The Bruins controlled play all night long, but the Bruins once again struggled to find the back of the net as they fell to the Florida Panthers 1-0 on Thursday night at home. The Bruins directed a staggering 86 shots towards net (36 shots on goals, 32 blocked shots, and 18 missed shots), but they could not manage to put one past Scott Clemmensen, who earned his first shutout of the season.
The Panthers spotted themselves an early 1-0 on a goal by Keith Ballard 7:15 into the game. Jason Garrison had the puck at the left circle and passed the puck below the goal line to Corey Stillman, who found Keith Ballard in the slot for Ballard's 7th goal of the season. It turned out that a 1-0 lead was too much for the offensively inept Bruins to overcome.
Notes:
- Tuukka Rask was deservedly named the winner of this year's 7th Player Award in a pre-game ceremony.
- The biggest difference in this game was the Florida Panthers defensive zone play. While Boston controlled the play and the B's spent a lot of time in the attacking zone, the Panthers did a great job of limiting the number of shots that made their way through to their goaltender. Keith Ballard led the Panthers with 6 blocked shots (same number of shots that the Bruins blocked collectively).
- Zdeno Chara had 12 of the 18 shots he attempted blocked.
- The Bruins went 0-3 on the power play.
- The on-ice officials delayed the game for several minutes to review a play. The never explained what play they were looking at. Turns out the review was for a play where Scott Clemmensen hit the water bottle with his stick, making it look like the puck may have hit it on a shot from Milan Lucic.
- Shawn Thornton missed the game with an upper body injury. Brad Marchand replaced him in the lineup.
- The Bruins honored the memory of former equipment manager Kenneth "Doc" Fleger during tonight's game
- Washington beat the Atlanta 2-1 and The Islanders downed the Flyers 6-4.
- For more on tonight's game from a Panthers fan perspective, check out Litter Box Cats
- The Bruins will host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.
Comment of the Game
Dick move by the Sabres to lend the Panthers Ryan Miller for a game and dress him in Clemmensen’s jersey.
Tweet of the Game
30 shots on net/zero goals for Bruins in a 1-0 game with 10:38 to go. Even the TD Garden dancing guy just got tackled from behind. Bad night
...hopefully, he is talking about "Mustache Guy" and not a drunk Crash Clark starting his vacation early. That would be a rough week for him.