Wednesday night was game four of the Bruins' grueling six-game road trip. They were in action against the St. Louis Blues.
The Bruins participated in a 75-minute practice on Tuesday, an unusually long time for a practice. Bruins' head coach Claude Julien worked his players hard during the workout in light of their recent struggles. Sometimes longer practices are not the solution though.
Boston recalled Carter Camper from the Providence Bruins earlier in the week. Standing under six-feet tall, Camper is said to have great offensive skill. He made his debut Wednesday night and centered a make-shift line with Benoit Pouliot and Jordan Caron
The Blues have been one of the better home teams in the league this season. In their last 21 games, St. Louis possessed a record of 18-0-3 at home heading into Wednesday night. Even though they sit in fourth place in the Western Conference, they have their eyes set on the Detroit Red Wings who sit at the top with 84 points.
This was not an easy test for Boston. However, it might have been what they needed.
Boston jumped out to an early 2-0 lead. Brad Marchand forced a turnover and recorded an unassisted goal while Milan Lucic deflected a Joe Corvo shot past Blues' goaltender Brian Elliot. St. Louis erased that lead and tied the game. Chris Stewart and Ryan Reaves had the tallies for the Blues.
Chris Kelly put the Bruins back on top with less than one minute remaining in the opening period by scoring his 15th goal of the season. Lucic and Kelly, both of whom skated on a line with David Krejci, each recorded a goal and an assist in the first 20 minutes.
In a scoreless second period, both teams still had plenty of scoring chances. Johnny Boychuk almost gave the Bruins their fourth goal of the game, but his shot rattled the iron. The Blues countered with some solid checking by individual players. Tim Thomas played spoiler for St. Louis in the second period.
Marchand grabbed his second goal of the game and 21st of the season in the third period. Both Marchand and Kelly each tied their career-high in goals scored in this game. Thomas made some key stops and the defense planted down in the final minutes to preserve the 4-2 victory. Thomas finished with 30 saves.
The Bruins next game will be Friday night against the Buffalo Sabres.
Gold Star: Brad Marchand (2 goals, plus-2 rating, 3 shots on goal)...The pest that we are used to seeing on the ice had it going in this one.
Black Star: Jordan Caron...He had no impact in this one, recording only five minutes of ice time.
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