Last Skate of the Day, January 5th, 2014

Sep 17, 2013; Baltimore, MD, USA; Washington Capitals forward

(48) fights for the puck with Boston Bruins forward

(57) in the second period at 1st Mariner Arena. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports

Justin Florek has been reassigned back to Providence after helping the Boston Bruins defeat the Winnipeg Jets 4-1. It was the first NHL call up for the twenty three year old, and it was by all accounts a solid first showing. Florek fit in very well on the fourth line in their win. Here is the whole story from the mouth of the Boston Bruins.(Boston Bruins)

Shawn Thornton will be available to play in the final game of the California road trip. His return does raise the question of where the Merlot Man will end up after serving out his fifteen game suspension. Assuming Thornton comes back in the lineup, will one of the young guns who came up from Providence go back down? Will this finally mean the end of the years long Jordan Caron experiment? Here’s what Joe Haggerty has to say on the Thornton return. (CSNNE)

The last episode of 24/7 covering the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings is airing. The team at Puck Daddy have snippets covering players losing teeth to a puck and angry Maple Leafs players dropping f-bombs the way other blue people would say “smurf”.  There is a great ping pong match between ex-Bruin Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf. Now, if those two had only had that kind of intensity in game seven last season? I thought they did actually. The Bruins just brought more. Check out all the snippets and the swears here: (Puck Daddy)

One of the team at Causeway Crowd has argued that the annual NESN 7th Player Award should go to Bruins forward Reilly Smith. I for one completly agree. In fact, awarding Reilly Smith the award could be the first time in the history of the award where serious hockey fans and the ‘puck bunnies’ agree on who should win. If you haven’t checked it out yet, read it here: (Causeway Crowd)