As long as we're throwing money around...

How about a major contract extension for Shawn Thornton?

Shots taken in 2009-10
Bruins: 92
Thornton: 11
Krejci: 7
Lucic: 2

Goals scored in 2009-10
Bruins: 9
Thornton: 1
Krejci: 0
Lucic: 0

Shawn Thornton on "Time Warp"

This isn't exactly breaking news, because the episode is three months old, but I don't remember hearing anything about it when it happened.

Shawn Thornton makes a guest appearance on Discovery Channel's "Time Warp", a show dedicated to super-slow-mo video of high-speed events. Sounds like an odd concept, until you see it in action:





Note to self: ask Santa for super-high-speed camera next Christmas.

I haven't found any video of Thornton's guest appearance, in which he demonstrates the power of a professional slap shot, but you can browse a bunch of clips here. In Shawn's segment, you get to see not only the bend of the stick, but the torque in the shaft as it twists to snap the puck toward the net. He then tries an old-fashioned wooden stick to see if the new composite shafts are indeed superior.

Anatomy of a First-Place Team

With last night's win over Buffalo, the Bruins are (at least temporarily) the banner team in the Northeast Division -- a tough feat, considering the division includes 3 of the Eastern Conference's top 4 teams. While it's still far too early to talk about being in first place in April, the division lead is a testament to the team's resilience in the face of a tough early schedule... and a sign that they are a force to be reckoned with as they play a favorable schedule in November.

What's behind the sudden success (6 wins in 7 games) of a team that many pundits predicted would miss the playoffs? It boils down to a few key factors tilting in Boston's favor:

Hot Goaltending - This is the #1 factor in the Bruins' current streak. In the past 7 games, Tim Thomas has allowed only 5 goals on 168 shots, and Manny Fernandez has won both of his starts by stopping 60 of 65. More importantly, both goaltenders have played their best at key moments, allowing only 4 third-period goals during the streak.

Breakout Games - Milan Lucic had scored only one goal entering the Oct 25th matchup against the Thrashers, when he broke out with a hat trick. Blake Wheeler doubled his scoring total with a hat trick against Toronto on Nov 6th. Marco Sturm scored twice against Dallas after scoring only once in 11 previous games. Last night, Chuck Kobasew tallied a goal and an assist after missing a month with injury. Though Savard is the only player consistently producing at a point-per-game level, it seems that each night brings a new breakout game from a different player.

Depth Players - One of the best-kept secrets in the Eastern Conference is the outstanding play of Boston's 4th line. Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle, and a revolving right wing (at times filled by Sobotka, Nokelainen, and Kobasew) consistently dominate their ice time with hard-nosed cycling in the corners. They only pot the occasional goal, but more importantly they sap the ability of opponents' top players to take advantage of their matchups -- an especially important advantage on the road.

Blueline Scoring - In the first 8 games of the season, Boston defensemen accounted for only 1 goal. Since then, they have scored 5. This hardly makes them a threatening bunch of goal scorers, but it's enough to create some extra room for Boston's forwards. Still, one goal from Zdeno Chara (a fluky, bouncing shot that surprised Toskala) is not enough -- look for defensemen scoring to increase as the season goes on.

Bruins vs. Habs: Takeaways

The shootout: Nothing new to hear a diehard fan complain about the shootout, but this game really highlighted a weakness with the current format -- with only 6 shooters, the game ends too quickly. After two and a half hours of furious physical action, spectacular saves, and cut-it-with-a-knife tension, the game ended with a whimper. Here's my vote to move to a 5-shot tiebreaker, in order to extend the spectacle slightly and give it time to build its own sense of momentum.

Comeback-ability: The Bruins have trailed at some point in all three games this season. Against Colorado, they came back quickly to win. Down by 3 to the Wild, they rallied and made it a nail-biter. Last night they salvaged a charity point by scoring 3 straight against the Habs. That's good coaching, folks.

Hit parade: After playing two pretty soft games, the Bruins finally started breaking in the shoulder pads. Numerous large hits all over the ice slowed down the Habs attack and it looked like they were hesitating to rush the net. True to form, PJ Axelsson got absolutely destroyed along the boards.

Savvy/Ryder combo: Jeesh, two more goals for Marc Savard and a few good shots for Ryder. Savard now has 5 goals and an assist in his first 3 games, an inversion of his typical goal/assist ratio. Ryder picked up an A for his 4th point of the season.

Lucic continues to struggle: Looch started the game on the top line with Savard and Ryder, but got demoted quickly. Other than picking up 14 PIM, he was fairly invisible on the ice and spent no time on special teams. Might be a good idea to put him on the occasional PP to get his season started... 1 assist in 3 games is not the returns we need from this guy.

Faceoff problems: David Krejci played well, but was an eyebrow-raising 1-f0r-12 in the faceoff circle. That kind of thing will kill your chances. Other results: Bergeron struggled, winning 7 of 18; Savard won a solid 12 of 19; Yelle was perfect at 6-for-6. [correction: make that 6 wins and 6 losses for Yelle. He was still perfect on the faceoffs he won, though.]

New Guys: I was impressed with Matt Hunwick, who made some defensive errors but was creative and sharp offensively. He's making the Alberts trade look a little better. Sobotka was up to his usual grit-and-sandpaper hijinks, but had little impact.

BellForum Crowd: Perhaps the centennial celebration brought out the wine-and-cheese crowd, but the Habs fans seemed a bit more muted than usual. Other than the frenzy at the end of the first period, there was a sort of chill across the audience -- at least that's how it came across on television. Boos were there for Chara and Ryder as expected, but also for the Canadiens power play. Getting booed while ahead by 2 at the end of the second period during your centennial-celebration home opener? Yikes.

A pretty cool intro montage from this game can be found here.

**** yeah! It's hockey season!

After 2,637 hours of hockeyless summertime, the long wait is over.

The preseason began in earnest for the Boston Bruins as they smacked around the Canadiens last night to the tune of 8-3. Of course, the score is irrelevant, as are most of the events in any preseason game, but here are our takeaways for the night:

1) Patrice Bergeron was on fire, ripping off a goal and three assists. Bergy was not in midseason form, but looked pretty good for a guy who missed a whole season with a wonky brain. Mark off another step in his road to recovery.

2) Manny Fernandez, engaged in a tight competition for the starting-goalie duties, allowed 2 goals on 12 shots.

3) Not only did the Bruins light up the Habs on the scoreboard, they filled the fight card as well.

Shawn Thornton on Steve Begin:



Andrew Ference also pummeled Andrei Kostitsyn -- if anyone has a vid link, throw it this way.

The Bruins visit the Islanders tonight -- preseason rematch with the Habs is on October 1st... ye gads, only a couple of nights before the regular season begins!