Bruins Nation

Happy new year to all members of Bruins Nation!

The Bruins next two games are Tomorrow against Toronto and Thursday against Toronto.

In the middle of the third period, Jack Edwards appropriately described the game as the "Bruins getting spanked pretty hard by Nashville".

Coach Lewis decided to give Hannu Toivenen the start tonight and it sure didn't work out for him. Though Nashville's goals were not all Toivenen's fault, tonight's game proved that this is Timmy's team, and it will remain Timmy's team.

I don't know whether it was because this was the second game in two days or something else, but the Bruins just had no gas in the tank. The Bruins were slow, ineffective with the puck, bad at chasing down pucks, and just looked like a tired beaten team.

In the first period, the predators had a 2 on 1 odd man rush during transition. A one-timer got by Toivenen, giving the Predators the lead. Later in the period, A perfect Predator drive, high blocker side, went into the net. Toivenen looked screened, he probably didn't even see the puck.

In the second period, Jordin Tootoo's shot deflected off of a Predator in front of the net. The puck then took a weird bounce into the goal. Toivenen couldn't have done anything about it. Later in the period, Nashville managed to get a guy wide open in the Bruins zone during transition. That open guy received a pass and shot a beautiful wrist shot by Toivenen.

Nothing much happened in the third period. Nashville managed to get a goal when Josef Vasicek scored a quick goal off of a faceoff. This goal could have been saved by Toivenen. Hannu was not expecting the shot though.

One last note: This is the first shutout against the Bruins this season, and the biggest loss since Game one (an 8-3 loss to Florida). Also, Phoenix managed to beat San Jose 8-0, making me feel much better about tonight's Bruins loss.

First, BC just won their seventh consecutive bowl game! I can't give you a link to an article because BC just won minutes ago. Bc won the Meineke Car Care bowl 25-24 over Navy. It was a very close game that BC should not have won. Navy was up by 8 when BC scored a touchdown, making it 24-22. BC failed on the 2-point conversion and Navy got the ball with a two point lead and only a couple minutes left. Navy started running out the clock but on a third and fifteen, the idiot Navy coach called an option. When the quarterback went to pitch the ball to the runningback, the runningback couldn't handle the ball and he fumbled. BC then recovered and went on to set up Steve Aponavicius with a 37 yard game winning field goal. Bottom line is that BC got lucky. They should have kept their old coach, a man who deserved the raise he was asking for.

In other sports news, Mike Tyson was arrested on charges of driving under the influence of an illegal substance, and possesion of cocaine. Police said that while arresting Tyson, he admitted to using Cocaine and to being an addict.

A little Bruins pre-game report: Hannu Toivenen will get his first start since December 12th tonight against Nashville. The Nashville predators are doing very well this season and are currently 2nd in the Western Conference with 53 points. Also, as I mentioned in the Game 35 summary, Jeff Hoggan hurt himself while crashing into the boards during last night's game. So Yan Stastny will replace him tonight on the fourth line alongside Petr Tenkrat and Stan Chistov. Besides that, the lines should look identical to last night's lines.

Kessel is reportedly doing better and working out with stregnth and conditioning coach John Whitesides. Chiarelli said that the earliest we could see Kessel in a game is next week against Philadelphia.

A little fun fact, the Boston Globe reminded us all today that Andrew Alberts has a team high +9 rating. That is very impressive for a defensemen like himself.

Wow, we need to learn how to play 60 minutes of hockey. The Bruins today were one diving Tim Thomas save away from blowing a four goal lead.

The Bruins played a fantastic first period. 5 minutes in a Chicago clear attempt was intercepted at the Blackhawks blue line by PJ Axelsson. Axelsson then shot the puck. Glen Murray, who was in front of the goal, tipped the puck in the net and the Bruins had a 1-0 lead.

Ten minutes later, Mark Mowers had the puck behind the Chicago net during a Chicago power play. Mowers was pinned to the boards by two Blackhawk defensemen. Mowers though, with great body position and stick handling, managed to get away from the Chicago D-men and skate in front of the goal. He then shot a shot that trickled into the goal, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead off of a short handed goal. A minute later, Chistov showed off some fancy puck handling before passing to Milan Jurcina, whose slap shot went into the net. So the Bruins had a 3-0 lead going into the first intermission.

The second period was pretty boring compared to the first and third periods. The Blackhawks switched goalies and the scoring chances were just taken away from the Bruins. The Bruins managed to score once in the period on a very lucky goal. The goal was scored when, on a bruins power play, a Chicago defensemen was skating with the puck in front of the Blackhawks goal. Bergeron then somehow managed to tip the puck away from the Chicago player and into the goal, giving the Bruins a 4-0 lead heading into the third period.

In the third period, 30 seconds after the opening face-off, Patrick Sharp and Andrew Alberts got into a fight. They both got in some nice punches. Overall I thought the fight was a tie, though the NESN announcers thought that Alberts won.

The Sharp vs Alberts fight really revitalized Chicago. A minute later James Wisniewski's well aimed slapshot got past Thomas, cutting the Bruins lead to three. 45 seconds later, an outside shot from the Blackhawks deflected off of a Blackhawk forward and took a weird bounce into the net. Three minutes after that, Tim Thomas made a save but the rebound squirted right in front of the net. An easy Chicago tip in cut the bruins lead to one. Chicago had scored three goals in 4 minutes 19 seconds.

Nothing much happened until 1:41 left in the game when Chicago had a wide open empty net shot. Tim Thomas, amazingly, managed to dive across the goal and knock the puck away with his glove, keeping the Bruins on top. Then with 11 seconds left, Marc Savard had an empty net goal that sealed the deal for Boston.

It may not have been pretty, but we still won 5-3.

One last note: Jeff Hoggan slammed into the boards early in the game and did not return. Hopefully he is alright, but if he is unavailable for Saturday night's game in Nashville, Yan Stastny, who was a healthy scratch tonight, can play in his place. (Maybe Stastny won't be going to Providence so soon after all.)

I'm back and far away from the family. Tonight, I will watch the game on NESN via my couch! Not via the floor on the hotel porch listening to WBZ being streamed from my laptop.

I also didn't realize that PJ Axelsson played in Game 34. Apparently he played alongside his usual linemates Murray and Savard, with Petr Tenkrat taking Axelsson's place on some of the shifts. Yan Stastny was the healthy scratch. Bish has this for tonight's game:

P.J. Axelsson-Marc Savard-Glen Murray
Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Brad Boyes
Mark Mowers-Wayne Primeau-Shean Donovan
Jeff Hoggan-Stan Chistov-Petr Tenkrat

Andrew Alberts-Zdeno Chara
Paul Mara- Brad Stuart
Jason York-Milan Jurcina

Tim Thomas starting
Hannu Toivonen not starting

Yan Stastny again will be a healthy scratch

My guess is the lines will stay exactly the same for tomorrow night's game at 8 in Nashville, except Toivenen will be in for Thomas

Wow what a great week,
We had a win and an overtime loss.
The NHL made me their first star,
Because I am the boss.

The win was against the Canadiens,
Those types are the best I promise.
Yep you guessed it
My name is Tim Thomas

The player of the week is Tim Thomas. He was the NHL star of the week for the week that was 12/17 - 12/24. My week and the NHL week don't correspond though. My week is Friday to Friday, theirs is Monday to Monday. Go figure? Even though during the past two games, Thomas wasn't neccessarily the best Bruins' player (Though he was definetely top 5) I wanted to make him player of the week because the NHL did.

Fluto Shinzawa from the Boston globe's Bruins blog is reporting this from today's practice at the United center in Chicago. Tim Thomas is going to start against the Blackhawks, who like the Bruins, started off poorly but are getting their season back on track. Hannu Toivenen will be the starting goalie on Saturday in Nashville.

Sorry I don't have a lot of time right now. One last thing I want to mention though is that Rory Fitzpatrick, the hockey player who is reaping the benefits of a fan-based write-in campaign, has fallen to third place in voting for western conference defensemen. So keep voting for Rory. Here is the Vote For Rory website

Tim Thomas was named the first star of the week for the week ending on December 24th. Here is the press release.

The Bruins went undefeated during the week that ended on December 24th. Thomas net-minded all three wins. He gave up only two goals to Ottawa, had 35 saves. He got the Bruins their first shutout of the season against Vancouver, had 39 saves. And he gave up only 2 goals against Montreal, had 20 saves.

Thomas played 180 minutes over the week. He went 3-0-0, gave up 4 goals, and had 89 saves. That definitely merits the first star of the week.

So check this out. I am at a hotel with family, visiting for a couple days. When I heard the hotel room had cable I was glad I would be able to watch the Bruins game. Now somehow my hotel room has NESN but it doesn't have Versus, so I was out of luck. I had my laptop though. Then I remembered that Comcast streams NHL games online for free. So I went to www.comcast.net but they were only streaming the Pittsburgh vs New Jersey game, not the Bruins game. So what I ended up doing is going to WBZ's website and I listened to the radio broadcast of the game through my laptop (because I am that big of a Bruins fan!) So today's recap of game 34 is just from the notes I wrote down while listening to the game, and the highlights that were on NESN.

To start I would like to say it was a very exciting game to listen to on the radio, and the WBZ guys did a fantastic job. This is the first time I had ever listened to a Bruins game on the radio and, even though it isn't television, the guys doing the broadcast did a great job and I felt like I knew what was going on the entire time.

In the first period Brad Boyes started the scoring at 6:39 when he redirected a drive from Andrew Alberts into the net. Columbus then tied up the game when the puck got away from Brad Stuart. The WBZ announcer commented on how the Blue Jackets player's shot was very nice. A minute later, the Bruins were on the power play when Chara's pass was intercepted. That ended up being a 2 on 1 odd man rush for the Blue Jackets that ended in a Columbus short-handed goal, giving them a 2-1 lead. Two minutes later, the Bruins tied the game at two when Mowers passed deep to Donovan. Donovan's shot was then blocked. Wayne Primeau then put the puck in net with a nice wrist shot.

In the second period, Both the Blue Jackets and the Bruins had a man in the penalty box when Brad Stuart drove the puck to the net. His shot didn't go in but Stan Chistov had his stick down and was able to tip the puck into the net. Then a few minutes later, the Bruins were on a 5 on 3 power play when Glen Murray passed the puck to Patrice Bergeron who had skated in front of the net. Bergeron then scored, giving the Bruins a 4-2 lead. Then after the Bruins squandered (that's the exact word I wrote in my game notes) a few golden scoring opportunities, a Blue Jacket's back hand shot beat Thomas, cutting the bruins lead to 1, 4-3, to end the second period.

In the third period the Bruins played all defense! I wrote four different times in my game notes that Thomas was coming up with huge saves. Marco Sturm had, what sounded like on the radio, a huge scoring opportunity at 14:39 in the third period, but apparently he was robbed by the goalie. With a minute and a half left, Brad Stuart was sent to the box for tripping. That wasn't bad because now the Bruins can ice for the rest of the game. But then, Zdeno Chara was called for hooking with a minute left and, with the goalie pulled, Columbus had a 6 on 3 advantage. Primeau, Alberts, and Bergeron were on the ice. Columbus then scored with 22.9 seconds left. After seeing the goal on NESN after the game, I now know that that Federov had a wide open shot with a wide open goal. Thomas was diving across but it was too late and the game was heading to overtime.

In the overtime, the Bruins successfully killed the rest of Chara's penalty when the Bruins made the worst line change of the season. All four men went to the bench leaving no Bruins players on the ice. The Blue Jackets then had an uncontested breakaway that led to the winning goal. Thomas couldn't do anything about it, but after watching the goal on replay, he looked really mad about the goal. I don't know if he was mad at himself or mad at the bench for putting him in that position, but he was mad.

So the Bruins lost 5-4 in overtime. Thomas had 37 saves and the Bruins played pretty well. They gave up a short-handed goal, a 6 on 3 power play goal, and a goal during a 4-man line change. If you take away those dumb goals, then the Bruins would have won easily. At least we got a point out of this loss. This is the first overtime loss of the season, so if you want to be picky about the record that I put at the title, the Bruins are technically 18-13-1-2.

One last note: Anson Carter, a former Bruin, is now with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was unavailable for last night's game which is too bad. I would've like to have seen (or heard on the radio) about how he is doing.

Even though the only reason that the garden was sold out was because of all the Canadiens' fans there, it was still sold out. The game was a blast and really showed what Boston Bruins hockey is all about. Tim Thomas had an amazing game, Huet had a pretty crappy one, and the Bruins defense played extremely well.

In the first period, the Canadiens came out firing. The Bruins were not mustering any offense and the Canadiens were getting off some good shots. They were all saved by Thomas. In the middle of the period, the Bruins finally got off their first shot, it was a drive by Zdeno Chara that a Canadiens player tipped in, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. 4 minutes later, the Bruins were on the power play when Patrice Bergeron stole the puck in the Canadiens zone. Bergeron then passed it to Marco Sturm who scored. Sturm's shot was very save-able and Thomas would have easily had it, but Huet missed it and the Bruins had 2 goals on their first 4 shots. Towards the end of the period, the Canadiens managed to get one by Thomas, which revived the Canadiens' fans. Us Bruins fans at the game though got our momentum back when Glen Murray was slashed in the leg by Koivu. They sort of got into a brawl but Murray was pushed down to the ice before anything really happened. They both got roughing penalties. The period ended with the Bruins up 2-1.

In between periods, there was a massive fight inside one of the bathrooms at the garden. I couldn't see any of it but I remember laughing about it.

In the second period the Canadiens opened up the period by almost scoring. All I saw was the puck go in the net, but apparently Thomas had been hit by a Canadien so the goal was not counted. The only other interesting part of the period was when the Bruins were on a 4 minute power play and they got the puck stolen from them. That Canadien breakaway led to a Canadiens short handed goal, tying up the game at two. That is how the period ended.

Six minutes into the third period, the Bruins took the lead when Milan Jurcina's drive went into the net. It was another shot Huet should have had. A little over a minute later, Stan Chistov put some nice moves on the Canadiens' defense and scored his second goal of the season, putting the Bruins ahead 4-2.

It was overall a really fun game, and seeing the Canadiens fans leaving the garden completely silent was also very nice.

One last note: The Bruins with 38 points are now currently in third place in the Northeast division and 9th in the Eastern conference.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all from the President of Bruins Nation!

There is nothing like a Bruins - Canadiens game at the garden. The Bruins beat the Habs 4-2, moved up to third place. I'll have the usual game summary up sometime tomorrow.

Also, you gotta love the Bruin's santa hats:

That's right, tonight is the first of many games the President of Bruins nation will be attending. I got these tickets the first day they went on sale. I told myself I had to go to at least one Bruins - Canadiens game this season.

A little note, with a win or overtime loss, the Bruins will be in third place in the northast division. We will be in third place with an overtime loss because, even though we would be tied, we have less games played then both Toronto and Ottawa (games remaining is the tie-breaker). However, if we lose in three periods, we will be in last place because Ottawa defeated Philadelphia earlier today.

So all I can say is go Bruins!

Even though Timmy had a shutout
And Patrice had 5 points in one game,
Even Savard's 7 points and Murray's 4 goals
Couldn't get them into the who-am-I hall of fame

I had a hat trick against Ottawa
To them I was a germ
yep you guessed it
my name is Marco Sturm

The Player of the week is Marco Sturm for his 3 goals against the Senators. Everybody played well this week. As the rhyme says, Patrice Bergeron had five assists in one game, 8 points total for the week. Tim Thomas had a great game against Ottawa and a shutout against Vancouver. Savard had seven points, including 2 goals. And Glen Murray had 4 goals and one assist, his first goal against Florida was his 600th NHL point. Overall a very good week to be a Bruins fan, lets keep the momentum going into tomorrow's game against the Habs.

Before I start, I would just like to say that tonight's shutout win against the Vancouver Canucks, was the first game of the season that ended prior to NESN's scheduled time. (The game ended at 9:26, NESN had it ending at 9:30.)

Wow, I have a lot to write about this game, even though basically nothing happened. First, I have to commend Tim Thomas. Every game I usually mention how well Thomas plays, but tonight he was superb. 39 saves on 39 shots. Thomas was a thief, robbing Canuck shot after shot. Also the Bruins defense did a great job stopping the puck from getting to Thomas. The Bruins defense had 15 blocks. Just imagine if they weren't there and Thomas was forced to make 54 saves. Brad Stuart led the team with 3 blocks, including one that got him in the face and required stitches!

In the first period, three minutes in, the Bruins were on the power play when Marc Savard had the puck right next to the net. Savard then passed across the ice to Patrice Bergeron who scored easily, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Ten minutes later, the Bruins were on a 5 on 3 power play when Glen Murray's drive went straight into the net. Murray's drive was as fast as lightning, I barely saw the puck in slow motion.

In the second period, with the Bruins up 2-0, nothing really happened. The only remotely interesting thing was when, towards the end of the period, Thomas was steamed. As the NESN broadcaster (I forget which one) said, "[Thomas] was gonna punch anybody". Thomas did attempt to swing at two different Canucks players, but the Bruins defensemen quickly took Thomas's spot in the two mini brawls. Also, at the very end of the period, Stuart, as I mentioned earlier, took a puck in the face and needed stictches. He looked fine in the third period though.

The way the Bruins played in the third period was the deffinition of passivity. The Bruins did not take a single shot! We just played defense and, with the help of Thomas, shut down the Canuck's offense. The Bruins ended up winning 2-0. Hell, a win is a win and two points is two points. And now, after Ottawa lost earlier tonight, the Bruins rose to fourth place in the division with 36 points. And remember, Ottawa has played four more games than we have.

One last note: Vancouver did manage to get the puck in the Bruins net twice, which would have tied the game, but both times the ref had whistled the play dead prior to the goal.

I just got some more Bruins tickets in the mail. There is nothing I like getting more than Bruins tickets.

The NHL released this All-Star voting update today. Here are the top three:

Eastern Conference:
Forwards:
1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins, 626,175 votes
2. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals, 356,215 votes
3. Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres, 350,699 votes
15. Marco Sturm, Boston Bruins, 131,701 votes (Keep in mind all of these votes are write-ins because Sturm is not on the ballot)
21. Patrice Bergeron, Boston Bruins, 96,240 votes

Defensemen:
1. Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres, 422,573 votes
2. Sheldon Souray, Montreal Canadiens, 394,226 votes
3. Bryan McCabe, Toronto Maple Leafs, 388,387 votes
4. Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins, 380,670 votes

Goalies
1. Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres, 410,660 votes
2. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils, 336,079 votes
3. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins, 293,670 votes

Western Conference
Forwards
1. Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks, 535,134 votes
2. Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks, 368,827 votes
3. Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche, 363,720 votes

Defensemen
1. Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Angels, 447,502 votes
2. Rory Fitzpatrick, Vancouver Canucks, 428,832 votes (Keep in mind all of these votes are write-ins because Fitzpatrick is not on the ballot)
3. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, 427,364 votes

Goalies
1. Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks, 367,528 votes
2. Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames, 296,186 votes
3. Marty Turco, Dallas Stars, 294,762 votes

All star voting ends January 2nd so keep voting. It is nice to see Joe Thornton doing well. Even though he's with San Jose I still like the guy.

Tonight's game against the Vancouver Canucks should be a good one. I am curious though whether Lewis will go easy against the Canucks. It would make sense in order to save stregnth for Saturday's far more important game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Also, Chiarelli traded Wade Brookbank to Pittsburgh for future consideration. Apparently Brookbank ditched the team one day without permission and was suspended indefinitely.

Last night's game was by far the best game of the season, and probably will remain the best game of the season. Our domination over Ottawa continued last night in Ottawa as we destroyed the Senators 7-2.

Last night the Bruins not only scored 7 goals, but they played with superb intensity. The Bruins played excellent defense, while Thomas had another brilliant game in goal. Our Offense was also amazing. We moved the puck around really well in the Senators zone, leading to many easy scoring opporunities.

In the first period the Bruins played very well, took plenty of shots, and scored three goals. The first one came in the middle of the period when Chistov intercepted the puck in the Senators zone. He passed it to Marco Sturm who scored his first goal of the game. A minute later Marc Savard passed the puck across the ice to Glen Murray who scored. Then with about a minute left in the period, the Bruins were on the power play when Patrice Bergeron passed the puck across the ice to Marco Sturm. Sturm then easily scored his second of the game, ending the period with the Bruins up 3-0.

Nothing really happened in the second period until nine minutes in when McGrattan, a real dirty hockey player, laid a grueling hit on Wayne Primeau. McGrattan had already been called for a high sticking penalty, and so during the delayed penalty period, McGrattan was just out for blood. Primeau, along with the rest of the team tackled McGrattan and a small brawl broke out between the two lines. Both McGrattan and Primeau got roughing and misconduct penalties, however McGrattan still had his original high sticking penalty. As it turns out, a minute later on the power play, Bergeron found Marco Sturm who scored, giving the Bruins a 4-0 lead.

Five minutes later, Bergeron found Sturm in the Senators zone again. Sturm again easily scored and the Bruins had a 5-0, and Sturm had a hat trick. With four seconds left in the period though, a Senator drive managed to get by Thomas and the period ended 5-1.

In the third period, the Bruins made it 6-1 when Glen Murray found Marc Savard on the power play. Savard scored, his second of the game.

A few minutes later, Eaves laid a dirty hit on Marc Savard. The hit was clearly meant to injury him. It was a shoulder to the head hit and Marc Savard went to the ground. Paul Mara then went after Eaves. Mara was furious and looked like he was going to rip Eaves to shreds. The refs got in the middle though and threw Eaves out of the game before any Bruin could get to him. Anyway, a few minutes later, Ottawa scored on a very Iffy goal. The goal made it 6-2 so you can't really complain. Five minutes later, Paul Mara scored his first goal of the season when his drive went into the net, and the Bruins won 7-2. Chara I'm sure loved his first game in Ottawa since he left last season. The corwd sure as hell didn't forgive him though.

One last note: The Bruins swept the three stars in Ottawa. they went as followed:
Third star: Marc Savard (2 goals 2 assists)
Second star: Marco Sturm (3 goals)
First star: Patrice Bergeron (5 assists)

My apologies for not posting. This is my first real time in front of a computer since Saturday night. Anyway, the Bruins lost Saturday night to the Florida Panthers in what was a huge third period failure. The third period, and the special teams hurt the Bruins. The Bruins were 1 for 7 on the power play whereas the Panthers were 3 for 7 and had two 2-man advantage goals. Though I thought the penalties that made the 2 man advantage opportunities were crap calls, the Bruins still shouldn't give up goals. Our penalty kill needs to be more sound, especially when we're down by two men. We should be able to go out onto the ice down by two men and make sure the other team doesn't score for two minutes.

The first two periods were fine for the Bruins. Three minutes into the game Brad Boyes was in the neutral zone without a stick when he kicked the puck to the blue line where Patrice Bergeron was. Bergeron then skated up to the net and passed the puck to Marco Sturm who easily scored. Then ten minutes into the period, the Bruins found themselves on the ice with only three men after crap calls put York and Mara in the penalty box. the Panthers took advantage of the 5 on 3 and scored, tying the game.

The second period started off really well, just like the first one. Exactly two minutes in Glen Murray got his 600th career NHL point when his wrist shot went into the net. The lead didn't last very long though, a minute later the Panthers were on the power play when a drive from between the faceoff circles got past Thomas.

Then later in the period, the Bruins were on the power play when Glen Murray shot the puck, then put his own rebound into the back of the net, giving himself his 601st NHL point, and the Bruins a one goal lead. Then what seemed like a few seconds later, Florida managed to score a goal right off of a faceoff win in the Bruins zone. So the game was tied 3-3 heading into the third period.

All went to hell in the third period though. Florida got anohter two-man advantage goal. The Bruins had a big screw-up in their own zone that lead to an easy Panther one-timer getting by Thomas, and Florida got an empty net goal. Giving up three third-period goals is not the way to end a hockey game.

One last game note: The Bruins only had 21 shots. In their win against the Devils they had 45 shots. That's how you win games, by taking as many quality shots as you can. 21 shots will rarely end up a win in the new NHL.

One last other note: Phil Kessel is cured. Sorry I don't have time to write about this but it was announced Saturday and it is big news. Kessel is officially cancer free.

The Bruins are hosting the Panthers tonight at the garden. The panthers beat the Bruins in game 1 and in game 18 (I'm too lazy to put up the link, just go to the game summaries on the right and find them yourselves). It's time the Bruins took some points from the struggling Florida Panthers.

Tim Thomas will start in goal tonight. Not that that surprises anyone.

The Boston Globe's Bruins Blog (link found on right) is reporting that Phil Kessel will release a statement at the garden this afternoon. I'm just guessing it's about his cancer-related surgery, but he could just be congratulating the team on Thursday's win.

I'm not going to write a huge game summary for this game like I do for Bruins games but I will write a couple sentences. UMass lost to Appalachian state today 28-17 in the div 1 college football national championship game. Umass pulled off great wins against New Hampshire and Montana in the playoffs but fell to defending national champion Appalachian state earlier this evening. Even though the score was 28-17, the game was down to the wire and Umass played really nice tough football. I'm proud of Umass this year and hell, 2nd place ain't bad.

The Bruins got their revenge last night, shelling out 45 shots against former BC goalie Scott Clemmensen. Five of those shots went in and the Bruins are back above .500.

This game was won on the power play. Last Saturday when the Bruins played the Devils, the very disciplined New jersey Devils did not let the Bruins have a single power play. Last night, the Bruins drew 7 New Jersey penalties and we scored on three of them (for those of you who aren't as quick as the rest of us, that means we went 3-7 on the PP). Also Thomas had some great saves and Patrice Bergeron had two goals!

The Bruins had an amazing start to the game. 19 seconds into the first period, Brad Boyes at the Devils blue line drove the puck right past Scott Clemmensen. I'll take a 1-0 lead in the first 20 seconds any day. Then, under a minute later, Alberts put a very powerful hit on a Devils player. The hit was legal but it pissed off Colin White of the Devils. White then beat the crap out of Alberts. I know I hate to see it, but Alberts really did lose the fight. He didn't even get a punch in. Colin White did a great job defending his teammate. Anyway, a half a minute after the fight, on the power play, Marc Savard passed the puck across the ice to Patrice Bergeron who easily shot it in. Patrice Bergeron, who had a microphone on him, didn't even sound excited when he scored, giving the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Bergeron scored and it was just business as usual.

Well, the lead didn't last. Later in the first period, Scott Gomez shot the puck on Thomas. The rebound went right in front of the net and Patrik Elias shot the rebound past Thomas. Both Chara and Alberts were in front of Thomas where the puck was, but neither of them managed to get the rebound. In the last minute of the period, the Devils were on a 5-3 power play when a drive went passed Thomas. Thomas didn't even see it because he was completely screened. The first period ended tied 2-2.

In the middle of the second period, The Bruins retook the lead on the power play when Petr Tenkrat's drive went by Clemmensen. Then a minute later, a Devils winger managed to get by the two Bruins defensemen and right in front of Thomas. He then got a pass and shot the puck. Thomas's glove stuffed the puck but the Devil's player out-muscled Thomas and managed to get the puck in net, tying the game 3-3.

Towards the beginning of the third period, the Bruins were on the power play when a rebound escaped both our wingers and the Devils defensemen. Brad Stuart then skated up from the blue line, got the puck, and shot the puck into the corner of the net, scoring the go-ahead goal. The Bruins then played really nice defense, and that, compiled with some nice Thomas saves, lead to the Devils not scoring in the third period. With a minute left in the game, Bergeron then sealed the win with an empty net goal, and the Bruins won 5-3.

One last note: Only one player on the Bruins finished above a zero in the +/- column. Wayne Primeau had a +1. Meanwhile, only one Bruins player finished below zero. Mark Mowers had -1.

Even though Patrice Bergeron
Had two goals against the Devils,
Games against Montreal
Are on whole different levels

I scored two against the Canadiens
I played very hard,
Yep you guessed it
My name is Marc Savard

Player of the week is Marc Savard

Two goals against Montreal are far more important than two goals against New Jersey. Sorry Patrice Bergeron, maybe next week.

Also, I hope everyone saw the rhyming title of the previous blog entry.

John Bishop is reporting that Tim Thomas will be in net tonight against New Jersey at the garden. It looks like he's over the flu and Toivenen will be riding the bench again. Tonight's game and Saturday night's game are important. The Bruins play New Jersey then Florida at the garden. New Jersey and Florida have combined to crush the Bruins three times. New Jersey crushed us just last Saturday 5-1 in Game 27, and Florida beat us 8-3 in Game 1, and then again 3-2 in Game 18. Winning against New Jersey and Florida these next two days are crucial.

Also Theo Epstein has confirmed that the Red Sox have signed new big name pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka. NESN has been all over this. The press conference is going to be at Fenway in a few minutes (probably on NESN). Boston.com's Red Sox page will have video also.

One last bit of news is that Tom Brady fired some shots at teammates. I won't go into detail of what he said, but Tom Brady saying something bad about a Pats player is something you'll only see once in a lifetime. Brady didn't say any specific player's name, but he said that more than one player wasn't taking advice from the coaches well, and that it is hurting the team.

Tonight we end the losing streak at 2! Go Bruins

There was no shame in Last night's loss. No NHL team goes undefeated, sometimes you just lose games.

Marc Savard and Hannu Toivenen played great games. Savard had two power play goals and Toivenen made 36 saves. Among the 36 saves, there were several clutch saves and several tough saves. There was basically no defense in the game as both teams combined for 74 shots. All in all it was a down-to-the-wire game that was a lot of fun to watch.

In the first period, both teams came out hitting, and firing shots. The Canadiens scored the only goal of the first period when Markov scored on a power play. (The Habs had four PP's in the first period. The refs really had their eyes on the Bruins.)

The Bruins came out of the locker in the first period and scored quickly. Two minutes in, on the power play, Patrice Bergreron passed the puck across the ice to a diving Marc Savard who managed to get the puck in the net, tying the game. Minutes later though, Sergei Samsonov (yes, that Sergei Samsonov) scored, giving the Canadiens a 2-1 lead.

Later in the period, the Canadiens had the puck in their own zone on a Bruins power play, when Savard managed to edge the puck away from a Canadiens player. Glen Murray then got the puck and passed it ahead to Savard. Marc Savard, with some fancy blade work and puck control, scored another goal. The second period ended with the Bruins and Canadiens tied 2-2.

The third period was a lot of fun to watch. In the middle of the period, Samsonov scored his second of the game after Chara had the puck stripped, giving the Habs a 3-2 lead. Then a couple minutes later the Canadiens scored again on a shot that "surprised" Toivenen. So the Habs had 4-2 lead.

With only a couple minutes left, Lewis pulled Toivenen in favor of an extra attacker. With 51 seconds left, Savard won a face-off in the Canadiens zone and sent the puck back to York at the blue line. York, with Zdeno Chara in front of the net screening the goalie, shot a drive to the net. Petr Tenkrat managed to redirect the puck and into the net, cutting the Habs lead in half.

The Bruins couldn't put the puck in the net again though, and the Bruins lost to the Canadiens (I hate saying it too) 4-3.

One last note: It's nice to see the Bruins power play finally working after a six game absence. (Savard had two PP goals). Next game is tomorrow night at the garden against the New Jersey Devils.

Wow, 36 hours ago I was as some could say too excited about tonight's game against the Habs. Now, the game doesn't seem that important anymore.

Last night CBS said that Phil Kessel's non-hockey related illness was in fact Testicular Cancer. Kessel's agent though would not confirm CBS report. Kessel's agent did however say that Phil Kessel is recovering at Mass general after going through successful cancer-related surgery. Bruins Nation wishes the best to Phil Kessel and his family.

Another bit of bad news out of Montreal. The search for Laura Gainey, Canadiens GM Bob Gainey's daughter, has been called off after she went missing at sea Friday night. The hearts of Bruins Nation are extended to the Gainey family.

Though a sad post indeed, the game must go on. Bruins VS Canadiens tonight at 7:30 in Montreal. Tonight's game, unlike last week's, will be on NESN.

Hannu Toivenen and Yan Stastny are back with the Bruins today after winning a game with Providence. It looks like Mark Stuart is staying with the little Bruins now that Mara is back from injury. I like having 7 defensemen on the bench just in case, but six (Chara, Mara, Alberts, York, Jurcina, Stuart) will do just fine.

That was the good news.

The Kessel family released a statement today saying that Phil Kessel is being treated in a hospital for non-hockey related reasons. The Boston Bruins also ask that everyone respect the privacy of the Kessel family and that the Bruins will release more information when they receive and deem it appropriate.

Coming into last night's game the Bruins had a great chance at showing the NHL how much they have improved. Both Toronto and Ottawa lost, so if the Bruins had won, they would've been in third place in the Northeast division and eigth place in the Eastern conference, while still having the least amount of games played in the conference. Poor offense and poor defense though didn't let any of that happen and the Bruins got smothered by the New Jersey Devils.

The Bruins main problem was the lack of scoring opportunities. The Bruins were just not taking shots and were not creating solid chances. Against a future hall of famer like Brodeur you have to create too many scoring opportunities. The Bruins only shot 20 shots last night. The refs didn't help out our offense though at all. Boston had zero power plays. Though the box score may say we went 0-2, all three New jersey minor penalties came along side Boston minor penalties and they cancelled out. Boston not once had a man advantage. Also the two line (Tenkrat Savard Murray) were terrible. Yes Savard did score but it was with a different line. All three players on the number 2 line had a -3. Along with those three, Brad Stuart, who earned this blog's player of the week for last week had the worst night of all with a -4.

In the first period, the Devils scored twice. The first goal was on an odd man rush, the shot looked saveable but then again I'm not an NHL goalie. The second goal was when a wide open Devil got the puck in front of the goal and shot a beautiful wrist shot past Thomas to the top of the goal. It looked like Paul Mara missed his coverage on that play.

In the second period, with the Bruins down 2-0, Coach Lewis decided to put Hannu Toivenen in for Thomas. It really paid off in the second period. Hannu was light out, making some very nice clutch saves. Three minutes into the period, the Bruins had a delayed power play. They took Toivenen out of goal and sent in Marc Savard. Bergeron had the puck at that point and passed it to Milan jurcina at the Devils blue line. Jurcina's drive to the goal was tipped by Marc Savard into the net cutting the Devils lead in half 2-1.

Everything went bad in the third period. The Bruins mustered only six shots and Toivenen, while still making the hard saves, started giving up the easy goals. Ten minutes into the period a very weak back hand shot by a Devils player went under Toivenen and in, giving the Devils a 3-1 lead. Then four minutes later, the Devils were on a power play when they sealed the deal on a 2-1 odd man rush, with Chara being the only defensman back. Chara though didn't see Donovan come and cover one of the guys. So Chara went over to the skater who Donovan was trying to cover. Both of them going after the same guy left the other Devils player wide open and he got an easy goal. (By the way, Brad Stuart was the other defender who was not their to help the Bruins at all) The Devils were still thirsty for more though and after Toivenen saved a Devils shot, Sergei Brylin put the rebound into the back of the net, giving the Devils a 5-1 lead to end the game.

A few last notes on the game: Andrew Alberts was a hitting machine out their last night. Also, at one point in the game a Devils player tried to poke the puck out of Toivenen's glove. That player was then pushed to the ground and surrounded by four Bruins players. That's how you're supposed to protect your goalie. Also, Chara seemed to be very passive. At one point a Devils player looked to be challenging big Z to a fight. Chara then just put his glove in the Devils player's face mask and just toyed with him. It was funny to watch, but I would like to see our 6-9 defensman beat the crap out of someone at some point this season.

Former Bruins speedster Shawn McEachern will be the new assistant hockey coach at Northeastern University.

Maybe Shawn McEachern can turn the 2-7-2 Northeaster Huskies around. Speaking of college hockey teams in Boston that need to turn around. Ted Donato's boys at Harvard are only 2-7-0. I really hope this year's beanpot is good.

I'd like to see Harvard beating BU in the finals. I know that this seems unlikely but everyone knows NU won't beat BU in the first round and I just like Harvard more than BC. Then in the finals I just think that BU winning three in a row shouldn't happen. Keep in mind that Harvard was a puck hitting the crossbar away from beating BU in the first round last year.

I'm a Bruins defenseman
Currently playing next to York
I've scored 4 goals in three games
I've been playing with a lot of torque

I scored against Carolina and Toronto
My two goals made Montreal hurt
Yep you guessed it
My name is Brad Stuart

Player of the week is Brad Stuart

I know the rhyming is bad. I don't know what I'm going to do when someone like Wayne Primeau or PJ Axelsson wins this award.

I just love how we keep crushing Toronto. The Bruins have three wins by more than one goal on the season and all three have come against Toronto. It's too bad we don't play them again until New Years.

The first period was pretty even. The Bruins came out fired up up. They were playing physically and getting quality scoring chances. but the period ended scoreless. The second period was exactly like the first period. Except Toronto gut lucky in this period. The Buins and Maple Leafs were playing 4 on 4 because Alberts and Tucker were in the penalty box. Michael Peca of the Maple Leafs shot the puck towards Thomas but it went wide right, Thomas though completely misplayed it and the puck ended up right in front of the goal with Thomas on the ice to the side, leaving the goal wide open. Jeff O'Neill of the Maple Leafs then skated up and easily touched the puck into the net for the score. So the second period ended with the Bruins trailing 1-0.

The third period was fantastic though. Ten minutes into the period, Brad Boyes managed to keep control of the puck along the boards in the Toronto zone. He then passed it to Brad Stuart who was skating down the middle of the ice towards Aubin, the Maple Leafs goalie. Stuart then shot a rocket past Aubin for the game-tying goal.

A few minutes later, Donovan was trying to dump the puck in the Toronto zone while the Bruins attempted a line change. The puck though hit the linesman and mark Mowers got control of the puck at the Toronto blue line. Mowers shot the puck on net but Aubin was able easily save it. Aubin couldn't though keep control of the rebound and the puck went right to Wayne Primeau who shot the puck right past Aubin and into the net. The Bruins then put the nail in the coffin when Donovan stole the puck in the Toronto zone and passed it to Primeau. Primeau then passed the puck across the ice to Patrice Bergeron. Bergeron then shot a laser past Aubin to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead, which the Bruins easily held on to.

Also, in the middle of the third period, Andrew Alberts earned the respect of Bruins nation. Darcy Tucker (yes the same Tucker that Mara beat up) crashed into Thomas behind the net. Alberts then jumped on Tucker, and after NESN showed the replay, it looked like Alberts was repeatedly punching Tucker (or at least that's what I saw) in the face.

Also, Patrice Bergeron played over 21 minutes last night, which is more than his average, and Paul Mara is back playing his usual 20+ minutes. Now all we need to do is get Axelsson healthy.

Next game is tomorrow night at 7 against New Jersey.

I'm sorry, I just have no time this week. Don't expect a post tomorrow, but here it is finally, Game 25's summary:

I love beating Montreal and I love pissing off their fans. Whether we deserved to win the game is irrelevant. The fact is, we won! Sure we gave up a 4-1 lead, all that matters in a Canadiens-Bruins game though is the final score, and that final score had the Bruins on top.

The Bruins started off the first period playing lazily and the first goal was scored by the Canadiens in the middle of the first period. Saku Koivu managed to get the puck past Jason York to Guillaume Latendresse who skated to the faceoff circle in the Bruins zone and scored a goal on a shot that went right past Thomas.

Later in the period, Marc Savard had the puck in The Canadiens goal when he passed the puck to Petr Tenkrat (filling in on the number 2 line for the injured Axelsson). Tenkrat shot the puck but Huet, the Canadiens goalie, saved it. Somehow though Glen Murray got the rebound from behind the net. He then shot the puck from behind the net off of Huet and into the goal. Murray's 14th of the season was one of those goals that if you didn't see his arms fly up into the air, you wouldn't have known that the puck went in. Two minutes later Brad Boyes had the puck in the Bruins defensive zone. He passed the ouck up ahead to Phil Kessel who passed to a darting and wide open Marco Sturm who skated up to Huet and shot the puck. The puck barely trickled into the goal and the Bruins ended the first period up 2-1.

To start the second period the Bruins came fired up and ready to play hockey. It quickly paid off. About a minute into the period Marc Savard caught a failed Canadiens clear attempt at the Canadiens blue line. He then skated towards the goal and passed the puck to Shean Donovan who scored, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead. Then not two minutes later, with Zdeno Chara in the penalty box for hooking Montreal had the puck in the neutral zone. Brad Stuart managed to get the puck loose and Wayne Primeau gathered up the puck, skated to the Montreal net, and scored a short handed goal on Huet, giving the Bruins a 4-1 lead.

No lead is ever safe though. One minute later, with Brad Boyes in the penalty box, Michael Ryder of Montreal shot a puck towards the net that got by Thomas. I'm not sure if it hit someone in front of the net, ir if Thomas just missed it, but Timmy sure did look upset after giving up that goal. Ten minutes later Montreal got the game within one when Mike Johnson got a rebound and scored on a nice shot. Now it's 4-3 Bruins. Then, with under a minute left in the period, the Bruins couldn't clear the puck from our zone and Alexander Perezhogin took a far shot that scored, ending the third period tied 4-4. We were up 4-1, and within one period gave up that lead.

Anyway, the third period was pretty boring through the first ten minutes. Then Brad Stuart's drive scored after Petr Tenkrat and Marc Savard did a great job of screening Aebischer, the new Canadiens goalie. Then a minute later, with Primeau in the box, Sheldon Souray of Montreal drove the puck past Thomas after Thomas was succesfully screened by a Canadiens player (I think it was Ryder but I'm not sure). So the game was tied 5-5. After some intense playing, with 1:48 left in the game, Brad Stuart's drive from the blue line went into the net. It really looked like Wayne Primeau tipped it but the goal went to Stuart, and the Bruins won the game 6-5. Montreal fans, after this goal, were really upset because what led to the Bruins having the puck was when a Canadiens player fell, it looked like he had been tripped. However the invention of TIVO allowed me to put the play in slow motion, and the refs actually got it right. The Canadiens player had just fallen on the ice. There was no trip or push or anything from a Bruins player. So it was a great non-call and the Bruins beat the Montreal Canadiens in what is the greatest rivalry in hockey.

Tomorrow night's game is against the Toronto Maple Leafs (again). I'm actually really happy to be playing the Maple Leafs. We crushed them twice in Toronto, and I am perfectly fine with crushing them here in Boston.

Sorry this post is no where near on time. this has just been a hectic week, and I don't want to live-blog the games because I feel it would take away from my enjoyment of the game of hockey. (Except if the Bruins make it to the NHL finals, then I'll live blog. But if the Bruins do make it to the NHL finals, I'm going to be asking Jeremy Jacobs for press passes so I can live blog from the garden.)

What a wonderful first period, what a crappy game. Carolina, the reigning Stanley cup champions really took advantage of every scoring opportunity whereas the Bruins just didn't.

Paul Mara didn't play, and PJ Axelsson was a last second scratch. So Petr Tenkrat ended up taking PJ Axelsson's place in the line-up.

In the first period, two minutes in, the game started out with a huge cheap shot on Mark Stuart by Andrew Ladd. Shean Donovan then came and picked a fight with Ladd. Nothing happened though, both guys hugged and tumbled to the ice, Ladd on top of Donovan. Donovan's bad fight was like a bad gift, it's the thought that counts.

Anyway, a half a minute after the "fight", Milan Jurcina misplayed and gave up the puck behind the Bruins net. This led to a very easy Hurricanes goal by Eric Staal. Ten minutes later Mark Mowers tipped the puck in the neutral zone. Wayne Primeau got the puck and then passed it to Shean Donovan still in the neutral zone. Donovan then flew down the ice and scored on a nice wrist shot. One minute later Brad Boyes, in the Hurricanes zone, passed it to Patrice Bergeron who passes it to Marco Sturm. Sturm was right next to the goal and shot a one-timer that was blocked. Brad Stuart the got the rebound and scored. The first period ended with the Bruins up 2-1. I was feeling really optomistic at this point, but it was false hope.

Towards the beginning of the second period, Erik Cole blocked a drive by Stuart and got the puck. Cole skated all the way down the ice to the Bruins goal and then easily scored an unassited goal on Thomas, tying up the game. Then, later in the period on a Bruins power play, Chara couldn't handle a pass at the Hurricanes blue line. Rod Brind'Amour got the puck and passed ahead to a wide open Justin Williams who scored easily.

In the middle of third period, Erik Cole dumped the puck into the Bruins zone. Scott Walker then beat Jason York to the puck in the Bruins zone. Walker then passed to Erik Staal who beat Brad Stuart. Staal then scored easily on Thomas, his second goal of the game. Then, later in the third period, the Hurricanes had a 3-2 odd man rush in the Bruins zone. This led to Ray Whitney of the Hurricanes shooting a specatcular shot over the shoulder of Thomas. And the game ended 5-2.

These next five minutes are basically my only free time in front of a computer. I'll have the game summary of the Bruins' 5-2 loss to the Hurricanes up tomorrow afternoon. Also tomorrow I hope to write a little bit about UCLA beating USC (technically a Bruins win) and a little bit about Kevin paul Dupont's hockey notes in today's Boston Globe.

Sorry for the title, I wonder if the James Taylor song was played during the NHL finals last season?

Anyway, Fluto from the Boston Globe's Bruins blog is reporting that Paul Mara won't be in the playing tonight in Carolina. He suffered a thigh contusion in Toronto on Tuesday and will miss his second straight game.

As I was looking at Carolinahurricanes.com I find a new appreciation for being a Boston hockey fan. I was looking through the game notes and found out that NESN is the only TV station covering the Bruins-Hurricanes game tonight. No TV station in Carolina is willing to show a home game. This was last year's stanley cup champions and they don't even have a TV station willing to put the games on TV. Wow. Also the stats guy is a moron and mixed up Bergeron and Murray. Murray has 13 goals and 8 assists while Bergeron has 7 goals and 17 assists.

Also, Russ from the Bruins Report found these videos. The Tim Thomas save is amazing and the family Guy clip is hilarious.

Phil Kessel, Brad Boyes, and Paul Mara all deserve this honor, But Paul Mara's fight with Darcy Tucker beat out Boyes' three goals in three games, and Phil Kessel's winning shootout goal.

Friday December 1st, 2006: Paul Mara

picture from www.nhl.com

Sorry, I couldn't find a good picture of Mara since he has been with the Bruins. Here is a picture of Mara when he was with Pheonix. (If you recall, we traded Nick Boynton for Paul Mara.)

Also, due to the lack of popularity for the Friday player blogging, I think this might be the last one. If any readers of the blog want this to stay, email me. If I get enough emails I'll keep it. If I don't, then I'll find another way to honor the best Bruins player of the week.

What a game! Both teams scored a goal in each period. Both teams had shorthanded goals. Fourteen penalty shots yielded only one goal, and that one goal came from rookie Phil Kessel. What a game! We're now 3-0 against Tampa.

In the first period, the game just wasn't very intense. Ten minutes into the period, Patrice Bergeron skated around the Lightning net with the puck. He attempted to pass the puck to Brad Boyes who was in front of the net. Lightning goalie Marc Denis tipped the puck though and the puck squirted upwards. Brad Boyes then shot the coolest looking back hand tenis shot at the waist and knocked the puck into the net, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later Tampa Bay tied the game back up. There was nothing Tim Thomas could do. Lightning center Eric Perrin slammed a very hard slapshot right past Thomas. I couldn't even see the puck during the slow motion replay. So the period ended with the Bruins up 1-1.

The second period was very fun to watch. Four minutes into the period, the Bruins were on the power play when Eric Perrin stole the puck and passed it to Martin St. Louis who was right next to the goal. St. Louis, who played hockey with Thomas at the university of Vermont, scored easily, and the Lightning took a 2-1 lead off of a shorthanded goal.

Towards the end of the period, the Lightning were on the power play in the Bruins zone when Zdeno Chara attempted to clear the puck. His clear attempt was blocked at the blue line by a Tampa defenseman. Patrice Bergeron then gathered the loose puck and skated down the ice with PJ Axelsson next to him. Bergeron then fed the puck to Axelsson in front of the net who lunged out his stick and tipped the puck upwards and into the net, tying the game at 2.

The Lightning took the lead in the third period when a huge defensive turnover led to a very easy Lightning goal. The Bruins tied the game back up again about a minute later though. Defenseman Jason York, just coming back from injury, won a battle in teh Lightning zone. Marc Savard then retrieved the puck behind the Lightning net. He managed to find Glen Murray right in front of the goal and Murray scored easily.

The game would go into overtime in which both teams had great scoring chances. The Bruins' scoring chance ended up with the Bruins player's (damn I can't think of the name) shot missing the net. The Lightning scoring opportunity ended on a great save by Thomas and the game went into a shootout.

The shootout went as followed:
B: Marco Sturm shootout saved
TB: Vincent Lecavalier shootout saved
B: Patrice Bergeron shootout saved
TB: Brad Richards shootout saved
B: Glen Murray shootout saved
TB: Martin St. Louis shootout saved
B: Marc Savard shootout saved
TB: Eric Perrin shootout saved
B: Brad Boyes shootout saved
TB: Vaclav Prospal shootout saved
B: Petr Tenkrat shootout saved
TB: Dmitry Afanasenkov shootout saved
B: Phil Kessel shootout goal
TB: Ruslan Fedotenko shootout saved


The rally caps worked again! Thomas saved 7 shots, and the rookie Phil Kessel scored the only shootout goal.

Also, Paul Mara skated a little bit this morning. He is going to make the trip to Carolina and Montreal and will be a game time decision.