Bruins win seventh straight, vault to second in Eastern Conference

The Boston Bruins are clicking on all cylinders right now. It makes you wish that the regular season would fast forward and the playoffs could start like this weekend.

The Bs won their seventh straight game last night, 2-1 over the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden, and with the two points they jumped over Tampa Bay into second place in the Eastern Conference.

Boston (38-19-7) is now only three points behind top-seed Philadelphia and they've proven that they can play any style of game and usually come out on top: high-scoring, low-scoring, chippy, filled with fights. It doesn't matter what you throw at them at the moment, the Bruins are the NHL's hottest team.

The Lightning (37-20-7) scored first as defenseman Eric Brewer found the back of the net at 4:04 of the second period, assisted by Blair Jones and Steve Downie.

However, it only took 2:02 for Bruins rookie defenseman Steve Kampfer to tie it up with a seeing-eye slap shot from the point. Kampfer's fifth goal of the season was assisted by Chris Kelly and Rich Peverley.

It doesn't seem to be their way at all since they're a finesse team but Tampa Bay tried to push the Bruins around which ended rather comically. Shawn Thornton and Downie got game misconducts in the second period and Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with Brewer.

Throughout the contest, the Lightning exhibited a Canadiens-like tendency to fall, trip, turtle and basically employ every cheap trick in the book. Even good guy Martin St. Louis stuck his skate out which propelled Mark Recchi into Tampa Bay's net. Strange.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (27 saves; 29-8-6) and Lightning backup Mike Smith (26 saves) both played well and it looked like we were headed to overtime.

That was until Lucic chipped in a bad-angle shot at 16:18 of the third period for the game-winner, his 28th of the season. Linemates David Krejci and Nathan Horton assisted and got in Smith's way on the goal. There was a pile of bodies in Tampa Bay's crease and the puck popped out. Lucic got to it first and threw the shot on net which turned out to be the difference.

Lucic deserved it after he had had the post earlier in the game. Lightning superstar Steve Stamkos also had a shot rattle off the post and then right to Thomas.

Kampfer left the game with a mild concussion so he'll probably miss a few games.

Boston hosts Pittsburgh tomorrow night as they try to grab their eighth consecutive win against the Penguins who will be without the injured Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.

Boston Bruins stun Philadelphia Flyers with 5 goals in the 3rd period

Just when you think you've seen it all in a crazy first half of the 2010-2011 season for the Boston Bruins, they drop five goals on the Philadelphia Flyers in a bananas 7-5 triumph last night at the TD Garden.

Where to begin with this instant classic? Beating the Flyers (27-11-5) in the regular season doesn't mean much (let's not talk about the series that shall not be named from last spring) but Philly came in leading the Eastern Conference and they were up 3-2 heading into the third period. Oh and they were 18-2-2 when they scored first, well make that 18-3-2.

If you had told me that Brad Marchand, Steve Kampfer and Gregory Campbell would score the final three goals for the Bruins (24-12-7), I would have said it was a great night to be a Providence Bruin or something snarky and clever like that. However, those are probably the three biggest unsung heroes so far in a season that is heating up with each passing game.

The bitter feelings these teams have built up from the playoffs last season not to mention two earlier games this season boiled over 2:35 into last night as Shawn Thornton took on Jody Shelley (who threw a cheap hit on Bs defenseman Adam McQuaid in December).

Scott Hartnell (sans his carrot top wig) gave the Flyers an early 1-0 lead at 3:34 from Ville Leino and Danny Briere in the first period. It was a weird goal as Hartnell was able to bat the back from behind the goal line and past Tim Thomas (30 saves).

Zdeno Chara tied it up with a power-play goal when Boston had a two-man advantage. Marc Savard and David Krejci assisted on the blast from the captain that seemed to have eyes as it eluded Brian Boucher (30 saves).

The red-hot Patrice Bergeron scored 45 seconds into the second period when his body deflected a Kampfer shot from distance. Mark Recchi also assisted.

Philly took the lead and momentum in the contest when Nikolay Zherdev scored on a breakaway (from Andreas Nodl) and Jeff Carter sniped one over Thomas' shoulder with 36 seconds left in the second period (from James van Riemsdyk and Kimmo Timonen).

It was easy to tell that the third period would be bat shit insane when Recchi tied it 38 seconds in with a goal that will likely never be duplicated again this season. He threw it off the boards and it took a fortuitous bounce right to him and he just shoveled it into the open net. Thomas and Chara picked up gift helpers on that one.

1:10 later, Michael Ryder tipped in an Adam McQuaid shot with Nathan Horton picking up the second assist.

Briere (from Braydon Coburn and Ville Leino) tied it at 6:48 and then less than a minute later, former Bruins defenseman Sean O'Donnell picked a corner with his first goal of the season (haha what?).

Marchand tied it again with a snipe from Campbell and Blake Wheeler. Finally, Kampfer scored the game-winner with a low, quick release from a tough angle.

The Flyers are stacked on offense and when Chris Pronger is healthy (he was out last night), their defense is formidable but they'll probably never win a Stanley Cup with the assorted bums they line up between the pipes. That's the only advantage the Bruins have over them and the reason you would have some hope if these teams should meet again this spring.

Campbell wrapped it up with seven seconds left, scoring another empty-net goal (his speciality) from Wheeler and Bergeron.

Woo! What a game. I can only hope that tomorrow's matinee vs. the Pittsburgh Penguins (which I will be attending) has a quarter of the thrills of last night. Truly one of the best games you'll see not only for the Bruins this season but for the NHL as a whole.

Bruins lose a snoozefest (zzzzzzzzzzzzz) to the somehow unbeatable Minnesota Wild

With the exceptionally boring style that the Minnesota Wild prefer to play, I almost don't blame the Boston Bruins for playing terribly last night. For some unknown reason, the Wild are 9-2 all-time against the Bs including a 6-0 mark in Boston. Weird.

Three fatal Bruins (21-12-6) mistakes led to each Wild (20-15-5) goal as Minnesota won 3-1 at the TD Garden.

It wasted yet another fine effort by Tuukka Rask (31 saves), who lost to Jose Theodore (35 saves). Rask turned in one of the best saves you'll see all season in the NHL, robbing Martin Havlat of what should have been an easy tap in.

After a scoreless first period, the Wild took advantage of a bogus hooking call on Shawn Thornton early in the second period. Minnesota defenseman Brent Burns flopped like only the Montreal Canadiens can and he surprisingly got the call. Four seconds later, Havlat scored from Patrick O'Sullivan.

Bruins rookie defenseman Steve Kampfer (who has played wonderfully from day one since he got called up) tied it up following a steal in Minnesota's end by Patrice Bergeron. Tyler Seguin also assisted on Boston's lone goal.

By far the biggest mistake by the Bs led to the game-winner for the anonymous Wild as Marc Savard failed to clear the puck after a long shift in his own end and hit it right to wannabe porn star name Cal Clutterbuck. Rask had no time to react and Minnesota had a 2-1 lead.

Boston pressed for the tying goal but Theodore stood tall while Minnesota also had some more luck as Mark Recchi's stick shattered after Rask had been pulled for the extra skater.

Mikko Koivu put it away with an empty-net goal following Recchi's problem with his stick.

There's no time to feel sorry for themselves though as Boston goes to Montreal tomorrow night for a showdown with first-place in the Northeast Division on the line. Expect Tim Thomas to be back in between the pipes after he's sat out the last three contests.

New Year's in Buffalo, talk about a party.

Weird stuff happens on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day so it goes without saying that's multiplied when a miserable place like Buffalo, NY is involved.

The Boston Bruins scored four goals in the first period last night at the HSBC Arena but somehow ended up losing 7-6 in a shootout to the Buffalo Sabres.

Four different Bs (20-11-6) defensemen scored goals while Tyler Seguin had a goal and an assist. Brad Marchand also added a goal.

For Buffalo (16-18-4), Drew Stafford once again did his best Mario Lemieux impression that he only pulls out when he plays the Bruins. He had another hat trick against Boston (his second this season) while Jason Pominville had two goals and two assists.

2011 began like 2010 ended for Bs goaltender Tuukka Rask: terribly. He started last night but he didn't make it to the second period as Bruins head coach Claude Julien made the curious decision to yank him after the first period even though Boston led 4-3.

Andrew Ference gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead 1:29 into the game, from Adam McQuaid and Marc Savard. 37 seconds later, Pominville tied it up from Thomas Vanek and Mike Weber.

Dennis Seidenberg made it 2-1 with an unassisted goal, then Brad Marchand tipped home a shot by Johnny Boychuk who received a pass from Mark Recchi.

Thomas Vanek got Buffalo back into it with a goal from Tim Connolly and Pominville.

The first period closed with Zdeno Chara (from Patrice Bergeron and Recchi) scoring a short-handed goal but Stafford cut it to 4-3 with an unassisted goal.

With Rask (13 saves) out, Tim Thomas (16 saves) entered in the second period but he wasn't much better. Captain America, Ryan Miller (34 saves) didn't exactly have a Hall of Fame performance either but he was able to ride it out.

Stafford tied it up with the second period from Paul Gausted. A power-play goal by Pominville gave Buffalo a 5-4 lead from Andrej Sekera and Jochen Hecht.

Seguin took over in the third period with a goal (from Daniel Paille) and he found Steve Kampfer for the go-ahead tally at 6-5. Chara also assisted on Kampfer's 2nd career NHL goal.

It looked like the Bruins would get the two points but Stafford tied it up with his third goal with 28 seconds left in regulation.

After a scoreless overtime, the Sabres went 3 for 3 in the shootout (Stafford, Vanek and Tyler Ennis) while Michael Ryder and Seguin scored but the third shooter, Zdeno Chara, shot wide and it was over. I have no idea why Julien tabbed Chara to shoot since he doesn't have a move, he normally just skates down and takes a slap shot from a few feet away but whatever.

The Bs got one point but they totally choked, giving up two-goal leads twice (3-1, 4-2). Boston goes to Toronto tomorrow night to visit Phil Kessel and the Maple Leafs, who they completely own.

My apologies Claude, apparently the Boston Bruins still listen to you

I can't put a finger on it as to the exact reason why (which doesn't matter) but the Boston Bruins are back to playing good hockey.

They won their third straight game, 4-3 last night over the Tampa Bay Lightning at the St. Pete Times Forum, in what will definitely go down as one of their most start-to-finish exciting contests of 2010-2011.

Three times the Bruins (20-11-4) went ahead by a goal, only to have the Lightning (21-11-5) respond each time by tying it up.

However, Mark Recchi wouldn't let Boston go to overtime for the second consecutive night as he scored a clutchtastic goal on a snap shot with 20 seconds left in regulation.

None of that would have been possible without more top-notch goaltending by Tim Thomas (31 saves). Conversely, Tampa Bay goaltender Dan Ellis (25 saves) is the weak link that will hold back one of the NHL's most dynamic, explosive teams from reaching their full potential (sound familiar Washington Capitals?).

Michael Ryder got the party started early for the Bs he notched a power-play goal 28 seconds into the game, from Recchi and Dennis Seidenberg.

Steven Stamkos, the savior of my terrible fantasy hockey team, answered with a power-play strike of his own less than seven minutes later from Brett Clark and Ryan Malone.

A nice moment occurred in the second period as Bruins rookie defenseman Steve Kampfer scored his first NHL goal, from Marc Savard and Nathan Horton.

Back from a broken hand, Vincent Lecavalier tied it at 2 at 14:02 in the second period from Sean Bergenheim and Pavel Kubina.

That set the stage for a thrilling third period as Brad Marchand (returning after missing 3 games) scored from Shawn Thornton and Gregory Campbell. Yes, it is annoying how much Julien chooses to play the fourth line at times but you have to admit that they've been great so far this season.

Thomas' old UVM teammate Martin St. Louis tied it one last time at 3 with help from Stamkos and Kubina.

Recchi's game-winner was assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Seidenberg.

Tomorrow night is the middle game of the Bruins' five-game road trip and it could be a messy one: vs. the Atlanta Thrashers, who had a wannabe MMA battle in Boston last Thursday night.

No doubt Milan Lucic will be at the center of it all after he was targeted last week and later fined for a punch on Freddy Meyer while he was held by the referees.

Don't forget to tell all your friends in Atlanta that love hockey, oh nevermind.