Phil Kessel tried in vain to jam a backhander under Predators goalie Chris Mason.
(Barry Chin/Globe Staff)
Bruins 3, Predators 1
In last night's third period, with the game tied at 1-1, Mark Stuart headed off the ice for a line change.
Andrew Ference, Stuart's replacement, rolled over the boards, hit the ice with momentum, and saw a deer perfectly squared in his headlights - a ripe, puck-carrying, head-down target named Martin Erat.
"Those don't happen too often," said Ference. "It just lined up right from the line change."
Ference buried his shoulder into Erat's chest, prompting his Nashville teammate Scott Nichol to seek retribution. Ference dropped his gloves and, after exchanging a series of punches with Nichol, took the Predator to the ice with several late rights to score the takedown, sending 14,150 fans at TD Banknorth Garden into a frenzy.
Forty-eight seconds later, the fired-up Bruins recorded the winner when Glen Metropolit dangled around defenseman Greg Zanon and beat goalie Chris Mason for his 100th career point. Then at 15:57, Metropolit netted his second goal of the period, giving the Bruins a 3-1 win in one of the more entertaining tilts of the season.
"Big hit by Andy obviously got us all going," said Metropolit.
After the ever-fiery Tim Thomas socked crease trespasser J.P. Dumont during a second-period collision, the Bruins scored their first goal on a five-on-three power play, as the Nashville forward was called for goaltender interference and captain Jason Arnott was also sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But Thomas's dustup with Dumont - he was angered by the winger's drive to the net and chest-on-chest pancake at 8:33 of the second period - wasn't the goalie's biggest contribution.
When the go-go Predators crashed the cage and took advantage of some loose coverage by the Boston defense, Thomas (37 stops) made some of his most acrobatic saves of the year to keep Nashville from swiping control of the match.
In the first period, Thomas kept it a scoreless game when he dived for a puck and got a glove on forward Rich Peverley's close-range shot. In the second period, after Marco Sturm's five-on-three goal, Thomas kept the Predators from tying the game. Defenseman Shea Weber fired a shot from the point that pinballed off several bodies, throwing off Thomas's timing. Forward Alexander Radulov corralled the rebound and aimed it at an open cage, but Thomas flung himself to his right and stuffed the puck with the blade of his stick.
Radulov got his revenge in the final minute of the second period after a strong forecheck by Arnott forced a retreating Dennis Wideman to cough up the puck deep in the Boston zone. Dumont got control and fed Radulov for a front-of-the-net goal with 50.9 ticks remaining in the period to make it 1-1.
But in the third period, after Ference's clock-cleaning belt on Erat, Milan Lucic cleared the zone with an outlet pass to Metropolit at the red line. As Metropolit entered the zone, Chuck Kobasew cut into the slot, taking a Nashville defender with him.
"That's what Chucky does - the little things," said Metropolit. "A good hockey person can see that. It's fun playing with Chucky. I know what he's going to do and I know what Looch is going to do."
Metropolit, taking advantage of the open space, went one-on-one with Zanon, deked the defenseman by faking a slapper, then wheeled around to score his ninth goal of the season.
"You see a guy get rewarded with important goals like that, it's nice to see," said coach Claude Julien. "His teammates were just as happy as the coaching staff was."
The Bruins weren't out of trouble yet. Forward Radek Bonk nearly tied the game when he found a rebound and winged it on net. But Thomas, with few options remaining, went with the old-school two-pad stack. By stretching his legs, Thomas got a piece of Bonk's shot with the tip of his right pad, keeping it a one-goal game.
"It might be the best game by a goaltender in one game," Arnott said. "Incredible."
Then Boston's second line struck again. It was Kobasew who helped set up the goal again, this time by absorbing a hit along the boards from forward Martin Gelinas and dishing the puck to Metropolit at the right circle. The center whipped a top-shelf shot over Mason's glove at 15:57 to ice the game, propelling the Bruins into tomorrow's showdown with first-place Ottawa.
"After two periods, it's a 1-1 hockey game, and it was up to us to bring our game up to the level we needed to win," said Julien. "We had some guys come up big for us tonight. Not just the goals but some big hits and plays. And some big saves, obviously."
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