That's How a Goalie Stands on His Head
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by Rawbeezeitz
The Bruins snapped their losing streak with an emotional 2-1 victory over the visiting Buffalo Sabres Saturday night. Zdeno Chara summed up the game best as he said "It was a very, very grinding game for us…But we survived.”
The Sabres’ initial strategy was clear: mess with goalie Tim Thomas. The Bruins goaltender has been the best player on the team this year, and one of the best goalies in the League. The Sabres finished their early offensive chances by poking at Thomas’ glove hand, drawing shoves from the Bruins’ skaters. Just 3 minutes into the game, Thomas snapped.
After making a save on a Michael Ryan shot, Thomas went after Jason Pominville, cornering the Buffalo winger against the boards, and repeatedly facewashing him. The extracurricular activity would earn Thomas a minor penalty for roughing, and a great deal of respect from his teammates, and Bruins fans.
Although it at first appeared that the Sabres were getting to Thomas, it would turn out to be his best performance of the season. He stopped 45 of 46 shots, increasing his season Save Percentage to .950. Thomas has allowed a scant 6 goals in the last 143 shots he’s faced.
The Bruins got on the board first thanks to a Marco Sturm/Marc Savard breakaway during a 4 on 4. Breakaways have pretty much been the only way the Bruins can score as of late, so it’s nice to see that they are executing them well. The goal was scored by Sturm, tipping in Savard’s pass. It was Sturm’s 7th goal of the season.
As usual, the Bruins were not able to add onto their lead before Buffalo came back. This time, the Sabres mounted a solid shorthanded offensive. Daniel Paille slapped the puck past Thomas from the low wing. He was set-up by the trademark Sabre system of puck and player rotation and counter-rotation that is more commonly seen when they are on the man advantage, not shorthanded.
The Bruins responded quickly and with style on the same power play. Chara passed from the point to Denis Wideman, also on the blue line. Wideman slapped a shot, that Ryan Miller saved, but the rebound went to Chuck Kobasew who backhanded it into the net for the game winner.
Now, when I say backhanded, I mean backhanded. The puck rebounded in mid-air, to Kobasew’s right (his backhand side), Kobasew’s back was turned to Miller, but he was able to somehow fungo the puck in the air without looking. The puck bounced off the ice, past Miller, and into the net. It was the most amazing goal I’ve seen all season.
You can watch the goal if you go to http://bruins.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=Recap&seas=20072008>ype=2&gnum=235 and click on “Game Highlights.” Unfortunately, there is no slow motion replay of the goal. I’ll be scouring YouTube and Google for better video of the score.
Speaking of video, I know some would like to see a clip of the hit Aaron Ward took from Francis Bouillon. Here is a link to the NESN broadcast of the play. The replay of the hit comes at the end of the video. Actually, the hit is off camera. You can see Bouillon exiting the box, skating toward Ward. The camera pans to the right and the two go off screen. When the camera pans back, Ward is down on the ice, with Bouillon skating away from him.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXyYUNOtHh4
On a recent highlights show, NESN had some non-broadcast tape of the hit, and it’s pretty bad. It was obvious that Bouillon intentionally elbowed Ward in the head. However, there will be no disciplinary action by the NHL. This doesn’t surprise me as Francis plays for Montreal, and we all know that the Habs can get away with whatever they want.
Ward should be able to rejoin the Bruins shortly. He suffered a concussion, but not a major one. However, Patrice Bergeron is not expected to be back anytime soon. According to his agent, the Bruins center will be out until at least the end of this calendar year.
The Bruins will continue their stretch of divisional games as they host Toronto on Thursday night.
Source: BostonBruins.com
Photo Credit: AP/Winslow Townson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXyYUNOtHh4
