The Bruins jumped out to an early 2-goal lead before giving up 5 unanswered goals to fall 5-2 to the Chicago Blackhawks at TD Garden. Bruins may have suffered an even bigger loss tonight though, as Marc Savard left the game with an apparent lower body injury after tweaking what looked like his right knee or leg during the game's first shift.
Blake Wheeler put the Bruins up 1-0 on the power play when he deflected Derek Morris' point shot past Antti Niemi 5:30 into the game.
Miroslav Satan made it 2-0 with his first goal in a Bruins uniform. Satan helped start the play that he ultimately finished with a goal when his forecheck helped create a turnover in the Chicago zone. Blake Wheeler gather the puck in the right wing corner and fed the puck to Satan in the slot and Satan's turn-around wrister found the back of the net at 8:02 of the first period.
Duncan Keith got the Blackhawks on the board at 12:49 of the opening period when he ripped a one-time slapper from the blue line.
The Blackhawks take advantage of Dennis Wideman and Derek Morris' inability to collect the puck deep in the Bruins' zone, which led directly to Tomas Kopecky's game-tying goal with 1:56 remaining in the first period.
The Blackhawks got the go-ahead goal 2 seconds after Zdeno Chara's roughing minor expired, when the Bruins allowed the puck to sit in the slot for just a moment too long and Andrew Ladd cleaned up the rebound for the 3-2 lead 1:42 into the second period.
Duncan Keith scored his second goal of the game 10:13 into the middle period when Keith's shot from the blue line found the back of the net to give the Blackhawks a 4-2 lead after being down 2-0 early in the first period. Tim Thomas looked like he was screened by Zdeno Chara on the play and never got a good look at the puck. The goal chased Thomas (4 goals against on 24 shots) from the game, as Claude Julien sent Tuukka Rask to the crease for the remainder of the game.
Patrick Kane put the final nail in the coffin with 2:11 remaining in the game the when he put the puck in the net from the top of the crease off a feed from behind the net by Troy Brouwer for his his 19th goal of the season.
Notes:
"We didn't manage the puck well tonight and it certainly led to some bad goals"
- Claude Julien
- Milan Lucic made his return to the lineup after recovering from a high ankle sprain. Lucic logged 16:31 of ice time, recorded 5 hits, and finished the night -2.
- Hopefully, the Bruins were just being cautious with Marc Savard and it is not a serious injury. The Bruins can not afford to lose him right now. According to Joe Haggerty, an unidentified player on the Bruins said that Savard "tweaked his right knee".
- The Bruins defensemen looked awful tonight and made some bad decisions with the puck. Dennis Wideman certainly does not look like the premier NHL defenseman that everyone wants us to believe he is.
- Tim Thomas didn't look very good tonight, but he did see a lot of rubber (24 shots in 30:13)
- Tuukka Rask stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced.
- The Blackhawks outshot the B's 36-21
- The Bruins are back in action Saturday afternoon when the welcome the New York Rangers to TD Garden.