I for one salute our new hockey playing overlords

Do you remember when the Boston Bruins defined mediocrity? When they played boring, defensive hockey and still didn't win many games? Those days get harder and harder to remember now as the B's continue to steam roll through the 2008-2009 season.

Boston (29-5-4) opened up 2009 with a 4-2 home win over the Pittsburgh Penguins (19-15-4) last night at the Garden. The Bruins have won 10 games in a row and 14 straight at home.

After losing to the Bruins two nights earlier in Pittsburgh, the Penguins were even more desperate to get two points. They apparently called the dreaded "players-only" meeting after Tuesday night's game but it didn't seem to have much effect against the cyborgs from Boston.

Only 2:59 into the game, the Pens got an early 1-0 lead as Dustin Jeffrey scored his first NHL goal, from Alex Goligoski and Tim Wallace.

The B's responded with three unanswered goals (two in the first and one in the second). 1:06 after the Jeffrey strike, David Krejci (14th) finished off a great rush up ice and passing sequence from Blake Wheeler and Michael Ryder.

P.J. Axelsson, who was recently moved to power play duty, made Bruins coach Claude Julien look like a fortune teller as he scored his second goal of the season at 9:24 of the first. Dennis Wideman and Marc Savard got the assists but Axelsson deserved most of the credit as he hit the puck out of mid-air and into the net.

Milan Lucic (11th) scored in the second period from his new linemates Chuck Kobasew and Stephane Yelle.

Pittsburgh had the territorial and shooting advantage for the game (32-26 shots) and they made it interesting when Ruslan Fedotenko scored in the third from Miroslav Satan and Evgeni Malkin.

Manny Fernandez (13-2-1) stood tall though in net for the Bruins (30 saves) and Savard put in an empty-net goal with two seconds left from Axelsson and Yelle.

Buffalo comes to the Garden tomorrow afternoon.

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.

All I want for Christmas is for Patrice Bergeron to be healthy

Once the most promising young talent on the Boston Bruins, Patrice Bergeron's career was put in jeopardy last fall after a cheap-shot by the Flyers' Randy Jones. Bergeron missed the rest of the season and playoffs after the severe concussion and it wasn't until training camp this season that he fully returned to the ice.

He came into yesterday's game against the Hurricanes with four goals and 14 assists. His goal-scoring tough has clearly not been the same but Bergeron was slowly returning to the player he had been for a few seasons.

The B's (23-5-4) beat the Hurricanes (15-13-5), 4-2, at the Garden but unfortunately the lasting image from the game was Bergeron laying face down on the ice once again.

In the second period, he got hurt on a collision with a Carolina defenseman and it took him a few minutes to recover (possibly regain consciousness?) and get off the ice with help from teammates and the trainers.

It did not look good at first glance and with his concussion history, let's just hope that Bergeron somehow didn't get another serious head injury.

With Bergeron probably out for the near future and Marco Sturm recently placed on IR, the Bruins' injury list grows by the day. Aaron Ward and Andrew Ferrance are also out yet the team keeps winning.

Joni Pitkanen (Rod Brind'Amour, Joe Corvo) scored a power play goal at 4:50 of the first to give the Hurricanes an early 1-0 lead.

Marc Savard (Phil Kessel, Milan Lucic) tied it up with his 10th of the season in the second period.

3:54 into the third, David Krejci (Vladimir Sobotka, Shane Hnidy) put the B's up for good with a goal, his 12th of the season. Eight minutes later, tough guy Shawn Thornton (2nd of the year) gave Boston a 3-1 lead.

With less than five minutes left, Ray Whitney scored from Brind'Amour and Scott Walker but Stephane Yelle put in an empty-netter with three seconds left.

The Bruins have now won their last 13 home games. Goaltender Manny Fernandez made 32 saves and improved his record to 10-2-1.

Boston travels to St. Louis tonight for a rare Sunday night contest.

Bruins snap 12-game losing streak to Canadiens

In a game they had no business winning (getting home at 3 a.m. from Chicago yesterday morning), the Boston Bruins (10-3-3) continued to defy logic this season as they handed the Montreal Canadiens (9-3-2) a 6-1 beating at the Garden.

Montreal is a good team and they had been waiting in Boston the night before while Boston went to a shootout to beat another quality team in Chicago.

The Bruins current win streak moved to five games while they broke a 12-game regular season losing streak to the Canadiens.

It was over early as Boston blitzed Montreal with three first period goals. One of the biggest surprises of the Bruins' season so far has been the play of its fourth line. The B's have more depth than almost any other NHL team.

This was on display as tough guy Shawn Thornton scored his first of the season off an assist from Stephane Yelle just 2:31 into the game.

Yelle scored his second of the season with three minutes left in the period. Thornton and Chuck Kobasew (who just returned from a broken leg) had the assists.

Marco Sturm (fifth of the season) scored a power play goal with seven seconds left. The assists were from Marc Savard and Michael Ryder.

3:44 into the second, Sturm added another power play strike, from Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara.

Montreal finally woke up as Saku Koivu scored with help from Alex Tanguay.

Boston put it away in the third as Milan Lucic (5th of the season; from Phil Kessel) and Yelle (from Kobasew and Aaron Ward) made the B's lead 6-1.

In between those goals, Lucic took care of the only other thing Boston had to do: he beat the hell out of Canadiens enforcer Mike Komisarek, who had a great series against the Bruins in last spring's playoffs.

Canadiens goalie Carey Price still looks like a fraud as he made 25 stops but gave up all six goals. Bruins backup goalie Manny Fernandez had his second good game in a row (which is a great sign since he's one of the team's biggest question marks) with 27 saves.

The first-place Bruins travel to the Northeast's top team, the New York Rangers tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden.