The Boston Bruins: The Sins of the Penguins

The Boston Bruins: The Sins of the Penguins

on February 5th 1987 the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins had a yard sale the game itself was typical for the 80s a Mario Lemieux five-point hattrick to lead the hapless Penguins to a 65 loss the pens despite getting a generational talent in the 1984 draft had remained the same level of mediocre they’d been since they entered the league the Bruins weren’t in the greatest place either in the 15 years since or and Esposito LED them to a Stanley Cup they were better than the Peng but the bees were not a top team in the league despite the Sterling play of their Superstar defenseman Ray bour back for Bor hits it on the go scor this game ended in fists and while Mario watched from the outside of the fry In the Heat of the battle was Boston’s best non bork player Cam Neely and beside him was veteran defenseman Mike Milbury Neely was a burgeoning star just coming into his own as one of the League’s first true power forwards he laid as many crushing hits as he scored goals and vice versa Milbury was in his final season as a player and at this point in his career was best known for climbing into the stands during a game and beating a spectator with his own shoe which was by all accounts deserved over the next half decade the growth of these two teams would put them on an inescapable Collision Course this seemingly innocuous game did end in a brawl yes but it was the 80s this wasn’t the start of a brutal hatred between these these two teams it was just foreshadowing the real inciting moment would come in 1991 in the time between the brawl and the real birth of loathing the Bruins went from a mediocre playoff team to the top team in the Eastern Conference 1990 saw the bees finish as the Wales conference’s top regular season team and reach the Stanley Cup Final and in 1991 Boston once again led the East Ray Bor was well on his way to his fourth Norris Trophy in 5 years Mike Milbury had taken over behind the bench for the 1990 season and flourished as a coach but more importantly cam Ney had become a superstar firing it in NE rebound scores his 55 goals and 92 points in 1990 both LED the Bruins in the regular season while his 12 goals and 28 points through 21 playoff games did the same he replicated the season in 91 with another 50 goals and another 90 points the superb Bruins matched up against their little brothers in Hartford in the first round of the playoffs the massively out matched Whalers put up a valiant fight against Boston but their recently acquired young Stars John Cullen and zarle zalapski couldn’t match the power of bour Neely and his linemate Hartford native Craig Janney bounces it in it’s scor it will be a goal by JY as ited Boston’s next opponent was the Montreal Canadian ANS who they barely survived Bruins goalie Andy Moog outd eventual Hall of Famer Patrick W but with a hatrick in the pivotal game five win and scoring the game seven winner was cam neie who had seven goals in the series and now 12 in the playoffs drive from the neutral zone waiting for the Bruins in the conference final was of course the Pittsburgh Penguins since the brawl the Penguins had built buil up support around their all-time Talent Captain they had survived an injury to their Elite starting goalie Tom barasso in round one against the devils and Waltz passed the Capitals in five games even with an injury to top defenseman Paul coffee the pens force of nature Top Line of Lemieux Mark wrey and Kevin Stevens had been uncontainable but there was plenty of depth on the roster headlined by Elite two-way playmaking Center Ron Francis as you may remember Hartford had recently acquired two of their best players John Cullen and Zar zalapski both of those two came from the Penguins as part of a massive mid-season trade Francis the Whaler’s Captain was the premier piece of the return to Pittsburgh for the 100 Point scorer Cullen and the 22-year-old top pairing defenseman zalapski but alongside Francis came zap’s Replacements on the Penguin’s blue line and attempt by the pens to get tougher and more defensively responsible with Ron Francis came Grant Jennings and more notably Al Samuelson [Music] [Music] game one at the Boston Garden the Bruins tore through barasso and ne’s second goal of the night proved to be the eventual gamewinner NE going in in the second game of the series coverage of Neely tightened with samelson gled to the star jny Den is buried by Sam well the nearly Unstoppable Neely was limited to one goal space opened up for the rest of the Bruins and Vladimir roska won the game in overtime giving the Bruins a two nothing straggle hold on the series the game was ugly from the start with scrums throughout but it started when Grant Jennings of the Penguins fought Chris nylon though both were only given 2 minutes nylan was really the only true classic enforcer in the series at that point your take on allc comers fighter though he he was strangely an All-Star in 1991 because Mike Milbury got to name the team the Penguins had some gritty guys but only one was in nylon’s Stratosphere in terms of penalty minutes Al Samuelson Al didn’t get into a big scrum during the game but he did head to the box for a cross check on Neely in front of the net as a swed in the 80s samelson did everything in his power to shed The Stereotype of soft Euros that had been tacked on to so many of his countrymen samelson wasn’t the brawler that nylon was but he would fight though he averaged five to 10 fights per season as opposed to Nyland 15 to3 all fracked up his penalty minutes not through fights but through just overt nastiness this clip of the two tough guys from 1986 really encapsulates their brands samelson cracks nylon with a cross check to the Head nylon pounds on him then off tries to take out the enforcer’s leg at the end of the fight nylon went about his business for the sake of the code which gave him some degree of respect even when he but ended a player in the face oh butt ended midd it right in the face how could nylon possibly say to Carrie Fraser how come you’re calling me whether you care about the code or not it’s clear that samelson had no interest in it despite both players having been overtly violent breaking in tons of penalty minutes and and even both fighting cam melee they were not the same game three and there was Chris nylon fighting again the Penguins won the game on the back of Francis Stevens and Lemieux but that’s not what anyone remembers in the second off hurt cam Ney shot blocked by cam NE got M up and now NE is hit by the Swedish defenseman blew out the Bruins knee with his own no excuse dirty hit no penalty because the play is usually seen in a vacuum I feel like most people don’t know that the play didn’t stop immediately oh but when it did Mike Milbury was looking for a shoe he’s unbelievable is Milbury a guy that I personally like no but he was right to be incensed here at some point he picked up a stick and carried it around smacking it against the glass when Milbury filled out his lineup for game four it was clear he wasn’t interested in the series anymore he just wanted Samuel s the video this morning and I couldn’t even tell in the video so you know if he says it’s a I’m sure it’s a I don’t know why they would lie but I was just trying to stand him up and uh hit him in the neutral zone he added size and grid on his blue line in Allan Peterson and the unproven but large Pittsburgh native Bob beers but more importantly he took more goons out of storage nylon was a decent enough player to keep in the lineup Milbury broke out the guys that weren’t into the lineup came Lyndon buers and nein Mark wart they knew why they were there hey what do you call me a goon what do you think I’m a goon well cuz I got 830 minutes of penalties in 200 games what does that consider I mean I get what do I I get 29 goals what I get two goals this year don’t pressure me now you would assume one of these guys took ne’s place but no the breu and star marched out on one Lev leg for game four the Bruins lost that game didn’t really get to samelson and though they wounded Lemieux they were unable to slow him down Neely who had been truly superb was clearly hurt and couldn’t drive the Bruins offense that didn’t have particularly great depth scoring in game five the Penguins walked by the bees 7 to2 samelson scored number seven har Olu made a couple of good moves on Janny the shot by Samuel he scores the Bruin put together a normal lineup for game six but even though Neely found himself on the score sheet again the Penguin’s momentum couldn’t be stopped and they were on to the Stanley Cup Final where they would win their franchises first the Bruins were left with just a small moral Victory they were the team that was Seeking Justice even through throwing their season away but for a team as good as they were a moral Victory wasn’t good enough the muscle around ne’s injured knee started to turn to Bone and though he managed a goal per game went in the lineup in 1992 he dressed for only nine the only satisfaction comes when UL Samuelson receives an unscheduled dentle check I hate to see that when Boston got their chance for a rematch in the 1992 Conference Final there was no cam despite the kill off banners hung by fans in the garden the Bruins were swept and the Penguins and off Samuels won their second Stanley Cup shortly thereafter in 1993 Neely still plagued by injuries tried to fight samelson to settle the score and Al just wouldn’t that same year in a piece by John Shure of Sports Illustrated titled simply Mr dirty players from around the league gave their opinion on Samson and they were um overwhelmingly negative responding to the criticism Samuelson just Shrugged I know a lot of guys in the league can beat the [ __ ] out of me he says but I’m not going to change my attitude the day I change my attitude is the day I go back to Sweden and play in the non-con league the quote from the piece that really personified Samuelson I’m not going to say I’m a clean player he says because I’m not but I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally tried to hurt someone unless I got hurt myself then I like to get even cam had one great season left scoring 50 goals in 49 games in 94 a testament to his immense talent that never got to fully bloom after a couple more solid partial seasons in 1996 Nee called it a career at just 31 even though he recovered from the knee injury he now needed a hip replacement for his degenerative hip condition samuelson’s hit may not have ended ne’s career but it gutted the prime of one of the most electric players in the league you know I I don’t really respect the way that he plays the game of hockey I mean injuries are part of the game everybody realizes that um but I just don’t respect the way that he plays the game I mean uh and some people might think that I’m just bitter towards them which you know I probably am a little bit but then 14 years later a penguin ruined another career in a whatever game in March Mark seard shot a puck on net vard had led the Bruins in points every year since he signed with the team prior to the 0607 season a season in which he had more assists than any other Bruin had points he was one of the NHL’s most consistent scorers then Matt Cook hit him drops it off and a high shot sails over the shoulder oh one of the Bruins one of the Bruins just got blasted matook it was a dirty Blindside hit to the Head not not a penalty technically speaking but it would be banned officially very soon after berson told off cook who looked indignant Cook’s teammates he stood behind looked Disturbed Savard went off on a stretcher his career was ruined it was another hit in a long line of hits for Cook to the point where even his teammate Bill Garen sided with the Bruins in fact it was the respected veteran who relay to cook that he needed to answer for the hit by fighting Shawn thoron and they said to Billy Garen you go in the room and you tell Matt Cook he fights Shawn thoron the first shift or this game is going to get ugly quick and we’re going to be all over the sports center highlights for all the wrong reasons when I say C’s rap sheet was long I mean long unlike UL who was a menace in an era full of menaces and enforcers that supposedly kept him in check cook was one of the Last of a Dying Breed there were only a couple other players like Steve Downey and sha Avery that fit into Cook’s mold of aggressive antagonists while enforcers were rarely full-time players anymore since he joined the Penguins cook really took his behavior to the next level with awful hit after awful hit many of which including this hit on card went without supplemental discipline colon Campbell was the NHL’s head of discipline at the time and was ultimately the one who made the decision not to suspect spend cook in the fall of 2010 Campbell had emails leak out in which he called Mark saard a little fake artist and complained to officials that they were calling too many penalties on his son Gregory in 2016 even more emails from the time were released to the public and Mike what are you doing here following the cavard hit Mike Milbury now an NBC analyst reached out to Campbell to say that he agreed with not suspending cook documented by S SP nation’s Mary Clark and Patrick Iverson Milbury you should feel good you got it right in the face of mania and pressure from above I am sure being right is better than being PC Campbell I’m sorry Boston but someone should teach that young man sard was 32 something about keeping his head up hitting is a vital aspect to everything our game is about and we may be a justing it too much if we are not careful and give in the masses Canada certainly loved Rick smash Nash running everyone in the Olympics colen Campbell was card’s first coach in the NHL and he saw Mark leave the ice on a stretcher and his big takeaway was he should have kept his head up though svard came back and played in the 2010 playoffs he wasn’t the star the Bruins had just a few months earlier maybe if he’s at full power the Bruins survive the David Cree injury and don’t get reverse swept by the flyers in the second round sard didn’t get to play a role in the Bruins march to a stainle cop in 2011 for many people seeing seard like that would have been the end maybe getting beat to a pulp by Shawn Thorton Would Have Made It click but cook kept on he boarded Fedor Tuton and got suspended then he elbowed Ryan MCD in the head and that was the last straw in the wake of Sydney Crosby’s concussions the Penguins and now owner Mario Lemieux had been very vocal proponents of taking head shot out of the game and they could no longer defend the head shot proponent on their own roster cook took a massive suspension following the hit on MCD and had an intervention of sorts with the Penguin’s brass he admitted to media that he had to change a sad reality of life is that some people refuse to develop empathy toward a situation until it hits close to home whether it’s a social cause or disease or whatever else cook was like that with head shots it took his teammate his captain nearly having his career ruined by a head shot for Matt to finally realize he was in the wrong it shouldn’t have taken that cook spent the remainder of his career as a mostly clean player despite his reputation as a danger following him into his postc career days he does get good reviews as as a person but I’m sure many of you aren’t interested in a Redemption story and the Bruins weren’t either even after thoron exacted revenge on cook it didn’t suddenly make the Bruins like him Pittsburgh media gave cook a vote for the lady Bing and then nominated him for the masterton longtime Bruins play-by-play guy Jack Edwards had something to say could not help but notice last season when the Pittsburgh writers nominated Matt Cook for the masterton award for dedication and perseverance to hockey the justification being how cook had changed his ways after basically assassinating Mark saard nominating cook for the masterton is about the equivalent of nominating Siran Siran as the prisoner of the year I’m Colleen Sullivan live from ABC7 breaking news Governor Gavin Newsome has denied parole for Sirhan Sirhan the man who assassinated Robert F Kennedy in 1968 listen if you know anything about the media surrounding these two cities you know they both have always had their fair share of dumb guys with Pittsburgh media tripping over themselves to get the man ordained and Boston media still wanting to put the man on trial for war crimes in 2016 seard told the Boston Globes Stan grossfield that cook called him after the game but quote I wasn’t in any mood to talk to him that night so I never talked to him I never heard from him cook told the story differently in a 2024 piece by Joshua cloak of the athletic quote cook has never spoken to seard he said he tried to get in touch for a month after the hit you can only get rejected so many times cook says softly cook maintains that the play was legal at the time but admits that it would be a massive suspension today he says it’s the one thing about his career he would change cook didn’t exactly do himself any favors in the Boston public forum by plowing Adam McQuade into the boards and getting thrown out of a game in the 2013 playoffs this time the Bruins dusted the pens to head to the Stanley Cup Final in a full circle moment from 1991 Matt Cook’s final game with the Penguins was a Conference Final loss to the Bruins do you think he’d do this stuff against gresy if sinko was there do you think he’d do this against Eiserman with PRT was there no that’s what I’m trying to tell you he wouldn’t do that stuff it is unbelievable what this guy does

The Penguins don’t have many goons, but they certainly have some snakes.

Theme by me

Special thanks to r/bostonbruins who I surveyed to select the players

Supplemental viewing:
-Dale Arnold talking about Guerin and Cooke

-Don Cherry on Ulf

-Lyndon Byers impersonating Don Cherry

-Cooke rationalizing the hit

-Ulf getting thumped

-The SB Nation video on Ulf and Neely which is great