Bruins Remember Who They Are, Win 4-1 at Carolina

It was very hard to focus on, with Monday Night Football looming nearby, but the Bruins turned in a tidy 4-1 road win tonight at PNC Arena vs. the Hurricanes. Boston (13-6-1) never trailed as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead and won for the fifth time in their last six games. Carolina (8-9-4) got franchise goaltender Cam Ward (26 saves) back from a lower body injury for the first time in almost a month but he couldn't jumpstart a team that screams average.

The third line for the Bruins produced the first two goals as Reilly Smith scored a power play goal at 2:31 of the first period and Carl Soderberg added to the lead later in the frame. Smith's (his 3rd of the season) was the result of a pretty passing sequence between Soderberg and Loui Eriksson that ended with Soderberg feeding it in front of Ward for Smith to redirect.

Soderberg is starting to assertive himself in the NHL, showing all the dynamic skills that made him a coveted free agent coming out of Sweden. At 10:24, he tipped in Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the point. Smith had the second assist and Chris Kelly started the play by winning a faceoff in Carolina's zone and pulling it back to the point. Soderberg's second goal of the season served as the second time in his brief NHL career that he's recorded two points in the same contest.

Boston allowed a last-minute goal in the first period on Friday in Ottawa that ultimately was a major turning point. You couldn't help but think of that when Tuomo Ruutu scored a fluky goal with five seconds left in the first period. It wasn't a good shot but it fooled Tuukka Rask (23 saves) enough to get in the net.

The B's had a fortunate play factor into the most important goal. Ward got moved out of position, leaving a gaping hole in the crease. Sure enough, the loose puck found Johnny Boychuk for his first goal of the season at 10:29 of the third period. Milan Lucic notched an empty-netter for the final margin and his team-leading ninth goal of the season.

Boston is back on the ice tomorrow (7:30, NBCSN) as they visit the Rangers (10-10-0, 3rd in Metropolitan Division). It will be the first time the Original 6 rivals have met since last postseason when the B's beat the Rangers in five games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals vs. Pittsburgh.

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It is Truly A Special Time To Be A Hartford Whalers Fan, Oh Wait........

If you're looking for the blueprint to beat the Boston Bruins in 2011-12, all you have to do is seek out the Carolina Hurricanes. For some unknown reason, the worst team in the Eastern Conference completely owns the B's.

Carolina (19-25-9) wrapped up the first season sweep (4 games!) in franchise (Hartford Whalers/'Canes) history by dispatching Boston (32-15-2) 3-0 this evening at TD Garden.

The B's submitted arguably their worst effort of the season; Tuukka Rask (28 saves; 11-6-2) actually played pretty well but he couldn't make up for the listless play in front of him. Truth be told it could have been uglier too since Carolina hit the post twice.

Cam Ward stopped an NHL-high 47 shots to earn his third shutout of the season. However, don't be fooled by the gaudy numbers. Boston looked like the team from a few years ago that would constantly settle for shots from the point. Even worse, they didn't get any traffic in front of Ward.

Boston outshot Carolina 22(tied for their most in a period this season)-8 in the first and 20-9 in the third but it was all window dressing. Ward was never really tested. If it's possible to make that many saves and get a shutout but not be too impressive, this was it.

Bruins killer Eric Staal (12th of the season) made it 1-0 at 11:51 after a nice feed from Jiri Tlusty. Johnny Boychuk got a butt end to his midsection so he went down on the play which created the easy chance for the Hurricanes.

Tuomo Ruutu (16th of the season), who could be traded soon, put in a rebound at 16:41 of the second to make it 2-0.

Any thoughts of another two-goal rally by the B's, something they did on Tuesday vs. Ottawa, were quickly erased as Brandon Sutter (12th of the season) put it out of reach at 3:13 of the third.

It's strange to say this but thank God the Bruins don't have to see the Hurricanes again this season (yes I'm assuming they won't make the playoffs). This was only the third time that Boston had been shutout in 2011-12.

This weekend is a vital one for the B's in terms of the Eastern Conference standings since they host Pittsburgh on Saturday afternoon then go back to D.C. on Sunday afternoon to face the Capitals.

The last time they played on Dec. 5, the Bruins won 3-1 in Pittsburgh. That was nearly two months ago and the Penguins have been one of the NHL's hottest teams so Boston will need to shake off this funk they've been in lately; they haven't won two in a row in three weeks and they're 4-4-1 in their last nine games.

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Hurricanes Take Second Straight Over Bruins, Boston Loses Control With 72 Penalty Minutes

The 2011-12 Boston Bruins are a team without an identity right now and one that is struggling desperately to find consistency.

Their four biggest issues at the moment are scoring, maintaining focus, playing well in front of backup goaltender Tuukka Rask and of course the power-play.

In tonight's 4-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes (3-2-1) at TD Garden, the B's (2-4-0) were plagued by the first three of those said problems. The silver lining was that they snapped the horrid 0-for-22 stretch on the power-play.

Boston has yet to post back-to-back strong efforts let alone wins so it should come as no surprise that they also fell to 1-3 on home ice. Yes it would be easy to blame the referees for some shady calls against the Bruins (72 penalty minutes, 4 game misconducts), but if we're being objective it was mostly their own fault.

The B's outshot the Hurricanes 34-23 and hit two posts (by Joe Corvo and Jordan Caron) to one (Brett Sutter) for Carolina but that all doesn't matter.

Carolina knocked off Boston for the second time in six days and this time, goaltender Cam Ward (33 saves) was nearly flawless. Rich Peverley (3rd of the season) finally scored a goal in front of Tuukka (19 saves), the first he's received in two starts, notching a power-play strike at 10:59 of the third to cut it to 2-1. Dennis Seidenberg and Corvo (who survived a nasty hit/fall in the first period) had the assists.

Chris Kelly sparked the team with a fight against Sutter that occured only 29 seconds before Peverley's screened snapshot went by Ward. For a guy that's not known as a fighter at all, this was Kelly's first in a Bruins uniform, it was good to see that somebody cared enough to step up when the team is playing like garbage.

Just as the crowd finally got into it, Nathan Horton picked up a dumb penalty 31 seconds later trying to goad Hurricanes supposed toughguy Tim Gleason into a fight. It didn't work and Carolina got the last laugh as Horton plus Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic (not to mention Zdeno Chara in the second period) were all tagged with 10-minute misconducts.

The Hurricanes took advantage with a pair of 5-on-3 goals by Eric Staal (3rd of the season) at 13:26 and Tuomo Ruutu (1st of the season) at 14:58 to put it away.

Anthony Stewart (2nd of the season) got Carolina off to a quick start as he scored off a rebound just 2:47 into the first period. Joni Pitkanen (2nd of the season) doubled the lead at 10:19 in the second period on a blast from the slot.

This was a really strange game and nothing illustrates that more than the fact that Bruins head coach Claude Julien got ejected late in the third period since he'd seen enough of the one-sided calls. It was nice to see that kind of emotion out of Claude, it marked the first time he was ejected in Boston.

Would you believe me if I told you the B's have only scored a pitiful 11 goals in the first six games? Yuck. Their next game is Thursday as old friend (haha yeah right) Phil Kessel (the NHL's leading goal-scorer with 7 goals) and the Toronto Maple Leafs come to the Garden. Let's hope for a better performance from this team.

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Assuming he's healthy, it's time to give Marc Savard the green light

Every year, the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday to shoppers) the Bruins have a home game that begins at noon.

Yesterday, they faced the Carolina Hurricanes in that matinee. I've been to that early game before and I wanted to go this year but I can't explain how happy I am that I saved my time and money this year.

Carolina (10-10-2) blanked the Bruins (12-7-2) 3-0 at the TD Garden in a completely lifeless effort by Boston.

Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward stopped 37 shots for the shutout but his workload wasn't that strenuous since so many of the Bruins' chances went right into his glove.

Boston came into the game with the top-ranked penalty kill unit so it made perfect sense that all three goals they gave up were power-play goals by Carolina, who had terrible power-play numbers.

Rookie Jeff Skinner scored with 16 seconds left in the first period from Tuomo Ruutu and Joe Corvo. That goal was costly since Boston had owned the period (12-6 shots advantage) and deserved a better fate.

Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (18 saves) couldn't stem the tide as Boston lost its third game in its last four overall.

Lately, they've been falling behind and counting on improbable third period comebacks. That simply won't last and it's not a winning strategy.

Ruutu scored at 11:09 in the second period from Ian White and Joni Pitkanen.

Nathan Horton hit two posts for the Bruins (he's been very unlucky lately) and Jussi Jokinen ended it with his goal at 7:52 in the third period from Eric Staal (on his butt) and Skinner.

Boston travels to Atlanta to face the Thrashers tomorrow afternoon. Tuukka Rask should get the start and with any luck, the Bruins should handle an inferior opponent.