Rivalry steeped in forget-me-nots. 5 Dec 2015 The Vancouver Sun Iain MacIntyre

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1 5 Dec 2015 The Vancouver Sun Iain MacIntyre Rivalry steeped in forget-me-nots Opportunity lost: Those who remain from losing 2011 Cup team admit pain hangs on, but so does a mindset to beat the Bruins People say time heals, but they never say how much time. For the Vancouver Canucks and probably anyone who follows them it takes a lot longer than 4½ years to ease the pain from losing the 2011 Stanley Cup Final to the Boston Bruins.

2 It s only sports, only a game. We should remember that. And the National Hockey League operates in that absurd prosports alternate universe of millionaire athletes and billionaire owners whose worst days on the job would be like the greatest day on Earth for many people. But within the context of this fantastical bubble, the Canucks had two chances to win one game for the Stanley Cup and were outscored 9-2 by the Bruins, who wore their black uniforms well. The only Vancouver team to win the Cup did so a century ago and you d never know it from looking at the trophy because the players names are etched on the inside of Lord Stanley s beer tureen. So, yeah, it s going to be a while before Canucks players remember much fondly about the first two weeks of June I still haven t got there yet, winger Alex Burrows, one of eight remaining Canucks who played in the final, said Friday on the eve of the Bruins annual visit to Vancouver. When I think about it, when people talk about it, it s still not a good feeling. We let a great, great, great opportunity slip away. Winger Chris Higgins said: If I go my whole career without winning one, it will probably rub me raw for awhile. I think you have to make the best of it; the experience made me a better player. But the Canucks have gotten worse as a team since then. Pool all their playoff game victories since 2011 (three), and it still wouldn t be enough to win a single series. The Bruins, by contrast, played for the Stanley Cup again in 2013 but lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games. After getting too old, too slow and too tenured, the Canucks are in the tumult of a major renovation that has two 19-year-olds on the team and has included seven different rookies making an NHL debut this season. The Bruins? Well, we re not sure quite where they are in their life cycle. After missing the playoffs last season for the first time in eight years, rookie general manager Don Sweeney surprised everyone in the NHL in June by trading away core pieces Milan Lucic, 27, and Dougie Hamilton, 22, for futures while retaining players like Zdeno Chara, 38, Dennis Seidenberg, 34, and Chris Kelly, 35. There are eight Bruins left from those whose names were engraved on the Stanley Cup in 2011, although Kelly is injured and goalie Tuukka Rask never got onto the ice in the final except to take a twirl with the trophy at Rogers Arena. Boston played in Calgary on Friday night, two nights after its five-game winning streak ended with a 3-2 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers. The Bruins are this season, the Canucks Their rivalry is barely recognizable from what it was when, in the wake of the final, the Canucks 4-3 win in Boston on Jan. 7, 2012 was one of the fiercest and greatest regular-season games in franchise history. There has not been enough time to balm the wounds from 2011, but too much time and too many players have passed for these teams to still hate one another. But something will always stir, at least in Vancouver, when they play. I don t know about the young guys; some of them were barely born when we played in the finals, Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. For sure, it means something to the older guys. Going into their building, too, it brings back something to you before you even step on the ice. They still have some key pieces from that final, so that (feeling) is still there. For the Canucks, teetering at the edge of the playoff race after four straight losses, that feeling, whatever it is exactly, could be a very good thing tonight. Leaden and outshot in losses this week to the Los Angeles Kings and Dallas Stars, the Canucks need urgency and inspiration in their game. After the 4-2 loss to Dallas on Thursday, when the Canucks yet again served up an easy gamewinner, coach Willie Desjardins called the Bruins visit a must game. He clarified after Friday s practice that he meant must play hard, not necessarily must win. We ve lost so many close games, it s hard to believe sometimes it s going to turn around, he said. It s like if you climbed a mountain and there s fog at the top, you might be one step away (from the summit) when you quit. You don t know. The only thing you know is you can t quit. Like, you can t. You ve got to find a way. So we have to play hard.

3 The Stanley Cup window closed on the Canucks 10 months after the 2011 final when a second straight Presidents Trophy did nothing for them in a first-round playoff loss to the Kings. They re playing for respect and confidence tonight and, hopefully, a little traction in the playoff race before the Pacific Division ambles away from them. For sure, it does feel like we are lot further from the Stanley Cup than we were in 2011 and 2012, Burrows, 34, conceded. But... to make it to the NHL, one of the qualities you have to have is to be a competitor. If you re not a competitor and you don t love winning and have that passion to win, you re not going to make it to the NHL. When you re older, that s what keeps you going. You want to keep winning and competing and playing hard. And you absolutely want to beat the Bruins, no matter whose names are on their uniforms. 5 Dec 2015 The Vancouver Sun Iain MacIntyre WHO S NEXT? Boston Canucks THE MATCHUP Thursday s 4-2 loss to the Dallas Stars was the Canucks fourth straight, and Vancouver has been outshot the last two games. The performance prompted coach Willie Desjardins, pictured, to call this a must game against the Bruins, although he said he meant must-compete, not necessarily must-win. The Bruins played Friday in Calgary after opening their road trip with a 3-2 shootout loss Wednesday in Edmonton. Boston had won its previous five games. HEAD-TO-HEAD The Canucks swept two games against the Bruins last season, winning 5-2 at home on Feb. 13, pictured, and 2-1 in Boston 11 days later, and have won four of five games between the teams since And none of that comes remotely close to making up for losing the Stanley Cup to the Bruins 4½ years ago. Only eight Bruins and eight Canucks remain from the Stanley Cup lineups. The Bruins power play is No. 1 in the NHL. WHO S HOT, NOT? Canucks C Henrik Sedin has pts in nine games, while LW Danny Sedin has pts in 12 games. Bruins C Patrice Bergeron, pictured, has pts in 11, and RW Loui Eriksson in eight games... Canucks LW Alex Burrows is pointless in six games, and LW Chris Higgins pointless in 10. Bruins C Brad Marchand is pointless in three. INJURY REPORT Canucks LW Chris Higgins (whiplash) will play after missing two games and D Ben Hutton (foot), pictured, is expected to play after missing seven games. D Luca Sbisa (hand) is questionable, while LW Jake Virtanen (hip) and C Brandon Sutter (hernia) are out. D Dan Hamhuis and LW Brandon Prust took maintenance days on Friday... The Bruins are missing D Kevin Miller (concussion), RW David Pastrnak (foot) and C Chris Kelly (leg).

4 QUOTEBOOK You re always looking for that next game to start something. We re kind of in a rut right now. Maybe it takes a big game against Boston to get things moving in the right direction. Everyone in the lockerroom is trying for that. Canucks winger Chris Higgins. JOSHUA CLIPPERTON VANCOUVER The Canadian Press Friday, Dec. 04, 2015 Vancouver coach Desjardins begs struggling Canucks to stay the course Vancouver Canucks head coach Willie Desjardins is imploring his team to keep going. Losers of four straight and 12 of 15, the Canucks are just so far in after topping the 100-point mark last season. Desjardins says staying the course with a system that has worked in the past is key, especially for a team that is in games decided by one goal. It s hard to believe sometimes that it s going to turn around, the coach said Friday after practice. It s like if you climbed a mountain and there s fog at the top. You might be one step away when you quit. You don t know. The only thing you know is you can t quit. Desjardins showed more emotion than usual moments after the Canucks dropped a 4-2 decision to the Dallas Stars on Thursday in a game where Vancouver was outshot 34-16, including 18-6 in the second period. We need better performances, he said at the time. That s not good enough. Canucks forward Alexandre Burrows said despite the results, there s no disconnect between players and coaches in terms of what s being asked. I think guys really believe in the structure, the veteran winger said. Sometimes, when things aren t going your way, maybe you re trying to cheat the system a little bit and trying to do things on your own. That s the wrong thing. Vancouver has been hamstrung by a lack of secondary scoring and sloppy play at critical times. The first line of Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin and Jannik Hansen has 46 points over the past 12 games, but the rest of the forwards have combined for just 18 points over that span. Henrik Sedin said the lack of chances coupled with the defensive zone breakdowns over the past six weeks are directly correlated. We have to realize we haven t followed our system 100 per cent, the Vancouver captain said. Until we do that and play a 60-minute game where we do the right things, it s tough to tell where this team is. The loss of Brandon Sutter to an abdominal injury that will keep him out until January has hurt Vancouver s attack, forcing second-year centre Bo Horvat and rookie Jared McCann further up the lineup. But the Canucks aren t using that injury or anything else as an excuse. Adversity only makes you stronger, Burrows said. I ve seen that throughout the years. It wasn t always nice, but we found ways to get out of it and we got better. That s the way we ve got to approach it.

5 The Canucks will try to take a step in the right direction on Saturday, when they host Boston. Not many players remain on either roster from the 2011 Stanley Cup final, which the Bruins won in seven games, but it still means something to Vancouver s veterans. Any time you face teams you ve been up against in the playoffs late, you get a little bit of rivalry, Henrik Sedin said. It s games you always get up for. Desjardins, in his second year behind the bench, said having Boston come to town could be that extra jolt his team needs. Those guys will always remember that series, he said. It could have gone their way with a couple different breaks. For us, it s good. There should be some emotion with it. December 4, 2015 The White Towel Jason Botchford What, Canucks panic? When Daniel Sedin mentions the word panic, maybe the time is now VANCOUVER Daniel Sedin is suggesting it s time to panic. The coach is pulling out the must card. And, when things seem as bleak as they ve been since the Tortorella year, in comes an old enemy, the Boston Bruins. Maybe the Bruins are exactly what the Canucks need right now. An old rival to stir their emotions. They need something. We should be in panic mode, for sure, Daniel Sedin said today. Wait, what? The Sedins never panic. The Sedins never flinch. If it s Game 1 of the regular season or Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final, the Sedins attitude has always been more similar than different. They have never believed in big swings of emotion, or panic. But here they are. They should be getting some help back with Ben Hutton, but Luca Sbisa has a swollen right hand from a shot block and is not playing. And then there is Bo Horvat: the ice-cold, struggling centre who is in the exact position the Canucks did not want him. They need him to score. He s just 20 years old, but they need him to score. That could be an issue, because he hasn t got a goal in 15 games. His bull-rushes to the net are being easily filtered by whomever he s playing, and those scoring chances he had earlier in the season are drying up. I m not sure how much longer the Canucks can expect him to produce offence this season. He may be better served by peeling away his power-play time and allowing him to focus on defence. He needs to get back to the kind of player he is, GM Jim Benning said. He s good on draws. He wins battles. He s good defensively.

6 His offence will come from his good defence. We re not seeing that. But what about streamlining things by taking him off the power play? That s more Willie s thing. But in junior he scored a lot of goals, because he has the size and strength to stand in front of the net, Benning said. He s a big strong guy and he s hard to move. That was part of his skill set in junior; he d deflect pucks and get rebounds. Willie is using him as that net-front presence on that second power play, Benning said. Once he s comfortable with everything, I think he ll be effective in that role. The Canucks need that to happen soon. They have one even-strength goal from a line other than the Sedins in the last eight games. What happens when the Sedins slump? You don t want to know. JONATHAN WILLIS DECEMBER 4, 2015, 1:20 PM Sportsnet The difficulty of evaluating NHL defencemen through numbers P.K. Subban talks about the importance of shot blocking in the game despite the injuries that can be suffered, which includes his teammate and key Habs cog, Brendan Gallagher. The growing use of statistics in hockey advanced, enhanced, fancy, whatever you want to call them has come with its own controversy. Virtually every claim has been contested and every new statistic a point of conflict. That s how it should be. The great benefit of using this kind of data to study a game like hockey is that it is objective and any conclusion can be considered from multiple angles. While the whole stats field can at times seem contentious, conclusions about defence have been particularly controversial. After all, we re used to measuring offence through statistics goal and point totals are generally acknowledged to do a good job of capturing offensive ability. However, prior to the last decade or so there were no widely accepted defensive metrics in the mainstream; the closest was plus-minus, which is a deeply flawed statistic that has, rightly, become a punchline. The lack of defensive statistics has made it difficult to evaluate defencemen. The new numbers, though, offer us some interesting tools and a new vantage point on a position that has been ignored for too long. To demonstrate, we decided to look at how defencemen performed year over year in the past two seasons. We made a list of defencemen who had played at least 500 minutes in both and For added confidence, we only looked at defencemen who hadn t changed teams, reasoning that players who stay on the same team would be used in basically the same roles in both seasons. This is a stat we call relative goals, and it basically shows why plus-minus is garbage. Relative goals shows how a team does in terms of goal differential with a player on the ice vs. how it does with that same player on the bench. It s pretty simple really. If a team scores 50 per cent of all

7 goals with one player out there and then 40 per cent when he s on the bench, he gets a mark of +10.0; his team s performance goes up 10 per cent when he s on the ice. What we find here is there s almost no relationship in how a player does in this stat from one year to the next. Vancouver s Alex Edler is a great example of this. In , Vancouver was out-scored at more than a 2:1 rate when he was on the ice; the Canucks were a whopping 23 per cent worse with him on the ice than they were when he was on the bench. The next year, though, Vancouver was actually six per cent better with Edler on the ice. When we look at Fenwick instead of goals, we find something else entirely. Relative Fenwick works the same way as relative goals, except that instead of counting goals for and against we re counting shots and missed shots. Fenwick, Corsi and scoring chances are all highly related; teams that are good or bad at one tend to be good or bad at all. This isn t a perfect stat by any measure, but what we see is a much higher degree of repeatability. If a team is good at out-shooting the opposition with Player X on the ice one year, they re likely to be good at it the next year, too. This is why stats people place so much emphasis on players like Montreal s P.K. Subban. In , Subban had lousy goal numbers, but really strong Fenwick totals; the next year his Fenwick numbers were still excellent and the goal totals had come around. Goal numbers fluctuate wildly, but players like Subban who help their teams out-shoot the opposition one season are generally able to do it the next year, too. (Note: Mark Giordano is the player on the far right.) The reason shot metrics are more reliable is that shooting and save percentage tend to bounce around. A lot of times, we think about defencemen as being able to improve their teams save percentage by limiting top quality chances, but when we look at the data it s hard to find evidence of that. Eric Tulsky (now working for the Carolina Hurricanes) compared three years of data and found that while defencemen had more impact than forwards on save percentage, it was so small that even with three years of data it was all but impossible to predict how a defenceman would do the next year. In our own sample of 119 defencemen, there s no relationship whatsoever between performance one year and performance the next. For those wondering, that diamond in the top right corner is Boston s Kevan Miller, who may have been lucky enough to have an on-ice save percentage above in consecutive years, but almost certainly isn t the cause. This is true over full seasons, and it s really true over shorter spans. A good example this year is Edmonton s Mark Fayne. When Fayne is on the ice, the Oilers do a relatively good job of out-shooting their opponents, but because of a lousy on-ice save percentage the team has been lit up for a lot of goals when he s out there. We know from the charts above that defencemen have little control over save percentage, and so it would be a mistake to blame the player for his lousy on-ice goal numbers. The really surprising thing is that defencemen seem to influence not just shots against, but also shots for. Our sample of 119 defencemen had a high correlation year-over-year in unblocked shots against (0.56) but almost an equally high correlation in terms of shots for (0.54). That s surprising, but when we think about how much a defenceman s ability to make a good outlet pass or create turnovers at the defensive blue line matters to offence it makes sense. Shot metrics such as Fenwick are controversial at the individual level even for forwards, and especially so for defencemen. But looking at charts like these, it s easy to see why analytics types are intrigued by these numbers. Ronnie Shuker Metro Published Tue Dec

8 It's time to see what Jacob Markstrom can do as number 1 Currently, he s playing on average about once a week. The rest of the time, he s been watching Ryan Miller fail miserably at earning his $6 million annual salary. Poor Jacob Markstrom. The kid can t buy a break. After stopping 38 of 40 shots against the LA Kings Tuesday, many of the high-danger variety, Markstrom showed the potential he has. And yet, he isn t getting many opportunities to prove he can do it consistently. One has to wonder when the Canucks front office is going to give him a chance. A real chance. Currently, he s playing on average about once a week. The rest of the time, he s been watching Ryan Miller fail miserably at earning his $6 million annual salary. Since starting the season 3-0-1, with a 0.96 goals-against average and a.955 save percentage, Miller has gone 4-8-5, with a 2.96 GAA and an.899 SP. At 6-foot-6 and nearly 200 pounds, Markstrom is a tantalizing talent who thus far hasn t panned out as a prospect. With him turning 26 in January, time is running out for the Canucks to see what they have in him. You can t sink or swim if no one throws you in water. The stubbornness of the Canucks to stick with Miller is both ruining the team s (slim) chances of making the post-season and at the same time ruining the development of Markstrom, who can t take the next step if he doesn t get the playing time to prove himself. It s time to hand Markstrom the No. 1 reins and see what he can do. He can t possibly play any worse than Miller has since his hot start. Why not let Markstrom run with starter s job and see what Canucks have in him? At worst, they continue to tread water like they have been doing with Miller for all but the first four games of the season. At best, they get a goalie who can steal them some games like Markstrom nearly did Tuesday. At some point, the Canucks have to put the long-term goals of the organization ahead of their shortterm promises to fans to push for the playoffs. Miller is not the future of the franchise in net. Is Markstrom? No one knows for sure. But it s time to find out one way or the other. Dec 3 Jon Abbott TSN Minute Abbs: Canucks vs. Stars Five points of interest ahead of puck-drop 1. After spending 21 of the 30 days that make up November on the road, the Canucks return to home ice and drop the puck on a four game home-stand against Dallas. The Canucks had only one longer stretch at home this season: a five game set that produced only one win. Vancouver will need to take advantage of this time in their own rink. It provides not only an opportunity for further rest, complete medical attention and more regular routines, but it also opens the window for the Canucks to establish some rhythm and momentum before heading back out onto the road for an 11 day trip heading into the Christmas break.

9 2. Ronalds Kenins is up from AHL Utica. The Latvian Locomotive provided a boost for Vancouver last year, off a call-up. Kenins arrived in game 47 and proceeded to score two goals in three games and finished the season in the NHL. While he suffered through lingering affects of a knee injury heading into training camp, he was also given many opportunities to shine and did not. The Canucks are hoping he makes the most of his time reunited with Horvat; spending most of his time in Vancouver on a line with Bo and Jannik Hansen last year. 3. Every team in the NHL would love to crack down on their turnovers. It doesn t matter what your stats are, on either side of that line, there are always attempts to bring the total number down. The Canucks have been guilty of poor defensive zone play, at times, but lately the turnovers have especially stood out. The numbers about to be referenced come from the league and trust me, it is not a perfect science. For starters, every building has different statisticians that see things differently. Secondly, without being privy to charts that illustrate where on the ice the turnovers occurred and how many resulted in goals against, the numbers mean less. With that said, both Henrik Sedin and Alex Edler lead their team in turnovers, with 21. There are plenty of top notch players throughout the league that possess similar or larger numbers in that category. One difference is that Vancouver has four defencemen in their top five, in reference to turnovers. That position and the results tied to them are very similar to numbers that the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers have suffered, while the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs have some of the highest numbers of turnovers collectively committed by defencemen in the league, when compared to most teams. 4. While the Canucks are not among the top five teams in the NHL when it comes to turnovers, they are when you consider one goal losses. The Canucks have played in 17 one goal games and have collected the full two points in only three of them. That puts a lot of pressure on team defence and when that is not going strong, the goaltending is the bullseye. Ryan Miller has played unbelievably well at times this year and will be relied upon to have a strong game against the Stars tonight. However, going back to the October 29th game in Dallas, one can come up with a bad goal surrendered in about every other start. The Canucks can ill afford to have any extra momentum crushers. 5. Last year the Canucks had an record vs. the Stars and this year enter the season series capper Vancouver has not defeated the Stars in the last nine attempts, dating back to a 4-3 win in Dallas, on February 21st, 2013.

10 Amalie Benjamin December 05, 2015 Boston Globe Boston Bruins Johnny Gaudreau finishes hat trick, Bruins in OT CALGARY The last time the Bruins were in Calgary, the Flames scored with 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime. This time, they scored with 1.2 remaining in regulation, Jiri Hudler knocking a puck behind Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask in the midst of a scrum around the net to send the game to overtime. And that was where Johnny Gaudreau scored his third goal of the game from who else? former Bruins defenseman Dougie Hamilton to give the Flames a 5-4 win with 1:40 left. But even getting there was a bit of craziness in itself. That s not our hockey, Rask said. It s fun to watch. That s happened a couple times this year, I think. It s fun to watch, but a lot of times when we play that way, we re not going to win the game. Have to be better at that. Just disappointing that we had the win, but then again, last-second goal like that should have never happened. It [stinks]. With 2:17 left to play in the third period, the Bruins were called for delay of game, a call that coach Claude Julien argued. Zdeno Chara, the player the Bruins could least afford to lose on their penalty kill, went to the box. It was not Chara s day, with some poor-decision making and costly giveaways, including on that final goal by Gaudreau, going down in front of Hamilton to try to counter the two-onone. But the penalty kill yielded a shorthanded chance by Brad Marchand, the best shorthanded goal scorer in the game. As he closed in on the net, Hamilton managed to slash Marchand s stick out of his hands on the breakaway, giving the Bruins a penalty shot. With 1:06 remaining, Marchand scored to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead on a pretty shot between Flames goaltender Karri Ramo s pads for his second goal of the game. We had a chance to win it, Julien said. We couldn t seal the deal there at the end. For the second consecutive game, the Bruins got a point, extending their streak to seven straight games with at least a point. But for the second consecutive game, it was a disappointing outcome, with the Bruins losing in extra sessions to two of the worst teams in the NHL. And though the end was exciting, it wasn t the only period in which the Bruins and Flames traded chances, a bad thing for this Bruins team. As Marchand said, We re not a run-and-gun team. In a span of just 46 seconds in the second period, the Bruins scored twice, the Flames scored once, and Boston ended up with a new goaltender. It started at 1:36, when Brett Connolly fed a streaking Marchand for a snipe shot that beat Ramo to bring the Bruins and Flames back to even. But not for long, with Gaudreau notching his second of the game 20 seconds later. And, with that, Julien made the call. Jonas Gustavsson was out. Rask was in. Change in momentum, Julien said of his decision. I know the second goal wasn t a great goal and the first goal, left the guy alone and it went through him, but at one point you want to change the momentum a little bit. And 26 seconds after that, Chara earned his fifth goal with a shot past screeners in front of Ramo. The score was tied, again.

11 The Bruins almost took their first lead at 6:44 of the second, as Marchand stickhandled around a Flames defender for a dish to Connolly on the right of the net. Connolly s shot looked ticketed for the back of the net before he was robbed with a glove save by Ramo. It was a very sloppy first period for the Bruins, full of bad passes and giveaways, one of which led almost immediately to a goal. Just 33 seconds after puck drop, Gaudreau beat Gustavsson after Chara turned the puck over at the defensive blue line. It was a messy moment and a messier result. And it didn t stop there. The Flames took a two-goal lead on a wrister from Mark Giordano from just above the left faceoff dot at 15:55 of the period. But the Bruins got one back in the first period, with a Matt Beleskey deflection of a Chara shot at 17:19, with Beleskey parked in front of the net. The goal, which went off Beleskey s shin guard, was his first after a 13-game drought. It wasn t enough. We gave up a couple of bad goals there, Julien said of the first period. I didn t think our game was that bad at that point. We were able to get ourselves back into it, but again, we kill ourselves with our own mistakes. Simple as that. They were able to come back. But they couldn t prevent the Flames from coming back as well. And with the way the Flames scored in the final seconds to tie the score, Rask did indeed see a mirror of last season s trip to Calgary. As a bemused Rask joked after the game, We cut it in half. Nice. Next year we ve got to cut it even closer. Couple of years and we re going to win it. Amalie Benjamin December 05, 2015 Boston Globe LOADED: Bruins on thrill ride in third CALGARY The final four minutes of games are no longer safe for opponents. They have become a time when the Bruins come back, when they score game-tying goals and game-winning goals as they manage magic. It had happened in each of the three games leading into Friday s game in Calgary, against a team that knows a little something about that sort of sorcery. In Detroit, it was Colin Miller scoring the gametying goal with 1:44 to go. Against New York, it was David Krejci with the winner with 1:43. In Edmonton, it was Zdeno Chara tying it up with 3:21 left. And in Calgary on Friday, it was Brad Marchand s turn, a penalty shot with 1:06 to play to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. There have been others, too, including another Chara score with 3:43 remaining in a home game against the Maple Leafs on Nov. 21. The comebacks are good, certainly, but they re a double-edged sword. It s almost like you re relying on 40-feet putts on every hole, said Flames coach Bob Hartley, whose team came back in game after game last season on its way to a surprise postseason appearance. Hartley s team did it, too, Friday, Jiri Hudler trumping Marchand with 1.2 seconds to play to send the game into overtime. You don t want to be in those situations because obviously it s a sign that your starts are not very good, Hartley said. But at the same time you re getting in the room and I think it s better than a win that you get in the first period. It seems that the crowd gets going, the players get going, it s

12 more exiting, but at the same time it s still 2 points. So, if you ask me, I d rather have the lead all game, would be easier on every one of us. Hartley s blood pressure notwithstanding, it became a signature of the Flames. It was something the Bruins experienced themselves the last time they were in Calgary in a stunning loss, going from up 3-0 early in the second period to losing with just 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime. The Bruins didn t do it all that much last season, ranking 28th in the NHL in third-period goals with 56. They re still only middling in that category, at No. 16 with 22, but they ve shown a tendency to do so lately. Honestly, the feeling in the room has changed and on the bench, even, Torey Krug said. Maybe earlier in the season there were times where we were down a goal and you just didn t have that feeling that we were going to tie it up and lately it s been [that] we have the confidence to tie it up late. Not that that s a goal, necessarily. You obviously don t want to be in that situation, Krug said. But it speaks volumes about the group and the character we have in here and it s something to be proud of, too. Calgary was a team like that last year they came back in a lot of games. It helps win a lot of hockey games. You re going to be in that situation throughout the season, so it s nice to be able to have the confidence to score a goal late and then hopefully take over an overtime and win a game. So it s about whatever it takes. Patrice Bergeron noted that had the Bruins been able to fashion the same abilities last season, it might have been the difference between a playoff spot and an empty summer. They let those winnable games slip away. This season, he sees more comfort in the situation, and thinks it might just pay dividends. We ve shown a lot of character coming back in games, Bergeron said. I think that the team is evolving and maturing and learning how to stay in games and always fight to the end. I think that s really important down the road. There is a belief that comes with doing it on a regular basis, with making it happen in multiple games, again and again. But, there are also the negatives. It means a team is down, which the Bruins have been, allowing the third-most second-period goals in the NHL, with 27. That s a problem. But, as coach Claude Julien said, You re always better to look at the positive than the negative, right? Any time that your team can come back from a deficit, it s a positive thing and there s no doubt you try and fix things so that you don t get in that position, but in this league it seems to be happening everywhere. It s not just a one team thing, it s an every team thing. So at the end of the day, you look at the character of your hockey club and give them credit for not giving up and finding ways to get back into it and finding ways to win. The confidence builds, as Sean Monahan recalled from last season. You know that you will do your job and, if you don t, someone else will do it for you. The shot that you allow to make it through will be blocked. The save you need will be made. The next pass will be pinpoint. You re right, the Bruins have done it quite a few times since the start of the year, Hartley said. It s a sign of character, but at the same time, also once you ve done it once, twice, you feel that you can do it every time, and that s what we had last year. Memorable moment Knowing this would be a big game for Dougie Hamilton, Hartley took the time to sit down with his young defenseman Friday morning, ahead of that night s Dougie Bowl at the Saddledome. I really like the way that, No. 1, he s not the type that gets overly excited, so that s a good start, Hartley said after his team s morning skate. But I just told him, I said, Play your game. The first couple of shifts, the warm-up is going to be kind of strange.

13 Everyone that s been traded, everyone that s been fired, it s a process that you need to go through, but at the same time you need to prepare that there s 2 points on the table. They want to keep playing well and on our side we re riding a five-game home unbeaten streak, so it s so important for us to keep playing well. So once the puck s on the ice, I think that everything settles back in. It s going to be special for him, but he needs to go through it like everybody else. Hamilton was involved with a special ending, as he fed Johnny Gaudreau the former Boston Bruin feeding the former Boston College Eagle to win the game with 1:40 left in overtime. Asked about the conversation with Hartley, Hamilton said he planned to just approach it like a normal game and that s what I try to do, just approach every game the same. Obviously it s a little bit different when you re facing old friends and stuff, so I don t know. I m just going to try to play. Hamilton played his best game as a member of the Flames in a comeback win over Dallas on Tuesday. So that, at least, set him up well against the team that traded him away, after he has spent the early season struggling. It s just a weird experience, said Hamilton, who at one point in the interview added, I think there s always going to be a little bit of Boston in me. Just trying to treat it like another game and have fun. Seeing the sights Brett Connolly has brought a traveling caravan with him through the Western Canada road trip, with his parents taking in games in Edmonton and Calgary, and continuing on with the team to Vancouver. Connolly, who is from Campbell River, British Columbia, has numerous family members in the region. It s always fun when you come back out west to where you re from and play in front of your family and friends and see a lot of people that you haven t seen in a while, Connolly said. It s been good so far. It s exciting for me, but for my family as well. To play in buildings I grew up watching, it s always cool.... The Bruins did not have a morning skate on Friday again... The Bruins came into their game against the Flames having killed 22 of their last 23 penalties... Julien is proceeding cautiously with defenseman Kevan Miller, who is coming back from a concussion. As he said, When you do see him in the lineup I need to know he s 100 percent, so he s been able to take some contact here in practice and stuff like that. Amalie Benjamin December 04, 2015 Boston Globe Dougie Hamilton has little to offer on his exit from Bruins CALGARY The divorce was bitter, at least on the part of the Bruins. They saw their future franchise defenseman still young, still raw, still with room to grow make a stand against them as a restricted free agent. New general manager Don Sweeney tried to offer what he thought was a very fair contract. He was met with silence. And though the Bruins have been relatively open with their disappointment in the negotiations, the response from Dougie Hamilton has been much the same as it was this summer: more silence. While Sweeney was suggesting that Hamilton did not want to be part of the Bruins long term, leading the team to deal him to the Flames for what has been considered less than his worth one firstround pick (Zach Senyshyn) and two second-rounders (Jakob Forsbacka-Karlsson and Jeremy Lauzon) in the 2015 NHL Draft Hamilton spent the summer deflecting questions.

14 He got more of them on Thursday, the day before his struggling Flames meet the up-and-down Bruins for the first time since the deal. Asked if he had any regrets from this summer, Hamilton said, No, not really. I never went through any of that, so looking back on it now, I wouldn t change anything. I m happy with, I guess, my whole career so far and my time in Boston and my time in Calgary now, so far. So, happy with everything. But why did it happen? What led to Boston having to deal a player that the Bruins believed would be wearing a spoked-b for a long, long time? I don t know. It didn t work out and things change quick and I don t know, Hamilton said. There s not really much more to say. It s just, it didn t work out, and that s it. Did you not want to be in Boston? No, I don t know, Hamilton said. I enjoyed my time in Boston. I reflect on it now and look back on it and am thankful for, I think, everything. So I was really lucky with the opportunity I got. I think coming into a good team as a young player, it s tough. I got a lot of opportunity to play and play with a lot of great players, so as well as learn from great coaches and stuff like that. I think looking back on it, I m really lucky to have that opportunity from them and fortunate for that. Rumors have swirled about the reasons for Hamilton s desire to leave Boston. Was it that he felt uncomfortable in the locker room? Was it that he asked the Bruins to trade for his brother, Freddie, who was acquired by the Flames at the start of the season, and the Bruins declined? Was it something else entirely? Just what had happened? Hamilton said he has not paid attention to the rumors, adding, I think for me I know the truth and you can t really look into all of that and what people say about you and stuff like that just try not to look into it too much. Hamilton said that while he loved playing with Freddie in junior hockey, he didn t demand that the Bruins bring him in from the Avalanche. He did say that he was lucky to have his brother in the Flames organization Freddie currently plays for Stockton of the AHL and called the chance to potentially play together in the NHL pretty cool. But, he said, I don t think it s kind of the game changer or anything like that. So, in the end, few mysteries were cleared up on Thursday. But what has been crystal clear in the defenseman s time in Calgary is that his game is still a work-inprogress. Even with the big-money deal Hamilton signed with the Flames for $5.75 million per year for five years he remains young, just 22 years old. He still has much to learn. And while the Flames have had a rocky start this season, so has Hamilton, who had his best game of the season on Tuesday against the Stars just in time to see his former teammates on Friday at the Saddledome. I don t think it s unique to Dougie, Flames general manager Brad Treliving said of the rough start. I think our team has been a little bumpy here. We ve had some turbulence from the get-go... I think he s mirrored our team in a lot of ways. There s been some instability in our game. Even with the difficult transition, Hamilton was all compliments for his new team and new city. He s living downtown, navigating a lot of one-way streets for reference, he didn t drive in Boston, so he s just meeting the challenge now as he also navigates a move to the West. I think it s obviously different, definitely an adjustment, Hamilton said. On ice, off ice, everything, so I think I m starting to get more comfortable and everything, getting used to the system and kind of building chemistry on the ice. Getting used to the city and everything off the ice. He wasn t sure what to expect, but this wasn t exactly the plan. He had had a good summer of training, and then experienced perhaps more of an adjustment than he had thought he would especially with the way the team as a whole was playing. It was frustrating, he admitted.

15 He s a young player, Treliving said. We said it at the time of getting him there was a lot of talk and excitement, and deservedly so, about him coming here. What we tried to say all along is he s still a young player. He s still finding his way in the league. His game s still growing. So we look at him not in terms of 10, 20 games, but we look for him to be an important player on this team for a long time. He was supposed to be that important player in Boston. But now, after all the twists and turns of the summer, all the mysteries and accusations, there is only one path forward for Hamilton: as a Flame. I think ever since I got drafted it was my, I guess, vision, dream to be a Bruin for life, Hamilton said. I loved being in Boston, playing at the Garden, wearing that jersey, and everything. It s definitely kind of weird when it happens and it changes so quick, so I still have a lot of pictures of myself in the Bruins jersey and stuff like that and enjoy those moments and memories. But, like I said, it can change quick and I m enjoying this kind of new chapter in my life. Stephen Harris Friday, December 04, 2015 Boston Herald Dougie Hamilton: Facing Bruins is 'just another game' CALGARY -- The folks in the Bruins dressing room are probably a litle sick hearing the name Dougie Hamilton. Hamilton himself is probably a little tired of answering questions about his time with -- and his odd departure from -- the Bruins. All that talk will die down after tonight, after the Bruins face the Flames at the Saddledome in Stop 2 of their western Canada trip. Hamilton, after a lengthy media scrum yesterday, did it again after today's morning skate. It s just a weird experience, said Hamilton. I m trying to treat it as just another game. It s kind of cool, the first time I ve been through something like this. I m just trying to enjoy it. It s a big game for us, so hopefully we can beat them. (I just want to) approach it like a normal game. Obviously it s a little bit different when you re facing old friends. I think there is always going to be little bit of Boston in me. I m thankful for everything they gave me. I still like the B s and the guys on the team. To me, its already past; I ve moved on. I m enjoying my time here. The B's come in with a streak, and have shown the ability recently to come back late in games to earn points. You have to learn as a group, said Bruins D-man Torey Krug. You learn to win. Unfortunately you have to lose some games to learn how to win. We have that feeling that s building up in this room. We re confident in our ability (to come back). Over time it s definitely growing. You don t want to be in that situation, but now we have the confidence that if we do have to score a goal late, we have lot of guys who can do so. Judging by the small number of guys who skated this morning, it appears backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson will face the Flames. Stephen Harris Saturday, December 05, 2015

16 Boston Herald Bruins notebook: Dougie Hamilton holds court CALGARY, Alberta Somewhat surprisingly, Flames defenseman Dougie Hamilton, after a lengthy media scrum Thursday, did it again after the morning skate yesterday. It s just a weird experience, said Hamilton of facing his old Bruins mates last night at the Saddledome. I m trying to treat it as just another game. It s kind of cool, the first time I ve been through something like this. I m just trying to enjoy it. It s a big game for us, so hopefully we can beat them. If he thought facing his old mates was weird, the real weirdness came during the game with Hamilton in the middle of a lot of the late drama before the Flames won a crazy one, 5-4, in overtime. Hamilton slashed Brad Marchand from behind on a shorthanded breakaway with 1:06 left in the third period, and Marchand scored on the ensuing penalty shot to give the B s a 4-3 lead. It looked like a costly mistake by Hamilton who looked nervous at times in his own end but he got bailed out when Jiri Hudler tied the game with 1.2 seconds left. And with 1:40 left in OT, it was Hamilton who fed Johnny Gaudreau for the game-winning goal and a hat trick. Unsure on Kevan Bruins coach Claude Julien hinted defenseman Kevan Miller, out since suffering a concussion Nov. 17, could play last night. He did not, however. Julien was asked if Miller is 100 percent recovered. I would say probably, said Julien. I ve just got to make sure, when you do see him in the lineup, I need to know he s 100 percent. He s been able to take some contact here in practice. But we always get the full OK when we tell the trainers we re planning on using him if (they say) he s good to go. I haven t gotten to that (question) yet.... In Edmonton Wednesday night, Bruins winger Matt Beleskey looked like the player we saw last season with Anaheim: he was on the puck hard throughout the game, and had several quality chances among his game-high seven shots on goal Obviously if you get seven shots on net, it means you re around the puck a lot, said Beleskey, who had another good game last night with a goal and an assist. I felt I had some good chances (vs. the Oilers). They could have gone either way, goal-wise. But I think if I play like that and get that many opportunities, the goals will start to come. Gaudreau impresses Gaudreau, the former Boston College star who killed the B s with three goals and an assist, has a fan in David Krejci. I actually watched him a couple of years ago when he played for BC, the B s top scorer said. When they played in the playoffs at the end of the season, there was word that he was a good player. So in Boston sometimes he was on TV, so I watched a few games. He was playing with (Kevin) Hayes.... It was fun to watch him. I was impressed. It seemed like every time he was on the ice, he made things happen. It seems like he plays the same way here as when he was in college: Every time he goes in the ice, you have to be ready, because something amazing is going to happen. He plays a similar style to (Chicago star) Patrick Kane. They re both little, but really shifty. Their stickhandling... I don t know if there s anyone better in the whole world than those two guys. Yeah, (Detroit s Pavel) Datsyuk is a magician. But stickhandling as fast as they do, I think those two guys are the best.

17 Many NHL observers had doubts whether Gaudreau, listed at 5-foot-9 and 157, would be able to bring his game to the top level. But in 107 games, the New Jersey native has 34 goals and 57 assists and, on team with mostly minus players, is a plus-14. Gaudreau said he enjoys facing the Bruins. It s always fun, knowing there ll be a lot of people back in Boston watching, he said.... Former B s center Trent Whitfield visited with several of his ex-teammates Thursday at the Saddledome. He s a first-year assistant coach with the Calgary Hitman (WHL), and said he s hopes to make a career as a coach. Stephen Harris Saturday, December 05, 2015 Boston Herald Bruins squander late heroics, fall to Johnny Gaudreau, Flames in overtime CALGARY, Alberta You could watch NHL games for a lifetime and never see a crazier and more dramatic game than the one the Bruins and Flames played last night. In a game of old-fashioned, wide-open, firehouse hockey that was enormously entertaining for fans at the Saddledome and had to be loathed by coaches preaching defensive structure the Bruins dropped a 5-4 decision to the Flames on ex-bc star Johnny Gaudreau s third goal of the night with 1:40 left in 3-on-3 sudden-death. There was plenty of drama, though, before Gaudreau s winner. The Flames tied the game with 1.2 seconds left, when Jiri Hudler knocked in a puck loose in the crease amid a seething throng of bodies. Moments earlier, in what seemed the most unlikely and dramatic of endings, Brad Marchand scored on a penalty shot with 1:06 left, giving the B s a 4-3 lead. The B s were actually killing a penalty at the time Zdeno Chara whistled off on a controversial delay-of-game minor. On the PK, Marchand snuck behind ex-bruin Dougie Hamilton, who slashed him to incur the penalty-shot call. Marchand scored with a sweet backhand move. It looked like the winner. But the Flames pulled their goalie, crashed the net en masse and tied the game in the final moment. Adding to the drama, it was Hamilton who fed Gaudreau in the middle of the 3-on-1 break to end the game. It was a bit of a wild one, Marchand said. It was definitely an entertaining game to watch but definitely a disappointing loss. The whole game was fun to play. Games like that are exciting to watch and exciting to play in. Earlier, Matt Beleskey (No. 3), Marchand (11) and Chara (5) scored for the B s. The good news for the Bruins was that they again battled back from an early deficit, 2-0, and went on to get at least one point to extend their points streak to going into tonight s trip finale in Vancouver.