bruins go two-for-two through the weekend

Last night's shoot-em-up in Toronto was blocked for us Bruins fans in Montreal; we were left to watch the Canadiens and Sabres as the rest of the country watched the Festival of Red Lights in TO.

In Saturday night's game, neither goalie was particularly effective, as Pogge and Joseph let in 7 goals, and Manny Fernandez - still struggling to find his form - let in 5. However, despite the porous goaltending, the Bruins' firepower won the night, which was a welcomed change given how hard it has been for the team to score lately. As the adage says, the team that scores more goals wins, and the Bruins won, 7-5.

Tonight's match against the Flyers was carried nationwide on NHL Network, and was a very entertaining game. The Flyers scored first, but the B's roared back after a fight between Montador and Carcillo, and potted three unanswered goals - two by Lucic. They added another in the third period, and the game remained 4-2 until inside the final 2 minutes, when Philly scored and drew to within one goal. However, despite some scary moments, the B's were able to hold on and win the game 4-3.

Tim Thomas was, as usual, unorthodox and unbelievable, making at least two saves by diving across the open goal-mouth and deflecting the puck aside - in one instance losing his helmet, stick and blocker in the process. Totally awesome.

Mark Recchi (who, according to my Toronto correspondents, is "kind of hot") continued his strong play of late, registering the winning goal in tonight's match-up, and Dennis Wideman had shifts that were some of the best I've seen any defender play this year.

On the whole, a couple of solid games with crisp passing, powerplay execution, and good overall team chemistry...and not a moment too soon. The Bruins have seven games remaining before the playoffs, and are starting to show the form necessary to succeed in the post-season.

The Bruins' next game is Tuesday, at home, against the Lightning.

bruins 8 - leafs 5

The Bruins continued their home-win streak last night in a wild affair against their Division rivals, the Maple Leafs.

Over the course of the game, four different goalies took to the nets, causing a revolving door scenario that suggested that a revolving door might have actually been a better choice as Starter.

Vesa Toskala got the hook after two goals on four shots, only to be returned to the nets later in the game when Curtis Joseph proved that as a backup goalie, he's an excellent choice for a front-office position (seriously - CuJo is a great guy, and a phenomenal community benefactor, but he has not looked good in nets in recent years and it's hard to watch).

Tim Thomas got the start for the B's and looked pretty good early on, but after letting the Leafs claw their way back into the game (at one point the Bruins led 5-1 in the second period, but finished the period up only 6-5), Thomas' night ended in the second intermission. Fernandez came out for the third period and shut the Leafs out on 13 shots, allowing the Bruins to put some breathing room into the score.

David Krejci had his first career hat-trick, making a case that he stay with "the big team" and not be sent back to Providence this year. Phil Kessel extended his (NHL-leading) point-streak to 16 games, tying Bruins great (and fellow number 16) Rick "Nifty" Middleton's record in the 1983-84 season. The Bruins home-win streak improves to 12 games. Marc Savard had a 4-point night, helping me in my hockey pool.

bruins 5 - leafs 2

Well, the Bruins made up for their horrible game from a few nights hence, with a more resilient effort against the Maple Leafs.

Despite a third period lag, where they B's were vastly outshot and needed to kill off a 5-on-3 disadvantage, the Bruins were able to rely on the stellar - and need I say All-Star-Nomination-Warranting - performance of Tim Thomas, and the first career hat-trick by Blake Wheeler.

Wheeler, who was apparently not quality enough to play for the Phoenix Coyotes (wha...?) added a well-timed empty-net goal to his evening's output, registering his first 3-goal game for the Bruins.

Of note, Wheeler also changed his uniform to Number 26 before last night's game. By wearing 26, he joins the company of such Bruins luminaries as Don Awrey, Mike Milbury, Mike Knuble, and Bill Goldsworthy. Good company to keep, and given his luck wearing the number, probably a good sweater to keep too.

Honourable mentions for last night's game: Mark Stuart, who laid out Jason Blake and sent him flying into the players bench, and Sean Thornton, who brought a surprisingly soft set of hands to last night's game.

Good show. The Bruins improve to 7-3-3 with last night's win.

leafs 4 - bruins 2

As far as I am concerned, if a Bruins player hits someone so hard they go right through the glass and several fans in the surrounding area get injured - as Milan Lucic did to Mike Van Ryn last night - then the Bruins deserve to win that game.

Alas, hockey does not work that way.

Nor does it work in such a way that a team can under-perform, consistently scramble in the defensive zone, be beaten to open pucks, peel-off before being hit, and expect to win.

Last night, the Bruins again blew a two-goal lead to lose against the "lowly" Maple Leafs. The Leafs and Bruins now have identical records, but the teams do not seem to mirror each other in work effort. The Leafs outworked the Bruins on nearly every shift, getting better as the game went by.

In last night's game I was most struck by how passive the Bruins seemed. Largely the same team from last year, who doggedly checked the opposition in all three zones, creating opportunities by causing mistakes, last night's Bruins were instead handed their own game by the new-look Leafs - a team expected to miss the playoffs for a (record-setting) fourth straight year.

It was not pretty. And the recurring theme of blowing leads in the third period is an ominous sign as this team struggles for points and chemistry.

My only hope is that Coach Julien spends a significant amount of practice time in the coming days working on the Bruins anemic penalty kill, given that they could not stop the parade to the penalty box.

Hopefully last night's soft effort was an aberration, and the team will correct the path they are on.