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.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Horton nets two, Bruins ground lightning 4-2

Stay in bed, drink plenty of fluids, maybe have an asprin.

Now just avoid big snow storms and the Buffalo Sabres and you're all set.

Apparently the flu-weakened Boston Bruins did enough of all of these things to be able to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Thursday night.

Nathan Horton scored twice and Brad Marchand scored the game winner, also assisting on a goal by Patrice Bergeron as the Bruins improved their record to 10-2-2.  Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos scored his 11th of the season and Cory Conacher scored his 6th for the 8-7-1 Lightning.

Seven members of the Bruins came down ill with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday. making their morning skate around look like a couple of kids standing around waiting for a pick up game.  Patrice Bergeron, Gregory Campbell, Andrew Ference, Nathan Horton, Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille and goaltender Anton Khudobin all were down with the bug, but were participants in the Wednesday skate.

Important for the Bruins to come out firing and try to build a lead before tiring from being under the weather, they did just that.  Just 1:11 into the game, Horton notched his first of the game, a drive from the right lower circle, and Patrice Bergeron beat Lightning goalie Anders Lindback with a wrister from the top right circle, giving Boston a two goal lead just 3:50 into the game.

Stamkos sent a one timer past Boston's net minder Tuukka Rask to get Tampa Bay within one going into the second period, and Conacher tied it up with a drive from the right circle midway through the period, but Marchand responded with his 9th of the season, a drive from the point to make it 3-2.

Horton scored his second of the game and 6th of the season redirecting a Zdeno Chara pass into a wide open net for the final two goal margin.  Horton barely missed a hat trick, sending a  puck just wide of an empty net in the final moments.

Both goalies saw 26 shots, Lindback stopping 22 and Rask 24.

The Lightning now embark on a brutal stretch in which they play six of their next seven on the road starting Saturday at Carolina and then Sunday at Pittsburgh before returning home for the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday while the Bruins visit Miami to faceoff against the Florida Panthers on Sunday and then travel to the Island for a Tuesday night matchup before enjoying a stretch of six of seven at home, including a rematch with Tampa Bay on March 2nd.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins top Jets in Breathtaking finish

Hockey is known as the fastest sport on the planet.  It's rough and tumble with defensemen that hit like linebackers and enforcers that stand and trade haymakers like Tommy Hearns and Marvelous Marvin Hagler...

...and sometimes it's a game of inches.

Tuukka Rask stopped 21 shots by the Winnipeg Jets, but the 21st was just dumb luck. 

Winnipeg winger Blake Wheeler put a point blank shot on goal from Rask's left and the puck skirted the goal line as time expired to give the Bruins a heart-stopping 3-2 victory over the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba on Sunday evening.

Tyler Seguin, Daniel Paille and Brad Marchand scored goals for the Bruins, who improved their record to 9-2-2.  Alex Burmistrov and Evander Kane scored for the Jets.

After a scoreless first period, Burmistrov gave Winnipeg a 1-0 on a rebound from the point.  Zach Bogosian put a shot on Rask from the low point and the puck bounded right to the Jets' center who buried the point blank snap shot after gaining control of the puck from rookie Dougie Hamilton by grasping his stick as he tried to make a play on the puck. 

Tyler Seguin tied things up on a high stick redirect from Zdeno Chara at 10:57 of the period, the puck bouncing in the scrum in front of the net before hitting jets' defenseman Ron Hainsey's leg and into the net.  Hainsey had a tough night for Winnipeg, taking a penalty that led to the Bruins' game winner as well as the inadvertent assist on Seguin's goal.

All the rest of the scoring took place in a feeding frenzy that encompassed only 1:03, spanning the last 27 seconds of the 2nd period and the first 36 seconds of the third.

Evander Kane punched in his own rebound when Nik Antropov sent a backhand shot from the backboards to the front of the net and punched it in just as he was leveled to give the Jets' a 2-1 lead and a ton of momentum in the defensive struggle.

but their lead - and that momentum - were short-lived.

Defenseman Johnny Boychuck received a kickout pass from Chris Kelly, held it, double clutched from just inside the blue line, then fired a rocket at Daniel Paille who had inconspiculously gravitated toward the goal, got his stick on the puck and redirected it past Pavelek for the momentum stealing goal and a 2-2 tie with just 1.5 seconds left in the 2nd period.

Just into play in the 3rd period, Brad Marchand got loose on a break and drew the tripping penalty on Hainsey, then wristed a backhanded shot from an odd angle as he floated away from the goal, but the puck had lots of zip on it and somehow found the back of the net for the game winner on the power play.

Ondrej Pavelec made 23 saves for the Jets, who lost their third straight and fourth in a row at home - the longest home losing streak for the team since the franchise moved from Atlanta prior to last season.

Rask did luck out in posting his 7th win of the season, both on the dancing puck at the horn and an iron-unkind backhander from Bryan Little with a little over two minutes to play, but made several key stops, including shoulder stone on his glove side on a wicked drive by Kane with just under a minute to play.

Winnipeg dropped to 5-8-1 with their 4th straight home loss, so perhaps their upcoming roadie will be just the tonic for their losing ways.  The Jets travel to Buffalo to take on the Sabres on Tuesday, then travel to Carolina for a face off with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, while the Bruins have a few days off before continuing their 5 game road trip with visits to Tampa on Thursday and Miami to play the Panthers on Sunday before wrapping it up on the Island on Tuesday.

It has been said that it's better to be lucky than good, but Tuukka Rask was both on Sunday night...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Bruins suffer Deja Vu as Sabres pull away in final frame

Seems we've seen this before.

If it is true that familiarity breeds contempt, then the Boston Bruins and their fans must really hate these Buffalo Sabres by now.

Going into the third trailing 2-1 and beeing booed off the ice at the end of the second by their hometown fans,  the Sabres outshot Boston 10-3, scoring three unanswered goals to take another come from behind victory over the Bruins 4-2.

Just fifteen days ago, the Sabres trailed the Bruins early in the third period, a David Krejci goal giving the Bruins a 4-3 lead just 1:45 into the period before the wheels came off, Boston allowing 4 consecutive goals to Buffalo in a 7-4 loss.

On Friday night in Buffalo, the Sabres scored first on Drew Stafford's one timer from a perfect pass from Tyler Ennis behind the net, beating backup goalie Anton Khudobin for a 1-0 lead.

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton tied it at 1-1, scoring his first of the season on a power play goal with 2:04 left in the first period.  Hamilton initially gave up a shot from the high point, passing to Tyler Seguin who in turn passed to Krejci who put the shot on goal but was blocked by Sabres' net minder Ryan Miller, but Krejci got his own rebound on the right wing, passed on the shot to Hamilton who was still patrolling the high point and sent the puck into an open net behind Miller.

Not only was it Hamilton's first of the season, but his first NHL goal ever, and as his teammates converged on Hamilton to offer their congratulations, Milan Lucic scooped up the puck to commemorate the event.

Rich Peverley scored with 2:29 gone in the second period, Hamilton had the helper with a carom off the boards,  right to Perverly who buried it for a 2-1 Boston advantage.

That was the last time the Bruins would light the lamp.

Coming back onto the ice after being out shot 29-16 by the Bruins in a lethargic effort in the first two periods, the Sabres found the same sort of late energy that the discovered two weeks ago in Boston, Tyler Myers backhanded a rebound off a Jochen Hecht shot that beat Khudobin just minutes into the final frame

Christian Ehrhoff fired a wrister from the slot over Khudobin, who anticipated a low shot and went down early for the eventual game winner 10:58 left in Regulation.  Cody Hodgson added an insurance goal less than 3 minutes later when he tipped in a pass from Tyler Myers and the Bruins' collapse was complete.
 
Despite the late offense, Sabres goalie Ryan Miller was the hero of this contest, stoning multiple Bruins' point blank shots to keep his team in the game early.  Miller stopped 30 shots, many of them as he sprawled on the ice as his defense seemed to stand and watch while he was being pelted by the aggressive Bruins.

It was just the opposite for Khudobin, who stopped 15 of 16 in the first two periods before the Bruins' defense fell apart in the 3rd, stopping only 7 of 10 as the Bruins dropped to 8-2-2 on the season.  The Sabres snapped a 2 game losing streak and improved their record to 6-8-1.

Sunday finds the Pittsburgh Penguins invading the First Niagara Center, followed by the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday evening while the Bruins visit those same Jets in Winnipeg on Sunday evening, then take a few days off before traveling to Tampa to take on the Lightning on Thursday.

Sabres fans were hoping that the big win over Boston on January 31st would be the springboard to an even bigger season, but they have mostly failed to capitalize on the momentum from that win until tonight...

...if the Sabres could only play the Bruins all the time...

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Rangers survive gutsy Bruins comeback 4-3

Once Patrice Bergeron's skating days are over, perhaps he's discovered a second career - as a psychic.

"I think we've got to keep playing the way we've been playing," Bergeron said hen asked what the Bruins needed to do to keep their season opening hot streak going. "I think character has been key so far. We haven't had our best games every time and we've found ways to battle back and get back into the game and get the lead."

Down 3-0 after New York Rangers' defenseman Anton Stralman squirted a little dribbler past Bruins' goalie Tuukka Rask with just over 11 minutes left in the game, the Bruins went on a scoring binge, netting three goals including the tying goal with under a minute to play...

...but after a scoreless overtime, the Rangers outscored the Bruins 2-1 in a shootout to take a wildly entertaining 4-3 shootout victory.

Looking to restore their identity, the New York Rangers invaded TD Garden on Tuesday night carrying with them a two game winning streak but also a 1-3-0 record on the road.

What they got was a tightly contested defensive effort with fantastic goal tending and nifty skating.
 
"Boston is a tough building to play in, but I think this is the next step in restoring our identity, by playing well in a big road game," defenseman Michael Del Zotto told the Rangers' official website.

And if an aggressive style of play featuring inspired board play and violent floor checking that sent bodies flying and tempers flaring is the identity that they were searching for, then mission accomplished.

Derek Stepan scored his second of the season and Carl Hagelin scored his fourth leading the Rangers to their third straight win.  To add insult to injury, defenseman Anton Stralman scored his first ever NHL goal on a dribbler between Rask's pads, who slammed his stick to the ice in frustration after giving up the weak wrister.

Initially the Rangers aggressiveness left their net minder Henrick Lundqvist exposed a couple of times early, but he was fantastic in goal - and after stopping eight shots in the first 10 minutes to keep the scoreless tie, Rangers' left winger Carl Hagelin scorched a one timer past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 10:37. 

Dan Girardi took control of a puck that was dumped at mid ice along the boards to allow the Bruins to make a line change and zipped a pass to Rick Nash who carried it across the blue line past the changing Bruins, charged the goal and made a nifty outside/inside move to pull the puck past the defenseman before passing to the streaking Hagelin who beat Rask easily.

Another neutral zone mistake, this one on Milan Lucic led to the Rangers' second goal.  Lucic made a cross ice pass toward Dougie Hamilton but sent it fluttering behind him.  Stepan whirled around, took the carom off the boards and broke toward Rask, firing from to top of the left circle and over Rask's left shoulder for a 2-0 New York lead.

Stralman's goal has nothing on it, but somehow squirted through Rask's pads and dribbled into the goal behind him, telling one all they need to know about how the Boston net minder's night had gone...

...and by the time David Krejci wristed in a rebound past Lundqvist to get the Bruins within two goals at 8:44, it already seemed too late - but these are the Bruins that Bergeron claimed were great at battling back and with Tuukka pulled out of net and the Bruins skating 6 on 5, Nathan Horton and Brad Marchand scored within 48 seconds of each other to improbably knot the game at 3-3 with just 43 seconds left in the game

The Bruins swarmed Lundqvist after pulling Rask, Horton scoring on the rebound of an Andrew Ference drive that was deflected by Lucic, then Marchand slapping in the rebound off of a Bergeron shot and suddenly the game that looked completely lost was headed to overtime.

In the shootout, Rangers' puck handling ace Nash absolutely abused Rask, this time using an inside/outside move to fake the Bruins' goalie out of his pads and slip the puck past him easily, but then Marchand extended the shootout with a wicked drive from the right point before Ryan Callahan ended the game with a wrister between Rask's pads.

Now the red hot Rangers take thier act back to MSG, where they host thier rivals from Long Isalnd on Thursday then welcome the Washington Capitals in on Sunday while the Bruins embark on a difficult stretch of five straight on the road, starting back in Buffalo on Friday night, then Winnepeg on Sunday before finishing the roadie with a two game swing through Florida and a visit to the Island to close out the month.

Boston Bruins Gamenight: Tired Sabres offer little resistance, Bruins win 3-1

The Buffalo Sabres were playing their 3rd game in four nights, and it was their 11th in eighteen days - and it showed as they had nothing for the Boston Bruins on Sunday night.

Tyler Ennis scored late in the second to give the Sabres a 1-all tie in the period, but it went downhill from there as a tired Buffalo defense allowed the Bruins to use Sabres goalie Ryan Miller for target practice, winning 3-1.

"They didn't play the other day, and I think we started showing our fatigue around the mid-point," said Sabres goalie Ryan Miller, a fact not lost on Boston's well rested players.

"Yesterday, we were ready to play, so I guess it gave us a day to rest," said Bruins' center Patrick Bergeron. "We got here, and we knew Buffalo played last night, so we tried to take advantage of that."

Brad Marchand intercepted a floating clearing pass and scored the first goal of the match at 7:10 of the second period, a one timer from the left circle for a 1-0 Bruins lead.  Ennis tied it 11 minutes later and the teams went into the second intermission tied at 1-1.

In the third, Center Patrick Bergeron scored on a wrister from the left circle after the puck had taken a weird bounce on the end boards, and he snapped it home for the power play game winner.  Milan Lucic added a freebie with less than a minute left for the final 3-1 tally, helping the Bruins improve to 8-1-1.

The Bruins earned their 17th point, the most they've had through 10 games. The previous best was 16 points over that span, set four times - the last in 1978-79, when Boston opened 7-1-2.

Bruins backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 25 saves in only his second start of the season.

The Sabres travel to Ottawa for a faceoff with the Senators on Tuesday, then get a couple of days off before doing the whole thing over again with the Bruins on Friday night, while the Bruins return home to host the Rangers before heading back to Buffalo.

Sabres' fans have to be scratching their heads over this team.  They went to Boston two weeks ago and blasted the Bruins right out of their own building, a game that fans and experts alike thought was the start of something beautiful for the Sabres - they were tougher, which was going to translate to more wins...but they are just 2-4-1 since, giving up a league high 46 goals for the season.

Apparently bringing in more toughness can't fix everything - or anything...same old Sabres...

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