Marco Sturm Strikes Twice as Bruins Ground Lightning

by abournenesn

Dec 3, 2009

Marco Sturm Strikes Twice as Bruins Ground Lightning Apparently, the Bruins' second line was sick of seeing Marc Savard stealing all the recent headlines.

On a day when it was nearly impossible to avoid Savard's name and discussion of his contract extension, the Black and Gold's second line of Marco Sturm, Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi took center stage at the TD Garden as the trio accounted for three of Boston's four goals and had a combined eight points in the 4-1 win on Wednesday.

The Bruins were outshot 40-39, but the Causeway Crew killed off all five Lightning power plays to pick up their sixth win in their last seven games.

Bruins 4, Lightning 1
TD Garden, Boston, Mass.
Dec. 2, 2009

Live Blog | Box Score | Recap

Headliner:
After looking admittedly shaky in his last outing, Tim Thomas was superb on Wednesday night, kicking aside 39 of 40 Tampa Bay shots. The Tank took a shutout into the third period before the Lightning finally lit the lamp less than two minutes into the final frame. Thomas now has seven wins on the year and is above .500 for the first time since Oct. 28.

Ageless winger Mark Recchi was all over the ice, as the veteran picked up three helpers against his former team. Recchi set up Patrice Bergeron in the first before feeding Marco Sturm twice less than three minutes apart in the second and now has 10 assists on the season and is the active career leader in the NHL with 907 in his career.

Grinder: Bergeron ended the night with a goal and two helpers to improve his team-high points total to 21. Meanwhile, Marco Sturm potted his seventh and eighth goals of the season for his first two-goal game in over a year.

Weak Link: Although he didn't receive much help, Tampa Bay netminder Mike Smith allowed four goals in the first two periods. Smith made 35 saves on 39 shots for his fifth loss of the season. He has allowed four goals or more in four of his last seven starts.

Key Moment: The Bruins dominated from the get-go, but it was a little luck that got them going as Marc Savard buried an odd tally just eight minutes into the game. His 200th career goal came on a centering pass from behind the Lightning net that took a friendly bounce off a defender and into the goal to give the B's an early 1-0 lead.

What's Next: The Bruins are heading into one of the most exciting weekends of the young season as they travel to Montreal on Friday night before coming home to host Phil Kessel and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

The B’s fell to the Habs in a shootout in early November after Patrice Bergeron sent the game into overtime with a game-tying goal with just 52 seconds left in regulation.

Montreal takes on the Sabres on Thursday in Buffalo in the midst of a three-game losing streak. The Habs dropped their last contest, a 3-0 defeat to the Maple Leafs on Tuesday night after falling to the Capitals in a shootout over the weekend.

Winger Mike Cammalleri leads Montreal with 12 goals, while Tomas Plecanec leads the team in points (25) and assists (19). Starting netminder Carey Price has struggled thus far and owns a 7-10 record with a 2.86 GAA.

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