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Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Bruins knock off the NHL's hottest team (bad pun alert!)


The Calgary Flames were 11-1-2 in their last 14 games, an incredible stretch that had gotten them back from the dead and in the middle of a very messy Western Conference playoff picture.

No matter since with Tomas Kaberle, Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley playing their first game together, the Boston Bruins were the better team and came away with a 3-1 win last night at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Milan Lucic scored two goals, David Krejci had two assists and Tim Thomas (28 saves; 27-8-6) looked like the brick wall we've all enjoyed this season (leaving his past three poor performances in the dust).

It only took Lucic 59 seconds to give Boston (34-19-7) a 1-0 lead. Krejci faked out Flames (31-23-8) goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff (26 saves) and dished across the goalmouth to Lucic (his 25th of the season) for an easy tap-in. Adam McQuaid also assisted.

After a scoreless second period, Marchand gave the Bruins some insurance with his 19th (!) of the season from Patrice Bergeron and Andrew Ference at 5:55 of the third period. Bergeron started the play with a great body check to keep the puck deep in the Calgary zone. Ference's shot went right to Marchand who is on quite a tear. He roofed it in a flash.

Curtis Glencross scored his 20th of the season, off a sweet dish from Jarome Iginla (and Alex Tanguay) to cut it to 2-1 at 17:27.

Lucic cinched it with an empty-netter with 47 seconds left. Krejci and Mark Recchi assisted.

So far the Bs are 3-0-0 on their pivotal six-game road trip. It doesn't get any easier as they matchup with the NHL's best team: the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

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