Claude Julien said it best, "I do not know what I will get from this line shuffle, but I know what I'm not getting currently." Fast forward 24 hours to Thursday night, and only the 4th line remained intact as the new look Bruins throttled the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-2. Matt Bartkowski was re-assigned to Providence pre game to make room for the return of Steven Kampfer. David Krejci returned to the lineup after missing three games with a core injury. With the exception of still injured Adam Mcquaid, the Bruins were ready for Toronto and the NHL's current hottest line. Kesselmania was upon us, the puck dropped, and so did the gloves of Shawn Thornton. Instant spark and the B's were off and firing on all cylinders. The Bruins peppered Gustavsson with 48 shots, snuck 6 by including 2 on a much better looking PP (thank you David Krejci). Balanced scoring was on display at the Garden including three point nights from Chara, Ference, Lucic, and Seguin. It was the first 3 point game of Tyler's career, and his line certainly looked to be the sharpest on Thursday night. Tyler is still being slightly too unselfish at times, but it is very hard to critique him too harshly. He has been Boston's best forward this year so far, I would just love to see him shoot some more. Lucic played his best game of the year. The crushing power forward had his feet moving, had 4 hits on the night, and did an excellent job of matching Seguins speed and offensive zone presence. There appeared to be some good chemistry there, including each setting up the other on a pair of 3rd period goals. Centering that line was veteran, and newly named alternate captain, Chris Kelly. Kelly played a phenomenal 3 zone game and he seemed to have no problems heading that line with power and speed on his sides. Bergeron was again great in the defensive zone and added another point on the year with a beautiful top shelf bullet. He led the team with 9 shots. Phil Kessel finished the night minus-1 with 0 points. "Thank You Kessel" could be heard chanted very loudly following Tyler Seguin's goal.
Great defensive game was played by all 6 D-men. Obviously Z and Ference had 3 point nights, and Kampfer also picked up a helper. This was the result of hard work, smart pinches, neutral zone awareness, and excellent puck cycling. Not showing up in the box score was the impressive play of Joe Corvo. I know every blog I mention him, but he has not had a bad game yet this year. He has been such an improvement on the power play in particular, and his style certainly seems to have caught on. Seidenberg logged 22:25 of hard-nosed strong defense time, second to only Chara, at 25:23. Johnny Boychuk did not have his best game and was on the ice for both goals, but also made some strong pinches and had some nice body work along the boards. Once again Timmy Thomas was strong in net, stopping 26 of 28 shots. He was not perfect, but tonight the B's did not need him to be.
The Bruins took advantage of a team that played the night before, and will look to do the same Saturday night. The San Jose Sharks come to town after playing in New Jersey Friday night. Unlike Phil Kessel, "Jumbo" Joe Thornton was loved by Bruins fans. We were shocked and saddened when the franchise traded him away back in 2005. I wonder how he will be received this year after some of his comments last year regarding the Bruins and league discipline ties and the Paciorety incident. I would not be the least bit surprised for the boo birds that sung to Kessel to still be around for Jumbo. San Jose will be very tough and always are, well until the playoffs. They have been a very consistant playoff qualifier and are usually in the running for the President's trophy. The Sharks have been very shaky this year, only having one win (1-4-0) and having lost 3 straight going into New Jersey. They traded away a lot of their scoring in Dany Heatley and Devin Setoguchi, but got a rock solid defenseman in return from Minnesota, Brent Burns. The big question mark will be Martin Havlat, a lot of talent but a lot of frustration lately. They also picked up Michael Handzus from the Kings, and will continue to bolster some top tier talent in Thornton, Pavelski, and Marleau. Second year standout Logan Couture will look to build on a very solid rookie campaign. Expect a difficult but winnable matchup Saturday night. Do not let San Jose's record fool you, they are a top tier team and a favorite to come out of the West. The puck drops at 7:00.
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