Another afternoon game for the Bruins today as they took on the Atlanta Thrashers. This was a team that started the season on top of the Southeast Division. As the season went on, the team started to fall further down the standings and now they are out of playoff contention.
This is also the first time that the Thrashers returned to the TD Garden since the trade that sent Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart to Atlanta. In return, the Bruins received Rich Peverley who has been a vital acquisition to this team. He has been a solid player on the third line since his arrival and he will be an important role player when it comes time for the playoffs.
The game today was a rather clean one with only five total penalties, two of them being delay of game penalties and one of them was a hook for a penalty shot. At the end of the first period, the score was tied at one. Mark Recchi scored for Boston and Dustin Byfuglien score for Atlanta. The second period was also a back and forth battle between the two teams. Evander Kane scored for Atlanta to take the lead. However, Daniel Paille scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game.
Michael Ryder put in a penalty shot to give Boston a 3-2 lead and that is how the game would end. With the win, the Boston Bruins clinched the Northeast Division. The overwhelming consensus among Bruins fans is that they will not settle. They have their eyes on getting a higher seed. Defenseman Shane Hnidy made his season debut today in order to give some guys rest heading into the playoffs. Hnidy will only be a depth player once the postseason starts.
Gold Star: Michael Ryder (1 goal, +1 rating, 2 shots on goal, 2 takeaways)
Black Star: Tomas Kaberle...he played below his average minutes today and he was hardly involved in the offensive end. He was on the wrong side of a huge Mark Stuart hit today. That must have been slightly rewarding for Stuart laying a hit on the player who essentially took his spot.
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