Mar 11, 2013; Ottawa, ON, CAN; Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask (40) during a break in action in the second period against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place. Mandatory Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports
The Boston Bruins played another forty five minute game last night. As luck would have it, those forty five minutes were at the end of the game rather than the start of it. A heavily injured Ottawa team capitalized on early mistakes by the Bruins and leapt out to an early 2-0 lead. As Jack Edwards said last night “The Bruins slept through their alarm clock.” After that second goal, Claude Julien called a time out to give the B’s a ‘wake up call’. After that time out, the Bruins steadily improved.
The versatility of the Bruins can not be understated. At any given time, any particular player on that squad can be called upon to rise up and make a play that will turn the whole game around. Tonight, it was the fourth line. The Energy Line. The grinders. The Merlot Men. They got closed the gap in the last moments of the first period, and tied it up in the second. They were the heroes tonight who marched out there and got the goals the Bruins needed to take back the game and get the two points.
March 11, 2013
Boston Bruins vs Ottawa Senators (Bruins @ ScotiaBank Place)
Final Score: Boston Bruins 3 – Ottawa Senators 2
Three Stars of the Game:
Third: Daniel Paille , Second: Chris Phillips (OTT), First: David Krejci
Causeway Crowd’s Three Stars of the Game:
Honorable Mention: David Krejci. Yup, I can hear it now. Why is Krejci not First Star?! He won the game for (insert viable profanity here) sakes ?! No argument there hockey fans. David Krejci did get the winning shot in the shootout, and got an assist on the Paille goal. He got across the finish line, but the three men below ran the better part of that marathon to get us to the final hundred yards.
Third Star: Shawn Thornton. In a team full of fighters, Thornton is our in-house pugilist. He lead the league in fighting majors last year. He still fights, but he does it to change the momentum of a game, not out of boredom. He’s also a play maker. He’s one of those players you know is not going to stop. This is one bear that shouldn’t get poked. Ever. He earned his second goal of the season by working with Paille and Zdeno Chara to make life hell for Robin Lehner in that last minute of the first period. Was it a pretty goal? No. It was as sloppy as you can get without getting a penalty. That goal WAS the game changer though. It got the Bruins off their butts, and onto their skates. It got us back into the game.
Second Star: Daniel Paille. The other Merlot winger had one of his better games in recent memory. You don’t often hear “Daniel Paille‘s got a breakaway!” If you heard Jack Edwards saying it last night, you understood what an unusual happenstance it was. Paille got his first back to back goal performance since December 14 & 17, 2011. (As fate would have it, the other teams on those nights were the Philadelphia Flyers and the Ottawa Senators.) Another amazing effort by the Merlot Line that pushed by anger, dedication, and pure force of will the Bruins back into the game.
First Star: Tuukka Rask. Tuukka got next to no help from his teammates in those first ten minutes. A lot of goalies would have had themselves a Patrick Roy-style Habapalooza fit and be pulled from the crease. Like the team, Tuukka got better as the night progressed. Thirty out of thirty two shots were stopped by # 40 in all, and he stuffed three of the SOGs made in the shootout. (Including Kaspars Daugavins attempt to channel his inner Mighty Duck.) Tuukka made some timely and vital saves to preserve the tie in regulation and overtime. Look at his stats. He leads the league in wins(13), is fourth in goals against (1.96), and in shutouts (2). He’s fifth in save percentage (.927). He also saved our ‘B’acon again.