Duck Hunting in Anaheim

Turco picked up his first win as a Bruin (Credit: Kasey Spatz/ Flickr)

Tonight marked the return Rich Peverley and the end of the Boston Bruins west coast roadie. I love when the Bruins play the Anaheim Ducks because The Mighty Ducks is my favorite movie and as everyone knows the Ducks were named off of the movie. So it’s always like my two favorite things are colliding. Anyway, Marty Turco got his second start of the season for the B’s and Tim Thomas got a well needed nap. In the Ducks end Jonas Hiller was the starting goaltender. This matchup was the 24^th time the two teams have meet with the B’s having an 11-10-2-0 record. With Peverley in, that meant another forward was out and that was Daniel Paille. Joe Corvo was also scratched for the 5^th straight game.

First period was uneventful. I say this meaning no goal, no fights, and no blood. The good was that Turco made it longer than 4 minutes in net without giving up a goal. But like I said it came and went.

15:23 in the second  period (yes we had to wait that long for a goal), oh captain my captain Zdeno Chara notches his 12^th goal of the season. One minute and 22 seconds later, Benoit Pouliot scores his 50^th career goal and just like that the B’s are up by two. Back to back goals are something the team capitalized on in the beginning of the season so I’m taking this as a good sign. Four minutes later at 10:49 Teemu Selanne takes advantage of a Adam McQuaid  holding penalty and scores on Turco.

12:38 to go in the third Matt Beleskey got a shot past Turco but because there was a man in the crease the B’s dodged a bullet and held onto the lead. Initially, I thought it was a goal and clearly so did the Ducks coach because he was pouty to no end after this goal was called off. Rule 69.3 aka the contact inside the goal crease is what essentially got the goal ruled off.

With less than seven minutes to go Brian Rolston off a beautiful play by Pouliot. The Chris Kelly, Rolston, Pouliot line is on fire right now with Rolston is now on 6 game point streak. 2:26 remaining Lubomir Visnovsky cut the Bruins lead to just one goal and with that Hiller is pulled and the Ducks have an open net.

The B’s pick up the 3-2 win and Turco picks up his first win as a Bruin and his first win in 408 days. Bruins beat the Ducks for the first time in Anaheim since 2003 and take two out of three games in the west coast trip. The team is off tomorrow and will return home to the TD Garden on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

 

Counting on Consistency

Rich Peverley is making the trip west with the rest of the team (Photo Credit: Steph Phillips)

Tonight the Bruins look to continue their consistency in the win column as they head out west and take on the San Jose Sharks in a 10:30pm EST match-up.  The last time these two teams met was in the dreadful month of October where they fell to the Sharks 4-2 at the Garden. Stars such as Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture were among the Sharks leading forwards, as each registered a goal and Pavelski an additional assist.

The Sharks are currently fighting for their playoff spot as they sit tenth in the Western Conference, looking for the two-points to tie with eighth place Los Angeles Kings.

The Bruins are heading west with an 8-0 shut-out victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night, following a 3-2 shoot-out victory over the Philadelphia Flyers Saturday afternoon. While they are showing improvements, it is extremely important that they don’t lose their focus coming into a tough road trip starting with the Sharks followed by the Kings and Anaheim Ducks.

They’re battling for playoffs, we’re battling for second place,” said Krejci of the Sharks. “We want to have the home ice advantage – so this is going to be a hard game.”We don’t play these guys often, but we know they have really good players, they’re battling,” added Krejci. “I thought they would be in the playoffs this year [for sure].”(via Boston Bruins News)

It was reported earlier this week that forward Rich Peverley would be travelling with the Bruins on their road trip, while Nathan Horton will be staying behind not showing any progress. Peverley practiced with the team with full contact yesterday morning at Wilmington before hopping on a plane for the 2700mile trek across the country. Max Suave was sent back down to the Providence Bruins while forward Trent Whitfield was recalled to make the trip.  Whitfield has seven goals and seven assists, combining for 14 total points in 43 games.

Both teams have winning records when playing on Thursdays with Boston being 7-3 and San Jose being 8-2. While San Jose may hold a slight advantage coming off of wins/losses, the Bruins are just as determined to gain the two points to remain in second and get home-ice advantage.

Tonight’s game is on NESN at 10:30pm EST or you can listen on 98.5 The Sports Hub.