Bruins Need Shootout to Shut Down Senators

Tim Thomas made his first start in nets for the Bruins since mid-November tonight, in his return from The Injury of Mystery (rumoured to be a broken bone in his hand), and he had a solid game - for the most part...

Frustratingly, for this Bruins fan, the otherwise nationally-broadcast Senators and Bruins game was blacked-out in Quebec, and I had to instead sit through the Capitals and Canadiens game. Which, frankly, was like to eating cold dirt in the rain for me.

However, I was able to keep tabs on the B's and Sens game, and was pleased that the Bruins erased a two-goal deficit to tie the game, and then potted another goal to take the lead.

And, of course, I was suitably dismayed that the B's gave up the tying goal in the final minute of the game, especially given the fact that the exact same thing happened in Thomas' last start (on November 14th), against the Penguins.

But that is not what really irks me. What really irks me is that Mark Recchi had two chances at the empty net in the final minute of the game and missed twice. Honestly? Two shots to the wide-right on an open net? Man, that whole 'timely goalscorer' nameplate is showing some rust, no? Presently, Recchi has only 11 points and is -4 on the season. We need him to be better.

At any rate, the Bruins pulled out the win in the shootout, courtesy of Michael Ryder (getting his second goal of the game), and in doing so, took over top spot in the Northeast Division.

A significant development in tonight's game was that the Bruins were able to score three powerplay goals - a considerable improvement over the 0-7 powerplay record in their game against New Jersey, yesterday afternoon.

On the whole, a messy game for the Bruins, especially in the 1st period, but the win (and the points) will help the team as they head into the December stretch.

Of Note: Milan Lucic's injury will keep him out of the lineup for about 4 weeks; Marc Savard is still finding his form, returning from injury; Patrice Bergeron blocked a shot and went down in a heap tonight, but was able to return to the game; The Bruins have now won 5 of their last 6 games and improve to 13-8-5 on the season, thus far.