The final week of the regular season is upon us. Three games left for the Bruins and at this point things are all locked up. They have clinched the Northeast Division and the second seed in the Eastern Conference. Regardless, they still look to ride momentum as the season dwindles down.
The B's were in action Tuesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins. While the Penguins are still fighting for playoff position, the B's have the luxury of resting players at this point in the season. You have to wonder if the Pens were still concerned about Mike Milbury's comments toward Sidney Crosby. If so, grow up guys.
Torey Krug made his NHL debut in this game on the blue line. Jordan Caron was scratched due to flu-like symptoms and was replaced by Daniel Paille. Finally, Marty Turco got the start in goal while Anton Khudobin (called up from Providence) was the backup. Tim Thomas did not even dress for this game.
Prior to the game, it was announced that Tyler Seguin won the annual "Boston Bruins' Seventh Player Award" for the player who exceeded all expectations this season. He had posted 27 goals, 38 assists, and a plus-32 rating heading into Tuesday night. Was he not supposed to put up these numbers? A well deserved honor for Seguin, but interesting decision by Bruins' fans.
The Pens got on the board first in the opening period by scoring two consecutive goals. Guess who? Crosby had the first one during four-on-four play and Paul Martin recorded the second goal. Pascal Dupuis had an assist on Crosby's goal, extending his point streak to a league-best 15 games.
The Bruins managed to grab one tally in the first on a goal by Benoit Pouliot. The Bruins had several other opportunities to increase the score, but it seemed like they kept getting in the way of each other. Spread out guys!
Milan Lucic tied things up in the first minute of the second period on an assist by David Krejci. The rest of the period belonged to Pittsburgh for all the wrong reasons. After two questionable penalties were called against the B's, they had to fight off a five-on-three man advantage for Pittsburgh.
James Neal and Crosby each pounded home a goal past Turco as they capitalized on a tainted man advantage. Neal later had to respond for his hits he was throwing out and dropped the gloves with Andrew Ference. All momentum had been lost for Boston at that point in the period. What was disappointing about it? They controlled much of the period before those penalties.
Both teams each added another goal in the final period. The Penguins defeated the Bruins by a score of 5-3. Kris Letang finished with three assists for Pittsburgh. Seguin had five shots on goal, two of which were near misses.
The concern in this one was the fact that Johnny Boychuk collided knees with Arron Asham and had to be helped off of the ice. He did not return to the game. His status will be updated later on in the week.
The Bruins will play their final road game of the regular season on Thursday night when they take on the Ottawa Senators.
Gold Star: Milan Lucic (1 goal, 1 assist, plus-2 rating, 3 shots on goal)...He let every Penguin know that he was on the ice.
Black Star: Marty Turco (22 saves on 27 shots, 5 goals allowed, .815 save percentage)...The "Turco Era" in Boston may very well be over.
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