Boston Bruins' Brad Marchand (63), Chris Kelly (23) and Patrice Bergeron (37) celebrate Kelly's goal against the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third period of an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011. Boston won 5-3. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon)
Game summary
In the first period, Shawn Thornton and Jared Boll dropped the gloves and had a re-match fight. It was a good fight with Thornton getting the decision. Thornton challenged Boll in his first shift once they both got on the ice. So you know this fight happened due to Thornton being upset with Boll from their previous fight where Boll threw two late punches at Thornton.
Rick Nash and Jeff Carter scored to make it 2-0 Columbus. With 1:34 remaining in the period, Joe Corvo scored his 1st goal of the season, which obviously was his first goal as a Bruin. Only 45 seconds later, Nathan Horton scored his 8th goal of the season to tie the game 2-2.
In the second period, Zdeno Chara scored his 6th goal of the season, a power-play goal, to make it 3-2 Bruins. R.J. Umberger scored later to tie the game 3-3. Later Chara would leave the game around the 5-minute mark of the period because of a leg injury. Maybe a possible knee injury. Claude Julien's post-game quotes about Chara are below.
Tuukka Rask started the third period and looked good through the period stopping everything Columbus threw his way. Joe Corvo scored his 2nd goal of the season and game, a power-play goal to give the Bruins a 4-3 lead. With the Bruins on a power-play with less than two minutes in the game, Chris Kelly scored his 11th goal of the season to make it 5-3 Bruins. Patrice Bergeron made a beautiful pass to Kelly, who roofed it by goalie Curtis Sanford.
Through two periods, Tim Thomas made 22 saves on 25 shots. Thomas did not get the decision in this game. Thomas is still 13-5-0, and now has a 1.92 GAA and a .938 save percentage. Tuukka Rask played the third period, made 11 saves on 11 shots and he got the win. Rask is now 5-4-1 with a 2.01 GAA and a .930 save percentage.
Game notes
The Bruins led the game in faceoff wins 27-23 and blocked shots 17-10. The Blue Jackets led the game in shots 36-29 and hits 28-14.
The Bruins went 3-for-6 on the power-play while Columbus went 1-for-6.
Rich Peverley went 6-1 in the faceoff circle.
Joe Corvo with his first two goals as a Bruin, was also +1 with 5 shots and 1 blocked shot. The 5 shots led the Bruins.
David Krejci had 2 assists with 2 shots.
Milan Lucic had an odd night, recording 3 assists, 8 PIMs including a bad double-minor, 0 shots and 5 hits. The 5 hits led the Bruins.
Adam McQuaid led the Bruins with 4 blocked shots.
Bruins post-game quotes
After the game, Claude Julien talked a little about Zdeno Chara's injury status:
"We don't if it's just one or if he'll be back in next game," Julien said. "I'm not quite sure. I haven't had a chance, so it's hard to comment until I know the severity of it. Throughout the season, you're going to have some injuries, and you're going to have to live with them."
Chara was walking without noticeable discomfort after the game. Chara will travel back to Boston tonight and be re-evaluated upon the team's return.
Source
Claude Julien on his decision to pull Tim Thomas and play Tuukka Rask in the third period:
"Timmy didn't look as comfortable as we've seen him and he let couple goals go thru. It was a gut decision."
Source
Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 18-9-1 with 37 points and back in 2nd place in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins next game is on Tuesday hosting the Los Angeles Kings in Boston at 7pm ET. The Kings have been struggling recently, going 4-5-1 in their last 10 games.
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