Marion Hossa took advantage of a broken stick to fire on Tim Thomas just 37 seconds into the game. Brooks Orpik turned the puck over but Marc Savard's shot went wide. Shane Hnidy blasted one on Conklin 2:34 in to the period but was denied. Evgeni Malkin skated through the Bruins but his wraparound bid was denied by Thomas 3:08 into the period. Jeremy Reich's blast was saved by Conklin and Jordan Staal was blocked by Thomas 4:13 into the period. Jeff Taffe had a wide open breakaway denied by Thomas 5:05 into the game but Glen Murray was robbed by Conklin just over a minute later. Milan Lucic cleaned out old friend Sergei Gonchar against the boards and Phil Kessel skated past Sergei, firing on net. Conklin made the save and then made another big save on Zdeno Chara. Thomas then had to stop a one timer by Gonchar from the point but then the Bruins struck. Glen Metropolit passed it up to Chuck Kobasew who fired it on net, tipped in by Marco Sturm to put Boston on top.
Bruins go up by 1
Almost immediately after, Lucic set up Kessel for a one timer but it was denied by Conklin. Pascal Dupuis had a partial breakaway but he fanned on it with just over 8 minutes left. Aaron Ward gathered the puck and sent it to Metropolit. He passed it to Sturm who crossed the blue line and fired a routine slapshot....SCOREEEEEEE. The puck went through Conklin and in for Marco's 22nd of the season to put the Bruins up 2-0. The Bruins then got the first powerplay when cement head Georges Laraque hooked PJ Axelsson with 6:47 left in the period. Dennis Wideman fired on net from the point but it was saved by Conklin. Ward tried his luck but the puck went off old friend Hal Gil and out of play. With time expiring in the penalty, Kessel shot point black past Conklin....off the post. Kobasew tried to catch Conklin asleep with a wrist shot out of nowhere as the Penguins broadcast said that Conklin looked shaky. Malkin then skated in and fired, but Thomas made the save with 3:30 left. Marc Savard then cost Glen Murray a wide open breakaway when he slashed Malkin in the arm with 3:03 left in the period. Malkin crashed into the net to stop play twenty seconds after the power play began. Sturm then made a good defensive play with 10 seconds left in the penalty to knock the puck out of the zone. Kessel tried to feed Kobasew for a one timer but the puck was deflected away with 45 seconds left. Thomas robbed Dupuis and then Gonchar with 15 seconds left in the period. That was it for the period and the Bruins went into the break up 2-0.
The second period began with the Bruins swarming the net with Pittsburgh barely getting the puck out. Sturm tried to feed Kobasew but the shot went wide with just under a minute gone. Lucic then dropped Dupuis against the boards before Marc Savard eventually gathered the puck. He dished it over to Wideman who found Chara at the point 2:21 into it. Slapshot SCORE! That was Chara's 15th goal of the season and Penguins coach Michel Therrien yanked Conklin in favor of Marc Andre-Fleury who hadn't played since December 6th. It was 3-0 Boston.
Big Z leads the charge.
The Bruins wasted no time getting back in the zone but Vladimir Sobotka's shot went wide. Malkin down the other end fired on Thomas but the shot was denied. Taffe fired on net but got too close to Thomas, causing Wideman telling him to scram. Old pal Hal Gill was wide open at the point with 7 minutes gone in the period but naturally he shot it a mile wide. A few moments later Chara found a streaking Murray going to the net, but his backhand shot was no good. Lucic's shot with 9 minutes gone was no good and Thomas robbed Gonchar moments later. Marion Hossa's shot also went wide with 9:30 gone then hobbled to the dressing room after colliding with Axelsson. but Zdeno Chara got bagged for hooking Malkin. The Bruins survived a few seconds with the extra attacker before Big Z sat in the box 10:12 into it. The Bruins tied the pick up in the corner for 20 seconds before Metropolit fired it down the ice. The Penguins failed to gain the zone for another 30 seconds before they began circling. Thomas made a lunging save to rob Sykora with 44 seconds left on the power play. Thomas then made an unbelievable diving save to rob Sykora again as the penalty expired. Chara was denied a breakaway by Ryan Whitney but got called for hooking in the process to put Boston on the power play. Wideman's slap shot was denied by Fleury with 6:41 left in the period and Kessel lost it down the ice. Krejci's cross ice pass to Lucic missed and the puck was fired down the ice with 20 seconds left in the power play. Lucic missed the net as the penalty expired as the Bruins only had one shot. Finally, Stuart blocked a Stahl shot that trickled down the ice. Savard hustled to collect the puck only to get crushed by Letang. Shawn Thornton fired the puck on net and Axelsson banged in the rebound for his 12th goal of the season with 3:59 left in the period, putting Boston up 4-0.
The rout was on
All Bruins so far
Laraque tried his luck on Thomas but was denied as Talbot crashed into Ruutu. Shane Hnidy stole the puck but his slapshot went out of play. Gonchar's shot with 2:40 remaining. Ference's slapshot went off the glove of Fleury but he covered up before a scrum developed. Not a real good idea to provoke Ference and Hnidy. Thornton's shot with 1:25 left went wide as announcers said Hossa hasn't returned yet. That was it for the second period with the Bruins leading 4-0.
The 3rd period began with an update that Hossa sprained his MCL and would not return tonight. As the Garden blasted Cum On Feel The Noize by Quiet Riot, Michel Therrien looked sad. 3 minutes into the period, Sobotka blocked back to back shots that had him hopping around. Four minutes into the period, Sturm looked for the hat trick but Fleury saved the shot. Kessel was nearly tripped by Gil to deny him of a breakaway five minutes into the period then Ference got hooked by Malkin to put the Bruins on the power play. Pittsburgh announcers complained it wasn't a hook but admitted it should have been a trip on Gil. Sturm shot wide 27 seconds into the power play and Fleury made a nice save on a Wideman slap shot. Wideman skated into the zone and right back out to waste valuable time then couldn't get anything going after. After the penalty was over, Kessel shot over everything into the crowd. The Bruins iced the puck with 11:04 left in the game but got it out of the zone. Sturm tried a slapshot for his third goal but Fleury saved it. Halfway through the period, Talbot boarded Wideman and Chara would have none of it. Chara swiped at Talbot for matching penalties, Chara for roughing and Talbot for boarding. Apparently Wideman got two minutes for retaliating because Pittsburgh got a power play out of it. After Thomas made a save, Malone and Hnidy started jabbing at each other. Metropolit streaked down the ice with 8:18 left but his shot went wide. The Penguins couldn't get anything going as the Bruins killed it off as Jeremy Reich dropped Gonchar. Then the Penguins struck with 6:57 left to break up the shut-out. Tyler Kennedy drew Ference out of position which gave Taffe time to find a streaking Pascal Dupuis to bury the one timer.
Thornton damn near put it in from the side wall with 6:27 left then the Bruins started playing keep away. Malkin was absolutely robbed by Thomas twice with 4:47 left and another brouhaha took place in front of the net. When all was said and done, Malone and Ward were both hit with roughing penalties. Malkin managed to deke into the slot but his backhand attempt went wide. Murray was open in the slot with 3 minutes left but passed it to Wideman who's shot went nowhere. After the 4 on 4 ended, Jarkko Ruutu took a cheap shot at Lucic and Milan said ''its go time.'' Lucic and Ruutu both threw shots but Lucic seemed to have the upper hand. After their philosophical discussion, Lucic and Ruutu got matching fighting penalties but Jarkko got 2 minutes for roughing for the love tap. The Bruins didn't wait around on the power play as 17 seconds later, Kobasew dished back to Marc Stuart for the one timer.....GOALLLL! Not so fast! Turns out it was tipped by Krejci so he was credited with his second goal of the season to make it 5-1.
Number 2 for Krejci
The only drama left was when Sturm knocked Fleury backwards on a slapshot attempt with 1:48 left in the game. Malkin then got bagged for tripping to put the Bruins on the power play for the rest of the game. The Bruins put the fourth line out for the final minute to make sure the Penguins didn't do anything funny. Luckily nothing else happened and that was the final score. The Bruins had won the game 5-1.
Bruins win
Reaction:
The Penguins are without Sidney Crosby but that was a straight demolition by the Bruins. Thomas has responded since getting yanked in the Florida Panthers game with 1 goal in two games. The Bruins are going to need him to stand on his head if they hope to make the playoffs with 19 games remaining. Hats off to Marco Sturm for 200 career goals and Marc Savard for 400 career assists. If you told me that when Patrice Bergeron went down the kids would step up, I would have laughed at you. Now guys like Lucic, Sobotka and Krejci are gelling and Thomas has been a rock with Manny Fernandez out. Thomas stopped 27 of 28 shots and its too bad he didn't get back to back shutouts. One thing is for sure, with Lucic willing to throw hands at a moment's notice along with Thornton, Hnidy, Chara and Ference...this isn't a team to mess with. The win improved the Bruins to 34-29 and pulled within 4 points of Ottawa. The Bruins look to make it three wins in a row when they play the Atlanta Thrashers this Saturday at TD Banknorth Garden.
