I can't think of a much better way for the Boston Bruins to wrap up their last significant road trip of the 2011-12 regular season.
Not only did they get Rich Peverley back on the ice but backup goaltender Marty Turco (25 saves; 1-1-0) survived more than four minutes as the B's (44-28-3) held on for a 3-2 win tonight against the Ducks (32-33-11) at the Honda Center.
Boston has righted the ship, winning four out of its last five games after losing a season-high four in a row.
Boston went 2-1 in California, including consecutive wins on back-to-back nights. With only seven games left in the regular season (and due to the fact that he's ineligible for the playoffs), this at least showed that Turco should get another start or two down the stretch.
The offensive revelation for the Bruins the last few weeks, particularly on this trip, was the third line of Chris Kelly, Benoit Pouliot and Brian Rolston. Tonight, they combined for two goals and four assists.
Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second period and a 3-1 lead in the third but they had a few anxious minutes when Lubomir Visnovsky (6th of the season) scored an unassisted goal with 2:29 left in regulation.
Zdeno Chara (12th of the season) potted the first goal at 4:37 of the second on an unassisted slapshot past Jonas Hiller (22 saves). Before the Honda Center game ops guys could cue up Weezer's "My Name is Jonas,"-they really play that-Pouliot (13th of the season) finished a pretty pass from Kelly and Rolston at 5:59.
My hero, 41-year-old Teemu Selanne (24th of the season) got the Ducks on the board at 9:11 of the second thanks to a power-play goal. He tipped Cam Fowler's shot from the point with Ryan Getzlaf picking up the other assist.
If Pouliot's goal was pretty, Rolston's (7th of the season) in the third was a work of art. He blasted a one-timer from Kelly that was all started thanks to Pouliot's breakout pass before he got crushed along the boards in Boston's own defensive zone.
The regular season is rapidly ending, the Bruins only have seven more games. Four at home, three away, all against Eastern Conference teams (5 playoff teams, 2 that will miss out). A busy week (four games) begins on Tuesday as they host the Tampa Bay Lightning. When last seen, the Lightning hung a 6-1 loss on the B's in Tampa on March 13. It was probably the low point of the season (not including October) so Boston shouldn't need much motivation.
Tweet
Follow @RichSlate
No comments:
Post a Comment