The rock 'em sock 'em B's were in top form as the Black and Gold accumulated 46 penalty minutes against the Canes, including a pair of fighting majors, a misconduct and a handful of those classic Causeway roughing calls.
The Bruins proved early this season that, just like last year, they're not going to take any guff from anyone — no matter the score nor time of game.
In the second period, former Bruin Andrew Alberts came up high on left winger Marco Sturm along the boards. The three-year B's blue-liner wasn't given a free pass in any way, shape or form. Center Marc Savard swarmed the 6-foot-4, 220-pounder immediately after the high hit, but that was the least Alberts would see of it as he was later reprimanded by colonel Shawn Thornton.
"I think Albie plays on the edge. He's a hard-nosed player," Thornton told ESPN. "I thought there were a couple questionable hits, so I felt it needed to be addressed."
So as promised, Thornton addressed the issue with a third-period pummeling of Alberts, with whom he played in Boston during the 2007-08 season.
"It is not fun when you have to fight a friend, but if you play that game, then sometimes you have to answer the bell, and that's all that was," he added. "I think it was very big of him to step up and get [the gloves] off, so credit to him."
Although it's only the second game of the season, Bruins fans are used to this type of loyalty, especially when it comes to Thornton. The Black and Gold's enforcer made a statement last year when it comes to cheap shots, and both he and Milan Lucic carried it into this season with a bang at the Garden.
"I mean, we always talk about sticking up for each other," said Savard after the Bruins' win. "I thought it was a dirty hit from what I saw. It doesn't matter the time of game because you are always going to stick up for your teammates. They would do the same for me, especially Thornton and Lucic."
Even newcomer Derek Morris sees the cohesiveness just three days into the season.
“Everybody in this room cares for each other,’’ Morris told the Globe. “We don’t just like each other. We care about each other. We’re going to have five guys in there, whether we win or lose. We’re going to have everybody in there to stick up for each other.’’
