I’ll have to admit, looking at the schedule this weekend and the loss of Milan Lucic…again, I predicted the Bruins to lose to a rested Ottawa team. Hoping I was wrong, it appeared at the end of the first period there was some truth in my theory. The Sens scored 2 goals on 5 shots in the first period as Tim Thomas returned to action and The sold out Garden was thinking it was going to be a lonngggg night.

The never say die Bruins came out a different team in the 2nd frame and it was their turn to run the show as they scored 2 goals, both on the power play and  giving up none and sending it to the final frame knotted up at 2. Dennis Wideman ends his 21 game scoring drought with the Bruins third power play goal of the night half way through the third. Mark Recci takes a penalty with just 3 minutes to go and again, I am having those bad thoughts. But once again the Bruins killed the penalty and were storming an empty net in the last minute trying to solidify the unlikely comeback . Ottawa calls a time out with 25 seconds and on the ensuing faceoff, the Sens storm in and beat Thomas on a really bad goal. Timmy just simply missed his angle with 19 seconds left. Bruins have seen this time and time again so an extra 5 was ordered again.

After a scoreless overtime, we have a shoot out for the second time in as many days and the ninth time this season for the B’s . Thomas came up huge on Spezza in the shootout keeping it scoreless. Michael Ryder beats Elliot in the 4th round of the shootout and  Thomas comes up huge again giving the Bruins the win in a shootout redeeming himself from the soft goal that got them there to begin with.

The Bruins have had a revolving door on the injury list all season and the team has pulled together to keep themselves in just about every game. the efforts have paid off as the team fights their way to the top of the Northeast Division. If this team can ever get healthy, they are going to be tough to beat just like a year ago. They are a scrappy team that finds a way to be in the mix night in and night out.

Boo-Hoo, the ref’s hate me

One of my favorite stories of the week has to be from the City of Anaheim where according to Duck fans, the officials gave Toronto their first win with phantom calls. I wrote a whole piece on that earlier this week and you can read the article here. The irony is the day after I posted that article, I had one less follower on Twitter…coincidence? Nah….poor sport. Just for the record, I think the site is cute, the Rally was stupid.

Win one, Lose a bunch more

Toronto finally got their first win and like I said earlier in the week, Toronto’s wins will be far and few this year. Although goaltender Vesa Toskala looked solid in his first start since being sidelined, the Leafs still managed to lose Saturday night to the Habs in a shootout. And yes Toronto is once again on another losing streak at 3 games. The good news is that Phil Kessel is rumored to be returning Tuesday night when they host the Lightning. The Leafs best chance of winning a game this week will be on Friday when they visit the lowly Hurricanes (2-8-3) who have their worse start since the franchised moved from Hartford.

Bay-”B” I got your number

Henrik Lundqvist certainly has the Bruins number which is zero. Lundqvist earned his 150th NHL win Sunday by shutting out the Bruins for the 4th time and his 21st  career shut out. The Bruins are still on the lose one, win one pattern since the opening face off on October 1st.

The Goalie Shuffle

Being a back up goalie in the NHL is a tough on a young player who is just itching to get into the action and be your teams #1. What better way to prove your point than to make 50 saves against the Ottawa Senators. That’s what Atlanta Thrashers goalie, Ondrej Pavelec did on Saturday night. With starter Kari Lehtonen recovering from back surgery, Pavelec has filled in and done the job for the Thrashers.

Speaking of goalies,  once Avalanche backup, Andrew Raycroft shut out his old team last night 3-0 . Raycroft has been the Canucks net minder since Roberto Luongo has been injured. Don’t read into that one too much, Raycroft wasn’t challenged only facing 18 shots.

Key Match-ups this week ahead

The defending champs and best in the East, Pittsburgh Penguins hit the road this week as the start of a 4 game road trip. Saturday night you will see the Crosby vs Thorton showdown as the Pens visit the 2nd in the west San Jose Sharks. Pittsburgh is still undefeated on the road this season with a 6-0-0 record.

The other top 3 teams in the west will be playing what looks to be round robin tourney as #4 Phoenix draws #1 Avalanche on Wednesday night and then has the #3 Blackhawks on Thursday night. Friday night the Blackhawks visit Colorado to face the Avalanche.

Coach Julien calls a time out and pulls goaltender Tim Thomas with just under 2 mins left in regulation and Mark Recci playing in his 1500th career NHL game, pops one in at the 18:32 mark of the third. Just over a minute later, Krejic finally scores his first of the season as he tips in the game tying goal. After a scoreless overtime frame, Bergeron scores the only goal in the shootout.

Tim Thomas was nothing short of spectacular tonight, coming up huge with a highlight reel save in the third and shut down Kovalev, Alfredsson and Spezza in the shootout to solidify what looked to be a loss that turned into a win for the Bruins. Three games in four nights and the B’s come out of it with 5 out of a possible 6 points. Not bad for a team that is missing the entire number one line from a year ago. The Bruins get a much deserved rest as their next game is not until Thursday night.

Sports fans have their work cut out for them tonight to try to keep track of all the action across the nation. Put the NHL aside, you have a loaded schedule of college football, and there is that little baseball game happening tonight as well (put a whammy on those damn Yankees).

Highlighting tonight’s match ups would be the Penguins going for their 8th straight victory after Crosby scores all 3 goals to lead to their dramatic come from behind win in shoot out last night against the Florida Panthers.

The walking wounded Boston Bruins have literally had a up and down season alternating wins and losses every other game and hope that pattern continues at least for tonight as they lost in Philly Thursday night in a shootout. Look for Shawn Thorton in the lineup tonight …well at least that’s what his V-Blog says. If you ask coach Julien, he says it will be a game time decision. As you know , he was supposed to return the other night and was a last minute scratch. The Bruins are stating Thorton has an undisclosed injury. What is this the playoffs? Although Tuukka Rask played exceptionally good Thursday night, look for Thomas in net. Timmy has been a thorn in Ottawa’s side as he has won 7 in a row against the Sens with a 1.27 gaa in those games.

The Toronto Maple Leafs still the only team without a victory this year visit Vancouver where the last time they have posted a win at GM Place was 6 years ago. At this point, you may want to keep all sharp objects away from Kessel.

The slumping Carolina Hurricanes losers of 5 straight will lose Tuomo Ruutu as he was handed a three game suspension for a boarding infraction on Colorado’s Darcy Tucker in Friday nights game. Tucker was injured on the play with a concussion and also received 40 stitches.