Remember when Mike Tyson was on top of the boxing world some 20-25 years ago? Iron Mike ran through his competition like a hot knife through butter en route to capturing the IBF/WBA/WBC heavyweight titles during the mid-80's.
He was on his way to the best of all time. The greatest ever. His name, along with his destructive style, came along with the hoopla that people ate-up and with every schedule bout -- regardless of the pay-per-view cost.
And of course, we would dish-out the criminal fees to HBO to watch Iron Mike nearly decapitate his latest victim. After all, months had passed since the Champ fought. The promoters did such a good job of hyping it up -- especially during the weigh-ins -- that we couldn't be "that guy" who went to work [or school, in my case] the next day without watching it and talking about it.
But with every Mike Tyson fight, along with the hype, came one sure outcome: It was usually over by the fist round.
Sure, his opponent may have danced around for a few moments. Heck, he may have even landed a few jabs to wake-up the beast. But one thing remained the same for many, many years. Mike won effortlessly, and he won quickly.
The same thing could be said about the Boston Bruins last night at the TD Garden. Losing -- and losing badly -- to the reigning Stanley Cup Champions, Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0.
But the score does the debacle no justice. This game was never really close. Akin to a Mike Tyson fight in the 80's, it had the anticipation and the makings to be one of the greatest events in a long time. And in the Bruins case; one of their most exciting games since their bout with the Dallas Stars on Nov. 1, 2008.
Like Tyson defending his belt(s), the Bruins were not only defending the honor of their No. 1 center Marc Savard, but the Spoked-"B" logo that's etched across their chests.
There were lengthy pre-game ceremonies of the 1970 Stanley Cup winning Boston Bruins that just so happened to be the same night that Matt Cooke and the Penguins came to town for their fourth-and-final meeting of the season. Ironically, it was 40 years to the day that the Big Bad Bruins took home Lord Stanley's Cup; and just 12 days ago when Cooke knocked-out No. 91 with a blindside hit to the head. And as we all know by now that Savvy suffered a Grade 2 concussion and is more than likely finito for the season.
Shawn Thornton earned his paycheck last night by being the one to avenge Savard's injury. The Bruins' policeman engaged just 0:07 into Cooke's first shift of the first period. It was everything the 17,565 people in attendance paid their money to see -- and then it was over. Thornton landed a few very good shots to Cooke's ugly kisser and even got an extra 10 minutes for punching while the linesmen were trying to intervene. But it was no more of a beating than Cooke had sustained in his 15 career NHL fights prior to that.
The highlight of the night was over and done with in a matter of 0:23, as the rest of the game was completely anti-climactic and a struggle to watch. Although Zdeno Chara landed his first five-minute fighting major of the season, the Bruins did nothing to rally behind that momentum. In fact, the crowd was in to it, but Mark Stuart took a foolish hooking penalty just 17 second after, sucking the life out of 100 Legends Way.
The Bruins disappointed as they have all season long. Having been outshot in the game 31-17 [5-5 in the first, 15-5 in the second, 11-7 in the third] the B's also went 0-4 on the power play. In the six games that Savard has been out, the Black-and-Gold are now just 1-for-18 [5.5%] with the man advantage.
Although the Pens remain in the top-2 in the Eastern Conference -- and top-6 in the NHL -- they were in fact ripe for the pickins last night. Coming off a 5-2 loss by the New Jersey Devils just the night before, Pittsburgh was without their No. 2 point-getter, Evgeni Malkin. Moreover, their goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury, wad been struggling in his three games prior -- posting a 1-2-0 record with a goals-against average over 3.30 and a .881 save-percentage.
Tack on the fact that Crosby and Co. were finally in the Bruins' home in this highly anticipated matchup, the Bruins were in a position to make a statement with this game: to the fans, to the rest of the league, and more importantly, to each other. But the B's thought that after the Thornton vs. Cooke fight they had won the battle. They [barely] skated throughout the rest of the game as if it were a preseason game against their ECHL affiliates.
No heart. No passion. No effort.
Cooke got off the hook easy as the Pittsburgh Penguins continued to make a mockery of the Boston Bruins -- not once, but twice.
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