Bruins beat Hurricanes in overtime

The Bruins won last night's game 4-3 in overtime against the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes, with a goal by Zdeno Chara (he scored on a wicked slapper). But what irritates me is that the same stuff happened that Bruins' coach Dave Lewis said needs to be corrected, such as standing up for a teammate.

In the first period Bruins' defenseman Bobby Allen was drilled from behind into the boards behind the Bruins' net by Hurricanes forward Craig Adams, who is a tough energy player for the Canes. Jason York and Petr Tenkrat just stood there, York gave a few pushes to Adams but that was because Adams had the puck, and not in retaliation for the dirty hit. Then out of no where Marc Savard comes charging in trying to get at Adams but the linesmen come in quick to make sure nothing progresses. So the Bruins best player right now has to also stand up for teammates by himself? I was shocked and disgusted that nobody else did a dam thing. Adams and Savard got two-minute penalties. So I was thinking that Dave Lewis might want to make a statement now and put out newly brought up from Providence tough guy Jeremy Reich on the next faceoff. But no he doesn't put out Reich and that says it all. It tells not only the Canes but other teams that they can run all over the Bruins and take cheap shots because the Bruins won't fight back.

Another thing that upset me about last night's game is that Reich finished the game with a total of 26 seconds of ice time on 2 shifts. That is two shifts for 26 seconds! How is a player suppose to do his job and provide energy for the team when he can't even get on the ice for more than a minute. That 26 seconds was all in the first period as well. While I was watching the game I didn't see Reich on the ice at all so I must have missed those memorable 26 seconds.

The Bruins should get a tape of last night's game between the Dallas Stars and St. Louis Blues. Both teams dress tough players and they are both teams that stand up for each other. Go to HockeyFights.com and download the fight videos of Krys Barch vs Matt Walker and Krys Barch vs Ryan Johnson. What you'll see is Krys Barch doing his job and checking people, which sometimes cause fights as you'll see. Barch layed out Ryan Johnson with a big hit and Walker came right over and they dropped the gloves and had a go. Later in that game, Barch layed out Blues' Captain Dallas Drake with a huge hit and Ryan Johnson, who is not a fighter by any means, came over and fought Barch. Now that is a team standing up for each other. Bruins need to get a tape of that game and watch it a few times.

In an article named "On Hockey: Where's the fight in the Bruins?" by Douglas Flynn/Daily News Staff on MetroWestDailyNews.com, there are some revealing quotes from Wayne Primeau and Brad Boyes basically saying that the Bruins need a tough guy/enforcer.

"It always helps to have a guy like that. There are times when you need a guy to drop the mitts and spark the team like that. Those guys definitely serve a purpose."
-Brad Boyes on having an enforcer

"It's not something I think about all the time. If it's there, I'm going to stick up for myself or stick up for my teammates. It's not something I look for, but in that situation it was something I felt obligated to do."
-Wayne Primeau on fighting and on the fight he had with Sabres' Adam Mair

"Sure, I'd like to have someone. Every team has one. Except maybe Carolina and... Atlanta? They have (Eric) Boulton. So, yeah, every team has one, so if they need to dress him they can. Maybe that would make a difference. That makes guys (play) bigger for sure. No doubt about it. I don't know. That stuff is out of our reach (as players). We can't worry about that kind of thing. That's why you have a general manager."
-Wayne Primeau on the Bruins not having an enforcer

"I'm trying to think, in Pittsburgh Mario (Lemieux) had all those guys, Buffalo always had a bunch of guys like Rayzor (Rob Ray), (Brad) May, Paul Kruse, (Matthew) Barnaby. So, no, I've always been on teams that have been pretty physical and had guys for that."
-Wayne Primeau talking about some of the tough guy teammates he has played with

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