Boston Bruins

BOSTON, MA – After the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011 it made for a short offseason for the entire club, but particularly for young forward Tyler Seguin as he prepared for his second full NHL season.

Seguin posted 11 goals and 11 assists in 74 regular season games in a strong rookie campaign, and the external expectations were set high for the second overall pick in the 2010 draft to avoid the dreaded “sophomore slump”.

The 20-year-old forward did all but slump in the 2011-12 season, as he scored a team-high 29 goals and 38 assists for 67 points, while he established himself as the youngest player to lead the team scoring in franchise history.

BOSTON, MA – When the calendar flips to July 1, Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask will become a restricted free agent and will wait for the team to extend a contract offer.

While negotiations were halted during the season, they’ll resume sooner rather than later, according to Rask.

The B’s netminder said he wouldn’t want anything more to stay in Boston – the only NHL team he’s played for in his five-year career.

BOSTON, MA — Last season’s playoff run was marked by relatively few injuries to the Boston Bruins.

This postseason (and regular season, for that matter) was not as kind to the 2011 Stanley Cup champions.

“We were challenged a little bit through injuries,” admitted General Manager Peter Chiarelli. “I thought losing [Nathan Horton] and [Adam] McQuaid hurt our size and strength and hurt our balance up front.”

BOSTON, MA — The NHL announced today that Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara is one of three finalists for the 2011-12 James Norris Trophy. The Norris Trophy is awarded annually awarded “to the defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position,” The other finalists for the award are Ottawa’s Erik Karlsson and Nashville’s Shea Weber.

Chara’s strong two-way play helped the Bruins capture their third Northeast Division title in the past four seasons. The Boston captain led all defensemen and tied for third in the NHL in plus-minus (+33) — matching his League-leading rating from 2010-11 — and recorded a career-high 52 points (12 goals, 40 assists) to rank fourth among all blueliners in scoring. In addition, he led the Bruins in power-play goals (eight) and average ice time per game (25:00). Chara is a Norris Trophy finalist for the fourth time in the past five seasons and for the fifth time overall; he captured the award in 2009, finished second in 2004 and was third in 2008 and 2011.

Members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association submitted ballots for the Norris Trophy at the conclusion of the regular season, with the top three vote-getters designated as finalists. The winner will be announced Wednesday, June 20, during the 2012 NHL Awards from Encore Theater at Wynn Las Vegas. The 2012 NHL Awards will be broadcast by NBC Sports Network in the United States and CBC in Canada.

BOSTON, MA – With a little under eight minutes left in Game 7 and the score tied 1-1, Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg was without his stick as he tried to help kill a Washington Capitals power play.

Getting off the ice wasn’t an option. Instead, the Bruins veteran defenseman occupied the shooting lane and kicked away a pass from Mike Green, which was on it’s way to a cocked-and-ready Alex Ovechkin.

“I saw Bergy [Patrice Bergeron] winding up for a [blocked] shot and most of the times they are looking for the winger, I think it was [Alexander] Ovechkin,” Seidenberg recalled. “And we are watching a lot of video and we know their tendencies and all you do is try to keep yourself in a shooting lane and try and block that shot and that’s what happened, I got lucky.”

BOSTON, MA — I was talking to a friend the other day and we were talking about the B’s first round series with the Caps when he said, “You know what’s gonna happen, the series is going to go seven games and the B’s are going to take it.”

Up until the last second, just before Washington’s Joel Ward found a way to poke a puck past Tim Thomas at 2:57 of overtime, all of New England believed that the B’s incredible run would continue with a fourth-straight Game 7 victory - and so, from the sound of it, did the Boston Bruins.

“I mean it’s such a weird feeling,” said defenseman Dennis Seidenberg. “I mean you play hard, it’s a tight game and suddenly a bounce goes against you and suddenly the season’s over.

BOSTON (AP) - Joel Ward slammed home a rebound at 2:57 of overtime to give Washington a 2-1 victory over Boston on Wednesday night, sending the Capitals to the second round of the playoffs and ending the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins’ hopes of a repeat.

Rookie Braden Holtby stopped 31 shots for Washington in Game 7 - the seventh one-goal game of the series. Matt Hendricks scored the Capitals’ other goal.

Tyler Seguin scored, and Tim Thomas made 26 saves for Boston.

Click the above link for a larger Live Blog window. Reader comments will go live between periods.

BOSTON, MA — Those who read this space know that when the chips are down and you need a little bit of straight talk, you find your way to Chris Kelly’s locker room stall.

As soon as he stops re-lacing his skates, the talented two-way forward generally presents some sage wisdom during his take on the festivities and today, his straightforward approach might assuage some of the butterflies even the most nervous Boston Bruins fan is trying to cage this afternoon.

As usual, Kelly broke it all down pretty neatly.