"All We Are Say-ing... Is Give Us a Goal!!"

No no no. I'm just kidding, this will not be a post about how angry I am with the result of tonight's game, cause the reality of it is, I'm okay with it. I am not thrilled with losing to Boston, but they fought hard. Also, its going to be a sloppy article, don't really care at the moment, read, enjoy, deal.

Okay, so we lost one, some streaks were snapped, here was my take on the game from my perspective in section 1 row 4:

--Madden looked rusty as all heck out there tonight, but having missed 2 games, gotta expect some rough patches.

--Rolston also looked shakey out there with the puck. thomas made a good save on his slapper in the first that got the post, didn't really see him do much after that... well other than taking a puck to the upper body while sitting on the bench. I also wasn't thrilled with the turnover to seal the game for the Bruins.

--Elias should have burried that goal on the 2-on-1 with Langs, but the d-man made a good play on it, and thomas got a heck of break by getting it with the heel of his stick.

--Speaking of Tim Thomas, you heard it here first, with Ryan Miller's struggles, Thomas will be the USA starting goalie next winter in Vancouver.

--Parise showed me the most heart tonight, throwing the body around, fighting in the corners, doing everything to spark the offense. He will someday be captain of this team, he already shows flashes of brilliance and leadership by taking charge out there, so its only a matter of time before he dons the C on his chest.

--Colin White, my whipping boy as of late, surprised me early by playing a good game, blocking shots, breaking up passes, playing smart hockey. But then his game came apart. I dont know who was to blame for the goal in the 3rd, Clemmer made a good save but Whitey and Oduya both left Lucic wide open in the slot. I'll blame lack of communication for that one for the time being. I'll watch it on the DVR later and see if I can point a finger at any one player. My biggest gripe, however, is still his refusal to use his full force when playing the bod. In the 2nd he was simply shoving one Bruin before parise came in and threw a HUGE hit on the player [dont remeber who it was].

--Mike Rupp was a force tonight, throwing bodies, having the fight, and even throwing in some decent chances on offense.

Overall i thought it was a good game of hockey vs. a trap team. Boston was patient, and exploited our one major mistake. Simply put, they showed tonight why they are atop the east right now.

last point of the night: I thought the refs played too much of a factor in the game. weird penalties, phantom offsides calls, and how they missed parise getting the high stick off the visor from Chara was beyond me. Chara also tossed Clarkson on his backside with a stiff arm to the face yet no call was made either.

We get 2 off days for the holiday, then need to step up again vs. Pitt on Friday.

Merry Christmas and go Devs!