Krejci and Zdeno Chara scored goals to wake up a previously dormant
Boston power play, and Tim Thomas stopped 31 shots for his first shutout
since Dec. 21, leading the Bruins to a 5-0 win over the Calgary Flames
on Saturday.
The victory, which moved the Bruins
into a tie with Philadelphia for seventh in the Eastern Conference, was
just the third in the last 15 home games for Boston. Calgary, in ninth
place in the West, moved a step closer to playoff elimination, coming
into the game six points behind both Colorado and Detroit.
The Bruins, playing without injured
center Marc Savard, were saddled with an 0-for-22 power play slump
coming in. But after Savard met pregame with his teammates for the
first time since sustaining a concussion Dec. 7, the power play bounced
back.
Seidenberg, scoring his first goal as a
Bruin, and Krejci both beat Miikka Kiprosov with slap shots, and Chara
took a pass from Krejci and walked down the slot and beat Kiprosov with a
wrist shot.
Thomas, the defending Vezina Trophy
winner who has lost his No. 1 job to rookie Tuukka Rask, won for the
first time in his last four starts. He has started only once in the last
six games.
The Flyers, who lost 4-1 at Pittsburgh
on Saturday, are ahead of Boston in the win column, but the Bruins,
four points ahead of ninth-place Atlanta, have a game in hand.
Sixth-place Montreal was two points ahead of both entering Saturday
night's game against New Jersey.
Five different Bruins had two points
apiece, including Krejci, who has had at least two points in six of the
last nine games.
The Bruins scored their most goals in a
home game since a 6-4 win over Atlanta Dec. 23.
Thomas notched his fifth shutout of
the season. A potential threat to the shutout came in the third period
when Boston's Johnny Boychuk received a five-minute major and game
misconduct for elbowing, but the Flames managed just three shots on goal
during the long power play.
Seidenberg, who had seven assists in
12 games since the Bruins acquired him from Florida, broke a scoreless
tie at 14:08 of the first period. Krejci and Chara then struck 4:46
apart early in the second.
Patrice Bergeron set up Mark Recchi's
goal and scored one of his own as the Bruins chased Kiprosov in the
third period.
Notes
Boston's Marco Sturm had an
assist for his first point in eight games. … The Bruins host Buffalo
on Monday night and then visit New Jersey on Tuesday, with both teams
potential first-round playoff opponents. … D Andrew Ference, who has
been in and out of the lineup with groin problems, was out with an
undisclosed injury, while Matt Hunwick, a healthy scratch the past three
games, returned. … The Flames have lost the first two games of a
crucial three-game road trip that ends in Washington on Sunday. …
Calgary D Jay Bouwmeester played in his 417th straight game, the
longest-active streak in the NHL.