Feb 15, 2013; Buffalo, NY, USA; Boston Bruins center
Rich Peverley(49) celebrates his goal against the Buffalo Sabres with center
Chris Kelly(23) and left wing
Daniel Paille(20) during the second period at the First Niagara Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Hoffman-USA TODAY Sports
It has been an interesting week for the Boston Bruins. Sunday found the Bruins in Winnipeg breaking a two game losing streak against the Jets 3-2. The very next day, the Bruins found themselves bouncing back across the continent to head home and get ready for Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Monday evening, Coach Claude Julien and members of the Boston Bruins (Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille, Rich Peverley, Tyler Seguin, Dougie Hamilton, Andrew Ference and Chris Bourque) headed out to Newtown, Connecticut to stand behind the town and the families of the tragedy that occured last December.
“Obviously, just want to represent the best we can,” said Seguin, sporting the jersey as the Bruins gathered together on the bus leaving Newtown, reflecting on the day’s events. “We’re all keeping them on now – we gave them all our jerseys we were wearing and signed them. So, it definitely was a fun day.”
“The kids were having a good time and that was the main goal of coming here today,” chimed in McQuaid. “Just let the kids be kids. And for them to have fun. They obviously went through something that no kids should have to go through, and just to show our support to this community and just let them know that we’re thinking of them and we support them.”
Then came yesterday, the Bruins were coming down from a couple of emotional highs. The team members participation in Newtown, Lane MacDermid‘s return to the lineup after a conditioning stint in Providence, and Lucic’s return for personal reasons. Lucic told the media that everyone was healthy and fine, and that it was a long couple of days, but that he was happy to be back among the team. Coach Julien was getting ready for practice when the calls started coming in. One player sick, then two, then another, and it kept going until the total reached seven.
So what’s a coach to do? Almost half your team is calling out, and you’ve got to get a practice going. Claude Julien just assembled some improvised lines and made it happen. The line ups were as follows: Marchand-Peverley-Seguin / Lucic-Krejci-Bourque/ Hamilton-Chara-Seidenberg / Johnson-Boychuk. MacDermid- Pandolfo- Kelly-Thornton.
Granted, the lines are unusual. Especially the all defenseman line. You take a step back though, and it there is a hint of brilliance there. Maybe Peverley isn’t a bad choice to put up for shifts with Seguin and Marchand. I like Bourque with Looch and Krejch. OK, the defense line is crazy, but hey you work with what you got. The Bruins will be heading down tonight to Tampa so they can build a new winning streak and stay atop the Northeast Division.