It's been eight days since the Boston Bruins played a game. Since then, Bruins sophomore Tyler Seguin, who turns 20 today, has been seen head-bobbing to Drake and lighting it up with a pair of Leafs. Sidenote: Gee, that doesn't sound right. Meanwhile B's captain Zdeno Chara's slap-shot has in fact been proven to travel faster than the top speed of some cars out there.

But throughout All-Star weekend, the focus remained on the comments made by Tim Thomas in regards to his skipping of the Black-and-Gold's trip to the White House last week. Yes, last week. The story has been beaten to death, resurrected, and then beaten down once again. The 37-year-old Bruins goaltender, please note his position as 'goaltender' - not ambassador, opted out of the Bruins' visit to President Barack Obama because of ideological differences. Or because he's a racist. Or because he's not a team player. Or because (insert-ridiculous-assumption-by-the-Canadian-media-here).

The snub has become the fodder needed to pump up the trade-machine - or sell papers, and has left the mild-mannered B's netminder the subject of trade rumors that see the Bruins trading the best goaltender in the calendar year of 2011 out of Boston to calm the 'locker room rift' that he's created. "Anytime there's panic in the media, there's not much panic in the locker room," one said last week.

While it should be obvious, I'll state the obvious for the sake of stating the obvious: This story needs to end. Now. Did Thomas' decision create a distraction on what should've been a drama-free visit? Sure. But a week long distraction? No way.

Much to the dismay and shock of those focusing on the Thomas beat, the Bruins return back to the ice tonight, playing host to the Ottawa Senators for the third time this season. Undefeated in their previous two contests against the Sens, the Bruins will indeed turn to Timmy for tonight's contest.

In his career, the Michigan-born Thomas has 21 wins in 31 career contests against Ottaws with a stellar 1.95 goals against average. However, a problem comes about with that stat. It appears that Thomas hates Senators, too. Fire up that trade machine!

Meanwhile, the Senators come into town with losses in three straight. They'll turn to Craig Anderson. The 30-year-old Anderson has just three wins in ten career starts against Boston with a .902 save-percentage.

On an injury note, the Bruins will continue to be without the services of Nathan Horton, who rests with a mild concussion, and defensemen Andrew Ference, who will be serving the third game of his three-game ban earned two weeks ago.

First Period

20:00 - Thomas is announced over the PA and the crowd cheers. No surprises there. They don't care what Thomas believes in, so long as he stops pucks.

14:00 - B's enforcer Shawn Thornton gets knocked down on his charge to the net, gets up and tries to have a go with Chris Neil. The Ottawa tough-guy says nay and continues to skate up ice.

12:12 - Thomas looking sharp so far, as you would imagine. Dude loves when everyone criticizes him.

10:45 - Benoit Pouliot rings post! Everyone think it's a goal, but it's not. Big break.

10:30 - Wow, Anderson's on his game tonight. Dude's stopping everything the Bruins throw his way right now, but the Ottawa defense is slacking. Big time.

9:51 - Bruins going on their first power-play of the night. Sergei Gonchar's off for hooking Marchand.

8:03 - Zdeno Chara strikes! Milan Lucic does a great job screening Anderson, and Chara buries a power-play bomb. That's Chara's eighth of the year, and not sure if that one clocked in at 108.8 or not...

7:28 - Saw this coming: Neil and Thornton go at it in a spirited bout. Have to give the decision to No. 22 on that one. He absolute pummeled Neil with shots early and often. Have a feeling these two don't like each other.

5:44 - Now Adam McQuaid and Zenon Konopka have a go. That's a heavyweight tilt right there. Both combatants slug the snot out of each other and hug 'til the refs step in.

1:20 - Thomas plays out of the paint, and it's 1-1. Colin Greening with his 12th of the year as an overaggressive Thomas gives the Sens an easy goal. Filip Kuba and Jason Spezza get the helpers. Somewhere, Roberto Luongo is nodding in agreement.

Thoughts after 20...

Couple goals, couple fights, welcome back to hockey. Pretty evenly matched period, the Senators leading the Bruins in shots 13-12, but the bounces certainly seemed to go Boston's way. They had countless chances off big rebounds from Anderson or lapses in the Ottawa defensive zone. But they'll have to bury 'em if they're going to matter.

Second Period

16:00 - Marchand and Tyler Seguin can't connect on a 2-on-1. Great chance from the Boston duo right there.

15:10 - Lucic bumps Anderson, and nobody cries foul. Open season on goaltenders? Still in business.

12:17 - Kyle Turris off a great feed from Daniel Alfredsson and it's 2-1. That's Turris' 14th point with the Sens. He's a plus-12 since making the switch from 'Yote-red to Sen-red.

10:55 - Things getting chippy here in Boston. Neil hits David Krejci and Lucic wants to fight him but Neil won't do that. Lucic later boards a Senator and there's no call. Lucic got away with one.

6:32 - Erik Karlsson makes it 3-1 in favor of the Senators. Just an absolute bullet from the 21-year-old defensemen. This guy has to be the favorite for the Norris right now, right?

2:02 - The Bruins have been severely outworked in this period, and it's showing. Ottawa's relentless on the puck, and in all three zones. Easy to see why they're on the cusp of blowing the doors off this game...

:45 - Goodness! Kuba leaves Rich Peverley too open at the blue-line, lets the Boston winger streak in uncontested, and No. 49 dishes it off to Lucic in the slot, who connects for his 18th goal of the season. Not sure why Kuba would leave Boston's best player-maker (this year) that open.

Thoughts after 40...

While the late period goal erases much of the concern, let's not kid ourselves -- that was a horrible period by the Boston Bruins. They were outworked in all three areas of the ice, evident by Ottawa's 13 shots in the period compared to just five for the Bruins, and they're extremely lucky to not be down by three.

Boston's going to have to get back to the basics and win the battles if they're stealing at least a point tonight. The good news? They've outscored the Senators five to two in the third period of their games. The bad news? They've haven't trailed after two periods in those games.

Third Period

19:14 - Seguin with a burst of speed and he gets hauled down by Karlsson. Bruins going back on the man-advantage.

17:40 - Hey, there's the pesky Marchand. The B's are now 2-for-2 on the power-play as 5-foot-8 Marchand outworks the defense of Chris Phillips to knot this one up at three goals a side.

16:28 - It almost trickles through again! The Patrice Bergeron is making their money right now. Holy smokes.

16:00 - The Bruins are now 2-for-2 on the power-play tonight, and have converted on four of their last seven.

12:51 - ....Uh, that's a goal? Dennis Seidenberg fires it from the red-line and it goes through Anderson's legs and into the net. Bruins take the lead for the first time tonight.

12:30 - Joe Corvo now with a two-point night, his first since Dec. 17.

7:10 - The Ottawa defense is intent on letting the Bruins have as many breakaways as they desire.

3:45 - Thomas stopping the door in crunch-time here for the Bruins. He's now stopped 27 of 30 on the night.

2:48 - Nick Foligno to the box for tripping. Bad penalty for No. 71 to take right there.

4.0 - Spezza with the cross-check, and that'll kill any comeback.

0.0 - Bruins win, 4-3. More from the locker room in a bit.

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