Oh Hockey Gods, Please Make All the Injuries Stop with the Bruins

Beating the same team twice in two days is hard enough, now consider what happens when your squad is decimated by injuries. I'm not making excuses for the Bruins after they fell 4-3 to the Senators at Canadian Tire Centre but I think we can cut them some slack considering their insane amount of injuries. This afternoon, it was announced that Dennis Seidenberg will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL/MCL. Then tonight came word that Zdeno Chara was out and day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Ahhhhhh!

Ottawa (16-18-7) never trailed as they jumped ahead 1-0 and 2-1 on Boston (26-11-2) in the first period and 3-2 in the second period before Bobby Ryan scored the game-winner late in the third. Patrick Wiercioch had some puck luck (as they say) when Torey Krug blocked a shot but it caromed to Ottawa's defenseman who deposited it past Tuukka Rask at 7:04. Daniel Paille answered by undressing former Norris Trophy (what a joke) Erik Karlsson and squeezing it by Craig Anderson (29 saves) at 12:06. His fourth goal of the season was unassisted, showing how Paille truly did all the work and then some.

Cory Conacher scored on a street hockey (thanks Jack and Brick!) style tip in at 14:28. After Zach Smith finished a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Erik Condra 29 seconds into the second, that was it for Rask. Good old Chad Johnson came in and actually played well (for him). Jarome Iginla continued his hot streak with a goal from Milan Lucic and David Krejci at 13:51. Iginla's 12th goal of the season came via a tape-to-tape pass by Looch.

For me, the best highlight of the loss for the Bruins was David Warsofsky's first career NHL goal at 6:36 of the third period. It was a snipe, from Johnny Boychuk and Patrice Bergeron with plenty of meaning in terms of the game situation.

Krug's miserable performance (game low -3) was topped off by the biggest mistake of all: he slipped in Ottawa's zone which led to Ryan's breakaway. He beat Johnson with a backhander at 15:25.

The B's get a few days to heal, Carl Soderberg was also out with a concussion, before they host the woeful Islanders (11-21-7, 8th in Metropolitan Division) at TD Garden on New Year's Eve (7, NESN). Forget the biggest amateur night of the year, it is supposed to be freezing as well so stay inside, drink yourself into a near-coma and enjoy B's-Isles.

UPDATE 12/29: Nick Johnson, Zach Trotman and Warsofsky were all sent back to Providence. Haha they're actually playing for the Providence Bruins today, no rest for them.

UPDATE 12/30: The Bruins recalled defenseman Kevan Miller on an emergency basis.

UPDATE 12/31: Johnson was recalled on an emergency basis.

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Nathan Horton's Two Goals Propel The Bruins Past The Lightning, 4-2 In Tampa Bay

When the Bruins are clicking on all cylinders like they did tonight, it's tough to see many teams in the Eastern Conference (or the Western Conference) stopping them. They are so deep and even if certain guys or lines are struggling, they have a bunch of other players step up. Tampa Bay (8-7-1) saw it first-hand as they fell 4-2 to Boston (10-2-2) at Tampa Bay Times Forum.

These two teams would have met when the blizzard hit Boston two weeks ago (Saturday, February 9) but instead it was postponed until April 25. As the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals showed us, whenever they play it usually turns out to be a pretty entertaining style of hockey. Nathan Horton scored two goals for the first time in 13+ months while Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist), Brad Marchand (1 goal, 1 assist) and Dougie Hamilton (2 assists) also recorded multiple points.

Boston scored a pair of goals in the first 3:50 of the game so it looked like they might blow the Lightning out of their own building. Horton collected a rebound on Hamilton's shot and scored his fifth goal of the season at 1:11. Bergeron made it 2-0 with his third of the season at 3:50 thanks to great work along the boards by Marchand.

It's a credit to Tampa Bay and their explosive offense that they didn't roll over by any means. MVP frontrunner Steven Stamkos potted his 11th goal of the season thanks to assists from Teddy Purcell and Marc-Andre Bergeron at 8:13 of the first period. Tuukka Rask (24 saves; 8-1-2) didn't have any time to react as Stamkos roofed it over him from directly in front of the goal.

Cory Conacher tied it for the Lightning at 9:00 of the second period from Purcell and Stamkos. Not bad for a kid that went to Canisius College, Conacher gets to play on a line with Stamkos and Purcell. After Anders Lindback (22 saves) made a stop, Tampa Bay countered and the rookie Conacher put one past Rask via a 2-on-1.

They might have blown a two-goal lead but it didn't take long for the B's to respond and build another one in its place. Marchand was the recipient of a lucky bounce after Tyler Seguin's shot was blocked right to him. Bergeron had the other assist on the game-winner at 13:58 of the second period. Horton added the insurance tally at 2:33 of the third period with a perfect tip of Zdeno Chara's slap pass. Hamilton had the second assist. Everyone was trying to set Horton up for the hat trick after that but he couldn't do it, he actually hit the post on two separate occasions after Lindback was pulled for the extra skater.

Boston's tour of the Sunshine State ends on Sunday afternoon (3 p.m., NESN) as they visit the Panthers (5-7-4, 4th in Southeast Division), who appear rather hopeless at the moment despite the fact that they made the playoffs last season.

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