Hub Hockey

Mikko Lehtonen Recalled On An Emergency Basis

"BOSTON, MA - Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has recalled Mikko Lehtonen from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis. Lehtonen will join the Bruins for their morning skate on Thursday, November 5 and be available for the team’s game against the Canadiens Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. " -Official Bruins Press Release

Lehtonen recorded 53-points (28-goals & 25-assists) as a rookie last season while playing with the Providence Bruins. So far he has amassed 10-points (3-goals & 7-assists) this season through 11-games with the "Baby B's". Lehtonen is currently ranked as one of the Bruins top prospects on the wing by Hockey's Future.com.

"Lehtonen is big, fast and skilled. Unfortunately he is mostly just that. He has been spotted on ice as a dangerous sniper, brilliant passer and a disciplined checker. Based on a sample of games, one would say that he is far less perfect than that. Lehtonen is still trying to put it all together, neither quite conforming to offensive tactics nor playing two-way hockey more than one way at a time." -HF Prospect Profile

Other than trying to add some more depth to a team struggling to find it's rhythm, this move also means one of two things. The first being that Byron Bitz's condition may be worse than originally thought. And the second being that another Bruins player may have gone down. All I know is that the last thing this team needs is another injury or setback. So let's pray that the B's didn't catch the swine flu from the Oilers the other night or worse.

Hub Highlight of the Night

With the Bruins being shutout again and not much positive coming from their last two efforts, I present the return of Phil Kessel in his Maple Leaf debut (warning review from a disgruntled Bruins fan approaching).

I know by tomorrow afternoon their will be story after story about "Phil the Thrill" and how strong he looked in his debut tonight. Not to mention the fact that he took a career high 10-shots too (19 if you count shots blocked and ones that missed the net). But honestly, even Shawn Thornton could take 10-shots a game if he didn't pass the puck like Kessel basically did tonight. The kid tried to skate around the Lightning's entire team and do everything himself. Just look at the video above when he gets his clock cleaned by Tampa's Mattias Ohlund. He is surrounded by 4 of the 5 Tampa players on the ice and is still trying to skate end-to-end. Not to mention the fact that his head is down and he is not even pretending to be looking for his teammates. Don't get me wrong, I will openly admit that I am jealous that the Maple Leafs signed Kessel and that he got away from the Bruins. And in no way am I questioning the fact that he has the skill to be an elite force in the league in the near future. However, even though there is so much POSSIBLE positive in his game I will not miss things like what happened in the above video. No matter how much skill he has, he will always be a one-sided player mentally and physically and that is something that I give the Bruins credit for letting go. So with that said I congratulate Kessel on his recovery and wish him good luck as he will most likely need it if he leaves his head down like that in one of six game against the B's this season.

[Game Recap] Boston Shutout In Back-to-Back Games

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Game Fourteen (Live on Versus(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (6-7-1) vs. Detroit Red Wings (6-4-3)
November 3rd, 2009 @ 1:00PM

(credit: AP Photos)

GAME BOX SCORE:

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	0	0	0	0
Detroit Red Wings	2	0	0	2

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• "The Pattern" is finally over as the B's drop back-to-back games for the first time this season.
• Tonight also marked the first time the B's have been shutout in back-to-back games since 2007.
• Boston is still experiencing a power outage going 0-for-3 on the man advantage tonight. The B's have gone 0-for-15 on the powerplay since their last PP goal on October 22nd.
• Shawn Thornton is still giving it his all, leading the Black & Gold with 9-hits.
• B's won 59% of the faceoffs tonight, led by Trent Whitfield who won 12 of his 17 draws.
• Point Drought: The B's haven't scored a goal in the last 132:53-minutes.
• Tim Thomas made 24-saves in route to his second loss in a row.
• Chris Osgood recorded his 50th career shutout tonight
• Despite their best effort the Bruins are just not getting the bounces but before anyone goes blaming the goaltending or defense, Boston's real issue has been their offense who is currently ranked 27th in the league in goal scored (averaging 2.21 goals per game).
• Boston is currently in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with 13-points through 14-games.
• Bruins return to action Thursday @ The Garden against the Canadiens.

GAME RECAP VIDEO:

[Game Preview] Bruins @ Red Wings

Game Fourteen (Live on Versus(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (6-6-1) vs. Detroit Red Wings (5-4-3)
November 3rd, 2009 @ 7:00PM

GAMEDAY HEADLINES:

• Win/Lose Pattern: Well this game is pretty much a lock considering a "W" is next up for the Bruins according to their season pattern which is sadly still intact. I mean not losing back-to-back games yet is nice, but not winning back-to-back games sucks.
• Byron Bitz is still out of the lineup and considered "day-to-day" with a groin injury,
• The Bruins rank 29th overall in the league on the man advantage with a piss poor 12.2% success rate (that's 6-for-48). Doesn't help that they are also tied for the league high shorthanded goal allowed with 3 so far this season.
• Hub Hockey would like to ask everyone to keep Tim Thomas & his family in your prayers, as Tim Sr. recovers from a recent successful surgery.
• Congrats to Joe Haggerty who has joined the Comcast SportsNet team to cover the Bruins and Red Sox. Haggerty was most recently covering both of those teams for WEEI.
• Former Bruin and summer headline maker Phil Kessel is expected to make his much anticipated debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Break a leg.

MATCHUP STAT BREAKDOWN:

Boston Bruins		Detroit Red Wings
6-6-1	Record	5-4-3
13	Points	12
2.38	G/G	3.17
2.62	GA/G	3.33
50.8	Faceoff %	51.0
12.2	Power Play	22.2
78.3	Penalty Kill	72.7
1	+/-	-2

PROJECTED LINEUPS:

Boston Bruins
Marco Sturm	Patrice Bergeron	Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler	David Krejci	Michael Ryder
Daniel Paille	Vladimir Sobotka	Brad Marchand
Trent Whitfield	Steve Begin	Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara	Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick	Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart	Andrew Ference

Tim Thomas

Tuukka Rask

CREASE REPORT:

PLAYER	W	L	OTL	GAA	SV%	SO
Boston Bruins
Tim Thomas	4	5	0	2.66	.910	1
Tuukka Rask	2	1	1	2.41	.915	1
Detroit Red Wings
Chris Osgood	4	2	2	3.10	.889	0
Jimmy Howard	1	2	1	3.42	.879	0

INJURY REPORT:

PLAYER	POS	INJURY	STATUS
Boston Bruins
Byron Bitz	LW	Undisclosed	Day-to-Day
Milan Lucic	LW	Broken Finger	Out
Marc Savard	C	Broken Foot	Out
Detroit Red Wings
Jonathan Ericsson	D	Flu	Questionable
Valtteri Filppula	C	Wrist	Out
Johan Granzen	C	Knee	Out
Andreas Lilja	D	Concussion	Out

GAME PREDICTION(S):
(post your predictions in the comments section)

• 1st Bruins Goal: Michael Ryder
• 1st Bruins Assist: Patrice Bergeron
• 1st Bruins Penalty: Matt Hunwick

Milan Potter & The Half Hearted Princess

Milan Lucic checked in with ESPN Boston this past weekend and filled them in on his recovery after hand surgery, favorite career fights and the Bruins team Halloween party. I'm not going to breakdown the whole "player diary", but I did want to share one part with you though.

"We had a team Halloween gathering, social you could say. That wasn't bad, there were some good costumes there. I went as Harry Potter. I had the glasses, the wand, the scarf and the cloak that he wears; that was a lot of fun. The best costume was one guy who showed up as Phil Kessel; that was actually really good and really scary."

Milan Potter... Harry Lucic...? Anyway you want to look at this one, in the end it is just hilarious. I mean how great would it be to have some pictures from this party? Or even better yet how much would you give to see who showed up dressed as Kessel? Personally I got my money on either Wheeler or Hunwick since they both got the whole "Phil the Thrill" Proactiv thing going on. However they do still lack in the Harry Dunne/Kessel-esqe haircut department (below). But hey pictures or not, at least it looks like all the messageboard heros finally have the proof that they have been proclaiming doesn't exsist, that the Phil "The Half Hearted Princess" Kessel wasn't all that liked in locker room after all. The kids got skill and pure talent, I'll give him that. But when it comes to the mental, physical and emotional aspect of the game, the kid looks lost.

(Not So) Factual Analysis: The Lose-Win Pattern

The Good News: The Bruins have yet to lose two games in a row. The Bad News: They have yet to win two games in a row. Having just finished their thirteenth game against the Rangers in a 1-0 loss, the B’s (6-6-1) have been looking better as a whole, which is a good sign. But that still doesn’t change the fact that they can’t put two W’s together.

Now we could spend countless hours analyzing why the team can’t win two straight. Or how they magically came back from two 2+-goal deficits in the 3rd period on two separate occasions to keep them from losing two straight. But instead, I’d rather predict outcomes of games down the road. I mean, who knows how long this trend will continue? One can only hope that Tuesday’s game will be a tough win against Detroit. Then again, that would mean the B’s lose against the Habs on Thursday.

What else is in store you ask? Well, at this pace, the team is set to rack up 85 points by season’s end. Keep in mind, last year teams got into the playoffs with a minimum of 91 points, meaning the B’s could miss the Cup chase this year. Note: No team has reached the playoffs with less than 90 points since the ’03-’04 season, when both the Bruins and New York Islanders found a way with 87 and 83 points respectively.

On a brighter note, Tim Thomas and captain Zdeno Chara, barring injuries, according to the pattern will lead the team to tough wins over the Detroit Red Wings (11/3), Montreal Canadiens (12/4), San Jose Sharks (1/14), Washington Capitals (2/4), and delight everyone at Fenway Park with a Winter Classic win over Philly on New Year’s Day, in between losses to Atlanta and New York.

But who truly knows? After all, Chiarelli could use the abundant amount of draft picks to make a big trade before the deadline is over. Perhaps the team struggles its way through the season, before making a playoff run after the break for the Winter Olympics. Maybe Thornton donates some of his ‘stache to baby-face Sobotka. Maybe Glen Murray makes a return to the team and leads the team in points…or maybe not.

With 69 games left to go before the regular season wraps up on April 10th, the Bruins are finally starting to look like a team again, putting in strong efforts against New Jersey, Edmonton, and New York, despite getting only two points out of it. Regardless, if the Bruins can make it through the injuries to Savvy and Looch without falling below .500, there is a good chance this team will be racking up a strong line of W’s several times this season.

Hub Hockey Contributor
-Mike Leonard

[Game Recap] Shutdown To Shutout: Lose/Win Streak Continues

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Game Thirteen (Live on NESN(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (6-6-1) vs. New York Rangers (9-5-1)
November 1st, 2009 @ 1:00PM

(credit: AP Photos)

GAME BOX SCORE:

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	0	0	0	0
New York Rangers	0	1	0	1

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• "King Henrik" reigns supreme as the B's are shutout in New York
• Thomas made 22-saves in his losing effort but for the most part was solid
• Chara had another impressive performance leading the team with 5-hits (B's had a total of 41-hits in the game)
• B's kill off two penalties continuing their PK success but also fail to cash in on all FIVE of their powerplays
• Gaborik scored the lone Ranger goal
• Sobotka and Krejci continue to improve game after game
• Byron Bitz was a game time decision and sat out with an undisclosed lower body injury
• Streak Continues: I have been joking about the lose/win streak but through thirteen games it is still going
• Bruins return to action Tuesday in Detroit to take on the Red Wings

GAME RECAP VIDEO:

[Game Recap] There Will Be Black & Gold

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Game Twelve (Live on NESN(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (6-5-1) vs. Edmonton Oilers (7-6-1)
October 31st, 2009 @ 1:00PM

(credit: AP Photos)

GAME BOX SCORE:

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	0	0	2	2
Edmonton Oilers	0	0	0	0

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• The Crease Keeper: Tukkaa Grabs First Shutout Of The Season
• Rask earns a shutout after stopping all 19 of the Oils shots (still getting tested on his gloveside)
• Wheeler, Sobotka & Paille line dominates and finish the night with 2-points each
• Wheels grabbed the B's first goal and was followed up by Sobotka's first of the season
• Sobotka's work finally paid off as he has been all over the ice since being called up from Providence
• Trick or Treat?: Bruins go 0-2 on the man advantage but also killed off both of the Oilers powerplays
• Chara Returns: Big Z had his best game of the season owning Dustin Penner for the full 60-minutes
• Bruins return to action Sunday against the Rangers @ MSG

GAME RECAP VIDEO:

[Game Preview] Bruins vs. Oilers

Game Twelve (Live on NESN(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (5-5-1) vs. Edmonton Oilers (7-5-1)
October 31st, 2009 @ 1:00PM

MATCHUP STAT BREAKDOWN:

Boston Bruins		Edmonton Oilers
5-5-1	Record	7-5-1
11	Points	15
2.64	G/G	3.23
3.00	GA/G	3.08
49.8	Faceoff %	47.7
14.3	Power Play	21.8
76.2	Penalty Kill	79.2
0	+/-	0

PROJECTED LINEUPS:

Boston Bruins
Brad Marchand	Patrice Bergeron	Michael Ryder
Marco Sturm	David Krejci	Mark Recchi
Daniel Paille	Trent Whitfield	Blake Wheeler
Shawn Thornton	Steve Begin	Byron Bitz

Zdeno Chara	Derek Morris
Matt Hunwick	Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart	Andrew Ference

Tim Thomas

Tuukka Rask

Edmonton Oilers
Dustin Penner	Shawn Horcoff	Ales Hemsky
Robert Nilsson	Sam Gagner	Andrew Cogliano
Jean-Francois Jacques	Gilbert Brule	Patrick O'Sullivan
Ethan Moreau	Zack Stortini	Steve MacIntyre

Ladislav Smid	Denis Grebeshkov
Tom Gilbert	Taylor Chorney
Jason Strudwick	Theo Peckham

Nikolai Khabibulin

Jeff Deslauriers

CREASE REPORT:

PLAYER	W	L	OTL	GAA	SV%	SO
Boston Bruins
Tim Thomas	4	4	0	2.86	.906	1
Tuukka Rask	1	1	1	3.17	.889	0
Edmonton Oilers
Nikolai Khabibulin	6	4	1	3.22	.904	0
Jeff Deslauriers	1	1	0	1.51	.957	0

INJURY REPORT:

PLAYER	POS	INJURY	STATUS
Boston Bruins
Milan Lucic	LW	Broken Finger	Out
Marc Savard	C	Broken Foot	Out
Edmonton Oilers
Mike Comrie	C	Flu	Questionable
Lubomir Visnovsky	D	Flu	Questionable
Steve Staios	D	Concussion	Out
Fernando Pisani	RW	Back	Out
Marc-Antoine Pouliot	C	Sports Hernia	Out
Sheldon Souray	D	Concussion	Out
Ryan Stone	C	Leg	Out

GAME PREDICTION(S):
(post your predictions in the comments section)

• 1st Bruins Goal: Matt Hunwick
• 1st Bruins Assist: Patrice Bergeron
• 1st Bruins Penalty: Michael Ryder

[Game Recap] New Jersey Made A Deal With The Devil... B's Lose

VS.

Game Eleven (Live on NESN(HD) or 98.5FM The Sports Hub)
Boston Bruins (5-5-1) vs. Ottawa Senators (7-4-0)
October 29th, 2009 @ 7:00PM

(credit: AP Photos)

GAME BOX SCORE:

	1	2	3	F
Boston Bruins	0	1	0	1
New Jersey Devils	1	0	1	2

GAME HIGHLIGHTS:

• B's Play First Full 60-Minute Game Of The Season In Losing Effort
• Thomas made 29-saves in another great outing but was done in by the exact same type of goal twice
• Bergy scored the B's lone goal early in the second period
• Boston went 0-for-2 on the man advantage but on the plus side killed off their only penalty
• All around this was a solid game and as coach Julien stated, the Devils simply got the better bounces in the end
• Halloween Stat of the Day: Shawn Thornton led the Bruins with 5-shots on net in the game
• Not much else went on last night, it was another solid performance by the B's that just ended in a let down
• Bruins return to action Saturday against the Oilers @ The Garden

GAME RECAP VIDEO: