Apr 10, 2013; Newark, NJ, USA; Boston Bruins center Gregory Campbell (11) celebrates his goal during the first period of their game against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins(26-9-4) came out of the gate on fire in last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils(15-15-10).  Even with four penalties assessed to them within the first five minutes of the game, the Black and Gold responded tenaciously. The Bruins have the leading penalty kill percentage in the league and they proved how they earned it.  ”Obviously,” offered Coach Claude Julien in a post game interview. “Not only did they kill, but they scored a couple of shorthanded goals and that really set the tone for us.”

The first period was all Boston. Campbell got in two goals (one a shorty), Paille put one in (also a shorty), Johnny Boychuk got a penalty shot(didn’t connect though), and the Bruins were just making stripping the Devils of any chance of momentum in the first period. The second period started out much the same. The Bruins captain Zdeno Chara got one through a much abused Martin Brodeur elevating their lead to 4-0 at 3:06 in the second.

The Devils did start a comeback though. Patrik Elias got the first goal past Anton Khudobin at 11:07. They even scored a shorthanded of their own. Travis Zajac stripped a puck from Milan Lucic and blasted a shot past Khudobin to end the period down 4-2.

That shorthanded goal was brought about by the actions of Anton Volchenkov. 15:11 into the game, he put up his elbow and drove it into the head of Brad Marchand. For those who didn’t get to see the game, or wonder if Marchand had might have even dived. Just watch it for yourselves. Volchenkov got the Devils a five minute major, and got himself tossed from the game. That shot was dirty, it was intentional, and I’m sure we can see a ‘Shanaban’ for Volchenkov who has been suspended in the past for his behavior.

Brad Marchand will not return to the Bruins game, according to @naokofunayama. Here’s video of the (dirty) hit: wp.me/p2AlCJ-Gpo

— NESN Nation (@NESNNation) April 11, 2013

The Devils came back in the third. Half of their resurgence was due to their desperate play, the other half of it was due to the Bruins’ not hammering the nail in the coffin in the second period. “When we were up 3-0 we definitely took our foot off the gas, and you saw what happened.” said Tyler Seguin. They Devils battled back to 4-3 in the third, and it took a Seguin goal at 7:33 to put the game out of reach for New Jersey. A last second drive by Matt D’Agostini got the Devils back within one, but the game ended giving the Devils their eighth straight loss, and likely dashing any chance for a post-season.

One of the highlights of the game was the performance of Gregory Campbell. “Soupy” has spent the majority of his career with the Bruins on the fourth line. As a member of the Merlot Men, his job was to grind up time, and produce scoring opportunities when possible. Coming into tonight, he only had two goals on the season.  Therefore, a lot of Bruins Nation was confused when Claude Julien moved him up to the second line to work with Brad Marchand and Jaromir Jagr. (Coach, I got it. I’ve been praising it on Twitter since you did it.) He validated his placement in the Carolina game, and went above and beyond last night.

He put the first goal of the game in for Boston just 1:10 into the game. That goal was assisted by some incredible puck work by Jaromir Jagr.  His second goal(and fourth for the season)came on the penalty kill. Campbell had 21:12 minutes of ice time last night, 4:43 of that was on the penalty kill. Campbell was awarded First Star of the Game and he certainly deserved it. He commented on his performance after the game as well. “Sometimes you find yourself in that position and you can really change the momentum of the game either way. We were fortunate to get out of that, our goal in killing penalties is to do just that, kill the penalty first.”

That win also gave the Bruins their first free and clear lead in the Northeast Division in nearly two months. The B’s have either trailed or shared the position with the Montreal Canadiens and it’s good to see the Black and Gold back on top. Their next game is tonight, at home, against the New York Islanders.

Feb 2, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) guards the net against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. The Bruins beat the Maple Leafs 1-0. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins were attempting to bounce back from their disappointing performance against the Buffalo Sabres. The Bruins came out playing to their strengths: Agressive on the fore-check, tight two way hockey, and playing hard along the boards. Coach Claude Julien made a point to Bruins Nation. He chose to keep our number one goalie Tuukka Rask in the net. The coach needed to let Rask know that he believed in him. Tuukka Rask took that faith and repaid it three fold. Tuukka was impeccable stopping everything that came at him.

February 2, 2013 – Boston Bruins vs Toronto Maple Leafs (Bruins @ Toronto)

Final Score: Boston Bruins 1 , Toronto Maple Leafs 0

Three Stars of the Game: 3rd – Chris Bourque , 2nd – Tuukka Rask , 1st – James Reimer (TOR)

Causeway Crowd’s Three Stars of the Game:

Third Star: Gregory Campbell. (From Aidan)” It seems like who ever dawns the number 11 on this team seems to always be able to hold down the penalty kill. First it was Axelsson and now Soupy has taken up the mantel. He held his own on the PK tonight and were was able to gel and grind well with his two AHL call ups Tardiff and MacDermid. ” (From Matt) “Campbell had to be the leader of the fourth line tonight with the absence of Thornton and Paille.  This meant two different line mates for him who he had never played with before.  Campbell did a good job of helping the youngsters out and keeping them in check.  As always, he was solid on the penalty kill.” Campbell had to be the leader of the fourth line tonight with the absence of Thornton and Paille.  This meant two different line mates for him who he had never played with before.  Campbell did a good job of helping the youngsters out and keeping them in check.  As always, he was solid on the penalty kill. (Got to love it when everyone agreed on the third star.)

Second Star: Chris Bourque. (From Matt) “Borque scored his first goal of the year tonight after being scratched from the lineup against Buffalo.  Chris seemed to take that day off to his advantage.  Scoring that goal hopefully lit a fire in his game and hopefully he continues to put up more goals this year. (From Aidan) “Relaxed and refreshed from his scratch and the pressure is off as he made a sneak play behind the Leafs defence to make the game 1-0 and would be the only goal scorer. He played much better than he has so far this season and he definitely will improve upon this now with 1 goal under his belt in Boston.” He only scored one goal, but in  a 1-0 game that one goal is all you need. That healthy scratch helped Bourque to relax a little bit and not worry so much  about the famous legacy he’s trying to live down. He made fewer mistakes, was far more patient with the puck, and helped  make good transitions and gave the third line three points total to add to their stat sheet.

First Star:  Tuukka Rask. (Aidan)”Played a phenomenal game tonight, stopping 21/21 shots and backing up the defence when they slipped. He got his first shut out of the season, 12th of his career and definitely made up for the play against Buffalo. (Matt)” I am sure that he was much more comfortable in net with the much better defensive effort tonight then the previous game against the Sabres.” A lot of people in FB and Twitter was telling the B’s to sit him for Khudobin. Rask needed a game to settle himself and the fan base and he did that in spectacular fashion. He got us a shutout and the added bonus of shaming Kessel in his backyard. (Thank you Kessel!) Doesn’t get much better for that.

March 8, 2012; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Gregory Campbell (11) raises his hands in celebration of scoring a goal during the second period against the Buffalo Sabres at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Well, the lockout certainly has a lot of people down. Owners, players, fans, employees of the stadiums and concession companies, and a lot of other people I’m forgetting to mention. Today I got the opportunity to meet two of our Boston Bruins. Gregory Campbell and Brad Marchand. I was lucky enough to be one of the first people in line to get a few things signed by these great players. For those who follow my blogs with any regularity, you know Marchand is my favorite player. I went so far to get a BALL OF HATE jersey with his number.

I got my jersey signed first. Marchand was a nice guy. He signed my jersey, asked how I was and he shook my hand. He also had the decency to look me in the eye. That’s sort of a gold standard for an introduction. A decent handshake and a look in the eye. I then moved over to Campbell’s table where I gave him my away 2011 Stanley Cup Championship hat to sign. Mr. Campbell was nice enough to strike up a conversation. “How ya doin, buddy?” he asked as he signed the hat. (I hadn’t slept the night before. We had a little mishap at the job and I’ve got first and second degree burns on about fifteen percent of my body. They wanted to keep me overnight, but I wasn’t going to miss this chance to get my stuff signed.  Depending on which friend you talked to, I was either a real fan or a total idiot.  I’ll flip ya for that. Two out of three.)

I was unprepared for dialogue so I blurted out my staple line. “Living the dream.” I said. “Me too.” said Campbell chuckling slightly.  He handed me my hat back. I shrugged. (Oh brother, did that hurt.) “I’d say you’re dream is a little more awesome than mine.” I was smiling, I was really expecting just a handshake and not actual conversation. He looked me back in the eye, sighed and said “Not really.”

(Oh hell! Did I just bum out a Bruin?!)

The Merlot Men are my favorite hit squad in hockey.  I really wanted to meet Boychuk, but I was psyched to see Campbell. I sort of put off a bill another week to get the thirty bucks together so he could sign my hat. He shook my hand and smiled again. I had this little five second speech in my head that I had gone over in my mind at least twenty times. It was pretty good. I wanted to thank them for the Cup, and how I know that this whole mess wasn’t their fault and I wanted to see them back on the ice. Between the burns, the lack of sleep, and the dreaded feeling I just sucked some of the fun out of an amazing player just took that out of me.

I thanked them both again, snapped a picture and just quietly left the room. I had forgotten to grab my free ticket to the Bruins game. ( I wouldn’t have been able to go, I had an add on party, and I told them I’d be back at work anyways.)

As much as I love hockey, I can’t call these gentlemen heroes or role models. They are however, professional athletes who didn’t have to give up some free time (Campbell is still a newleywed.) to come down to Providence and sign a bunch of photos, pucks, and jeresys.  If one of them or their fans get to read this, I am very grateful for them to make the effort, and offer my sincerest apologies to Soupy if I had in fact bummed him out.