We knew that the Pens offense would surge with the return of Malkin and the B’s responded beautifully going blow for blow in a back in forth, action packed game. The Bruins caught a break late in the third period with to me a couple of marginal calls that I will have to look at the replay on. The first one was a 4 minute high stick that Byron Bitz was on the receiving end of. It looked like he simply skated into the butt end of the Pen’s Matt Cook. Shortly after, the B’s drew a tripping penalty giving them a 5-3 for a full 2 minutes and the capitalized on that.

The Bruins finally go ahead 5-4 in this see-saw battle when Marco Sturm tips one in with less than 3 minutes to play. Then it happened, ex-Bruin Bill Guerin blows one past Tim Thomas with .4 seconds left in regulation. Yes .4,  a half of second and what appeared to be a missed angle by Thomas. Okay….Timmy is human I get that but explain to me what that miscue was behind the net 1:24 into the overtime session.

With the 2010 Olympics coming up in February, Vezina Trophy winner, Tim Thomas was the hands down favorite to be the #1 goalie for team USA . With the shaky start at the beginning of the season and the excellent play on Buffalo’s Ryan Miller, things have changed. Thomas finally got his game back to where it was a year ago but then we see something a Junior C goaltender would do, cough up the puck behind the net non- shalontly …..I don’t know if he was unaware that a Pens player was behind him or if it was just a lack-a-dazy play that stunned the Boston netminder. What ever the case may be, Thomas and the B’s choked big time tonight.

The Penguins Ruslan Fedotenko started the scoring nearly half way through the first period to give the Penguins an early lead. Sydney ended his longest scoring drought his career by getting an assist on the goal. Unfortunately for the Penguins that was only time they would light the lamp as Martin Brodeur shut the door on the home team giving the Pens their 5th straight loss. Good news for the Penguins came after the game as Evgeni Malkin announced his return on Saturday night against the Bruins. Malkin’s last game was October 28th against the Canadiens.

The Devils scored four un-answered goals to extend their road record to 9-0. The Devils are home on Saturday night and will have to wait until Monday night to try to tie Buffalo’s 10-0 record as they go into The City of Brotherly Love to face the Flyers.

The whole nation will see the B’s vs Pens game at the Garden tonight as Versus, TSN and the NHL network will all be broadcasting the game. Both teams are banged up with key injuries and this is the last stop of a long road trip for the Pens.

The Bruins will get David Krejic back in the lineup tonight after he missed 2 games with the H1N1 virus. Michael Ryder who missed practice on Monday with flu like symptoms will be in the lineup tonight as well. Although Tuukka Rask has been solid, look for Tim Thomas tonight as he will try to end his 0-3-1 run in his last 4 games. No fault to Thomas as he has only allowed 6 goals in that span.

The Bruins are catching the Stanley Cup Champs a vulnerable time as they come off a three game road trip to California and losing the last 2 including a 5-0 loss at San Jose Saturday night. To make matters worse, they Penquins lost Kris Letang in that game which adds to a long list of key injuries including  Evgeni Malkin, Maxime Talbot,Sergei Gonchar and Tyler Kennedy who are all out of the line up for the Pens. Sydney Crosby has been held with out a point in his last 4 games.

For success tonight, the B’s need to take the intensity of Shawn Thorton’s performance Saturday night and take advantage of the tired, injured Penguins. Even though the Bruins have lost 3 out of the last 4 they have played well and finally found a way to get shots on net. If the Bruins can jump on the Pens early by playing physical and shooting at the net every chance they get, look for the Pens to fall tonight.