By: Jeff Playdon | Follow Me On Twitter @PlaydonJeff
After visiting the Ottawa Senators and beating them 4-2, Boston continued their winning streak while on their road trip when they visited the Calgary Flames at Scotiabank Place. Boston, who was riding a two-game win streak and had a record of 33-19-7, looked to make it a 3-game win streak against Calgary. The red-hot Calgary Flames, who were on a three-game win streak, looked to make it four and hoped to catch Vancouver at the top of the division. The starting goaltenders for the game were Tim Thomas and Miikka Kiprusoff. Scratches for Boston included Steven Kampfer and Daniel Paille.
1st Period Summary
Boston started the game skating hard and coming out red hot. Milan Lucic scored just 59 seconds into the game and made it 1-0 Boston. It would be Lucic’s 25th goal of the season, and he was on pace to have the best season of his career. Boston’s quick start would come to a standstill as Michael Ryder was called for hooking 2:30 into the period, and Calgary would go on the powerplay. Luckily for Boston, Calgary couldn’t convert, and it was back to even strength. For the rest of the period, neither teams would score or draw penalties, and the Bruins went into the first intermission leading 1-0.
2nd Period Summary
Going into the second period, Boston looked to add on to the lead and get more shots on net as they were outshot by Calgary 13-7 in the first period. Calgary, on the other hand, looked to keep getting pucks on the net and hopefully tie the game. The second period was fast-paced, and nothing happened until 17:34 into the period when Calgary’s Curtis Glencross was called for a Double minor high-sticking penalty and would put Boston on the powerplay for four minutes. The powerplay would also give Boston a superb opportunity to take a 2-0 lead. Boston used up 2:26 of the powerplay and went into the second intermission, still up 1-0. The remaining 1:34 of the Bruins powerplay would take place at the start of the third period. Unlike the first period, Boston outshot Calgary 10-9 and had more scoring chances than Calgary.
3rd Period Summary
Going into the third period, Boston looked to take a two-goal lead as they had a man advantage. Boston could not convert, and Calgary escaped and looked to tie the game. 5:55 into the period, Bruins speedy youngster Brad Marchand would score and give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. It would be Marchand’s 19th goal on the season, with assists going to Patrice Bergeron and Andrew Ference. Calgary, now down by a pair of goals, looked to claw back and got as many shots as possible on Tim Thomas. With 3:04 remaining in the third period, Calgary got a break when Patrice Bergeron was called for a slash. Calgary would have a pristine opportunity to finally get a goal and hopefully come back. 31 seconds into the power play, Calgary would finally get on the board to make it just a 2-1 Boston lead.
With the goal coming from Curtis Glencross, he made sure to make up for his double-minor penalty in the second period. With momentum on Calgary’s side, they looked to tie the game up and decided to pull goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff to give them a man advantage. However, with 47 seconds remaining in the game Milan Lucic would net an empty-netter and give Boston the game-sealing goal at 3-1. It would be Lucic’s second of the night and his 26th of the year, continuing the best season of his career so far.
3 Stars of the Game
Bruins’ goaltender Tim Thomas would finish the game with 28 saves on 29 shots as Calgary’s goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 26 shots on 28 shot attempts. The three stars of the game would be Tim Thomas, Curtis Glencross, who netted the only goal for Calgary, and David Krejci, who assisted on two of Milan Lucic’s goals. With Boston getting the win, it would improve their record to 34-19-7 and improve their win streak to three games. Boston would look to make it four straight games when they would visit the NHL’s best record Vancouver Canucks on February 26th.
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