Timmy Steals One, Streak At 9

Back to back shutouts. Over 222 straight minutes of scoreless play on the road. The reigning Vezina and Conn Smythe winner, and "Best Goalie On Earth" (Thank you Jack Edwards) looks like he has regained his magical form from last year. The Bruins weathered the storm early and capitilized on the only real mistake by the Habs at the Bell Centre Monday night. At 15:41 Andrew Ference potted his second of the year after some nifty back to back passes by Kelly and Peverley. Peverley found a wide open Ference crashing to the slot and a blown assignment by Yanick Weber gave the B's the 1-0 lead. Tim Thomas took care of the rest. He was steller, and the Bruins needed him to be. Despite doing a pretty decent job of keeping Montreal's scoring chances to the outside and not giving up a lot of real good opportunities, the black and gold were still heavily outshot 33-18. Couple that with a night of bad penalties, mostly by Benoit Pouliot who picked up a hooking and double minor for high sticking on PK Swan Dive, and theres a recipe for disaster against the quick puck moving Canadiens. A very good defensive zone game and some great shot blocking helped out a lot, but Montreal certainly carried the play and had some really good shifts in the offensive zone. A win is a win, and Boston has found a way to grind some of them out, but I do not think there is anyone who watched that game that could say the B's didnt steal that one. Carey Price had a very good game as well, figuring into the 3rd star spot for the evening. While his work load appeared to be less than Thomas's, he had to make some very nice saves in order to keep Montreal in it. With the win Boston moved themselves into 1st place in the Northeast Division and up to second in the Eastern Conference.

With what has become the most anticipated game of the year for Bruins fans, Wednesday night the boys meet up with Buffalo. Since "the hit heard round the world" and the lack of response, there has been a lot of talk about how the Sabres will extract their retribution. While I can say I do not believe Lucic will have a problem with either of the two in Buffalo who are willing to go, McCormick and Gaustaud, I am not sure what is going to happen. Lucic has been much less willing to drop the gloves since he has become an integral part of this offense and has been told by management to limit the occurences. That being said, I think if challenged, he has to answer the bell. In no way shape or form am I comparing his "hit" on Ryan Miller to the brutal cheapshot by Matt Cooke on Marc Savard, but when Cooke came back to Boston Shawn Thornton challenged him and he dropped the mitts. He is not in Thorty's league, not even in his wildest most outrageous dreams. But he answered for what he did. I think Milan will have to do that. I do not know who will be in net for the black and gold, but it really doesnt matter fom this aspect. If anyone, anyone, even gets what the Bruins deem to be too close to their goalie, the Bruins will clean them out. There will be a heightened level of security in our crease Wednesday night, and that doesnt boed well for the Sabres. The black and gold cannot lose sight of whats most important, and right after having each others backs are those 2 points. The two teams are tied with 24 points at the top of the division. Let the Sabres worry about retribution and let the Bruins worry about staying safe, avoiding injury, and being alone at the pinnacle. Lets hope for an entertaining game. Puck drops at 7:07 and the B's will be looking for a double digit streak. Go Black And Gold!