Apr 2, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins center
Tyler Seguin(19) hands a young fan a stick after defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports
I think a lot of fans had an opinion on the signing of Jaromir Jagr. One of my old friends from Texas shot me a bunch of e-mails and test messages over it. He told me that he was happy with how Jagr played and asked me what I thought of Lane MacDermid and Cody Payne. I told him the truth. I really liked the potential that MacDermid had on the wing, and it was just a tough break that he didn’t get much NHL playing time in the Bruins organization. I also told him that I had very little info for him on Cody Payne other than he was a prospect. I did say that Jagr was going to be a fire that was going to get lit under certain less than exemplary players as a means to motivate them.
Last night’s game showed that the Bruins were a very motivated bunch. In fact, both teams were. A total of ninety seven shots on goal were tallied by both teams. Fifty of those shots came from Boston. Anton Khudobin, fresh off his first shutout for the year was our crease policeman last night. He let in one goal early, and another one in the third that had to get verified by slow motion and instant replay. Still he had a great night for the Bruins, with a career high forty five saves. His goals against and save average both improved with last night’s performance. (2.07GAA and .929%save respectively.)
”It was good to see our team offensively create some chances because that’s an area where we struggled,” Coach Claude Julien said, ”I thought that we were very soft defensively.”
That soft defense led the Bruins to be down a goal early. A nice shot made by Colin Greening just 2:48 in the first. The Bruins have gotten almost accustomed to playing while down, but this time they responded quickly. The Krejci line opened up on Robin Lehner almost immediately, and just forty seconds later David Krejci tied it up with a lovely shot on net. The Bergeron line had their turn sixty one seconds later when Brad Marchand sent a pass to Tyler Seguin who zinged it in past Lehner to make it 2-1.
Halfway through the second period, Patrice Bergeron was struck in the head by Colin Greening’s elbow in a pure accidental manner. Bergeron left the ice, and did not return to the game. With Bergeron’s history of concussions, it seemed a safe precaution to get him off the ice and make sure everything checked out. Dougie Hamilton also had some head-on contact in the game. Hamilton also headed out to the dressing room, but thankfully he was back a few minutes later apparently no worse for the wear. Rich Peverley filled in the slot for Bergeron, and did a fair job of it. (Something about Bruins players always stepping up when they get bumped up a line.)
The third period showed the power and the skill of the Krejci line. Once again, Nathan Horton became the Bruins go-to-guy in the clutch. Horton got his twelth goal of the season at 10:21 of the third period after goalie Robin Lehner stopped Milan Lucic‘s shot with his pad, but couldn’t stop Horton scoring on the rebound. That put the Bruins up 3-2, and that was all the Bruins needed.
The Bruins are now 22-1-0 when they have kept their opponents from scoring two or less goals. Their next game will be on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, where we will get to see the Boston premier of Jaromir Jagr as a Bruin.
Apr 2, 2013; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins right wing Nathan Horton (18) is surrounded by teammates after scoring a goal during the third period against the Ottawa Senators at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Greg M. Cooper-USA TODAY Sports