Thursday, March 7, 2013

Game 21: Getting Back On Track

It is amazing just how spoiled Boston sports fans can truly be. After the Boston Bruins dropped two consecutive games, the feeling was that the world was ending.

Yes, the B's lost back-to-back games after holding the lead in both of them. However, the Bruins still remain in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and trail Montreal by only one point for the top spot in the division. With that being said, Boston needed to get back on track.

On Thursday night, the Toronto Maple Leafs came into the TD Garden, a team that the B's have had their way with over the last several meetings. Even though the Leafs were coming off of three straight wins, this was a game that the Bruins needed to rebound. 

Anton Khudobin got the start in goal for the Bruins. Jay Pandolfo was inserted into the lineup after the team announced that they had waived Chris Bourque. Will that be the only change to the Bruins roster in the days to come? We will see what happens.

In the first period, the tone was set. The Maple Leafs started with the chippy play, specifically when Mark Fraser (TOR) boarded Pandolfo and Adam McQuaid challenged the tough defenseman. Aside from that, the Bruins were kind of sloppy in their defensive zone and that forced Khudobin to make some key saves. 

Even though they had several wasted scoring opportunities, the Bruins still managed to score the first goal. Patrice Bergeron stuck the puck through the legs of Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens for his sixth goal of the season. Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand had the assists. 

The second period was much better for Boston. The puck traveled up and down the ice, which led to scoring chances at both ends. The Bruins took some chances on fast breaks, but it came back to haunt them when the Leafs tied the game on a goal scored by Nazem Kadri. However, the Bruins came back and recorded two more tallies from Seguin and David Krejci.

Toronto made things interesting in the third period. The Leafs had better puck possession, yet they did not have that many great scoring chances. They beat Khudobin on one of them as the Bruins failed to get dirty in front of their own net and clear the puck. After a late rush by Toronto, Seguin added an empty-net goal for the B's to seal the 4-2 victory. This was their eighth straight victory against the Leafs.

The Bruins will be back in action on Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Gold Star: Brad Marchand...His two assists in this game stemmed from his tough play in all three zones.

Black Star: Andrew Ference...This is not the way someone who is in a contract year should be playing. 

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