If you don't think former Bruins forward Phil Kessel is a different player after having swapped his Spoked B sweater for that of the Toronto Maple Leafs, all you need to know is that in the Leafs' 6-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets last night Kessel recorded a Cam Neely hat trick.

He scored two goals and got into a fight, the first of his pro career.

Well, Toronto teammate Jason Blake referred to Kessel's tussle with Blue Jackets defenseman Kris Russell as a "pillow fight" in the Toronto Star. But just the mere fact that Kessel, who during his three seasons in Boston was chided by coaches and management for his lack of commitment to anything other than trying to pop pucks in the net, would engage in a physical confrontation for his new team has to be frustrating to the Bruins and their fans, especially with Kessel coming back to town to face his former team for the first time tomorrow night.

Actually, the 22-year-old Kessel did do his fair share of fighting in Boston, after the team took him with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Kessel constantly fought the perception that the only thing that matched his speed was his sense of entitlement, he fought back after being benched by Claude Julien during the Bruins' playoff series with the Montreal Canadiens in 2008, leading the team in goals during the series (look it up), and he always seemed to be fighting Boston's defense-first philosophy.

Kessel should have been a cult hero here, the team's most exciting player since Neely, the other scintillating No. 81 in town. He scored goals, had a cool nickname, "Phil the Thrill," and overcame cancer (Kessel was diagnosed with testicular cancer during his rookie season and missed only 11 games.) What more can you ask for it?

But Phil Kessel and the Bruins was just one of those sports marriages that didn't work out. Call it irreconcilable differences. Both sides always seemed to focus on the negatives of the other. Kessel wasn't strong enough around the boards, or strong enough on the puck or strong enough in the locker room. The Bruins were too rigid for Kessel, too unwilling to pay him the $27 million over five years he got from the Leafs, too critical of his game.

It's too bad because both Kessel and the Bruins would be better off with each other. You might think that's crazy because both sides seem to be thriving after their divorce.

The Bruins, who are in Montreal tonight to play the Canadiens, are just a point out of first place in the Northeast Division and are 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Kessel, freed from the defensive demands of Julien's system, has 10 goals and 15 points in 15 games -- one more point than Marco Sturm has in 27 this season -- after missing the first 12 games of the season recovering from off-season surgery for a torn labrum and rotator cuff.

Think the Bruins could use Kessel, who lit the lamp a team-leading 36 times last season? Without him, watching them try to score goals has been like watching someone desperately try to cajole the last blob of toothpaste out of an empty tube. Only the Carolina Hurricanes (59) have scored fewer goals than the Bruins (63).

Kessel returns to his old stomping grounds white-hot with four goals in his last four games and 10 goals in his last 13. Patrice Bergeron and Sturm lead the Bruins in goals with eight apiece. The only two Bruins with more points than Kessel are Bergeron (8 goals, 13 assists) and Zdeno Chara (a goal and 15 assists).

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli better hope this isn't his Joe Thornton trade.

The Maple Leafs have been playing better of late -- Toronto has points in seven of its last eight games (5-1-2) -- but they're still NHL detritus. The Leafs are last in the Northeast Division and second to last in the entire 30-team NHL with 23 points. That's great news for the Bruins, who in the Kessel deal netted Toronto's first- and second-round picks in 2010 and a 2011 first-rounder.

Toronto might be the real North American hub of hockey, but it's also home to a team that's not going to be a serious Cup contender anytime soon, not with those draft picks ticketed for Boston. The Leafs are to Toronto what the Red Sox are to this region, so if they're not winning, no matter how well Kessel is playing, there will be criticism, which Kessel has already proven he doesn't like or handle very well.

Plus, putting up tons of points for a losing team and displaying more passion doing it than you ever did for a winning one would only reinforce Kessel's reputation, deserved or not, as a selfish player.

Instead, Kessel could have been a member of a real Stanley Cup contender in Boston. Stats, All-Star games, money, they're all great, but there is not a player who has ever laced up the skates in the NHL that wouldn't trade all of that to see his name on Lord Stanley's cherished, silver chalice.

Bruins fans will no doubt have a less than warm welcome for Kessel, especially since Chiarelli has strongly intimated that it was Kessel, and not the Bruins, that was the driving force behind their mutual separation. But there will also be some longing there, kind of like seeing an ex for the first time.

This month, the Bruins and Kessel will both get a good, long hard look at what might have been, as tomorrow's meeting is the first of three this month.

They might both like what they see a little better than the last time they were together.