Tim Thomas (24 saves) got his first start since February 10th and stood on his head all night all to help the Bruins win their first home game since the Winter Classic on New Year's Day. In the shootout, Thomas shutdown all 3 shooters he faced and Miroslav Satan iced it for the B's with a nifty backhand move.
Michael Ryder appeared to put the Bruins up 1-0 1:03 into the game, but the goal was taken off the board after the video review determined that Ryder made a distinct kicking motion to put the puck in the goal. It seemed like a borderline call. Ryder was trying to corral the puck and move the puck from his skate to his stick and the puck continued into the net before he gained possession.
Miroslav Satan picked up his 4th goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead (for real this time) at 9:36 of the opening period.
It was only fitting that the Bruins and Leafs swapped a few haymakers on Don Cherry Night. First Milan Lucic squared off with Colton Orr and then Shawn Thornton dropped 'em with Wayne Primeau.
Viktor Stalberg tied it up at 1-1 when his wrister in full stride beat Tim Thomas on the near side at 15:27 of the first period.
Johnny Boychuck put the Bruins back on top 2-1 with a cannon of a one-timer from the right point at 15:24 of the second period.
The rough stuff continued in the third period when Steve Begin laid a big open ice hit on Jamie Lundmark, which brought in Colton Orr to make Begin pay for a completely clean hit. Orr and Begin dropped the gloves and Orr took Begin down to the ice. Begin then tackled Orr and continued to throw punches when both players were lying on the ice.
Tyler Bozak knotted things up for Toronto at 2-2 6:12 into the third.
Moments later, Marc Savard had a golden opportunity to re-gain the league when he had a wide open net to shoot at from point blank range and rang it off the post.
After a scoreless overtime session, it was off to the shootout, where Timmy Thomas and Miro Satan came up huge.
Notes:
- The Bruins recalled goalie Matt Dalton from the Reading Royals (ECHL) on an emergency basis. Due to a knee injury to Tuukka Rask (day to day).
- Patrice Bergeron (groin) sat out tonight game and Andrew "Fragile" Ference will miss about a week with a groin injury.
- Dennis Seidenberg made his Bruins debut and was paired with Zdeno Chara. He is wearing Aaron Ward, Glen Murrary, and Nick Boynton's old #44. Seidenberg logged a team-high 25:35 of ice time tonight.
- Don Cherry had some pretty harsh things to say about how Milan Lucic handled himself in his fight against Colton Orr, calling it "a disgrace to the Boston Bruins" for how he "quit" and tried to get the linesman to step in.
- Alarming Statistic: The Bruins have given up points in 45 of 62 games this year. 11 OT/SO wins, 23 regulation losses, and 11 OT/SO losses
- The Bruins are back in action on Saturday afternoon when the travel to Long Island to take on the New York Islanders.