Gameday Blog: Bruins vs. Devils

SECOND INTERMISSION

SCORE
NJD - 0
BOS - 2

SHOTS
NJD - 21
BOS - 20

Well how's that for a terrible freakin' turnaround? After holding a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes of play, Boston is headed to the third trailing 3-2.

New Jersey cut the lead in half at 6:27 of the second on a goal from Zach Parise. The captain's strike came on a 2-on-1 after a boneheaded giveaway by Joe Corvo.

At the time, the Devils were outshooting the B's 5-0 in the frame.

That trend continued until the B's finally put a puck on Brodeur at the 9:11 mark of the period, as a 36-foot wrister from Seguin ended the shot drought.

Boston picked up the pace, but the Devils never slowed down. With 5:57 to go, Patrik Elias tallied to make it 2-2 after Corvo lost his man in his own zone.

With 2:14 remaining, the Devils took their first lead of the night when David Clarkson tucked one past Tim Thomas, who failed to hug the near post.

The Bruins have either been tied or trailing going into the third period in 18 of their last 22 contests.

FIRST INTERMISSION

SCORE
NJD - 0
BOS - 2

SHOTS
NJD - 10
BOS - 9

Twenty minutes are in the books at the Garden where the Bruins lead the Devils by a score of 2-0.

David Krejci got the B's on the board jus 1:13 in, burying a feed from new linemate Tyler Seguin to make it 1-0.

With 8:10 gone, Seguin ended his 10-game goal drought, beating Martin Brodeur with a slow-motion wrister after Milan Lucic dug the puck out of the corner.

Boston nearly pushed their lead to three when Krejci took off on a shorthanded breakaway, but Brodeur made a spectacular sprawling stop, getting his glove/pads on the puck in a desperate attempt to keep the Czech pivot from getting his second goal of the frame.

Eric Boulton and Shawn Thornton got in a lengthy, spirited bout at the 2:11 mark. The two heavyweights each got in a number of righthanded jabs and body shots before finally parting ways and heading to their respective penalty boxes.

The Bruins slaughtered the Devils at the dot in the first, winning 9-of-12 faceoffs. Boston also won in the hits department with a 9-5 edge. 

PREGAME NOTES

STARTING GOALTENDERS: Thomas (26-13-0, 2.20 GAA, .929 Save %) vs.
Brodeur (22-16-2, 2.53 GAA, .902 Save %). Thomas is 10-5-3 with a 2.09
GAA and .931 Save % with two shutouts in 33 career games against New
Jersey. Brodeur is 24-20-9 with a 2.53 GAA and .910 Save % in 55 career
games against Boston.

ZANON SET TO DEBUT: Newly acquired defenseman Greg Zanon is expected to
play his first game as a Bruin tonight. His 104 blocked shots this year
are the second-highest total on the Bruins behind Dennis Seidenberg’s
131, despite the fact that Zanon has only played in 39 games this
season. Last year, he finished second in the league in blocked shots.
The Bruins acquired Zanon on Trade Deadline Day in exchange for
defenseman Steven Kampfer.

SELECT COMPANY: Tonight’s game features two of only three players in
the NHL with 20 goals and 100 penalty minutes this season- Milan Lucic
(21 G, 113 PIM) and David Clarkson (24 G, 116 PIM). The other player is
Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell (30 G, 109 PIM).

CALDER CONTENDER: New Jersey’s Adam Henrique currently leads all NHL
rookies in scoring with 15-26=41 totals. He is second on the Devils in
plus/minus with a plus-9 rating, and his seven shorthanded points are
tied with teammate Zach Parise for the lead among all NHL skaters.