January 28, 2013; Raleigh, NC, USA; Boston Bruins defensemen
Zdeno Chara(33) and the Carolina Hurricanes center
Eric Staal(12) battle for a spot in front of the net during the 2nd period at the PNC center. The Bruins defeated the Hurricanes 4-3. Mandatory Credit: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
Once again, the Boston Bruins show how bloody good they are in their defensive minded two way playing style. The penalty kill still stands perfect. The special teams tonight made this game happen. Two power play goals, and one short handed goal. The Bruins were everywhere, and when mistakes were made, the players who made them worked their butts off to correct them. The Bruins won 5-3 last night thanks to a team wide effort, and they’re still the team to beat in the Northeast Division and the entire Eastern Conference.
January 28th, 2013 – Boston Bruins vs Carolina Hurricanes (@Carolina)
Final Score – Boston Bruins 5 – Carolina Hurricanes 3
Three Stars of the Game: 3rd: Eric Staal (CAR), 2nd Star: David Krejci , 1st Star: Zdeno Chara
Causeway Crowd Three Stars of the Game:
3rd Star: Nathan Horton -(From Billy)” He’s back, looks faster and looks meaner. He was a force tonight.” Absolutly. Nathan Horton was the focus on what two way hockey should be. # 18 scored his second goal of the season. He also had a multi point game with an assist as well. Horton was being aggressive as usual, and for the first time this season, a lot of the fans no longer flinched when he put someone into the boards or got boarded himself. It seriously looks like we have our old Horton back.
2nd Star: Brad Marchand – Little Ball of Hate was playing with a purpose tonight. Short handed goals aren’t that common but the chemistry the Bruins have made that series look easy. He kept a pretty clean game, and was out playing the faster and more maneuverable Hurricanes. (From Matt) “What a great game by Marchand, especially on the penalty kill. He scored the team’s first short handed goal of the season with a bomb that beat Cam Ward. He created many opportunities that helped the Bruins keep Cam Ward honest all game. Its good to see Brad Marchand playing like this, hopefully he keeps it up.”
1st Star: Zdeno Chara – (From Matt)”Big Z helped the Bruins get on the board tonight firing a pass to Marchand for the short handed goal and scoring for the second game in a row. The big man kept the defense in check in front of Khudobin and kept the Bruins from letting the two points slip away. ” (From Billy)” Big Z with a goal with 2 assists and was +1. Pretty impressive when you look at it all and see he logged a team high 26:02 against mainly Eric staal’s line.” A three point game usually merits first star consideration, and in my mind the Captain led the team by example and with a purpose as he helped erase last year’s disappointment with the Hurricanes tonight.
We’d also like to throw out an honorable mention to #35 , Anton Khudobin. Welcome back to the NHL Anton! .906 save for your first NHL game in a year is not too shabby. (From Matt) “Do not let the three goals against make you think he had a bad game. Anton played very well in his first start of the season. He came out and cut down angles when he had to, a couple of bad plays and the defensive zone put Anton on the spot and he couldn’t come up with the saves on the last two goals but I wouldn’t say it was his fault. He definitely has proved himself as a great backup goalie for the Bruins, which is going to be key in this short season.”