The Boston Bruins wrote the book on heartbreaking losses

I honestly don't know how many ways I can express the same thought I've had and written down numerous times in the last few years: the Boston Bruins find new and different ways to lose games (and series). It's just what they do. The higher the stakes, the bigger the tragically epic failure.

So while last night's 3-2 overtime loss to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals was heartbreaking, I can't say it was surprising. At all. If anything, you almost have to step back and appreciate the carnage since there's nothing like a Bruins flop (ever since the Red Sox got their shit together in 2004) to get the blood boiling in this day and age.

After giving up the winning goal with 18.5 seconds in Game 1, the B's outdid themselves by blowing a 2-1 lead, hanging on for overtime but then losing in 11 seconds (the second fastest goal in playoff overtime history).

Much like the B's always remind you of their inadequacies, the NHL always seems to rear its ugly, deformed head at the worst times. Canucks forward Alex Burrows bit Patrice Bergeron in Game 1 but the NHL didn't suspend him or even fine him. Would you believe that he was Vancouver's best player last night, scoring two goals and having an assist?

So yeah, seeing that lowlife be the one to get the winning goal, putting Vancouver two wins away from its first Stanley Cup in its forty year history is about as painful an ending as any Hollywood hack could concoct for Game 2.

Handing out the blame pie for the OT goal is hard to do. Andrew Ference (who for some reason was out there to start overtime) started off the terrible play by putting the puck off the boards, right to Vancouver. Tim Thomas (30 saves) was the bigger goat though as the came flying way out of control and not only took himself but Zdeno Chara out of position too as Burrows faked a shot, whipped around the net and stuffed it in. When you blame Thomas though, you also must realize that Boston wouldn't be anywhere near the Stanley Cup finals without him. He's the best goaltender in the world right now but like Bill Belichick or anyone else, just because he's great doesn't make him bulletproof when it comes to criticism.

This was a game that the Bruins had to win. They sleepwalked through the first period with Burrows scoring a weak power-play goal (his eighth goal of the playoffs) from Chris Higgins and Sami Salo at 12:12. The shot appeared to handcuff Thomas as it squirted through his body and over the goal-line.

Boston responded with its best period of the first two games in the second. Its two most invisible forwards stepped up: Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi. Lucic tied it at one with his fourth goal of the playoffs at 9:00 from Johnny Boychuk and David Krejci. It was a simple play as Lucic went to the net (what a concept!) and was able to put in the rebound past Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo (28 saves).

A Mark Recchi power-play goal was one of the most unlikely scenarios (he hadn't scored one since January, really) entering the game but there he was, getting it done at 11:35 (his third of the playoffs). He tipped in a wrist shot by Chara, Patrice Bergeron also assisted. The goal still doesn't justify Claude Julien sticking with him for all this time when he hasn't shown a pulse on the power-play but I digress.

Vancouver predictably came out on fire in the third period since they realized the importance of the game for their side. Thomas held the fort for a while but it was only a matter of time before the Canucks tied it up. Daniel Sedin came out of witness protection to score his ninth of the playoffs at 9:37 after a sweet feed from Burrows. Alex Edler had the second assist.

I was at a bar for the game and I can admit that I had barely settled in for overtime before it was over (I'm sure most people had the same reaction). It was over before it began and the craziest part was that Boston actually won the opening face-off!

Game 3 is tomorrow night at TD Garden and needless to say, it's a must-win for the B's. Lose and they'll be swept, no question. Win and they can make this somewhat interesting. They've proven through the first two games that they can play with Vancouver. The problem is that the Canucks have stepped up when they needed to while the Bruins have choked badly in two huge spots.

Can I please trademark "It's never easy with the Boston Bruins"?

Before the Eastern Conference finals started between the Boston Bruins and the Tampa Bay Lightning a few weeks back, I felt that either way the series was going the distance (seven games).

Still I take no joy in knowing that I was right since the B's should have ended this series already. Tampa Bay won 5-4 at the St. Pete Times Forum last night to tie it up at 3 and send the teams back to the TD Garden tomorrow night for Game 7 and a shot in the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Canucks (starting next Wednesday).

Last night's outcome couldn't be more simply defined: Tampa Bay's power play was 3 of 4 while Boston was 1 of 5. The gamesmanship from Lightning head coach Guy Boucher before Game 6 is irrelevant since the B's had more opportunities and also earned the first three power plays of the game so end of discussion.

I would love to dump on the Bruins for losing since it might make me feel temporarily better but they don't deserve it. They actually showed a ton of heart (rare for them) as they battled back from a 5-3 deficit in the third period and essentially ran out of time as Tampa Bay switched roles with Boston and hung on for dear life.

The loss wasted a hat trick by David Krejci along with a big boy game by his linemates Milan Lucic (1 goal, 1 assist) and Nathan Horton (2 assists). Unfortunately, the Lightning received similar primetime performances from Martin St. Louis (2 goals, 1 assist), Steven Stamkos (1 goal, 2 assists) and Vincent Lecavalier (2 assists).

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (21 saves) continued his trick or treat series with another rough outing. Lightning goaltender Dwayne Roloson (16 saves) didn't do much and looked extremely shaky as well but hey, he came out on top.

Besides the power play struggles for Boston, which everyone in New England could point out (including my dog and cat at this point), the much more unreported nightmare has been the Bruins' propensity to give up both early and late goals in periods. Two times last night, Tampa Bay scored with 36 seconds or less into a frame. That's simply unacceptable at any time, especially now with so much at stake.

Teddy Purcell made it 1-0 Tampa Bay 36 seconds into Game 6, scoring his fifth of the playoffs assisted by Lecavalier. Before Bruins fans could freak out too much, Lucic had scored his third of the playoffs (at 7:09 from Horton and Johnny Boychuk) and Krejci potted his eighth of the playoffs (at 16:30 off a nice feed from Daniel Paille of all people).

All the effort and hard work in the first was quickly wiped out in the second as the Lightning got a pair of power play goals. St. Louis tied it up at 7:55 (from Lecavalier and Stamkos) and Purcell scored his second at 13:35 (from Steve Downie and Brett Clark).

Boston always seems to play better from behind so a one-goal deficit wasn't the end of the world, particularly since they were on the road (where they're more mentally tough for some unknown reason).

Stamkos scored (his sixth of the postseason, from Eric Brewer and St. Louis) another power play goal, 34 seconds into the third and that seemed like game over.

Krejci wouldn't let the B's go down so quietly as he cut it to 4-3 at 9:46 on the power play (!). Horton and Tomas Kaberle had the assists.

Before you could even get too excited though, Boston made sure to punch you in the gut one more time as St. Louis scored the game-winner 29 seconds later. Downie and Stamkos assisted on a play that was a complete fail by so many Bruins. Boychuk pinched in offensive zone and got caught up ice, Thomas over committed and came out too far and Ference didn't cut off the cross ice feed. Yuck.

Boucher was still in a gift giving mood and he let Krejci get his hat trick (Boston's first in the playoffs since Cam Neely in 1991) at 13:28 from Lucic and Kaberle. However, the Bruins couldn't find the tying goal and are forced to play one more deciding game.

I don't care if you have tickets to Game 7, no sane Bruins fan (an oxymoron) wanted it to happen. Boston survived Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens in the first round but in the last three seasons they've departed the playoffs with brutal Game 7 losses. The last two were particularly unforgivable since they were on home ice.

Tomorrow night will answer many questions regarding head coach Claude Julien's legacy along with the leaders of the team: Thomas, Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron to name a few. If the Bruins lose, it's time to shake things up since this group will have maxed out and they won't go any further with a coach as stubborn and simple-minded as Julien.

19 years in the making: Bruins sweep the Flyers and move on to Eastern Conference finals vs. Tampa Bay

For some reason, I was totally confident going into Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers last night.

With a commanding 3-0 lead (just like last year), I felt like this Bruins team was different and the shadow of last season's epic demise was about to get forgotten.

My premonitions couldn't have been more right as the Bruins won 5-1 at TD Garden to sweep the Flyers and erase the demons of last season. It's a new team and a new season, time to move on.

Boston advances on to its first Eastern Conference finals in 19 years and they'll have home-ice advantage against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The final score is misleading since the B's added two empty-net goals but Boston led for a majority of the game and gave their skittish fan base reason to believe that they would get this one done in regulation.

The only bad news (there always seems to be some with this franchise) for the B's is that Patrice Bergeron-their MVP so far (not named Tim Thomas)-suffered a mild concussion on a hit by Philly's Claude Giroux. It looks like he's out for the Tampa Bay series, opening the door for Tyler Seguin to get his first NHL playoff experience.

I am beyond bummed for Bergeron. He has almost had his career ended (twice) with nasty concussions. Nobody deserves that but especially not him. Fingers crossed that he can recover and his career wouldn't be further affected. It makes me sick to think how well he has played in this playoff run and how he's probably done for it no matter how far they go.

With the power-play scoreless streak finally ended in Game 3, the biggest issue facing the Bruins was getting Milan Lucic off his personal goal-less streak. Mission accomplished as Looch put in his first two of the 2011 playoffs and it couldn't have come at a better time.

Lucic gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first period on some tic-tac-toe passing with linemates Nathan Horton and David Krejci on the power-play. All he had to was redirect it in.

The Flyers showed some fight as Kris Versteeg (1st of the playoffs) tied it up at 13:22 of the second period. Mike Richards assisted on the goal but it was all thanks to Brad Marchand who gave the puck away at center ice, allowing Versteeg to basically walk in alone on Thomas (22 saves).

Right after Bergeron went off with his injury in the beginning of the third period, Johnny Boychuk (2nd of the season) scored what turned out to be the game-winner and series-clincher. Michael Ryder sent it back to Boychuk at the point and the put it up high over Flyers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (22 saves), who got the start for the first time in the series.

Lucic scored his second of the game at 15:03 after a nifty pass in the neutral zone from Horton sprung him. Marchand (5th of the playoffs) scored his empty-netter at 18:04 from Mark Recchi and Rich Peverley while Daniel Paille (2nd of the playoffs) got his at 19:35 from Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton.

Exhale. So yeah, your Boston Bruins are one of the final four teams left in the NHL playoffs. One series win away from the Stanley Cup finals. Eight wins away from breaking a 39-year Stanley Cup drought. Heady stuff.

Don't know too much about the Lightning other than obviously Steven Stamkos, Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier. Goaltender Dwayne Roloson has played well in the postseason but honestly, I haven't seen much of either series (vs. Pittsburgh and Washington). I do remember from the regular season vs. Boston that Tampa Bay plays the slimy style of Montreal. Lots of flopping, diving, crying, whining. Not good. As we saw from the first round vs. the second round, the B's matchup so much better with a team that plays with an edge.

The Eastern Conference finals could start as early as Tuesday night, depending on when the Western Conference semifinals (Vancouver up 3-1 on Nashville and San Jose up 3-1 on Detroit) end, or as late as Saturday. The Hub of hockey is alive and well with plenty of action left for us, what a time to be a Bruins fan.

Bruins hang 7-0 loss on spineless Canadiens, world is back in proper alignment

In their biggest and most important game of the regular season, the Boston Bruins played hands down their best 60 minutes.

The fact that the 7-0 whitewashing came at the hands of the hated Montreal Canadiens at the TD Garden last night made it all the more sweeter and meaningful.

Boston (41-22-10) came into the meeting with a 1-4 record against Montreal (40-28-7) this season. They were only three points ahead of those clowns from the North and the playoff matchup that looks all but guaranteed in the first round was a downright scary possibility.

Well it's funny how much one game can change everything right? The Bs were determined from the opening face-off to not let all the bullshit drag them down as they pounded the Canadiens on the scoreboard, what matters most.

Boston jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and put up four more goals in the third period but if you think Montreal would put up any fight (literally or physically), well you must not be from around here. Those frauds couldn't be bothered to drop the gloves or do anything remotely tough even when it was clear it was not their night.

The highlights for the Bruins were numerous as the team looked as stacked, from top to bottom, as they have at any point this season. Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell both scored two goals while Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic and David Krejci all added three assists. Tim Thomas made 24 saves for the eighth shutout of the season and 25th of his career.

Johnny Boychuk (2nd goal of the season) didn't waste much time to get the electric Garden crowd into it as he scored 1:01 into the contest. Chara and Krejci assisted while Canadiens goalie Carey Price seemed to be screened on the shot. Things didn't get much better for Price as he was mercifully yanked in the third period in favor of Alex Auld.

Campbell made it 2-0 with his 11th of the season at 13:43 (from Chara and Boychuk). He tipped Chara's shot from the point.

You knew the Black and Gold were rolling when they potted a power-play goal at 17:28 as Horton collected a rebound and scored his 21st of the season (from Krejci and Lucic).

The only life that Montreal showed in the first period was on Tomas' Plekanec's home run swing high stick on Horton that rightfully earned a double-minor.

Things slowed down in the second period but Campbell earned more love from his teammates as he took on the much bigger Paul Mara in a late fight. Honestly, I would have traded Dennis Wideman straight up for Campbell if I knew how solid Colin Campbell's little boy can be. The fact that Horton was also a part of the deal with Florida signifies what a robbery it was in Boston's favor.

Horton (from Krejci, Lucic), Adam McQuaid (3th of the season, from Chara and Lucic) and Tomas Kaberle's first goal as a Bruin (from Mark Recchi and Brad Marchand) set the stage in the third period for something truly absurd. Campbell scored a shorthanded goal when Montreal was skating 5-on-3. Haha just a completely gutless effort by the Canadiens but what do you expect? I can honestly never remember a 3-on-5 goal, it doesn't get much more embarrassing than that.

The Bruins will look to take this great momentum into tomorrow's matinee against the New York Rangers.

Bruins start to get back on track with win vs. the Devils

The Boston Bruins had picked a fine time to play their worst hockey of the season. With a three-game homestand kicking off their final 11 regular season games, last night was a nice start towards gaining home ice advantage for the playoffs (and winning the Northeast Division) as they beat the New Jersey Devils 4-1 at the TD Garden.

It was only Boston's (40-22-10) second win in their last eight games but when coupled with Montreal's loss to Buffalo, the Bruins now lead the Canadiens by three points.

New Jersey (34-35-4) had been playing some crazy good hockey since an awful start but with this setback, they're likely to miss out on the playoffs.

Ilya Kovalchuk gave the Devils a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 11:05 of the first period. His textbook one-timer (assists to Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson) was his 27th goal of the season.

From there, Boston's best players: Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara, Milan Lucic, Tomas Kaberle, Patrice Bergeron and Co. woke up and started to resemble the team that has been so consistent all season (no losing streak longer than two games).

Shawn Thornton tied it up at 15:39 of the first period, scoring his career-high ninth goal of the season off a deflection (from Dennis Seidenberg and Kaberle) in front of New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur (26 saves).

Thomas helped the Bruins find their sea legs as they were badly outplayed in the first period (Devils outshot them 16-6 in the first period). They were inspired in the second period (17-8 shots for Boston) and it showed on the scoreboard.

Chara put the Bs ahead for good in the second period at 8:17 with the rarest of goals for Boston: that's right, a power-play strike. Chara's 13th of the season (his 400th career point) was thanks to a nice backdoor pass from Lucic (Kaberle had the other assist). It's amazing what a little movement will do on our painfully predictable power play.

Thomas (30 saves; 30-10-8) did his best to keep it 2-1 and his teammates finally gave him a little breathing room as Lucic scored his 30th goal of the season at 16:13. Bergeron made the play with a sweet backhand feed to Lucic in front, Chara had the second assist.

Mark Recchi iced it with an empty-netter (his 13th goal of the season) with 40 seconds remaining. Bergeron and Chara assisted on that one.

Tomorrow night at TD Garden is the final regular season meeting between the Bruins and Canadiens. Last time out was a shitshow of epic proportions with Chara's hit, Max Pacioretty's injury and Montreal fans calling 911. I would like nothing more than to see the Bruins play well and beat the Canadiens since the last two seasons, Montreal has had their number. They can't get suckered into playing Montreal's weasel style.

All good things must come to an end, Bruins style

As much as I might dream about it, the Boston Bruins were bound to lose a game at some point after they had won seven straight entering last night vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The fact that they lost 3-2 to the scrappy Penguins (38-21-8) wasn't surprising in the least bit. However, it's the Bruins (38-19-8) so they have to remind you that they do losing like nobody else.

With goaltender Tim Thomas (36 saves; 29-8-7) pulled for an extra attacker, David Krejci tied it up with 33 seconds left in regulation to send it to overtime. It was Krejci's 10th of the season and it was the result of beautiful triangular passing from Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton.

All that joy was quickly curtailed as Boston defenseman Dennis Seidenberg had an unforgivable giveaway in his own zone that led to Dustin Jeffrey's second goal of the game, unassisted and 1:52 into overtime.

The Bruins still got a point out of the game but they didn't really deserve it. With the Flyers loss yesterday, Boston had a chance to pull within one point of Philly.

Yet there seemed to be no urgency from the Black and Gold as they were continually pushed around by the Penguins who are without Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. The best way to describe Pittsburgh is that they're annoying to play against. They win all the one-on-one battles, they play with an edge and they seem content to do whatever it takes to win since they know they're missing their top-end talent at the moment.

Zdeno Chara gave the Bs a 1-0 lead in the second period, assists to Krejci and Lucic on the captain's 11th of the season. It came at 7:26 as he took a nifty backhand feed from Krejci, stepped into a soft part of the Pens' defense and snapped a shot over Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury's (29 saves) shoulder.

The Penguins quickly responded as Jordan Staal tied it up at 10:09 with assists from Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke. The play started since Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk got caught too far up ice when he tried to keep the puck in Pittsburgh's zone.

Jeffrey made it 2-1 at 11:19 of the second period when his quick release got under Thomas' leg pads. Maxime Talbot and Zbynek Michalek had the assists.

Patrice Bergeron was home in Canada dealing with some family issues and his two-way game was missed although Rich Peverley looked solid in his spot. Steve Kampfer is expected out at least for the next week as he gets over his mild concussion and Andrew Ference is still shelved with a lower body injury. Matt Bartkowski got his third call up of the season, ironically all against his hometown Penguins. Haven't seen enough of him yet to form much of an opinion.

The Bruins will need to regroup ahead of what's always an emotional game: at Montreal on Tuesday. Last time those teams met, it was the 8-6 bonkers win for Boston. Who knows what will happen next with the ancient rivals?

Bruins win seventh straight, vault to second in Eastern Conference

The Boston Bruins are clicking on all cylinders right now. It makes you wish that the regular season would fast forward and the playoffs could start like this weekend.

The Bs won their seventh straight game last night, 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden, and with the two points they jumped over Tampa Bay into second place in the Eastern Conference.

Boston (38-19-7) is now only three points behind top-seed Philadelphia and they've proven that they can play any style of game and usually come out on top: high-scoring, low-scoring, chippy, filled with fights. It doesn't matter what you throw at them at the moment, the Bruins are the NHL's hottest team.

The Lightning (37-20-7) scored first as defenseman Eric Brewer found the back of the net at 4:04 of the second period, assisted by Blair Jones and Steve Downie.

However, it only took 2:02 for Bruins rookie defenseman Steve Kampfer to tie it up with a seeing-eye slap shot from the point. Kampfer's fifth goal of the season was assisted by Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

It doesn't seem to be their way at all since they're a finesse team but Tampa Bay tried to push the Bruins around which ended rather comically. Shawn Thornton and Downie got game misconducts in the second period and Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with Brewer.

Throughout the contest, the Lightning exhibited a Canadiens-like tendency to fall, trip, turtle and basically employ every cheap trick in the book. Even good guy Martin St. Louis stuck his skate out which propelled Mark Recchi into Tampa Bay's net. Strange.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (27 saves; 29-8-6) and Lightning backup Mike Smith (26 saves) both played well and it looked like we were headed to overtime.

That was until Lucic chipped in a bad-angle shot at 16:18 of the third period for the game-winner, his 28th of the season. Linemates David Krejci and Nathan Horton assisted and got in Smith's way on the goal. There was a pile of bodies in Tampa Bay's crease and the puck popped out. Lucic got to it first and threw the shot on net which turned out to be the difference.

Lucic deserved it after he had had the post earlier in the game. Lightning superstar Steve Stamkos also had a shot rattle off the post and then right to Thomas.

Kampfer left the game with a mild concussion so he'll probably miss a few games.

Boston hosts Pittsburgh tomorrow night as they try to grab their eighth consecutive win against the Penguins who will be without the injured Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

What else can you say: Bruins top the NHL's best team, on their own ice

It was the first time in ages (maybe ever?) that I watched a Boston Bruins game at a bar and what better occasion than last night as the Bs visited the Vancouver Canucks, the NHL's best team?

The other overserved patrons in Beverly, Mass and myself were pumped as Boston (35-19-7) pulled it out, 3-1 over the Canucks (39-15-9) at the Rogers Arena.

Hometown hero Milan Lucic had a goal and two assists while goaltender Tim Thomas made 27 saves to improve to 28-8-6.

Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo (22 saves) was fine but the high-scoring Canucks attack could never get going as the Sedin twins and Ryan Kesler were all held scoreless.

The game looked destined for overtime but great hustle from David Krejci and Lucic was rewarded with the game-winning goal. Krejci dangled around one of the Sedins in Vancouver's defensive zone, went behind the net then threw it out in front of the goal where Lucic won a battle and flipped it past Luongo for his 27th of the season. Dennis Seidenberg also assisted on the highlight strike.

Manny Malhotra gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead in the first period at 16:58 with assists from Raffi Torres and Christian Ehrhoff. Thomas made the initial save but his defense didn't clear the traffic out of the way and Malhotra was able to score his 9th of the season.

After getting dominated in the first period, the Bruins awoke in the second period and tied it up when Nathan Horton scored his 16th of the season. Lucic and Tomas Kaberle assisted on Horton's goal. Like Malhotra it was the result of hard work in front of the net. The snake-bitten Horton's first shot was stopped as usual but he stayed with it and poked it in.

Patrice Bergeron put it away with an empty-netter with 1:13 left in the third period. Lucic also assisted on Bergeron's 21st of the season.

Boston travels to Edmonton tonight to face the Oilers, the NHL's worst team. Back-to-backs are tough especially on the road but the Bs should have enough talent to get by on this one.

Bruins knock off the NHL's hottest team (bad pun alert!)

The Calgary Flames were 11-1-2 in their last 14 games, an incredible stretch that had gotten them back from the dead and in the middle of a very messy Western Conference playoff picture.

No matter since with Tomas Kaberle, Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley playing their first game together, the Boston Bruins were the better team and came away with a 3-1 win last night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Milan Lucic scored two goals, David Krejci had two assists and Tim Thomas (28 saves; 27-8-6) looked like the brick wall we've all enjoyed this season (leaving his past three poor performances in the dust).

It only took Lucic 59 seconds to give Boston (34-19-7) a 1-0 lead. Krejci faked out Flames (31-23-8) goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff (26 saves) and dished across the goalmouth to Lucic (his 25th of the season) for an easy tap-in. Adam McQuaid also assisted.

After a scoreless second period, Marchand gave the Bruins some insurance with his 19th (!) of the season from Patrice Bergeron and Andrew Ference at 5:55 of the third period. Bergeron started the play with a great body check to keep the puck deep in the Calgary zone. Ference's shot went right to Marchand who is on quite a tear. He roofed it in a flash.

Curtis Glencross scored his 20th of the season, off a sweet dish from Jarome Iginla (and Alex Tanguay) to cut it to 2-1 at 17:27.

Lucic cinched it with an empty-netter with 47 seconds left. Krejci and Mark Recchi assisted.

So far the Bs are 3-0-0 on their pivotal six-game road trip. It doesn't get any easier as they matchup with the NHL's best team: the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

Bruins fist pump their way to a lop-sided win on the Island

For once this season, the Boston Bruins played well in front of Tuukka Rask and they jump-started their pivotal six-game road trip with a 6-3 thumping of the New York Islanders last night at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

It was a prototypical Bruins (32-19-7) victory with six different players notching goals (from all four lines) while Rask improved to 6-11-1 with 34 saves. They also snapped a three-game losing streak.

The Islanders (21-30-7) are still one of the absolute worst franchises in the NHL but there's been a little hope lately as they came in riding a four-game winning streak. John Tavares scored twice for New York but that was their only highlight since their goaltending situation is nothing short of a nightmare.

Blake Wheeler, the subject of constant trade talk, increased his value with a goal at 1:52 of the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. It was a weak shot that he just threw at the net and Islanders goaltender Nathan Lawson (13 saves) showed why you've never heard of him. Tyler Seguin and Andrew Ference assisted on Wheeler's 11th of the season.

Nine seconds later, Zenon Konopka tried to fire up the home crowd and his teammates by fighting Adam McQuaid but I'd say it didn't really work since the Bs added two more goals in the first period.

At 7:03 Mark Recchi scored his 11th of the season after the puck inadvertently deflected in off his skate (no kicking motion). Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuck assisted.

Just over two minutes later, Gregory Campbell put a shot on goal that appeared to bounced off an Islander stick. It was Campbell's ninth of the season, unassisted.

The second period featured five goals as Boston scored twice more and New York got on the board with a pair.

David Krejci scored his ninth of the season 55 seconds into the frame, from Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic.

Tavares, the former No. 1 pick in 2009, finally got the Islanders a goal (his 22nd) less than a minute later from Blake Comeau.

Seguin notched his 10th of the season at 2:48 from Shawn Thornton and Wheeler. Like Wheeler, it was nice to see Seguin find the back of the net since those times have been few and far between lately. With that, Lawson was done and Al "Don't call me Aldo" Montoya (15 saves) went between the pipes for New York.

Josh Bailey cut it to 5-2 (from Comeau and Radek Martinek) but Lucic sealed it with his 24th of the season (on the power play) from Krecji and Zdeno Chara.

Tavares had the only goal of the third period (from Jack Hillen and Matt Moulson) but by then, the Bruins were doing what any sane person would do: they were dreaming about getting off Long Island.

Boston is right back at it tonight, taking on the Ottawa Senators. Expect Tim Thomas in net and the newest Bruin Chris Kelly (who's had mysterious Visa problems) should be in uniform to make his debut for the Bs against his old team.

Old Time Hockey gives everyone pants tents

When the Boston Bruins had their fight-filled game against the Atlanta Thrashers right before Christmas, I didn't think it would be topped in terms of excitement this season. However, last week they staged a ridiculous game with the Dallas Stars which included three fights in the first four seconds. Again, I was too narrow-minded to imagine a regular season game that would be better than that.

Last night was proof that all the excitement of those first two games added to facing your most bitter rival (the Montreal Canadiens) can make for an absurdly entertaining contest that the Bruins won 8-6 at the TD Garden.

If 187 combined penalty minutes don't do it for you, how about 14 total goals? Truly, this game had it all and I'm insanely jealous of anyone that was in the building. The atmosphere was understandably electric and we can only hope that these teams meet in the playoffs.

Montreal had beaten Boston the first three times they played this season, they have two more left in the regular season.

Nathan Horton (1 goal, 4 assists) had his first career five-point game, David Krejci had three assists, Dennis Seidenberg had a goal and an assist while Milan Lucic (1 assist) and Michael Ryder each scored a pair of goals for the Bs (31-16-7), who stayed four points ahead of the Canadiens (30-20-5) with the win and on top of the Northeast Division.

For Montreal, Yanick Webber had one goal and two assists, Max Pacioretty scored twice while David Desharnais (1 goal, 1 assist), Brian Gionta (1 goal, 1 assist), Tomas Plekanec (2 assists), PK Subban (1 goal, 1 assist) and James Wisniewski (2 assists) all had multiple points.

To put a bow on it, Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (27 saves) and Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (26 saves) even tried to have a goalie fight in the second period but it never really materialized since you know, neither knows how to fight.

This was one of those nights where I was thankful to have the night off from work since I got to watch this all unfold live and not second-hand through Twitter, AP stories and highlights then DVR when I got home.

The game couldn't have gotten off to a better start as Boston popped in two first-period goals for a 2-0 lead. Brad Marchand (his 15th of the season) scored one of the prettier goals of the season off assists from linemates Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi. Then Seidenberg took advantage of a poor clearance by Subban to score his fifth of the season, from Horton. Those goals were 12 seconds apart (13:16-13:28), tying their quickest mark of the season.

As I always like to say though, nothing is ever easy for the Bruins and they immediately allowed Montreal to tie it early in the second period. Gionta scored 25 seconds in from Plekanec and Wisniewski. At 8:30 Subban put in the first of four power-play goals for the Canadiens. Gionta and Plekanec assisted on the rookie defenseman's slap shot from the point.

From there, things went absolutely berserk as Adam McQuaid scored his first of the season (from Horton and Lucic) at 9:48. Weber tied it at 11:01 from Mathieu Darche. Ryder scored his first goal (his 15th of the season) after a sweet pass from rookie Zach Hamill. Blake Wheeler also assisted on Ryder's tally. Lucic put the Bruins up 5-3 at 12:31 (his 22nd of the season) from Horton and Krejci.

Five seconds later, a flurry of scraps broke out (including Thomas and Price) which ended up with the comical sight of six Bruins in the penalty box at the same time.

Desharnais scored a power-play goal at 12:48 from Subban and Weber. At 14:49, Lucic scored a short-handed goal from Krejci and Horton that was key.

Pacioretty got his first of two third-period goals at 7:06 from Wisniewski on the power play. Ryder had a goal wiped out on a bogus call when Marchand was pushed into Price but he exacted some revenge a few moments later when he scored on the power play at 10:01 from Seidenberg and Steve Kampfer.

Horton gave Boston a three-goal lead with his 14th of the season at 14:54, don't ask me how Price played the entire game, before Pacioretty got a garbage time power-play goal at 19:46 from Desharnais and Weber.

Oh and there were two more huge brawls that were way too complicated to detail.

This game took nearly three hours and I feel like it will go down as one of the most memorable Bruins games I'll ever see. Just insane from start to finish.

No doubt, there will be a letdown tomorrow night when they host the Detroit Red Wings but hopefully Thomas can carry them enough and they'll wake up in time to get two points against one of the Western Conference's best teams.

Fight Night in Boston

I have no idea what got into the Boston Bruins last night. A team that usually exhibits little heart got into three fights vs. the Dallas Stars in the first four seconds of the game at the TD Garden.

You can have NHL Center Ice (which I do not) and you can watch every NHL game this season but I doubt you'll ever see a more exciting or crazy period than the first. I've never seen anything like it (and probably never will again) as the Bs had four fights and jumped ahead 4-0 before they eventually held on for a 6-4 win.

For two teams that only play once or twice a season, it's hard to believe that the bitter feelings from two seasons ago could carry over to last night but that looked to be the case. The teams had a similar shitshow game in October 2008 in Boston.

As the game began, Gregory Campbell took on goon Steve Ott (most penalties in the league) one second into the action. Campbell took a beating and received a nasty gash on his face/nose but he returned soon after that cause hey, he's a hockey player.

One second later, Shawn Thornton fought Krys Barch with Thornton scoring the takedown. Finally, two seconds later Adam McQuaid absolutely blew up Brian Sutherby in a quick, Jersey Shore style brawl.

Oh and Andrew Ference one-punched Adam Burish ("one shot kid!") a few minutes later to complete the crazy beginning. Today, Burish went on IR.

Not only did the Bruins (30-15-7) beat the Stars (30-17-5) physically but they almost ran them out of the rink. Milan Lucic (his 21st of the season) scored 35 seconds into the game from David Krejci and Nathan Horton.

Then Patrice Bergeron put in a pair of goals (18th and 19th), from Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi both times. Former Bruins goaltender Andrew Raycroft was pulled after Bergeron's first goal, giving him a night's work of 1:20 (haha!).

Thornton put Boston ahead 4-0 late in the first period with a snipe that admittedly, Keri Lehtonen (29 saves) should have had but he probably thought he had a quiet night on the bench ahead of him. Daniel Paille and Zdeno Chara assisted on Thornton's eighth of the season.

Dallas began to wake up in the second period as Karlis Skrastins scored from Burish.

The Stars cut it to 4-3 in the third period as Brendan Morrow (short-handed) and Brad Richards showed why they each are over 20 goals this season.

This would have been an epic collapse for the Bruins (something which they specialize in) but thankfully, Tuukka Rask (30 saves; 5-10-1) made enough stops and Tyler Seguin broke his 10-game scoreless streak.

Again it was a soft one from Lehtonen but who cares? Seguin has been scuffling for a while now and seeing him get his eighth of the season (from Michael Ryder and Blake Weeler) at 5:31 was great.

Marchand capped it off with an empty-netter at 17:40 from Bergeron (who missed a hat trick bid) and Recchi. Their on fire line combined for nine points in the game.

The only bad news coming out of the game was that Paille was suspended four games after his dirty, Matt Cooke-esque hit. It's a fair punishment but don't get me started on how Cooke got off the hook last season.

I am going to Bruins-San Jose Sharks tomorrow afternoon at the TD Garden. I know there will be a letdown from last night but hopefully the Bs can send Joe Thornton and the Sharks home without any points.

Boston Bruins end strong first half with season sweep of Florida Panthers

It's easy to get caught up in the negativity and the bitter history but can we all agree that the Boston Bruins (first place in the Northeast Division, four points ahead of Montreal) had a great first half of the season?

The Bs (28-15-7) put a punctuation mark on their 50th game-the last one before the All-Star break-with a 2-1 victory over the Florida Panthers (22-22-5) last night at the TD Garden.

Boston swept the four-game season series vs. Florida. If the regular season ended today, the Bruins would be the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference.

It was fitting that Boston's biggest surprise offensively and best goal-scorer so far this season, both tickled the twine.

Brad Marchand scored his 13th of the season at 13:31 of the first period when he wrapped around Florida's net and just squeezed it over the line before Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun (33 saves) could grab it. Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara assisted on the goal.

Milan Lucic continued to have the hot touch, putting in his 20th goal of the season at 1:52 of the second period. David Krejci, who left briefly with an injury, assisted on Looch's snipe that beat Vokoun high and to the side.

It looked like Bruins goalie Tim Thomas would wrap up his absurd first half with yet another shutout (would have been his eighth) but Panthers defenseman Bryan Allen beat him off a rebound at 8:37 of the third period. Radek Dvorak (haha poor guy has always been a Panther) and Darcy Hordichuk (awesome name) assisted on Florida's lone goal.

Chara and Thomas are off to Raleigh for the All-Star game this weekend and Tyler Seguin will play in the youngsters contest. Everyone else will get some well deserved rest as they gear up for the stretch run and the postseason.

Boston goes to the Carolina Hurricanes in their first game back from the break on Tuesday night.

Bruins begin road trip with a bang: completely blowout the Avalanche

The Boston Bruins begin their strange two-game West Coast trip with an even more bizarre game: a Saturday afternoon contest in Colorado vs. the Avalanche.

Luckily, the Bs (27-14-7) didn't need to use the standard crutches of a long flight, thin air of Denver, etc. as they blasted the Avs (24-18-6) 6-2 yesterday at the Pepsi Center.

Five players had two or more points for Boston led by Brad Marchand (2 goals, 2 assists). Milan Lucic (2 goals), Mark Recchi (1 goal, 2 assists), David Krejci (2 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist) were the others to rack up the fantasy points.

The underplayed storyline of the season thus far with the Bruins is their scoring punch that was completely absent all last season. Since the team is pretty much the same with the additions of Nathan Horton, Tyler Seguin, Gregory Campbell and Marchand, it's hard to explain how it's been this much better. Particularly when Marc Savard seemingly gets hurt every other game and has to leave.

Yesterday, he was slammed into the glass by former Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick and didn't return. It looked like he cut his forehead but who knows with all his concussion issues. Poor guy.

Tim Thomas (23-4-6) made 32 saves as he outlasted Colorado goaltender Craig Anderson (24 saves), who got pulled after two periods.

Paul Stasny from Kevin Shattenkirk and Chris Stewart gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead two minutes into the game and you had to think as a Bs fan, here we go. It was a fluky goal that Thomas despite all his greatness is prone to give up from time to time.

Boston roared back with two goals of their own later in the first period. Marchand scored (his 11th) at 9:20 from Recchi and Bergeron and Lucic tied his career-high at 12:00 with his 18th of the season from Krejci and Recchi on the power play.

The Bruins seemed to gain some steam from Campbell's fight with Cody McLeod shortly after Stasny's goal. Campbell can't do anything wrong these days, the guy that was just a throw in for the Horton deal is playing the best hockey of his life (and outperforming Horton).

Two late goals in the second period gave the Bs control. Recchi became the eighth Bruin with 10+ goals at 14:44 from Marchand and Lucic set his career-high at 19:04 from Krejci and Bergeron.

BU alum Shattenkirk cut it to 4-2 early in the third period from Milan Hejduk and despite plenty of running around in their own end, Thomas made some big stops to settle his team down.

Bergeron scored at 9:56 (his 16th) from one knee (from Marchand and Johnny Boychuk) and Marchand took over the short-handed goal lead in the NHL with his fourth, an empty-netter at 18:25 (from Campbell and Andrew Ference).

The Bruins wrap up this bite size trip tomorrow night against the reeling Los Angeles Kings.

In case you've been living in an igloo, Tim Thomas is doing ridiculous things this season

The NHL should schedule more back-to-back, home and home series' between teams to spice up the regular seasons which admittedly can get dull at times.

After waxing the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday in an MLK matinee, the Boston Bruins went to the RBC Center last night in Raliegh, North Carolina and came away with an impressive two points thanks to a 3-2 win.

It was no surprise that the Hurricanes (22-18-6) came out looking like a different team, but even more predictable than that was the fact that Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (43 saves) stole the show for what feels like about the 30th time already this season.

Carolina outshot Boston (26-13-7) 45-28 but thanks to the soon-to-be two-time Vezina trophy winner and some timely scoring (from Brad Marchand and the game-winner from Milan Lucic), the Bs came home still in second place in the Eastern Conference and first in the Northeast Division.

After Mark Stuart got his first goal of the season on Monday, his fellow backliner wanted a taste too so Johnny Boychuk scored 2:04 into last night's contest on a power play. Michael Ryder and Marc Savard assisted on the patented bullet from the blue line ("Johnny Rocket"-as crazy Jack Edwards rightly dubbed it). They changed the goal to Savard in the second period but then they changed it back to Boychuk, um ok?

Jussi Jokinen tied it up for the Hurricanes at 18:39 in the first period on the power play from Eric Staal (one of the two All-Star captains next weekend) and Joe Corvo.

Carolina goaltender Cam Ward (25 saves) could have taken a nap or gone to get a drink in the second period as the Hurricanes buzzed with a 19-9 shot advantage. When Thomas blanked them for those 20 minutes, you had a feeling that he might steal this one for the Black and Gold.

Marchand put Boston up 2-1 (his 10th of the season) at 3:55 in the third period after some great hustle to track down the rebound from Zdeno Chara's shot. Mark Recchi also had an assist by winning the face-off and knocking it back to Chara.

Chad LaRose tied it up at 9:19 from Tuomo Ruutu and Jeff Skinner. Carolina had a bunch of chances in that sequence and LaRose was in the right spot to sweep it in.

Two and a half minutes later, Recchi and Lucic teamed up for the game-winner. Recchi drove behind the net (making the Hurricanes defense think he would try a wraparound) before he passed it out front to Lucic who buried his 17th of the season-tying his career-high from two seasons ago. Steven Kampfer also assisted on Boston's second power-play goal of the night.

The Bs come home to host the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night.

Just in time for the Holidays: the Bruins poop in your stocking and puke under your Christmas tree

Oh god damn it, why must the Boston Bruins torture us so much?

After sleepwalking through the start of last night's game at the Bell Centre in Montreal, that was enough to give the Canadiens a 4-3 win.

The Bruins (16-10-4) scored each goal as they frantically tried to scramble from an early 2-0 deficit but it wasn't enough as they suffered their third straight loss.

At this point, I'm with Mike Felger - the Bruins need to seriously shake this up and there's only two ways to do that: 1) make a big trade or 2) fire head coach Claude Julien. Since you know they won't do the first choice, I'll take door number two.

This team has no balls and they're on cruise control as per usual. They'll make the playoffs but then they'll fall apart as they always do in the spring. After all, they've lost three straight Game 7s.

Ok, end of rant. Losing to Montreal (19-11-2) is never fun but especially on a night like last night when a win would have vaulted the Bs to a first-place tie (and theoretically snapped them out of this latest funk).

Unfortunately nobody gave Boston the memo that it was a big game. Michael Cammalleri earned a bogus penalty shot just 1:04 into the game and deked Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (37 saves) for the 1-0 lead.

Maxim Lapierre (from Mathieu Darche, Alexandre Picard) increased it to 2-0 Montreal with a goal at 6:24 of the first period.

Blake Wheeler benefited from a lucky goal on Canadiens goaltender Carey Price (34 saves) to give Boston some life at 15:52 from Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron.

With 30 seconds left in the first period, the wheels fell off as a harmless pass from Max Pacioretty banked into the Bruins' net off defenseman Andrew Ference's skate. Scott Gomez and Jaroslav Spacek assisted on the complete gift which signaled serious trouble for the Bs.

This team is stubborn though and they cut it to 3-2 in the second period on Marc Savard's first goal of the season. He tipped a shot from Ference, Tyler Seguin also assisted by firing it back to Ference at the point.

Of course, nothing is simple right now for Boston so they had to give up another back-breaking goal late in the second period. Brian Gionta tipped a shot by Pacioretty with Gomez also notching an assist.

Milan Lucic tallied a power-play goal at 15:10 in the third period, from Bergeron and Savard. Lucic tipped Bergeron's shot from the point, for his team-leading 16th of the season.

Believe it or not, Thomas actually played well and garbage like weak penalty shot calls and tough bounces just didn't go his way. He made a bunch of A+ saves that would not have gone most goaltenders' way.

If you've watched 24/7 Capitals-Penguins on HBO which premiered on HBO on Wednesday, you know what a mess the Caps are at this time. With that said, the Bruins are starting to go over the cliff too so Saturday night's game at the TD Garden is a really important one for both teams.

Time for the Bruins to step up or continue to spiral backwards in the Eastern Conference.

Bruins squeak one out over hopeless Islanders

Is there a more irrelevant franchise in the big four pro sports than the New York Islanders? When you take out pointless expansion teams, I'd say the Isles are on the short list of that painful group.

As I predicted two days ago, last night was the optimal time to get two points (check) and give Tuukka Rask some real ice time (check).

The 5-2 win for the Boston Bruins (16-8-3) at the TD Garden looks good on paper but in truth, it was much uglier than that since the Bs had two empty-net goals.

It was a weird game, Boston had two power-play goals, a short-handed goal and the two empty-netters.

I guess it's only fitting that New York (5-16-15) also has one of the worst contracts of all-time in the NHL for Winthrop native Rick DiPietro hanging around Strong Island like an albatross (thanks English classes in college).

In case you forgot how bad DiPietro (32 saves) is (when he can actually get on the ice), he gifted Brad Marchand a short-handed goal at 14:40 of the second period. DiPietro cleared it right to Marchand, who just had to corral the puck behind the net and stuff it in. That gave Boston a 2-1 advantage that they would not lose.

It was Marchand's fourth goal of the season, his third short-handed tally of the year (tying him for the NHL lead).

Milan Lucic had given the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the first period with a power-play goal at 14:00 from Marc Savard. The face-off win by Savard allowed Looch to take a quick shot that hit the post, DiPietro's skate then slid in.

The Islanders tied it at 1 early in the second period when Patrice Bergeron (on a power-play) tripped Frans Nielsen on a breakaway. Nielsen was awarded a penalty shot and tucked it behind Rask (33 saves) with a nifty backhander.

Michael Ryder gave Boston some breathing room with a power-play goal at 14:16 of the third period from Andrew Ference and Zdeno Chara. Ference hit a slap pass that Ryder perfectly deflected into the net, his eighth of the season.

New York made it interesting as Rob Schremp poked it in after some traffic in front of Rask at 16:27. Travis Hamonic and Zenon Konopka assisted on that one.

From there, the Islanders pulled DiPietro and Lucic (15th of the season, 4th empty-netter) from Johnny Boychuk and Patrice Bergeron (4th of the season) from David Krejci and Zdeno Chara put it away.

Two more fights for the Bruins as Adam McQuaid squared off with Konopka in the first period and Shawn Thornton traded blows with Trevor Gillies. Also, rookie defenseman Steven Kampfer made his NHL debut with Mark Stuart shelved for 4-6 weeks (broken finger). Kampfer seemed like a carbon copy of Matt Hunwick, undersized, right-handed puck-moving defenseman. All in all, a solid start for him with the big team.

Boston will have to play much better tomorrow night though, expect Tim Thomas in net, as the Philadelphia Flyers come to town. They faced off in Philly last week (with the Bruins winning) but this will be their first time in Boston since last spring when you know what happened.

Bruins win the duel of great American goaltenders

It's hard to imagine a more anti-climatic way to clinch an overtime victory than the one turned in by the Boston Bruins last night.

Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point on a power-play clearly went in the net past the Buffalo Sabres' Ryan Miller but popped out right away and play continued. After the next whistle, the referees reviewed it and in probably the shortest replay ever they called it a goal.

It was actually credited to Mark Recchi as the shot hit his old man pants then deflected into the upper part of the goal for a strange 3-2 win at the TD Garden.

Bruins (15-8-3) goaltender Tim Thomas (28 saves; 14-2-2) played just a smidge better than Miller (33 saves), his teammate on the 2010 U.S. Olympic team.

Nathan Horton had a goal and an assist for Boston while linemate David Krejci notched two assists.

Milan Lucic got the party started with a goal at 13:21 in the first period, his team-leading 13th. He squeezed it by Miller from a tough angle with Krejci and Horton assisting.

Sabres rookie Luke Adam tied it up in the second period at 12:57, his first NHL goal from Jason Pominville and Mark Mancari.

Thomas Vanek gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead at 4:07 in the third period when he banked a shot off Thomas from behind the net. Tyler Myers and Jordan Leopold had the helpers on the tally that looked like it might make for a bitter game-winner.

Thankfully, Horton got a gift as Sabres defenseman Mike Weber who put it right on his stick in front of Miller. Horton knew what to do from there and tied it at 13:39 with his tenth goal of the season, the second game in a row with a goal after nine straight without any.

Recchi's OT strike made up for him hitting the post in the second period on a breakaway. Horton also hit the post in a frantic end to the third period. Recchi's sixth goal of the season was assisted by Seidenberg and Krejci.

The Bruins host the dreg of the Eastern Conference and the NHL as a whole tomorrow night, the New York Islanders. It's a perfect time to get two more points and hopefully get Tuukka Rask some confidence by giving him the spot start.

Boston will have to deal with another injury as defenseman Marc Stuart broke his hand last night. Marc Savard looked decent in his third game back although it's obvious that he's still trying to find his form. Meanwhile, Marco Sturm is still technically on the team but he might as well be staring in Dead Man Walking, because I'd be shocked if he gets into another game with the Bs.

Savvy's back! Now let's start planning that parade route in June for the Stanley Cup

In the recent history of Boston sports, there's no local pro athlete that I have felt worse for than Boston Bruins center Marc Savard.

Not only did he miss much of last season on a dirty hit by Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke (which went unpunished by Colin Campbell - and now we might know why given his e-mail history) but he also missed 23 games this season while he recovered from the lingering effects of that pesky concussion.

Finally, Savard returned to the ice last night as the Bruins absolutely skated circles around the Tampa Bay Lightning, 8-1 at the TD Garden.

Savard didn't even have a point in the game which saw seven different Bruins (14-8-2) score goals but that's not the point (no pun intended). With him back, Boston has way more depth offensively and can boast a center combo of Savard, David Krejci, Patrice Bergeron and Gregory Campball. Not bad at all.

After losing in Tampa Bay last week, this blowout was quite unexpected since the Lightning (14-9-3) are one of the NHL's most up and coming young teams.

With Tim Thomas (13-2-1; 37 saves) in goal, this was never really a contest as the Bruins led 2-0 after one period and 4-1 after two periods before pumping in four in the third period. Cue the youth hockey coaches and assorted douchebags saying something dumb like wish those goals carried over.

Krejci opened the scoring with a goal from Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference at 10:51 in the first. Dennis Seidenberg made it 2-0 with 20 seconds left in the frame when his snap shot from the point went past Tampa Bay goaltender Mike Smith (17 saves). Smith completely misjudged the play as he thought Seidenberg was going to wrap it around the boards, instead he put it on goal and was lucky enough to get his first tally of the season.

Lucic increased the Boston lead to 3-0 at 6:48 in the second period from Krejci and Nathan Horton (who lately had been the invisible man).

Victor Hedman broke Thomas' bid for another shutout at 15:14 on a one-timer from Ryan Malone and Sean Bergenheim. That would be the Lightning's only highlight of a forgettable night.

Shawn Thornton answered with Boston's second cupcake goal. A Lightning defenseman and Smith fumbled with the puck and it ended up right on the goal-line where Thornton just had to skate up and tap it in. Brad Marchand and Thomas assisted.

It might be because I was watching it a bar with no sound on but the third period was nuts. It seemed like every shot the Bruins threw at the Tampa Bay net went in.

34 seconds into the third Krejci potted his second, unassisted. That prompted Smith to get pulled but it didn't matter as Dan Ellis (7 saves) certainly wasn't the solution to Tampa Bay's myriad problems.

1:16 after Ellis entered, Michael Ryder greeted him with an unassisted goal of his own. Later, Mark Recchi scored on a power play (from Ryder and Zdeno Chara) and Blake Wheeler (who else?) closed it out with a goal from Recchi.

Boston looks to be playing good hockey once again so ideally they can keep it going as they travel to Toronto tomorrow night to meet Phil Kessel and the still-shitty Maple Leafs.

PS. The Marco Sturm trade to the Los Angeles Kings for a conditional draft pick didn't happen, at least not yet. Not sure why it fell through but apparently it wasn't because he failed a physical. Uh ok then.

Moving on from the wreckage of last spring

Nothing will ever change the all-time choke job that the Boston Bruins had last spring against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Being up 3-0 in a series and 3-0 in Game 7 and somehow losing is unprecedented stuff so there's nothing left to say.

Thankfully, it's a new season and while we'll never forget what happened, it's time to move on since this is a new team.

Last night's 3-0 win in Philadelphia by the Bruins was a nice first step in putting that nightmare on the backburner. It was the first time the teams had met since then.

The story of the game was Bruins goalie Tim Thomas since he stopped 41 shots for his NHL-leading fifth shutout of the season.

It also ended a bad skid (four losses in its last five games) for Boston (13-8-2) against a quality team in Philly (15-7-4), who they could very well see again in the 2011 playoffs.

Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring (first time in six games the Bruins had done that) with a power play goal at 5:40 in the first period. After Milan Lucic's backhander was stopped by Sergei Bobrovsky (29 saves) it popped out to Bergeron, who fired it before the Flyers goaltender could fully react in time.

Even sweeter than that was Tyler Seguin's goal less than ten minutes later which gave Boston a 2-0 lead. He collected a nice feed from Michael Ryder and roofed it, his fifth of the season and a good sign for the youngster who has been ice cold lately. Brad Marchand also assisted on the goal.

Flyers goon Jody Shelley squared off with Shawn Thornton late in the first period.

Philadelphia clearly got frustrated as Thomas repeatedly made absurd stops on them. He also stopped a penalty shot by Scott Hartnell in the second period. Andrew Ference tripped Hartnell but he still got a shot off. On his penalty shot, Hartnell seemed to run out of room and could only muster a weak backhander that was smothered by Thomas.

Lucic put it away with 1:48 left in the third period as he scored an empty-netter from David Krejci.

Good news for the Bs today as they reportedly traded Marco Sturm for a conditional pick to the Los Angeles Kings. It will be a fifth round pick but could go as high as second depending on how Sturm does. The deal is dependant on him passing a physical.

Boston hosts the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight at the TD Garden. Steven Stamkos and Tampa Bay beat the Bruins in Florida right before Thanksgiving so Boston will need to play better to get two points.