A convincing victory for the Bruins, who shook off Wednesday's disappointment in Buffalo to lay a third-period smackdown on the Islanders while debuting their all-black third jerseys.
Up 2-1 after 40 minutes, the Bruins tucked two third-period pucks behind Joey MacDonald, then put three more past backup Peter Mannino, who was making his NHL debut.
Michael Ryder led the scoring with two goals. Entering today, Ryder had only scored one goal in the last 12 games.
The Bruins gave Manny Fernandez big-time props for stuffing Bill Guerin on a third-period breakaway when it was a 2-1 game. After Fernandez turned aside Guerin, the Bruins went the other way and Blake Wheeler scored the game-winning goal. "That could have changed the game, obviously," said Claude Julien. "If they could have scored, they would have tightened things up. Not scoring a goal, then coming back and scoring a goal solidified our position. I felt we were obviously more comfortable after that."
Marco Sturm said he suffered a concussion against Chicago on Nov. 12. Sturm played the next three games but felt especially poor against Toronto, leading to his five-game sitdown. But Sturm said he's feeling better and should be back on the ice soon.
Patrice Bergeron, the team's best faceoff man, didn't take a single draw for the first time this season. Bergeron took only two faceoffs against Buffalo on Wednesday. Bergeron suffered an injury against Montreal that has prevented him from taking faceoffs in the last two matches, but Julien declined to disclose the ailment. Julien said Bergeron (20 shifts, 18:53 of ice time) is good to go in all other areas of the game.
Milan Lucic was credited with six hits, including one ugly blast from behind in the first period on Tim Jackman. Lucic also dropped the gloves with Brendan Witt after Dennis Wideman's third-period power-play goal. Lucic said Witt gave him several cross-checks that he didn't like, leading to the fight.
Also joining Lucic in the rough stuff was Shane Hnidy, who went with Jackman in the third period. Hnidy said Jackman initiated the fight and said he understood the invitation, considering the frustration of the Islanders.
STICK SALUTE: David Krejci. Hard to think of any other third-line centers who are so clever and dangerous. Twice in a row, Krejci outraced a backchecking Jon Sim in the third period, leading to a pair of Boston goals within 10 seconds.
SIN BIN: Freddy Meyer. The former Boston University defenseman made a bad decision to jump up in the play, leaving Chris Campoli as the lone man back to defend Krejci and Wheeler before the rookie's game-winner.
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keep manny's trade value on the up and up, make him earn that next pay cheque
First of all you spelled check wrong. Are we talking about Manny Ramirez?
The Lucic hit from behind was a bit of a concern but was more shoulder than a normal cross check. I am wondering if the league will take any action.
Love Looch but that was an ugly hit. I hope the League doesn't take action. I don't think they necessarily should. It should have been a 2 minute minor, nothing more. The refs dropped the ball.
After seeing what happened to Patrice last year, I've been paying close attention to what the League and the NHLPA will do to stop these types of hits. They call a lot of crap penalties, but need to start protecting the players from themselves. Call the penalties that matter. Either get rid of the instigator penalty or consistently call the boarding penalty. The players would police themselves like the old days.
I like watching some of the older Bruins playoff games from the 70's when they play them on NESN or the NHL Network. What I noticed was that even when it was B's vs. Montreal in the 70's, nobody boarded anybody. There was more respect from the players for each other. They slashed like nuts, don't get me wrong, but they did not board each other, and if they did, they would've paid the price.
Love the 3rd jersey too. Ordered my Lucic jersey today. I like the black socks too. Very intimidating uniform! I hope they use it a lot this year and for years to come.
i think looch's hit was borderline. it could have gone either way. i don't think he'll be fined. he kept his hands down. when bergy got hit last year, jones ran bergy's face into the dasher with his elbow. looch didn't have his hands up by jackman's head.
Just out of pure curiosity: Does anyone think Dennis Wideman was upset that Lucic's fight interrupted the celebration for his goal? He didn't show it, but was he upset on the inside?
and Jackman ended up fine, so Lucic won't get suspended.
That's how we spell cheque up here in Canuck-ville. A check is only applicable between the boards.
Lucic hit was good! End of story. To the guy watching old Bruins games, its the habs that play cheap NOT THE BRUINS. The Bruins are a clean team for the most part. Think back to the playoffs last year and the cross check that broke Savard BACK. Leave it to the habs to play unfair!!!!!!
The Big Bad Bruins are coming back. The Team looks good, intimidating in all Black. The original Men in Black. The team has some swagger and confidence. You can see it. They don't want to be merely 'tough to play against' anymore. They are just tough. I think they should add Brendan Shanahan to this mix. He is just sitting there waiting to be a Bruin and he would fit this present mix very well. The league is taking notice. A move to add Shanahan would show that they're serious contenders.
Sorry Eric ... I'm as big a B's fan as anyone. But saying that Lucic's hit was clean is just blind homerism. It was pretty obviously from behind without much of a turn from Jackman. Should have been a penalty ... I wouldn't have argued if it was a major even. He got a way with one.
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