Prague is in the books. Two games down. Eighty more to go. It could have been worse. Let’s just start with that. The first game of the 2010-11 season made me want to cry. Remember last week when I was talking about how I did not want a repeat of last season? Haha. That’s funny because that’s exactly what we got in game one of 82. I understand the Bruins are going to lose, that’s not a problem. It just was not pretty and it was just like so many games (and series) from last season.
They lost 5-2. Eh, not a huge, huge deal just a kind of big deal. It’s not a huge deal because Rask kept them in the game as much as possible. What is a huge deal is the fact that the Bruins powerplay looked ugly just like last season. Nathan Horton did score on the man-advantage but other than that the powerplay didn’t even come close to anything else. What was one of the major problems from last season? Their pathetic powerplay. Should I judge their powerplay off their first game? No, of course not but it just didn’t even look half-decent and I guess forgetting last year’s woes is going to be harder than I thought.
But let’s now dwell on the bad. Time to find some bright spots. First, the Bruins blanked the Coyotes in game 2. Yay! Aside from that, Nathan Horton certainly made his presence known to Boston fans right from the beginning. Horton may be that offensive spark that was missing last season. He had three goals in Prague and will hopefully produce all season long. Tyler Seguin also scored is first NHL goal, not bad for his second game. No doubt Seguin looked like he belongs on this team but only time will tell how well he will last on this team.
Jordan Caron was also a pleasant surprise from Prague. Caron did not start game one but played game two in place of Paille. Most people probably did not even know it was Caron’s first NHL game because everyone was tied up with Seguin. It’s okay Caron. I knew and I thought you did just fine in your first game. He did everything he had to to help the team. He’s not a bad 13th forward to have. (As a side note, Seguin and Caron are both younger than me and I’m not a big fan of that!)
Campbell also showed where he belongs on this team. In general, the fourth line looked great and would always continue the play even if they were on the tail end of a long shift. Campbell dropped the gloves with Phoenix’s Vernon Fiddler. Campbell is by no means a big time fighter but it’s always nice to know that someone else is willing to throw down besides Thornton.
Overall, Prague was okay. It’s only two games so let’s just hope the powerplay starts clicking and everything else falls into place. Are things that simple? Let’s hope so.
Kristin Carbone
Pierce Arrow Blogger
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