity, Gerberwas a mystery that the Bruins scorers couldn’t figure out until late in the game.

The lone goal from the Bruins came from defenseman Dennis Wideman, his 11th of the year. Boston had no answers for Ottawa’s Danny Heatley, who recorded a hat trick.

The B’s have lost five of its last six games as the playoffs are fast approaching. The good news is that they remain as the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference, as the Flyers blew an early lead and lost to the Maple Leafs in overtime last night. With 12 games left, the Bruins need to figure out how to score and win hockey games. Or they might just be on the outside looking in.

I know the Bruins are not as popular as some other sports teams in this town.  They don’t have the star power that the Sox, Celts,  and Pats hold in Boston. You cant see the big grin of Big Papi after hitting a walk off home run. They wont be saved by Tom Brady’s brilliance in fourth quarters. And their version of the “Big Three” has more to do with the amount of periods they play rather than having three perennial all-stars.

That doesn’t mean that there isnt  room for optimism. The one thing the Bruins do have is young talent. That might not translate into much but it gives hope for a franchise that hasn’t lifted the cup since the early 70’s.

The B’s have some of that young talent already playing significant time for the big club. Unless you have been living under a rock, you’ve heard of  Patrice Bergeron and Phil Kessel. Well in-case you have forgotten these two are very good and very young. Bergeron is in his fourth NHL season and is only 22 years old. Kessel, who has experience a lot in his rookie season a year ago, is just 20 years old. Its hard to imagine that I am not even going to consider these kids as prospects.  But lets face it, you really cant consider them prospects if they are not even rookies by NHL standards.

Without Zdeno Chara and Aaron Ward, the Bruins lost to the New York Rangers yesterday 1-0 at Madison Square Garden. Playing without two of their top defensemen, the B’s did not allow a regulation or overtime goal. Boston managed to earn themselves a point in the shootout loss.

Alex Auld made his second consecutive start, making 29 saves in the game. Auld has played well replacing the struggling Tim Thomas. The Rangers’ goalie, Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves and was perfect in the shootout. New York’s only shootout goal was provided by Nigel Dawes.

Boston gets a point but loses its spot in the standings, slipping to seventh in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers with the shootout win earn that extra point and slip ahead of the Bruins. Going into the game New York and Boston were tied for sixth, but Boston held the tie breaker by having more wins and already winning the season series.

The Bruins will be back in action Tuesday night in Ottawa, to take on the reeling Senators. Ottawa is currently fifth is the Eastern Conference and only three points ahead of the B’s. The Sens are 3-5-2 in their last ten games.

In a very entertaining hockey game, the Boston Bruins defeated the Washington  Capitals at the Garden yesterday afternoon 2-1. The Bruins avenged an early week lost to the Caps, in which they let in ten goals, and snapped a three game losing streak.

Alex Auld played well in net for the B’s, only relinquishing one Washington goal, an early first period powerplay tally by Brooks Laich. Auld ended with 23 saves on the day and gave the B’s a chance at the end of the game.

The game started off with two consecutive fights when Milan Lucic dropped the mitts 5 seconds into the game and Shawn Thornton 10 seconds after that.

“We wanted to try to get the momentum our side and really try to get the fans into it, and I thought maybe it was a good idea to get it going right [then],” Lucic explained.  “It was back just like last year, junior-style, back up and take the helmet off.” bostonbruins.com

“I think our guys just showed that we got pushed around last time in Washington, [and] we were ready for whatever they were going to throw at us,” said Coach Claude Julien. bostonbruins.com