As we pointed out earlier, David Krejci and Blake Wheeler, two players who have admittedly underachieved this season, came up huge with Wheeler lighting the lamp twice and adding an assist, while Krejci got a goal and an assist. But all around the Bruins were a completely different team tonight, and now the key will be to keep it going.
Miroslav Satan looked pretty good in his first game since last June when he won the Stanley Cup with Pittsburgh. Satan was a plus-2 with one shot in 14:06 on ice. He showed some really nifty stick-handling skills on that one shot in the third period and could be a welcome addition to the suddenly Patrice Bergeron-less Bruins.
The Blackhawks, probably the NHL’s hottest team, are in town at TD Garden on Thursday, so another big test awaits the Bruins at home. The key will be to play the same way they did tonight and maybe even better. They’re capable of it and now it’s time to do it.
Third period, 4:39, Bruins 4-1: The Senators have definitely tried to rattle the Bruins through some cheap-shots and fights but the Bruins have done a good job overall maintaining their cool and discipline.
Third period, 9:20, Bruins 4-1: Chris Neil just laid a vicious elbow and the Bruins get a power play out of it. They’re 2-for-4 so far. Neil also got a 10-minute misconduct, and if you ask this scribe, he should be suspended. That was clearly intent to injure and a dirty play.
Third period, 13:06, Bruins 4-1: Matt Hunwick is in the penalty box for hooking and the Senators are on their fifth power play, a 4-on-3 advantage. They’re 1-for-4 so far.
Third period, 13:35, Bruins 4-1: Derek Morris is in the sin bin for interference and the Senators were on their fourth power play but Milan Michalek just nullified it with an interference infraction of his own.
The Bruins were lucky there that Michalek took a dumb penalty. The referees have been calling everything and he should’ve known better.
Alex Kovalev has an assist tonight, but otherwise the enigmatic winger has been a non-factor.
Miroslav Satan has looked a bit rusty, but at least he hasn’t made any glaring or costly mistakes.
Third period, 17:28, Bruins 4-1: Blake Wheeler and Pascal Leclaire just collided in front of the net and both were slow to get up but appear to be OK.
Third period, 19:08, Bruins 4-1: We’re under way in the third period and now we should see if the Bruins can finish off a crucial Northeast Division game on the road.
End of second period, Bruins 4-1: The Sens definitely played better that period, but it still wasn’t good enough and the Bruins take a three-goal cushion into the third period.
Ottawa looked as if it might stage a comeback with an early power-play goal, and the Bruins bent but didn’t break. Many times this season they have unraveled in similar situations, but tonight they’re standing their ground and should be happy with their effort thus far.
Hopefully Andrew Ference‘s injury isn’t that serious as he’s been a useful and versatile member of that Bruins blue line. The rest of the defense will have to keep it simple and rack up some more minutes, especially captain Zdeno Chara.
Second period, 2:44, Bruins 4-1: Claude Julien calls a timeout as he must sense the Senators starting to grab some momentum. Also, his defensive troops must be tired as they’re down to five men with Andrew Ference out.
Second period, 6:52, Bruins 4-1: Shawn Thornton and Matt Carkner just went toe-to-toe and we will have to call it a draw. Good for Thornton going after Carkner after Carkner instigated a mini-fight with captain Zdeno Chara earlier.
Second period, 8:12, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins failed to convert on that power play and are now 2-for-4 tonight with the man advantage.
The Bruins don’t look as intense as they were in the first period, but they’re still playing well and luckily Ottawa is really struggling. The Sens are outshooting the Bruins 8-6 this period, but they still can’t seem to get their game where it needs to be.
Second period, 10:33, Bruins 4-1: The Bruins are on their fourth power play as Jarkko Ruutu just got called for tripping. They’re 2-for-3 so far tonight.
Second period, 13:48, Bruins 4-1: The Sens are going on their third power play as Steve Begin was called for slashing. Ottawa is 1-for-2 tonight.
The Bruins are playing a little less disciplined this period and need to be careful that they don’t let the Senators back in this one.
NESN is reporting that Andrew Ference will not return tonight and the Bruins suffer yet another injury. Ference has been playing really well lately, filling in for other injured players, and now the Bruins will have to fill his spot, maybe with Adam McQuaid.
Second period, 15:04, Bruins 4-1: A Johnny Boychuk blast just cracked the glass behind Pascal Leclaire and there is a long delay in Ottawa.
Second period, 16:29, Bruins 4-1: Marco Sturm just broke in toward the net but was tripped up by Anton Volchenkov, allowing Pascal Leclaire to poke the puck away from Sturm. Volchenkov did get called for hooking on the play though and the Bruins are on their third power play. They’re 2-for-2 so far.
Second period, 17:19, Bruins 4-1: With Blake Wheeler in the sin bin for boarding, the Senators have converted on their second power play and trail by three. Filip Kuba gets the goal and the Bruins are off to a tough start this period as they also lost Andrew Ference to an injury in the first minute.
End of first period, Bruins 4-0: Vladimir Sobotka and Milan Michalek just did the tango at the end of the period. The Senators are trying to get their bench going and to get under the skin of the Bruins in an effort to get back into a game that has been totally dominated by the Bruins thus far.
The Bruins have definitely met Claude Julien’s challenge so far and have played a much more spirited and controlled game. Julien said that a lot of players aren’t carrying their weight, and if you’ve watched the team carefully, the names Blake Wheeler and David Krejci — among others — had to come to mind. Both have been everywhere tonight and doing the little things like driving to the net to create offense. They’re going to the dirty areas and getting ugly goals. That’s what Julien wanted and they’ve delivered.
The power play, which has been anemic this season, is also 2-for-2. The main reason for their success is they’re not looking for the pretty play but rather doing what we said above, going to the net and creating havoc.
First period, 0:40, Bruins 4-0: Matt Carkner just basically jumped Zdeno Chara and instigated a fight with him. Give Carkner credit, he held his own and took down Chara, a Greco-Roman wrestler. But how does Carkner not get an instigator penalty?
First period, 2:43, Bruins 4-0: Blake Wheeler has been credited with the Bruins’ first goal and Andrew Ference remains without a goal this season. Ference gets the primary assist.
First period, 6:15, Bruins 4-0: The Bruins just chased Brian Elliot from the Ottawa net and he will be replaced by Pascal Leclaire after Mark Recchi made it 4-0 with the Bruins’ second power-play goal.
Johnny Boychuk got his second helper on the goal and Derek Morris also gets an assist. The Bruins are 2-for-2 on the power play, something we haven’t been able to say much this season.
First period, 8:07, Bruins 3-0: The Bruins take a commanding 3-0 lead on a Blake Wheeler goal and are going on another power play as well. They’re 1-for-1 tonight and things keep getting better here for Boston. Maybe Claude Julien should rip them every night!
David Krejci made a beautiful fake pass and then threw the puck on net where Wheeler tipped it home.
First period, 9:19, Bruins 2-0: The Bruins killed off the Senators’ first power play and Ottawa is 0-for-1.
The Bruins are playing a great game so far and clearly have a lot more passion and meaning to their game tonight. Apparently they took Claude Julien‘s challenge to heart and are answering the bell so far.
First period, 12:36, Bruins 2-0: Dennis Wideman is in the sin bin for a questionable delay-of-game call. Wideman simply deflected a shot into the stands. It was clearly unintentional.
First period, 13:55, Bruins 2-0: Once again, “The Wrecking Ball” Mark Recchi goes to the net and creates havoc in front. David Krejci was able to grab the loose puck and poke it home for a power-play goal and a 2-0 Bruins lead.
The Bruins are doing a great job right now of making life miserable for Sens goalie Brian Elliot. They’re driving to the net, throwing anything they can on him and knocking him off his game.
First period, 15:37, Bruins 1-0: The Bruins are on their first power play of the night. They were 0-for-3 last night in New York.
First period, 18:14, Bruins 1-0: Congrats to Andrew Ference who just scored his first goal of the season, giving the Bruins an early 1-0 lead. David Krejci and Johnny Boychuk get the helpers.
A great job by Ference who didn’t see a shot from the point for Boychuk so he rushed towards the net and then threw it on an unsuspecting Brian Elliot.
First period, 19:47: We’re under way in Ottawa where the Bruins are playing their first game without Patrice Bergeron and with Miroslav Satan.
7:20 p.m: Almost time for faceoff in Ottawa and there was some good news on Patrice Bergeron coming from Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli who spoke to the media at 6:45 p.m.. NESN reporter Naoko Funayama just tweeted this from Scotia Bank Place: “Chiarelli says Bergeron has broken thumb, will be splinted but can practice with team. Could be ok to return in 2 weeks.” That is a lot better than some earlier reports that said Bergeron could miss up to six weeks and possibly the Winter Olympics.
We were almost right with our lineup projections earlier but we had our centers on the third and fourth lines wrong. Here’s what the Bruins lineup will be tonight:
Bruins
Forwards
Marco Sturm–Marc Savard–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Miroslav Satan
Daniel Paielle–Steve Begin-Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton–Vladimir Sobotka–Byron Bitz
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Dennis Wideman
Andrew Ference–Johnny Boychuck
Matt Hunwick–Derek Morris
Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
4:27 p.m.: The Bruins are in Ottawa for the second of a back-to-back two-game road trip. After being lambasted by their head coach Claude Julien following a lackluster effort in a 3-2 loss at New York last night, the onus is on the Bruins to answer the bell with a 60-minute effort.”These are opportunities that we just can’t waste,” forward Blake Wheeler told the media after the loss. “We can’t wait and say with 20-something games left, ‘OK, let’s step on the gas now. That will be good enough.’ We’ve got to start now. Talk is pretty cheap. It’s all about going out and doing it. Once we see that on the ice night in and night out, then we can start talking and maybe get our swagger back.”
The Bruins (21-13-7, 49 points) really have no choice as this is a huge game in the standings with the Senators (22-16-4, 48 points) having the chance to leapfrog the Bruins in the Northeast Division and Eastern Conference. Luckily the Bruins have had their way with the Senators this season winning two games in a shootout and shutting out their division rivals in the other to go 3-0-0 against Ottawa. Tim Thomas (11-9-5 with a 2.36 GAA, .920 save percentage, four shutouts), who will be between the pipes tonight has owned the Senators recently, beating them ten straight times.
Old friend Alex Kovalev is en fuego for the Senators coming off a five-point (four goals; one assist) effort on Sunday. When Kovalev is on, he’s on, but the problem is, he’s not on often. But bad news for the B’s is that he is right now and as a longtime nemesis of Thomas while with the Habs, the Bruins will need to pay attention to the shifty winger. Expect Brian Elliot (10-9-3, 2.70 GAA, .902 save percentage, two shutouts) to get the nod for Ottawa.
The Bruins will be without the services of their scoring leader Patrice Bergeron as he injured his thumb in last night’s loss at New York. According to TSN.com and ESPN.com, Bergeron could miss anywhere from two to six weeks. He was at Mass General for further examination today and results were not yet known.
Taking Bergeron’s spot in the lineup will be the team’s newest member Miroslav Satan. It is not known yet where Julien will pencil Satan in but here’s this scribe’s best guess at what the lineups will look like:
Bruins
Forwards
Marco Sturm–Marc Savard–Mark Recchi
Blake Wheeler–David Krejci–Miroslav Satan
Daniel Paielle–Vladimir Sobotka–Michael Ryder
Shawn Thornton–Steve Begin–Byron Bitz
Defensemen
Zdeno Chara–Dennis Wideman
Andrew Ference–Johnny Boychuck
Matt Hunwick–Derek Morris
Goaltenders
Tim Thomas
Tuukka Rask
Senators
Forwards
Ryan Shannon–Mike Fisher–Alex Kovalev
Milan Michalek–Peter Regin–Nick Foligno
Jarkko Ruutu–Chris Kelly–Chris Neil
Jonathan Cheechoo–Jesse Winchester–Shean Donovan
Defenseman
Chris Phillips–Anton Volchenkov
Filip Kuba–Chris Campoli
Erik Karlsson–Matt Carkner
Goalies
Brian Elliot
Pascal Leclaire
