NHL Northeast

Odds are Saturday afternoon’s congregation at TD Garden would select a scoreboard sideshow as the highlight of their experience while watching the Bruins’ 2-1 falter to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

With 10:21 gone in the first period, the towering black bear of “Boston Bruins Hockey Rules” fame delivered a crisp, cut-and-dry dish of good wishes to the New England Patriots. And if only for a minute, the spirit of Super Bowl Sunday Eve enveloped the hockey atmosphere.

Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik unloaded a gargantuan hit on Boston's Daniel Paille this afternoon that sent the Bruins forward flying high into the air.

If this isn't the hit of the season, it's at least in the top three.

Tyler Seguin’s initiative in the ninth minute of the second period wrote the Boston Bruins a radiant invitation to reverse the momentum in Saturday’s bout with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Here we go again. More NHL trade speculation involving the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Today, TSN analyst Darren Dreger reported that the Los Angeles Kings are believed to be interested in wingers Nikolai Kulemin and Clarke MacArthur.

MacArthur has posted 16 goals and 11 helpers for a total of 27 points in 44 games this season for the eighth-place Toronto Maple Leafs. However, the 26-year-old winger has elevated his play as of late, recording six points in the past three games.

Every team approaches the new season differently. With All-Star festivities wrapping up last weekend, the NHL season is now well past its half-way point—many teams who were picked for great things before the first game have failed to live up to expectations.

In a year in which seemingly every team can make a run for a play-off spot, there are a handful of teams who have managed to anchor themselves in the bottom-feeder club.

Here's a look at the NHL's most poorly managed franchises:   

Discounting empty-netters, the Boston Bruins have allowed three goals or more in regulation on four consecutive occasions and in six of their last nine outings. They have been outscored 31-25 over those last nine games, amounting to a nightly median of 2.78 goals for and 3.44 in their own cage.

Mikhail Grabovski has been hot in the month of January recording 17 points in 13 games.

His play has lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a great month improving their overall record to 26-19-6 for a total of 58 points. Their play has been good enough to have the Leafs sitting in 8th place in the Eastern Conference.

Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke must do everything in his power to acquire Rick Nash from the Columbus Blue Jackets. The sniper would thrive in Toronto and would immediately make the Leafs one of the Eastern Conference's most dangerous sleeper teams.

The Boston Bruins have now gone through nine consecutive games without raising the upper hand early and keeping it up until the final siren.

The last time they scored first and never looked back was en route to a 2-1 squeaker against the Montreal Canadiens Jan. 12. In addition, that was also the last time they mustered a set of back-to-back victories, something they have failed to do on four tries since then.

The late Ted Williams would surely take delight in any zealous New England sports fans who, on his behalf, continue to proclaim him the greatest baseball hitter who ever lived. Even if the only scrap of concrete evidence is one solid, single-season .406 batting average, the legendary Red Sox’ left fielder and his descendant supporters would not yield in that argument then, now or in the future.