Oh my god.

1st Period, where nothing happened

While the B’s controlled the shot count, this game started kind of slow, with the. The Power Play couldn’t take advantage of the Blues’ penalties, and both sides headed to the break tied 0-0.

2nd Period, where all the bad things happened.

The Bruins took some penalties.

On those Penalty Kills, the Boston Bruins got absolutely rinsed in nearly identical ways; the defenseman in front was moved away from the net-front in a battle, Swayman committed to a shot coming from his right, and then the Blues batted home an unusual rebound.

The first Blues player to do this was Braden Schenn…

…and then, Oskar Sundqvist.

The Bruins head to the third period down 2-0 thanks to some gruesome penalty killing.

3rd Period OF THE GODS

ALRIGHT.

SO.

Things looked bad. Really bad. Coming into this period, there looked like there was going to be yet another long discussion about how the final frame was becoming a slow-burning problem for the team.

And then something funny happened.

David Pastrnak stripped the puck from Colton Parayko in the neutral zone, charged into the Blues’ end, and got Morgan Geekie an absolute rocket to fire off past Binnington to get the Bruins their first goal of the night! 2-1 Blues.

Next, Charlie McAvoy got a strong pass out of the defensive end to Justin Brazeau, where he and Brad Marchand victimized Mathieu Joseph for a few seconds, then passed the puck back off to McAvoy, who put a bunker buster of a shot straight past Binnington to tie the game off a screen! 2-2 Everybody!

Good positioning on Brazeau’s part to get in front of Binnington, too. Boston’s had their issues with that kind of thing and it’s great to see a plan come together.

Finally, the Bruins smelled blood in the water, and harangued the Blues until finally, off of a chaotic sequence where the puck bounced out into the slot to Charlie McAvoy, who let David Pastrnak rip one off on Binnington again. Binnington couldn’t keep it in his body, and it trickled into the net with less than 2 minutes to go.

Comeback complete. BOSTON WINS 3-2.

Game Notes

• Your TOI leader tonight was Charlie Mcavoy, who played 25:08 tonight. Right behind him however was David Pastrnak, who played 24:29.
• The B’s were well on their way towards making another extremely exhausting night of people venting their spleen on how the team is built for all of us here on SCoC, but man if they didn’t figure themselves out after Morgan Geekie got his goal. The 5v5 game had always been on their side tonight, it just took a distressing amount of time and a strong shift to finally get it going.
• It also doesn’t escape my notice that they hammered the net-front tonight in what was almost assuredly more of what Coach Monty wants for this team. If Boston wants to win, getting to those dangerous areas of the ice will always be a wonderful equalizer; even if they still struggle with other things. Namely…well…special teams.
• David Pastrnak had a statement game tonight; A goal, an assist on Geekie’s goal that got this whole thing rolling in the first place, accounted for a third of all shots on net from a Bruins skater, and a staggering 97.02% in xGF%. Only one giveaway too, for all those people who care about that sort of thing! Absolutely exceptional stuff from Pasta.
• Charlie McAvoy finished tonight’s game with a huge goal from distance, and one of the better nights he’s had possession-wise so far this season. Morgan Geekie probably got a goal tonight that kept him in the lineup going into the next week or so, but Charlie McAvoy needed a game like this badly, and I gotta imagine he’s gotta feel like he just stepped out of the shower with how refreshed his game was tonight. Gonna need that to continue, but this is an all important step-forward.
• Thank god the Blues’ defense is such trash that Pastrnak was able to get that puck through to Morgan Geekie. Could you imagine what this game would be like if that poke check actually worked instead of just slow it down for Geekie? I sure don’t want to.
• The Penalty Kill is still pretty bad; St. Louis got their lead from two nearly identical shots on the power play that were born of the Blues being able to find space in front of the netminder. That’s gotta be cleaned up when they head to Dallas, because they’ll make you pay for that.
• Oh yeah and the power play is still rough too. Not much I can say there except maybe get weird with it. Let’s stack five forwards. Let’s stack five defenseman. It’s already cratering towards league worst right down by St. Louis, might as well get wacky and make the other team tilt their head.
• Jeremy Swayman’s night was defined, much like Boston, by the penalty kill. He seemed completely out of sorts when he didn’t have a 5th skater in front of him, but after that? He settled down and his SV% settled at .909. If the B’s weren’t taking boneheaded penalties and leaving his left side as a yawning cage, he probably would’ve had a more impressive statline. Otherwise? I think we actually got a pretty standard Swayman performance. To me, a standard Swayman performance is that you can get two goals against him. They might even look terrible. But you will have to move heaven and earth to get goal three, and the Blues couldn’t do that.
• The Bruins lost Hampus Lindholm very early on in the game thanks to blocking a shot with his leg. Hopefully it’s just some pain and swelling, because him being out for any length of time will be painful. Someone on the Providence Bruins should be getting to the airport to make it to Dallas by Thursday night.
• STOP TAKING HIGH STICKING PENALTIES.

The Bruins continue their road trip to Dallas, Texas to take on the Stars on Thursday at the American Airlines Center. That game drops the puck at 8pm EST.

We’ll see you there!

When four-time All-NBA Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum scored his seventh and eighth points against the Atlanta Hawks in Tuesday night’s ongoing Emirates NBA Cup matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, he further enshrined himself among the franchise’s all-time legends.

According to the contest’s NBC Sports Boston broadcast, Tatum’s 12,196 career points (and counting) move him into 12th all-time among Boston’s leading scorers early into his eighth pro season, ahead of Hall of Fame combo forward Tommy Heinsohn’s 12,194 across a nine-season championship run. Three-time All-Star power forward Antoine Walker’s 11,386 and the 10,222 career points of Tatum’s All-Star teammate Jaylen Brown round out the club’s top 15 scorers.

Tatum will no doubt soon pass another Hall of Famer Celtics legend, eight-time All-Star shooting guard Bill Sharman, whom Tatum currently trails by just 91 points. Given that the 6-foot-8 former Duke Blue Devil is could achieve that feat within the next three games.

He’s averaging 30.5 points on .465/.367/.798 shooting splits, 7.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists through his first 11 games with the club. The five-time All-Star, always a pretty prodigious scorer and enthusiastic defender, seems to have taken a leap this year, and has emerged as a bona fide MVP candidate this season.

Seven-time All-Star point guard Jo Jo White is tenth, with 13,188 career points. The Hall of Fame point guard won two championships with Boston from 1969-79, before spending his final two NBA seasons with the Golden State Warrior snad then-Kansas City Kings.

Brown’s 16 points pace the Celtics through one quarter. Boston leads, marginally, against a very banged-up Atlanta club, 31-29. The reigning Finals MVP has scored those 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field (1-of-4 from deep) and 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, plus two rebounds. Tatum’s eight points arrive on an inefficent 2-of-6 shooting from the floor (1-of-4 from long range) and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line. He also has chipped in four rebounds and an assist.

The Celtics have a significant 5-0 edge in fastbreak points so far, while the Hawks’ Trae Young-free offense has, predictably, thrived as a passing team, enjoying a 10-6 advantage.

Boston and Atlanta find themselves in East Group A for this year’s NBA Cup festivities, alongside the 12-0 Cleveland Cavaliers, the scrappy Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards. Chicago and Atlanta represent the league’s two fastest-paced clubs, but that doesn’t seem likely to be a problem for a club as athletic and adept defensively as the defending champs.

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The Boston Celtics are off to a strong start to the 2024-25 season. They have a 9-2 record and will look to add an NBA Cup trophy to the mix. 

The Celtics will kick off their quest for their first NBA Cup on Tuesday when they take on the Atlanta Hawks at home. 

Boston has a lot going right for them, and to no one’s surprise, according to FanDuel, they have the best odds to win the 2024 NBA Cup. 

The Celtics have the best odds of +400 to win the trophy and the $500,000 prize per player. 

Boston is at the top, and it’s not close. The nearest team behind them is the New York Knicks, with +950 odds. The Minnesota Timberwolves (+1000), Cleveland Cavaliers (+1000), and Denver Nuggets (+1100) round out the top five. 

The Celtics are in East Group C, which features the Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, Hawks, and Washington Wizards. The Celtics’ road to the cup is in their favor outside of the Cavaliers, who currently have the best record in the league at 12-0.

A combination of random drawing and records from last season determined the groups. Teams within each conference were put into one of five pots: one for the teams with the three best records in that conference last season, one for the next three best teams, and so on.

Last season, the Celtics came up short in the then-in-season Tournament, but with an even better team this season, the hope is that they can be the last team standing.

Boston has all the tools to raise the trophy and win the prize money. They rank fifth in points per game, fourth in average score margin, and eighth in fastbreak points. On the defensive side of the ball, they rank eighth in opponent points per game, right in opponent fastbreak points, and 10th in opponent effective field goal percentage. 

The quest for their first cup kicks off on Tuesday. Group play games will be played on Tuesdays and Fridays from Tuesday until Dec. 6.

If the Celtics are lucky enough, they will play in the quarterfinal games on Dec. 10 and 11. The semifinals and championship will be in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 and Dec. 17. 

Nothing should be standing in the way of the Celtics, as the only core player they are missing in their lineup now is their big man, Kristaps Porziņģis. 

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