Tim Thomas returns to Boston and gets shelled

Panthers Tim Thomas slashes Bruins Carl Soderberg in the neck on January 28, 2014.


Bruins Shawn Thornton's beautiful goal against Panthers goalie Tim Thomas on January 28, 2014.

Last night the Florida Panthers visited Boston and Tim Thomas made his first return to Boston since he left the Bruins. The Bruins outplayed the Panthers throughout most of the game and a few odd goals got by Tim Thomas to make it a 6-2 Bruins win. Most of the talk was about the incident at the end of the game where Carl Soderberg was crashing the crease and Thomas didn't like it. Thomas swung his stick at Soderberg, which hit him in the neck area and Thomas was given a high-sticking penalty.

Quick game summary
In the first period, Bruins Milan Lucic scored his 14th goal of the season, making it 1-0 Bruins. Later, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara scored his 13th goal of the season, making it 2-0 Bruins.

In the second period, Bruins Milan Lucic scored his 15th goal of the season, making it 3-0 Bruins. Later, Bruins Reilly Smith scored his 18th goal of the season, a power-play goal, making it 4-0 Bruins. Late in the period, Panthers Brad Boyes scored, making it 4-1.

In the third period, Panthers Dmitry Kulikov scored a power-play goal, making it 4-2. Later, Bruins Shawn Thornton scored his 4th goal of the season, with a great individual effort to keep possession of the puck and get a shot on Thomas (watch video of Thornton's goal above), making it 5-2 Bruins. Later, Bruins David Krejci scored his 11th goal of the season, making it 6-2 Bruins.

Game notes
Tuukka Rask played in net for the Bruins and made 28 saves on 30 shots. Rask is now 24-12-3 with a 2.07 GAA and a .930 save percentage this season.

The Bruins led the game in shots 41-30 and faceoff wins 38-34. The Panthers led the game in hits 20-16 and blocked shots 12-9. The Bruins went 1-for-5 on the power-play while the Panthers went 1-for-2.

Loui Eriksson led the Bruins with 5 shots. Johnny Boychuk led the Bruins with 4 hits. Kevan Miller led the Bruins with 2 blocked shots.

The Krejci-Lucic-Iginla line combined for 3 goals and 4 assists.

Player notes
Chris Kelly returned to the lineup. Forward Ryan Spooner and defenseman Zach Trotman were sent back to Providence (AHL).

Onto the next one
The Bruins are now 34-15-3 with 71 points and are 1st place in the Atlantic Division. The next game for the Bruins is on Thursday when they host the Montreal Canadiens at 7pm ET.