After going down 1-0 early in the second period, the Bruins potted four unanswered goals before the end of the second period (including rookie Jordan Caron's first NHL goal) en route to a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. Michael Ryder, Shawn Thornton, and Milan Lucic also found their way onto the scoresheet for the Bruins. At the the other end of the ice, Tim Thomas was rock solid in net. Thomas turned aside 31 of the 32 shots he faced and earned the game's 1st Star.
After a scoreless 23 minutes and 45 seconds of hockey, Dainius Zubrus's backhander made its way past Tim Thomas for a 1-0 New Jersey lead. Andy Greene's drive from the right point deflected off the leg of Zdeno Chara in front of the Boston goal and found its way to the stick of Zubrus at the bottom of the right circle. Zubrus shoveled the puck over a screened and flailing Tim Thomas.
The Devils' lead did not last for long as the B's evened things up less than two minutes later on Jordan Caron's first NHL goal at 5:38 of the second period. Caron parked himself directly in front of goalie Martin Brodeur and the rookie winger pounced on a rebound off of a hard slapper from the right point by defenseman Johnny Boychuk.
The novelty of scoring his first NHL goal against Martin Brodeur was not lost on Caron. "It's a great feeling to score my first NHL goal against Martin Brodeur. He is a great goalie and to score my first goal against him is a bonus." The Quebec native also called Brodeuer, "one of the best goalies ever" and mentioned that followed Marty's career closely as a kid growing up in the Montreal area.
Michael Ryder scored what proved to be the game-winner at 10:44 of the middle stanza on a great shot from the slot that was set up by rookie Tyler Seguin's nifty pass from the left wing wall. Mark Recchi dumped the puck into the zone along the left wing dasher. Seguin tracked the puck down, spun around, and fed a perfect pass into the slot for Michael Ryder. Ryder finished off the play with a quick wrister that beat Brodeur on the glove side for #73's first tally of the young season.
The B's extended the lead to 3-1 at 16:43 on a goal by Shawn Thornton. Gregory Campbell had the puck behind the net and fed a pass to Shawn Thornton near the right dot. Thornton fired a wrister that beat Brodeur on the stick side for his first goal in over a year. The B's tough guy last found the back of the net on October 3, 2009 in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Who "isn't a hockey player" now?
Milan Lucic scored his second goal of the season 1:26 after Thornton's goal. Andrew Ference's stickwork while pinching in at the blue line kept the puck in the zone and Nathan Horton chipped the puck down low for David Krejci in the right wing corner. Krejci's saucer pass found Lucic driving hard to the net. Nthan Horton's assist on the goal was his 300th career NHL point.
Notes:
- The Bruins scored four goals in the span of 12:31 in the second period tonight.
-Michael Ryder only saw 12:12 of ice time, but he made the most it by putting 4 shots on goal including his first goal of the season.
- The Bruins out-shot the Devils 35-32
- The teams split the face-offs 21-21
- NESN played a game of "Jack Bingo", which meant Jack was in rare form tonight. He was trying VERY hard to inject as many catchphrases as possible. I thought he was going to have a heart attack while calling a kick save by Tim Thomas.
- Congratulations to Stanley Cup of Chowder reader, Wade for correctly predicting that Jordan Caron would score the Bruins' first goal in tonight's Facebook "Who will score first?" Challenge. Wade won a "Boston is a Hockey Town Again" t-shirt from the Stanley Cup of Chowder Store.
- The Devils can't be too pleased with their 1-4-1 start to the season. This team is a lot better than this. For reactions from the Garden State, check out In Lou We Trust.
- The Bruins return to action on Tuesday night when they take on the Washington Capitals in DC in the front half of a home-and-home series with the Caps.
Comment of the Game:
in all fairness maybe the refs are drunk….cuz I am and when i first saw the hit i thought it was knee on knee…
by Dangles-McDonnybrook on Oct 16, 2010 7:48 PM EDT
All three fans at the rink are booing the Devils.
@Mary_Paoletti (Mary Paoletti of Comcast Sports Net New England)