Bruins Nation

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.)