Bruins Bittersweet Victory; The Blues Sound Sweet in St. Louis

Despite their 7-5 win Saturday night the Boston Bruins have a lot of questions to ask/problems to address. First and foremost is goaltending. A lot of people don’t really believe in Tim Thomas being able to lead Boston to the Stanley Cup, but Thomas has yet to let them down and can still come up big in the playoffs. However, one question that was answered for certain Saturday was whether the Bruins could rely on Manny Fernandez should Thomas come up short in the playoffs or get injured. Fernandez gave up five goals on 38 shots but at one point had given up four goals on only 26 shots to TORONTO. Most would agree that the Leafs are a competitive team and have been playing great hockey as of late but four goals on 26 shots by a goalie on a playoff team is unacceptable. The one caveat to Fernandez’s performance is that the Bruins played awful defense in front of him. Boston still has a legitimate shot at winning the President’s trophy but this shaky defensive play and poor goaltending might make the President’s trophy their only reasonable shot at hardware this season.

In other news, a team doing the opposite of the Boston Bruins is in Saint Louis. The Blues have played amazingly well as of late and have battled back from deep in the standings into a tie with Edmonton for the final playoff spot in the west after defeating Columbus Saturday night. It has been an awfully long time since Blues fans have had something to cheer about so perhaps they were due. Saint Louis was awful at the all-star break as they were below .500 and seemed destined to only seek further at the commencement of the league’s second half. Instead, the Blues have rallied behind new number one netminder Chris Mason and despite having seasoned veterans like Keith Tkachuk but have been getting the most production from youngsters like Brad Boyes and David Perron. The Blues may not make the playoffs once all is said and done, and may make little noise even if they do. That said, the Blues have given their fans something to cheer about as well as look forward to. The future on ice in Saint Louis is very bright and hopefully that can reenergize a city with great fans who have really gotten behind the Blues in the past and the future will likely be no different. They are a fun team to watch and worth keeping an eye on this year and for many years to come.