I will say this, after enjoying my thrilling trip to a Bruins game Tuesday night, my voice has left the building. Why? Because when David Krejci scored with 2 minutes and 9 seconds left in Tuesday's game against the Panthers, that goal not only marked the 6th of the game but also the 18th Boston tally in the last 4 days.
In 3 games, the Bruins have blasted 3 straight 6 goal games lifting their fans out of their seats and keeping them there as goals against 5 different goaltenders have proven that even after last off seasons overhaul, the statistics put up by the Bruins can be misleading. While they have not had a 30 goal scorer since 2011 and have had just 2 since the dawn of the Claude Jullian era, the Bruins remain a team that can tussle with the big boys not only physically but also on the score sheet. That mantra of play that goes against that of guys like Sidny Crosby and Evgeni Malken, Patrick Kane, Stephan Stamkos of Alex Ovechken, has been reflected not only in Tuesday's scorecard but in every one since this offensive assault began Saturday afternoon in Philadelphia.
In these 3 games, Zdeno Chara has scored 4 times, Reilly Smith has netted 3, Patrice Bergeron, Jarome Iginla and Milan Lucic have all scored 2 goals while Loui Eriksson, Brad Marchand, Carl Soderberg, Shawn Thornton and David Krejci have all scored. If you lost count that is 9 different players combining to score 18 goals. By comparison, when the Pittsburgh Penguins notched their most productive 3 game stretch of the year back in November, their 14 goals, spread out over wins against the Leafs, Lightning and Panthers, were scored by just 6 different players.
By pure strategic reasoning it is no secret that if a person were presented with the opportunity to score the same amount of goals with more players scoring those goals than less, the smart option would be to choose the more distributed option solely because it is harder to defend and set match ups to a 9 man attack rather than a 6 man attack.
But the story last night was not that of the Pittsburgh Penguins unbalanced attack. No, rather it was a game of many facets, more complex than just a simple 6 goal onslaught of goals and just as thrilling as a 1-0 final would be…but for different reasons. Before the game even started, we knew what was coming, feisty Tim Thomas, who cited the Bruins 2013 cup run as the reason he returned to hockey was back on Garden ice for the first time since Game Seven of the 2012 ECQF match-up between the Bruins and Capitals. But now, the roles were switched. Since Timmy Thomas elected to forgo the 2013 season, he has been replaced in the hearts of Bostonians by the man who for so long waited for his turn to shine in such a hockey driven city. In this season alone, Thomas who, despite being the starter down in Florida, has backstopped his team to just 14 wins in 33 games has been by far the inferior goalie to Tuukka Rask and while he knew that and we knew that, coming into this game, Bruins fans remembered what Thomas meant to this team. Despite his quirks, despite the fact that he certainly is prone to saying controversial things, Tim Thomas was the biggest reason the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011 and so we knew coming in to this one that there would be no disowning of the former star.
Coming in, he deserved a cheer, and so we gave it to him, raising our unified voice to a roaring cheer as his name was introduced on the scoreboard prior to the game.
But from there on, he was nothing, nothing more than the goalie who seemed to be lacking a little bit of the jump and agility that made him so unique in Boston. As Boston rode through the first minutes of the game, Boston dominated the neutral zone and actually tallied 6 shots before the Panthers even got one. Before long, those shots turned into a mid-period tap in by Milan Lucic and eventually what was originally deemed a tip in by the same Bruin. Also embedded within that 2 goal 1st period was a standing ovation given to captain and veteran defencemen Zdeno Chara when the Garden HDX scoreboard paid tribute to his 500th career NHL point scored Monday night in against the Islanders. As he gazed up at the scoreboard, and Tuesday's referee, Chris Rooney allowed the game to be put on pause for the moment, Chara finally smiled towards the camera that was pointed at him and gave a slight wave to the crowd that launched the arena into delirious cheering.
But nonetheless, as fans flooded towards the bathrooms and concession stands, during the intermission break there was a scoring change that may have been missed by a few Bruins fans. The 2nd goal of the game, originally credited to Milan Lucic, was given instead to Zdeno Chara, a change that when Lucic scored his real 2nd goal of the game, 1 minute and 46 seconds into the 2nd period was not remembered by a few Bruins fans. As he wrapped the puck into the side of the net, many thought that this was his hat trick goal and so, as 4 or 5 hats fell to the ice, you could imagine the dismay when the reminder was made that this was goal number 2 not number 3.
For the rest of the game that before long was one summarized entirely by the 4-0 lead held by Boston, it was no secret that quite a few people would have loved to see Lucic get a cheap goal from sitting in front of Tim Thomas and snag the hat trick for real this time. Long story short, that did not happen. But what did happen was a sudden surge by the Panthers that at one point cut the Bruins lead to 2 and seemed to say to the team hey, time to go out and score a few more!
They listened and even Shawn Thornton pitched in to grab his piece of the goal scoring pie, when he pulled off a miracle move that saw him pull he puck between 3 defenders legs and the roof it past Tim Thomas on the backhand shot. For a guy known for his fighting, this goal was something to be remembered as even when you think about last season’s penalty shot beauty scored by Thornton this might likely be the best goal of Shawn Thornton's career. At least Milan Lucic thinks so.
"It will definitely be a highlight of the night around North America," Lucic said. "I would say for right now I would put it in the top three or four of goals of the month."
"It was awesome to see him do what he did there, and I know everyone had a good chuckle because we love seeing him score and get rewarded when he does. It almost seems like when he does score he gets the pretty ones, and that one was probably his prettiest since he’s been here on the Bruins."
"It was awesome to see him do what he did there, and I know everyone had a good chuckle because we love seeing him score and get rewarded when he does. It almost seems like when he does score he gets the pretty ones, and that one was probably his prettiest since he’s been here on the Bruins."
In a season dominated by the work of Tuukka Rask, and the unseen talents of Reilly Smith the Bruins big guys have taken center stage these past few games, scoring time and time again, pelting their opponents into submission and making their fans awake each morning with a bit of a soreness in the backs of their thoughts.
Wait, I should not include that, I mean, too many goals: what a nice problem!
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