If the Bruins played only Florida teams, at TD Garden, they might never give up a goal again let alone lose. Haha unfortunately the suckbag Panthers and shitbum Lightning's seasons end this weekend. For now though, Boston will take all the points they can get against the Southeast Division Sisters of the Poor. Tonight, the Bruins beat the Lightning 2-0 at TD Garden.
Boston and Montreal both have 61 points but the Bruins have two games left while the Canadiens only have one. Tuukka Rask (30 saves; 19-9-4) earned his second shutout in as many starts and his fifth of the season (which ties his career-high from 2009-10). The Bruins' (28-13-5) offense was still MIA for the most part but this time, their requisite two goals was more than enough against Tampa Bay (18-25-4) who probably mailed it in weeks ago.
For the first time in a while, this felt like a Bruins type of game since everyone on the team seemed to be throwing their body around. Plus, Andrew Ference dropped the gloves with former Bruins great Benoit Pouliot and Milan Lucic played his best game in weeks (maybe months) complete with a beating thrown to poor Keith Aulie. Looch even created some scoring chances with his physical play.
Rookie defenseman Dougie Hamilton was a healthy scratch (get used to it, that might happen in the playoffs too) but that didn't stop him from winning the Seventh Player Award as voted on by the Black and Gold fans. It is given out to the Bruins player that goes "above and beyond the call of duty and exceeds expectations." He's had a nice season but it really should have gone to Daniel Paille. I didn't vote so maybe that would have made all the difference.
Boston notched both its goals in the second period. Dennis Seidenberg took a drop pass from Brad Marchand and fired in his third goal of the season at 4:22. Tyler Seguin had the second assist. Paille reached double digits in goals (tying him with David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron!) at 13:31 thanks to a sweet one-timer from Gregory Campbell and Shawn Thornton. Fribbles for all!
It's only right that this absurd schedule wraps up with games in back-to-back nights for old time's sake. Boston travels to Washington (26-18-3) on Saturday night (7:00 p.m., NESN) then they makeup the Senators game that was supposed to be on Patriot's Day on Sunday night (7:30 p.m., NESN) at TD Garden. The game on Saturday means plenty to Boston but the Capitals clinched the Southeast Division so expect them to rest Alex Ovechkin and Braden Holtby (if they're smart). The Senators are in the playoffs (they clinched a spot tonight) but their seed is still up in the air. The final game in the NHL's regular season and the only one on Sunday could go a long way toward determining the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
UPDATE 4/26: Rookie defenseman Matt Bartkowski was assigned to Providence, who are getting ready for the AHL playoffs to start this weekend.
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