So it was finally here. The long-awaited rematch. The "Win One for Patrice" game. The Bruins and the Flyers, renewing hostilities after the Flyers derailed not only the Bruins season but a young kid's life last time these two teams met. Fans had been anticipating roughhousing, fighting, hitting and all around old time hockey. However, as some may have predicted, the game wasn't as wild as some had hoped. The only fight of the game didn't involve Randy Jones, but Jeremy Reich and Ben Eager. I am a little disappointed that Jones didn't really face any music for what he did to Bergeron, accident or not. However, shutting up 20,000 Philadelphians is sweet enough music for any Bruins fan.
I didn't see the first half of the game, due to a night class, but I saw from about the middle of the second period on. The Bruins played well, and outplayed Philly for most of the night. One of my favorite moments of the game came in the third period, when the Bruins killed any momentum the Flyers had by holding the puck in the Philly end for about 2 minutes, putting constant pressure on Antero Nittymaki. The pressure culminated in a slashing penalty to my least favorite player of all time, Daniel Briere. The B's didn't score, but did squash any attempts at Philly comeback. I was also pleased to see the B's respond quickly to Philly's 2nd goal, scoring a little over a minute later.
Overall, this was a great game for the Bruins. The Flyers are a very good team, and the Bruins beat them in their own building, in front of a sold out crowd. The B's didn't let their emotions from the first game of the season series get the better of them, and managed to play their game and take the Flyers down. Tuukka Rask played a decent game, but wasn't really anything special. He wasn't challenged much, but made the saves when he needed to. The 3rd goal, to Upshall, was pretty soft, and Rask probably should have had it. Overall, however, he looked composed again, a good sign for the Bruins. They'll need him in the upcoming weeks, as they have a pretty full slate coming up.
It's also good to see Glen Murray continue to play well. He had two more goals, raising his season total to 6. Marc Savard had another stellar offensive night with a goal and two assists, and Brandon Bochenski played well again, getting on the scoresheet with an assist on the fifth Boston goal.
Again, overall, this was a great win. The B's travel next to face an extremely inconsistent Florida Panthers team, so let's hope the B's can get another win and get on a bit of a roll here on this road trip.
GOALS
Boston- Glen Murray (5,6), Marc Savard (5), Glen Metropolit (5), Peter Schaefer (4), Chuck Kobasew (10)
Philadelphia- Mike Knuble (7), Mike Richards (14), Scottie Upshall (5)
SAVES
Boston- Tuukka Rask, 20 saves on 23 shots
Philadelphia- Martin Biron, 11 saves on 14 shots::Antero Nittymaki, 15 saves on 17 shots
NEXT GAME: Thursday, November 29 @ Florida Panthers, 7:30 PM EST
I'm a 20 year old kid from Dorchester, MA, who one day hopes to be a sportswriter for a big time newspaper, and figure this is a good place to start. I'm in college at Suffolk in downtown Boston now, and it's awesome. I love all sports, with the Bruins and Red Sox being my favorite teams, thought I'm also a big Patriots and Celtics fan. I think it's ridiculous how no one in this town cares about the Bruins anymore. I like college sports too, no particular teams, especially any big bowl games and March Madness. I hate fairweather fans, especially everyone who jumped on the Sox bandwagon in 2004. The "pink hats" and "OMG Varitek's so hot!!" drive me crazy, just like anyone else who's a real baseball fan. Pick a team, know the players, stay loyal and be a real fan- in good times and in bad.
