Ahh, Bruins Game

Today was my Bruins game experience, and it did not disappoint. My friend and I took the T into Boston, and I had to snag a picture of this guy on the way.

Who knew there was a Bruins cowboy hat?

This is the no-zoom view from our seats. We had no seats directly in front of ours, and only a slight visual obstruction, or more of a distortion, due to the plexi barrier at the lower right there. It wasn't that annoying to see through, just something to notice.

During warm-ups, some of the guys get themselves into odd positions.

Off to our left, the bright lights of the broadcast booth before the game started.

A car on the ice? Yes, the presentation of the 7th Player Award. Congratulations to Charlie McAvoy, who sadly had to accept in a suit, since he's still out with an injury. Should be back soon!

In the starting lineup, Patrice Bergeron!

For the anthem before the game, there's always a Kid Captain who comes out to stand with the Bruins, and this time, it was a sled hockey player, so that was pretty cool.

I mean, why not, right?

The Panthers scored first, which was a slight letdown, but as I said to my friend, at least this year, you don't start to feel that oh-no sense when they let in the first one. And soon enough, they were celebrating their own goal, by Nick Holden:

And another, from Jake DeBrusk, in his return from injury:

In the second, Ryan Donato smoked one in:

My boy Bergeron got a beauty on the power play

And finally, DeBrusk got another: 

That was it for the scoring, though play did get stopped at one point on a suspected Panthers goal. Our seats were just about on the goal line, and we had had a very clear view of the puck taking a wild bounce across the net-front, off the post, and out, but I was certain it hadn't crossed the goal line, and after review, they agreed with me. Of course.

There were a couple of fights, and unfortunately a couple of injuries as well: Riley Nash took a puck to the head that seemed to injure his ear area, and Brandon Carlo went down awkwardly and hurt his leg. He had to be stretchered off, but he did hop onto the stretcher on his own, so hopefully that's a good sign.

Perhaps the bunny in the stands will send him good luck, this Easter weekend.

After the game, we went to the Pro Shop to fight the crowds and look over the merchandise, but I actually didn't find anything I couldn't live without. I did like one jacket they had, but the largest size in stock was a medium, so oh well. My friend bought me a pair of Bruins socks, which will be a nice reminder. I saw a guy on the concourse wearing one of those Life Is Good t-shirts, in a nice Bruins gold, that had a little flying hockey player and the Bruins logo, so maybe I'll be able to track one of those down online. He was wrangling a couple of little kids, so I didn't get a chance to ask him if it was a recent purchase.

I didn't buy this, either, but I took its picture.