Bruins Wrap Up Regular Season with a Win

By Jim Chandley

The B’s beat down the New York Islanders in their regular season finale on Sunday.  The 6-2 slaughter was a fitting end to the Bruins successful season.

Phil Kessel had a hat trick to finish the season with 36 goals.  Michael Ryder, Chuck Kobasew and Marc Savard also scored for the B’s.

Boston’s 53-19-10 finish was their best in over 10 years.  With 116 points, the Bruins were a full four wins better than anyone else in the Eastern Conference.  However, the San Jose Sharks did finish one point ahead of Boston.  Should the two meet in the Stanley Cup Finals, San Jose would have the advantage of home ice.

The Garden will be packed on Thursday night as the B’s host their arch rivals, the Montreal Canadiens, in Game 1 of the first round.  The game starts at 7 PM.  For those who can’t make it to the Arena, the game will be on NESN.

Drop and Give Me 30!

Now a 30-goal scorer, Kessel looks to take his place with the league's elite

By Jim Chandley

Phil Kessel put his 30th goal of the year past Yann Danis three minutes into the 1st as the Bruins beat the Islanders on Saturday.  Moments later, Marc Savard would bury another (his 22nd) to give the B’s a 2-0 lead.

Boston had busted out of the gate with that early intensity that has eluded them for weeks.  At 4:21 in the 1st they were on pace to score 24 goals on the afternoon.

Of course, that did not happen.

The Bruins would hang on to win the game 2-1, but the intensity disappeared.  They stopped taking care of the puck late in the first and survived a few near misses.  The Islanders out skated them for much of the second and got a goal from Mark Streit to make it 2-1.

The entire third was an exercise in bullet dodging.  Tim Thomas was brilliant at times keeping the lead for the B’s.  But once again, the Bruins did not play the full 60 minutes.

So the good news is, two wins in a row.  The bad news is, the Bruins still can not focus.  They will try for a more complete effort tomorrow afternoon in Pittsburgh when they visit Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and the rest of the Penguins.

Bruins Filibuster Senators 5-3

The man with two goals

By Jim Chandley

The Bruins came out on fire in a bizarre affair at the Garden tonight against Ottawa.  Seven minutes into the game, the Bruins had committed three penalties and killed all three.

In those same seven minutes they scored a short-handed goal from Aaron Ward and an even strength marker from P.J. Axelsson.  (It should be noted, Axelsson’s goal was both beautiful and effortless.  He came out of the box as Michael Ryder was stealing the puck in the neutral zone, 2 on 1, no chance for the keeper on a sweet one-timer).

So at seven minutes in the 1st, the B’s were up 2-0 despite three Ottawa powerplays…  Needless to say it was a wild one.

Kobasew scored for Boston as did Jason Spezza to finish the period at 3-1 Boston.

Granted, it had to calm down from there, and it did.  The 2nd period was rather uneventful.

Phil Kessel scored two goals in the 3rd, one an empty netter at the very end of the game.  Spezza had scored again along with teammate Christoph Schubert to make it worth pulling the goalie.

But in the end, Ottawa was outclassed by Boston.

The B’s will host the Islanders at 1PM Saturday.