Game Twenty Nine: Bruins Win With New Line-Up

The Boston Bruins, depleted roster and all, took on the Los Angeles Kings for the first of two meetings this season on Tuesday night. The B’s knocked off the Kings by a score of 3-0.

Tuukka Rask made the start in goal for the Bruins in this game. He relieved Tim Thomas in goal during Saturday night’s game against Columbus. Rask opposed Jonathan Quick, who was making his 24^th appearance of the season for Los Angeles. Rask stopped all 41 shots he faced en route to his ninth career shutout.

Zdeno Chara (knee) and Gregory Campbell (foot) did not play in this game due to injuries. Chara is listed as day-to-day where the status of Campbell is unknown. Zach Hamill was called up from Providence to center the fourth line and Steven Kampfer replaced Chara on defense. Daniel Paille made his return to the line-up after missing Saturday’s game with a mild concussion.

At 6:32 of the first period, Rich Peverley put the Bruins on the board first by scoring his fifth goal of the season. Zach Hamill and Benoit Pouliot had the assists. The B’s put heavy pressure on the Kings early, forcing them to play very unorganized and sloppy. The early pressure is what led to the goal.

In the second period, Los Angeles picked up their game as they were able to put some pucks on net. The Bruins defense held strong when they had to kill off a five-on-three power play towards the end of the period. Rask made the key saves that kept the momentum on Boston’s side.

At 7:43, Brad Marchand scored his 10^th goal of the season with an assist by Patrice Bergeron. Marchand buried a one-time shot immediately after Bergeron won the face-off cleanly back to him. Aside from the goal, the Kings controlled most of the puck.

Bergeron and Marchand would hook up yet again at 5:35 of the third period to produce the third Bruins goal of the game. Both players finished the game with two points each. The Kings continued to put more pressure on Rask and the B’s defense but they did not play consistent enough the entire game to have a chance in this one.

The Bruins next game will be on the road Wednesday night when they take on the Ottawa Senators.

Gold Star: Tuukka Rask (41 saves on 41 shots, first shutout of season).

Black Star: Tyler Seguin…His fellow linemen of Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand had a great night, but the kid did not even show up. He was not involved with the offense in any way.

Game Twenty Eight: It Never Comes Easy Against The Jackets

The Bruins looked to turn their short string of bad luck around on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Coming into the game, the B's had only scored a combined one goal in back-to-back losses.

Daniel Paille was ruled out for this game due to a mild concussion that he suffered in Thursday's game against the Florida Panthers.

The tone of the first period was set right away when Shawn Thornton and Jared Boll dropped the gloves. The momentum favored Boston as they got off several shots on Blue Jackets goaltender Curtis Sanford. Rich Peverley hit the near post on a slap shot and David Krejci failed to capitalize on a back-hand shot.

Despite the lack of offense, Columbus grabbed the first goal of the game. Rick Nash intercepted the puck on an attempted shot by Zdeno Chara and beat Tim Thomas on the breakaway. Milan Lucic got whistled for a double minor penalty which sent him to the box for four minutes. It was during that time that Jeff Carter extended the Columbus lead with a back-hand shot over Thomas. James Wisniewski had an assist on both of Columbus' first period goals.

Boston was able to tie the game up at two when they scored a pair of goals in 45 seconds. Joe Corvo recorded his first goal as a Bruin on a shot from the top of the point. Nathan Horton scored his eighth goal of the season after some good puck moving by Krejci.

A chippy second period started with Chara putting Boston on top for the first time in the game. The power play goal that Chara scored was his sixth goal of the season. Chara ended up leaving the game in this period with a knee injury.

R.J. Umberger tied the game up after beating Dennis Seidenberg to the puck and sliding it under Thomas. The goal was assisted by Samuel Pahlsson and Fedor Tyutin. Thomas was officially replaced by Tuukka Rask to begin the third period.

The final 20 minutes consisted of physicality and edginess which was similar to how things were going from the opening face-off. Both teams combined for 16 penalties and 42 hits.

Corvo and Chris Kelly each added a power play goal in the final period to seal the game. The Bruins won this game by a score of 5-3. Corvo finished the game with two goals and Lucic finished the game with three assists.

The Bruins next game will be Tuesday night back at home against the Los Angeles Kings.

Gold Star: Joe Corvo (2 goals, plus-1 rating, 5 shots on goal)...What a game for the veteran defenseman to pick up his first two goals as a Bruin.

Black Star: Tim Thomas...It was just a matter of time before he was pulled from the game. He allowed a couple of soft goals.

Game Twenty Seven: A New Streak?

Is it time to panic again in Boston? Is it time to start worrying about the Bruins just like fans did in the first month of the season? The Bruins have now lost two games in a row, dropping a tough game to the Florida Panthers on Thursday. The final score was Florida 2, Boston 0.

Even though there is no such thing as a moral victory, the B's should not be disappointed in the way they played on Thursday. They did everything right and they had many more scoring chances than the Panthers. The only thing that they did not do was put the puck in the net. Florida is not a push-over team this season as they lead the Southeast Division with 36 points, surpassing the Bruins for second place in the Eastern Conference.

Tim Thomas and Jose Theodore each played a great game in net. They held their opponent scoreless for over 50 minutes in this game. The only goal allowed in this game came at 17:28 of the third period when Tomas Kopecky beat Thomas for his fourth goal of the season. Shawn Matthias and Dmitry Kulikov had the assists. Kris Versteeg added an empty net goal just under two minutes later.

Bruins forward Daniel Paille left the game in the first period after being charged by Krys Barch. Shawn Thornton put a pretty good beating on him following the hit. This occurred just 45 seconds into Paille's first shift of the game.

Former Bruin Marco Sturm made his return to Boston in a Panthers jersey for this game. The B's held him in check as he only got two shots on Thomas. Also, Tyler Seguin made his return to the line-up after being scratched for Tuesday's game for missing a team meeting.

The Bruins look to turn it around on Saturday night as they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets.

Gold Star: Tim Thomas (28 saves on 29 shots, 1 goal allowed, .966 save percentage)...Even though the entire first line had a great game against Florida, Thomas stood out since the score was so close.

Black Star: Brad Marchand...In a close game like this one, a team needs support from their top two lines. Marchand could not find his rhythm even with the return of Seguin.

Game Twenty Six: The End Of The Streak

The Winnipeg Jets ended the 15-game point streak of the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night. With the help of their goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, the Jets defeated the B's by a score of 2-1. Pavelec made 39 saves on 40 shots. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask also had a solid game, making 33 saves.

Winnipeg seemed to match Boston's physicality throughout this game. The B's could not get to the puck cleanly at any point. Both teams also had several great scoring opportunities but the goalies were right there to shut down most of the quality scoring chances.

Andrew Ladd put the Jets on the board in the first period by shooting the puck over the right shoulder of Rask and into the net. Johnny Oduya and Pavelec had the assists. After a scoreless second period, Boston came out playing rather strong in the third period.

Shawn Thornton tied the game up by sneaking the puck under Pavelec. Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell had the assists. The game-winning goal came when both teams skated 4-on-4 after matching minor penalties. Bryan Little won a face-off and took the puck down a straight path to the goal where he beat Rask.

Tyler Seguin was scratched from this game because he missed a team meeting and the team breakfast Tuesday morning. Jordan Caron took his place on the second line with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.

One thing about playing in Winnipeg is their arena is always filled with true hockey fans. Not using that as an excuse for the loss, but the MTS Centre seems like an incredibly tough place to play. The Jets never had that support when they were in Atlanta.

The Bruins next game will be Thursday night at the TD Garden against the Florida Panthers. The B's will be sporting their alternate sweaters for that game.

Gold Star: Gregory Campbell...He finished the game with one assist. He has played at a high level recently. He was a huge contributor to this win streak.

Black Star: Joe Corvo...He was on the ice for both Jets goals. The winning goal occurred when he jumped up ice thinking the Bruins would win the face-off. They did not win it and it cost them the game.

Game Twenty Five: Top Two In The East

In what is said to be a tough and busy week for the Bruins, they got off to the right start on Monday night. Boston defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 3-1. Going into the game, Pittsburgh and Boston were number one and number two in the Eastern Conference respectively. With the win, the B's move within one point of the Pens for the top spot in the East.

Jordan Caron and Steven Kampfer both returned to the Bruins for Monday's game. They were sent down to Providence over the weekend in order to get some more playing time. Both were healthy scratches in this game anyway.

The first period was chippy, especially between the first-line centers (David Krejci and Sidney Crosby). The period was controlled more so by Pittsburgh as they seemed to get more shots on Tim Thomas.

In the second period, the Bruins turned their game around. Gregory Campbell and Benoit Pouliot each scored for Boston. They also had several other chances to put more pressure on Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The story of the second period, however, was all about the B's penalty kill.

Boston had to defend and kill off two different five-on-three power plays by Pittsburgh. During that time, Thomas made seven huge stops. Andrew Ference and Dennis Seidenberg came up big by clearing the puck in potentially costly situations.

Tyler Seguin scored his 13th goal of the season on a power play in the third period. Seguin's 13 goals and 25 points leads the Bruins. Our old friend Matt Cooke added a goal for the Pens. More physical play occurred in the final 20 minutes. Daniel Paille put a good hit on Evgeni Malkin which started a little scrum. Joe Vitale charged into Thomas and that triggered Campbell to drop the gloves with him. This game had everything a hockey fan wants to see on any given night.

The B's have now won 14 out of their last 15 games. They will be back in action Tuesday night in Winnipeg against the Jets.

Gold Star: Tim Thomas (44 saves on 45 shots, 1 goal allowed, .978 save percentage)...The only goal that he allowed was not his fault as it resulted from a turnover. Clutch. Nothing more to say.

Black Star: Chris Kelly...He really surprised me by his play in this game. It looked like Rich Peverley had more control of the third line in this game rather than Kelly.

Game Twenty Four: A Good Start To December

Saturday night was game two of the home-and-home series between the Boston Bruins and the Toronto Maple Leafs. The three previous meetings between these two teams featured quite lop-sided victories by the B's. This game really seemed like a first place game between two top teams.

The game also was significant because Leafs third-line center Joe Colborne made his return to the TD Garden for the first time since being traded to Toronto. He was part of the deal that brought defenseman Tomas Kaberle to Boston during the late stretch of last season. Looks like that deal really worked out for us....not so much actually.

The goaltenders is this game were both different from Wednesday's game as Tuukka Rask took on James Reimer.The first period seemed really slow. There were some quality scoring chances between the two teams but neither was able to capitalize.

The second period really opened up much more. Both teams really were able to spread the puck out through the seems that the defenders gave them. The Bruins got on the board first when Nathan Horton passed the puck over to David Krejci, who was wide open in front of the net, and he shot the puck past Reimer.

It was 48 seconds later when Mikhail Grabovski tied the game up at one. The goal was assisted by Jake Gardiner and Joey Crabb. Boston grabbed the lead back before the end of the second period. Chris Kelly received a great pass from Rich Peverley and he shot a one-timer past Reimer into the goal.

In the third period, Rask contained the Maple Leafs for the most part by making some key saves. The Bruins offense did their part by completely controlling possession of the puck. The final 20 minutes became a little more chippy since the game was decided early on in the period. Johnny Boychuk and Horton added a goal each to make that possible. The B's defeated the Leafs by a score of 4-1.

Nine Bruins players had points in this game, including two points each from all three first-line players (Lucic, Krejci, Horton). The Maple Leafs have taken the next step in the right direction as far as becoming an elite team, but they do not seem to have an answer for the Bruins. The B's next game will be Monday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Gold Star: Johnny Boychuk (1 goal, plus-3 rating, 3 shots on goal)...He really stepped up in this game by contributing on both ends of the ice.

Black Star: Zdeno Chara...He was the victim of some pretty questionable calls. Unfortunately, you cannot have everything go your way on a nightly basis.

Krejci Signs Extension

Bruins center David Krejci signed a three-year contract extension on Wednesday, hours before his three point game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. The deal is said to give Krejci around $5.25 million annually through the 2014-2015 season.

The move all but locks up the first-line center position for the B's. This move also signifies that Tyler Seguin will have to spend a little more time playing wing than expected. Many felt that a Krejci trade was inevitable due to his slow start. That would have giving Seguin the chance to play his natural position.

This was the final year on Krejci's existing contract, which meant that he would have been a restricted free agent at the end of this season. Now Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli has only begun his work. He still has some key players to sign before next year's offseason, Milan Lucic being one of them.