The festivities began just 2:17 into the game when Milan Lucic said "its go time" to Nick Tarnasky. Lucic pounded Tarnasky into the ice to a standing ovation. This fired up the Bruins fourth line as 3:48 into the game, Andrew Ference fired on net and the puck went off Peter Schaefer's stick and in for Peter's first goal of the season.
5:37 into the period, Patrice Bergeron walked in alone but his shot was saved by Johan Holmqvist. With 8:51 remaining Zdeno Chara's big blast was....saved by Holmqvist. With 7:32 remaining, Glen Murray was backed for holding to put Tampa on the power play. The Bruins defense held and with 2:28 left, it was time for Shawn Thornton and Andre Roy to throw down. Nobody a landed a punch, Thornton just fell on top of him. With 10 seconds left in the period, Bergeron won the draw back to Ference. Andrew passed it to Marco Sturm for the one timer....SCOREEEEEEE. Sturm's shot made it 2-0 Boston as the first period ended.
The Lightning wasted no time getting one back in the second period. Mike Lundin's slapshot was deflected by Thomas....right to Brad Richards who scored to cut the lead in half. Disaster struck again as David Krejci was nabbed for holding just 3:28 into the period but the Bruins killed off the power play. 12 minutes into the period, Vincent Lecavalier's drive went over everything. 30 seconds later, Chuck Kobasew had a breakaway but Holmqvist denied the attempt. With 4 minutes left in the period, Lucic was robbed by Holmqvist which might have iced the game. The period ended with the Bruins still holding a narrow 2-1 lead.
The Bruins looked to have iced the game 10 minutes into the third period when Kobasew took the puck into the Bruins zone. He left for Marc Savard who saw Marc Stuart wide open. Stuart's slapshot went through and the Bruins were up 3-1 on Mark's first of the season. With just over four minutes remaining, Murray passed the puck up to Bergeron. Bergeron found Sturm streaking to the net, who scored to make it 4-1. The lead held and the Bruins had won the game. Thomas was awesome, stopping 35 of 36 shots.
Reaction:
Good win by the Bruins and it was definitely a tale of more than meets the eye. The Bruins cashed in with four goals but the key to the game was Thomas stopping 35 shots. The Bruins defense looked like they were stuck in quicksand at times against the team four years removed from the Stanley Cup. Still, Thomas stood on his head and made some big saves when needed. Nothing was truly spectacular but they didn't need to be. Good to see Schaefer and Stuart get their first of the season and Sturm got two of them in this one. Bergeron and Savard anchoring the first two lines are going to be deadly this season and if the defense holds up, this could be a fun team to watch this season. Lucic immediately dropping Tarnasky set the tone and even the old pros Thornton and Roy understood the assignment. Its about time the Bruins return to the "big bad" portion of their identity and Lucic & Thornton definitely help. The Bruins now travel to New York to take on the Rangers this Saturday night. The game begins at 7:00 PM at Madison Square Garden.
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