Lately, watching Bruins games has felt like playing a game of NHL '12 for Playstation 3 on rookie difficulty level.
Boston continues to pile up video game numbers offensively as they won their fifth straight game, 6-2 tonight at TD Garden over the Buffalo Sabres (10-6-0).
The victory put the B's (8-7-0) over the .500 mark for the first time this season. They've also scored 30 goals in their last five games (first time since 1986 that they've put up 5+ goals in 5 consecutive games).
Five (what's with that number) Bruins had multiple points: Tyler Seguin (2 goals, 1 assist), Brad Marchand (1 goal, 2 assists), Zdeno Chara (2 assists), Chris Kelly (1 goal, 1 assist) and Rich Peverley (1 goal, 1 assist) all got on the scoresheet more than once.
The matchup of 2010 U.S. Olympic teammates Tim Thomas (21 saves) and Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller (19 saves) sounded good on paper but it failed to live up to expectations. Miller departed after two periods because Lucic had the audacity to run into Miller when he was way out of his crease in the first period. Lucic was rightfully called for charging but that wasn't good enough for Miller, who called Lucic "gutless" after the game. OK tough guy.
No doubt, Thomas (6-4-0) wouldn't have put up with that crap. Then again, somebody (Shawn Thornton, Adam McQuaid, Gregory Campbell, etc.) on the Bruins also would have stepped up if an opponent took a run at Thomas. On Buffalo, Miller's teammates couldn't be bothered to challenge Lucic to anything more than pushing and shoving in the corner.
Buffalo actually had the lone goal of the first as Thomas Vanek (11th of the season) banked one off Thomas from behind the goal. Side note, Vanek is a nice player but what is it about Boston that makes him become Mario Lemieux?
The B's erupted for three goals in the second period to take control of this Northeast Division tilt, the first of six between these teams.
Rich Peverley tied it up with his fourth of the season at 7:40. Showing no rust after missing the last two games, Peverley made a nice move to get by the defense and deke past Miller. Kelly assisted on Peverley's goal.
Tyler Seguin (10th of the season) put Boston ahead 2-1 at 13:29 thanks to Brad Marchand's takeaway in the neutral zone. For the eighth time in the past five games (and ninth overall), the Bruins potted a pair of goals in under a minute. Nathan Horton (5th of the season) scored on a wrist shot at 13:45 from Johnny Boychuk and Chara; it happened so fast, the B's PA announcer hadn't even said the Seguin goal.
Boston poured it on in the third, putting three goals past poor Jhonas Enroth (10 saves). Chris Kelly (4th of the season) scored on a close snap shot at 5:28 from Peverley, Seguin's (11th of the season) more long range snap shot matched his rookie goal total at 7:11 from Patrice Bergeron and Marchand then Marchand (5th of the season) finished it with a backhander that he roofed from in tight, Seguin and Chara assisted.
Lindy Ruff's boys packed it in after Miller left but you can't fault Marc-Andre Gragnani who recorded his first goal of the season at 13:20. The power-play goal beat Thomas glove side (which is almost impossible to do), went off the post and in.
The New Jersey Devils and the ghost of Martin Brodeur come to the Garden on Tuesday for their first matchup with the B's this season. We'll see if their defensive style can hold down the hottest offense (can't believe I just typed that) in the NHL.
Follow @RichSlate
Tweet
No comments:
Post a Comment