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Friday, October 29, 2010

"Thank you Kessel!"


As I said last week after I attended the Boston Bruins' season opener, their fans get it and that's what makes going to their games the best experience offered by the four Boston professional teams at the moment.

Another tangible example of this is the chant the TD Garden crowd came up with last night after Tyler Seguin gave Boston a 2-0 lead over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"Thank you Kessel!" Over and over, they sarcastically serenaded the former Bruins forward who was in town with his new team. Trading Kessel to Toronto last season, gave Boston the Leafs' first round pick in 2010 which turned into Seguin.

Getting rid of Kessel was a no-brainer, since he's a one-dimensional, enigmatic player that will always fail on the big stage when the games really matter. I'm not going to induct Seguin into the Hockey Hall of Fame just yet but for just 18 years old, the kid is filthy.

Seguin received the good news after the game that he won't go back to Juniors this season, he's with the big club to stay this season.

In seven games against the Bruins, Kessel has one point (an assist) and he's a -6. How do you spell fraud?

Oh yeah, the B's (5-2-0) shutout the Leafs (5-3-1) 2-0. The other big story line was Tim Thomas (5-0-0), who right now is the NHL's best goaltender. He only had to make 20 saves in his second shutout of the season, which is a credit to the outstanding defense in front of him.

Dennis Seidenberg looked like the guy the B's stole from Florida last season, leading Boston with six blocked shots. He also assisted on Seguin's goal.

Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring with a power play goal with 41 seconds left in the first period. The one-timer was Bergeron's first goal of the season and the 100th of his career. Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic assisted on that one.

Seguin's goal was also a pseudo one-timer as he snapped home a pass from Seidenberg. Michael Ryder also had an assist.

Nathan Horton was tossed out of the game in the second period after he fought Leafs defenseman Dion Phaneuf. Horton was upset that Phaneuf punched him while they were sprawled out on the ice. So Horton can score a ton of goals, he's tough and not afraid to throw down with fighters? Somebody order me a Horton t-shirt jersey!

Boston goes to Ottawa tomorrow night and you have to believe that Thomas will get the start. Bruins head coach Claude Julien has to ride the hot hand while he has it. Clearly, Thomas will come back to earth at some point but let's get his trade value as high as possible since he's one of the few pieces they can move and will bring interest around the NHL.