Bruins blow out Panthers 8-0

Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand (63) celebrates with Zdeno Chara (33) after completing a hat trick in the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Florida Panthers in Boston, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. The Bruins won 8-0. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

Wow what a dominating game the Bruins had tonight against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers played last night and looked tired as the Bruins looked like they had control for just about the entire game. Tuukka Rask played in net and earned his 2nd shutout of the season and Brad Marchand scored his 1st career NHL hat trick in the win. Jose Theodore started the game in net for Florida, but he did not have another great game against the Bruins as he did a few weeks ago.

In the first period, Brad Marchand scored his 13th goal of the season, a shorthanded goal, to make it 1-0. Later, Milan Lucic scored his 12th goal of the season, a power-play goal, making it 2-0 Bruins. On the next faceoff, Krys Barch and Shawn Thornton dropped the gloves and had a good short fight. Thornton looked to get more punches in on Barch before Thornton lost his balance and got twisted around as he went down to the ice. Less than five minutes later, Benoit Pouliot scored Bruins goal of the year so far as he got by a Panthers defenseman and slid the puck past Jose Theodore. That was Pouliot's 7th goal of the season. 31 seconds later Dennis Seidenberg scored his 1st goal of the season making it 4-0 Bruins.

Benoit Pouliot's sick goal vs Panthers

In the second period, the Panthers had Scott Clemmensen come in and play net for the rest of the game. Gregory Campbell scored his 3rd goal of the season as he was able to get a good wrist shot off from the slot area. Later in the period, Patrice Bergeron got credit for his 7th goal of the season, a power-play goal, as his pass went off a Panthers skate and into the net, making it 6-0.

In the third period, Brad Marchand scored his 2nd goal of the game, his 14th goal of the season. Later in the period, Brad Marchand scored his 3rd goal of the game, getting his 1st NHL career hat trick. That was Marchand's 15th goal of the season.

BOSTON, MA - DECEMBER 23: Brad Marchand #63 of the Boston Bruins after the game he scored his first career hat trick against the Florida Panthers at the TD Garden on December 23, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images)

Game notes
The Bruins led the game in shots 35-30 and faceoff wins 35-20. The Panthers led the game in hits 18-14 and blocked shots 16-13.

The Bruins went 2-for-5 on the power-play while the Panthers went 0-for-2.

Tuukka Rask played in net for Boston and stopped all 30 shots he faced to get his 2nd shutout of the season. Rask is now 7-4-1 with a 1.66 GAA and a .944 save percentage. Those are just amazing numbers.

Brad Marchand had a 5-point game, with 3 goals and 2 assists. He was +5 with 3 shots (all goals) and he only had 12:48 of ice time, which was the second-lowest on the team after Shawn Thornton's 11:23 of ice time.

Patrice Bergeron had 1 goal and 2 assists, was +2 and had 5 shots. He also went 10-2 in the faceoff circle.

Zdeno Chara had 2 assists and was +4.

Tyler Seguin had 2 assists and was +4 and had 3 shots.

Dennis Seidenberg had 1 goal and 1 assist, was +2 and had 2 shots.

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 23-9-1 with 47 points, which is 1st in the Northeast Division and 1st in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins next game is next Wednesday, December 28th at the Phoenix Coyotes, at 9pm ET.

Happy holidays everyone!