Andy Chase

The Bruins have to win something like 75% of their remaining games this season just to make it to the playoffs. Given their performance so far, that's probably not going to happen.

Watching them this past Thursday against the Flyers, and tonight against the Rangers, though, at least it doesn't seem quite so laughable... it's like the Bruins have woken up. It's so refreshing to watch a game and not have the perpetual sense that the Bruins are about to get scored on.

Of course, in the end they gained a point in the standings but lost 3-2 in the second round of the shootout.

I really dislike the shootout as a mechanism to decide games still tied after five minutes of overtime. It's entertaining, sure, but it really cheapens the entire 65 minutes leading up to it. It essentially takes all of that hard work from both teams and flushes it down the toilet.

Are fans really more bothered by the notion of a tied game than by 65 minutes of hockey coming down to what amounts to a game of rock, paper, scissors?

Tagged:

• hockey
• bruins