Bruins beat Flyers in shootout

Boston Bruins' Milan Lucic, left, and Marty Turco, center, celebrate with Tim Thomas, right, after the Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout in an NHL hockey game in Boston, Saturday, March 17, 2012. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

What a difference. The Bruins team we watched today against the Philadelphia Flyers looked like the team we use to see and much better than the team we've been watching recently. The Bruins took a 2-goal lead in the first period but the Flyers were able to battle back and score one goal in the following two periods to tie the game and send it to overtime. Nobody would score in overtime so the game went to a shootout and both goalies couldn't stop a shot, that is until Tim Thomas faced Daniel Briere. Briere tried a go-and-stop-and-go move, which shouldn't be allowed, but Tim Thomas came up big with the save to win the game for the Bruins. Now all us Bruins fans can have a Happy St. Patty's Day!

Quick game summary
In the first period, 1:55 into the game, Gregory Campbell and Zac Rinaldo dropped the gloves and had an ok fight near center ice, with Rinaldo getting the edge over Campbell. A little more than four minutes later, Chris Kelly scored his 17th goal of the season to make it 1-0 Bruins. Later, Tyler Seguin scored his 25th goal of the season to make it 2-0 Bruins.

In the second period, Johnny Boychuk and Max Talbot dropped the gloves with Boychuk throwing all the punches and Talbot went down to the ice. Talbot would go to the dressing room and didn't return to the game. It looked like he may have injured his right shoulder in the fight or from when he went down to the ice. Later, Matt Read scored a power-play goal for the Flyers, making it 2-1.

In the third period, Jakub Voracek scored to tie the game 2-2.

The game went to overtime but nobody would score. Then came the shootout. The Bruins players wouldn't try any dekes, just shoot right on Ilya Bryzgalov. In the shootout: David Krejci scored, Matt Read scored, Tyler Seguin scored, Claude Giroux scored, Patrice Bergeron scored, and Tim Thomas stopped Daniel Briere.

Game notes
Tim Thomas made 27 saves on 29 shots and is now 6-0 in shootouts this season. This season, Thomas is now 30-18-0 with a 2.46 GAA and a .919 save percentage.

The Bruins led the game in shots 33-29, faceoff wins 35-20 and hits 27-17. The Flyers led the game in blocked shots 18-16.

The Bruins went 0-for-2 on the power-play while the Flyers went 1-for-4.

Joe Corvo was scratched and Greg Zanon took his place in the lineup and played well, finishing the game +2 and had three hits.

Johnny Boychuk had four blocked shots to lead the Bruins.

Jordan Caron had five hits to lead the Bruins.

Trent Whitfield was sent back down to Providence (AHL).

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 41-27-3 with 85 points. Ottawa plays Toronto tonight and is only 1 point behind Boston. The Bruins next game is on Monday against the Toronto Maple Leafs in Boston at 7pm ET.