For the Bruins, they have a had a hard time winning to start the season and a lot of people are starting to look down on them as being overrated. Well last night they proved that they are able to score and to beat a good team. With Mark Recchi and Zdeno Chara scoring a power-play goal apiece in the first period, the Bruins were able to jump out on the division leading Buffalo Sabres (9-4-1) and win by the score of 4-2. With the win, the Bruins improved to 7-7-2 on the year, good for third in the Northeast Division.

The B’s went up 3-0 with Byron Bitz’s second goal of the year and first since early October. Derek Roy then scored for the Sabres before Marco Sturm scored his third goal of the season and first since October 8th in the second period. Jason Pominville added a goal for Buffalo in the third to bring the game to the final score of 4-2.

OK, I know that most people are saying that the Bruins are coming back now that the team was able to rack up four goals against the Sabres, but I am not impressed. The B’s also scored four goals against the Ottawa Senators back two weeks ago and then followed that up by scoring four goals in the next five games. Also, in the second game of the season the Bruins killed the Carolina Hurricanes for seven goals, the next game they lost 1-6 to the Anaheim Ducks. Until the Bruins can start scoring on a consistent basis, and that might not be until they get Marc Savard and Milan Lucic back, I will not be comforable with this team. Another thing is that Buffalo played in it’s third game in four nights last night, so I can only imagine how tired the team was.

Also, Tuukka Rask improved to 3-1-1 last night while Tim Thomas is sitting at 4-6-1, and Rask’s goals against average of 2.33 is slightly better than Thomas’ 2.44. Rask’s save percentage is also a little better than Thomas’ .916% as he is at .919%. I know that Thomas is still a good goalie and it’s too bad that his win/loss column is as bad as it is and Rask’s is as good as it is. It just shows that maybe the Bruins play better with Rask in goal, even though the goalie’s numbers are very similar to each others.   

I really hope that the Bruins turn the corner with this win, but until they start to become consistent then it will be hard to see them being a strong threat for the Stanley Cup. They next play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night at home.

By Greg Petersen