Boston Bruins vs. Philadelphia Flyers
12:30 p.m. EDT, May 1, 2010
Live on NBC
The Bruins are playing some of their best hockey of the season, a
year
in which they stumbled along under the pressure of high expectations,
and now are getting an injection of talent and skill as Marc Savard is
set to return today against the Philadelphia Flyers.
For a while there, it looked as if the Boston Bruins’ season may
have ended along with Marc Savard’s, who last hit the ice with his team
on March 7. With Savard out indefinitely with a brutal concussion after
being hit by Matt Cooke, the Bruins looked like a team missing their
heart and desire to compete.
When the Bruins had their chance at
an overly-hyped ‘revenge game’ against Cooke and the Penguins, hockey
fans were sorely disappointed at the lackluster effort shown by the team
on home ice. Here was a chance for the Bruins to not only get some
legal payback on Cooke and the Penguins, but to use the emotional
motivation to spring board away from the bottom of the playoff
standings. Instead, the Bruins looked disinterested and empty as they
were dominated by the Penguins is embarrassing fashion.
Since that
game, the Bruins have used the criticism as motivation to improve. They
entered the playoffs winning six of their last ten games, and while it
seemed they may fall out of the playoffs altogether were able to finish
in the sixth seed. They used the momentum built in the final weeks of
the season, along with some stellar goaltending, to stun the Buffalo
Sabres with a six game series win in the opening round.
With
today’s return of Savard, the Bruins are getting an instant upgrade on
the power play and a playmaker that is certain to make the Bruins into
an even more dangerous team they showed they could be against the
Sabres. While the goaltending of Tuukka Rask was certainly a major
factor in the team’s success in the first round, getting a player with
Savard’s skill could take the Bruins to the level they were never able
to achieve in last year’s postseason.
As GM Peter Chiarelli said
this week, getting Savard back now is the equivalent of a trade deadline
acquisition. The Bruins have been playing for two months without
Savard, slowly growing together on the ice without their best playmaking
forward. Now, with Savard’s return, the Bruins become a much more
dangerous team. They get the heart of the team back and they get an
instant upgrade in talent.
Of course, Savard won’t instantly go
back to 20 to 25 minutes a game right away. There’s some concern over
how he’ll respond to a full game with contact, especially such a
physical team like the Flyers, but I’m guessing we’ll be getting a
motivated player just itching to make a difference.
