Um, the Bruins Won Too
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by Rawbeezeitz
Last night was a great night for Boston sports, and the winning all started at the TD BankNorth Garden. With the other goings on in New England sports, a mere 10,290 people were in attendance, and that figure is inflated. However, the loyal legion of Bruins faithful were treated to three goals from the home team, a solid goalkeeping performance, a bloody fight, and a 3-1 win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
A dull first period was invigorated by a scrap between two big men that resulted in a delay to clean blood off the ice. Zdeno Chara (6’ 9” 251 lbs) and David Koci (6’ 6” 238 lbs) went at it pretty hard. Last year, Chara didn’t have a single fighting penalty, which irked Bruins fans considering his size, his leadership role, and the overall lack of team success. Koci, for his part, instigated the fight, but at first it was with Scott Thornton, not Chara. However, Zdeno has shown a great deal of frustration as of late and jumped in on the battle. He pinched from the blue line twice in Montreal, and each time the Canadiens broke away for a goal in their 6-1 drubbing.
Koci had suffered a broken nose only a few games earlier, but still put up a good fight against the Human Tree. Perhaps this fight also had some political motivation as Chara was born in what is now Slovakia, and Koci was born in what is now the Czech Republic.
The fight seemed to pump both teams up, the Bruins more so as Chara destroyed Koci’s face. The few fans in attendance also began to make some noise.
A scoreless first period was followed by some nifty offensive performances by young up and comers. Philip Kessel (just turned 20) had a pair of goals, sandwiching a power play goal for Chicago by 19 year old Jonathan Toews.
Kessel’s second goal was a magnificent individual effort. In a one-on-one situation, he circumnavigated around the lone defenseman, seemingly losing his balance, and the puck, but he held on to both the puck and himself, slapping a wrist shot in between Nikolai Khabibulin’s legs to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
Glen Metropolit added a third goal in the final period. Tim Thomas had another good game, stopping 26 of 27 shots, including a myriad of chances late in the third with an empty Blackhawks’ net. The only goal he allowed was Toews' power play goal.
Thomas still leads the League in Goals Against Average (1.20) and Save Percentage (.962). However, this was only his fifth start. Manny Fernandez (3.93 GAA, .832 Save %) has started Boston’s four other games. But there is a clear difference in the success of the team with Thomas in the pipes. The Bruins are 4-1 with Thomas in net, and are 2-2 with Fernandez.
In this game, the Bruins made an effort to drive to the net from any forward position. Against Montreal, the Bruins did not cause much havoc in front of the Canadiens’ goal, nor were the able to get off any close range shots. But against Chicago, there was clearly a determination to crash the net, and it paid off.
Glen Murray continues to struggle. He hit a hard slapshot in the first, but it was seemingly aimed at the logo on Khabibulin’s chest. Then he fanned on a delicious crossing pass during a second period power play, allowing Chicago to clear the zone and abort what was turning into a nice scoring opportunity. The veteran winger has seen a steady decrease in production since 2002-03.
The Bruins may have only drawn 10,000 or so fans, and were probably crushed in TV ratings by the World Series and Boston College games, but at least the team broadcasts home games. The Blackhawks do not broadcast home games, thanks to an outdated fear of irritating season ticket holders and/or reducing attendance.
The Bruins will play next on Saturday, hosting the Philadelphia Flyers. The time of the game has once again been moved up to 4 PM.
Photo credits: AP Photos/Michael Dwyer
