The Boston Bruins are currently in the middle of their longest homestand of the season. The Bruins play five games at the TD Garden over the next week or so.
However, this was clearly a happy accident for the Bruins. During this stretch of home games, they were treated with the return of some familiar faces.
Earlier this week, Tyler Seguin made his return to Boston with the Dallas Stars. He was able to get the last laugh as he netted a goal in the shootout to help his team prevail.
In order for the B's to snap out of this funk that they have been in over the last two weeks, they needed to accumulate some points at the expense of more returning players. Thursday night marked the return of Tim Thomas to Boston when the Bruins took on the Florida Panthers. Unfortunately, Thomas did not skate in this game due to a lower-body injury.
Maybe this could have been the solution to the B's getting back to their winning ways after dropping four of the last five games?
This game certainly had a brisk pace to it. That is something that definitely played into the hands of the Bruins. Their passing was solid and their penalty killing was back to what it used to look like when they were at the top of the league. Bottom line was this: the Bruins started to look like the Bruins. They went on to win this game by a score of 4-1. The Boston goals were scored by David Krejci, Brad Marchand, Torey Krug, and Reilly Smith.
There was a point in this game where the B's lost two players for a brief amount of time. Patrice Bergeron took a puck to the face and Chris Kelly got elbowed in the head by Panthers forward Jesse Winchester. Both were able to return.
The Bruins closed out the week against the Toronto Maple Leafs where Phil Kessel is absolutely crushing things this year. That is not a total surprise since most players tend to catch fire during contract years. Either way, he is still a great player and his team is at the top of the Eastern Conference this season. This one was not going to be easy for Boston.
The Bruins battled through an incredibly tough contest with the Leafs. In the end, they came away with a 3-1 victory. Patrice Bergeron netted two goals while Tuukka Rask was outstanding yet again. Two U's, two K's, two victories to end the week. However, Adam McQuaid left the game after injuring his leg during his second shift. His status will be monitored over the weekend.
The Bruins will play their next game on Monday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Gold Star: Brad Marchand...The proverbial "monkey" was lifted off his back. He broke his lengthy scoring drought (13 games), not to mention the fact that his puck-handling skills have improved.
Black Star: Gregory Campbell...The entire fourth line has become a shell of themselves and it all starts with its center.
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