Bruins live up to top billing
BOSTON – That really was a battle of first-place teams that took place on the TD Garden ice Friday night, it’s just that only one of them played up to its status as a front runner.
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Bruins center Greg Campbell celebrates his goal during the B's 8-0 win over Florida. (Getty) |
The Bruins’ 8-0 whitewash of Florida may not be the
biggest victory of the season so far. The Panthers came to town
very early Friday morning after losing an overtime decision to
Ottawa, and played every bit like a team on short sleep after a
long night. They had also lost five players to injury in the
previous four games, including alternate captain Stephen Weiss, who
went down early in Thursday’s loss to the
Senators.
Long story short, the Panthers were an easy target for the
surging B’s, now winners of six straight after Florida handed
them their last loss on Dec. 8.
Still, Friday’s win was impressive, and until the
Bruins had posted six goals after two periods, was not necessarily
a sure thing.
“We talked about it, they’re coming from a
back-to-back … on the road,” said Bruins forward
Patrice Bergeron, who had a goal and two assists. “We were
rested, no reason in the world to not go at them, to not be
skating, because we were the fresher team
tonight.”
They certainly looked like it. The Bruins pumped 14 shots on
the Florida net in the first period, forcing starter Jose Theodore
out with four goals, and only allowed six Panther shots in the
opening frame. Whatever energy the Panthers may have had left was
clearly gone, and sapping the visitors early was part of the
Bruins’ gameplan.
“Very important, it was up to us to be focused and
really go out there and put pressure on them and … not let
them hang around and get a lucky first goal,” said defenseman
Dennis Seidenberg, who also scored his first goal of the year.
“So for us to come out the way we did dictated the whole
game.”
On the other end, Tuukka Rask posted his second shutout of
the year, handling all 30 shots the tired Panthers gave him. The
Bruins’ goal output was more than twice the 2.9 goals per
game they’d been averaging in support of Rask, which helps,
but it was also an overall outstanding defensive effort, and well
deserved for the netminder who picked up his seventh
win.
“He’s been solid all around,” Seidenberg
said. “The first few games we didn’t really support him
the way we should have and didn’t give him the wins. But
he’s been, just like last year, giving us really solid
efforts. But as I said we just haven’t given him the effort
in front of him to be able to get those wins for
him.”
The shootout raised Rask’s save percentage to an
NHL-leading .944 – bypassing teammate Tim Thomas. He’s
also second in the league with a 1.66 goals against
average.
The game got out of hand early, with the four-goal first
period putting the Bruins in the driver’s seat, but the funny
thing about blowouts is that losing teams often find a way to get
on the board late, once the victors have taken their foots off the
gas pedal with the win all but sealed. That the Panthers never got
that opportunity is a credit to Rask as well as his teammates, who
had very few lapses down the stretch.
“It gets tough” at the end of a blowout,
Seidenberg said. “Guys try to get cute and make risky plays,
but today we were really cautious not to play too cute and not make
too many passes. We saw guys on their team taking off when we had
full possession in their zone, but we were taking care of that and
we played smart.”
Road work ahead
The dominating victory provided the Bruins with a fine
send-off before the holiday and a two-game road trip that takes
them to the Southwest for a week. The Eastern Conference leaders
have four days off, then go to Phoenix to play the Coyotes
Wednesday, and finish out 2011 in Dallas on New Year’s
Eve.
Those four days surrounding Christmas are the longest break
the team has had since the end of October, and there won’t be
another respite that long until the end of January, when they go a
whole week between playing in Washington and at home against
Ottawa.
“When you have a few days off, it’s nicer
obviously to end on a win and have a good feeling going into a
two-game road trip, we have a lot of games coming up,” said
forward Gregory Campbell, who scored his third of the year early in
the second.
“I think it’s important for us to kind of
unwind, and give ourselves a break here, but to kind of rejuvenate
ourselves on the road, it’ll be good for our team. Going on
the road always makes you come together a little bit more, and I
think the guys are looking forward to it.”
It would have been understandable, even forgivable if the
Bruins didn’t have their best effort in the last game of the
homestand before the rest – but that wasn’t the
pervading attitude inside the locker room.
“It’s huge, we talked about it, that the break
was starting tomorrow, not tonight, and we wanted to finish on a
good note, so we’re very happy,” Bergeron
said.
For the traveling B’s, owners of a six-game win streak
and first place in the East (thanks to Philadelphia’s loss to
the Rangers Friday night), it should indeed be a merry
Christmas.