Bring on the Canadiens

With their 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators yesterday afternoon at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins locked up a first-round playoff meeting with the Montreal Canadiens.

It looks like Game 1 will be Thursday night in Boston.

Bruins (46-24-11) goaltender Tim Thomas (31 saves; 35-11-9) set the NHL record for save percentage (.938) for an entire season. The Tank is playing some great hockey at the perfect time.

Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton and Rich Peverley all scored for Boston. Bobby Butler had the lone Senators (32-40-10) goal.

Paille gave the Bs a 1-0 lead at 12:53 of the first period with assists to Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton. Once again, the fourth line played very well and all three guys deserve (limited) minutes against Montreal.

Paille one-timed it past Ottawa goaltender Curtis McElhinney (26 saves) for his sixth goal of the season after Campbell fed him from behind the net.

Butler (10th of the season) tied it up at 18:27 after a misclear by the Boston defense. Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza assisted on the goal.

Horton put Boston up 2-1 at 1:08 of the second period. His 26th goal of the season was on the power play and it was assisted by Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic. Horton backhanded it past McElhinney following a rebound.

It was an eventful period for Horton as he also fought some goon named Zack Smith. Jack Edwards was freaking out on NESN during the fight since Ottawa had nothing to lose (not going to the playoffs, last regular season game) and Horton had everything to play for (and has never experienced the playoffs). Thankfully after departing to the dressing room for repairs, Horton came back and looked fine.

Peverley clinched it with a backhander at 14:52 of the third period. The unassisted tally was his 17th of the season. He cut across the zone and beat McElhinney with a sharp shot.

Boston wraps up the regular season this afternoon in New Jersey in a game that truly means nothing. Mark Recchi and Chara aren't making the trip and Tuukka Rask will get the start as the Bruins try to stay healthy against the Devils (whose season ends today).

Bruins polish off 6-0-0 road trip by blanking the Senators

Seconds after the Boston Bruins had hung on for a 1-0 win last night at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, a remarkable graphic popped up on the screen: the last time Boston went a perfect 6-0-0 on a road trip was in 1972.

As any true Black and Gold fan could tell you, that happened to be the last time this luckless franchise won a Stanley Cup. So yeah, last night's victory was rather important.

Boston (37-19-7) extended their season-high win streak to six games while goaltender Tuukka Rask (33 saves; 9-11-1) won his fourth start in a row. After struggling for much of the season and not being able to get a rhythm thanks to Tim Thomas' otherworldly play, Rask and the Bs have found a perfect balance for their two studs between the pipes.

Nathan Horton scored his 18th goal of the season (and third in three games) at 1:43 in the third period. Assists went to Brad Marchand and Adam McQuaid. Patrice Bergeron started the sequence by controlling the puck behind Ottawa's (21-33-9) net before dishing it back to McQuaid. Marchand tipped McQuaid's shot and Horton was able to win the scramble in front for the game-winner.

Predictably in the last game of a wildly successful road trip, the Bruins were largely outplayed by the Senators who fielded a team of AHL callups with frankly nothing to lose. Ottawa outshot Boston 33-21 for the game and in each period but in the end, it didn't matter.

The Senators had a flurry of near goals in the third period that had NESN's Kathryn Tappen going nuts in studio but Rask and his defense refused to allow the tying strike.

With the win, Boston moves into a tie for second in the Eastern Conference with Tampa Bay (five points behind the Flyers). Interestingly enough, the Bruins and Lightning face off tomorrow night at the TD Garden.

The second seed is vital cause it means the Bruins would face teams like the Rangers, Hurricanes or Sabres who are all a notch below the No. 6 team-Montreal.

Bergeron's 1st career hat trick lifts Boston Bruins over hapless Ottawa Senators

If you're keeping score at home, the Boston Bruins have now scored 10 straight goals over the Pittsburgh Penguins and Ottawa Senators after the Bs embarrassed the Senators 6-0 last night at the TD Garden.

Patrice Bergeron scored his first career hat trick and Tim Thomas made 31 saves for his NHL-leading sixth shutout of the season.

With a big snowstorm in the forecast, the Bruins (23-12-7) treated their fans to one of their best performances this season.

Bergeron began the scoring 3:33 into the contest with an unassisted tally. Blake Wheeler made it 2-0 later in the first period thanks to a nice feed from Tyler Seguin (David Krejci also assisted).

The second period had a little bit of everything for the Black and Gold. They pumped in three more goals and got into two fights with the Senators (16-21-6).

Bergeron scored another goal unassisted, Brad Marchand was credited with a goal that went off an Ottawa skate (from Dennis Seidenberg) and Seguin scored on a sweet shot from Krejci and Zdeno Chara.

It was a funny scene when fans threw hats on the ice for Marchand's goal since it looked at first glance like it might have been Bergeron's third. Luckily, for the poor Hans Molemans out there that lost their hat on a Marchand goal, Bergeron came through with one more in the third period.

Nathan Horton fought Jesse Winchester and Shawn Thornton squared off with Matt Carkner.

Bergeron got the third at 5:04 from Marchand. All that was left was for Carkner to bully Daniel Paille. Credit to Paille as he got into the first fight of his NHL career.

The Bruins will need to bring this emotion to tomorrow night's game as they host the Philadelphia Flyers. A win against the Flyers would go a long way to getting on a nice win streak.

Watching the Bruins slide back to complete irrelevance

It's not hard to pinpoint why the Bruins have struggled so much lately: they've had a ridiculous amount of injuries to numerous vital players. This is not a worthy excuse though; in professional sports, every team has injuries.

The lineup reconfigurations and Providence call-ups have not done anything to stop the ship from sinking as Boston lost 5-1 to Ottawa yesterday afternoon at the TD Garden, their fifth loss in their last sixth games.

It's hard to rank defeats but yesterday's lifeless effort was at the top of that invisible but still dubious list.

Ottawa (25-21-4) scored two in the second, two in the third and one in the third to chase Tim Thomas (6 saves, 3 goals allowed). Putting Tukkaa Rask (15 saves, 2 goals allowed) in goal didn't provide any spark since he can't help the pathetic group of forwards currently skating for the B's (23-17-8).

Boston had beaten Ottawa all four times they had played before yesterday but now the Senators are tied with them with 54 points and they they seem to be getting better heading into the teams' final meeting on Saturday back at the Garden.

Daniel Alfredsson had a hat trick for Ottawa and Mike Fisher had three assists. Daniel Paille prevented the shutout with a goal in the third period which cut it to 4-1 Senators.

A still hobbled (broken thumb) Patrice Bergeron returned to the lineup but Steve Begin, Marco Sturm and Byron Bitz didn't play due to various maladies.

The Bruins have today off before practice tomorrow and then the Columbus Blue Jackets come to Boston on Thursday night.

A season that started off with such high expectations (since they had the most points in the Eastern Conference last season) is quickly devolving into a battle with futility. At this point, the Olympic break can't come soon enough for this team.

Somewhere the Dropkick Murphys are writing a terrible song that will make millions

For the first time in 16 seasons, your Boston Bruins hit the 50-win plateau last night at the Garden with a 2-1 triumph over the playing-for-pride Ottawa Senators.

It's the eighth time in franchise history that they've reached that mark and the 110 points represent the team's highest total since the '82-'83 season.

Not bad for a team that was treading water for a few months. They're currently 7-1-1 in their last nine games, winners of five straight. With one more win (or two more points), the B's will clinch the Eastern Conference's top-seed and all the home ice glory that entails. There's an outside chance that they could also still have the best record in the league.

Do you think anyone in the world (not currently employed by the Bruins, including bat-shit crazy NESN announcer Jack Edwards) would have picked this team to have such an amazing season this year? No and that's what makes this so sweet. Obviously, if they choke and lose in the first round of the playoffs, people (myself included) will be lining up to jump off the Tobin Bridge. But for now, NHL hockey is important once again in the Hub.

Daniel Alfredsson (from Jason Spezza, Chris Campoli) gave Ottawa (33-34-10) the 1-0 lead in the first period.

The Bruins (50-17-10) led by the red-hot Milan Lucic bounced back in the second when Looch (17th) scored off assists from Michael Ryder and David Krejci.

In the third period, Marc Savard (24th) notched the game-winner after a steal and dish by P.J. Axelsson.

Boston goaltender Tim Thomas made 31 saves and his impressive record climbed to 33-11-7.

The Rangers come to the Garden tomorrow afternoon in what could be a first round preview. New York is sliding and they currently sit in the eighth spot, just ahead of Florida and behind Montreal.

It's called Bruins

Your Boston Bruins have become the Celtics of the last two seasons. They also resemble the last two Patriots teams to win Super Bowls. Even when they don't play nearly their best, they still find ways to get it done.

Last night in Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, the B's (39-8-6) had a 2-0 lead wiped away as the Senators (17-25-8) scored three straight but it didn't matter as Boston tied it up late in the third and eventually won in a shootout.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (22 saves) stopped the first five shooters in the shootout and Senators goaltender Brian Elliot (30 saves) stoned the first four Boston shooters. Up stepped P.J. Axelsson with his second chance of the season to clinch a shootout win and he didn't disappoint, tucking a backhander just past Elliot.

Blake Wheeler (15th) gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first on a power-play strike from Andrew Ference and Phil Kessel.

Cyborg Zdeno Chara potted his 12th in the second period after assists from David Krejci and Michael Ryder. Most probably expected Ottawa, the second worst team in the NHL, to roll over after that but they didn't.

Nick Foligno jump-started the Ottawa resurgence with a goal later in the second from Brendan Bell.

The Senators top line clicked in the third as Daniel Alfredsson (Dany Heatley) and Jason Spezza (power-play goal from Foligno and Alfredsson) gave their team the improbable 3-2 lead.

With 4:02 left in the third, Chuck Kobasew (one of the only likable things to ever come out of BC) scored his 10th of the season, on a power play. Chara had the initial slap shot, Blake Wheeler's rebound was stopped but Kobasew was there to poke it in.

The Flyers come to Boston tomorrow afternoon for what should be a physical, chippy battle after the Bruins beat them Wednesday in Philly.

We'll always have the Bruins

After what seemed like months (ok it was five days), a Boston team won a game last night, joy! The Bruins (30-7-4) held off the bottom-feeding Ottawa Senators (13-20-6), 6-4 at the Garden.

The B's got off to a hot start, scoring their first two goals in 4:15 seconds and later led 3-1 before Ottawa tied it at three. Boston sealed it with a trio of goals in the third before the Senators added a meaningless garbage-time tally.

Oft-injured but solid veteran defenseman Aaron Ward started things with his first goal of the season, from David Krejci and Michael Ryder.

Chuck Kobasew (7th) scored less than two minutes later, assisted by Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel.

Chris Phillips cut it to 2-1 for the Senators, with help from teammates Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley.

Ryder's 15th of the year (that's looking like a nice signing, huh?) made it 3-1 B's in the second. Blake Wheeler and Marc Savard had the assists.

Ottawa scored twice in the second. First Chris Kelly found the back of the net (from Antoine Vermette and Jesse Winchester) and later Brandon Bell beat Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez (26 saves) with assists from Dean McAmmond and Chris Neil.

Krejci's (15th) great individual work was rewarded with a goal in the third. That kicked off the three-goal burst. Savard (14th) scored from Kobasew and then empty-net specialist P.J. Axelsson (3rd) put it out of reach at 6-3 after a pass from the omnipresent Savard.

Vermette (Chris Kelly, Winchester) had the final goal for Ottawa with 28 seconds left.

Fernandez improved to 14-3-1 with the win.

The Carolina Hurricanes come to town tomorrow afternoon as the Bruins try to erase the memory of their dud from last Saturday against the Sabres.