Beer and a Breakdown: 2/24 FLA

Beer of the Night:  Band of Brewers, Third Shift – Colorado.  Smooth and tasty lager style beer made by people who take pride in staying after hours to get it right.

Feb 24, 2013; Sunrise, FL, USA; Boston Bruins center Chris Kelly (23) celebrates his goal with center Rich Peverley (49), left wing Chris Bourque (48), and left wing Daniel Paille (20) during the second period against the Florida Panthers at the BB

While the Panthers aren’t exactly the juggernaut of the NHL, the B’s impressively completed a Florida sweep.  Boston brought the wheels tonight, plenty of odd man breaks and transitions thanks to quick feet and fast forwards.  Rich Peverley brought his winning combination of grit and speed again, getting his fair share of chances all afternoon.  Tyler Seguin also continues to put things together, picking up an assist and ringing one off the post in the second period.  Most impressively, the Bruins special teams continue to improve.  The penalty kill is by far and away the best in the league, bar none.  More importantly, the power play, after wallowing around at the bottom of the league for years, finally seems to be clicking together with 4 goals in the last 5 games.  Big strides for a team that was the butt of “defer the call” jokes just two years ago.  Seeing Milan Lucic fired up over a dangerous hit and non-call was also a huge positive to take from the game.  He remained aggravated through the 3rd period and that’s when Looch is at his best… agitated.  The B’s now enter a grueling stretch where they play essentially every other day through the end of the season.  It’s team efforts like this afternoon’s that will carry them into the playoffs without wearing down too badly.