May 13, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) smiles after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime in game seven of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Well, it’s award time again for the NHL, and the Bruins finally get a finalist on the roster. The Frank J. Selke Trophy is given each year to the forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association following the regular season. Last season’s winner was our own Patrice Bergeron. The hero of game seven and the series gets to defend his title this year.

Patrice Bergeron has been selected as one of the three finalists for the Selke.  This is his second nomination and the competition this year will be tough. The PHWA also selected Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk, and Chicago’s Jonathan Toews as co-finalists.  Datsyuk is a three time winner, and no doubt the Blackhawks have had an incredible season. Still, there is no doubt that Bergeron has certainly earned this honor again. Let’s be honest, Bergy is our best two way player on the squad right now.

His season stats also validate his selection. In the faceoff circle, Bergeron has won a league leading 62.1% of draws. (Toews and Datsyuk  are above 55%). Bergeron’s  plus/minus rating at +24 places him sixth in the league. On the attack, #37 ended the regular season with 32 points(10 goals/4th, 22 assists/2nd) in 42 games. In defensive actions though, Bergeron shines for the Black and Gold. This season, Bergeron spent 153:37on the penalty kill serving as our lead forward. Bergeron made himself a nuisance this season often tying up two or more opponents while eating through the clock.  The Bruins ended up with the fourth best penalty kill in the NHL this season. ( 87.1%/142-163).

It certainly can’t hurt Bergeron’s case that some of the writers are going to have those two goals from game seven of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals rattling around their heads. Not to mention that Bergeron has been a consistent performer all season. Let’s leave the last words on this award to another hockey great Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr on Bergeron: “He does everything the way that youre supposed to, offensively and defensively. He reminds me of Ron Francis in that way”

— Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) May 15, 2013

May 13, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; The Boston Bruins swarm around center Patrice Bergeron (37) after he scored a goal in overtime to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in game seven of the first round of the 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

Last night the Boston Bruins defied all odds. After being written off by the fan base at large and being down 4-1 with 10 minutes left in the third period of Game 7, it was surely the end. All it took was a simple net crash play to open it up and the Boston Bruins would pull off the biggest and most important come back in their history. Never before had a team dropped a 3-1 lead in the third period of a Game 7, the Maple Leafs did. Now normally you could just pat the winning team on the back and say good job, you made history. But for the Boston Bruins, it’s bitter sweet retribution for the 2009-10 season collapse at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers, who forced a Game 7 after being down 0-3 and staged an improbable come back over the Bruins who were leading 3-0 in Game 7 to win the game and the series 4-3.  Despite sweeping the Flyers in 2011, this shows that the Boston Bruins are not gonna back down from anything. Not a goal deficit, not an injury, nothing. The Bruins came together through the help of Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara to win Game 7.

Now, the part is over. Game 7 has come and gone and the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals are about to begin. Thursday night (5/16/13) marks the first time in 40 years that the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers have faced one another in a playoff series. That playoff series the Boston Bruins won in 6 games to capture their second Stanley Cup in 3 years and their 5th in franchise history. It’s been 40 years since, the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers have both won Stanley Cups since (2011 and 1994 respectively) and both are hungry for more. The New York Rangers dispatched the out played and all around demoralized Washington Capitals 5-0 in Game 7 on Monday night, and the Bruins are riding the best kind of emotional tidal wave they could  have. The Rangers might have grinded down the Capitals in the last match up, but now they go up against a Bruins team that is no longer afraid to throw themselves around and has finally come together.

If it wasn’t for Milan Lucic stepping up in the final 10 minutes of Game 7, the Boston Bruins would have lost 4-1. Lucic is definitely going to be repeating his game winning formula in Game 1 of this new series. People can hype up the goal tending match up (which is greatly important), but no one can forget how important Lucic will be. There have been plenty of other players who have been waiting to break out since Game 1 of the Leafs series started, those include Brad Marchand, Tyler Seguin, and Jaromir Jagr. Jagr has had a history with the New York Rangers, he played with the team from 2005 – 2008 and served as team captain from 2006 – 2008. He played with the Rangers during Henrik Lundqvist‘s first seasons in a Rangers uniform and he should be a determining factor in how this series is won. Speaking of Lundqvist (and as previously mentioned), the goal tending match up this time around is even more of a Wall vs Wall then Rask vs Reimer. During the 2012-13 Regular Season, Lundqvist became a major thorn in the side of the Boston Bruins offense starting with the “questionable” save on David Krejci in Game 1 of this season. Despite taking the game, the Bruins haven’t been able to crack Lundqvist’s armor since. In this playoffs, “King Hernik” is 4-1-2 with a 1.65 GAA and a .947 SV%; on the flip Tuukka Rask is 4-3-0 with a 2.49 GAA and a .923 SV%. It must be said that Rask’s GAA shouldn’t all be put on him, he’s been the best he can be during the last 7 games but with inconsistent and sloppy defense in front of him, it’s been hard on the guy to keep the rebounds out and away. This is a big thing the Bruins need to improve on and with 3 defense men out with various injuries, they need to get the jump on it as soon as possible.

Another big match up for the Bruins is their top scorers in David Krejci, Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton vs the Rangers leading scorers in Derick Brassard, Mats Zuccarello, and Carl Hagelin. Krejci is (5-8=13), Lucic is (2-7=9) and Nathan Horton is (4-3=7) and are going up against  Brassard (2-7=9) , Zuccarello (1-4=5), and Hagelin (2-2=4). The Bruins need to keep up their physicality especially around Henrik Lundqvist and if the Bruins defense can shut down these three and keep a good read on the rest of the Rangers team, the match up should be all Bruins after that.

Game 1 at TD Garden against the Rangers is set for Thursday at 7:30. They’ve proven they can make a come back, and they’ve proven they are the Bruins who should be feared. Go all the way, or go home.

With the elimination of Linkopings HC out of the Swedish Elite League playoffs, forward Carl Soderberg can now be signed by the Boston Bruins and join the team for the first time after becoming property of the team in 2007 Trade with St. Louis for Hannu Toivonen. But with the Bruins in a late season slump and injuries to key players, will Carl Soderberg be the answer the Bruins need to help them break their slump and get ahead to the prize of the year?

Soderberg was the leading scorer on his team with 60 points in 54 games, but when Soderberg arrives to the Bruins he won’t be getting top line priorities for the team. Now, it would be unfair to say that Soderberg won’t be able to do anything even back on the third line but this is his first time on NHL ice and it might not be the kind of environment for him to really be the player he is in Sweden. But it is safe to assume that when Chris Kelly returns to the line up, he will definitely be able to build a chemistry with Soderberg and help him a long.

Keeping in mind the question of lines, it needs to be said that Tyler Seguin is no longer a centre. Yes, he played centre in junior hockey; but it’s been 3 seasons since he’s been playing centre in junior and he should not be centreing Marchand and Jagr. Seguin and Marchand do have fantastic chemistry together, but with Patrice Bergeron out someone needs to step up for that 2nd line and the best man on the team do that right now is Rich Peverly. Peverly is a highly underrated centre and is often stuck as a winger and while he is an important member of the supporting cast to the Bruins 3rd Line ,  he deserves to be given a much more prominent centre role with the situation the Bruins are in.

Tyler Seguin can be an effective centre and putting him on the third line to help spark Kaspars Daugavins, Jay Pandolfo and soon Carl Soderbeg wouldn’t be a bad fit for him. Obviously he isn’t a bottom six winger, but he is an effective player that can really help out with those guys and get them some points and some fire going into the post season.

Here is a good idea of what the line ups could look like under this system:

Lucic – Krejci – Horton

Marchand – Peverly / Bergeron – Jagr

Daugavins / Peverly – Tyler Seguin / Kelly – Pandolfo / Soderberg

Paille – Campbell – Thornton

The Bruins would never scratch Tyler Seguin out of the line up to bring in Kelly, but Pandolfo and Soderberg could easily be left out of the line up if Julien and the rest of the Bruins don’t think they are playing well. Pandolfo has playoff experience, but literally at the end of his career, it’s easy to think that he won’t be given a lot of roster time during the post-season. Soderberg has no experience with the NHL and dropping a fresh face like him into a system he has no feel for and then turning it up to 11 won’t be helpful for him. Obviously at the end when Jagr and Pandolfo retire things will get back to normal, but for now chances must be taken and if it means throwing the cards up and seeing how they land is the best option for the Bruins than take it.

Every little thing counts now, it’s do or die time.