If you're not familiar with Game of Thrones, well then shame on you. This is a play off of "Bear and the Maiden Fair" a popular song in Westeros. 

A bear there was, a bear, a bear!
All black and gold and covered in hair!
Three forwards, a goalie and a Chara bear!
They checked and scored, right to the fair!

Oh sweet he was, and pure, and fair!
Rick Nash with honey up in his hair!
Chara smelled him on the summer air!
Rick Nash with honey up in his hair!

From there, to here. From here! To there!
All black and gold and covered in hair!
He smelled Henry on the summer air!
The bear! The bear!
The Rangers fair!

Oh, I'm Marc Staal, I'm pure and fair!
I'll never see that Krejci bear!
I called a knight, but you're a bear!
All black and gold and covered in hair!

Lucic hit him high in the air!
He sniffed and roared and smashed him there!
Boyle kicked and wailed, the Rag so fair!
Lucic bashed him hard and left him there!

From there, to here. From here! To there!
All black and gold and covered in hair!
He smelled Henry on the summer air!
The bear! The bear!
The Rangers fair!

And the bear, the bear!
The Rangers fair!
And the bear, the bear!

Hagelin sighed and squealed and kicked the air!
The Garden sang: My bear! My bear so fair!
And they celebrated Game 1 in the summer air
The bear, the bear,
Beat the Rangers fair!

From there, to here. From here! To there!
All black and gold and covered in hair!
He smelled Henry on the summer air!
The bear! The bear!
The Rangers fair!

And the bear, the bear!
The Rangers fair!
And the bear, the bear!

After the jump, the rest of the preview...

The Bruins, literally, escaped the first round by the skin of their teeth. We already know the amazing story of how it happened. We wrote a recap about it and Patrice Purrgeron wrote an amazing story called "How The Bruins Stole Game Seven". If you haven't checked out Purrgeron's story yet, you're a fool and you need to remedy that immediately. 

So with the second round upon us, I figured I would give you a quick look at the New York Rangers and which bloggers to annoy during the series. So let's go! 

The New York Rangers

After the jump we take a look at the Rangers and give our predictions...

Every Bruins fan down in Boston Liked the Playoffs a lot... 

But the Players, Who lived just North of Boston, apparently Did NOT! 

The Players hated the Playoffs! The whole Playoff season! Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason. It could be that their heads weren’t in the game quite right. It could be, perhaps, that their skates were too tight. But we think that the most likely reason of all may have been that their hearts were two sizes too small. 

But, whatever the reason, their hearts or their skates, they stood there on Game Seven, being incredibly lazy with their play, staring down from their bear cave with a sour, un-Bruiny frown at the warm lighted smiles just one bench down. For they knew every Leaf down in Leafville beneath was busy now, hanging a “First Round Victory” wreath. 

"Toronto’s been much better at hockey!" they snarled with a sneer. "Game Seven is done in just ten minutes! Our end is practically here!" they growled, with their bear fingers nervously drumming, "We MUST find a way to keep golf season from coming!"

For, in ten minutes, they knew all the Leafs down in Leafville, the girls and boys, would turn Toronto into a zoo. They’d rush for Maple Leaf second round toys! And then… all the Twitter noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise! That's one thing they hated! The Twitter NOISE! NOISE! NOISE! NOISE as the Boston media and fans over reacted.

The NHL announced their three finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy today. The nominees are Pavel Datsyuk, Jonathan Toews and current Selke award winner Patrice Bergeron. 

The Frank J. Selke Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League forward who demonstrates the most skill in the defensive component of the game. The winner is selected by a poll of theProfessional Hockey Writers' Association following the regular season

Remember when Bergeron never got nominated for this despite being one of the best two way centers in the NHL? 

We haven't done a photoshop expo in a long, long time. The most successful Photoshop expo was our "What Is Guy Boucher Holding" expo, so let's try to top that. Thanks to Dan Ryan from SCoC. So this is what we want you to do. 

Use the picture below:

You can click the picture for an even larger image to work off of. If you have ever seen the Overly-Attached Girlfriend memes, we're going on that kind of theme. Here are a couple that Dan himself made: 

But they can be about anything, honestly. Email them to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . We will do a post after Game 1 (so Friday morning) and show off the best ones. DOY Staff will vote on their favorite and we will see what we have to give away. 

Stole this from NYRangersblog. I'm sure he won't mind if we do a little copy/paste. 

As you can see, Boston gets 2 days off between Games 1 and 2 and then 2 days off between Games 2 and 3. That could benefit a team that is tired and could be without their top two defensemen. Also, if you're wondering - there will be NO games on NESN. 

Game 1: NBCSN, RDS, TSN
Game 2: NBC, RDS, TSN
Game 3: NBCSN, RDS, TSN
Game 4: CNBC, RDS, TSN

Tomorrow we will have our "Know Your Enemy - Rangers" breakdown. If you haven't read our recap yet - go do it. 
 

We still don't know what the hell happened. When the Bruins went down 4-1 we wanted to grab a box of kittens and punch each one in the face. (PURRGERON NOTE: I hope Jon loses both of his testicles for that comment)

The Bruins we had seen for the last month of the regular season and through much of this series could not, and according to their attitude on the ice, would not come back from this. Even when they made it 4-2, you just thought yeah great I saw this in Games 5 and 6 too. Too little too late guys. 

Then something happened. Maybe Toronto's incompetence out weighed Boston's earlier incompetence. Maybe the Bruins finally realized Reimer gives up rebounds like Justin gives out handies to dudes at steam punk festivals.

Maybe Julien finally realized he was being badly outcoached by a guy that was giving Colton Orr WAY too much ice time. Whatever happened, the Bruins finally found a spark. Everyone that was slumping on the team was suddenly unstoppable.

Bergeron finally showed up. Lucic finally showed up. Horton finally showed up. The defense finally showed up (much to Tuukka "I'M SUPER FUCKING AWESOME" Rask's delight). Something finally, FINALLY clicked and for ten unbelievable minutes we all saw the Bruins we were waiting for. 

And what happened, then? Well, in Boston they say... the Bruins small hearts grew three sizes that game. And then...the true meaning of the playoffs came through, and each Bruin found the strength of TEN Bruins... plus two!

Whatever happened, we're glad it did. And we're glad we were wrong. If any of you try to sit there and say you know the Bruins would pull it off after they went down 4-1 you're either a liar or the biggest homer ever. Not with the way they had been playing. Now we just have to hope they can keep that intensity against the Rangers. Whoever comes out of that series is going to beat up BAD.

Isn't it crazy how similar these pictures are? (Stick tap to Michael Hurley)

After the jump...AND WE DON'T MEAN OFF THE TOBIN!!!

Holy shitballs what a third period.

Part of us feels a little bad for these Leaf fans, mostly 'cause growing up in Boston we've totally been there. You're day will come one day, Toronto... maybe. But for now, here are some great pics/video fo stunned Maple Leaf fans and players. Enjoy.

Not sure if crying or taking a shit...

You can't see my tears if I wear sunglasses

Lost among the millions of pictures swirling the Internet this morning of Bruins fans celebrating and Leafs fans dejected is the news that the Bill Masterton Trophy nominees have been named. 

From Wikipedia:

The Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey. The winner is selected by a poll of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association after each team nominates one player in competition. It is often awarded to a player who has come back from career– or even life-threatening illness or injury.

McQuaid underwent surgery in October for a blood clot found in his collar bone. 

As much as I want McQuaid to win this, I'm all for Josh Harding winning this award - who came back during the playoffs after a tough battle with MS. This is an award where whoever wins, all three nominations are well deserved. 

I honestly had no idea we'd be here right now. I had this series done, circled on the calendar as the final blow being last Friday because the Bruins were feeling it. I picked the Leafs in six, but after the first four games I thought there was no way that Toronto fights back. 

Then Game 5 happened...

Then Game 6 happened...

And here we sit. The Bruins fanbase (at least the ones on Twitter) are cutting each other's throats like it's Game of Thrones. One camp is overly positive and one camp is overly negative and the stragglers just don't give a shit. It's literally madness right now. 

So the Bruins will fly back this morning because of a plane malfunction and isn't that just a perfect image for how this series is gone? The team is flying high and then they land and can't get their motor going. 

I know that I'm pretty negative and it's basically becoming a staple of mine - but where is the positivity in this? Has anyone watched the team lately? Outside of Tuukka Rask, who is constantly showing up and performing? Even David Krejci has quieted down after he became "THE BEST IN THE WURRRRRRRRRRLD!!!!one11!!11". 

I wiwsh I could come here and give you guys from "rah-rah" speech that would fire you up and bring some positivity to this, but I can't. I just don't have the energy for what the Bruins do anymore. This is a trend - the Stanley Cup winning team isn't the norm, it's the exception to the rule. Look at the previous years: 

2009: The Bruins are the best team in the Eastern Conference with 119 points and sweep the Montreal Canadiens in the first round. Then Boston goes up against the Carolina Hurricanes and go down 3-1, battle back to tie the series up and lose in Game 7. 

2010: The 6th seeded Bruins beat the Sabres in 6 games and had a 3-0 lead on the Philadelphia Flyers. David Krejci went down with an injury in game 3 and never returned. Boston went on to lose the series in 7 games. 

2012: The 2nd seed Bruins take on the 7th seed Washington Capitals and lose in 7 games in the first round. 

You see, we're used to the Bruins pooping their pants in the playoffs. I'm sorry if that makes me a terrible fan or whatever, but I believe in being a realist. Claude Julien is being out coached by a guy who thinks Jake Gardiner shouldn't even be in the NHL. Randy fucking Carlyle. 

Little to no line changes, no in-game adjustments based on what Toronto is doing. Nothing. I think if Boston loses tonight, Claude is a goner. The sad thing is, it's not all his fault. Chiarelli signed a Stanley Cup winning team to a bunch of long term deals. When you have 90% of your roster locked up to long term deals (the "core", but in all honesty 16 players shouldn't be a core) they tend to pbhase out a coach who has been preaching the same thing for the past 5 years. 

Whenever the season ends, I think changes need to be made to this team dispite how far they make it into the playoffs. 

After the jump...the jump off of the bridge I mean....