Feb 28, 2013; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron (37) congratulates goalie Tuukka Rask (40) after defeating the Ottawa Senators 2-1 in overtime at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators last night at the Boston Garden by a score of 2-1. It was a hard-fought game and was eventually settled in overtime by Bruins center Patrice Bergeron.

It was the Bruins 5th win in a row and they improved to 13-2-2 on the season. However during the game they had their penalty-kill streak snapped as they had killed 27 straight penalties and were 4 seconds away from their 28th in a row before the Senators scored on the power-play.

It was an “ugly goal” for the Senators, who saw Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask make a great save on a breakaway, but they were undeterred and kept digging away until the puck and game-tying goal was in the back of the net.

With that power-play goal the Senators joined a small group of teams that have scored on the Bruins elite PK-unit. Only four teams have done it so it is indeed a small group that consists of the Montreal Canadiens, Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and now the Senators.

Pretty impressive when you realize the Bruins have been shorthanded 66 times, yet have only yielded four PP goals. That makes the B’s a league best and absolutely ridiculous 93.9% on the penalty-kill. To put that number into perspective, last season they finished at 83.5%, a full 10% below this season’s 93.9% and they were ranked 11th in the league.

While the Bruins penalty-killers have been great, a lot of credit lands squarely on the shoulders of Rask who has been sensational in net for most of the season. He is the wall behind the wall and he is now tied for the league lead in wins with 11 to go with a sterling 1.82 goals against average and a .933 save percentage.

It’s no surprise that the key to the Bruins success this year has started from the back-end out as that’s how this team is built. When they won the Stanley Cup in 2011 it was with amazing goaltending, solid defense, an effective PK and timely scoring.

It’s a formula that works for the B’s and if they keep winning while killing penalties, they may find themselves back in the promised land sooner rather than later.

Oh, and having a goalie like Rask playing out of his mind doesn’t hurt either.

January 28, 2013; Raleigh, NC, USA; Boston Bruins center David Krejci (46) celebrates his 3rd period game winning goal against he Carolina Hurricanes at the PNC center. The Bruins defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports

The Boston Bruins earned themselves two more points tonight as they beat the Hurricanes on their home ice. It came down to one of those maxims: What would win tonight: Speed or Strength. Tyler Seguin‘s hands finally seem to have arrived from Switzerland as fired a very nice shot on goal only sixteen seconds into the game. Seguin, who had yet to score a goal coming into tonight had something to prove to himself and the fans. Seguin’s hands were here and his dancing on the ice made a big difference in tonight’s win.

The Bruins put Anton Khudobin in net tonight for his first game. Khudobin, who has had only a handful of starts for NHL teams played a solid game tonight stopping twenty nine of thirty two. (.906 save %) His acrobatic playing style and aggressive nature reminded me an awful lot of Tim Thomas. Khudobin got himself his first NHL win of the season, and has proved to the Bruins organization and the fan base that he is the right choice to back up Tuukka Rask in net this year. He did make a silly error, getting called for a puck over glass(delay of game) penalty, but it did work out for the best.

When Patrice Bergeron is on the penalty kill, magic usually happens. Bergeron was his usual beast on the PK, being part of a great combination with captain Zdeno Chara to give Brad Marchand a shot that got the Bruins up early 1-0. It was also the first short handed goal of the season for the B’s.  Marchand was amazing as always, making a lot of quick moves and keeping the Hurricanes off balance. Chara went stick-side high against Cam Ward a little later on the power play  to increase the lead to 2-0.

The last time the Bruins were able to get a power play and short handed goal in the same game was February 11, 2012.

Players were playing to the strengths. Milan Lucic was dominant on the ice and in the ring. He squared off against Tim Gleason. It was clear Gleason was doing right by his team by squaring off against Lucic to get the Hurricanes and their fans in the game. Gleason was going shot for shot with Looch, but at the end, the more experienced Lucic was able to get the sweater up over Gleason and the linesman stepped in to keep it from getting ugly. To his credit, it did energize the Hurricanes. The ‘Canes were moving quicker and finding more room to get shots in. Jamie McBain was able to squeeze one past Khudobin (14:50) to get Carolina back within one.

The Bruins took two penalties early in the second. It briefly gave Carolina a 5-on-3 advantage. The Bruins worked through that penalty, and remain the only team that is flawless on the penalty kill. Nathan Horton put another one past Ward (15:52) to give us a 3-1 lead. The Hurricanes weren’t done though, and simple mistakes caused turnovers that they could take advantage of. Two quick scores by Jeff Skinner (17:55) and Eric Staal (18:45) to get the game tied at three going into the second intermission.

The Bruins were committed to getting a win tonight. They had been blanked all last season by Carolina, and were looking to prove the ghosts of the past were indeed buried. “We really just wanted to get revenge.” said Brad Marchand to Naoko Funayama during one of the breaks. “We wanted to send a message.” In the third period, the Bruins were indeed sending that message.  Chris Kelly who had made a bad turnover earlier in the game redeemed himself by playing his heart out in the third period. The pressure the third line placed on the ‘Canes was relentless, and it started openings that other shifts could capitalize on.

Dougie Hamilton. It’s getting to the point where you can’t talk about players in the game without mentioning him. Just this morning, GM Peter Chiarelli told #27 that he would be staying in Boston, and not going back to the OHL. Hamilton had already had four shots on goal tonight, and instead of making it a fifth one, he read the screen like a veteran and sent the puck to David Krejci. Krejci had been scoreless up to now, and his goal made it 4-3 with just under two minutes remaining. Carolina tried to come back by a slashing call on Eric Staal(18:29) put Carolina behind the eight ball for the last ninety seconds of the game. The Hurricanes pulled their goalie to keep five men on the attack, but a turnover led to two odd moments. The first was Tyler Seguin finally getting an empty net, power play goal for Boston, and the other was Patrice Bergeron getting into a fight with Jeff Skinner.

The Bruins are 4-0-1, and are still leading in the Northeast division. They’ve got another game tomorrow, and it’s going to be at home. So, bring on the Devils. The Black-n-Gold brigade stands ready.

Some teams win with flare and offensive fluidity. The Bruins are not one of those teams; they simply aren’t capable of doing so. For them, physicality is a necessity and they showed Monday night that they are finally realizing this. A heavy dose of grit and toughness has translated into back-to-back wins and a 2-1 advantage for the B’s.

Three moments stand out from Monday night’s 2-1 win. All of which involved highly-physical plays. First, there was

Boychuk has been an absolute beast for the Bruins this series (Photo Source: Yardbarker.com)

 Johnny Boychuk’s hit on Matt Ellis in the second period. It was one of the better (perfectly clean) open-ice hits you will see. Simply textbook. This not only elevated the game’s intensity, but it really put momentum in the Bruins corner, even if they didn’t score until more than a period later. Boychuk has been an absolute stud in this series, which is why we are seeing more and more of him. He recorded 26:22 of ice time on Monday night, a major increase over his 17:39 regular season average. The reason for the increase is that he knows how to make an impact. It might not be something that will jump out at you in the box score, but he’s going to make his presence felt. Listed at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds, he uses his size to his advantage. What makes this a more welcoming sign for Bruins fans is the history of other big defensemen who struggled to do so for the Black & Gold in years past (see Hal Gill and Andrew Alberts). Boychuk’s biggest impact though: taking out Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek in Game 2.

The second moment was Vladimir Sobotka dropping the mitts with Buffalo defenseman Andrej Sekera. Though much smaller than Boychuk, Sobotka has played equally as physical. The guy was throwing his body around last night like a human wrecking ball, which culminated with the fight late in the third period. Sobotka’s another classic example of a guy whose stats might not jump out at you in the box score night after night, but you can bet he’s going to make an impact on the game in one way or another.

Finally, 42-year-old Mark Recchi’s hit in the corner on 23-year-old Tim Kennedy was movie-esque; the old guy taking down the young stud. Recchi outmuscled Kennedy, which allowed him to gather the puck and deliver a strike right on the tape to Bergeron, who slapped it past Miller to give the Bruins the 2-1 advantage. The play could have easily been called interference. In that situation though, I like that the officials let them play on a pivotal loose puck in the corner.

The B's can gain complete control of the series with a win on Wednesday night (Photo Source: Yardbarker.com)

Other things to like about Monday night from a Bruins standpoint include the play of Tuukka Rask (stopped 32 of 33 shots) and Dennis Wideman (a goal and an assist). Perhaps most importantly, though, is the continued success of the Bruins’ penalty kill. If the B’s are going to continue their power play struggles, it becomes that more important that they prevent the opposition from scoring on its power play chances.

Also, I have to admit I was really digging the spotlights after the Bruins goals. It was similar to what the Washington Capitals do, but I definitely thought it was a cool effect.

The Bruins will again play host on Wednesday night, where they will try to uncharacteristically win back-to-back home games. I mentioned the lack of home ice advantage for the Bruins in a previous post, but the Garden was certainly rockin’ last night. Hopefully, the B’s can come out with the same intensity, feed off the electricity in the building and take complete control of the series. If Buffalo can steal one on Wednesday, they will be back in good shape, as the series will essentially be a three-game series with home ice advantage back in Buffalo’s corner.