Bergeron bothered by muscle pull: Ward to be re-evaluated tomorrow

For those who were wondering why there was no Tim Thomas tonight, it was because Tim Thomas has been slowed by a cold. With the Bruins off until Thursday look for Thomas to be recovered to play against the Lightning in Tampa. The Bruins are off tomorrow. They will resume practicing on Monday at 11 a.m. at Ristuccia Arena.

BRUINS NOTES

*Aaron Ward suffered a leg injury in the first period when he checked Derek Meech. Julien said Ward will be re-evaluated tomorrow.

*Julien revealed that Patrice Bergeron had been bothered by a muscle pull that became aggravated whenever he took faceoffs. This really doesn't look like a big thing for Bergeron as he looks fine and actually took seven faceoffs tonight, winning five.

*Dennis Wideman was an absolute beast tonight playing more than 28 minutes. With Aaron Ward going down the Bruins played with five d-men for most of the night.

Bruins hunting Jay Bouwmeester?

Something worth noting is that the Bruins have reportedly been one of nine teams sending scouts to look at Panthers defensemen Jay Bouwmeester. With Andrew Ference out at least another month and Aaron Ward's health in question (left game with a leg injury) you would think the Bruins may look for another defensemen. The only problem is trying to clear cap space for him. Bouwmeester makes $2.25 million a season. The Bruins have less than a million available dollars and would need to deal someone like a PJ Axelsson to acquire Bouwmeester. I don't think this will happen as the Panthers are apparently looking to acquire a center in a potential deal. Also, I don't think the Bruins should break up their great team chemistry. Hopefully Ward will be fine and this is all water under the bridge.

Bruins down Detroit 4-1

The Bruins were able to beat the defending champs tonight in front of a sell out crowd at the Garden (17,565). With a 4-1 final one would think the Bruins dominated the Red Wings but that was not the case.

The Red Wings came out blazing, dominating the Bruins for the first 12 minutes of the first period. Then, one odd man rush later the Bruins had took the lead to stay. Blake Wheeler found the back of the net on a nice feed from Michael Ryder and on the Bruins first shot of the game, they had a goal.


With 3:49 to go in the period Phil Kessel was able to pot one from out near the blue line and the Bruins took the two goal advantage. At periods end the score read 2-0 Bruins but things easily could have favored the Red Wings.


Eight minutes into the second period Patrice Bergeron was able to play the role of pick pocket and find a streaking Chuck Kobasew in the slot to give the Bruins a three goal lead. The Garden was going nuts at this point.


The Red Wings got the next goal on the power play but even the goal that they did score went in off of Marc Savards skate. Manny Fernandez was a wall tonight and at one point there were even Manny chants at the Garden. It reminded me of Fenway Park when number 24 used to step up in a key spot.


In the third period the Bruins kept their foot on the throttle and gave themselves breathing room. David Krejci handled a rebound in the slot and fired passed Chris Osgood who had replaced Ty Conklin after the Bruins third goal.



The Bruins played the second half of the period in kill the clock mode and were able to keep the Red Wings off the board, defeating Detroit 4-1.

The Bruins finished November with a record of 11-1-1 after a 5-3-3 October. With the win the Bruins catapulted themselves into first place in the Eastern Conference. Both the New York Rangers and Boston have 36 points but Boston has two games in hand.

What to watch for tonight

* While the Wings have only 263 penalty minutes, fifth-fewest in the NHL, they recalled bruiser Darren McCarty from Grand Rapids yesterday. So we might see a throw down despite Detroit's history of staying away from the rough stuff.

* Detroit has the No. 1 power play in the league, humming at a 32.3 percent efficiency rate.The Bruins on the other hand are 11th in the NHL with an 82.8% kill rate.

* The Bruins and Red Wings are both in second place in their respective conferences. The Bruins are two points behind the Rangers while the Red Wings are five points behind the Sharks.

FERNANDEZ TO START

Manny Fernandez will get back to back starts and will be between the pipes tonight against Detroit. This was apparently expected in Bruins circles as Tim Thomas has been reporting fatigue recently. This is why I say that Manny is crucial as Thomas isn't that Mart Brodeur who can play 70 games a year, though few are.

Tonight's lines...
Milan Lucic - Marc Savard - Phil Kessel

P.J. Axelsson - Patrice Bergeron - Chuck Kobasew

Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Michael Ryder

Petteri Nokelainen - Stephane Yelle - Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara - Aaron Ward

Matt Hunwick - Dennis Wideman

Mark Stuart - Shane Hnidy

Manny Fernandez

Tim Thomas

Fernandez will be up against Ty Conklin (6-2-0, 2.48 GAA, .914 save percentage) tonight. Fernandez of course is hot going 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. Fernandez has a 2.26 GAA and a .920 save percentage over that stretch.

Detroit's expected starters
Tomas Kopecky - Pavel Datsyuk - Marian Hossa

Mikael Samuelsson - Henrik Zetterberg - Johan Franzen

Jiri Hudler - Valtteri Filppula - Dan Cleary

Kirk Maltby - Kris Draper - Darren McCarty

Brian Rafalski - Nicklas Lidstrom

Niklas Kronwall - Brad Stuart

Brett Lebda - Andreas Lilja

Ty Conklin

Chris Osgood

Bruins vs. Islanders game notes: Sturm doubtful against Red Wings

*Michael Ryder scored twice to lead the Boston Bruins to a 7-2 win today. Ryder now has five goals this season as he broke a scoring slump in which he had scored only once in the previous 12 games.


*Blake Wheeler and David Krejci each had a goal and an assist in the win. Ryder was added to the line and the three really clicked and were plus-nine in the game.


*Chuck Kobasew, Phil Kessel and Dennis Wideman also scored for the Bruins.


*Manny was Manny today at the Garden. Fernandez stopped 22 of 24 shots and is now 6-1-1 this season.



Sturm Update
From Boston.com--
Marco Sturm said he suffered a concussion against Chicago on Nov. 12. Sturm played the next three games but felt especially poor against Toronto, leading to his five-game sit down. But Sturm said he's feeling better and should be back on the ice soon.

I would not expect it to be tomorrow night against Detroit. Sturm has not been skating and I would expect he would miss his sixth straight game tomorrow night.



Bergeron Knicked Up
From Boston.com--
Patrice Bergeron, the team's best face off man, didn't take a single draw for the first time this season. Bergeron took only two face offs against Buffalo on Wednesday. Bergeron suffered an injury against Montreal that has prevented him from taking face offs in the last two matches, but Julien declined to disclose the ailment. Julien said Bergeron (20 shifts, 18:53 of ice time) is good to go in all other areas of the game.

Thanksgiving Day Notes

Some quick notes...

*Boston Bruins General Manager Peter Chiarelli announced today that the club has assigned defense man Matt Lashoff to the Providence Bruins. He was a healthy scratch for the last three Bruins games. This demotion means that the Bruins defense men are feeling well. Matt Hunwick, the teams sixth defense men has also been on a tear collecting three goals and six points on his current five game point-scoring streak.

*Look for Manny Fernandez to get the nod in net for tomorrow's matinee vs. the Islanders. With Thomas playing Wednesday night and the defending champion Red Wings coming in Saturday night (which you would expect Thomas to start) look for Manny to go Friday afternoon. The game starts at noon and if you are attending the sell out make sure to wear black.Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

*Marco Sturm is questionable for tomorrow afternoons game against the Isles. It is leaning more towards a no go for Sturm.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Bruins debut third jersey: Sturm questionable for Wednesday

If you haven't seen the new third jersey they are sweet. It is right over there to the left if you haven't seen it. The Bruins put their third jersey on sale today at 2 p.m. at the TD Banknorth Garden pro shop. I don't know if you were there or you saw the lines but WOW. They even had to turn people away it was so packed. Bruins fever it back baby!

A list of the dates the Bruins will sport the new unis:

Nov. 28 vs. New York Islanders

Nov. 29 vs. Detroit

Dec. 13 vs. Atlanta

Dec. 20 vs. Carolina

Jan. 3 vs. Buffalo

Jan. 10 vs. Carolina

Jan. 19 vs. St. Louis

Jan. 21 @ Toronto

Jan. 29 vs. New Jersey

Feb. 10 vs. San Jose

Feb. 24 vs. Florida

Mar. 5 vs. Phoenix

Mar. 15 @ Pittsburgh

Mar. 31 vs. Tampa Bay

April 2 vs. Ottawa

April 7 @ Ottawa


PRACTICE REPORT

Marco Sturm--Sturm has been sidelined the last three games with an upper-body injury and didn't practice today. Claude Julien said Sturm is improving, although he wasn't sure whether the left wing would practice tomorrow.

-If I had to guess I'd say he misses Wednesday's game. Although, if he practices tomorrow you never know.

*There were maintenance days for Marc Savard and Patrice Bergeron (they will be back at practice tomorrow)

*Dennis Wideman was back home for personal reasons and is expected to practice tomorrow.

SAVARD NAMED FIRST STAR OF WEEK

*The NHL announced today that Boston Bruins forward Marc Savard was named the First Star of the Week for the week ending Sunday, November 23.Savard had eight points which led the NHL for the week. Savard had two goals and six assists.
The Bruins had four wins this week and put themselves into first place in the Eastern Conference, two points clear of the New York Rangers. Their Northeast Division lead increased to seven points over the second place Montreal Canadiens.

Bruins earning recognition

Last night I chose my player of the game as Phil Kessel due to his all around good effort. However, let's look at three other stars of the game.

*Tim Thomas

Thomas kicked away 33 of the 35 shots that he faced to pick up his ninth victory of the season. With the win Thomas now owns a 9-2-3 record so far this season. Thomas has been brilliant between the pipes and is leading all starting goalies in the NHL with a 1.80 goals against average and .944 save percentage.

*Milan Lucic

Looch scored his sixth goal of the season last night on a nice feed from Phil Kessel. Lucic now has six goals and seven assists in 21 games this season. Last season, Lucic only tallied 27 points in 77 games last season. If Lucic keeps his current pace he will be looking at a 50 point season.

*Matt Hunwick

Hunwick now has a four-game points streak by potting the Bruins second goal. Hunwick is getting second power-play ice time and is getting better game by game. The rookie has been a nice surprise stepping in for the injured Andrew Ference. People were worried he would be a liability for the B's.

Bruins spoil Roy's night in Montreal, win in SO

The Boston Bruins did it yet again by outlasting the Canadiens 3-2 (SO) Saturday night. Heading into the game everyone expected that they would see some fisticuffs. However, that didn't happen. That's not to say that Georges Laraque didn't want it to happen though. Laraque went after Milan Lucic on the first shift, following him up and down the ice, then getting in his face. Lucic declined and went back to the bench. Later in the period Laraque offered again at the face off circle but Lucic seemed to want none of it. I thought this was as expected since Lucic had just had a tough bout with Nick Boynton last night, cutting his hand.

I think the funniest part of the game had to be that the Habs fans were so upset with Lucic that they forgot to do their ritualistic booing of Zdeno Chara. The Luuu-cic chants were priceless. Even more priceless was Milan Lucic's reaction when he potted one to tie the game at one.

At the end of the night the Bruins were able to spoil Patrick Roy night by defeating the Canadiens in a shoot out. With the win the Bruins moved into sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference and have the next few days off before lacing them up again against the Sabres, Wednesday night in Buffalo.

BRUINS GAME NOTES:
GOAL SCORERS: LUCIC (6), HUNWICK (2), (WHEELER - SO)

ASSISTS: KREJCI (9), KOBASEW (7), KESSEL (6), YELLE (5)

SAVES: THOMAS - 33

PENALTY MINUTES: 5 penalty's - 10 mins

STAR OF THE GAME: Phil Kessel: Kessel was all over the ice tonight and even got physical with a few of the Canadien players. He made the play to set up the Bruins first goal and was creating all night.

Bruins first quarter marks

Well, the Bruins are in between their twenty and twenty first game which signifies that one quarter of the season is over. That also means that it's time for me to give my marks for the first quarter of the season.

Let's start with the man in charge, coach Claude Julien. Coach Julien deserves nothing less than an A. Every button he pushes seems to be the right one and his team has fully bought into his system. The Bruins are prepared to play each and every night and are no longer just tough to play against but talented as well. Julien has been great with the kids on the team and has gotten more than what is expected. When you look at players like Lucic, Wheeler, Krejci and Nokelainen you have seen their games pick up almost nightly. This is a coach that gets very little respect and if the Bruins keep up this pace it will be the Julien for Coach of the Year campaign and not the Thomas to the All-Star game push.

Coaching Grade: A

I'll now jump to the offense where all I have to say is, wow! The Bruins were one of the worst teams in the NHL last year when it came to finding the back of the net but this year the Bruins are on fire. How good have they been? How about first in the conference in goal scoring.

The leader of course if Marc Savard who leads the way with 27 points. Savard has been so good that he has almost doubled Phil Kessel (15) for the team lead in points. Speaking of Kessel, he has scored 10 goals this season, leading the B's. Kessel, after being benched in the playoffs last year by Julien has been on a tear ever since and it looks like Kessel could be that 30 goal scorer the Bruins have been looking for, for years.

The biggest thing with the Bruins this season is their depth. They have four lines that they can roll out there with confidence. With play makers like Savard, Patrice Bergeron and Krejci up the middle it is no wonder that the Bruins are lighting the lamp a lot more often this season.

OFFENSE: A

Now to the defense. The defense men on the Bruins were questioned from day one. Can Zdeno Chara live up to Norris trophy standards again? Could Dennis Wideman live up to his big off-season contract? Does Aaron Ward have anything left in the tank? Can the 4-6 defense men actually play?

The answers are in and you can answer with a resounding, YES. Zdeno Chara is a rock on the back line and though I'm not as impressed with Chara as I was last season he still is the glue of the defensive unit. Then there's Wideman. Wideman was getting a lot of negative press from the casual Bruins fan saying that he was a much overpaid back liner. However, at the quarter mark, Wideman is the leader in +/- for the Bruins D with a +11. Aaron Ward is getting older at age, 35 but he can still bring it with his famous forearm shivers. Ward is a +6 and looks like he still has enough in the tank to be a solid number three guy for the Bruins. The Bruins were horrible early on the penalty kill but have turned it around and are now getting back to a not great, but respectable 82% on the PK.

Defensive Grade: B+

Now to the goal tending. Leader in Save %, second in GAA, T-2 in shutouts. Those are some solid accomplishments right? Yea, I thought so. Tim Thomas has been a wall at the back line for the Bruins taking the NHL by storm and getting the respect he deserves, right? Wrong, Thomas was left off of the NHL All-Star ballot but due to stellar play is third in the Eastern Conference in All-Star votes for goaltenders. Thomas has been criticized for his unorthodox style but look who's laughing now.

The Bruins came into the season wanting to find a number one goalie and I'd say they found it in Thomas. Then there is the man who was fighting with Thomas for the number one job and was passed over, Manny Fernandez. Fernandez has been solid as well for the Bruins as a number two. Fernandez is 5-1-1 on the season with a GAA of 2.55, and a save percentage of .910. Out of your backup goalie, you can't expect more than that. Although, Fernandez's high cap number does lead one to believe that he should be starting somewhere. Look for the Bruins to try and ship Fernandez out of town at the deadline as his salary will be decreasing by the day. If he keeps up his solid play, a bubble team may be looking for a goaltender to carry them to the promise land. Then of course the Tukka Rask project would begin in the hub.

Goal tending Grade: A-

Well that's it folks the quarterly grades. I know they are high, but hey when you're in first place in the conference you deserve a little bit of love.

Tonight's projected lines

Projected Lines: Bruins vs. Canadiens

MONTREAL
Latendresse - Koivu - Tanguay
Higgins - Plekanec - Kovalev
A. Kostitsyn - Lang - Kostopolos
S. Kostitsyn - Begin - Laraque

Markov - Gorges
Hamrlik - O'Byrne
Bouillon - Brisebois

Price
Halak

BOSTON
Milan Lucic - Marc Savard - Phil Kessel
P.J. Axelsson - Patrice Bergeron - Michael Ryder
Blake Wheeler - David Krejci - Chuck Kobasew
Shawn Thornton - Stephane Yelle - Petteri Nokelainen

Zdeno Chara - Aaron Ward
Matt Hunwick - Dennis Wideman
Mark Stuart - Shane Hnidy

Tim Thomas
Manny Fernandez

Bruins vs. Habs pregame notes

GAME DAY --

As you all know today the Bruins will be up in Montreal on Patrick Roy night for round three between the B's and the Habs.

None of the Bruins skated this morning so that would indicate that we will see the exact lineups that we saw last night. Meaning that Marco Sturm will miss his third straight game and Matt Lashoff will be the healthy scratch.

Marc Savard's will play Saturday night after escaping a potentially serious knee injury Thursday when Florida's Keith Ballard hit Savard low on a questionable hit. Savard played sparingly the rest of the way but that was apparently just a precaution.

* A question I have for tonight's game is, who will be in between the pipes? Tim Thomas is the team's number one goaltender but it is a back to back so even in a big game like this I wouldn't be surprised to see Manny. Fernandez was in between the pipes when the Bruins thrashed the Habs 6-1 at the Garden in the team's last meeting.

* It has been reported that Guillaume Latendresse will not play tonight (undisclosed injury). Maxim Lapierre will take Latendresse's place in the lineup.

* This sounds like it could be one of the longer ceremonies tonight, things will kick off for Roy's ceremony at 6 p.m. Puck drop is scheduled for approximately 7:40 p.m.

* Everyone knows the Bruins recent success going 11-1-1 in their last 13 games. However, the Canadiens are just 5-4-1 in their last ten games.

* The Bruins did beat the Habs in their last meeting breaking a 12 game regular season losing streak. They will look to end another long losing streak tonight as they have not won a regular-season match at the Bell Centre since Dec. 4, 2006.

* Greg Kimmerly and Rob Martell will be the referees. Steve Barton and Ryan Galloway will be the linesmen.

* A Komisarek-Lucic rematch is not on the card. Defenseman Mike Komisarek is expected to miss 4-5 weeks with a shoulder injury suffered during a fight with Milan Lucic Nov. 13. If you are expecting a fight, and I am due to the beat down Montreal suffered in the last meeting expect it to be a Georges Laraque, Shawn Thornon tilt.

I'll have more later. Also coming will be report on the season at the quarter mark.

Bruins double up Panthers: 11 of 13 in win column

This game set up perfectly as a trap game for the Bruins, but this team is too focused for that to happen (especially on old time hockey night as the Bruins honored the movie Slap Shot). Playing the two teams chasing them in the northeast division sandwiched by the Panthers is as big a trap game as you may see all season long. However, the Bruins came out ready to carry over the momentum they owned in the Buffalo game.

Just over two minutes into the game Phil Kessel was sent in on a partial break away from the right side boards but Thomas Vokoun was able to stop Kessel's wrister keeping the game scoreless, at least for a moment.

The key word there was, for the moment. Kessel went on on his second breakaway in under a minute and this time was able to beat Vokoun, sliding the puck underneath his pads and the Bruins were on the board.

The play started when Dennis Wideman found Marc Savard in the middle of the Bruins zone. Savard turned up ice and found a streaking Kessel in behind the Panthers defense with a beautiful feed, sending Kessel.

With just under 12 minutes to play in the first period the Panthers were able to even things up when David Booth beat Tim Thomas cleanly. The play actually continued for another 20 seconds until the next whistle as the referees couldn't see that the puck had actually bounced back out off the twine.

Two minutes later the Bruins regained the lead, this time to stay as Patrice Bergeron tipped in a shot from the blue line by Matt Hunwick. The Bruins controlled much of the period and after twenty minutes the Bruins lead by one.
Entering the second period the Panthers controlled much of the play with two power plays in the early going. However the Bruins were able to kill them off swing the momentum.

That momentum swing came in the form a slowly executed three on one. David Krejci moved down the right wing wall and found a streaking Chuck Kobasew on the left side. Kobasew's shot hit a Panther in front but Krejci was there to pick up the loose puck and put the biscuit in the basket.

Less than two minutes later the Bruins broke things open when Savard made a nice play to keep the puck in the zone. Savard fed Bergeron on the left side who then headed for the net, Bergeron's initial shot was stopped but the rebound was collected by Savard in the slot who put it home into the empty net.

With the game getting out of hand the Panthers tried getting physical late in the second to swing the momentum. Milan Lucic was called out by old Bruin Nick Boynton and he was clearly ready for the challenge. While Boynton landed some good shots, it was Lucic who got the decision as Boynton left the scrum with his face a little on the bloody side.

With under three minutes to go Keith Ballard went low on Savard and Aaron Ward came in to rough up Ballard for the questionable hit on Savy. Savard went back to the locker room but was out there in the third period so he appears to be OK.

With a little over three minutes to go, Ville Peltonen put in a garbage goal on a rebound in front. The Bruins didn't have a body on Peltonen and Thomas had to chance to make the stop.

The Panthers pulled the goaltender with two minutes to go but couldn't get anything going and the Bruins picked up the 4-2 victory. With the win the B's move to 11-1-1 in their last 13.

The Bruins will now head up to Montreal to play the Habs tomorrow night on Patrick Roy night. Man, do I hate Roy mainly because he was a Hab for the majority of his career but hey I'll even admit he is one of the best of all time and deserves this night.

The Bruins will start tomorrow night tied with the New York Rangers for first place in in the Eastern Conference (lead the tiebreak). Expect a doozy up there in Montreal tomorrow night, must see television.

Bruins knock out Habs

Are you ready yet? Ready for what you may ask? Ready to believe. The Bruins were tied for first place going into tonight's game against the Habs but people were still wondering whether or not the Bruins could skate with the Habs. The answer, a resounding yes!

This one shifted toward the Bruins early as Shawn Thornton capitalized on a Montreal defensive mistake under three minutes into the game. Thornton popped home his first of the season through the five-hole of Carey Price and the hurt was on.

The Canadiens had a few chances to get back into the game before the mid point of the period but Manny Fernandez held his ground and kept the puck in front of the goal line.

With about three minutes remaining in the opening frame the fourth line struck again, with Thornton making the key play. Thornton took the puck away from Saku Koivu in the neutral zone, resulting in a Bruins rush the other way. With the puck laying around the crease Stephane Yelle emerged, finding the back of the net for his second goal on the season.

The Bruins ended the period on the power play and with under seven seconds to play in the stanza Marc Savard was able to find a streaking Marco Sturm in the slot for another Bruins tally.

As the teams moved to the second period the Canadiens continued to shoot themselves in the foot as Price handled the puck in the restricted area behind the net and was called for a delay of game penalty. Just 13 seconds later Marco Sturm banged home a rebound off of a deflected Patrice Bergeron wrister for his second of the game and the "Caaa-rey" chants were on.

With the score 4-0 it looked as though the Bruins for a moment got a little complacent and Montreal was able to get on the board. Fernandez was able to make an initial stop on Koivu but couldn't control the rebound and Koivu stuck a backhander into the Bruins' net.

The Habs controlled the rest of the period and spent the final two minutes on the power play. The Bruins were able to kill the penalty to Savard and the Bruins took the three goal advantage into the locker room.

After Savard missed a bunny from a few feet away the Bruins were able to make good as Milan Lucic chopped in his fifth of the year. Off of a Phil Kessel face off win Lucic was in the right place at the right time and snapped one past a dazed Carey Price.

After some more of the same old song and dance between Lucic and Mike Komisarek with their usual jawing things finally turned physical. You could tell Lucic wanted Komisarek badly as he tuned up Komisarek like a fiddle.

After the fight Lucic was jumping and waving towards the crowd, completely stoked after putting a muzzle on Komisarek. Even when Looch went to the penalty box he was still revving up the crowd.

With just over 11 minutes remaining in the game Yelle put an exclamation point on this one netting his second of the game on a wrist shot from the right wing.

The Bruins finally got their victory over the Habs for the first time in the last 12 regular season games, and man does it feel good.

One final dap to the fourth line of Shawn Thornton, Stephane Yelle and Chuck Kobasew. These guys yet again set the tone early and put the Bruins out in front comfortably in the first period.

Let's also give some love to Manny Fernandez who picks up his second straight win pushing his record to 4-1-1 and dare I say it, is looking like the best back up plan in the league? Now it may be early, but like I've been saying since the day he got here, he's good. Now he is clearly the back up but he is a good one to have. If he keeps looking good as the season progresses he is also a great trading chip come the deadline.

Finally, the defense. I know we like to look at the low scoring that has been taking place for Bruins opponents and point at the goaltenders right away. However, let's give some love to the D who have really stepped it up over the past few weeks. It also helps when you're killing off penalty's at better than a 75% clip.

Tired? Suffering from a two games in two nights hangover? Not this team.

Bruins get fourth straight W: Where's the love?

The Boston Bruins defeated the Chicago Blackhawks tonight in a shootout by the score of 2-1. The story of the game had to be the amount of penalty's. The Bruins and Blackhawks combined for 19 penalty's. It was a game that was dominated by the goaltenders as well. Tim Thomas was stellar again stopping 31 of 32 shots but he might have been out shined by Nikolai Khabibulin who was outstanding stopping 38 of 39 shot attempts.

However, in the shootout Tim Thomas stopped two out of three biscuits shot his way while Blake Wheeler and PJ Axellson put pucks past Khabibulin and the Bruins get two big points. With the win the Bruins move into a first place tie with the Buffalo Sabres with the Montreal Canadiens sitting one point behind the duo. Of course I don't need to remind anyone that the Bruins and Habs will face off tomorrow night at 7 p.m.

Now I understand that the Patriots and Jets kick off with first place in the AFC East on the line tomorrow night, but hey so do the B's. The Bruins and Habs are separated by one point in the division and it is the hated Habs first trip to the Garden this season.Now, I'm a realist and I know 94% of Boston will be watching the Jets and Pats but the football doesn't start until 8:17 so you could probably get two full periods under your belt before the Jets and Pats kick off, so tune in!Now as for tonight it was a game that Claude Julien will completely throw out the window. It was an ugly showing and the Bruins have a game tomorrow night which will dictate how future practices will be dictated.

To put a cap on tonight's game the Bruins weren't good early but had enough to sneak out with two points so they'll take it. At 9-3-3 the Bruins are at the top of the Northeast division and deserve to be recognized in the hub.

Fight night at the Garden just what Bruins need

My oh my, this turned out to be a doosie. Now when you show up at the Garden for a Bruins and Stars tilt you aren't exactly thinking it will turn into a battle royal but the signs were there. Entering last night's game the Bruins had only been in two fights in their first 11 games. Players like Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton had been asked about it and said things would change given the opportunity and by golly was there an opportunity.

With resident mongrel Steve Avery in the house you could have expected Avery to tangle with someone, and he did. However, the real pessimist turned out to be Steve Ott. It was actually comical listening to Jack Edwards just bash the coward, Ott until the cow came home. Steve Ott gave cheap shot after cheap shot and would not settle it with anyone. When Andrew Ference laid Ott out in the neutral zone the building vibrated (sorry for a another Edwards reference).

The Bruins were flat after the first two periods and it was looking as though they weren't there after a tough road trip. Even though they headed into the locker room with a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes it still didn't look like a team destined for greatness, or heck even a win. Then it happened, the stars aligned figuratively and literally and the Bruins started acting like a team we saw last season. A team that was there for one another and would play gritty and tough and not let anyone push them around.

Now the storyline of the game was clearly the physicality of the Bruins and the melee that ensued but hey, let's not forget to mention that there were five goals scored. Granted, Marty Turco could have had a couple of them but regardless five goals is five goals. Phil Kessel for one had a great goal when he was able to come down the right wing and execute his patented toe drag through the defense man's legs and beat Turco.

Also not to be lost in the scrums was the fact that Marco Sturm scored two goals last night. Sturm had been struggling immensely and it was good to see him pop in a couple. As we all know Sturm is a streaky scorer so let's hope he can carry this hot trend on as the Bruins move forward.

One final note I would like to pass on to everyone is the fact that Tim Thomas is a beast. Thomas is first in the NHL in Save %, tied for first in the league in shutouts (2) and second in the league in GAA with a 1.83. You think this guy is a journeyman goalie anymore? I didn't think so.