How about that for a pun?
With that being said, there is a ring of truth to that statement. The Dallas Stars made their way to the East Coast on Tuesday night to take on the Boston Bruins. For the B's, this was the final game of a three-game homestand.
As for the Stars, they are starting to put something together down there. Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza have turned into a great one-two punch to accompany their depth scoring. With Valeri Nichuskin and Patrik Nemeth returning from season-long injuries next month, this team has so much to look forward to next season.
However, the Bruins are focused on this season and their potential playoff push. Boston is coming off a grueling weekend back-to-back set in which it split the games between the New York Islanders and the Montreal Canadiens. Playing a team like the Stars could be perfect.
Will it be a season sweep for the Bruins or will the Stars earn some points against the Black and Gold?
Niklas Svedberg was recalled from Providence before Tuesday night, thus sending Malcolm Subban back down. With Svedberg between the pipes, it turned out that Seguin was questionable with the flu. No surprise, but there "was no way he wasn't playing" against this team.
In the first period, the Bruins benefited from a recklessly high cross-checking call on Adam McQuaid. Since it resulted in a game misconduct for Antoine Roussel of the Stars, the B's had a five-minute power play. They could not capitalize, but the Stars scored short handed off an awful turnover by David Krejci. In a form of redemption, Krejci scored later in the period to pull even.
The pace of the game was not as fast and reckless as one would have assumed; Dallas actually played extremely tight early on. The Stars took a 3-1 lead into the second period as Jamie Benn beat Svedberg for two tallies. With Tuukka Rask in the game at this point, the Bruins managed to tie the game on goals by Patrice Bergeron and Dougie Hamilton. However, the B's gave up yet ANOTHER short-handed goal to the opposition
All game long, Boston was lazy in the defensive zone--it was almost as if the team was taking the Stars for granted. A lot of the B's mistakes were self-inflicted and they only put themselves in difficult situations all night. In the third period, the Bruins tried to play catch-up. Even though they had eight different players record a point and out-shot Dallas 44-32, the Stars held on to win a game in which they never trailed. The final score was 5-3 for the visitors.
Very disappointing for the Bruins not to get points in this very winnable game.
The Bruins will now hit the road for five games over the next two weeks. Best of luck.
Gold Star: Brad Marchand...The agitator is starting to find a rhythm again. He picked up an assist and was the most consistent forward on the ice. The scoring chances he had in this game were things of beauty.
Black Star: Niklas Svedberg...Three goals allowed on 10 shots in 20 minutes of work. Obviously, getting yanked was the only move to make.
Background
Game Fifty-Four Box Score
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