Tonight's game started with a bang, with Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton dropping the gloves and having a good even fight. It got the crowd and players going as they scored first with Patrice Bergeron scoring his 7th goal of the season, a shorthanded goal on a breakaway. In the second period, it was an ok period but not much physical play but the Bruins managed to score twice and the Thrashers scored to make it 3-1 by the end of the second period. Michael Ryder (his 10th goal) and Shawn Thornton (his 6th goal) put the goals up for the Bruins.
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
In the third period, things got wild with a full line brawl. Thrashers Freddy Meyer hit Milan Lucic with somewhat of a high hit that Lucic nor any Bruin player liked. To me it looked like a clean hit but the players on the ice thought different. Andrew Ference came in and went after Meyer as did Lucic and then everyone joined in. Lucic managed to throw a punch at Meyer when things got a little more calm and Meyer did his Kaleta impression and dropping to the ice. Nathan Horton and Evander Kane squared off as the entertaining main bout where both threw punches with Horton getting the better against Kane and his visor. Marc Savard and Bryan Little paired off and Little threw quite a few punches at Savard who recently returned from concussion issues. Hopefully Savard is ok as he's not a fighter by any means. I'm not sure how Ference ended up bloody,something must have happened in the pile up. After looking at the video again, in the video below, at the 0:49-0:50 mark you see Anthony Stewart throws a sneaky punch at Ference which lands at the place where he was cut at so I think that unsuspecting punch cut Ference open. Lucic did receive a match penalty so he may get some form of discipline from the punch he threw at Meyer. Lots of people are saying that the punch Lucic threw was a cheapshot, well you know what, I say it is what Meyer deserved. You could also easily say the punch Stewart threw at Ference was cheap. Video of the line brawl below.
Some quotes from Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference after the game about the Meyer hit that started the line brawl:
Even Claude Julien thought the hit was dirty:
Source
Later in the third period, Shawn Thornton scored his 2nd goal of the game (his 7th goal of the season). The Bruins tried to feed Thornton the puck at the end of the game and he managed to hit the post. Great game by Thornton, first setting the tone with a big fight with Boulton off the opening faceoff and then two nice goals.
So the Bruins beat the Thrashers 4-1. Good game by the Bruins but I wanted to see more physical play, more hitting. The line brawl was good to see and hopefully that sparks something in them to play more physical. When they do play physical they can be unstoppable. The Bruins play the Thrashers again next week on Thursday at Atlanta. It should be a good one.
Tim Thomas was in net and made 26 saves on 27 shots. Thomas is now 16-4-3, with a 1.67 GAA, and a .949 save percentage.
The Bruins next game is next Monday at the Florida Panthers.
Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
In the third period, things got wild with a full line brawl. Thrashers Freddy Meyer hit Milan Lucic with somewhat of a high hit that Lucic nor any Bruin player liked. To me it looked like a clean hit but the players on the ice thought different. Andrew Ference came in and went after Meyer as did Lucic and then everyone joined in. Lucic managed to throw a punch at Meyer when things got a little more calm and Meyer did his Kaleta impression and dropping to the ice. Nathan Horton and Evander Kane squared off as the entertaining main bout where both threw punches with Horton getting the better against Kane and his visor. Marc Savard and Bryan Little paired off and Little threw quite a few punches at Savard who recently returned from concussion issues. Hopefully Savard is ok as he's not a fighter by any means. I'm not sure how Ference ended up bloody,
Some quotes from Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference after the game about the Meyer hit that started the line brawl:
"It was a high hit and I was bleeding from the lip after a hit like that," Lucic said. "It was the second time that he hit me late and he hit me cheap."
"You can't give a guy a free pass too many times, but I'm happy that we stuck together as a group and as a team."
...
"I was following right behind him, so I had a really good view of it," Ference said. "The guy just put his stick and his hands right on Lucic's head; it was a high hit no question about it."
"I was right behind him and I saw it really clearly. It wasn't a clean hit at all. We have a team that's committed to each other, so if something goes down like that, the closest guy will come to your aid."
Even Claude Julien thought the hit was dirty:
"Nobody saw that coming until that dirty hit, and that was a dirty hit," he said. "I've looked at it again, and it's a cheap hit."
Source
Later in the third period, Shawn Thornton scored his 2nd goal of the game (his 7th goal of the season). The Bruins tried to feed Thornton the puck at the end of the game and he managed to hit the post. Great game by Thornton, first setting the tone with a big fight with Boulton off the opening faceoff and then two nice goals.
So the Bruins beat the Thrashers 4-1. Good game by the Bruins but I wanted to see more physical play, more hitting. The line brawl was good to see and hopefully that sparks something in them to play more physical. When they do play physical they can be unstoppable. The Bruins play the Thrashers again next week on Thursday at Atlanta. It should be a good one.
Tim Thomas was in net and made 26 saves on 27 shots. Thomas is now 16-4-3, with a 1.67 GAA, and a .949 save percentage.
The Bruins next game is next Monday at the Florida Panthers.
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