Posted by Joe Haggerty

The B's are streaking...through the quad...then to the gymnasium

There’s a reason they call it drawing first blood.

The Bruins have scored the first goal an amazing 15 times in their 20 games thus far this season, and it’s allowed the Black and Gold to truly go on the offensive and attack other teams with previously unseen aplomb. In those 15 games the Bruins have built up an impressive 10-3-2 record. 

So during a rare Friday evening tilt in the Hub — the first in over 30 years for the Bruins – when a first place hockey team easily could have been caught sleepwalking through an anti-climactic match against the lowly Florida Panthers — with perhaps a wandering eye cast toward the Montreal Canadiens tomorrow night at the Bell Centre — the Big Bad B’s simply took care of business in a tidy 4-2 win. A victory so convincing that it saw restless B’s fans doing the wave in the third period of a blowout win that registers as Boston’s seventh straight at the TD Banknorth Garden.

The attention to detail is part of a mantra that Bruins coach Claude Julien obviously stressed to his team prior to the game, with an eye toward an Ottawa Senators team that bounded purposefully out of the gate last season before collapsing and crawling into the playoffs. While there aren’t any Ray Emery-style problem children in the Boston dressing room to spark turmoil, the staunch marching orders to avoid any ”fat cat” syndrome were clearly understood, processed and performed to a ‘T’ on the ice last night.

The B’s players are so intent on the nightly task at hand that veteran and past Stanley Cup winner Aaron Ward is now simply refusing to mention the dreaded ‘P’ word (playoffs) in relation to the Black and Gold. You won’t hear the words “NHL” and “playoffs” coming out of Ward’s mouth until April or so…Ward refused to utter “playoffs” last night in context with the Bruins, and said he’d only be talking about “the NBA or the NFL playoffs” for a nice long time.

Ward obviously has been around long enough to know that something pretty special is starting to take place on Causeway Street.

“One of the things they preached at the beginning of the year was positioning,” said Ward. ”Teams that have really positioned themselves well by Thanksgiving have a tendency to really…uh….put themselves in a favorable position with…uh…I don’t want to use the word. You can fill it in. Put themselves in good position for…it’s kind of an omen, I can’t say it…for the end of the year. I don’t want to say the ‘P’ word.

“For us [Friday night's win] was a job we talked about from the top down. Claude talked about it and the players talked about it,” added Ward. “We had a discussion about it at the pregame skate amongst the players. About where we are and our state of being. We can’t rest on our laurels at any point this season. We’ve got to think about the here and now. The ‘P’ word is not going to be mentioned…at least not in this [locker room] stall.”

Ward’s words — minus any onerous ‘P’ words – seemed to be right in line with the message that Julien delivered to the esteemed Fourth Estate after the game. It was something about staying inside the warm, welcoming and comfortable bubble the Bruins have built for themselves while setting the standard of excellence in the Eastern Conference with 30 points through 20 games.

“I don’t think we feel too good about ourselves, and the one thing we do realize, and, you’ve got to remember guys, we can start reading what you guys are writing, and we can believe everything. Or we can stay in our little bubble and understand what got us to where we are and realize that those kinds of things are what’s going to keep us there,” said Julien. “I’m saying that because our team has not had to face this kind of situation for a long time, and we have to learn to be able to handle this. 

“Being in first place is great, but the minute you get comfortable – and I can use the Ottawa Senators, 15-2 last year, and I can use other examples as well – this is a humbling game, and we just have to make sure that we understand what it takes every night,” added Julien “That’s the kind of message we keep giving our team: don’t get too high, don’t get too low, but don’t start believing everything you read.

The Bruins effectively outshot, outlasted and outclassed an underwhelming Panthers hockey club. They also won the inevitable game of fisticuffs that appeared once the game got out of hand in the second period. Milan Lucic and old friend Nick Boynton engaged in a tough guy scrum at center ice that spilled plenty of blood from both sides.

Both players got a few shots in, but Boynton left the ice after Lucic opened up a cut along the former Bruins defenseman’s forehead following a series of vicious right and left-handed mixture of jabs and haymakers. Boynton’s face was a bloody mess by the end of the brawl. That decision easily went to the Big Looch, which makes him 2-0 in fights on the season after bloodying Boynton and knocking Mike Komisarek out of the Habs lineup with a shoulder injury. There has to be, however, some extra credit given to the steely Boynton for hanging in and getting a few licks of his own in amid the flurry of Lucic fists, which were also red with blood by the end of the exchange.

Aaron Ward also tangled with Keith Ballard after the veteran defenseman came in hard — and perhaps a bit low — on Marc Savard in the middle of the second period. It was business as usual for Ward, who again showed that this Bruins team isn’t going to timidly back down or fail to protect a teammate when something isn’t sitting well with the B’s bench.

“I thought the hit was late, and then not only was it late but I also thought the hit was low,” said Ward. “It was my first reaction.”

Hunwick continuing to improve

The blueline education of Matt Hunwick continued last night, and the young defenseman kept impressing with an assist and an eye-opening +3 on the evening. That makes it three straight games Hunwick has registered at last one point with a goal and three assists over that short span. While the man he was replacing on the rearguard, Andrew Ference, was playing the best hockey of his career by his own admission, “Huddy” hasn’t been too shabby either as the puck-moving, offensive interim solution along the blue line.

Hunwick’s performance continues to exemplify the impressive organizational depth that the Bruins have built up for themselves. Their roster goes well past the 20 skaters dressing on a nightly basis and extends to another 3-5 players capable of stepping in without a beat when the inevitable injury bug beckons. All told, Hunwick has a goal and three assists along with a +7 in eight games this season and was given a bit of time on the power play unit Friday night as a reward for his consistent efforts.

“We talk about confidence and the experience. He’s getting better and a lot of has to do with because he’s playing. A lot of it starts in practice and he’s been patient and working hard,” said Julien. ”Now he’s got a chance to play and when you’ve got some games where you’ve got a lead you can use him even more. That’s the way that you develop players. He’ll be getting those opportunities if he responds, and lately he’s been responding.”

The Kids are all right

The impressive early returns on David Krejci continue to pour in, and no solitary play was more indicative of the 22-year-old’s patience, stick-handling and creativity than his second period goal which pushed the B’s lead to 3-1. Krejci found the puck on his stick along the right side with a good deal of open ice in front of

Here is my hockey stick...there are many like it, but this one is mine

him, but — rather than make a mad impetuous dash toward the net as many NHL youngsters might in that frantic situation — the young centerman instinctively pulled the puck back, slowed the throbbing tempo to a hockey crawl and then deftly slid a cross-ice pass over to Chuck Kobasew.

Kobasew fired at the net and the loose puck promptly kicked right back to Krejci for the easy putback goal — a simple, elegant, dare I say nifty hockey play that continues to scratch away at what’s promising to be a great surface for the young Czech Republic skater.

“That’s David Krejci,” said Julien. “He controls the play so well and he controls the pace of it too. I’ve seen players in the past that were so good at that. I remember J.F. Sauve from the Quebec Nordiques was one of those guys that would make those plays to slow things down.  John Chabot, who’s an assistant coach with the Islanders was one of those players too. They’re gifted with the stick and they find seams. Savvy does it a bit for us too. He’s a good players and he’s just starting to grow into the player that we all expected him to be.”

While Krejci has impressed with the way he’s conjured up magic tricks with the puck, Kessel continues to simply burn away hapless defenders with his rare combination of speed and dead-eye shot. Kessel got behind the Panthers ‘D’ after a great tape-to-tape pass by Savard, and beat Tomas Vokoun with a forehand for the game’s first goal — an easy-as-pie pseudo penalty shot for the sniping scorer.

“I’m not doing anything different,” said Kessel, when asked what’s improved for him this season. “The pucks are finding the back of the net now, and they weren’t before. That’s about it. There’s no magic formula.”

With Friday night’s score, Kessel has a team-high 10 goals in only 20 games and seems well on his way to becoming Boston’s first 40-goal scorer since Glen Murray sniped 44 tallies for the Black and Gold way back in 2002-2003 en route to a 92 point season.

Hard to believe it’s been that long since the Bruins had a 40-goal scorer. Or maybe it isn’t given the recent history of the Bruins Crew.

“It seems like he and Savvy are feeding off each other,” said Ward. “It’s the old [University of Michigan hockey coach] Red Berenson thing, If you have speed you’ve got to use it. Especially now with the rule changes we as defenseman can do nothing about it.”

Posted by Mike Petraglia

The beat rolls on for the hottest team on ice. The Bruins dispatched of the over-matched Florida Panthers, 4-2, in the first regular season Friday night NHL game in Boston in 31 years. The win also helped the Bs tied the New York Rangers for first place in the Eastern Conference. Listen to them talk after, and you get the sense that they know they can play even better. A great thought for fans of the Black and Gold and a scary thought for the rest of the NHL.

Patrice Bergeron said the Bruins didn’t give the Panthers much early on.

Bergeron and the Bruins will now focus on their arch-rival Canadiens Saturday night in Montreal.

Dennis Wideman said the Bruins can still play better.

Head coach Claude Julien said despite the success, the Bruins won’t be reading their clippings.

Julien said his team is learning to handle success.

Tim Thomas said the team is aware of how well they’re playing but keeping things in perspective.

Former Bruin Nick Boynton, sporting stitches on his brow and chin from a fight with Milan Lucic, said there’s no getting around the fact that the Bruins are for real.

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Life has come full circle for Matt Cassel.

Matt Cassel remembers visiting the suburban Cincinnati home of Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer and talking about the good old days at the University of Southern California. He was still the understudy of Tom Brady at the time.

But that didn’t keep the two from reminiscing.

Cassel was backing up Palmer, who was on his way to a Heisman Trophy with the Trojans in 2002.

Palmer started the QB renaissance at SC.

Cassel never got the chance to start as Matt Leinart immediately replaced Palmer under center, winning the Heisman himself two years later.

“It is an interesting relationship. It is more so that I was the understudy of Carson,” Cassel said on Thursday. “When Matt came in it was more of a collaboration because I was the older guy and maybe knew more of the offense when he first got there. Now, looking from the starting role, Carson has been a starter and is an established guy, he is just injured right now. I have had discussions with Matt and I know he is eager to get out on the field.”

Now, Cassel finds himself in the ironic position of being the only one of the three to be starting in the NFL, with Palmer nursing an elbow injury to his throwing arm while Leinart is benched behind Kurt Warner for the NFC West-leading Arizona Cardinals.

“I am sure he will and he is going to have a great career in the NFL,” Cassel said of Leinart. “He is a great player and I just tell him that he has to keep his head up and I am sure he is.”

There have been countless stories this year about how Cassel has had the patience of Job and waited until Game 2 of this NFL season for his first start since high school.

Not only that, Cassel is now the role model for Mitch Mustain, the quarterback-in-waiting behind USC starter Mark Sanchez.

“I think for any backup anywhere that my story is one that gives inspiration and gives promise to some of those guys that are fighting for a position,” Cassel said on Thursday. “Just to continue to work hard, continue to put your best foot forward each and every day and quite possibly you’re dreams will come true.”

Cassel said he doesn’t think too much about the irony in the fact he backed up Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and they aren’t playing and he is.

“Those guys have earned their way,” Cassel said. “They were great college players and they are great professional players. I have a lot of respect for them. I am just happy that I have an opportunity to play now and we are able to talk about those kinds of things.”

Clearly, those USC teams did a pretty good job of producing NFL-ready quarterbacks.

“It is pretty impressive,” Cassel said. “There are two other guys, two other backups that could easily be in this position. They are all good quarterbacks. We had a really good group while I was there. We worked hard and made each other better through competition. It is fun to still have that connection and relationship with those guys.”

Coming Saturday, Trags Take on the rematch between the Patriots and Fish down in Miami.

Posted by Joe Haggerty

This is what happens when Wheeler starts winding up...

From the time young athletes take their first learning steps in the world of the team sports, the mantra to be “unselfish” with the puck or ball is impressed straight into their impressionable minds. Everybody loves to play with a guy that passes the puck, or so we’ve been told umpteen times by the skilled guys lighting the lamps all over North American on a regular basis.

That preaching of unselfish play and keeping everybody involved is the ideal that all aspiring athletes should strive for, but in world of professional hockey a little “me generation” selfishness might not be such a bad thing. Big-wheeling winger Blake Wheeler is having a tremendous rookie NHL season and ranks among the fresh-faced best in the NHL among a handful of scoring categories, but there’s still oodles of room for the 6-foot-4 forward to improve going forward.

One area that Bruins management and coaches clearly see as an easy one for Wheeler to correct: be a little more selfish when the moment calls for it. That’s right…you heard correctly. Wheeler has freely passed the puck around in a dizzying two-man game with center David Krejci throughout the entire first 19 games of the season, and ranks 11th on the team in shots attempted despite ranking third on the team with his six goals scored (behind only Phil Kessel and Marc Savard).

To put in perspective, Wheeler (with 25 shots attempted in 19 games) has been outshot by rough-housing fourth liner Shawn Thornton (30 shots in 19 games) during the first quarter of the hockey season, and is averaging little more than a single shot per hockey game. That’s a number he can certainly improve on, and it’s something both player and coaching staff have already taken note of.

“He’s got a lot of skill and he certainly is going to improve as time goes on. He’s somebody that personally I’d love to see shoot a little more at times,” admitted Bruins Vice-President Cam Neely during a conversation with WEEI’s ‘The Big Show’ this week. ”At times I see him looking for the pass and he’s not a very selfish player, but at times you have to be a selfish player in this game.”

There it is. Some good old-fashioned necessary selfishness in the game of pro hockey, though it’s hardly a self-centered puck philosophy when a team wants a skilled scorer like Wheeler to pull the trigger a little more often. The 22-year-old is scoring a whopping 24 percent of the time that he shoots, and that should mean more goals for a team that’s already third in the NHL in goals scored this season.

Wheeler, who is tied with Dallas Stars’ rookie Fabian Brunnstrom for fourth among NHL rookies with six goals on the season, is acutely aware of looking for his own shot a bit more often — particularly when he’s in around the net with his big and still-developing frame — and is actively developing a little more of a shoot-first instinct when he’s carrying the puck around the net.

“It’s always been my nature that I’ve always loved helping my linemates score and seeing them get on the score sheet,” said Wheeler. “It’s one of those things where maybe I shouldn’t be looking around so much around the net and instead I should just put the blinders on. There’s a few times probably in every single game where I have a good shot at the net, and if I can put it on net then we can have guys come crashing in afterward.

“It’s another part of the game that I can improve on,” said Wheeler. “It’s never been really pushed on me to play [unselfishly], but I’m trying to see the ice really well and I’m always looking for my linemates to help build chemistry. That’s when the game is the most fun. When you have a lot of chemistry and you’re moving the puck around. I think when I get into trouble is when I use my peripheral vision too much and I’ll see a guy open and try to force it to him. There are times when a shot is definitely the better play.”

Notes and One Timers

Marco Sturm is expected to miss his second straight game with an “upper body injury”, and has been termed a day-to-day injury situation by Bruins head coach Claude Julien. The Bruins will face-off against the Florida Panthers at the TD Banknorth Garden (7 PM) in a rare Friday night game. It’s the first Friday night game in Boston for the B’s in over 30 years, dating back to a Dec. 23, 1977 game against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Goaltender Tim Thomas is expected to get the start for the Black and Gold. Thomas was on the Planet Mikey show last night, and you can hear that interview here. Among other things, he discussed literally standing on his head and making saves against teammates at practice during his minor league days. Why am I not shocked by this?

Zdeno Chara, P.J. Axelsson, Michael Ryder and Marc Savard all sat out Friday’s morning skate, but all are expected to be ready to go when the puck drops against the Florida Panthers. 

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Every so often you come across something that just screams BLOG NOW!

When you see Ellis Hobbs crank up Curtis Mayfield’s ‘Super Fly’ on his iPod in his locker stall and teammates like Randy Moss and Vince Wilfork walk by and point at the man with a smile on their face - that would be one of those instances. Such was the case Friday morning before the Pats went out to practice.

“>

Hopefully for the Pats, this is one of those moments that shows the locker room is loose enough to deal with the pressure of a rare November game where the season could be on the line. There hasn’t been one of those for about eight years in New England.

Hobbs and Vince Wilfork both spoke Friday to the urgency of the game, labeling it as a ‘must-win’ scenario.

“You can say that, you can say it a whole bunch of different ways,” Hobbs said. “We desperately need this win. They do too. This should be a great divisional match-up.”

“It’s not the end of the road,” Wilfork declared. “Nobody is telling us the season is over. If they do tell us that, I’ll tell them something and it’s not nice. We’re very confident and we know what’s at stake and it’s going to start with a win. We have to win this week, a tough divisional game and move forward from that and week after that, do the same thing. It’s tough, but that’s NFL football.”

Hobbs then said that the Pats are aware that the Dolphins special teams might be an area to exploit. Remember back on Sept. 21, it was Hobbs who raced 81 yards on a kick-off return that set up New England’s only TD of the day.

Posted by James Stewart

At 11:45am, Michael Holley mentally checked out of the program. Below is the reason why.

Enjoy!

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy filed four pages of previously unreleased text messages today between former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his then-chief of staff and lover Christine Beatty. Worthy’s office said the texts were inadvertently left out of hundreds that were released last week in the criminal case against Beatty.

http://www.freep.com/assets/PDF/1030_new_text_messages.pdf

Posted by Ian Meropol

Jack and Chloe are back

It has been too long without Jack, Chloe, Tony and the whole CTU. The last season of 24 was a disappointment, but that doesn’t mean it has jumped the shark. Chach has viewed an advanced copy and he said the 2 hour even this Sunday at 8p is very good: This coming from a non-24-fan. Jack and Chloe are 2 of the greatest characters in television history and I can’t wait to see who they will introduce as new characters this season (i.e. Lynn McGill, Ryan Chapell, Edgar Stiles).

Harvard/Yale

Dino and Gerry made fun of me this morning for going to “The Game” Saturday afternoon, but I’m excited. Harvard Stadium is a great venue and this is one of the most historic games in college football. Is this a better game then Ohio State/Michigan or Florida/Florida State or South Carolina/Clemson? Of course not. But it’s on my Sports Bucket List and I will be able to cross it off when Michael Lawler leads the Crimson over Yale in the 125th version of this great rivalry.

Texas Tech/Oklahoma

Heisman Trophy. Trip to Big 12 Championship. Number 1 ranking. All three of these are on the line Saturday night in Norman as these two programs take the field just after 8p. How can you not root for Texas Tech? They have been such a great story this season and the most exciting team to watch over the last 5 years. Mike Leach can name his job and price if he takes a school from Lubbock, Texas to the national championship.

Who is next on Beacon Hill

Diane Wilkerson, now Chuck Turner, who is next? Business on Beacon Hill has never been clean, but this is getting ugly. It is pretty evident that Wilkerson flipped on Turner. Who else has she ratted on and who will Turner turn in to save his behind? I don’t believe these 2 are the only Massachusetts Pols that are dirty, but I am beginning to get the feeling that we are in for a once in a lifetime scandal involving politicians in this state.

Enjoy the weekend - only 3 more work days until Thanksgiving……send any emails or comments to imeropol@weei.com