Feisty Bruins leave Dallas seeing stars
The Bruins had long skated off the TD Banknorth Garden ice last night with a 5-1 win tucked in their pockets, but Marc Savard was still watching the replays of the third-period melee, marveling especially at how Shane Hnidy tuned up Dallas counterpart Matt Niskanen.
There is a faction among hockey watchers that turns its collective nose up at the fights and brawls that were the norm three decades ago. But last night, one of the few occasions when the gloves drop and the fists fly in succession, players become fans as well, hungry to consume the rough stuff that has been nearly bleached out of the genteel NHL.
"I think the fans may have had a flashback to the old days on Causeway Street," said Aaron Ward. "The game hasn't really gone this way. But sometimes situations call for teams rallying together and sticking up for each other. That's what you saw tonight."
Before last night, the Bruins had practically been peaceniks. They had engaged in only two fights all season (a pair of Shawn Thornton bouts against Montreal's Georges Laraque and Pittsburgh's Eric Godard), just one more than the NHL's pacifists in Detroit and Minnesota.
But when the Stars, led by agitators Sean Avery and Steve Ott (the new McFilthy and McNasty?), tried to swagger their way into the Garden and push the Bruins around, their hosts responded.
With their fists.
To a man, the Bruins were just as proud for the way they stuck up for each other as they were with the result: a victory before 14,576 fans who got every penny of their money's worth.
The Bruins survived a second-period barrage in which Tim Thomas turned aside all 21 pucks that were fired his way. Marco Sturm, who came in with just one goal this season, put two pucks behind goalie Marty Turco. The Boston penalty kill, dead last in the league, killed off all six Dallas power plays, including a 45-second two-man advantage in the second period.
But they turned the agitating ways of Avery and Ott against the Stars, shaming Dallas and its goon squad in a won't-back-down third that saw the two clubs rack up 114 total penalty minutes.
"There used to be a code," said Thornton, who threw down with Krystofer Barch in the only clean fight of the game, "that if you did stuff like that, you had to answer the bell. But now, we're not allowed to police the game ourselves. So they get away with a little bit more."
The Bruins were first angered by an incident early in the second period when Ott went low on Stephane Yelle with a hip check. Thornton went after Ott and landed several punches, but the Dallas forward didn't drop his gloves in return. Thornton was whistled for a double minor (roughing) that caused his coach no dismay.
"Yeah, Thorny took a four-minute penalty," said Julien. "But there was a guy who almost took our player's knees out."
Later in the period, after Ott belted Mark Stuart, Hnidy shed his gloves and tried to fight the agitator. Again, Ott kept his gloves on. At 5:22, another scrum took place that saw Ott, Avery, Hnidy, and Milan Lucic sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.
In the third period, after Andrew Ference cleaned Ott's clock with an open-ice hit, the Boston defenseman fought Avery at 4:54. Then at 7:02, following an interference call on Turco, Ott went low again on Lucic, appearing to target the winger's knees. Ott and Lucic were whistled for roughing.
"Not really," said Lucic when asked if he was surprised Ott never wanted to fight. "That's what he tries to do. He's an agitator. I'm not really surprised."
At 9:31, with the Bruins holding a 3-1 lead (Patrice Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal in the second, Phil Kessel netted his seventh goal of the year in the third), Thornton and Barch squared off. Both players landed punches, with Thornton managing to claw off Barch's helmet.
"I felt bad for Barch to have to mop up the mess that his other two teammates couldn't finish," Julien said.
But the biggest explosion took place after Stuart made it a 4-1 game. Avery stapled Lucic face first into the boards at 11:44, prompting Savard to jump the Dallas forward and pop him with several rights. Niskanen tried to come to Avery's aid, but was intercepted by Hnidy, who delivered a string of heavy rights to the defenseman's head. Avery was called for boarding and a 10-minute misconduct.
"I think it was a hit from behind," Savard said. "Nothing other than coming in and helping a teammate. He's got my back every night. I'm not a tough guy, but just sticking up for each other. It wasn't the cleanest hit. I'm just trying to help a teammate. It was getting like that in the third. Obviously, they're a frustrated team. They've still got a couple great players over there. It's just too bad a couple guys do the things they do." 