Wins coming in all varieties
Now that's entertainment!
Well . . . sort of . . . uh, kinda . . . OK, fine, I take that back.
The Bruins' 7-4 thumping of the Sabres at the Garden last night was to good hockey what the all-the-prime-rib-you-can-inhale buffet at the Lady Luck casino is to gourmet dining. From an offensive standpoint, it was a total feedbag job. Filling? Oh, you bet, biscuit belly.
But in terms of shape, struggle, and execution, the two latter-day Adams Division rivals established a record: most breakdowns, one night, without an emergency call to AAMCO. Especially in the early going. Over time, the Bruins got it together. The Sabres, on the other hand, struggled early, often, and always, with enough holes in their defensive game and netminding (was that really Ryan Miller?) to qualify for any number of US Government bailouts (Barney Frank, please call
Less than six minutes into the game, the two shinny artists combined for five even-strength goals. The immediate bet here was that it had to be the most goals in the shortest span from the start of a game without Wayne Gretzky's name appearing at least four times in the scoring summary. A call last night to the Elias Sports Bureau found that the last time five goals were scored so quickly was Feb. 9, 1993, when Detroit and New Jersey combined for five in the first 2:54 and a half-dozen in the first 5:36. All six were even strength.
Context? Regular readers of this space know it's my bound duty and privilege to provide context. Sorry, not this morning. Not here. There was no context. I was convinced for better than a period that someone must have spiked the two big orange Gatorade buckets behind both benches. Heck, before the clock hit 7:30 p.m., just about everyone in the building had scored.
The hue and cry around the NHL for most of the new millennium has been for the league to find a way to increase scoring. Heavens to Rocket Richard. Bigger nets. That's right, bigger nets! More open twine would be a sure cure for what ails the NHL, according to the long line of fix-up artists around the league.
"Tonight we didn't need 'em," said Bruins coach Claude Julien, whose club is now a blistering 10-1-1 in its last dozen starts. "You should have asked me that question last year."
There is a lot of good hockey news coming out of Causeway Street these days. Not only are the Bruins pressing the Jumbo Joe Thornton San Jose Sharks for the top spot in the overall standings, they are winning with scores big and small. Consider, Julien's club 21 times last season gave up four goals or more. Boston's record in those games: 2-17-2. Had they won just five more of those games, they would have equaled Montreal's conference-leading 104 points.
The win over the Sabres last night marked the fifth time this season the Bruins have given up four goals. Their record: 3-2-0. Not that giving up four goals is a prescription for success in the NHL, but the 2008-09 Bruins have shown they can win in a variety of ways, even when they show up with their game mesmerizingly mediocre.
"These are the fun games to be in when we win 'em," said the clever Marc Savard, who collected a goal and three assists, juicing up his team-leading scoring total to 25 points in 19 games (on a pace for 108 points). "I know Claude's not going to like it much, but you're not going to win every game, 2-1. And we've shown this year we can mix it up."
One thing is certain: thus far this is an atypical Bruins season. Just a few points for your consideration:
They eked out a 2-1 shootout win in Chicago last week and it was career checker P.J. Axelsson (this is not a typo) who potted the shootout winner, looking Peter Forsberg-like with his backhand finish.
They obliterated the hated Habs here last Thursday, 6-1, turning the Les Glorieux into CHump CHange. And Mike Komisarek looked even worse, after Milan Lucic made pate au bleu-blanc-rouge out of him.
They've got arguably the best goalie in the league in Tim Thomas. The Bruins. With the best goalie in the league. If this keeps up, Harry Sinden's "101 Ways to Rip Your Goalie" will finally go out of print.
They won back-to-back nights, 1-0, in Western Canada (kudos again to Thomas). Two goals. Four points in the standings. The Bruins. With regulation-size nets. No one needs bigger nets when one goal is enough to win. True today. True, too, for Eddie Shore's Bruins.
In their last dozen games, they've lost once in regulation (3-2 at Calgary), playing their best hockey since before the lockout.
Now that's entertainment.
And no need to take that back.
Kevin Paul Dupont can be reached at dupont@globe.com. 