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.

Apr 4, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Jaromir Jagr (68) skated against the New Jersey Devils for the first time as a member of Boston Bruins during the first period at TD Garden. Jagr scored the game

The Boston Bruins (25-9-4) are in Newark, New Jersey on Wednesday night to take on the New Jersey Devils (15-14-10) and both teams would like to come out with a win, but for very different reasons.

With a win over the Devils, the Bruins can take over first place of the Northeast Division and put themselves on pace to lockup a top-3 seed in the Eastern Conference. They will be without the services of Patrice Bergeron (concussion) and Adam McQuaid (strained shoulder), so the Bruins will once again have their depth challenged. Which shouldn’t be the problem with the help of some recent additions and the return of Chris Kelly from a broken tibia.

The Bruins also mixed up their lines last game after their offense had gone stale and it worked to perfection as they ripped off 6-goals over a disappointing Carolina Hurricanes team.

The lines are projected to be the same for tonight’s game according to CSNNE.com’s Bruins Insider Joe Haggerty and they are as follows:

Milan Lucic – David Krejci – Nathan Horton

Brad Marchand – Gregory Campbell – Jaromir Jagr

Daniel Paille – Chris Kelly – Tyler Seguin

Jordan Caron – Rich Peverley – Shawn Thornton

Zdeno Chara – Dougie Hamilton

Dennis Seidenberg – Andrew Ference

Matt Bartkowski – Johnny Boychuk

Tuukka Rask

Anton Khudobin

I know these lines look weird, but they spread the Bruins talent out more evenly and allow them to roll 4-lines like they are accustomed too. For most of the season the Bruins have been a two and occasionally a three line team, but thats not their style at all. They rely on their depth and the ability to roll 4-lines, so when one line is struggling it brings the whole team down.

The new look Bruins will have their hands full however with a Devils team that is attempting to scratch and claw its way into the playoffs. New Jersey has lost seven games in a row since their star forward Ilya Kovalchuk went down and it appears as though they will be without him once again tonight.

Even with all those losses in a row, the Devils still only find themselves 2-points out of a possible playoff spot and should be playing like the desperate team they are when they take to the ice.

The Bruins have won 10 of their last 11 meetings against the Devils, including two wins versus them this season and will look to improve upon that record when the puck drops at 7:30 PM EST on the NBC Sports Network.

Jan 29, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Shawn Thornton (22, left) squares off against New Jersey Devils forward Krystofer Barch (22) during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Michael Ivins-USA TODAY Sports

Tonight the Boston Bruins (23-8-4) are taking on the New Jersey Devils (15-12-9) at the TD Garden. The resurging Bruins will be fighting a slumping Devils with a puck drop at  7:05 PM. The Bruins will be trying to keep a three game win streak alive, and try to catch up to a surprisingly good Montreal Canadiens squad. The Bruins are once again a single point behind their ancient rivals, and can overtake them again with a win tonight. Their last matchup occurred on January 29th, when Brad Marchand scored a shootout goal in the sixth round to give the B’s a 2-1 win.

One of my friends had suggested last year that the only chance he’d see Jaromir Jagr in a Bruins uniform would be by playing NHL 12. Well, the five time Art Ross Trophy winner, and certainly future Hall of Famer was traded to us a few days ago by the Dallas Stars. His arrival is more necessary then ever now. We’ve very likely lost Patrice Bergeron for the remainder of the regular season due to his concussion he sustained in the match against the Ottawa Senators.(He has missed ninety-six previous games over his career due to three separate concussions.)

All this means is that everyone in the Krejci line will likely remain where they are. The Bergeron line will become the Jagr line (temporarily we hope), and the problems we were facing with the slumping third line will have to wait a little longer to be resolved one way or the other. Jagr still playing like a champion, and we should expect fireworks early.

In the net, we’re likely to see Johan Hedberg defending tonight.  He lost in his last start against the B’s, but he’s got a better record against us then their #1 goaltender. Martin Brodeur is 2-1-3 with a 2.27 goals-against average since returning from a back injury. Brodeur  has a 3.38 GAA while dropping his last seven starts versus the Bruins. For the Bruins, it’s a coin toss. Anton Khudobin has gone 2-0 while starting the last two games for Boston. He stopped seventy-one of seventy-three shots and got his first shutout of the season. Coach Claude Julien could look to Tuukka Rask for this game as well. Rask is 2-1-1 with a 1.18 GAA in four career starts versus the Devils.