The Boston Bruins have ended November with their franchise best month since December of 1969. They are without a doubt the hottest team in the NHL. The Bruins were sitting in the basement when the calendar flipped to November, and knew that this month was going to be pivotal for them if they had any pipe dreams of a repeat hoist come summer. The black and gold answered their critics and themselves going 12-0-1, giving up only one of 26 possible points, that going to the western conference's Red Wings. Last night opened a home and home series with the division rival Maple Leafs up in Toronto, league leading point getter Phil Kessel once again entangled in the story lines. There was a lot of talk about how much this game meant to Toronto, who had gotten throttled on two earlier meetings with the Bruins to the tune of 13-2, including a 7-0 slashing on home ice. Still, Toronto found themselves at the top of the Northeast Division heading into the clash.
Both teams came out strong, with Toronto notching a PP tally from Grabovski to get the scoring started. Milan Lucic added a PP goal of his own to tie the game in a fast paced first which saw the Bruins have a slight edge in possession and shots, 17-16. Tim Thomas was once again a major factor, in the process adding to a career best win streak at 9 in a row. David Krejci opened the second period scoring with his fourth of the year. Joffrey Lupul tied it up a few minutes later before a Zdeno Chara put the Bruins ahead for good who has been red hot as of late with his 5th of the year. Three third period goals by the Bruins, Pouliot(3), Lucic(10) second of the night, and Marchand(9) added an empty netter, finished off the Maple Leafs in front of a sellout crowd. The score was not completely indicitive of the type of game played. It was a fast, physical, and even game up until about halfway through the third period, where not many teams can play with the Bruins. It definitely had a playoff feel to it, and it think it is safe to say Boston wants no part of helping Kessel with any success as they seem to have his number pretty well dialed up. Boston will be home at the Garden for the second half of this home and home Saturday night. The Leafs will want to extract some revenge, and once again the division lead will be up for grabs. Phaneuf should be a bit fired up due to some late game physicality he came out on the short end of, and I would not be surprised to see Colton Orr sitting on the visitors side. I expect another physical matchup with these two original six franchises.
With that, November is gone and this team will need to continue their hot streak if they want to stay in a playoff spot. The division lead looks to continue changing hands due to whoever has a night off, and the eight Eastern Conference playoff spots are separated by a measly 6 points, with 9,10,and 11 less than 13. December has not started off to bad though. We woke up this morning and learned that Timmy has been named the NHL first star for the entire month of November. To go along with that David Krejci has been inked to a three year extension. The news conference will be held at 1:00pm on NESN. I think this is a great move by Cam and Peter. There have been a lot of trade rumors lately involving David due to his slow start. It was my opinion that he was a franchise player and someone to continue to build your team around. Apparently management felt the same, and maybe the security of the contract will take some pressure off of 46 and he will get back to his normal level of play. For everyone keeping track, that is a huge UFA taken off the to do list come the off season. Big decisions are still to be made with Rask, Marchand, Lucic, and Horton set to come off the books. Happy Holidays and here's to the boys making this holiday season even more magical. It all starts Saturday night at 7:07. Let's Go Black and Gold!!
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