It's called Bruins

Your Boston Bruins have become the Celtics of the last two seasons. They also resemble the last two Patriots teams to win Super Bowls. Even when they don't play nearly their best, they still find ways to get it done.

Last night in Ottawa's Scotiabank Place, the B's (39-8-6) had a 2-0 lead wiped away as the Senators (17-25-8) scored three straight but it didn't matter as Boston tied it up late in the third and eventually won in a shootout.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (22 saves) stopped the first five shooters in the shootout and Senators goaltender Brian Elliot (30 saves) stoned the first four Boston shooters. Up stepped P.J. Axelsson with his second chance of the season to clinch a shootout win and he didn't disappoint, tucking a backhander just past Elliot.

Blake Wheeler (15th) gave Boston a 1-0 lead in the first on a power-play strike from Andrew Ference and Phil Kessel.

Cyborg Zdeno Chara potted his 12th in the second period after assists from David Krejci and Michael Ryder. Most probably expected Ottawa, the second worst team in the NHL, to roll over after that but they didn't.

Nick Foligno jump-started the Ottawa resurgence with a goal later in the second from Brendan Bell.

The Senators top line clicked in the third as Daniel Alfredsson (Dany Heatley) and Jason Spezza (power-play goal from Foligno and Alfredsson) gave their team the improbable 3-2 lead.

With 4:02 left in the third, Chuck Kobasew (one of the only likable things to ever come out of BC) scored his 10th of the season, on a power play. Chara had the initial slap shot, Blake Wheeler's rebound was stopped but Kobasew was there to poke it in.

The Flyers come to Boston tomorrow afternoon for what should be a physical, chippy battle after the Bruins beat them Wednesday in Philly.

We'll always have the Bruins

After what seemed like months (ok it was five days), a Boston team won a game last night, joy! The Bruins (30-7-4) held off the bottom-feeding Ottawa Senators (13-20-6), 6-4 at the Garden.

The B's got off to a hot start, scoring their first two goals in 4:15 seconds and later led 3-1 before Ottawa tied it at three. Boston sealed it with a trio of goals in the third before the Senators added a meaningless garbage-time tally.

Oft-injured but solid veteran defenseman Aaron Ward started things with his first goal of the season, from David Krejci and Michael Ryder.

Chuck Kobasew (7th) scored less than two minutes later, assisted by Dennis Wideman and Phil Kessel.

Chris Phillips cut it to 2-1 for the Senators, with help from teammates Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley.

Ryder's 15th of the year (that's looking like a nice signing, huh?) made it 3-1 B's in the second. Blake Wheeler and Marc Savard had the assists.

Ottawa scored twice in the second. First Chris Kelly found the back of the net (from Antoine Vermette and Jesse Winchester) and later Brandon Bell beat Bruins goalie Manny Fernandez (26 saves) with assists from Dean McAmmond and Chris Neil.

Krejci's (15th) great individual work was rewarded with a goal in the third. That kicked off the three-goal burst. Savard (14th) scored from Kobasew and then empty-net specialist P.J. Axelsson (3rd) put it out of reach at 6-3 after a pass from the omnipresent Savard.

Vermette (Chris Kelly, Winchester) had the final goal for Ottawa with 28 seconds left.

Fernandez improved to 14-3-1 with the win.

The Carolina Hurricanes come to town tomorrow afternoon as the Bruins try to erase the memory of their dud from last Saturday against the Sabres.

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.

Bruins on longest win-streak of my lifetime

Another night, another solid performance from the Boston Bruins.

The B's (28-5-4) went into Mellon Arena last night, facing a Penguins (19-14-4) that is really underachieving and would miss out on the playoffs if they started today.

Pittsburgh was desperate but it didn't matter since right now, the Bruins are the better team. Boston won 5-2, increasing their current win-streak to nine games (the longest since Dec. 1982).

With three minutes left in the first, Pittsburgh got out to a 1-0 lead as Petr Sykora (13th goal) put in a rebound from Ruslan Fedotenko and Dustin Jeffrey.

Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (35 saves) was giving up juicy rebounds all night and the B's made him pay starting in the second when they scored two power-play goals.

First Zdeno Chara (7th) finished a perfect pass from P.J. Axelsson (and Dennis Wideman). Marc Savard (12th) made it 2-1 (with assists from David Krejci and Wideman) by settling the puck near the goal-line then roofing it (hitting the Gatorade bottle) over Fleury.

Pascal Dupuis (9th) tied it up later in the second. Chara couldn't clear a bouncing puck from the Boston zone and Sidney Crosby intercepted it. He found Dupuis, who blasted a slapshot over Thomas' glove hand (a very rare occurrence).

Phil Kessel (23rd) scored what turned out to be the game-winner, 90 seconds later when he redirected Savard's cross-crease pass.

Martin St. Pierre made his first goal of the season (and 2nd career NHL strike) really count. He scored when the Bruins were short-handed in the third. St. Pierre blocked a Crosby pass then broke out 2-on-1 with Savard, who no surprise hit him with a crisp pass.

At 9:28 Wideman ended it with a screen shot that Fleury probably never saw. It was Wideman's eighth of the season from Axelsson and Chara.

Tim Thomas was stellar in net once again, making 32 saves while improving to 16-3-3. Even though he's not on the ballot (which is a complete joke), Thomas should be starting in the All-Star game. He had as usual a couple show-stopping saves.

These two teams have New Years Eve off and then they'll face each other once again, tomorrow night in Boston.

Milan Lucic and Pens rookie Tim Wallace threw down near the end of the game and Lucic recorded the win. It was a pretty nice fight and a fitting way to top off this beatdown of the Penguins.

Best team in the NHL?

They still have five more points and the best record in the NHL but the San Jose Sharks have lost two straight games, including a 6-0 beating in Detroit last night.

Your Boston Bruins (22-5-4) on the other hand, continue to cruise as they beat the Maple Leafs (12-13-6), 8-5, last night in a wild game at the Garden.

The B's have now won 12 consecutive home games and Phil Kessel (2 goals, 1 assist) picked up a point in his 16th straight game. Oh and David Krejci scored his first career hat trick and Marc Savard added a goal and three assists.

Sure, they had a big defensive lapse in the second period as a 5-1 lead turned into a 6-5 nail biter but they still won. Last night was the type of game that in the past 3-4 years that the B's would have lost, most likely in spectacular fashion.

Starting goaltender Tim Thomas was pulled in the third for Manny Fernandez and the moved paid off as Fernandez held the Leafs scoreless in the third.

It hasn't been as effortless and pretty lately for the Bruins but can we argue with the results? As far as them being the best team, that's also hard to say. They haven't played the Sharks yet but they did beat the Red Wings. It's all empty arguments that bloggers like myself get to make with no real evidence for or against our case. The wonders of the Internet indeed.

In his first game back after missing 12 games with a concussion, Marco Sturm scored 36 seconds into the game (from Chuck Kobasew and Patrice Bergeron).

Dubbed the Bruins' Willis McGahee by my buddy, Sturm proceeded to get hurt later in the period and didn't return. He's a talented player but he can never seem to get healthy for a lengthy span of time.

Less than four minutes later, Krejci scored his first goal of the night (9th overall), on a power play from Kessel and Milan Lucic.

At 7:23 Pavel Kubina scored a power play goal for Toronto, assisted by Nikolai Kulemin and Nik Antropov.

Charles Manson would have approved of the second period's Helter Skelter action (what a literary reference!) as the teams combined for a bat-shit crazy eight goals.

Savard scored a power play goal at 1:28 (his 9th) from Zdeno Chara and P.J. Axelsson. 35 seconds later, Krejci made it 4-1 with a sweet move around Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph (yes that one). Krejci collected the puck and deked around Joseph while Krejci's body was actually to the side and behind the goalmouth. He reached around the net and shoveled it in.

Kessel gave Boston its biggest lead at 4:21 when he scored his 20th goal of the year, from Savard.

In the span of eight minutes, Toronto used three tip-in goals to close the margin to 5-4. Alexei Ponikarovsky (Jeff Finger, Lee Stempniak), Antropov ( John Mitchell, Finger) and Mikhail Grabovski (Mike Van Ryn, Ponikarovsky) all lit the lamp.

With two minutes left in the second, Kessel scored again (Axelsson, Savard) but Jason Blake notched a power play goal (Tomas Kaberle, Kubina) when there was 44 seconds remaining.

The Bruins capped off a ridiculous 4-for-6 night on the power play with two more goals in the third on the man advantage.

Michael Ryder (11th) scored after a pass by Chara and Krejci completed his hat trick with Savard and Dennis Wideman providing the helpers.

Boston has today off but then Carolina comes to the Garden tomorrow for an afternoon matinee then they travel to St. Louis for a game Sunday night.

I love this team

The Boston Bruins (9-3-3) continued to make huge strides as they went into Chicago (7-3-4) last night and walked away with a 2-1 shootout victory at the United Center. The fourth win in a row put the Bruins atop the Atlantic Division.

This matchup featured two of the NHL's most up and coming teams featuring plenty of young talent and solid goaltenders. Despite the lack of goals, the portion of the game that I caught was extremely exciting.

With 54 seconds left in the second period, Bruins forward Marco Sturm broke the scoreless tie. He scored his fourth goal of the season, on a power play with assists from Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron.

Nine minutes into the third, Blackhawks stud Jonathan Toews tied it up (second goal of the season) with a power play goal of his own from Patrick Kane and Cam Barker.

The two stars of this game were Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (31 saves) and Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (38 saves). Thomas stood on his head (as he's known to do) with 18 saves in the first period. After that, Boston woke up and outshot Chicago 33-14 through overtime.

Khabibulin made a couple of ridiculous saves in the extra session, forcing the shootout (one of the Bruins' biggest weaknesses).

Proving that this team is already turning the corner (from earlier in the season when they lost three shootouts in a row), the Bruins received a goal from Blake Wheeler before P.J. Axelsson won it on the third shot.

The Montreal Canadiens come to town tonight in what should be a great game. Unfortunately, the Patriots-Jets showdown happening tonight as well means few will see the B's after the football game starts.