Tim Thomas and Bruins shutout Blackhawks 3-0

It was another night of milestones for the Boston Bruins as they downed the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 at TD Garden. Mark Recchi moved in 12th place on the NHL's all-time points list with an assist, while Tim Thomas (32 saves) registered his 26th shutout as a Bruin to move past Byron Dafoe (25 shutouts) and tie Gerry Cheevers (26 shutouts) for 4th place on the Bruins all-time shutout list.

Zdeno Chara scored the game's first goal at 12:02 of the second period. Chara's wrist shot from the left point deflected off Chicago defenseman Brian Campbell in front and beat Corey Crawford on the short side. Patrice Bergeron gathered the puck in the right face-off circle and dropped it back to Chara, who had plenty of time and frozen real estate to work with.

Johnny Boychuck extended the Bruins' lead to 2-0 with 5:38 remaining on the clock in the second period. Milan Lucic chipped the puck in deep behind the Chicago net and chased it down before moving the puck along the right wing boards to Mark Recchi. Recchi sent the puck to Boychuk at the blue line, who fired the puck from 60 feet to beat Crawford on the glove side, with a shot that seemed to break like a curveball. The assist from Recchi represented the 1,532nd point of his career with moved him past Paul Coffey for 12th on the NHL's all-time points list.

Nathan Horton made it 3-0 with 14:40 left to play in the third period. Daniel Paille won a foot race to a loose puck behind the Blackhawks goal. Paille passed the puck out front to Gregory Campbell, who was driving to the net. Campbell tried to hammer home a one-timer, but fanned on the shot. The puck tipped off the blade of Campbell's stick to Nathan Horton. Horton threw a deke on Crawford and tucked the puck past the rookie netminder for his 24th marker of the season.

Notes:

- The crowd at TD Garden gave Mark Recchi a nice ovation when they announced that he had moved into 12th place on the all-time points list.

- It seems like every game Recchi is reaching a new milestone.

- Things started to get chippy early in the second period. Shawn Thornton's face was gouged by the errant skate blade of Fernado Pisani. As the bloodied Bruin was skating towards the Bruins bench, someone on the Blackhawks bench appeared to chirp something at him. This sent Thornton into a rage. Thornton attempted to get at the Chicago bench, but referee Don VanMassenhoven acted as a human barrier and would not let the raged-filled tough guy get at the Hawks. Scrums erupted after the next few whistles, but cooler heads prevailed before anything boiled over. Thornton did not return to the game. After the game, Thornton told the media that he needed "about 40 stitches" to close the wound above his right eye.

- The Bruins have not allowed more than one goal in each other their last five games. they have allowed just three goals in those five games

- The Bruins out-shot the Blackhawks 34-32.

- Zdeno Chara finished the night +3.

- Jonathan Toews was -3 on the night.

- Patrice Bergeron lead all skaters with 7 shots on goal.

- Keith Duncan logged a game-high 26:37.

- The Bruins return to action on Thursday night when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs at TD Garden.

- For more on tonight's game, head over to Second City Hockey