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Tavares beats Bruins in Boston; Rask injured, not making trip to NY

March 3, 2012, 5:17 PM ET [15 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Things were goin' swimmingly for the Boston Bruins to begin today's affair with the New York Islanders. As the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 lead behind a Milan Lucic power-play tally, assisted by Brian Rolston (his first point since coming back to Boston), Josh Bailey's 10th goal of the season would come late in the frame, tying things up 1-1 through 20.

But as Evgeni Nabokov and his magical glove continued to dazzle, the dam broke halfway through the second period when Tuukka Rask went down favoring his knee.

Leaving the game with some help from Joe Corvo and Greg Zanon, the 37-year-old Tim Thomas would come in to finish the night, and it didn't take long for the Isles to take advantage of a guy that spent half the game watching from the bench.
Jumping out to a 2-1 lead when Matt Moulson's 28th goal of the season beat Thomas, the Bruins would end the period with 15 shots on Nabokov, but had nothing to show for it until the third period.

After failing to convert on a power-play early in the third, the Bruins struck when Tyler Seguin stormed in down the wing and potted his second goal in as many games, giving him 22 on the season. It would be the closest the Bruins would come to victory on a listless finish in the Hub.

Falling behind when Johnny Tavares tipped a Moulson shot through Thomas -- tallying his 5th goal in 11 career games against Boston -- the Bruins would fall to the Islanders for the first time this year. But the game-winning-goal didn't come without a bit of controversy, as most thought that the play was dead due to an icing call that never came to fruition.

"I didn’t touch it," Seguin said, when asked about the non-icing. "Their guy touched it and we didn’t hear the linesman say anything so we all kind of stopped and I guess in the end it’s kind of our fault. You know, usually people always say play right until the whistle is blown and we didn’t do that."

Prolonging Boston's streak of inconsistency to an unfathomable 51 days without consecutive wins.

Rask not making road trip; Hutchinson recalled

It's never good when a goaltender can't get off the ice under his own power. The 24-year-old Rask didn't need one trainer, nope, he instead needed a trainer and two skaters to help him off the ice. Seen after the loss with crutches, the loss of Boston's back-up could be more than major given the Bruins' heavy workload on the way, who have 15 games in the next 28 days.

"It is what it is," Claude Julien said about losing Rask at this time of year. "You’re hoping to be able to utilize your two goaltenders in this stretch because the next two weeks, there’s about four games per week, but it’s not, so we’ll have to make do some way."

The only goaltender with NHL experience in the B's system, Anton Khudobin, is out with an injured wrist, leaving Michael Hutchinson as the call-up from the AHL. The 22-year-old Hutchinson is 6-11-0 this year with a .920 save-percentage for the P-Bruins, and will join the club for their two-game road swing in New York and then Toronto.

Up next

Quick turnaround for the Bruins, as they'll head to Madison Square Garden to play the East-best New York Rangers. The Bruins are 0-1-1 against the Blueshirts this year. In their last meeting, the 30-year-old Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 42 Boston shots he faced.
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