Bruins Nation

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.