At this rate, it's possible that we'll never see prematurely-proclaimed-number-one-goaltender
Tuukka Rask again.
After mystifying the Maple Leafs two nights prior, 36-year-old Bruins goaltender
Tim Thomas led the Bruins into Canada's Capital looking for his six straight win, in an attempt to begin the season with a flawless 6-0-0 record and keep pace with the franchise best-start record held by Tiny Thompson, accomplished 73 years ago.
And after stopping all 29 shots put on goal by the Sens, for Thomas, it's yet another mission accomplished.
Despite a first period dominated by the Senators, the B's were able to strike iron first when
David Krejci capitalized on a
Chris Phillips giveaway mishandled by
Mike Fisher, eventually landing on the stick of Krejci, who rifled a shot past an unsuspecting
Brian Elliott for his second goal of the season, giving the Bruins an early 1-0 lead.
With the period winding down with a successful penalty-kill after a
Blake Wheeler slashing call, it was clear that with the play of Thomas, who stopped all 12 first period shots he faced, the Bruins could very well already have this game in the bag.
Receiving an insurance goal when
Tyler Seguin secured his third goal of the season and second in as many games on a tap-in on a cross-slot pass from
Mark Recchi on the power-play, and adding a third goal to their lead when
Milan Lucic connected on a breakaway after
Nathan Horton failed to connect on his own breakaway just mere seconds prior.
But just in the event that three goals weren't enough for the Bruins to survive with Thomas in net,
Jordan Caron, on a breakaway of his own, cashed in with his third tally of the season to make it 4-0 Bruins, which is how this contest would end even with some
Chris Neil versus
Dennis Seidenberg antics at the end.
TIM THOMAS MAKES CASE FOR PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Posting his third shutout of the season, and second straight, to put a punctuation mark ending to his month of October, there was no goaltender hotter than the white-(padded)-hot performance from Thomas throughout the month.
Winning all six starts, posting a 0.50 goals-against-average for the month, and an unreal .983 save-percentage, the play of #30 has reminded everyone of his start to the 2008-09 season, where he had a mild 3-2-2 record to begin the season but boasted a 1.95 goals-against-average and .939 save-percentage for the month.
Now, while it's still extremely early, if this start is even better than the that earned the former-journeyman a Vezina Trophy, what is in store for the nearly-traded netminder in 2010-11?
CAPTAIN OPPOSITES: ALFIE AND CHARA HAVE STAGGERINGLY DIFFERENT NIGHTS
In the first match-up of the season between these two squads, the battle between the fiercely competitive captains went to
Zdeno Chara in round one, who finished the night with a +3 in nearly 25 minutes of time-on-ice and played three minutes and 10 seconds on the penalty-kill, which went 3-for-3 tonight.
On the other side,
Daniel Alfredsson had a difficult night on home-ice. After a would-be goal was called back with interference from
Mike Fisher on Thomas, the Swedish-born winger finished the night with a putrid -3 and just one shot on goal.
BY THE NUMBERS
- B's veteran
Mark Recchi played just 10 minutes and 46 seconds tonight, lowest among all Bruins players. Did the heavy lead in Boston's favor give the 42-year-old some time to rest his legs, or is he battling a flu and/or injury?
- Not that I anticipate it to keep up, but with a goal and an assist tonight, Milan Lucic continues his incredible stretch of play, and is now on pace for a point-per-game clip this season.
- By no means his area of expertise, defensemen
Mark Stuart is the only Boston blue-liner who's played in every game this season without registering a point.
- Crashing the net all game long,
Chris Neil finished the night with five shots-on-goal, tops among Ottawa players. But with 71 goals in 589 games at the NHL level coming into the contest, you get the feeling that's never a good sign for the Sens.
LOOKING AHEAD
The brilliant schedule-makers of the NHL have done it once again. After a Thursday night/Saturday night of excitement for the second week in a row, the Boston Bruins find themselves off until Wednesday night, when they'll take on the Buffalo Sabres for the first time since eliminating them in six games in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.
Have a feeling they're still bitter about that, which only makes it a safer environment for Buffalo-villain-supreme,
Johnny Boychuk, who will out of the contest as he recovers from a broken forearm.
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Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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