Bruins clinch Northeast Division, start printing the useless t-shirts and hats

The Boston Bruins fought through a Saturday afternoon game (one of their least favorite things) to get a 3-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday at TD Garden.

It was very meaningful too since it let the Bs (44-23-11) clinch the Northeast Division and with it, the number three seed in the Eastern Conference.

With only four games remaining in the regular season, Boston looks locked into the third spot and (hold your breath), Montreal appears similarly set at No. 6.

In such a strange game against Atlanta (33-33-12), it is only fitting that Mr. Jekyll and Hyde himself, Michael Ryder, turned out to be the biggest hero.

With the score knotted at 2-2 in the third period, Ryder was hauled down while he broke in alone on Thrashers goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (21 saves).

Ryder was 0-for-1 on penalty shots in his career but that didn't matter as he went top-shelf for his 18th goal of the season at 12:31. The game-winner shows how hard it is to sit Ryder. He's usually a bum but he can pull shots like that out of his ass from time to time. Something to keep in mind in the playoffs.

Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (28 saves; 10-13-2) made the lead stick. It was nice to see him be a part of such an important win since he's been so snake-bitten all season.

Mark Recchi gave the Bs a 1-0 lead with a classic Rex goal at 4:34. It was a rebound from out front, assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand (who deservingly won the Seventh Player Award yesterday).

Thrashers defenseman Dustin Byfuglien scored his 20th of the season at 11:11 of the first period. It was on a power play, from Zach Bogosian and Bryan Little. The shot deflected of Rask's back and into the net.

Evander Kane put Atlanta up 2-1 at 1:37 of the second period from Nik Antropov. Kane was in the right place, in the slot, as the puck bounced right to him and Rask didn't have a chance.

Daniel Paille of all people tied it at 2 with a shorthanded goal (of course), his fourth of the season at 6:18 (unassisted). Paille stole the puck in Atlanta's zone and beat Pavelec with a close-range snipe.

Boston travels to New York City tomorrow night to face the Rangers.

Thumbs up for the Bruins trade deadline moves

It's not every day that the Boston Bruins actually make a notable trade so even though it happened on Friday (when I was headed out of town), I have to give a short shout-out to GM Peter Chiarelli.

On Friday, the Bruins made two trades that shook up their roster. The big deal was Maple Leafs defenseman Tomas Kaberle finally coming over for Boston's 2011 first round pick, Providence Bruin Joe Colborne and a conditional second round pick in 2012 (wiped out if Kaberle resigns or the Bruins get to the Stanley Cup Finals).

It's a beautiful thing to see Boston be aggressive for once and not just settle for assorted junk and rentals that won't have much impact. Kaberle is a three-time All-Star and he will help immensely on the power play (one of the Bruins' biggest weaknesses). He's not known for his defensive prowess but that's ok since we needed a defenseman with more offensive creativity.

Losing the first round pick isn't a big deal since we still have Toronto's this summer (which will be much higher) and Colborne was a first round pick last summer but he's clearly stuck behind many centers in the organization so a fresh start is probably in his best interest.

In addition, Boston got rid of some spare parts by dealing Blake Wheeler and Mark Stuart to the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday for forward Rich Peverley and minor league defenseman Boris Valabik (who's a 6-foot-7 project).

Everybody in New England was tired of Wheeler's inconsistency and Stuart was solid but Adam McQuaid's production had basically phased him out of the franchise. Peverley sounds like another Chris Kelly, that is a third or fourth line forward that has the two-way game that the Bruins' brass and coaches covet.

Kelly and Kaberle played their first games in Black and Yellow (sorry Wiz Khalifa) on Friday as the Bruins won 4-2 in Ottawa.

Their third game of the road trip is tonight as the Bs visit the red-hot (what a terrible pun) Calgary Flames. It'll be interesting to see all three of the new Bruins in uniform. Watching the replay late Friday night, I honestly didn't notice much from Kaberle or Kelly but I was very tired after a long week.

It's only one game but what a response from the Boston Bruins

With all the dark clouds surrounding the team and head coach Claude Julien, it's hard to imagine a much more promising result than they one the Boston Bruins turned in last night at TD Garden: a 4-1 beating of the Atlanta Thrashers.

Whatever happens, this will go down as one of the best games of the season as an unsung hero (Shawn Thornton) netted two goals and even better, the whole team stood up for each other late in the third period when Atlanta scrub Freddy Meyer took a run at Bruins star Milan Lucic.

After losing four of five and looking mostly terrible for the last month, it was a good sign that the players haven't tuned out Julien and for once, they played with a little heart and didn't stand by idly when an opponent took a cheap shot at one of their teammates.

Patrice Bergeron got the game off to a rousing start when he potted a short-handed goal just three minutes into the contest. Dustin Byfuglien couldn't keep the puck in the offensive zone so Bergeron stole it and skated in on Thrashers (19-13-5) goaltender Ondrej Pavelec (32 saves) and waited him out before tucking it behind him.

Boston (18-11-4) exploded for two more goals early in the second period. Michael Ryder joined Lucic and Nathan Horton in double digits with his 10th goal of the season. It was a rocket snap shot on the power play from Bergeron and Dennis Seidenberg.

From there, it was the Shawn Thornton show. He had begun the night by fighting Eric Boulton two seconds into the game (really). The only true old school tough guy on the roster reached his career high in goals with a pair of sweet ones. First he one-timed a pass from Adam McQuaid (and Daniel Paille) at 5:00 (less than a minute after Ryder's goal).

Byfuglien got Atlanta's only goal a few moments later, from Evander Kane and Bryan Little.

This was Thornton's night (and he could have had a hat trick since he almost tapped one in during the first period) and he capped it with a goal-scorer's move (forehand to backhand) to make it 4-1 Bruins 4:54 into the third period.

Tim Thomas made 26 saves in a relatively quiet night by his standards. Truth be told, if Pavelec hadn't stood on his head, this could have easily been 6-1 or 7-1.

Go to hockeyfights.com if you didn't catch the insane ending of the third period. It will probably go down as Boston's biggest fight of the season. Kane fought Lucic in a heavyweight bout. Little and Marc Savard (who had his best game since last season pre-concussion) squared off. Andrew Ference took on Anthony Stewart and got a face full of blood but earned plenty of respect.

Looch could get suspended since he took a late shot at Meyer while he was tied up with the refs. Although as Jack Edwards hilariously pointed out, "his legs were jelly right there." Indeed, Meyer seemed to embellish it, with any luck the NHL agrees.

All we can hope is that this intensity and passion carries over to after Christmas. They begin a five-game road trip in Florida on Monday night.

The great pro sports fans of Atlanta finally have a hockey team to rally behind

I feel like I'm saying the exact same thing that I wrote after the Bruins' no-show on Friday against the Hurricanes but yesterday's performance in Atlanta was a post-Thanksgiving dump that clogs your toilet and floods the bathroom.

For the fifth straight game, the B's (12-8-2) gave up the first goal and not surprisingly, they've lost four of five during this weird stretch.

Conversely Atlanta (12-9-3) is actually playing some good hockey as evidenced by its fifth straight win yesterday, 4-1 over the Bruins.

Former Blackhawks playoff star Dustin Byfuglien has been reinvented as a defenseman and Boston made him look like Gordie Howe as he had a goal and three assists.

Atlanta pumped home three first period goals to take a 3-0 lead in front of about 1000 people at the Philips Arena.

Evander Kane, Byfuglien and Jim Slater had the first period goals for the Thrashers.

The Bruins should a little pulse in the second period as Matt Hunwick fought Kane and Shawn Thornton squared off with Eric Boulton. It seemed to fire up the team for a few minutes as Blake Wheeler scored from Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic at 12:22.

That hard work and effort was wiped out as Atlanta's Niclas Bergfors tallied a power-play goal with 13 seconds left in the second period. Game over Southern hockey fans.

Atlanta goaltender Ondrej Pavelec looked like Patrick Roy with 40 saves. Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask continued to find new and different ways to lose, this time with 22 saves.

Boston will need to find their game or they'll be pummelled in Philadelphia on Wednesday as they take on the Flyers, one of the NHL's best teams.

Tuukka Time for once and for all

By all accounts Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas is a great guy. That's all well and good but professional sports are a cold business and Thomas is not getting the job done this season.

Boston is lucky though because in rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask, they have the present and future of the franchise.

Rask (18-10-4, NHL-best 2.02 GAA) was the centerpiece of the B's (33-27-12) 4-0 win last night at Philips Arena in Atlanta as he recorded his fourth shutout of the season.

Since Boston came in only one point ahead of the Thrashers (32-30-11) for the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference (and the right to be pummeled by the Caps), you could say without hyperbole that last night was one of the most meaningful wins of the season.

It was downright refreshing to see the B's show up for once when it counted as David Krejci (from Michael Ryder and Dennis Seidenberg) put Boston ahead 1-0 in the first period with his 15th goal.

A couple minutes after the first goal, Shawn Thornton threw down with Thrashers goon Eric Boulton. It seems like the Bruins have been fighting more lately which is never a bad thing.

Milan Lucic (his 8th) gave the B's a 2-0 lead in the second period with a one-timer from Krejci. Then Miroslav Satan (his 6th) scored the dagger of the game with four seconds left in the second period when he tipped Zdeno Chara's blast from the point.

When Steve Begin (his 4th) scored off a juicy rebound from Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg early in the third period the rout was on.

Boston will look to keep the momentum going as the Tampa Bay Lightning come to the TD Garden tomorrow night for another must-win by the Black and Gold.

Oh Hey

Welcome to the party Michael Ryder, don't know where you've been for the past month and a half but that doesn't matter, you're here now and that's all that counts.

Ryder scored two goals last night for the Bruins as they coughed up a 2-0 lead and late 3-2 lead but won in the shootout 4-3, a forum where the B's are usually allergic to goals and victories.

Another Boston (9-8-4) player who had been invisible this season was Marco Sturm and he emerged last night with a tip-in goal (his 5th) after a Mark Recchi shot in the first period. Andrew Ference also assisted on the goal.

Ryder also scored on a tip-in with 1:49 left in the first period. It was also his fifth of the season, from Blake Wheeler and Dennis Wideman (remember him), other members of Boston's ghost squad.

Nobody is at the games but the Thrashers (10-6-2) can score some goals and they tied it up quickly with two in the second. Nik Antropov scored his first of the season (to go along with 16 assists) before superstud Ilya Kovalchuk tied it up with a power play goal with 5:37 left in the second.

Ryder put his team back ahead with a power play goal, something nearly unheard of for the Bruins, just a few minutes after Kovalchuk's goal. David Krejci and Wideman assisted on that tally.

Boston looked about to seize the two points in regulation when Maxim Afinogenov sent it to overtime with a strike with 42 seconds remaining.

Tukka Rask (32 saves), a last-minute sub for Tim Thomas, played well the entire game and stoned all three Atlanta shooters in the shootout. Patrice Bergeron was Boston's first shooter and fittingly he had the only goal.

It wasn't pretty but it was two points in a manner that this team hasn't excelled at by any means. Milan Lucic returned to the lineup and Marc Savard is due back most likely next week.

They'll look to keep the momentum going as they travel to Buffalo tonight to face red-hot Ryan Miller and the Sabres.

Plenty of room left on this bandwagon folks

As my friends and I watched the Patriots' playoff chances go down the tubes yesterday afternoon, one thing brought us the most temporary relief: the Boston Bruins, who won their eighth game in a row.

Playing less than 24 hours after their last game, the B's (27-5-4) survived in Atlanta (12-20-4) and came away with an exciting 2-1 win.

One of the greatest ongoing storylines of this wonderful season has been the outstanding play of goalie Manny Fernandez. Mocked by many (myself included), he has quickly found his game as the Bruins have established the best 1-1A goaltending duo in the NHL.

The numbers just keep getting better for Boston too; they lead the NHL in goals and have the fewest goals allowed. They are also tied with San Jose for the most points in the league.

It's heady stuff and none of it would be possible without Fernandez, who made 32 saves (including 12 in the third) to up his record 12-2-1.

A neutral zone turnover late in the first period allowed the Thrashers to skate in and score when Bryan Little threw a centering pass of Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick and past Fernandez with 15 seconds left.

It didn't take Boston long to tie it as Phil Kessel scored his team-high 22nd goal of the season at 1:43 in the second period from Marc Savard and Dennis Wideman.

Atlanta dominated the third but the B's made the most of their one real scoring opportunity.

David Krejci (from Blake Wheeler) found Michael Ryder right on the doorstep for a redirection goal at 13:56. Ryder has really played well lately as he potted his 14th goal of the season.

The B's wrap up their road trip with a visit to Mellon Arena to see Sidney Crosby and the overrated Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night.