As the representatives from all 30 NHL teams cleared out of Carolina from the All-Star weekend, the rest of the Bruins traveled down there to meet their three teammates for their final game of the regular season with the Hurricanes. The B's are 2-1 in the season series entering the game.
Prior to the game, the league announced that center Patrice Bergeron was the "First Star of the Month," with 17 points (eight goals and nine assists) and a +13 rating in January...I guess that wasn't All-Star material? A nice consolation prize I suppose.
Anyway, we have a hockey game to get to. The Hurricanes completely dominated the first half of the first period. It took the B's leading goal scorer (Milan Lucic) to get into a fight to wake them up.
A monster hit from Steve Kampfer at the end of the period set the tone for the rest of the game. All-Star goalies Cam Ward (CAR) and Tim Thomas (BOS) had shut-outs after one.
Daniel Paille scored his first goal of the season with Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton on the assists. Minutes later, Jamie McBain leveled the game at one. A familiar face did some nifty puck moving as former Bruin Sergei Samsonov got an assist on the play. Score tied 1-1 after two.
On a side note, the RBC Center crew (arena that held the game) played a little too much Hinder during stoppages...might want to change that.
Nathan Horton scored his 13th of the season, his first goal in 11 games. Bergeron added a goal, increasing his point total to 41 on the season. Bruins win the game 3-2.
Gold Star (top player) = Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 3 shots on goal, 15 face-offs won)
Black Star (needs improvement) = Blake Wheeler...Stay out of the penalty box! You have taken the walk of shame three times this season and that leads the team.
A word of advice for Claude Julien: if you are going to healthy scratch Mark Stuart, who is a solid player, for four consecutive games, then you might be setting him up as trade bait. Be careful and be aware.
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