Bruins celebrate after a goal scored in the black and gold scrimmage (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)
This evening the Boston Bruins improved their record to 11-2-2 on the season in their first three-goal victory of the season, winning by a final tally of 4-1. Goals came from Zdeno Chara, Chris Kelly, Milan Lucic and Daniel Paille while Tuukka Rask stopped 34 shots to preserve the victory.
Milan Lucic got the Bruins on the board early on after David Krejci won the face-off and he used a quick lateral movement to center himself before snapping a wrist shot past Jacob Markstrom to put the B’s up 1-0. A few minutes later captain Zdeno Chara showed his team exactly how it is done. When you’re 6’9” 255lb guy and you have a 12ft stick, you aren’t expected a to be dirty your stick skills. We’ve known he’s got a power shot over 100mph but you can add sick mitts to his job description as well. As Chara got the puck,he pirouetted and backhanded the it past Markstrom to put the Bruins up 2-0 over the Panthers.
Tomas Kopecky was able to cut the Bruins lead to a single goal before the period’s end after some sloppy defensive work from Andrew Ference and Adam McQuaid. Through the first twenty minutes of play the Bruins held a slight edge in shots and were up 2-1 on the scoreboard.
“I think we’re doing a good job moving our feet and getting the puck up the ice. [We] got rewarded off a pretty one from Z and mine off the face off, we’re off to a pretty good start.” – Milan Lucic during intermission.
To start the second period the Bruins found themselves on the power play early on as Brian Campbell found himself in the penalty box for Florida. After a power shot from Chris Bourque, Chris Kelly used his speed to sneak in and connect with the rebound off Markstrom’s pads that found the tape on his stick perfectly allowing him to flip the puck up and in with ease for a 3-1 lead. The goal would be Kelly’s first of the season.
“I’ve been wanting to score for a while and there’s no lying about that but when you’re not scoring you try to do other things and work on other aspects to help your team.”- Chris Kelly during second intermission.
While the scoring petered off from that point on, the Bruins didn’t give up. They kept the pressure and didn’t slack off despite having a two-goal lead like fans have seen them do in the past. Daniel Paille would net his first power play goal of his career as he registered the fourth and final goal for Boston on the empty net to give the Bruins their first three-goal lead and win of the season.
The Bruins now pack up their things and head to New York to face the Islanders on Tuesday for a 7pm face off looking for their fourth straight victory. With their win tonight they now sit in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and second in the Division behind the Montreal Canadiens.
A Cup A Bruin 