Following the 2013 Bruins’ (signature) blowing a lead in the final seven minutes of Tuesday night’s contest in Pittsburgh, dropping yet another game that saw ‘em skate with a lead entering the third period only to be held to nothing whilst rolling over and dying, the somewhat slumping Bruins were given the best gift imaginable with a Thursday night visit from the Eastern Conference’s bottom of the barrel Florida Panthers.
Entering play with just two wins in their last ten outings, the Panthers turned their nightmarish goaltending duties on over to the woeful
Scott Clemmensen, who led the Panthers onto the ice with a horrid 4.28 goals against average and .852 save-percentage in 11 games this year, and failed to provide any relief for the 35-year-old in an opening frame simply dominated by a frustrated Black-and-Gold attack.
Absolutely peppering Clemmensen for 16 shots in the opening twenty minutes of play, the Bruins jumped out to an early edge when
Zdeno Chara’s bomb landed in the back of the Panthers’ cage just 3:55 into play. Giving the Boston captain his second goal in as many games, good for his sixth of the year, the lead was extended on a brilliant triangle attack from
Tyler Seguin,
Brad Marchand, and
Patrice Bergeron that was capped by a Bergeron tip-in that made it all look too easy a mere 11 minutes later.
Jumping out to a 2-0 edge, and with the 25-year-old
Tuukka Rask in net, the Bruins’ ability to hang out to the lead was tested when the Panthers struck back in the second, beating Rask and company with a shorthanded marker that began and ended with the unbelievable one-man effort of
Shawn Matthias.
Burning the Boston power-play for their first shorthanded goal against this year, the middle-frame edge undoubtedly went to a Florida squad that outshot Boston 12-to-7, due in large part to the Panthers’ ability to draw two calls against the B’s with their speed, forcing the sans
Chris Kelly penalty-kill to (successfully) kill ‘em off.
Hey, here’s a familiar tale...
Holding a 2-0 edge entering the third, the Bruins’ ability to hold an edge in the final frame (something they’ve struggled with mightily despite a 7-3-1 record when leading after two in 2013) was tested once again, but found insurance when Boston’s
Shawn Thornton capitalized on a monstrous effort from the club’s fourth line, recording his second goal in three games, and giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead with just over seven minutes to go.
But it wasn’t your average goal, not even by the scrappy fourth line’s standards.
“ [Daniel Paille] was skating, he made a good draw pass to me, I was going to shoot but I looked up and there was someone in the lane and then the goalie was kind of challenging so I tried to hang on to it, throw it on the ice, hopefully it will bang off something,” Thornton said of his plans when he skated into the attacking zone. “But it ended up banging off something and back to the crease and I just happened to be by myself so whatever I’ll take them any way that I can get them.”
And with Thornton’s goal, the wind was promptly taken out of the Panthers’ sails, and all the B’s needed was an empty-netter, coming off the stick of
Patrice Bergeron for his eighth goal of the year, to seal the deal on a 4-1 victory on Boston ice.
Julien passes Schmidt for 2nd on all-time B’s win list
It began on Oct. 6, 2007 with a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes, and 245 wins later, Boston’s
Claude Julien finds himself in sole possession of the second most wins by any coach in the Bruins’ 89-year history. Shuffling his way past a tie with Mr. Bruin
Milt Schmidt with tonight’s victory, the gap between Julien and No. 1,
Art Ross, sits at a certainly attainable 111 victories, but that’s not something on Julien’s mind in 2013.
“I’m sure he’s humbled by it,” B’s captain
Zdeno Chara said of Julien’s milestone tonight. “He’s been around for a long time, and he’s a well-respected coach, and he’s doing a good job, so congrats to him.”
Crazy though, isn’t it? It seemed as if it was only yesterday when I wrote blogs calling for Claude to be shown the door, and it’s amazing when you see the Boston front office’s ability to hang with their bench-boss, even when he was the guy behind the bench for the club’s 3-0 choke-job to Philly back in 2010, something that’d lead to walking papers for just about any coach in all of hockey. Or sports, even.
More on all that tomorrow...
Fourth line continues to shine, first line continues to play terrible hockey
What if I told you that the Bruins’ fourth line wingers,
Shawn Thornton and
Danny Paille have combined for more goals in their four three games than top-line wingers
Milan Lucic and
Nathan Horton have in their last ten?
Crazy, right? Or flat out unacceptable?
No matter the scope you choose to view such a stat, the B’s will undoubtedly take the offense from any line, and over the last week it’s been courtesy of the club’s "grind line."
"The players on our line I think we’re very straight forward, we have to play a certain way, we’re not creative really," Thornton said of his line's recent contributions in the offensive zone. "Listen you don’t want everyone playing like us, we’re at combined 30 goals a year if we’re lucky. We’re going to do what we’re going to do when we’re out there but everyone has their role and I think everyone’s been doing it pretty well this year. I think our records pretty good."
Of course, Thornton
does have a point regarding the offensive skills (or lack thereof) regarding the Bruins' fourth line, but if the top line put in the same effort as the fourth, there's no doubt that this Boston forward core would border on unstoppable.
Up next...
On Saturday, the Bruins will wrap up their mini-homestand with a visit from the Washington Capitals. Overcoming a 2-0 deficit on Thursday night, the Caps come into Boston looking to maintain an edge over Boston established in the clubs' only meeting in 2013 thus far, a Washington victory that saw
Eric Fehr and company overcome a 3-0 hole before downing the Bruins in overtime.
Working in the Bruins' favor, however, is the fact that it's St. Patrick's Day weekend in Boston and the Garden (even for a matinee) will be an absolutely drunken powderkeg of noise. Oh, what fun in the Hub.
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