Bruins Nation

The funny thing is, if you were to look at only parts of the boxscore, you would think that the Bruins were crushed by Toronto. Toronto took 44 shots, whereas the Bruins took only 21. Toronto had 38 face-off wins whereas the Bruins only had 25. Toronto had only three players playing under 10 minutes whereas the Bruins had five (This implies that Toronto was able to spread out ice time more, instead of only having their top skaters in the game), and Toronto killed all five Bruins power plays (Eigth best in the NHL). However the only statistic that matters is goals scored, and the Bruins won that category 3-0.

Last night's game, unlike our previous couple, was a show put on by players who have not been the Bruins' superstars. Axelsson, Chistov, and York were the three goal-scorers. However the big story was the amazing play of Tim Thomas. Playing on zero days rest, he stopped all 44 Maple Leaf's shots and earned himself the NHL first star of the day. (The link will only be good for about a day. Then the next day's three stars will be shown)

In the first period, the Bruins scored early when Chistov's attempt to score led to a Marc Savard rebound. His rebound shot though left the puck stranded in front of the goal, Chistov was then able to put the puck in the net from there and the Bruins took the lead. In the second period, while Ference was serving time for hooking, PJ Axelsson got the puck in the Bruins zone and skated all the way down the ice. He scored by means of a nice slap shot and the bruins were up 2-0 off of a shorthanded goal. The last goal of the game came three minutes later when Jason York's drive from the point went past Andrew Raycroft.

So lets recap, Chistov scored his first goal in over a month, Axelsson scored shorthanded, and Jason York scored his first goal in over two seasons. Tim Thomas said it perfectly when he said, "We needed people to step up and make a difference...And that is exactly what you saw."

The Bruins next two are Friday in Tampa Bay, and Saturday in Sunrise, Florida. The lightning and the Panthers better be worried about the Boston Bruins.