Bruins Nation

The Providence Bruins yesterday advanced to the second round of the AHL playoffs with a 5-4 win over the Hartford Wolf Pack in Hartford. The Bruins entered Hartford on Saturday needing two wins in two days to advance, and they got it. Last night featured exceptional play by Ben Walter (3 goals) and Hannu Toivonen (40 saves). Overall, the MVP of the series for the PBruins would have to be David Krejci, who is currently tied for third in the AHL with 9 points in the postseason.

In the NHL playoffs yesterday, the Rangers beat the Sabres 2-1 in double overtime. The two captains, Jagr and Briere both had goals in regulation. Briere's was a great power play goal late in the third to tie the game, but the Rangers managed to get one by Miller in double overtime to win. The night game last night was a 3-2 win by the Anaheim Ducks over the Vancouver Canucks. (Just in case one was wondering, Ana leads Van 2-1, and Buf leads Nyr 2-1.)

The big game yesterday though was a 7-4 win by the Boston Red Sox over the New York Yankees. The Red Sox have now won 5 of the first 6 games against the evil empire. Yesterday's win was because of the great job by pitcher Hideki Okajima, and second basemen Alex Cora. Ramirez also contrabuted with a homerun to basically clinch the game for the Sox.

The PBruins are still alive. After defeating the Hartford Wolf Pack 5-2 in Hartford, the Providence Bruins will go all-out in this game 7 do-or-die situation. Last night, Matt Karsums scored twice. Zinger, Rose, and TJ Trevelyan also added ones of thier own. Among others, David Krejci and Jeff Hoggan both has assists. Petr Kalus also got into a fight in the second period. You can listen to tonight's game 7 showdown via the Providence Bruins radio network by clicking here.

Also yesterday, the New Jersey Devils evened their series with the Senators with a 3-2 double overtime win, and the Detroit Red Wings evened their series with the San Jose Sharks via a 3-2 win as well. Today's games are Buffalo at New York (Buf leads series 2-0) at 2:00 on NBC, and Anaheim at Vancouver (tied 1-1) at 8:00 on Versus.

The Red Sox have now won the first four games of the season against the Yankees, inlcuding Friday night's game in the Bronx. The Sox won 11-4. Julio Lugo and Kevin Youkilis both homered, and every other player in the lineup got a hit except for J.D. Drew. Dice-K Matsuzaka won the game, pitching six innings allowing four runs. Andy Pettite got the loss after the Red Sox scored five runs on him. Matsuzaka had 7 strikeouts. Timlin, Okajima, and Pineiro also each pitched one inning, all of them recording one strikeout. Through the first three innings, this game looked to be a pitcher's duel. Pettite and Dice-K were playing great. A mistake gave Youkilis a 2-run home run in the third to give the Sox the lead. After that though, both teams started scoring. What was once a pitching duel became a hitting clinic, with the Red Sox sluggers as instructors. It's always nice seeing the Red Sox beat the Yankees.

Also earlier today, the Buffalo Sabres defeated the Rangers 3-2. Buffalo won the game because of some very good third period play. As always, Ryan Miller is amazing. As of midnight, the Canucks and Ducks are tied at 1-1.Update Saturday 9:09: The Canucks beat the Ducks 2-1 in double overtime! Roberto Luongo was great, making 43 saves. Giguere, teh Ducks goalie also played very well, making 47 saves. Jeff Cowan got the winning goal.

Game one of each of the conference Semi-finals has been completed. No upsets on Wednesday, but two on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Buffalo beat the Rangers in Buffalo 5-2. The game was really 4-1 but both teams traded goals in the last minute of play. Buffalo, especially in the second period, looked like a much stronger team than New York. The other game on Wednesday was a beating by the Anaheim Ducks of the Vancouver Canucks 5-1.

On Thursday, the Ottawa Senators pulled off an upset over the New Jersey Devils 5-4. New Jersey played a good solid game in the second and third period, but 4 Senators goals in the first period gave them the win. The other game of the evening was a quick one. The San Jose Sharks, with two goals early in the first period, defeated the Detroit Red Wings 2-0.

Tuesday night, the Providence Bruins evened up their playoff series with the Hartford Wolf Pack with a 5-1 win. Known players to the big B's that made a difference in the game include Jeff Hoggan who had a goal and an assist, Ben Walter who had a goal and an assist, Petr Kalus who had a goal, and David Krejci who had an assist. Also Hannu Toivonen played the entire game giving up only one goal. The two teams meet again tonight in Providence.

Also Peter Chiarelli announced today that the Boston Bruins have signed Hannu Toivonen to a one year $532,000 deal. This is good that we have him, but also this means he is easily tradeable. With Thomas, Macdonald, and Tuuka Rask coming, we don't really need Toivonen.

Update 10:00: Hartford 1, Providence 0. It looks like the PBruins will have to win two games in Hartford to stay in contention for the Calder Cup.

NHL news: The Rangers, Senators, Sabres, Devils, Sharks, Red Wings, Canucks, and Ducks all advanced to the conference semi-finals. I'm still frequently updating my NHL playoffs page.

The Red Sox did everyone proud over the weekend by beating up on the Yankees. An 8th inning comeback Friday night, good pitching Saturday, and five home runs Sunday gave the Red Sox the three game sweep at Fenway. The two teams meet in the Bronx Friday night.

Also the Providence Bruins are looking to even the series tonight in Providence. The Hartford Wolf Pack took game three pretty easily after game two went to Providence. David Krejci has clearly been the Bruins MVP during the series, though some guy named Sean Bentivoglio is doing a hell of a job as well.

Some official game reading can be found here.

I listened on the radio to the beginning of the third period. While I was listening, the Wolf Pack went up 4-1, then 5-1, and then i turned off the radio. Hannu Toivonen gave up all five goals before being replaced by Jordan Sigalet. Sean Bentivoglio scored the only goal for the Providence Bruins. The goal came on the Power Play in the first period from David Krejci, and Pascal Pelletier. The Main theme of the article is that the Providence Bruins came out flat and played poorly. One interesting fact though is that the attendance in Hartford was an embarrassing 2,109.

Also, on my NHL playoff bracket page, I am updating on the bottom what is happening in the playoffs. (I.E. NYR sweep Thrashers 4-0)

Today is Stanislav Chistov's 24th birthday.


(Image from TSN.ca)

The only reason I know it is Chistov's birthday is because April 17 is also my Birthday.

Here is the Team USA roster for the World Championships.

Notable players are Bruins forwards Phil Kessel and Brandon Bochenski, Bruins defenseman Andrew Alberts, and Boston College goalie Cory Schneider.

Also former Bruins coach Mike Sullivan is the team's head coach. Andrew Alberts is the only player on the team to have played with him last year on the Bruins.

Sorry about the inconsistency of posts recently. Anyway here is a very short recap of each playoff series so far.

Sabres-Islanders: (Tied 1-1)
Who knew how important Rick Dipietro is? In game one, Drury and Campbell crushed a Dipietro-less Islanders team 4-1. However in game two, with Dipietro, the Islanders took it to the Sabres and won 3-2.

Devils-Lightning: (Tied 1-1)
Zach Parise and Vincent Lecavalier each have three goals for their respective teams. New Jersey won the first one 5-3, Tampa won the second 3-2. Brodeur's been solid though, New Jersey should have this series easily.

Thrashers-Rangers: (NYR 2-0)
The Rangers just are a better team then the Thrashers, and they're proving it. The Rangers won the first won 4-3, just outplaying Atlanta in Atlanta. The second game was more interesting, New York's first goal in a 2-1 win was off of the luckiest bounce from a dump in going into a vacated net.

Senators-Penguins: (Tied 1-1)
The Senators crushed the Penguins in Game one 6-3. That's home ice for you. The Penguins had a great comeback win in game two, to win 4-3. The Penguins had 3 third period goals, with Sidney Crosby netting the game-winner.

Ducks-Wild: (Ana 2-0)
The Ducks won the first two 2-1 and 3-2 respectively. Game one was a nice comeback win with a late third period goal giving the Ducks the victory.

Canucks-Stars: (Tied 1-1)
This series has been amazing thus far. Game one went into four overtimes before a winner was decided. Roberto Luongo was incredible for Vancouver, making 72 saves. Late in the fourth OT, Henrik Sedin scored from his brother Daniel to give the Canucks a 5-4 win. In game two, Dallas won by scoring in the first minute of each of the first two periods to win 2-0.

Predators-Sharks: (Tied 1-1)
Game one went into double overtime before the San Jose Sharks finally won 5-4. Game two was dominated by Nashville, however a very cheap hit from behind by Radulov got him suspended for game 3. Even though the Predators won game two 5-2, game three in my opinion is anyone's game.

Red Wings-Flames: (Det 2-0)
The Red Wings crushed the Flames 4-1 in game one. Game two has not been played yet. It is Sunday at 1:00 on NBC. Update: The Red Wings scored twice in the first four minutes, and eventually won the game 3-1. Miikka Kiprusoff and Dominik Hasek both played great in net.

You can find the playoff schedule here, along with links to each official NHL game summary.

Check out my bracket here.

I have the Sabres winning it all. My big upset is Nashville winning the Campbell Trophy. I really do think Nashville is the best team in the Western Conference.

Also, good luck to the Providence Bruins in the AHL playoffs. Peter Chiarelli just assigned Petr Kalus, Jeff Hoggan, and Nate Thompson to Providence.

The Three Stars of the Boston Bruins as selected by the President of Bruins Nation are:

1. Marc Savard
2. Patrice Bergeron
3. Tim Thomas

1. Marc Savard: Savard led the team in points (96, 9th in the league) and Assists (74, 3rd in the league). Even though he slipped a little when linemates Axelsson and Murray got injured, he was still the most valuable forward on the team. However, the one stat that jumped out at me was that he is the Only Bruin to play in all 82 games!

2. Patrice Bergeron: Bergeron was second on the team in points and assists (Behind Savard), he was also by far the most consistent player on the team. He played in 77 games and was almost a point per game center. Bergeron always led the plays that got goals for Bochenski, Sturm, and Brad Boyes when he was with us. Bergeron also led the team in Power Play goals with 14.

3. Tim Thomas: The 7th player award winner was the guy who was in net for 30 of the Bruins 35 wins. One fo the best in the shootout and in clutch situations, Thomas kept the Bruins in games that they had no business being in. Most fans, including myself, thought that this would be Toivonen's team, but Thomas proved all of us wrong. Thomas played in 65 games and recorded 1,796 saves.

Honorable Mention
Zdeno Chara: Chara, who played in 80 games averaged 27:57 minutes per game (1st in NHL). The captain of the Boston Bruins played in a total of 2,237:19 minutes during the 06-07 season (1st in NHL). Chara was the man the Bruins counted on night in and night out to stop the opposing teams number one forwards.

Hopefully next season will be better.

The player of the week is Petr Kalus for the second straight week.

In the last week (a little over a week actually), the Bruins went 0-5-0, finishing off the season on a 6 game losing streak. One player did play well though, he was Petr Kalus. Kalus in the past week recorded three goals and one assist, making him the player of the week. Hannu Toivonen also played well, however he only palyed in two games. Patrice Bergeron had a good week also, but not on the level of Kalus.

Not exactly how Dave Lewis, Peter Chiarelli, and the rest of the Bruins wanted this season to end. But this miserable season had to come to an end at some point. In the season finale, the Bruins were competitive in the first period, but a much stronger and more talented Ottawa team beat a demoralized Bruins team pretty badly in the second and third period.

The Bruins started off the game very well. Under a minute and half into the game, A great effort by Patrice Bergeron led him to get the puck deep in the Senators zone. He then passed the puck across the ice to Sturm who tipped the puck home, giving the Bruins the early lead. Two minutes later though, Tim Thomas left the net to play the puck near the nuetral zone. Timmy didn't get enough of the puck though and the Senators basically scored an empty net goal to tie the game. Two minutes after that, Marc Savard in the nuetral zone found Shean Donovan in the offensive zone. His shot was saved but a long rebound went right to Petr Kalus who shot the puck into the back of the net. That lead was very short-lived as under a minute later, a high drive by Ottawa was tipped into the goal, and the period ended tied 2-2.

The second period was all Senators though. Dany Heatley scored his 50 th of the year, and a long drive by Schubert put the Senators up 4-2 to end the second period. The Bruins started ot comeback in the third. On the Power Play, Patrice Bergeron originally intended a pass for Bochenski right in front of the goal, but the pass ended up going through to Petr Tenkrat who easily scored, putting the Bruins within one. A 5 on 3 goal by Ottawa, and an amazing backhanded goal by Eaves gave Ottawa the insurmountable 6-3 lead, clinching Ottawa home ice in their playoff battle with Pittsburgh.

On a lighter note, last night ended the season for many teams, including Montreal!!! Toronto pulled off an amazing comeback win over the Habs to eliminate them from the playoffs. If NYI wins today, then NYI will have the 8th seed, if NYI loses then Toronto will have the 8th seed.

Update 6:24PM:
The New York Islanders beat the New Jersey Devils in a shootout. NYI clinches the playoffs, the Toronto Maple Leafs are eliminated!

Two years in a row Boston College has gone to the NCAA championship game, and two years in a row they have lost after an intense last minute of play. Last night BC dominated the first 48 minutes of play, but BC let the last half of the third period slip away.

All three periods were intense, there was no lack of passion in this championship game. The first goal came with 13:10 left in the second period, when a wrist shot by Brock Bradford went by Jeff Lerg to give BC the early lead. Bradford only had the puck though because of a failed clear attempt. A lot of roughhousing and penalty filled hockey played out the rest of the period and the beginning of the third period. Then with 10:07 left in the third period, a loose puck from a faceoff led to an open shot getting by Cory Schneider, and the game was tied.

Extremely intense hockey ensued, with both goaltenders saving their teams on more than one occasion. Then with around thirty seconds left, BC had a 4 on 2 opportunity in the MSU zone. MSU managed to get the puck though and go on a 3 on 1 man advantage in the BC zone. With 18.9 seconds left in the game, Abdelkader of MSU (The state of Michigan's new hero) managed to lift the puck over Schneider and into the net, giving MSU the lead. BC tried to attack the net but an empty net goal with 1.7 seconds left sealed the deal. Michigan State University was crowned NCAA champions.

Update 9:06PM:
Senators 5, Bruins 3 in the third period.

BC 1, Michigan State 0 in the third period.

Update 8:15PM:
Senators 3, Bruins 2 in the second period.

BC 1, Michigan State 0 in the second period.

The Bruins lines for the final game of the season are:
Sturm-Bergeron-Chistov
Kalus-Savard-Donovan
Tenkrat-Kessel-Bochenski
Reich-Thompson-Hoggan

Chara-Ward
Alberts-Wideman
York-Allen

Thomas

Actual Post:
The Boston Bruins play their final game of the season tonight at the TD Banknorth garden against the Ottawa Senators. The game is at 7:00 PM. It is not on NESN, there is a Red Sox game. The game will be on an alternate channel (CN8 if you have comcast). It's amazing how many people watch Red Sox games on TV now. Five or Six years ago, Bruins ratings were better than Red Sox ratings and NESN would show Burins games over Sox games. Not the case anymore.

Anyway, it's the last game of the season, game 82. Tim Thomas will start in net, as he should. 20 lucky fans will be taking home 20 sweaty jerseys after the game. I hope some little kid wins Chara's massive jersey. I also hope the Bruins put on a good show for the Bruins fans who have been with them through this pretty bad season. A shootout win, or a blowout would be nice. It would be terrible if Ottawa wins this game.

Another team ending their season today is Boston College. They however are not playing for nothing, but are playing in the NCAA championship game against Michigan State. Star goalie Cory Schneider, along with all-american Brian Boyle will lead BC to their second straight championship game appearence. Hopefully this year they will come out on top. This game is on ESPN.

Michigan State Spartans 4, Maine Black Bears 2:

This one was just like the Bruins game in Buffalo (The post under this one). Maine came out to an early lead, scoring two early goals on a very nervous Jeff Lerg. Lerg is an exceptional goalie, he then settled down and played great the rest of the way for Michigan State. So after Maine came out to the early lead, just like in the Bruins game, the Spartans scored four unanswered goals on the Black Bears. Though I have no idea whether this affected him or not, Maine coach Tim Whitehead's mother-in-law was killed right before the game. Whitehead was told about this prior to his team taking the ice. The hearts and prayers of Bruins Nation go out to Tim and his family.

Boston College Eagles 6, North Dakota Fighting Sioux 4:

What an ending, that's all I can say. With under five minutes, UND scored short-handed to tie the game up at 3-3. Nathan Gerbe around thirty seconds later then gave BC the lead. Joe Rooney, another BC winger, gave the Eagles a 5-3 lead when he scored an empty net goal with about a minute left. North Dakota managed to score on Cory Schneider though with 17 seconds left to put them within one. Nathan Gerbe though scored again, this time an empty net goal, to put the game away and to send the BC Eagles to the championship game.

So Boston College will face Michigan State University in the championship game Saturday night in St. Louis. The game is at 7:00 PM. I'll be switching back and forth from the Bruins game to this game.

The penultimate did not go as planned. The Bruins played great for the first half of the first period, but then the extremely talented Buffalo Sabres team managed to score four unanswered goals against a weak and tired Boston Bruins team. Mark Mowers apparently did something to himself during warmups becuase he didn't play, and Dave Lewis had to switch around the lines. The main story was the great play of Thomas Vanek and Ryan Miller. Hannu Toivonen had a good game again but he had such a weak defense in front of him that it didn't even matter. Vanek on the other hand had two goals, while Ryan Miller was absolutely amazing. Stopping 20 of 22 shots, half of them great shots by the Bruins offense. The Bruins had decent offense, and played great on transition, the defense was just awful though.

Four minutes into the game, Phil Kessel's shot was saved, but Andrew Ference came to the rescue by putting the rebound over Miller and into the net. A little later Brandon Bochenski blew an amazing breakaway opportunity. Then with six minutes left in the first, Patrice Bergeron's power play shot went in and out very quickly. After being reviewed, it was counted as a goal and the Bruins had a 2-0 lead over the number one team in the east. 21 seconds later, Kotalik made a great move and scored, cutting the lead in half. Then a few minutes later, Thomas Vanek got a rebound from behind the net and managed to sneak the puck in through the side of the net.

In the third period, Thomas Vanek untied the score by shooting the puck between Toivonen's legs. Then ten minutes later on a Sabres power play, great Buffalo passing in the Bruins zone led to a wide open shot into a wide open net. The defense looked tired, they were barely moving. So now the Bruins only have one more game that they can win.

Hannu TOivonen has played well with the Bruins. He was just shipped to Providence to play with them as they play in the AHL playoffs (Calder Cup I believe). I expect Petr Kalus and Jeff Hoggan will do the same. (Jeremy Reich, Brandon Bochenski, and Bobby Allen may still be eligible. I'm not sure what the specific rules are.)

Update 11:30 PM: Sabres 4, Bruins 2 Final.

BC 6, North Dakota 4 Final.

Some other notable NHL final scores are Rangers 3, Canadiens 1; and Islanders 5 Maple Leafs 2.

I'm done for the night, I'll summarize tonight's game and the NCAA semifinals tomorrow. Tonight was a fun full night of hockey.

Update 9:00 PM: Sabres 3, Bruins 2 in the third period (Damn Vanek went between Toivonen's legs)

BC 1, North Dakota 1 end of first period.

Update 8:00 PM: Bruins 2, Sabres 2 end of first period.

Michigan State 4, Maine 2 final

Update 5:45 PM: Maine 2, Michigan State 2 after the end of the second period.


The big games today are the two frozen four games. Maine and Michigan State are currently playing. Maine is up 2-1 in the second period. BC plays mini-rival North Dakota later tonight at 8:00.

Tonight the Bruins also play their last road game of the season tonight at 7:00. Hannu Toivonen will start in goal against the Buffalo Sabres. The lines will probably look relatively similar to Tuesday's game in Montreal.

Another NHL game tonight is the New York Rangers against the Montreal Canadiens. NYR is in 7th place, and the Habs are in 8th place in the east. We know one of them has to lose, lets hope it's the Canadiens.

Also in Red Sox news, the Red Sox beat the Royals today 4-1. The main story though is Dice-K Matsuzaka, the 100 million dollar man, struck out ten batters in his first career start for the Boston Red Sox.

Go Eagles, Go Bruins, Go blackbears, and Go Rangers! (Wow I never want to write that again)

Nice job Matt Lashoff, Chris "Muggsy" Aldrich, and Colton Orr.

First, congratulations to Matt Lashoff for making the AHL all rookie team. He was great with the Boston Bruins, so I am sure that he was great with the Providence Bruins. The P Bruins this year have produced a lot of good defensemen. They have had at some point this season Bobby Allen, Mark Stuart, Matt Lashoff, Jonathan Sigalet, and Nathan Dempsey.

Second, congrats to Bruins equipment manager Chris Aldrich and his wife Sue on the arrival of their first child.

Last but not least, former Bruin and now Ranger tough guy Colton Orr deserves a pat on the back for this KO: (It is a little gruesome, so be warned)

Last night featured a pretty good game. Both teams came out and played with great effort. The Canadiens just played better hockey. It's hard to explain. Even though the Bruins were trying probably harder than the Habs, the Canadiens still skated faster and crisper. Their passing was more accurate and their shots were better placed. Their defense covered better and their offense executed plays better. I hate to say it, but the Habs beat us in just about every part of the game. Hannu Toivonen played great, and kept the Bruins in it the entire time, but undisciplined hockey led to a lot of Montreal power plays, which ended up being the Bruins downfall. Jiroslav Halak also had himself a great game, him and Saku Koivu carried the Habs to a win over the Bruins, and now they are that much closer to closing in on the final playoff spot.

According to me, there were three highlights in the game. In the first period, Koivu on the power play, walked in and completely faked out Toivonen to give the Canadiens a 1-o lead. At the end of the second period, Dennis Wideman and Guillaume Latendresse had a fantastic fight. Latendresse had the early lead, and even had Wideman's jersey over his head. Wideman came back though, got his jersey off his head, and then started punching Latendresse until the linesman had to eventually break it up. Here's a link to the fight. Then later in the third period Koivu put the Canadiens up by two and the Habs won.

The Canadiens are winning the season series 4-3. That is a disgrace. The Canadiens aren't allowed to win the series. Tonight the Bruins need to win, and finish off the series with each team winning four games. Tonight, the Bell Centre in Montreal will be completely sold out, and I want the Bruins to send each and every one of those Habs fans home disappointed.

Fluto Shinzawa at the Boston Globe Bruins blog has a great pre-game post. A paraphrased version of what it says goes as followed. Hannu Toivonen will start in goal. Andrew Ference will play, he didn't play Sunday due to injury but he is apparently healthy for tonight. Halak is starting for Montreal tonight, even though Huet is back from injury.

The lines should look like this:

Sturm-Savard-Bergeron
Tenkrat-Kessel-Bochenski
Kalus-Mowers-Donovan
Reich-Chistov-Hoggan

Chara-Ward
Alberts-Ference
Allen-Wideman

Toivonen

Just going through the motions. That is what the Bruins are doing. There was barely any attempt to score goals, and there was very little done to help out Tim Thomas. Timmy may be a little rusty, but no defense and no offense isn't helping him. The Bruins are basically leaving Thomas and Macdonald out to dry.

Sunday in New Jersey, the Bruins had only 18 shots. They came out of the locker room playing poor hockey. They didn't play as a team at all. There was no team chemistry! I'm no coach, but it looked like there was no strategy. The Bruins didn't play with their brains.

Two minutes into the first period, Jay Pandolfo shot a one timer underneath Tim Thomas. The Bruins did manage to tie up the game in the second period when Petr Kalus scored his third career NHL goal. Petr Kalus has three goals on three shots in his NHL career. From in front of my TV, it looks like Kalus is the only Bruin who is trying. Brian Gianta scored a goal a few minutes after Kalus's goal, then Jay Pandolfo scored again in the third period and the Devils won 3-1.

Hopefully the Bruins will bring more to Montreal. I want a win over the Canadiens. Montreal needs a win to help their playoff chances, I want the Bruins to stop the Canadiens playoff chances!

My Three Stars of yesterday's game go as follows:

3rd Star: Jeremy Reich. Here's why...


2nd Star: Jeff Hoggan. Here's why...


1st Star: Petr Kalus. He scored the game tying goal with under five minutes left in the game. It was his 2nd career NHL goal, and it was against a Thrasher team that has shut down the Bruins all season long.

It's amazing how the Providence Bruins, for the second straight year, are doing so well, meanwhile the Boston Bruins, for the second straight year, are doing so poorly.

The Bruins played with a lot of positive energy, they clearly wanted to win, but sometimes the puck just doesn't go your way. One huge highlight was Joey Macdonald and the penalty kill. The Bruins killed seven Thrasher penalties. What really hurt us was the two times of the game when you have to play the hardest. The beginning and the end.

24 seconds into the game, Ilya Kovalchuk netted his 39th of the season, giving the Thrashers a very early 1-0 lead. Nothing else really happened in the first period.

The second period was a much different story. Jeremy Reich got things started when he fought, and won of course, a fight against some Atlanta forward. Several minutes later Greg De Vries though managed to get won by Macdonald to give the Thrashers a two goal lead. Right after the goal, Jeff Hoggan fought and won, sparking the Bruins to finally wake up. It paid off with a couple great power plays that ultiamtely led to a goal. The goal came late in the period when Zdeno Chara's drive hit off the stick of Marco Sturm, redirecting it into the goal.

In the third period, Marc Savard's great play behind the net led to him having the puck and passing to a wide open Petr Kalus in front of the net. Kalus sent the puck in to score his 2nd career NHL goal and tie the game at 2. A very crappy turn of events though gave Keith Tkachuck a tip-in goal with 18 seconds left in the game to win it for the Thrashers. Then ending was very unlucky and depressing.

The Bruins have a chance to make up for this one today at 3:30 in New Jersey.

One Last Note: It seems that yesterday was a terrible day to be a Bruin or a Bruins fan. Not only did the Boston Bruins lose a heartbreaker, but the UCLA Bruins lost in the final four to Florida 76-66. It seems in hockey and in College basketabll, the Florida teams have crushed the Bruins.