The Bruins were in Montreal on Wednesday night as they took on the Canadiens for their final regular season meeting.
Boston was coming off of a demoralizing loss to the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers on Tuesday. While being shutout in three of their last six games, the Bruins needed to bounce back against a team that they have had success against this season. Ignore the conference and focus on the division.
As far as the Canadiens are concerned, they have been on a recent run lately by going 4-1-0 in their last five games. They have moved up to 12th place in the conference and they have done it without their captain Brian Gionta who has played in only 31 games this season because of a torn bicep. The in-house shenanigans between Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn might be their kryptonite unfortunately.
Tim Thomas opposed Carey Price in goal to no one's surprise. This was the third consecutive start for Thomas. Bruins head coach Claude Julien mixed up the lines once again while the defensive pairs remained the same. The lines were as follows:
Brad Marchand-Patrice Bergeron-Tyler Seguin
Milan Lucic-Chris Kelly-Jordan Caron
Benoit Pouliot-David Krejci-Rich Peverley
Daniel Paille-Gregory Campbell-Shawn Thornton
Montreal, who only dressed 11 forwards for the game, came out as the aggressor and laid some hits on the B's. Once the Bruins started to put pressure on the Habs, they started to drop back deeper in their own zone. That allowed the defense to push up and Andrew Ference capitalized by blasting his fifth goal of the season past Price.
Krejci left the game briefly in the first period to repair a cut on his lip after taking a high stick by Canadiens forward Lars Eller. The Bruins received a four-minute power play as a result. However, they surrendered a short-handed goal scored by Mathieu Darche.
As the second period went on, both teams had some trouble with turnovers. The high-speed style of play when these two teams get together brings out some sloppy play. It happens and it should not be surprising. There were four goaltender interference penalties whistled in the game, some of them being very questionable.
Bergeron capitalized on an ensuing power play by beating Price for his 17th goal of the season. Pouliot also netted a goal in the period and this one could have been right up there with his beauty against the Florida Panthers on December 23.
Everything fell apart for the Bruins in the third period. Montreal scored two goals to tie the game, one of them was a result of a bad turnover by Zdeno Chara. The Bruins had a late surge near the end of the game but still only managed to get two shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. A reason for that was the fact that Peverley left the game in the third period and did not return.
After a scoreless overtime, Thomas stopped all three shots and Seguin had the goal in the shootout. Boston knocked off Montreal by a score of 4-3. Thomas remains undefeated in shootouts this season.
It was not pretty but it was a good start to the six-game road trip for the Bruins. They will be back on the ice Friday night against the Winnipeg Jets.
Gold Star: Andrew Ference (1 goal, plus-2 rating, 6 shots on goal).
Black Star: Zdeno Chara (minus-3 rating)...He just looked absolutely uncomfortable. The Bell Centre will always be evil to Big Z and he needs to get used to it.
For the second time in the last three games, the Bruins were shutout. On Tuesday night they fell to the Eastern Conference leading New York Rangers by a score of 3-0.
The Bruins were in control for much of the first period. Once Zdeno Chara took a mindless penalty, the momentum they once had was quickly deflated. The Rangers grabbed two goals in the opening 20 minutes. Ryan Callahan and Ryan McDonagh had the tallies. Artem Anisimov added a four-on-four goal in the final period to seal the victory.
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist recorded his seventh shutout of the season by stopping all 42 shots he faced. On the other hand, Tim Thomas only made 17 saves on 20 shots. The mediocre play for Thomas continues.
Prior to the game, speculation occurred as to whether or not New York would retaliate on Andrew Ference for the hit he delivered on McDonagh in their last meeting. Nothing major took place as all of the physical play stemmed from the game itself. Ference was suspended three games for the hit, which was probably enough retribution for the Rangers.
The Bruins will now embark on a six-game road trip that begins Wednesday night when they take on the Montreal Canadiens.
Gold Star: Johnny Boychuk...He had a great physical presence in this game, recording six hits and stepping up on the blue line. It was announced that he just signed a three-year contract extension worth over $10 million hours before the game.
Black Star: Joe Corvo...Stepping up too far into the offensive zone cost him once again. Does he know that the trade deadline is vastly approaching?
In regards to the Bruins recent "slump" they are going through right now, everyone is overreacting just a little bit. We are spoiled enough to support a team who is so used to winning that when they drop three out of four games, panic ensues.
This is more like a bump if anything. The Bruins proved it was nothing more than that on Saturday afternoon when they defeated the Nashville Predators at the TD Garden. The final score was 4-3 in a shootout.
The top two Norris Trophy candidates were on the ice in this game as Shea Weber and Zdeno Chara led their teams into battle. Weber was the one who recorded a goal in this one, but it was in a losing effort.
Patrice Bergeron, Daniel Paille, and Milan Lucic were the goal scorers for the Bruins in regulation. Tim Thomas was not stellar in this one stopping only 19 shots. It was enough to get the job done though. Tyler Seguin and Bergeron had the shootout goals after a scoreless overtime.
The Bruins tested Preds goaltender Pekka Rinne throughout this game by unloading 41 shots on him. If it was not for him the game might not have even gotten as far as it did. This victory for Boston sets up a good game on Tuesday night against the New York Rangers.
Gold Star: Milan Lucic (1 goal, 7 shots on goal)...He is starting to click with his new linemates.
Black Star: Adam McQuaid...The delay of game penalty is becoming his new favorite minor penalty to take.
The Boston Bruins renewed their rivalry with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night. The chippy play was to be expected considering what happened in the previous two meetings, but that was not what the B's had in mind coming into this game. They were looking for a win.
Tuukka Rask got the start in goal for Boston. One has to wonder just how long Rask will be a backup since Tim Thomas was at it again on Facebook. I am not saying that he will get traded. However, it is just something to think about.
Chris Kelly skated on the top line with Rich Peverley and Milan Lucic and David Krejci skated with Jordan Caron and Benoit Pouliot. The combinations are fairly new but the lines seemed to click very well in their last game. Nathan Horton is still out with lingering concussion symptoms.
Across the sheet, Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff was not on the bench on Wednesday for the game. He suffered three broken ribs during a practice earlier this week. Assistant coach James Patrick assumed head coaching duties for Buffalo in this game for the injured Ruff. With the Sabres trying to keep their playoff hopes alive, this was a big game for them.
The Bruins tested Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller early on. They established a good forecheck that created some good shots. Boston had a goal waved off due to a very soft goaltender interference call. The momentum shifted after that as it was Buffalo who grabbed two goals in the first 20 minutes.
Christian Ehrhoff and Jason Pominville were the scorers for Buffalo. Gregory Campbell deflected the puck into the goal on Ehrhoff's shot and Johnny Boychuk committed to early on Ville Leino who assisted on Pominville's goal. There was not too much Rask could have done on those mistakes.
What did go right for Boston in the opening period was that they had two fights go their way and they hoped that the resulted energy would carry over into the next period. Not so much.
After the Sabres grabbed another early goal, Rask was pulled in favor of Thomas. He kept the Bruins in the game by making some great saves upon entering. As the period went on, Buffalo controlled the tempo and the Bruins became frustrated.
Patrick Kaleta netted Buffalo's fourth goal of the night when the puck took a bounce underneath the legs of Thomas. Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves for the second time in the game before the period concluded. He also had a ten minute misconduct.
The game was all rapped up upon entering the final period once Pominville recorded his second goal of the game. Both teams played more conservative with the exception of one final donnybrook near the end of the game. The Sabres blew out the Bruins 6-0, their worst loss of the season.
Maybe it is a mistake to look this far ahead, but the next time the Sabres return to the TD Garden is March 8th. Just saying. Boston will be back on the ice Saturday afternoon when they take on the Nashville Predators.
Gold Star: Patrice Bergeron (4 shots on goal, 81.8% face-offs won)...I am obligated to award a gold star. Enough said.
Black Star: Joe Corvo...If he is still wearing the Black and Gold after the trade deadline I will not be happy.
Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins returned to our nation's capital once again on Sunday afternoon to take on the Washington Capitals. Judging from the opening sentence, one would think that Thomas had some significance in this game. That was indeed the case as he made 35 saves in a 4-1 Bruins victory.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien mixed up two of the lines for this game. He put Jordan Caron and Benoit Pouliot with David Krejci and Chris Kelly centered Milan Lucic and Rich Peverley. The shuffling of the lines provided a slight spark that the B's lacked in the last two games.
Lucic and Peverley had a goal each. Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand also recorded a goal. Patrice Bergeron had an assist of both of his linemate's tallies. Zdeno Chara had a big game on defense by finishing with a plus-3 rating.
Marcus Johansson had the lone goal for the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin made his presence felt in the game as he recorded seven shots on goal and seven hits. He did not skate against the Bruins in their last meeting due to a suspension.
This was a good win for Boston against a quality team. Let's see if they can have a repeat performance on Wednesday night when they face the Buffalo Sabres.
Gold Star: Rich Peverley (1 goal, 1 assist, plus-2 rating, 4 shots on goal)...The new lines seemed to help out particular players and he was one of them.
Black Star: Gregory Campbell...Not much came from this line and it started with the center.
The Bruins had their work cut out for them on Saturday afternoon when they took on the Pittsburgh Penguins. In a contest where Boston dominated the early part of the game, it was the Penguins who held on for the 2-1 victory.
Joe Corvo had the only B's goal of the contest on a shot from the top of the offensive zone. Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand had the assists. The goal came at 6:45 of the third period, but at that point it was too late.
Pittsburgh got on the board right before the conclusion of the first period on a power play goal by Evgeni Malkin. Matt Cooke beat Tim Thomas in front of the net for their second tally. Thomas finished the day with 26 saves on 28 shots.
Boston had their hearts broken in the early going by Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury as he made some great saves. The rest of it was on the B's. They could not finish on the chances that they had. Whether it was shooting the puck over the net or failing to keep the puck in the zone, it just was not their day.
Jordan Caron was recalled from Providence prior to the game but he ended up being a healthy scratch. Nathan Horton missed his fourth straight game with concussion-like symptoms.
The Bruins need to get their roster back to full health in order to get back on track. Then again I am not even sure if that is the problem at this point. The B's will be back in action Sunday afternoon against the Washington Capitals.
Gold Star: Patrice Bergeron (1 assist, plus-1 rating, 68.4% face-offs won).
Black Star: Benoit Pouliot...We all thought that he broke that habit of taking dumb penalties.
