Bruins maul Reimer, Leafs, take 2-1 series lead

When Nathan Horton goes top shelf, he really goes top shelf.

Horton responded to a Toronto power play goal, taking a pretty feed from Milan Lucic and snapping a shot from the low point that elevated past goalie James Reimer and lodged on top of the camera stanchion, giving the Boston Bruins a 3-1 lead on their way to a 5-2 stomping of the Maple Leafs in the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Monday night.

Adam McQuaid, Rich Peverley, Daniel Paille and David Krejci scored goals in addition to Horton, who scored his third goal in as many games as the Bruins avenged Saturday night's snooze-fest loss to the Leafs and now lead the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series 2-1, recapturing home ice advantage with the win.

For a split-second, everyone in the arena, commentators and players alike were scanning the ice for the puck, but the when the referee pointed at the back of the net and the entire Krejci line began celebrating, it was clear that the Bruins had dodged a major bullet.

Leading 2-0 in the second period, winger Tyler Seguin took a bad tripping penalty, and on the resultant power play Toronto's Jake Gardiner fired a rocket past screened Boston Goaltender Tuukka Rask to cut the Boston lead to just one goal and got the hyper-tense Air Canada Centre crowd and the throng of fans partying on the commons outside of the arena on their feet and back into the game...

...and then Horton sent them right back down in their seats 50 seconds later, taking the pass from Lucic right on his tape and reestablishing the two point margin.

Two minutes later with Seguin in the sin bin once again, serving a bench penalty for too many men on the ice, penalty killer Daniel Paille stole a pass in the neutral zone and skated uncontested for a breakaway shorty that increased the Bruins' lead to 4-1 at the second intermission, disbursing the crowd who now set their sights on Wednesday night's Game 4 once again in Toronto.

Not all was good for Boston, as their defense allowed an excessive 47 shots on goal, with Rask stopping 45 - many in spectacular fashion.  Conversely, Leafs' netminder James Reimer followed up his gem in goal on Wednesday night in Boston with a clunker in Toronto's first home playoff game in nearly a decade.

With time running out in the opening stanza and the teams taking to mugging each other on open ice, McQuaid took a pass on the high post and wristed a wicked drive past Reimer's glove side for the one goal lead.  The Bruins sniped Reimer from long range throughout the opening frame, particularly Johnny Boychuck who wound up and fired on goal several times, but it was McQuaid who finally burned them - the fourth goal of the series by a Bruins defenseman.

In the second period, Jaromir Jagr finally showed some teeth in the offensive zone, stealing a puck from Ryan O'Byrne behind Toronto's goal and deftly feeding Rich Peverley who snapped the puck past a helpless Reimer for the 2-0 Bruins lead, setting up the sequence of Gardiner's goal and Horton's answer.

Just 47 seconds into the third period, Phil Kessel scored for the Leafs to give the partisan crowd hope for a comeback, which Rask quashed with stellar goal tending to go along with aggressive, hard-hitting defense in front of him.  Krejci was rewarded for his efforts with an empty net goal to give the Bruins their final 5-2 tally.

It wasn't perfect and certainly not as dominating as Game 1's 4-1 win in Boston, but the Bruins were impressive in going into the Air Canada madhouse and shutting down the physical Maple Leafs on the scoreboard, though the scrappy Leafs kept hitting and forcing the issue until the final horn...

...and now the question looms: which Bruins' team shows up on Wednesday night, the fully involved lines of games one and three, or the napping Rumpelstiltskins of Game two?

With a chance to go up 3-1 in the series and possibly close out the series upon returning to Boston for Game 5, the smart money is on an aggressive Bruins' squad taking the crowd out of the game and taking the game to the Leafs.

Bruins Gamenight: Leafs Take Game 2 From Napping Bruins

The immensely talented Bruins' Jekyll and Hyde act has taken a turn to the dark side once again.

Wednesday night's 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs showed the hockey world how dominant the Boston Bruins could be - then Saturday night's Game 2 showed the hockey world just how inconsistent and bad they could be.

Toronto's James van Riemsdyk scores in the 3rd

It was about halfway through the 2nd period when there was a switch in intensity with the Toronto Maple Leafs.  The Bruins had just killed off a Rich Peverley delay of game infraction, and the game was turning chippy...

...when all of a sudden there was a blur of white sweaters getting to every puck, cutting off the passing lanes and laying big hits on the bloated and vulnerable Boston Bruins - and down 1-0 on a Nathan Horton goal, the Leafs turned on the jets, scoring two goals in the 2nd and two in the third and thoroughly manhandling the hometown Bruins 4-2 at TD Garden on Saturday evening.

After a scoreless first period, Horton started the scoring with his blade goal early in the second - and then it was nap time for the Bruins. Toronto's Joffrey Lupul scored two straight goals about 4 minutes apart as the Leafs took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after two.

Johnny Boychuck scored the other Boston goal, a wicked drive from the top of the right circle that was initially credited to Tyler Seguin on a redirection in front of Toronto goalie James Reimer, but replays showed that the puck slipped through the small scrum in front of the net...

That made the score 3-2 halfway through the final frame and seemed to awaken the Bruins from their sleepwalking state, as they started pelting Reimer, but it was too late - the damage was done.

The Leaf's netminder was on spot and stopped every Bruins' chance from thereon out.  Overall, Reimer stopped 39 of 41 as the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series now travels to Toronto for game 3, the two division rivals locked at one game a piece.

Tuukka Rask stopped 28 of 32 shots on goal, but yielding the four goals doesn't tell truthfully the solid game in net he had.  Several instances during the Bruins' nap between the middle of the second and third periods the Bruins defense left Rask on an island, once even allowing the Leafs to gang up on him and fire multiple shots in rapid-fire succession - Rask stopped all except the one that went over his shoulder and hit the crossbar of the goal.

Former Bruin Phil Kessel scored the game winner moments afterward.  Joffrey Lupul had two goals for the Leafs and James van Riemsdyk scored an insurance goal on an athletic spinning play to the right of a sprawling Rask, tucking the puck past the red line just under the goalie's skate with 3:07 left in regulation.

The Bruins' issues of clearing the defensive zone and staying engaging for a full 60 minutes has dogged this team all season - but now it's the post-season, and it's going to take a more consistent effort that what Boston showed on Saturday night to advance for a chance at the Cup.

Hibernating offense awakens, Bruins bag leafs in Game 1

Now, where did that come from?

The Boston Bruins limped into the post-season on the heels of a 6 games in 9 days stretch that became even more congested by the authorities literally shutting down the city, causing two games that had to be made up...

...and the Bruins blew seven of nine down the stretch, never scoring more than three goals and not giving themselves nor their fans any sense that things would be any different when Boston opened an Eastern Conference quarterfinals series with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night.

But with a couple of days off to get their minds and bodies headed in the same direction, the Bruins took the ice at TD Garden and beat the upstart Leafs like they stole something.

Wade Redden and Nathan Horton scored goals in the 1st period to give the Bruins the lead, then David Krejci and Johnny Boychuck each scored in the second to make it stick as the Bruins routed a Maple Leafs' squad that was tasting the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade by a final tally of 4-1.

"We just self-destructed," Toronto coach Randy Carlyle said. "We didn't do a lot of things right. I've never seen so many people fall down with nobody around them with situations with our group. Like we said, we know this going to take more than an ordinary effort, and tonight it wasn't good enough effort."

After Toronto forward James van Riemsdyk gave the Leafs an early 1-0 lead, Redden tied it with a blast from the top of the left circle, then moments later tried the same thing from the other side, this time Horton getting a stick on the puck to deflect it past Leafs' netminder James Reimer for what proved to be the gamer.

The second period goals were excellent in style points, Krejci gathering in a loose puck in the crease and snapping a spinner past Reimer, then Boychuck launched a wicked wrister from just inside the blue line that beat the embroiled Toronto goalie, who stopped 36 of 40 shots as Boston kept the heat on all night.

Bruins' stopper Tuukka Rask faced just 20 shots, handling 19 of them, some in spectacular fashion.

Game 2, scheduled for Saturday night at TD Garden, seems to carry an air of desperation for a Toronto team that has lost six straight to the Bruins in that building.

"That was a tough one to lose, especially with the start we had," Toronto's Nazem Kadri said. "Undisciplined turnovers played a factor, as well. We are just killing ourselves when we do those types of things."

The Maple Leafs had better get it together before the faceoff on Saturday night, or the series will be headed back to Toronto with the home town Leafs in a 2-0 hole, inexperience an excuse that's not going to hold up with their rabid fanbase.

"It's a new experience for a lot of guys," van Riemsdyk said. "That's a telltale sign how different the level is and how things can come back to bite you."

On Wednesday night, it was the Bruins doing the biting - with their new-found offensive prowess...

Freefalling Bruins spanked by Flyers 5-2

The Boston Bruins throttled the Florida Panthers on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden in downtown Boston.  Yawn.

Not that it was boring, quite the contrary in fact.  But the Bruins are supposed to do that, beat teams like the Panthers - and like tonight's opponent, the Broad Street Bullies.  But for the second half of this abbreviated season, that hasn't always been the way things have worked out.

Every team has "Those" games - the ones where it just isn't there, can't get in sync, the flow of the game never coming, and Boston has had a few, but the majority of their moments have been due to a protracted case of sleepwalking resulting in sloppy passing and loss of focus...

...and tonight was one of those nights.  The Bruins skated into Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center with a razor thin lead in the Northeast Division over the hated Montreal Canadiens, but after the Flyers opened up a 5-2 can of buttwhoopin' on them, Boston limped out the way they came in, with yet another loss and a rash of fresh teeth marks.

Look, the Boston Bruins are one of the most talented teams in the National Hockey League. There is no subjectivity, no ambiguity. They know it, their fans know it and their opponents know it - and the only thing that could possibly bring the big, bad Bruins down is if they did it to themselves.

And they do it to themselves a lot - enough in fact that it's mind-boggling that their 3-0 win over the Panthers on Sunday gave them sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division and, subsequently, the second seed in the Eastern Conference over the team that started this whole sleepwalking through games thing for the Bruins in the first place...

...Boston Bruins fans can look back at their team's 4-3 loss to the Canadiens way back at the beginning of March and know that the words that spouted out of Claude Julien's mouth about the Canadiens cheating were the impetus to to their pedestrian second half.

On the night of March 3rd, the Bruins were locked in a superb battle the Canadiens, stomping on them like a rival should, when the wheels fell off five and a half minutes into the final frame and Montreal rallied from down 3-2 to take the contest, helped in large part by 17 minutes worth of Sin Bin for Boston defenseman Zdeno Chara...

...who had some choice words - and fists - for the Habs on the ice, but left it there.  Julien had no outlet.  It's not as if he could go pull a Happy Gilmore and beat the snot out of their coaching staff to soothe the savage loss, so he accused the Canadiens of "Embellishment" - a playground tactic of tattling on the bully that just took your milk money. 

A move that was met by laughter and jeers from the fans all the way up to the commissioner's office, and one that caused the Bruins to lose focus on the prize and put it squarely on their next meeting with Montreal...which they lost in a similar fashion, and so on and so on.

So with both Boston and Montreal in tailspins, both lost on Tuesday evening - The Habs getting taken to the mat by the Devils and the Bruins spanked by the Flyers for their sixth loss in the last seven games, and the Bruins inconceivable and tenuous grip on the division lead remains, but by the thinnest of margins.

Scott Hartnell scored on Anton Khudobin just 1:40 into the game, but Boston came back 3 minutes later to tie the game on Wade Redden's third goal of the season - and it remained that way until 11:24 of the 2nd frame, when Matt Read netted the tie breaker, then Oliver Lauridsen scored the game winner just seven seconds later.

Needless to say, Khudobin didn't have his best game in net, stopping just 14 of 17 shots he faced before being lifted for Rask after allowing the two goals in seven seconds.  Flyers' netminder Steve Mason was solid in the crease, stopping 39 of 41 Bruins opportunities.

The race for the Northeast Division title and the second overall seed is going to come down to the last week of the season, and one thing is for sure: either the Canadiens or Bruins is going to win it, whether they want to or not.

NHL Officials postpone Bruins game in response to bombing

The National Hockey League has postponed tonight's game between the Boston Bruins and the Ottawa Senators, scheduled for tonight at TD Garden in downtown Boston.

The postponement is in response to today fatal bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  Two people are confirmed dead and many dozens of other were wounded, some critically as two separate bombs were detonated seconds apart at and near the finish line of the annual race.

The NHL released the following announcement:

The game between the Ottawa Senators and Boston Bruins scheduled for tonight at TD Garden has been postponed, the National Hockey League announced today.

The game will be rescheduled. The date and time will be announced at a later date.

The National Hockey League wishes to express its sympathy to all affected by the tragic events that took place in Boston earlier this afternoon.

No make up date has been announced.

How many times can the Boston Bruins defense leave their goaltenders out on an island before it come back to bit them in their hind parts?

With Tuukka Rask in net on Saturday night, the answer was four times - but it very well could have been twice as many, but the Finnish born net minder stopped

Boston Sportsnight: Celtics' slide, Sox' closer, Bruins' passion all in question

Tough night for Boston sports fans.  Really tough.

The Celtics lost again as they slump towards the playoff and an eventual 1st round exit, the Sox are in full-cringe when closer Joel Hanrahan takes the mound and the Patriots' Alfonzo Dennard was perhaps spending his last night as a free man - but the most worrisome development on the Boston Sports' scene is what happened with 4:50 left in the second period of the Bruins 5-4 win over the host New Jersey Devils...

...Brad Marchand is not innocent on the ice by any means - after all, he wasn't referred to as the "Little ball of hate" by President Barrack Obama for nothing.

He is as intense a player as you will see, but his game is far more than raw emotion - as witnessed by his status as goal and points leader for a Boston Bruins team that now lead the Northeast Diviison of the NHL's Eastern Conference, so he is more than an agitator, for which he takes his share of both hits and criticism. 

But when New Jersey Devils' defenseman Anton Volchenkov leveled Marchand with an elbow to the head Wednesday night, the most alarming thing about it wasn't the hit itself, and it wasn't the fact that Volchenkov appeared to directly target Marchand's head that was disturbing - it was Marchand's teammate's response to the hit - or lack thereof - that is drawing question.

Hey, it's hockey.  Some guys are goons and set out to hurt people.  Most are good, tough players who give their all to help their teams win, and almost all will come to the aid of a fallen teammate - but the only one who came to Marchand's aid was newly acquired linemate Jaromir Jagr, who appeared more shocked by the Bruins' lack of response than he was by the hit itself.

Hell, even Volchenkov tried to keep Marchand from hitting the ice face first after hitting him and then even after Jagr shoved him into the boards from behind.

What does this tell Jagr about his new team?  What does it tell Bruins' fans about the chemistry of their unit?  Most of all, what does it tell Marchand about his teammates?  That they're not going to have his back?

The Bruins may have held on to win last night's game, but in the process may have lost some respect.

And in hockey, respect is everything.  So be prepared, Bruins, you just opened yourselves up for a little roughhousing from every goon and enforcer out there - they are going to test your will and determination and go after your scorers, and will continue to do so until you prove that you are passionate enough about your employ to come to the defense of one of your own.

And that's a bad way to skate into the playoffs, no matter your seed...

Update: In response to the elbow to the head on Brad Marchand, the NHL has suspended New Jersey Devils' Anton Volchenkov for four games, suspension to commence immediately.

Marchand gets new linemates, scores twice as Bruins throttle 'Canes 6-2

If there was a woodshed handy in the TD Garden on Monday night, the Bruins would have dragged the Carolina Hurricanes behind it for a more private beating...

...but there wasn't, so the Bruins settled for stomping them in front of 17, 565 that was more like a public flogging.

Whether the result of coach Claude Julien shuffling the lines or just coming out with more of a socrer's mentality,  Boston set a season high water mark with six goals and Tukkaa Rask stopped 40 of 43 shots as the Bruins punished the Carolina Hurricanes 6-2.

"The one thing we wanted was more offense and I think we got that tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "Now the matter combining both, I didn't think we were at our best in defensive play."

The 42 shots allowed by the Boston defense continues a trend of exposing their goal tenders to a barrage, 40 or more shots in three of the last four games, but it is a work in progress as the Bruins attempt to effectively clear the defensive zone.  Opponents have taken to be aggressive against the Bruins in their zone, essentially promoting full ice pressure to disrupt the timing of the offense...

...the side effect of which is that their opponents are able to intercept clearing passes and get wide open snipes at Rask and his backup Anton Khudobin.

But at least for one night, the Bruins' passing was crisp, the defensemen hitting the forwards on their tape as they skirt the boards then work back towards the puck instead of waiting for it to come to them, and the result was a relentless pelting of two Carolina goalies.

Brad Marchand scored two goals in the first period as the new second line of Jaromir Jagr, Gregory Campbell and Marchand were the main instigators, the line providing constant pressure on net all evening.  Rich Peverley, Andrew Ference, Jordan Caron and Nathan Horton all scored goals - Caron his first of the year and Marchand his team-leading 15th and 16th of the season.

As has been the trend, the Bruins sleepwalked at the outset, exposing Rask to point blank shots which the net minder was able to deflect away, but the slow starts continue to haunt the Black and Gold - but once they woke up and got moving, Boston scored three goals on nine 1st period shots, chasing Hurricane starting goalie Justin Peters.

Peters' backup didn't fare much better, as Dan Ellis allowed four more goals throughout the match.

The encouraging thing for the Bruins is that despite their struggles, they are just one point out of the Northeast Division lead behind the Montreal Canadiens and somehow only four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Eastern Conference's top seed...

...and their schedule favors a successful stretch run.  Boston plays 6 of their last 10 games at TD Center, including a mid-April, week-long four game home stand that could serve as the impetus to superiority in the conference - but first, a trip to New Jersey to face the Devils on Wednesday leading to a quick turnaround with the Islanders at the Garden on Thursday and a Saturday rematch with these Hurricanes in North Carolina.

This is it, the stretch run of an abbreviated season, and if the Bruins can use the final three weeks to build upon last night's puck movement out of their defensive zone to set up their attacking offense on the other end, they have as good a chance as anyone to claim the Cup...but first, the Devils on Wednesday night...

Sluggish Bruins fall in Montreal 2-1

The monkey on the Bruins' backs has turned into a gorilla.

For the third time in four tries, the Montreal Canadiens have beaten the Boston Bruins by one goal, and in doing so have taken the season series from the Bruins and now surge ahead in the Northeast Division standings.

But just as importantly, The Canadiens have not allowed the Bruins to exact revenge for the now infamous Embellishment game - a 4-3 loss to the Canadiens back on March 3rd in which Montreal came back from a 3-2 deficit in the 3rd period, thanks to what Bruin's head coach Claude Julien implied was the Habs' practice of embellishment, or trying to sell penalties to the referees by flopping to the ice on contact - a game which determined a course for each team this season. 

For Montreal, they took Julien's accusations of the Canadiens "Flopping" to gain a competitive advantage as a compliment to their skill and their ability to frustrate the Bruins and, apparently, their coach...

...while the Bruins have resorted to calendar watching, focusing on each approaching game with the Habs while seemingly overlooking their other opponents and sleepwalking through the rest of their schedule, particularly early in games.

The Canadiens are in the Bruins' heads, and Boston missed their last opportunity to fore check them out from in front of their consciousness...and it had nothing to do with flopping this time, but had everything to do with Boston's seeming inability to clear the defensive zone cleanly.

Both of Montreal's goals came courtesy of sluggish efforts to clear the defensive zone, which repeatedly left goal tender Tukkaa Rask exposed to point blank opportunities for the Habs, but the only two that got through were Alex Galchenyuk's tip in off Boston defenseman Steve Bartkowski and Michael Ryder's power play blast deflected off Dennis Seidenberg as the Canadiens again beat Boston by a score of 2-1.

Daniel Paille scored Boston's lone goal, a nifty tip in of a Johnny Boychuck rocket, but what opportunities the offense did create for itself resulted in poor fortune, missing open nets or, in the case of Boston's sole power play, failed to register a shot on goal.

Tuukka Rask made 27 saves for the Bruins, who fell to 24-9-4, and Carey Price made 26 for Montreal, their record standing at a 25-8-5 mark, good enough for the lead in the Northeast Division by three points over Boston.

"Every time we play this team it's the most important game," Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges said. "We played a full 60 minutes, and that's what was impressive. They had some good push. That's a good hockey team over there, but we held our ground and played hard."

The Canadiens' grip on the division is tenuous, however, as Boston has the clear advantage in their remaining schedule.

While Montreal has 6 of their remaining 10 games on the road, including a 3 game roadie to end the season at New Jersey, Winnipeg and Toronto, the Bruins have 7 of their final 11 games at TD Center in Boston, the highlight of which is a four game homestand against the Senators, Sabres, Penguins and Panthers, a stretch which will ultimately determine the Bruins' playoff destiny.

But none of that is going to matter if the Bruins can't figure out a way to offset their difficulties in their defensive zone.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rask, Jagr cast out Devils 1-0

Jaromir Jagr wasted no time stepping in to lend a hand to the Boston Bruins.

Or should we say, lend a skate?

Clearly the Bruins needed the help, particularly offensively as Boston's anemic attack has scored just 20 goals in the past nine games - five of those in their shootout loss to Montreal last week - and has one of the worst power plays in the league...

...but the 12 time All Star and former Hart Trophy winner thinks the Bruins' scoring woes are being blown out of proportion:

"I don't think this team really needs it." Jagr said at this morning's game-day skate, meaning his offense "They won the Cup two years ago and when you look at the top guys, they're still here. So they know they can do it. And for me, personally, I wish I can somehow help the team to produce better."

"The game has changed, so I changed."

Right. 

So 1:20 into the second period of his first game as a Bruin, Jagr lit the lamp, a tip in off linemate Brad Marchand's feed right on his skate - yes, let the record show that Jagr's first goal for the Boston Bruins was a clanker off his left skate...

...and Goalie Tukkaa Rask made it hold up, stopping 40 shots in a sensational effort in net as the Bruins took a rousing 1-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night at TD Center in downtown Boston.

And that's it.

And other than the assorted memorabilia and mullet wigs worn by Jagr fans in the crowd, and that he scored the only goal of the game, you'd hardly even know he was in town.

But once the euphoria of a third straight win and Jagr's clanker wears off, the Bruins still have the same problems that they came into Thursday night's contest with: Scoring and clearing the puck out of the defensive zone.

Coach Claude Julien was looking for a more consistent defensive effort from his charges than he got in Boston's horrid display on Tuesday night in a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators in which the defense allowed an astounding 47 shots on goal...

...and he got it, but not by much and not even close to being up to his standards.

The offensive issues are stemming more from their inability to clear the defensive zone, the halting nature of which doesn't allow the offense to move with any momentum and leads to choppy play in the attacking zone.  Once the defense figures out it's issues, the offense will come - especially now with Jagr adding a serious threat to net one every time he shoots.

With team captain Patrice Bergeron sidelined with a "mild" concussion, Jagr teamed on the second line with Marchand on the right wing and Tyler Seguin filling in at center - the smooth skating of Seguin and the intensity of Marchand a nice compliment to Jagr's improvisational skills.

The win raises Boston's record to 24-8-4 and their 52 points are one shy of Northeast Division leading Montreal Canadiens, whom the Bruins get on Saturday night with a chance to get a big monkey off their backs and take over the second seed in the Eastern Conference at the same time by beating the Habs in Montreal.

Boston has blown late leads in their past two contests with Montreal, losing both in gut-wrenching fashion, but a win in Montreal would go a long ways to exorcising those demons.

The Bruins point total also trails the Pittsburgh Penguins by 4 points for the top spot in the conference, and the Bruins have a huge scheduling advantage in that they play only 5 of their final 13 games on the road, a stretch that includes a four game mid-April homestand, including a visit from those same Penguins on the 19th.

So the Jagr era in Boston begins with an "excuse me" goal off of his skate.  Perhaps Boston just scored the help they needed to put them over the top in the Eastern Conference - no matter what Jaromir Jagr says...

Hamilton, Chara get physical, lay out Senators in 3-2 win

There reaches a point in every game when one play turns the momentum to one side.

It happens for every game, and it happens for every season and usually it's nothing more than a good fundamental play that turns the tide, most times barely making a ripple in the sea of humanity gathered around the ice sheet...

...but on Tuesday night at TD Garden in downtown Boston, Bruins' defenseman Dougie Hamilton had a moment just like that, and when it happened, the fans erupted in unison - even if the young defenseman paid the price.

With the score tied at 2-2, and both teams involved in a track meet, Hamilton delivered a huge hit on Ottawa winger Erik Condra just inside the Senator's attacking zone, laying Condra out and leaving Hamilton sprawled face down on the ice.

The collision allowed the Bruins to break the other direction, seconds later Milan Lucic launching a wrister from the high point, hitting Senator's goalie Robin Lehner in the pads hard enough that he couldn't control the rebound which went right to Nathan Horton who slammed the puck in for the game winner.

David Krejci and Tyler Seguin also scored for the Bruins during a five minute scoring spree to open the contest.  Colin Greening opened the scoring with a backhander just 2:48 into the game to give Ottawa the lead, Krejci tying it just 40 seconds later and Sequin giving the Bruins the lead a mere minute after that.

After a scoreless second frame, Senators' left winger Andre Benoit knotted the score at 2-2 winding up and firing from the top of the left circle that Khudobin at first appeared to stop, but replays showed the puck floated just across the red line and Benoit was awarded the goal.  Horton then put the Bruins up for good with his wrister off the Lucic rebound.

The 3-2 win improved the Bruins' record to 23-8-4, and the accompanying 50 points just one shy of rivals Montreal Canadiens for the lead in the Northeast Division, but six behind the conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins.

Condra got up slowly from the Hamilton hit, but the young defenseman remained prone for a few seconds before arising, seemingly stunned from the violent collision, and went immediately to the locker room, emerging no worse for wear a few moments later.

The same can not be said for top line center Patrice Bergeron, who skated into an inadvertent Colin Greening elbow at the midway point of the 2nd period and hit the ice, remaining on his hands and knees for several seconds before skating off and into the locker room.

Unlike Hamilton, Bergeron - who has a history of severe concussions - did not return, and no information on the severity of his injury was offered, thought the mood in the Bruins locker room after the game was rather subdued for such an exciting game.

"He's a player that plays a big role on our team," Bruins captain Zdeno Chara said. "He's obviously one of our best players every night, so he was missed since he left the game."

Chara had a huge defensive hit himself, perhaps a game saver.

With 34 seconds left in the contest and the Bruins nursing the one goal lead, Defenseman Johnny Boychuck was called for interference, giving the Senators the man advantage that they quickly tunred into a 6 on 4 by pulling their goalie. 

Bruins net minder Anton Khudobin being pelted by the Ottawa onslaught and after a big save on a windup and snipe by Sergie Gonchar, the puck bounded of to the right corner where Senator's winger Chris Neil got there just before Chara, who laid Neil out with a vicious fore check into the boards, Chara taking possession of the puck and firing it back into the Senator's zone as the game clock expired.

This is how the Bruins win.  They play their best when they feed off of big hits and solid defense, though coach Claude Julien would argue the solid defense part.

"It was good to see our team offensively create some chances because that's an area where we struggled," Julien said, but "I thought that we were very soft defensively."

Perhaps he should ask Condra and Neil how soft the Bruins defense was.

In truth, both goal tenders would probably agree with Julien, as both faced career high shots on goal, Khudobin stopping 45 of 47 while Lehner managed to stone 47 of 50 Bruins' opportunities...but in the end it was the fierce hitting by the Bruins' defensemen that ultimately won the game.

Boston Bruins acquire Jaromir Jagr for stretch run

"I ask them to send me Marines, instead they send me relics."

In the film Heartbreak Ridge, Clint Eastwood portrays an aging Marine, transferred at his request to a recon battalion for a final duty station before calling it a career - and his new commanding officer, Major Powers, doesn't care for it...

...but in the end, it turns out well enough for Gunny Highway and his troops - as he taught them to stand and fight, that conditioning is key and to win you must "Improvise, adapt and overcome".

Given all of the hardships and injuries the Boston Bruins have suffered through in this abbreviated season that started with such promise, can bringing in an aging veteran help them regain their winning attitude and intensity? 

Guess it can't hurt.

That's why when Bruins center David Kracji heard news that the Dallas Stars had consummated a deal to send Jaromir Jagr to Boston, he sounded very excited.

"He was the best for a long time, and he's still one of the best right now," said Krejci, who was respectfully overindulging the 41 year old who was once considered the best hockey player in the world. "It's good to see him still do well at his age. I had posters of him when I was a kid. He was obviously my hockey idol."

The Stars reportedly asked for a conditional second round pick and two prospects Lane MacDermid and Cody Payne, and in exchange, the Bruins get a wealth of experience and old school toughness in a winger who can still bring the tape.

And in Boston, Jagr won't have to be "The Guy" - he will be surrounded by a cast of talented scorers who have had troubles scoring on the power play this season nevertheless, and the move for Jagr is probably directly tied to addressing that deficiency.

Not a bad way to Improvise.  Now the players need to adapt to each others' games in order to overcome the Montreal Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eatern Conference seeding.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rask, Bergeron shine as Bruins bag 'Leafs

Patrice Bergeron was everywhere on Monday night - even the penalty box.

In a rare occurrence, the Bruins star center took a hooking penalty 30 seconds into the third period, adding two minutes to his 10 already served this year...then made it up to his teammates.  Big Time.

Bergeron backhanded his 9th goal of the season midway through the 3rd period to tie the game, then nailed the game winning goal in the shootout to lead the struggling Bruins to a much needed 3-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden in downtown Boston.

Milan Lucic netted his 5th of the year and goal tender Tuukka Rask stopped 23 of 25 shots in regulation and overtime, then stoned two of three Maple Leafs attempts in the shootout, winning his 15th of the season for the Bruins, who improved to 21-7-3 overall.

Joffrey Lupul scored his 4th and Nikolai Kulemin his 5th while netminder James Reimer stopped 27 shots but only 1 of 3 in the shootout as the Maple Leafs dropped to 17-12-4.

With the win, Boston takes over the lead of the Northeast Division from the Montreal Canadiens, who just happen to be the Bruins' next opponent on Wednesday night.  Their 45 points are miraculously somehow only five points less than than Eastern Conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins.

Since blowing a late lead against the Candiens in Boston just over a three weeks ago, the Bruins have struggled to find consistency and have blown late leads and fared poorly against teams currently in the playoff picture, including a pair to the Penguins...and almost a pair to the Maple Leafs until Lucic woke up the sleepwalking Bruins with his goal in the second.

Lupul scored his goal at 2:04 of the second period on the man advantage and Kulemin his on a breakaway at 8:01, taking a perfect pass from Nazim Kadri and splitting the Boston defenders for an easy wrister past a helpless Rask before Lucic beat three Toronto defenders after taking a Rich Peverley pass, weaving in from the blue line and lining a wrister through the five hole to get the Bruins within one.

Halfway through a physical and chippy third period, Brad Marchand kept a puck in the attacking zone with spirited play at the blue line and dumped the puck deep where defenseman Dougie Hamilton got to it and traversed the back of the net, flipping a pass right on Bergeron's tape, who squeezed the puck between Reimer's glove side and the post to knot the score at 2-2.

An uneventful overtime period led to the shootout, where Tyler Seguin and Bergeron both beat Reimer while Rask stopped two on the other end to preserve the victory.

The Leafs caught a red eye right after tonight's loss to get home in time to host the Florida Panthers tomorrow night before hosting the Hurricanes on Thursday while the Bruins finally get the Habs back in the Garden on Wednesday night, then take a short roadie to Philadelphia and then Buffalo on Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Yes, the Bruins finally get their hated rivals back on Wednesday night, a game that they've been waiting for since skating off the TD Garden ice three weeks ago after blowing a 3rd period lead against the Habs, with a chance to break the spell that the Canadiens wove in their heads in that physical contest...

...and perhaps the feeling that a big monkey climbed on the Bruins' collective back that night in early March was correct after all, as the Bruins have been searching for a consistent effort ever since, with Boston coach Claude Julien even trying to change the lines around to spark something - anything - proper out of his team.

Luckily, this is a talented Bruins team that have gotten by with that talent and a bit of good fortune while awaiting this rematch.  Now Boston has to make good their opportunity and give that stupid monkey the beating of it's life - oh, and the Habs, too.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Khudobin shines in net, stops Senators 2-1

Dennis Seidenberg sure did pick a good time to score his first goal of the season

Thirty games into the abreviated NHL season, the Bruins defenseman lined a wicked slapshot past Ottawa goal tender Robin Lehner with a mere minute and change left in regulation for the game winner as the Bruins beat the Senators 2-1 at the ScotiaBank Arena in Ottawa on Thursday evening.

Daniel Paille netted his sixth of the season to answer Kaspar Daugavins' first of the season for the Senators who lost for the first time in four games and dropped to 16-9-6.  The Bruins have won three straight in Ottawa this season and improved to 20-6-3 and trail the Eastern Conference leading Pittsburgh Penguins by 3 points.

Bruins backup goalie Anton Khudobin stopped 27 of 28 shots, many of them in spectacular, sprwaling fashion while Lehner stopped 27 shots as well, but allowed Seidenberg's drive in the waning seconds to spoil an equally impressive night in goal.

After a scoreless and relatively uneventful opening stanza, Daugavins took a pass along the boards from Mika Zibanejad and snapped a long range wrister over Khudobin's shoulder from a tough angle on the outer left circle to take a 1-0 lead which got the capacity crowd out of their seats, sensing that this might be their night...

...until Daniel Paille snapped one past Lehner from the face off spot in the right circle, taking a Johnny Boychuck feed and weaving into a clear firing position to tie the game at 1-1 heading into the final frame.

Appearing the the game was destined for overtime as both goalies were making incredible saves after being left on an island by sloppy defense on both sides, Seidenberg finally burned Lehner.  Patrice Bergeron won a face off in the right circle, the puck sliding right to Zdeno Chara just inside the blue line who tapped the pass into Seidenberg's wheelhouse - the puck elevating through traffic and finding the back of the Ottawa net.

The Senators now enjoy a week of no travel, hosting Tampa Bay on Saturday, New Jersey on Monday, the Rangers on Thursday and Toronto next Saturday while the Bruins head to Toronto for the first game of a hone and home series against the Maple Leafs on Saturday night, returning home to host the Leafs on Monday - the big rematch with the hated Montreal Canadiens looming on Wednesday...

...and thank the Hockey Gods for that.  Ever since blowing a third period lead against the Canadiens back on March 2nd, the Bruins have turned in inconsistent efforts - almost as if losing in that fashion to their most hated rival immediately set forth a target date for revenge...and now that it's on the horizon the Bruins have the opportunity to get that monkey off their backs and get back to the business of dominating teams with bruising defense and, hopefully, finding their dormant offense.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins again victimized by the vanishing late lead, fall to Jets 3-1

The Boston Bruins need to go to their happy place.

Particularly in the third period, because with the lead and the game on the line it looks like late collapses have gotten into the Bruins' heads and are threatening to become the culture...

...but while on the surface it may seem like the Bruins are just choking down the stretch, the truth is that the games are lost way before they venture that far.  Case in point, on Tuesday night, the Bruins had the man advantage twice in the first period and not only couldn't score, but they failed to even generate a shot of goal.

There are many other examples of how the lack of intensity and aggressiveness are hurting the bullies, and when combined with the sudden rash of injuries, you get what you got in Winnipeg tonight and in Pittsbugh twice this season: the dreaded inevitable collapse.

The Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into the final frame courtesy of a Brad Marchand gift wrapped goal just eight seconds into the third period, but it wasn't enough as Blake Wheeler and Evander Kane score goals within 57 seconds of each other midway through the third period as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Bruins 3-1 on Tuesday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Wheeler added an empty net goal with just seconds to play to hand the Bruins their third consecutive road loss and second strait overall, falling two points behind Montreal in the Northeast Division...

...and at 16-12-2 the Jets take over the lead in the NHL's Southeast Division.

For the fifth time in six regulation time losses this season, the Bruins have blown a third period lead - and they all seem to involve the enemy scoring in bunches.

After a scoreless opening frame that saw fancy skating and tight defense, a freakish carom off the boards behind the red line found the puck in the crease in front of the Winnipeg net and a full speed Brad Marchand swept in from the left and slapped the puck past Jets' goal tender Ondrej Pavelec to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead.

That was all the Pavelec allowed to get behind him, making circus saves time and again to deny point blank Boston scoring opportunities.

That lead held until 8:16 left in the third when Wheeler tapped in the rebound off Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who was victimized again 57 seconds later when Rask lost track of the rebound off of a Grant Clitsome shot and Kane snapped it home behind Rask for the game winner.

Winnipeg now gets to enjoy some more home cooking as they host the Washington Capitals on a rare back-to-back double dip on Thursday and Friday and then Tampa Bay on Sunday while the Bruins continue their thus far unsuccessful roadie at Ottawa on Thursday and Toronto on Saturday before heading home to take on those same Maple Leafs on Monday.

When Happy Gilmore went to his "Happy Place", there were midgets running around, half-naked women toting pitchers of beer and his Grandma hitting the jackpot on a slot machine.

The Bruins would settle for a couple of more goals - because the problem isn't with the goaltending or the defense, and not necessarily all with the offense, but more with attitude - more aggression, trying to get that extra goal to pad a lead.

Because if this trend of late game collapses continues, it's going to become ingrained in the players' heads and in the culture of the team, and before you know it you're out on the golf course, wondering how it all went wrong...

...beating up other golfers, swearing at your ball, getting hit by Volkswagens...

Boston Bruins Gameday: Bruins dominate, still can't beat Penguins

One of these days the Boston Bruins will figure out how to beat those guys.

The Dominion held over the Bruins by the Pittsburgh Penguins is at a level that they are in the Bruins' heads, and today's effort by the Eastern Conference leading Penguins isn't going to help Boston rectify that any time soon.

NHL points leader Sidney Crosby and Joe Vitale both logged 1st period goals and backup goal tender Tomas Vokoun stopped 31 of 32 shots on goal as the shorthanded Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the dumbstruck Boston Bruins 2-1 at Consol Energy Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon

Boston Goaltender Tuukka Rask faced only 18 shots, stopping 16, but still took the loss.  Tyler Seguin scored the Bruins lone goal for his 10th on the season.  The loss dropped the Bruins to 19-5-3 and a full three points behind the Penguins in the race for the the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

The Bruins did everything they needed to do, crisp passing, extended offensive sets in the Penguins zone, pelting the besieged Vokoun with nearly twice as many shots as the Bruins' defense allowed against Rask...but in the end, they just couldn't put the puck in the net.

The Penguins were without star center Evengi Malkin who has been out for five straight games, and top scoring defenseman Kris Letang for most of the contest, the result of a collision with Brad Marchand in the opening frame - but their depth and a focus on team defense helped them post their ninth consecutive victory.
  
"Our team defense has been a focus for us and how we play, and it's everybody," Penguins coach Don Bylsma said. "The responsibilities of our forwards in the defensive zone has been a key for us both offensively and defensively. In the defensive zone we're six guys defending there."

Crosby opened the scoring eight minutes in, taking a crossing passing and slapping the puck into the open net moments after being denied by Rask on a clean break after splitting Bruins' defensemen - the score coming just after the faceoff in the Boston zone after the failed attempt.

Seguin followed four and a half minutes later, firing a rocket past a helpless Vokoun as a centering pass deflected off of defenseman Johnny Boychuck's skate right into Seguin's wheelhouse.  Vitale finished the scoring just 32 seconds before the end of the 1st period, slicing in from the right circle, going airborne and ripping the puck top shelf past a surprised Rask.

The final two periods saw plenty of spectacular saves and solid defense in what can only be termed as a playoff atmosphere, something not lost on Marchand.  "They played pretty sound defensively, you've got to give them that even though their top guys were out," Marchand said. "That makes it a little bit tough to play against, but we've got to find a way."

Pittsburgh now turns it's focus to working on getting healthy and rested, taking on the Caps on Tuesday, then visting the Islanders on Friday night before returning home for a massive five game homestand starting Sunday against the Flyers, while the Bruins run the Polar Express, visiting Winnipeg on Tuesday, Ottawa on Thursday and Toronto on Saturday before returning home to host those same Maple Leafs next Monday.

"Thought we had a chance to win," Boston coach Claude Julien lamented following the game. "We spent more time in their end and we did all the things right except we couldn't get that goal. There was a couple of times where the goalie was out and we shot a puck and it looked like it was going, it hits a skate and goes wide and you get those games, you get those nights."

Just seems like those nights happen more often when their opponent is the Penguins...

Boston Bruins Gameday: Bruins Stomp Caps 4-1

The bullies are back.

It is socially unacceptable to be a bully these days, unless you play hockey for the Boston Bruins and are looking to establish rights to your turf...

...which should be any sheet of ice that they skate onto - but that hasn't always been the case this season, much to the chagrin of coach Claude Julien, who called out his team for being cream puffs after a less than inspiring victory over the bottom feeding Florida Panthers a few nights back.

They responded in Boston Bruins' fashion with a thorough 4-1 stomping of the Washington Capitals at TD Center in downtown Boston on Saturday afternoon.

It started with the business of establishing turf rights, which Brad Marchand took upon himself and picked a fight with young Mike Ribeiro, giving him a taste of the hate - and ended with Adam McQuaid seeking out Caps center Matt Hendricks for a well deserved beating.

Once the turf was established and the defense properly set, the scoring came - fulfilling the prophesy that intimidation and defense spawn offense.

Nathan Horton, David Krejci, Andrew Ference and Rich Peverley each scored goals and Milan Lucic had three assists, aggressively feeding his teammates the puck from behind the net for two of the tallys.  Goaltender Anton Khudobin stopped 32 shots for Boston, who raised their record to 19-4-3 on the season.

The Bruins' defense was so dominant that Washington's only goal on the day came courtesy of a Krejci clearing pass glancing off the skate of defenseman Johnny Boychuck's skate and into the open net past a stunned Khudobin.  The goal was credited to Marcus Johansson.

The Bruins' defense stepped in and challenged and mirrored whatever the Caps tried to do on the offensive end, leading to favorable opportunities for themselves on the other end.  Two goals came from the high slot, Horton's a wicked drive and Ference's a long range snap shot that Caps' goalie Michal Neuvirth had no chance of stopping.

The other two came from directly in front of the net where the Bruins simply outmuscled and outhustled the overmatched Capitals, Krejci taking a Lucic feed from behind the net for an easy score, then Peverley stood tall in the middle of chaotic scrum to tap home the final goal.

Now the Capitals have to get back to Washington to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday night, then they embark on an old fashioned AHL road trip, hitting Pittsburgh on Tuesday night before heading out for a back to back "double header" at Winnipeg on Thursday and Friday while the Bruins embark on a four games in six nights road trip starting tomorrow night in Pittsburgh, then Winnioeg on Tuesday, Ottawa on Thursday, winding up in Toronto for a faceoff with the Maple Leafs.

The Physical play was great to see, but it was even better seeing that it was a contained aggression, nothing wild or out of control - just hard nosed Hockey.

Boston Bruins Hockey.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins blow late lead, fall to Pens 3-2

Furious Penguins' rally or stunning Bruins' collapse?

Either is appropriate, depending on your point of view.

Entering the game with a chance to take over sole possession of both the Northeast division and Eastern Conference leads, the Bruins lost the game and the opportunity by yielding 3 final frame goals, the game winner by Brandon Sutter with just 2:03 left in regulation as Pittsburgh posted a dramatic 3-2 come from behind victory over Boston at the CONSOL Energy Arena on Tuesday night.

The goal was the second of the period for Sutter, who scored just three and a half minutes earlier as part of a three goal explosion in just over four minutes.

Boston entered the 3rd period with a 2-0 lead, courtesy of goals by both Zdeno Chara and Tyler Seguin.  Chara scored just 4:45 into the match on the power play, his drive from the point finding paydirt past Penguins' goal keep Marc-Andre Fleury, while Seguin's goal came from in front of the crease, his legs swpt out from under him as his wristed the puck past Fleury on his way to the ice.

After an uneventful second period and over half of the third, the Bruins were seemingly on the verge of pasting a shutout on Pittsburgh, which would have been the first suffered at home in two years, but then the Penguins started finding their range against the exhasted Bruins.

Chris Kunitz got the Penguins within one with just over six minutes remaining in regulation with a blast from right circle, then Sutter tied in with a wicked drive from the left circle 51 seconds later.  The game winner came from almost the exact same spot and gave the Penguines the improbable and biggest win of the season.

Anton Khudobin started in net for the Bruins and was spectacular, stopping 31shots until the defense started to collapse around him.  Fleury had only to stop 14 of Boston's meager total of 16 shots for the win.

The Penguins now take their act on the road to Toronto for a Thursday night faceoff with the Maple Leafs before returning home to host the Rangers on Saturday while the Bruins get to go home, hosting the Florida Panthers on Thursday and the Washington Capitals on Saturday.

The Bruins were tired, granted, but their trend of blowing late leads is disturbing - three of their last 4 have ended with blown leads, to Montreal, Washington and now Pittsburgh and all have been due to sloppiness on defense.

Perhaps with a little rest and bit of prodding from a frustrated coach Claude Julien, the Bruins will shore up the leaky D and move forward with confidence...right now all a lead does is give the fans a feeling of dread...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rask rescues sleepwalking Bruins 3-2 in shootout

Tuukka Rask is the man.

For the second game in a row, the Boston Bruins sleepwalked through the 1st period - particularly defensively as Rask was left exposed by turnovers and poor angles.

He gave up two goals in the period but stopped several other shots from the slot and point blank in the period, then after holding Ottawa scoreless in the final two periods and overtime, he stopped 3 of four in the shootout leading the Bruins to their third straight win, 3-2 over the Senators at the ScotiaBank Place in Ottawa on Monday night.

Defenseman Shawn Thornton scored his second goal of the season and Daniel Paille his fifth as Boston raised it's record to 17-3-3 for a total of 37 points, one behind Northeast Division and Eastern Conference leading Montreal.  Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci scored the shootout goals

The Senators had a lead before the fans had settled into their seats.  Guillaume Latendresse took a pass from Sergei Gonchar and backhanded a breakaway attempt into the net for a very early Ottawa lead. 

After Rask made several difficult saves, the Senators managed to light the lamp once more, as Kyle Turris took control of the puck at the blue line and swept in toward Rask keeping the defense on his back shoulder and fired a drive over Rask's shoulder and Ottawa had a 2-0 lead.

Turris also scored the only shootout goal for the Senators, who dropped to 13-8-5 on the season.

With less than a minute left in the opening period and the Bruins on the power play, Thornton jammed a shot into the pads of Ottawa goal tender Robin Lehner from a scrum in front of the net, the puck dribbling behind Lehner and barely over the red line to get the Bruins within one going into the second period.

The Bruins tied the score at 2-2 at almost the mid point of the second.  Krejci placed a perfect pass right on the tape of a streaking Paille, who snapped the puck past Lehner.

The third period and overtime passed without incident, though both teams had chances to end the game in the extra session, and the game went to the shootout.  Jakob Silferberg and Tyler Seguin both missed on the initial attempts of the period, then Turris and Bergeron traded goals before Daniel Alfredsson and Brad Marchand were stoned on their attempts.

Things got kind of weird after that. 

Trapping the puck under the nose of his inverted stick, Ottawa's Kaspar Daugavins bore down on Rask, who held his ground, dropped his pads to ice level as Daugavins performed a Zdeno Chara-type 360 spin move that struck Rask's skate blade and dribbled back out onto the playing surface.

Krejci then tucked his attempt in past Lehner and the Bruins had won their tenth straight in Ottawa and gained two points in a game that they never lead.

Now the Senators head out on the road, first to Montreal for a face off with the Habs on Wednesday night and then to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Saturday night while the Bruins hop on the red eye to Pittsburgh where they take on the Penguins on Tuesday night, returning home to host the Florida Panthers on Thursday and the Washington Capitals on Saturday night.

The Bruins may have won their past three games despite their sleepwalking ways early, but that isn't going hold up going forward as the Bruins play their toughest stretch of the abbreviated season.

Rask is game, but he can't stop everything, especially being put on the spot by sloppy defense.  The Bruins will look to tighten that up against the Pens tomorrow night.

Boston Bruins Gameday: Thornton, Bruins hammer Flyers 3-0

An effective leader acts quickly when he sees a potential problem, calmly and efficiently, never losing touch of the fact that he's dealing with human being...

...and there stood Shawn Thornton, a handful of Philadelphia Flyers' Zac Rinaldo's sweater, landing right hands to the side of his head, swiping Rinaldo's hand away from his own vestments, then unleashing a barrage of uppercuts that quickly had the Flyers' center on the ice and the referees escorting the two to their respective cells.

Thornton was matter of fact about his job.  He saw an issue - in this case Rinaldo hammering teammate Johnny Boychuck into the boards hard enough to send the husky defenseman sprawling - and he took action.

And all of this after Tyler Seguin, Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille scored rapid-fire goals within 2:18 of each other in the first period for a 3-0 score that would hold until the end.

“I was just reacting to the hit, I thought they were running around a little bit and I thought I’d address it." said the rugged Thornton.  "I don’t think it was a dirty hit by any means, but it was probably the third or fourth by him, so I tried to address it.”

Tyler Seguin scored the game winning goal at 11:53 of the opening period, starting the short, intense scoring burst for the Boston Bruins as they routed the bottom feeding Flyers 3-0.

For a while, it looked like neither team was particularly interested in being indoors and playing hockey on such a gorgeous day in Boston - the players floating around as if enjoying a leisurely skate on the pond before enjoying hot chocolate and smores on the shore...

...then a seeing-eye, power play goal by the Bruins and Philly's daydream shattered onto the ice like cheap glass.

Seguin's goal came with the man-advantage, taking a feed across the crease from Milan Lucic and easily flipping the puck into the net behind a surprised Flyers' goalie Ilya Bryzgalov - the goal opening the flood gates for an offensive barrage that saw all of the scoring take place within a 2:18 window of the 1st period.

A minute and a half after Seguin opened the scoring, Chris Kelly took a feed from newcomer Jordan Caron off the back boards, again easily beating a surprised Bryzgalov with a wrister, then less than a minute later the Bruins' fourth line got involved in the scoring, Gregory Campbell tapping a sweet pass to Daniel Paille who had set up shop on the left post and easily backhanded the puck into the net for a 3-0 Bruin lead...

...and this time there was no blowing a three goal lead.  Tight defense and aggressiveness on offense kept the Flyers well clear of Rask and out of the slot, an issue in the past three games.

"This was one of the best defensive games we've had in a long time" beamed an obviously pleased Bruins' coach Claude Julien.

Tuukka Rask stopped all 23 shots that came his way in recording his second shutout of the season, while his counterpart stopped only three of the six shots in the first period, but Bryzgalov regained his composure to pitch a shutout in the final two frames.

In truth, Bryzgalov was excellent in net, his three goals allowed the result of sloppy defense in front of him that allowed the Bruins free roam in the slot - coupled with solid team passing by the Bruins and the acrobatic saves he made from point blank range, his effort in the net is to be lauded.

The Flyers returned home this afternoon to prepare to host the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday, the they have a few days to recover before heading to New Jersey on Wednesday the first part of a home and home series with the Devils that concludes on Friday while the Bruins travel to Ottawa for a Monday night face off with the Senators, catching the red eye to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins the following night.

Defense, check.  Enforcers enforcing, check.  All lines contributing on offense, check.

Sounds like the Bruins are back to being the Bruins.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bergeron line dominates Maple Leafs, Bruins take 4-2 win

The Bergeron line is on fire

Never mind that the Bruins were limping into tonight's game having blown late leads in the previous two games and losing their grip on the top spot in the Eastern Conference, the line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin never wavered, and the brief two game losing streak is history.

Seguin scored twice, Bergeron once and Marchand tallied two helpers to lead the the Bruins to a lunch pail 4-2 win over the gritty and fast Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night at TD Center in downtown Boston.

David Krejci also scored for the Bruins, who kept pace in the Northeast Division as well as the conference with a record of 15-3-3, the 33 points one short of the Conference leading Montreal Canadiens.

Nazem Kadri and Jay McClement scored goals for the Leafs, who fell to 15-10-0.  Toronto goal tender Ben Scrivens stopped 21 of 24 shots but it wasn't enough as backup Anton Khudobin recorded 25 saves in another solid start.

The Bergeron goal was almost an "excuse me" happenstance, the result of some serious board work in the neutral zone by Marchand to knock the puck loose to a streaking Tyler Seguin who blew past the Maple Leafs' defense and put a wrister right into the pads of goal tender Ben Scrivens...

...and Bergeron, who like everyone else was trailing the play, had the rebound pop right in front of him from point blank range to put the Bruins up 1-0 to end the 1st period.

The Leafs tied it up at 2:32 of the second, Nazem Kadri taking a perfect cross ice pass on a break from center Jay McClement, the puck hitting Kadri's tape at the bottom of the left circle to easily beat Khudobin, who was getting the start for a resting Tuukka Rask.

Five minutes later Seguin put his snap shot on display, blasting a wicked drive from the right point off a feed from Marchand to give the Bruins a one goal lead, then David Krejci scored the eventual game winner on a pretty backhander, floating in from the left behind the defense and taking the odd angle rebound and sliding it into the open net behind the sprawling Scrivens for a 3-1 lead.

Things got a little tense in the final frame, as the Maple Leafs attacked relentlessly, finally paying off when Jay McClement redirected a spinning drive from Mikhail Gabovski to get Toronto to within one goal, but the Bruins were finally able to close out a game with a lead in the third, Seguin hitting the empty net at a deep angle for the final 4-2 tally.

Despite the loss, the Leafs hold the 5th seed ion the conference with 30 points, and their path to the playoffs now take an easier stretch as they play seven of their next ten at home, including a home and home series with the Bruins later in the month.  Saturday finds them at home hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins before traveling to Winnipeg on Tuesday.

The road is much tougher for the Bruins starting on Saturday when the Philadelphia Flyers invade TD Center for a 1:00pm start before going back to back on the road at Ottawa on Monday and then to Pittsburgh on Tuesday - the roadie a part of a stretch where they play 6 of their next 8 on the road.

If the second line continues to play as aggressively as they have the past three games, the goaltending continues to be solid and they can pick up some offense from the other lines, the toughest stretch of their season should be their finest hour.

Now about that interior defense...push those guys out from in front of the net, will ya?

“If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.”

What exactly does Idries Shah have to do with Hockey?  The answer is as cryptic as the reasoning behind slumps and the history of fisticuffs on the ice - but the sentiment that he tried to evoke with his message is that if a person causes you to hate them, they control you...

...Is that what is happening with the Boston Bruins and their sudden slide from the top of the Eastern Conference standings? 

What did Martin Luther King, Jr. have to do with Hockey?

Absolutely nothing, yet his messages and sermons that broached the subject of anger and the controlling of such should be of great interest to the Boston Bruins, as they seemingly have lost sight of their goal, their judgement clouded by anger.

once sermonized that "I will not allow someone to control me by causing me to be angry with them."

“Hatred is a form of faith, distilled by passion to remove all rationality.”
― L.E. Modesitt Jr., The Elysium Commission

“When you end up in a fight with someone, make sure you don’t carry the feeling next day because if you do so, you allow a part of yourself to remember ignoring and hating someone unimportant each time you wake up.”
― Ram Mohan

“Guilt and rage, hatred and fear were pathways to weakness and clumsy choices.”
― Jonathan Maberry, Dust and Decay

“The paradox of vengefulness is that it makes men dependent upon those who have harmed them, believing that their release from pain will come only when they make their tormentors suffer.
― Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

“If you want to strengthen an enemy and make him exult - hate him.”
― Idries Shah, Reflections

Boston Bruins on Paper: Thems fightin' words...

By nature, Hockey doesn't promote shyness.  So when Boston Bruins coach Claude Julien called out the Montreal Canadiens for wanton embellishment after Sunday night's 4-3 loss to the Habs, he pulled no punches.

"Right now they've got over 100 power plays so far, and it's pretty obvious why," Julien said after the game of the Canadiens. "We're trying to clean that out of our game, and it's got to be done soon because it's not about tonight, it's about the game, and the embellishment embarrasses our game."

Embellishment is an interesting choice of words, and in this circumstance he is referring to hockey's version of a flop, to which he suggests that Montreal has resorted to in order to gain a competitive advantage over their foes...and it has many synonyms, though simply claiming that a player is flopping or taking a dive usually does the trick.

Simply stated in sports vernacular, Julien is claiming that the Canadiens are cheating, and if you have to resort to cheating, how satisfying is the victory?

The Canadiens don't see it that way.

"Jealousy," claimed Montreal's Max Pacioretty of the motivation behind Julien's remarks,"We're at the top right now and reading comments like that is awesome. If we're in last place, they wouldn't be saying anything about us, but we're in first place and it's the best feeling in the world."

The lead for the next chapter in this storied rivalry has just been written, and it suggests dark malfeasance - and perhaps a ring announcer and a cut man.

"To me, those comments that he made were ridiculous and I think he was very frustrated to have lost that game." said Montreal coach Michel Terrien in response to Julien's remarks, then added, "Claude can concentrate on his team and I'll concentrate on my own."

It is certain that he's concentrating on March 27th, when the teams will meet in a rematch that will be nothing short of a brawl - he just has to make sure that the countdown to the season's most anticipated grudge match doesn't consume both he and his team before then...

...because if it does and the Bruins get caught looking ahead, the Canadien's "embellishment" will have had its desired result, and focus will have given way to gamesmanship.

The schedule leading up to this showdown is brutal for the Bruins, twelve games in 22 days, seven of the 12 on the road including four of five leading up to the rematch, so focus is essential...

...but the road to Boston is even tougher for the Habs.  While playing only 10 games in same span, seven of those are on the road, including playing in Pittsburgh against the Penguins the day before.

Wednesday, March 27th at 7:30pm, TD Center, Boston, Massachusetts. 

Game on.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins play rough, lose composure and game to Habs 4-3

So I'm watching the Hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadiens when in the second period there was a series of fights.  After Bruins Defenseman Zdeno Chara instigated another fight she chirps "Why do they have to fight?  It's a game!"

To which my 9 year old replied "Maybe they just don't like each other, Mom".

And so it goes with the Bruins and Canadiens. 

No use to try and explain it, you just have to watch.  It's addicting, I tell her - the speed, the grace, the violence..a bar fight on skates...

...that she understood.  "But"' she continued, "it looks like that's all they want to do."

Hockey is speed, hitting, passing.  When these hated rivals get together the game gets faster, the hitting gets harder and the passing crisper - but it looked like the Bruins didn't get the memo on passing getting crisper - or maybe their focus was too much on roughing up their oldest enemy.

Because in the end it was Montreal's speed and aggressive skating and constant peppering of Boston's goal tender Tuukka Rask that won out over the Bruins' rough and tumble, knock your block off intimidation game, the Canadiens scoring a 4-3 victory at TD Garden on Sunday night.

For sure, the Bruins flexed their muscles and bared their fists. winning the battles along the boards, but they lost the game in the neutral zone and at the point where the Bruins tried living dangerously with sloppy clearing passes that the Canadiens picked off time after time for clear shots at Rask.

David Desharnais scored two goals, including the game winner midway through the final frame when he wristed a puck into an open net as Rask sprawled on the ice during a scramble to the left of the net when the puck found its way to Dasharnais.

Just four minutes earlier Max Pacioretty had tied the game for Montreal with a wicked drive from the high point past a shielded Rask.

Tomas Plekanec started the scoring on a power play tip in as he redirected Michael Ryder's pass for a 1-0 lead that lasted just 50 seconds before Tyler Seguin redirected a Brad Marchand pass past Canadiens' goalie Peter Budaj that tied it at one.  The tie lasted just seconds as a Desharnais pass slid off defenseman Johnny Boychuck's stick and into the Boston net.

Things got physical in the second period and the brutish intesity seemed to swing the momentum into the favor of the Bruins.  Trailing 2-1 Seguin hit Patrice Bergeron with a cross-ice pass on a 2-1 break and Bergeron slapped in his own rebound for a 2-2 tie.

Five minutes later with the teams skating four a side, the Bruins took the lead at 3-2.  Marchand fired a drive at Budaj, the rebound skipping to Dougie Hamilton who tucked in a rebound from a tough angle at the bottom of the left circle.

The rest of the period was dropping gloves and sitting in the penalty box, particularly Zdeno Chara, who came to the defense of Seguin who was cross-checked by Montreal's Alexi Emelin, Chara shoving Emelin to the ice, then letting him up to take a barrage of rights from the big defenseman...

...but it was his instigation of the brawl along with a fighting major and a ten minute misconduct that left the Bruins shorthanded for much of the third, leading to the 2 goal rally by the Habs.

The loss snapped Boston's 6 game winning streak and handed Montreal sole possession of first place in the Northeast division and Eastern Conference.

The win was important for the Habs, who started a five games in seven nights road trip that next finds them in Uniondale, New York on Tuesday for a match with the Islanders then Carolina on Thursday then Tampa Bay on Saturday before wrapping it up in Miami with a face off with the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

Boston looks to get back on the winning track Tuesday night in Washington DC against the Capitals before returning home to host the Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday and Saturday respectively.

Perhaps the wifey was right.  Perhaps the Bruins were more focused on roughing up their hated rivals than skating and passing and winning the race to the puck - I know my boy was right. The teams just don't like each other...

But whatever it is, the Bruins need to get rid of it and regain their composure if they want to keep up with the speedy Canadiens in the division.

Boston Bruins Gameday: Marchand's late power play goal grounds Lightning

At this rate, Brad Marchand is going to get me kicked out of my building.

Marchand scored a power play goal with 2:16 left in regulation to give the Boston Bruins a come from behind 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night...

...interupting whatever my aged, crusty, intolerant old spinster of a downstairs neighbor was engaged in, as my entire flat exploded with noise when the little ball of hate scored the game winner.  Usually she runs straight to the landlord when Marchand scores his goals, which always seem to be timely and dramatic, but this time she called the Po-po...

...who finished watching the match with us and even took some time to have some of my son's birthday cake, then went downstairs to have a word with the old woman.

The 1:00pm matinee offered us a reprieve, I thought, from the usual noise complaints.  We were having my son's 9th birthday party at the same time, and when the Bruins completed their comeback from being down 2-0, well, you can just imagine the noise with 15 kids loaded up on frosting and soda...

The match itself had everything that's right in a 9 year old's wheelhouse.  Fighting, unsportsman like conduct, more fighting, a nasty elbow and more fighting.  The only things missing were a big explosion and zombies.

Tyler Seguin and Rich Peverley scored goals for the Bruins, who posted their 6th straight victory and now stand tied with the Montreal Canadiens as the leaders of the Eastern Conference with 30 points - and, wouldn't you know it, the hated Habs invade TD Center on Sunday night, the winner taking over sole possession of the conference lead.

Anton Khudobin started in goal for Boston, and it appeared that it would be a long night for the backup net minder, giving up power play goals to Steven Stamkos and Alex Killorn in the first period to fall into a 2-0 hole - but Seguin's man advantage goal and Peverley's drive on Tampa Bay's Mathieu Garon tied the match in the second, setting the stage for Marchand's game winner, his 11th on the season.

So...the Po-po are gone, but promised to be back if we again interupted the nasty old woman's nightly routine.  Hopefully the Bruins blow out the Habs tonight so that the game won't be so exciting as to incite yelling and stomping...

...and if I get evicted, I'm calling Marchand so he can help me move - and he can bring Campbell and Thornton along as well, just in case there's trouble...I'm sure the officers will settle for autographs instead of hauling me downtown...

"We know we're a better team, we know we can play better," coach Claude Julien told the Bruins' official website. "I'm certainly not criticizing our team for how they played because they still battled through. We didn't have our legs, so it's not because they didn't want to, but certainly Saturday's game I'm looking for our team to be better and hopefully we'll have gotten into our groove at home."
The Bruins are 5-1-1 at home despite going 0 for 26 on the power play.
Their current overall run includes last Thursday's 4-2 win at Tampa Bay. Boston didn't have one power play in that contest, but its league-best penalty kill snuffed out three Lightning opportunities and Nathan Horton scored twice at even strength.
"That's what we've got to aim for, beat that kind of team," Lightning coach Guy Boucher said that night.
Tampa Bay (9-10-1) is desperate for a win against anybody following three consecutive regulation defeats. Multiple Lightning players called Thursday's 4-1 road loss to the New York Rangers "embarrassing" after the team was outshot 35-11 in the first two periods.
"I don't really know what to say," said star forward Steven Stamkos, who had a six-game goal streak snapped. "Guys aren't competing hard enough, and they wanted it more than us.
"It's getting to a point where it's embarrassing. We talk about work ethic, but it's not there right now."
The Lightning are 3-9-1 since their promising 6-1-0 start, and they're 3-6-0 on the road following the first stop on a challenging trip that continues in Pittsburgh and New Jersey next week.
They may catch somewhat of a break Saturday if the Bruins opt to start Anton Khudobin in net. Tuukka Rask has played throughout Boston's win streak, posting a 1.38 goals-against average, but he could get a rest with an eye toward Sunday night's matchup with archrival Montreal.
Khudobin has made eight NHL starts and has never played in a home game for the Bruins.
Goaltending continues to be a problem for the Lightning. Anders Lindback gave up four goals on 26 shots against Boston last week and has not played since being pulled after one period of Sunday's 5-3 loss at Pittsburgh.
His 3.27 GAA ranks among the worst in the NHL, but Mathieu Garon hasn't been any better at 3.31 while losing five of his last six starts


Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/hockey/nhl/gameflash/2013/03/02/31240_preview.html#ixzz2MOQEyJ3t

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bergeron scores in overtime as Bruins down Senators

Sometimes the puck doesn't need to be flying a hundred miles per hour to get past the goalie...

...In this game none of them did.

Patrice Bergeron put just enough stick on the puck to dribble it past a sprawling Robin Lehner to score the game winner at 3:38 of overtime as the Boston Bruins squeaked past the scrappy Ottawa Senators 2-1 at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Nathan Horton also scored for the Bruins who won their fifth straight and improved to 13-2-2 on the season and Jim O'Brien scored his fifth of the season for the Senators, who fell to 12-6-3 and had a five game winning streak snapped in the process.

The game featured two distinctly different styles, as if it were Dancing with the Stars meets WWE Smackdown..the Crisp passing and graceful skating of the Ottawa Senators against the physical brutality of the Boston Bruins - and for three periods the two styles cancelled each other out...

...for 60-plus minutes the teams took turns showing off thier wares - the Senators making long passes right on the tape of their intended targets which had the Bruins back on their heels, as it were, then the Bruins checking the Sens so often that the referees thought about asking for proper I.D..

The goal tenders, Boston's Tuukka Rask and Ottawa's Robin Lehner were fabulous in goal stoning 30 and a ridiculous 44 respectively.

Horton gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead, taking a 2 on 1 pass from Dougie Hamilton, sliding an "Excuse me" change up past Lehner at 5:48 of the second period, but then at the midway point of the period the Bruins took the always sloppy too many men on the ice penalty. 

With the man advantage, O'Brien ended a streak of 27 consecutive penalty kills by Boston, tipping in a  rebound off a shot by Kaspars Daugavins that was misplayed by David Krejci in front of the net to tie the match at 1-1.

After a scoreless final frame, the Bruins started overtime shorthanded as Milan Lucic had been called for delay of game for wrapping his hand around the puck trying to control it along the boards behind the Ottawa goal with 30 seconds left in regulation...

...Rask making several point blank stops on Senators' offerings before Bergeron ended the game with his dribbler off a rebound from a Dennis Seidenberg drive from the point, the tip in barely clearing the red line before Lehner could clear.

Ottawa now travels to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Saturday night, then catch the red eye puddle jumper to Uniondale, New York to face off with the Islanders on Sunday while the Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning in a Saturday Matinee before hosting the hated Montreal Canadiens on Sunday evening.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins punish Islanders, take 4-1 win

It was hard to tell if the Boston Bruins dominance of the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum on Tuesday Night was just the Bruins excited to end their five game roadie or if the Islanders are just that bad...

...or is it that the Bruins are just that good?

Brad Marchand scored the game winner just :38 seconds into the 2nd period and Tuukka Rask stopped 36 of 37 shots he faced as the Bruins stomped the Islanders 4-1 in Uniondale, New York.

Perhaps the most complete victory of this abbreviated season, the Bruins physically beat the Islanders - beat them down the ice, beat them on the scoreboard and beat them on the boards.   David Krejci and tough guy Adam McQuaid also scored goals on Islanders' goalie Evgeni Nabokov while Rask allowed one, a tip in off a rebound by Casey Cizikas.

McQuaid started the scoring, a slapshot from the top of the right circle off a feed from Tyler Seguin that Evengi almost had, but it dribbled through his pads to give Boston a 1-0 lead at 6:43 of the 1st. 

Nine minutes later Cizikas tied the score as teammate Josh Bailey cut in front of the net and tried to get a backhander past Rask who blocked it but couldn't control the rebound and Cizikas slapped it in through the one hole to knot the score at 1-1.

With the score still tied at 1-1 and barely into play in the 2nd period, Marchand became the little ball of rebound, backhanding a rebound into an open net as Nabokov had no time to recover from blocking Patrice Bergeron's drive from the right point.  Krejci made it 3-1 five minutes later with a wicked drive off a perfect feed from Milan Lucic, easily beating Nabokov.

After gaining the 2 goal advantage, the Bruins began punishing the Islanders in earnest, and the Boston penalty kill - which now has denied a power play goal on 24 consecutive short handed situations - had to kill off four penalties as a result of their aggressiveness.

Rask was up to the task all evening, making spectacular save after incredible save as the desperate Islanders started taking chances to get the puck in front of the Bruins' net, which they managed to do 13 times in the final frame, Rask stoning all.

Gregory Campbell finished the scoring for Boston with an empty netter with just over a minute remaining as the Bruins raised their record to 12-2-2, continuing their best start in franchise history.

Despite the great start, the Bruins are still in a log jam with 26 points, one behind the hated Montreal Canadiens, whom the Bruins host on Sunday, but first the Bruins have to get past the Ottawa Senators on Thursday and the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday before getting the conference leading Habs.

The Islanders fall to 8-11-1 and just 2-8-0 at home, where they remain for games against the Toronto Maple leafs on Thursday night and Ottawa on Sunday before rounding out their seven game homestand with the Habs, Rangers and Caps next week.

Boston Bruins Gameday: Bruins complete Florida sweep, pound Panthers 4-1

The Wheelhouse.

An appropriate use of terminology given that Spring training is well underway for the Boston Red Sox, though the Boston Bruins may have introduced it into hockey lexicon this afternoon.

Milan Lucic, Zdeno Chara and Chris Kelly each scored a goal for the Boston Bruins on Sunday afternoon as the Brawlers beat the Florida Panthers 4-1, but if it weren't for Panthers' goalie Jacob Markstrom's remarkable effort, the score would have been much higher.

Looking every bit the undisciplined defensive team that has led to an abysmal 5-8-4 record, the Panthers defense couldn't keep up with the speed and crisp passing of the Bruins attacking lines, leaving the patient Bruins with opportunity after opportunity not just to tip one in or to snap in a rebound, but to fully extend, wind up and fire rockets repeatedly at Markstrom.

The beleaguered net minder stopped 28 of the 31 shots that he faced, and it was bombs from the high point, including Lucic's laser from the top of the left circle that loosened up the defense inside, allowing the Bruins to get open for point blank opportunities on the skittish Markstrom....

...including Zdeno Chara, who took a pass from Brad Marchand at the high point, spinning as he pulled the puck in close, his length giving him the spacing advantage for a wide open backhanded flip that easily beat Markstrom to the top shelf, giving the Bruins all the offense they would need at 2-0.

Tomas Kopecky scored his fifth of the season to get the Panthers within a goal at the first break, poking in the puck from out of a scrum in front the Boston net that Rask never saw - but that was all that Rask would allow to get past him, stopping 34 of 35 including surviving an all out 17 shot barrage late in the final frame.

Kelly's 1st goal of the season game on a tip in of Daniel Paille deflected shot to make the score 3-1 early in the second and, adding insult to injury, Paille scored a short-handed, empty net goal to provide the final score.

The loss was Florida's 7th in their last eight games and their fifth straight at home, and things get no easier as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday before welcoming the Buffalo Sabres on Thrusday.

The Bruins now begin a difficult stretch of five games in seven nights starting Tuesday on the island, then home for three straight, hosting Ottawa on Thursday, Tampa Bay on Saturday and Montreal on Sunday.