Bruins rout Lightning 8-1 in Marc Savard's return

After months of dealing with the the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome, Bruins center Marc Savard was cleared for game action and returned to the ice as the Bruins dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning 8-1 at TD Garden. While Savard didn't factor into any of the 8 Bruins goals tonight, the team and the crowd at The Garden seemed to get a boost from seeing #91 back on the ice.

David Krejci (2 goals), Dennis Seidenberg, Milan Lucic, Shawn Thornton, Michael Ryder, Mark Recchi, and Blake Wheeler all lit the lamp for the B's. Victor Hedman was the lone goal scorer for the Lightning.

Tim Thomas made 37 saves in the win as the goaltender improved to 13-2-1 on the season.

Notes:

- First, I want to apologize for the short game recap. Due to a family obligation, I was not able to watch any of this game. I was able to catch parts of the game on the radio in the car. However, I thought I owed it to my loyal readers to at least put something up on the site about (what sounds like) one of the most memorable games of the season.

- Marc Savard led the team on to the ice before the game and received a standing ovation.

- Marc Savard logged 15:45 of ice time, registered a shot on goal, and was 50% from the dot in his return.

"After pregame skate, I talked to Peter [Chiarelli] and Claude [Julien] and they gave me the green light. I obviously didn’t sleep much today. I tried not to walk around the room when I got here, but I felt like I was just flying around the room, kind of burning energy that I didn’t want to burn, but I was just so excited. I felt like a little kid again. It was great."

Marc Savard on finding out he was in the lineup tonight

- David Krejci (2 goals, 1 assist) and Michael Ryder (goal, 2 assists) both had 3-point games.

- David Krejci and Nathan Horton finished the night at +4.

- 12 different Bruins recorded a point.

- Shawn Thornton, who joked with Toucher & Rich this week about being tied with Ilya Kovalchuk in goals, is now ahead of the high-priced sniper. Thornton has 5 tallies on the season, while Kovalchuk has 4.

- The Bruins return to action on Saturday night when they travel to Toronto to take on the struggling Maple Leafs.

- Marco Sturm is NOT a member of the Los Angeles Kings...at least not yet. Stay tuned.

- A big thanks is owed to Phunwin for stepping up today on short notice to provide content on a very hectic Bruins news day. Thanks Phil!

- For more on tonight's game from someone that actually saw the game, check out Raw Charge