Chara returns, Bruins dominate Flyers

Zdeno Chara vs Jody Shelley
PHILADELPHIA, PA - DECEMBER 17: Zdeno Chara #33 of the Boston Bruins fights Jody Shelley #45 of the Philadelphia Flyers during their game on December 17, 2011 at The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara returned to the lineup this afternoon to take on the Flyers and maybe it gave the Bruins a boost as the Bruins came out flying. The Bruins got two goals in less than three minutes into the game to put the Flyers down and the Flyers couldn't get it together. When they did Tim Thomas and the Bruins defense was there to stop them.

In the first period, Benoit Pouliot scored his 5th goal of the season only 27 seconds into the game. Zdeno Chara and Jody Shelley dropped the gloves off a Bruins-defensive zone after some talking and had a quick fight with both guys not landing much. Only 2:23 after the first goal, Daniel Paille scored his 6th goal of the season to make it 2-0. Later in the period, Zdeno Chara scored his 7th goal of the season, a power-play goal to make it 3-0. The Bruins would score another power-play goal in the period, as Milan Lucic scored his 11th goal of the season to make it 4-0. Shortly after the Lucic goal, Scott Hartnell took a run at Brad Marchand who ducked the open ice hit. Johnny Boychuk got called for instigating a fight with Hartnell.

Zdeno Chara vs Jody Shelley

In the second period, Nathan Horton scored his 9th goal of the season, a power-play goal, to make it 5-0. In the period Lucic got called for a hit from behind major and game misconduct. I didn't agree that it was a hit from behind and neither did Lucic after the game. Zac Rinaldo, the guy who Lucic hit, dropped the gloves with Nathan Horton after the hit. I don't think any punches hit Horton's head area but we'll have to keep an eye on him just in case, as he probably shouldn't be fighting much anymore, with the concussion he got from year.

In the third period, Tyler Seguin scored his 14th goal of the season to make it 6-0.

Game notes
The Bruins led the game in shots 37-31, faceoff wins 34-31, and blocked shots 17-12. The Flyers led the game in hits 28-20.

The Bruins went 2-for-7 on the power-play while the Flyers went 0-for-6.

Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced and recorded his 4th shutout of the season. Thomas is now 15-5-0 with a 1.83 GAA and a .943 save percentage this season.

Zdeno Chara in his first game back, got a Gordie Howe hat trick (1 goal, 1 assist and a fight), led the Bruins in ice time with 23:39, had 4 shots and 3 hits.

Rich Peverley had 3 assists.

Tyler Seguin led the Bruins in shots with 6.

Andrew Ference led the Bruins in blocked shots with 5.

Dennis Seidenberg led the Bruins in hits with 4.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 21-9-1 with 43 points, first place in the Northeast Division and second place in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins next game is on Monday hosting the hated Montreal Canadiens in Boston. If you haven't heard yet, Montreal has fired Jacques Martin earlier today and assistant Randy Cunneyworth was appointed interim head coach.

Comments

AdamBruinsFan said…
Milan Lucic will have a phone hearing tomorrow morning with Brendan Shanahan about the hit on Flyers Zac Rinaldo.