Bruins Nation

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!