Bruins Lose To Penguins, But Who Cares?

Since tonight's game was essentially meaningless to the Boston Bruins, I won't waste much of your time or mine.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (49-25-6) came into TD Garden still looking for home-ice advantage (the No. 4 seed) and so beating the B's (47-29-4) 5-3 was important to them.

Pittsburgh went up 2-0 in the first period, Boston battled back to tie it at 2 in the second before the Penguins rattled off three straight goals to take it. Backup goaltender Brent Johnson made 26 saves for the Penguins.

Sidney Crosby scored twice in the win while Paul Martin, James Neal and Arron Asham also had goals for Pittsburgh. Boston's goals were provided by Benoit Pouliot (15th of the season), Milan Lucic (25th of the season) and Rich Peverley (11th of the season).

Andrew Ference fought Neal late in the second, leaving the smaller Ference with some cuts on his nose and face although to his credit, he was able to take down Neal at the end.

One of the hardest parts about times like this in the NFL or NHL is that you can't scale back the violent nature of the sports. This isn't MLB or NBA where a team can completely coast once they've clinched. That's what makes it so brutal when things like tonight transpire: Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk left in the 3rd period after a nasty (but unintentional) knee-to-knee collision. It'll probably be a few days before we know how bad it truly was but it didn't look good at all. If he's out for a significant amount of time in the playoffs, that's a big loss since he's one of Boston's most reliable defensemen.

I hope you all savored what could possibly be Marty Turco's (22 saves) last game in the Black and Gold. The only other real notable part of this one from a Bruins perspective is that we witnessed Torey Krug's NHL debut. He was solid, the former Michigan State captain is as tiny as advertised but he seems to skate really well for a blueliner.

Before the game, Tyler Seguin received the 7th player award (which is supposed to go to the player who exceeds expectations). How a No. 2 pick can win that is beyond me, Chris Kelly rightfully deserved it although it's a completely useless award, voted on by the fans, so who cares?

The Bruins travel to Ottawa on Thursday. Tim Thomas got some much needed rest tonight and I would expect him to sit out against the Senators too. We might see Anton Khudobin's first NHL start. That's basically the only reason that I will pay any attention to that one.

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Four Goals In The 3rd Period Leads To A Bruins Win On The Island

Any time that Tim Thomas gets a game off, it's a good thing for the Boston Bruins. If they can also win, that makes it even better since the playoffs begin in less than two weeks and he'll probably start every game.

Marty Turco (19 saves; 2-1-1) did enough and the B's (46-28-4) scored four goals in the third period as they beat the New York Islanders (33-34-11) 6-3 this afternoon at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The pro-Bruins crowd enjoyed a monster game from Boston's second line as Brad Marchand (1 goal, 2 assists), Tyler Seguin (1 goal, 2 assists) and Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist) combined for eight points. Five different Bruins scored and Chris Kelly became the sixth Bruin to score 20+ goals this season.

The regular season finish line is a week away and Boston is playing like a determined team (6-1-1 in their last 8) with big expectations for another deep playoff run.

Krejci (22nd of the season) gave the B's a 1-0 lead at 18:11 of the first period thanks to a fine assist from Milan Lucic (2 assists). Andrew Ference had the other assist.

Turco allowed his only soft goal as Kyle Okposo (21st of the season) tied it 29 seconds later with a wrist shot that he should have gloved.

Gregory Campbell and Michael Haley fought early in the second period. It wasn't a classic bout but it seemed to get both teams into it, a tough thing to do with an early afternoon game on a Saturday.

Kelly picked up his career-high 20th goal on a sweet individual move and a hard shot that crossed Al Montoya (21 saves) up at 4:58 of the second period.

P.A. Parenteau (17th of the season) tied it at 2 with a nifty assist from the underrated John Tavares (2 assists) at 14:26. Matt Moulson (2 assists) had the other helper.

Marchand (27th) and Seguin (27th) matched each other with goals to start the third period. Parenteau made it interesting, with his second goal at 14:53.

Bergeron (21st of the season) and Krejci (career-high 23rd) iced it with a pair of goals 24 seconds apart. Bergeron's was off a rebound and Krejci once again benefited from Lucic moving his skates and looking up.

Thomas will be back in goal tomorrow night as the Bruins play at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers who are still the Eastern Conference's top team. Yes, it doesn't mean much since both teams are assured of getting a high seed (B's need 5 more points to win the Northeast Division and get the No. 2 seed) but New York is 3-0 so far against Boston. The B's need to at least play well if not grab two points to give themselves some piece of mind that the Rangers aren't unbeatable.

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Marty Turco Might Not Be So Worthless After All

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.

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Lightning Help Bruins Hit Rock Bottom For 2011-12

The Boston Bruins have been handing out two-goal leads to start games like they were candy on Halloween. Tonight, they thought why not take it a step further as they were down 3-0 at 4:31 and 4-0 at 15:38 of the first period.

By rolling 6-1, the Tampa Bay Lightning (32-30-7) helped push the B's (40-26-03) over the cliff at the Tampa Bay Times Forum and they didn't forget to pour gasoline over the tire fire that is the Black and gold.

It's the first time since October, the month that shall not be spoken about, that Boston has lost three games in a row. The worst part was that this prideful team simply laid down from beginning to end, against an average opponent.

Marty Turco (8 saves) got the start but he was yanked after allowing three goals, one of which was completely preventable and his fault. Tim Thomas (3 saves) came in for almost two periods but he wasn't much better as he allowed two goals. Turco returned in the third period and he had the honor of allowing Steven Stamkos' 50th goal of the season (second time he's done that in his career, 51 in '09-'10).

Tom Pyatt (8th of the season) kicked off the scoring (no pun intended) by knocking the puck off his skate. It was called no-goal on the ice but somehow the league officials in Toronto thought it was a goal so it was reversed. Things only got worse as Turco fumbled a puck right to Nate Thompson (9th of the season) then former BC star Ryan Shannon (4th of the season) skated in on a breakaway.

Tampa Bay scored its fourth goal-the most Boston has allowed in a period this season-when Victor Hedman (4th of the season) put one over Thomas' shoulder. The only semblance of pride exhibited by the B's in that frame was from Shawn Thornton, as usual, who beat the hell out of Mike Commodore.

Did I mention that Boston had two shots (really) in the first? Stamkos' received a gift from Thomas in the form of his 49th goal in the second period. Stamkos flipped it on net, with no power and Thomas fall over the line and couldn't stop it.

Jordan Caron (7th of the season) prevented the shutout for Dustin Tokarski (33 saves) when he tipped in a shot by Johnny Boychuk in the third period.

The Lightning come to TD Garden in two weeks, maybe by then the Bruins will have woken up. Either that or they'll no longer be in first in the Northeast Division so they'll be on the fringe of the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

Boston ends this torturous trip (0-2 so far, 3 goals scored, 11 goals allowed) on Thursday against the Panthers. The Bruins are 2-1 against Florida so far this season although they haven't played them in nearly two months.

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Bruins Prove To Be No Match As The Penguins Roll To Their Ninth Straight Win

Let's get one thing straight, no matter if Tim Thomas or Marty Turco started in net this afternoon for the Boston Bruins, there was no way they were knocking off the freight train known as the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Pens (42-21-5) won their season-high ninth game in a row, 5-2 at the CONSOL Energy Center thanks to three assists from Evgeni Malkin, a goal and two assists from James Neal and a strong outing from goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves).

Despite having played yesterday afternoon-and having lost to the Washington Capitals-Thomas (7 saves) got the puzzling start. He didn't last long, although that wasn't really his fault. Pittsburgh scored twice in the first 7:12, the third time in five games that the B's have been down 2-0 within the first nine minutes. Even worse, it was 3-0 Penguins by the end of the first period. Enter Turco (20 saves) to start the second. He actually played fine which makes you wonder why he didn't start in the first place since Thomas is dead but I digress.

Arron Asham (4th of the season at 3:24), Matt Niskanen (4th of the season at 7:12) and Neal (31st of the season at 18:48 on the power-play) made for a completely embarrassing first period by the Bruins, who couldn't do anything except get hurt and take penalties.

Adam McQuaid (upper body), Max Sauve (lower body, in his NHL debut) and Patrice Bergeron (blocked a shot) all exited the game with injuries but never returned. That left Boston with 10 skaters on the bench.

David Krejci (19th of the season) showed some pride for Boston when he cut it to 3-1 at 1:56 of the second period. Tyler Seguin and Milan Lucic assisted on Krejci's snap shot for a goal.

Chris Kunitz (20th of the season) answered for the Penguins at 4:27 as he one-timed a pass from Neal. Malkin had the second assist, on the first goal allowed by Turco in a Bruins uniform.

Krejci scored again at 10:01 on a wrist shot from Lucic and Seguin to trim it to 4-2. Boston never gave up but Pascal Dupuis (18th of the season) put an exclamation point on the nice win for the home team when he scored with 3:53 left in the game. He went in on a breakaway thanks to passes from Jordan Staal and Deryk Engelland.

Boston gets one more crack at what could be the Eastern Conference's top team-four points behind the Rangers-on April 3 at TD Garden. One thing is clear, the Bruins don't want any part of the Penguins in the playoffs, particularly if Sidney Crosby ever returns and is healthy.

The B's have two more games on the road and they are both in the Sunshine State: Tuesday in Tampa Bay and Thursday in Sunrise (against the Panthers). Boston split the first two games with the Lightning, who have been probably the biggest disappointment in the East this season since they took the Bruins to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals last spring.

All we can do right now is cross our fingers and toes that the B's can start to get more guys back in their lineup, otherwise there will be many more gongshow games like this one. Andrew Ference returned today but they still sorely miss Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley, Tuukka Rask, etc. Who knows if they'll all be back this season?

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With Tuukka Rask Out 4-6 Weeks, Bruins Scramble to Sign Marty Turco

The Boston Bruins announced tonight that goaltender Tuukka Rask will miss the next 4-6 weeks with a lower abdomen/groin strain suffered on Saturday against the Islanders.

He's lucky not to have a more serious injury, like to his surgically repaired left knee but this will put him out of action until the playoffs. Realizing that they couldn't play Tim Thomas every single game or rely on 22-year-old Michael Hutchinson from the Providence Bruins quite yet, the B's signed NHL veteran Marty Turco to a one-year deal.

From ESPNBoston's Joe McDonald:
Turco, 36, played in only four regular-season games for EC Red Bull Salzburg in the Austrian First Division this season. He will be placed on NHL waivers, and if he clears, he will join the Bruins on Wednesday. If he clears waivers, Turco will not be eligible for the Stanley Cup playoffs because he will join the Bruins after the trade deadline.

Turco's contract is pro rated for $600,000, a league source tells ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun.

Turco played 10 seasons in the NHL with the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks. He has a 273-165-43 career record with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage. He posted 41 career shutouts and compiled six 30-plus win seasons.

After playing the first nine years of his career with Dallas, Turco spent the 2010-2011 season with the Blackhawks and posted an 11-11-3 record with a 3.02 GAA and an .897 save percentage.

Turco is clearly washed up but with only 18 games left in the regular season, Boston only will need him to make a start or two every few weeks. Plus they can pick and choose when they want to roll him out of mothballs (back-to-backs or against shitbums).

Boston is back in action tomorrow night in Toronto as they look to snap a two-game losing streak. The Maple Leafs are five points out of the Eastern Conference's eighth spot in 12th place so needless to say, they are a desperate team that needs two points.

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