Bruins Blow 2-Goal Lead In 3rd, Fall 4-3 to Wild

Boston allowed the first goal on Tuesday night at TD Garden to Minnesota but after that the B's rattled off three in a row to take a commanding 3-1 leading after two periods. Unfortunately for them, hockey games still consist of three periods and their third was a disaster. The Wild (5-3-0) scored three straight goals to take a 4-3 road win.

This was an unforgivable loss for the Bruins for a couple reasons: 1) Minnesota had played last night in New York (5-4 loss to Rangers); 2) Boston last competed on Saturday (if you can call it that vs. the hapless Maple Leafs); 3) two-goal leads for them, even without Zdeno Chara, should mean lights out.

Nino Niederreiter (great name) made it 1-0 just 4:51 into the contest as he one-timed a pass from Bruins killer Thomas Vanek. In 56 career games vs. Boston, Vanek now has 30 goals and 33 assists. Has Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli ever thought about signing him?

The only real bright spot for the B's was the improving play of Seth Griffith (2 goals, 1 assist). He tied it at 18:23 with his second goal of the season, redirecting David Krejci's sharp pass right by the net. Zach Trotman had the other assist for his first NHL point.

Griffith bagged his first multi-goal game with another redirection at 5:23 of the second period. This one was even sweeter than the first as he connected with Gregory Campbell's pass and then dove in the air after it went in the net, similar to Bobby Orr in the most famous play in Bruins history.

Milan Lucic's power play goal, yet another redirect, at 16:59 gave Boston that 3-1 advantage. Torey Krug and Griffith had the assists on Lucic's second goal of the season.

Boston completely shut down in the third period, they couldn't win any puck battles and were chasing it all frame as they were outshot 18-7 and outscored 3-0.

In most circumstances, we love Captain America Zach Parise but not tonight as he cut it to 3-2 at 4:21 with a redirection from Mikael Granlund and Jared Spurgeon. Only 2:13 after that, Minnesota had tied it up as Justin Fontaine put in a rebound from Ryan Carter and that scumbag Matt Cooke (yes he's still in the NHL and not behind bars).

The B's didn't deserve any good bounces so it was poetic that the game-winner was a shot by Marco Scandella (who?) from the point that went off Krejci's skate and in the net at 14:07. Boston had plenty of pressure after that but they couldn't beat Niklas Backstrom (25 saves) who improved to 5-0-1 all-time against the Bruins.

For the second time in five days, the Bruins have the honor of a cupcake matchup with the reeling Sabres (2-8) in Buffalo on Thursday (7, NESN). The Sabres were blanked 4-0 by the Maple Leafs tonight and Boston won 4-0 at First Niagara Center last Saturday. As far as we know, Buffalo is still an NHL (why, I couldn't tell you) so this meeting comes at the right time for a B's club still searching for consistency as they close out the first month of the season.

UPDATE 10/29: As if they needed another injury on defense, Krug broke a finger last night so he's out two to four weeks. Joe Morrow and David Warsofsky were recalled from Providence with thoughts of sitting Matt Bartkowski who is off to a predictably terrible start.

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Krejci's Hat Trick Including Overtime Winner Propels Bruins Over Devils

If tonight was indeed a playoff preview-which it would be if the postseason started today-the Boston Bruins are in for another special journey.

The B's (38-21-3) got out to an instantaneous 2-0 lead on the New Jersey Devils (35-25-3) at TD Garden but had to rally to tie it at three in the third period. After months of underachieving, David Krejci notched his second career hat trick including the overtime game winner as Boston escaped with a scintillating 4-3 win.

With that, Boston swept the season series (4-0) against New Jersey but don't be surprised if these two teams see each other again in April.

In desperate need of some offense and a fast start, Bruins head coach Claude Julien shook up the forward lines and it paid immediate dividends. Krejci scored 1:13 into the game on a one-timer after a great feed from new linemate Tyler Seguin.

Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton fought less than a minute later in one of the longest bouts that you'll see all season. NESN's Jack Edwards gleefully compared it to Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots and that wasn't too far off.

At 8:10, that line produced another goal as this time Milan Lucic (2 assists) fought through a check along the boards and was able to center it to Seguin (21st goal of the season) who did the rest. Tim Thomas also assisted on Seguin's goal (his first in 11 games) which was followed by a New Jersey timeout.

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur (21 saves) actually kept his team in it during the first as he made three grade A stops which kept it at a two-goal deficit. Krejci was sprung on a short-handed breakaway but Brodeur rolled over and deflected it away blindly with his glove.

New Jersey blitzed Tim Thomas (28 saves; 27-13-0) with three goals in the second period. After the now customary Joe Corvo giveaway (somewhere Dennis Wideman and Tomas Kaberle smile), Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise skated in on a 2-on-1. Kovalchuk fed Parise for his 24th of the season at 6:27. Now that the Bruins have Mike Mottau (scratched tonight) and Greg Zanon (who made his Bruins debut), it's time to make Corvo a healthy scratch. He seems to get worse by the game.

Patrik Elias (20th of the season) tied it up less than eight minutes later as Petr Sykora's shot bounced off Dennis Seidenberg's skate in front of the net and right to Elias. Amazingly, it is Elias' tenth season of 20+ goals. Impressive stuff.

David Clarkson (25th of the season) put the Devils up 3-2 at 17:46 thanks to a nice individual effort. He wheeled around from behind the Bruins' net and was able to stuff it past Thomas. In that case, Thomas needs to hug the post and make that save.

Krejci tied it at three with a crazy goal at 5:30 into the third. It deflected off a Devils player in the air to Lucic's stick. He passed it to Krejci but it was in the air as well so it hit him in the chest. Showing off his incredible hands, he was able to settle it down and slide it in. Amazing. Zdeno Chara had the other assist.

Krejci's deciding tally (16th of the season) was a one-timer 2:59 into overtime. Chara had the main assist with Patrice Bergeron recording the other one. Brodeur got a piece of it but the puck still managed to trickle over the line. Good enough for me.

This was a very nice win but it won't mean much if the B's fail to capitalize on the momentum the next time out: Saturday afternoon against the Islanders. It was back in November when Boston met New York twice in less than two weeks and they rolled (6-2, 6-0) both times. The Islanders have been playing a little better lately but they're still one of the most miserable franchises in the NHL. After Saturday afternoon's tilt, they also close out March with another matinee on March 31 in Long Island. That should be an easy four points.

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