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Friday, November 19, 2010

Solid night for the Black & Gold: Lucic gets a hat trick and Rask notches a shutout


It took way too long but Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask finally got his first win of the 2010-2011 season last night.

Rask stopped 41 shots and notched a shutout as well as the Bruins (11-5-1) blanked the Florida Panthers (8-9-0) 4-0 at the TD Garden.

The other headliner was Milan Lucic, who submitted his second career hat trick in the victory. His linemates Nathan Horton (3 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (2 assists) also had big games thanks to Looch's heroics.

Lucic gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 15:37 in the first period and that looked like it would stand up as the only goal of the contest. Horton and Bergeron assisted on that one as Lucic used a quick release to beat Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun (36 saves).

Shawn Thornton and Darcy Hordichuk had a heavyweight bout shortly after the first goal, which each guy heading to the dressing room to clean up the blood on their faces.

It was a quiet, scoreless second period that set up what turned out to be an epic third period for Lucic. His two goals - 15 seconds apart - delayed the game as the ice was littered with hats. Horton and Andrew Ference (who believe it or not has played well, for him) and Horton and Bergeron assisted on those tallies.

Finally, Thornton scored a garbage time, ugly goal that deflected off a Panther in front of Vokoun.

The Los Angeles Kings, one of the NHL's best at this moment, invade the Garden tomorrow night and it'll be interesting to see who will start for the Bruins: Rask or Tim Thomas.

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