Bruins past and present expressed their condolences in the aftermath of Monday’s bombings at the Boston Marathon. The Bruins weren’t the only ones in the hockey world concerned, as the rival Canadiens held a moment of silence prior to their game against the Flyers Monday.

This is not good in Boston right now. Explosions at the marathon on Boylston.

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) April 15, 2013

Way too many friends down there today, I feel sick. — Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) April 15, 2013

Just put the kids to bed, they were a couple blocks away today and got pretty scared.Tough to know what to say to them on a night like this.

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) April 16, 2013

Told them that although there might be a bad person out there, we saw thousands who ran to help.Way more good people in this world than bad.

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) April 16, 2013

Hope this was just a horrible accident. Prayers to everyone around the area that they are okay.

— Tyler Seguin (@tylerseguin92) April 15, 2013

Praying for Boston right now! I hope everyone is ok! — Steven Kampfer (@SteveKampfer47) April 15, 2013

#Habs solidarity with Boston & #Bruins will be shown with a moment of silence pre-game tonight #hockeyisjustagame

— Dave Stubbs (@Dave_Stubbs) April 15, 2013

The Canadiens held a moment of silence for the Bruins Monday. (Dave Stubbs Twitter photo)

Bruins defenseman Andrew Ference tweeted Monday afternoon that Monday’s game against the Senators had been postponed, confirming an earlier report from Joe McDonald of ESPNBoston. The Bruins followed by confirming that the game had been postponed, though the makeup date is not yet known.

Game is off. Our best to everyone affected, please be safe.

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) April 15, 2013

The postponing comes in light of Monday’s events at the Boston Marathon, where two bomb explosions resulted in multiple deaths and injuries. Bruins president Cam Neely issued the following statement:

“After consultation with City, State and NHL officials we collectively made the decision to postpone tonight’s game. Public safety personnel from the City and State are still gathering information regarding today’s events and it is vital they have all resources available for their investigation. The thoughts and prayers of everyone in the Bruins organization are with the city of Boston and all those affected by today’s tragedy.”

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.

Andrew Ference

As the Bruins take turns resting their players leading up to the postseason, Andrew Ference will be a healthy scratch Monday.

“We’re going to rotate some players in and out here from here on in,” Claude Julien said. “We decide to make that decision no matter what, so Ference will be the one sitting out tonight.”

With Ference out, Dougie Hamilton will make his return to the lineup after sitting out the last two games. In addition to playing the entire NHL season leading up to Thursday’s loss to the Islanders, Hamilton had played in the Canada-Russia Junior Challenge series in August before playing in the OHL throughout the lockout.

“I give him a lot of credit for for how well he’s played through all of that. For a young player, to handle all of those minutes and games [is] unbelievable.”

Hamilton, 19, has four goals and 11 assists for 15 point in NHL games this season. Though he’s had some ups and downs, his rookie campaign has been largely impressive as he has been a top-four blueliner for the B’s from the get-go.

Hamilton had told Julien earlier in the season that if he wasn’t playing well enough and Julien wanted to scratch him, he’d understand. He said Monday that while he’d rather be playing, he thinks the rest could be good for him.

“Just playing so much, it feels like the end of the year, which it is, but I think just to get a rest I guess, mentally, and most of all just to get away from playing and to be able to come back, it kind of feels like junior a little bit when you get the week off and then you go back to playing the weekend,” he said. “Hopefully I didn’t get too rusty over that couple days, but I think I feel good.”

Added Hamilton: “Obviously it’s a lot more fun playing and being in the room and I guess being part of the team, but I thought it was good.”

For more on the Bruins, visit weei.com/bruins.

NESN Bruins analyst Barry Pederson checked in with Dennis & Callahan on Tuesday to talk about the team’s hot start to the season.

The Bruins are 8-1-1 and two points behind the Devils for the top seed in the Eastern Conference. However, there is one area of play where the B’s definitely can improve.

“A big concern, of course, I think is the power play,” Pederson said. “These games right now, even though they’re off to the best start in franchise history in 10 games at 8-1-1, their power play is right near the bottom again. They got away with it in the Stanley Cup run, but I don’t think you can do it two years in a row. They need to get their power play going. They’ve outplayed teams I think a lot more than the score shows.”

One of the Bruins’ most aggressive and controversial players is Brad Marchand. He is off to a great start, scoring six goals and recording one assist.

“Brad Marchand is an extraordinarily important part of this hockey team,” Pederson said. “He helps set a lot of the energy. He’s a good specialty team guy, he’s great with his speed, backs off the other team’s defense. As we all know, as Bruins fans, if he was on the other team I don’t think we’d like him quite as much.”

Another key part to the team’s success is Andrew Ference. While the defenseman doesn’t always get the deserved recognition, he clearly is a critical part to the team.

“I think he is one of the most underrated players on this team,” Pederson said. “He’s more gifted offensively than he’s given credit for. He’s not necessarily big in stature, but he’ll stick his nose in there. He and [Adam] McQuaid are a very, very steady tandem out there. I think one through six on team defense the Bruins are as good as anybody. … He’s a guy that’s a good leader.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Shawn Thornton provided early energy for the Bruins with his bout vs. Devils forward Krys Barch. (AP)

Brad Marchand scored the decisive goal in the sixth round while Tuukka Rask stopped 5-of-6 shots in the shootout as the Bruins beat the Devils, 2-1 in overtime Tuesday night at TD Garden. The Bruins (5-0-1) have gained at least a point in all six games this season. The highlight of the shootout came when Tyler Seguin had to re-do his first shot that produced a goal because a fan threw something on the ice. Seguin repeated his effort and scored again.

The Bruins and Devils are the only teams in the Eastern Conference without a regulation loss so far, joining San Jose and Chicago in the West, who were perfect coming into Tuesday’s action.

The two teams battled to a scoreless tie in the opening 20 minutes. Each team recorded nine shots on goal but neither team sustained serious pressure. The main highlight of the first period was a fight between Boston enforcer Shawn Thornton and New Jersey tough guy Krys Barch. In a bout that lasted for nearly a minute and a half, Thornton landed several clean shots before the two were broken apart by the officials, with both teams applauding their skater for staying on their feet the entire time.

The Bruins killed off an Andrew Ference tripping penalty with five minutes left in the first, giving them 24 straight kills to open the season.

But the Bruins were not as lucky in the second period as Johnny Boychuk was whistled for tripping at 7:22. David Clarkson redirected a Marek Zidlicky shot from the left point past Tuukka Rask for the first power play goal allowed by the Bruins in 25 chances this season.

The Bruins would kill off the next three power play chances and finished the game 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. They are 27-of-28 on the penalty kill this season.

The Bruins came out with much greater intensity in the opening minute of the third period and were buzzing around Johan Hedberg. Boston’s best chance came when Dougie Hamilton fired a shot from the left point that just went wide, missing the stick of David Krejci. Instead of a goal, Krejci was called for goaltender interference, taking some momentum away from the Bruins. Read the rest of this entry »

Between his humor and smarts, Andrew Ference is one of the more interesting professional athletes to follow on Twitter. Given that, it should come as no surprise that the Bruins defenseman, who was on hand for this weekend’s negotiations, celebrated the end of the lockout with both humor and a sincere apology for leaving so many without hockey.

Ference, an environmentalist who offsets his travel throughout the season’s impact by purchasing carbon credits, kicked things off with a simple thumbs up and later tweeted a picture of the assembled media in New York with a “Game on” caption before adding the following:

For every NHL pass, a tree will be planted. Every NHL goal, a solar panel will be installed. Wait… what? Those proposals didn’t get in?!?

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) January 6, 2013

On a more serious note, the veteran blueliner expressed remorse over the 113-day lockout.

As players we can now do what we do best. Proudly pull on our jerseys and play with complete passion for our cities and fans. — Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) January 6, 2013

I hope that we can replace the intense negativity brought on our sport with a reminder of how great it can be when the action is on the ice.

— Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) January 6, 2013

From my grandparents to our B’s fans, I am deeply sorry that we had to miss so much hockey. All we can do now is play our hearts out for you — Andrew Ference (@Ferknuckle) January 6, 2013

David Krejci has three goals in the Czech Elite League.

Only 18 players were able to attend Thursday’s negotiating session between the NHLPA and the owners, due in large part to many of the stars being overseas for the lockout. Among those in attendance Thursday in Toronto was Bruins’ enforcer Shawn Thornton. A good day of talks between the sides could mean an eventual end to the lockout, but for now here’s the latest update on how Bruins players are faring in Europe and the OHL.

[Certain leagues' stats take a little longer to surface on the various hockey statistics sites (HockeyDB is used for most of these), so some statistics might not be up to the day/hour/minute/etc.]

Swiss National League A

- Tyler Seguin has one goal and four assists for five points in seven games for EHC Biel. He’s also rocking a not-so-shiny minus-6 rating.

KHL

- In five games with Prague Lev, Zdeno Chara has one goal and two assists for three points and a minus-1 rating.

- Bruins backup goalie Anton Khudobin is 3-6-2 with a 2.65 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 11 games for Moscow Oblast Atlant.

Czech Elite League

- David Krejci has three goals and two assists for five points and an even rating in five games for HC Pardubice.

- In two games for Ceske Budejovice, Andrew Ference has one assist and a plus-2 rating.

Deutsche Eishockey League

- Dennis Seidenberg has one assist and an even rating in four games for the Manheim Eagles.

SM-liiga

- Through seven games for JyP HT Jyvaskyla of the SM-liiga, Rich Peverley has no goals but five assists. He’s recorded six penalty minutes and has a plus-1 rating.

OHL

- Turns out it wasn’t just a hot start for 2011 third-rounder Anthony Camara. The physical forward has nine goals and three assists for 12 points and a plus-3 rating for the Barrie Colts. He’s also kept up his physical end of the bargain, compiling 21 penalty minutes.

- In 11 games for the Niagara IceDogs, Dougie Hamilton has three goals and eight assists for 11 points and a plus-11 rating.

- Goalie Malcolm Subban is 5-2-1 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .934 save percentage through eight games for the Belleville Bulls.