I was all set to rip Matt Kirk a new one and Curtis Marouelli too for this game as their ridiculously bad reffing put the Giants into a bad hole, but it was not a hole the Giants could not climb out of if they had worked for it, but they didn’t. The zebras were simply awful, inconsistent and mind-numbingly inept, but the Giants did not gut it out when they got their chances, gave up some pretty easy goals and could not complete a pass to save their lives. The Giants were also victims of some bad luck in general as usually solid odds went against them. I noticed what appeared to be some nice pinches from the D, when 90-95% of the time the puck stays in the zone, but each and every time they failed to keep the puck in the Bruins end of the ice. The home squad badly squandered PPs except for the one where Gallagher scored their only goal of the game. The Bruins skated like the wind, were excellent positionally and took the body smart and well. The Giants looked to be incapable of putting together a play and their timing was abysmal. They actively gave this game away after playing alright for a good portion, but they had no finish around the net and the Bruins did.

The two squads came out flying and I mean flying. Both teams were skating end to end with blazing speed and remarkably the Bruins managed to keep that kind of pace for the majority of the game, winning puck battles, and chasing down loose pucks. They put more than a few hands and hooks on Giants to gain some of these advantages, none of which were called when they counted, but the Giants did not battle through these enough to get the call on a more consistent basis. The Bruins got the only goal of the first off of a bit of a broken play. After making a nice clear in front of their net, the Giants were taking the puck up the slot when it bounced free right onto Mitch McColm’s stick at the blue-line. McColm slapped at the puck finding the bottom corner through traffic. Very early in the period, first shift 14 seconds in to be precise, David Robinson challenged James Henry to fight throwing a flurry of punches before getting the take-down, signalling what was to come for the G’s in this one.

Jamie Crooks scored on the PP for the Bears in the second, putting home a deflected puck in front of Tucker. Jamie Tucker was okay tonight, but certainly nothing special. Just over the mid-mark of the period the Giants bobbled the puck 4 on 4 in the neutral zone, giving a chance for Ryan Howse to wind it up and he did. Beating Connauton to the outside with his blazing wheels, he cut to the net and fired one past Jamie Tucker who failed to make the save he needed to make. It was not an easy save and it was good goal from a bonafide goal scorer, but if you are going to be an elite goaltender that is the save you have to make to give your team a chance to win. The Giants were very guilty of bobbling pucks and being very sloppy with their possessions. They skated with the Bruins for most of the game, but their defensive breakdowns cost them goals they might not have given on another night.

The Giants closed the gap to two early in the third, making a late call against the Bruins at the end of the second work for them off the rush. Brendan Gallagher found the top corner putting home a nice feed from JT Barnett and Craig Cunningham. The Bruins were quick to restore their lead less than three minutes later when Shayne Neigum found the twine off another poor turnover by the G’s. Robinson padded that lead when the Giants bobbled the puck at the Bruins blue-line giving Robinson a semi-clean breakaway. Robinson put it home going wide and then cutting across the crease, snapping it over Tucker’s blocker hand. Robinson put the cleated boots to the G-Men with time ticking down taking a great feed from Grant on the doorstep and chipping the puck high shelf. That was all she wrote and she wrote something ugly.

The Giants should have taken the loss in this one, but circumstances made it worse than it should have been in my mind. The bottom line though is that they didn’t play well enough to win and that’s two really bad games in a row and its getting a bit too regular with this crew for my liking. The karma for this game was not good for the G’s in many ways, the criminally short reffing straw, some bad puck luck, and high percentage plays going sideways, but these are all things they can and must play through to get the win. The Bruins on the other hand scored easy goals, their goalie was barely tested and the puck found their sticks with remarkable ease. After being pounded by the Giants in games like this, this season, I suppose the coin had to drop the other way sometime and tonight was it.

The Giants actually out shot the Bruins 25-23 in this one, making the insult that much more stinging. Mark Friesen was solid, but never great and never needed to make that game saver stop. The Giants did not pressure him enough, they did not get second shots and they did not crash the net effectively. The Giants went 1 for 6 on the PP, with three of those six PPs coming way after it didn’t matter very late in the third with the Bruins doing the same things they had been doing all game, but were not being called on earlier in the game when it could have made a difference. Cue the ‘ref you suck’ track. Kirk was so quintessentially Kirk that it’s a wonder he’s able to keep his job. The Bruins went 1 for 7 on their PP chances. The Giants pissed away their PP chances regardless, allowing themselves to be stripped of the puck easily and playing the majority of all three PPs in the third in their own end of the ice. They were awful. The Bruins kept good puck pressure and were quickest to the loose rubber. It was clear they had this game marked on their calendar after their last loss in Chilliwack as they came out gutting out every shift and playing tough smart hockey. Habscheid has them playing more as a unit and it showed. One of these days we’ll get a game between these two teams where both teams show up and that should be a fun one.

The Giants have a few days off to exorcise their demons and get back on the same page before facing a tough Portland squad. The Giants shut-out the Hawks in Portland earlier this month, before dropping two to Tri-City and Spokane on the road trip. The Giants will need to bring their best game to the Coliseum come Saturday. The stands should be packed though as its Legends of Hockey night and should draw a bunch of people anxious to meet their heroes. The puck drops on Saturday at 7pm.

Three Stars

1. Ryan Howse
2. David Robinson
3. Mitch McColm