Bruins offense explodes against Lightning

Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, left, covers the face of Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Martin St. Louis, right, after making a save during the first period of their NHL hockey game in Boston, Thursday, Dec. 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

After the big 3-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers last night, the Bruins carried the momentum into tonight's game against the Tampa Bay Lightning and with the return of Marc Savard the Bruins beat the Lightning 8-1. Savard had 15:45 of ice time, with 0 points and 1 shot on goal. After the game Savard said, "It was great to be back. The fans were fantastic. I got a little emotional there. It was kind of tough to go out on that [first] shift." (source: NESN.com)

In the first period, David Krejci opened the scoring up, scoring his 3rd goal of the season. Later in the first period, Dennis Seidenberg got his 1st goal of the season as he shot the puck on net from the blue line as he reached it, Lightning goalie Mike Smith anticipated that he would just throw it around the boards and got caught cheating.

In the second period, Milan Lucic scored his team-leading 12th goal. Later in the second period, Shawn Thornton scored his 5th goal of the season off another mistake by goalie Mike Smith, as Smith and a Lightning defenseman weren't too sure what to do with the puck as it was loose in front of the net and Thornton came in hard and jammed it in the net.

In the third period, David Krejci scored just 34 seconds into the period, his 4th goal of the season. Also in the third period, Michael Ryder scored his 7th goal of the season, Mark Recchi scored his 5th goal of the season, a power-play goal. And Blake Wheeler finished the scoring, by getting his 6th goal of the season.

Tim Thomas got the win, making 37 saves on 38 shots. Thomas is now 13-2-1, with a 1.44 GAA, and a .956 save percentage.

The Bruins were outshot 38-32 in the game and led in faceoff wins 34-27.

The Bruins next game is on Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs.