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.