Bruins score 2 shorties, beat Lightning 3-1

BOSTON, MA - OCTOBER 3: Chris Kelly #23 of the Boston Bruins scores past Anders Lindback #39 of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first period on a penalty shot during the home opener game on October 3, 2013 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

Thursday night was the season opener for the Bruins where they hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bruins came out strong but the Lightning fought back. The Bruins though would pull away with the 3-1 win and along the way Shawn Thornton and Jarome Iginla both dropped the gloves and made sure we all knew it was hockey season.

Quick game summary
In the first period, Bruins Chris Kelly scored his 1st goal of the season, making it 1-0. Kelly scored his goal on a penalty shot with a few beautiful moves and it counted as a short-handed goal as well. After Jordan Caron got into a scrum with Lightning tough guy Pierre-Cedric Labrie, Claude Julien made sure to put out his fourth line against the Lightning's fourth line. Bruins Shawn Thornton went right at Labrie and kept challenging him and then Adam McQuaid also came over to challenge him. After numerous challenges, Labrie finally dropped the gloves and Thornton made sure to get at him first before McQuaid could. They had an ok fight where not much landed, so I would call that one a draw.

In the second period, new Bruin Jarome Iginla got laid out with a big clean hard check by Lightning's Radko Gudas, who has fought a lot in the AHL. Iginla went right after Gudas and challenged him. They dropped the gloves and had a spirited fight where both guys looked like they landed some punches. I would give this fight a draw, maybe a slight edge to Iginla. A little later in the period, Lightning's Valtteri Filppula scored to tie the game 1-1. Later in the period, Bruins Milan Lucic scored his 1st goal of the season, making it 2-1 Bruins.

Radko Gudas vs Jarome Iginla on October 3, 2013

In the third period, Bruins Patrice Bergeron scored his 1st goal of the season, also a short-handed goal, making it 3-1 Bruins.

Game notes
Tuukka Rask played in net and made 32 saves on 33 shots. Rask is now 1-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA and a .970 save percentage this season.

The Bruins led the game in faceoff wins 39-33. The Lightning led the game in shots 33-25, hits 20-14 and blocked shots 16-12. The Bruins went 0-for-3 on the power-play while the Lightning went 0-for-5.

Milan Lucic and Dougie Hamilton led the Bruins with 3 shots. Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla led the Bruins with 3 hits. Dennis Seidenberg led the Bruins with 4 blocked shots.

Player notes
Bruins Carl Soderberg did not play because of a left ankle injury he got in the preseason.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 1-0-0 with 2 points. The next game for the Bruins is Saturday when they host the Detroit Red Wings in Boston at 7pm ET.