Bruins beat Habs, end losing streak

The Bruins ended their 10-game losing streak yesterday by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-0. The Bruins dominated the first period, then in the second Montreal put the pressure on but Tuukka Rask was solid in net. In the third it was more back and forth by both teams but the Bruins held on for the win. This game also saw Blake Wheeler get into his first NHL fight, as he took on purse snatcher Ryan O'Byrne. It wasn't much of a fight as Wheeler lost his balance but was the only one to actually throw any punches. It was good to see Wheeler to stick up for himself after O'Byrne rammed his head against the glass.

David Krejci left in the first period and did not return to the game.

After the game, coach Claude Julien said that the injury wasn't serious and Krejci could be available for Boston's next game Tuesday night in Buffalo. Julien also said he would know more Monday.
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Other injury news, defenseman Johnny Boychuk will not need surgery for his fractured orbital bone that he got on Saturday when he took a Mikael Samuelsson shot up high. He will be out for 7-10 days, so he won't be playing until after the Olympic break.

The Bruins next game is on Tuesday at the Buffalo Sabres. Then the Bruins go to Florida to take on the Lightning on Thursday and then the Panthers on Saturday.

Dennis Wideman will miss road trip

Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman will not make the 2-game roadtrip the Bruins will be on this weekend. Wideman has an upper-body injury that will keep him out of the lineup.

Another change will be the first two lines. Milan Lucic will move to the second line with David Krejci and Blake Wheeler. As Michael Ryder will move to the first line with Marc Savard and Marco Sturm. Hopefully this will provide an offensive spark that the Bruins need.

Bruins coach Claude Julien on the change:

"It might take a little pressure off, but more than that hopefully we'll have the focus we need to be successful and find the identity of our hockey team that we like so much."

"It's never a bad thing -- just a little tweak," said Julien. "We'll see if that will help...shake things up a bit."

"Maybe it will spark something, but I don't think [the change] is reflected [of anything] besides trying to get the best four line combinations."

"It's something different...I think Lucic has had real good success with Krejci before, they've worked well together when he's been on that line in the past," he said. "And with Michael...when you look back at the last game [when he] was a decent player."

"[You see that] when he works hard he creates chances and when he works hard he is strong on the puck."

"And with Sturmie [Marco Sturm] with speed and with Savvy you hope that somehow something can come out of [it]," said Julien.
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Bruins vs Hurricanes game 4 summary

The Bruins lossed 4-1 in game 4 to the Hurricanes and will be facing playoff elimination on Sunday when game 5 takes place in Boston at 7:30pm EST. The stats for game 4 are below.

In the first period, at 4:54, Eric Staal scored a power-play goal to make it 1-0 Hurricanes.

In the second period, at 2:37, Marc Savard scored (5)  a power-play goal, assisted by Mark Recchi and Michael Ryder to tie the game 1-1.

In the third period, at 2:52, Jussi Jokinen scored a power-play goal to make it 2-1 Hurricanes. At 14:31, Sergei Samsonov scored to make it 3-1 Hurricanes. At 15:41, Eric Staal scored to make it 4-1 Hurricanes.

Tim Thomas made 27 saves on 31 shots against him. Cam Ward made 20 saves on 21 shots against him.

Chuck Kobasew and Rod Brind'Amour got into a semi-fight at the end of the game. I'll post that up on the site when I get a chance to create video clips of the other fights from this season and playoffs. I'll also be posting other stuff like some goals and hits from this season and playoffs from the Bruins so stay tuned for that.

Eric Staal and Zdeno Chara roughing
Photo courtesy of AP

I'm just in total shock of this series as the Bruins have not looked like themselves in this series. I don't know what is wrong, but they got to bring it in game 5 on Sunday night or they are out. The Hurricanes are just playing great and mistake-free. The Bruins got to get back to their ways from the season.

Looking at the playoff stats for the Bruins, I found some interesting numbers. Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, and Stephane Yelle are all a -2. P.J. Axelsson is a -4 in the playoffs. Blake Wheeler has no points in the playoffs (8 games played).

Milan Lucic suspended for game 3

It was announced that Bruins' Milan Lucic will be suspended for one game and will miss game 3 in Montreal vs the Canadiens, for the cross-check incident on Maxim Lapierre.

"While it is unclear whether Lucic's glove or stick makes contact with Lapierre, what is clear is that he delivered a reckless and forceful blow to the head of his opponent," said NHL Senior Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell.
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So let's see, Lucic gets suspended for a high hit on Lapierre which was, using Colin Campbell's words, "unclear" that it was his glove or stick. But we see Mike Cammalleri hitting Martin Havlat in the head and no suspension there. We see Tom Kostopoulos throw an elbow at Matt Hunwick's head, and no suspension. It's "unclear" that Mike Komisarek eye gouged Matt Hunwick or not but no suspension there. Good job NHL, looks like you're really setting a standard here. What a joke.

Byron Bitz will be inserted into the lineup in the fourth line where Blake Wheeler was playing. Wheeler will move up and take Lucic's spot on the second line.

Bruins news & Bruins All-Stars

On Thursday, the Bruins sent forwards Vladimir Sobotka and Martin St. Pierre, and defenseman Matt Lashoff to the Providence Bruins (AHL).

All-Star weekend news:

The Boston Bruins return to action after the NHL All-Star Break on Tuesday, January 27th when they host the Washington Capitals at 7:00 p.m. ET. Five Bruins will participate in this weekend's NHL All-Star festivities, with Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard and Tim Thomas suiting up for the Eastern Conference All-Stars, head coach Claude Julien coaching the Eastern Conference All-Stars and rookie Blake Wheeler participating in the 2009 YoungStars game. Milan Lucic was selected to play in the YoungStars game but he will be unable to participate due to injury. The All-Star festivities will be televised nationally in the U.S. on VERSUS on Saturday, January 24 at 7:00 p.m. ET (SuperSkills Competition) and Sunday, January 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET (All-Star Game).

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Bruins get by Lightning 5-3

The Bruins beat the Lightning last night to extend their winning streak to 5 games, as they have won 14 of their last 16 games. They had a really good first period, ending it 3-0. Milan Lucic scored a power-play goal, his 7th goal of the season; Phil Kessel scored his 17th goal of the season; and Michael Ryder scored his 7th goal of the season. In the second period, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored his 5th goal of the season, a power-play goal to make it 4-1 Bruins. In the third period, the Lightning scored two goals to make it interesting as the Bruins from the second period on didn't play the same as in the first period. Seemed like they sat back a little expecting the Lightning to just give up. P.J. Axelsson closed out the game with an empty net goal, his first goal of the season.

Tim Thomas played in this one and made 26 saves on 29 shots against him. Thomas is now 11-3-3 with a 1.90 GAA and a 94% save percentage. Meanwhile Manny Fernandez is 8-1-1 with a 2.09 GAA and a 92.6% save percentage. Both goalies are playing great and the Bruins defense is playing good as well.

Is it me or does anyone else notice the huge amount of off-sides calls when Blake Wheeler is on the ice? Either when he has the puck or doesn't have it, he goes off-side or causes off-sides a lot. Hopefully he improves in that area. Although he is a surprise to be playing this well with 9 goals, 6 assists for 15 points, with a +15 rating, and he has the highest shooting percentage on the Bruins with a 23.1% percentage.

Bruins explode vs Islanders

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving day. It seemed like the Bruins did as they started slow today against the New York Islanders, but then exploded and dominated the Islanders. The Bruins had a slow first period, which ended 1-0 Islanders. In the second period, Chuck Kobasew scored his 4th goal of the season, a power-play goal to tie the game. Later in the period, Michael Ryder scored on a nice wrist shot, his 4th goal of the season too. In the third period, the Bruins just broke it open. Blake Wheeler scored his7th goal of the season on a one-timer, from a nice pass by David Krejci. Ten seconds later David Krejci fought his way to the net with the puck and roofed it, to get his 6th goal of the season. A little later, on the power-play, Dennis Wideman scored on the power-play, his 6th goal of the season. The Islanders managed to score on a power-play to make it 5-2. But the Bruins didn't let down as Michael Ryder scored his second goal of the game, his 5th goal of the season. Phil Kessel finished the scoring with his 12th goal of the season, from a sweet pass by Milan Lucic.

Kessel, Krejci, Wheeler, Wideman all finished the game with a goal and an assist. Marc Savard finished the game with two assists. Manny Fernandez started and finished this game in net for the Bruins making 22 saves on 24 shots. There were two fights in this one as Milan Lucic and Brendan Witt fought, and Shane Hnidy took on Tim Jackman.