B’s Gain Breathing Room With Victory In Atlanta

Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask stones Colby Armstrong on the penalty shot. Rask has now allowed just one goal in his last six periods of work.

I could sit here and blog about how important this game was for the Bruins, but the truth is that every game for the rest of the season is just as important as the one before, if not more. Tonight, the tour to the playoffs continued with the final trip of the season to Atlanta to take on the surging and now Kovalchuk-less Thrashers. Coming into the contest with four straight victories, scoring 18 goals over that stretch, the Atlanta Thrashers were dubbing tonight’s chance to leapfrog the Bruins into eighth place in the Eastern Conference playoff-picture as one of the franchises’ most important games of all time, leaving the critics pondering just how the sometimes lethargic B’s would counter the high-powered attack of John Anderson‘s club?

They got their answer nine minutes into the contest when David Krejci put his 15th goal of the season by Johan Hedberg, beating towering Thrashers defensemen Zach Bogosian in a battle for puck-possession behind the net, potting an easy shot through some traffic and by ‘Moose’ with some help from Michael Ryder. And just like that, the now typical Boston rout of Atlanta was on. However, not all was bad for the Thrashers in the first period as a big hit along the boards on Vladimir Sobotka from 6’4″ Evgeny Artyukhin took the Bruins’ undersized center out of the game with what appeared to be a head injury. Hey, when you’re a 26-year old journeyman on your third team in under a calendar year like Artyukhin, you ‘gotta do what you can to stay in the line-up, am I right?

Continuing his best month of the season, Milan Lucic scores midway through the second to put the B’s up by two. Lucic’s eighth goal of the season, and third in the month of March, setting a new high in one month for the 6’4″ winger who’s experienced a season of woe in terms of injuries, came on a great wrister wrung right by Hedberg. Credited with an assist on the play, the space created by the increasingly dangerous Krejci gave Lucic yet another opportunity in front of the net, a spot frequented with great success by #17 as of late.

The dagger in the heart of the Thrashers may have happened in the following minute when Colby Armstrong was awarded a penalty shot on a Dennis Wideman hook. Almost effortlessly, Armstrong skated down towards Tuukka Rask but was quickly denied by the Finnish rookie on a routine shot that Rask appeared to simply stop by extending his arm outwards. While not noted as a gifted goal-scorer, the lack of zest in the attempt from Armstrong told us the story of just the Thrashers were–hesitant, lazy, and just plain over matched.

After an icing with under ten seconds left in the second period, Bruins center Patrice Bergeron won the face-off in the Thrashers zone nearly uncontested, tossed the puck back to Zdeno Chara, who winded up and sent a slapshot barreling towards Johan Hedberg, bouncing off the stick of Miroslav Satan and into the back of the net with just four ticks remaining on the clock. Giving the Bruins a commanding 3-0 lead with Satan’s 2nd goal in as many games, any dreams of an Atlanta miracle comeback were crushed.

Burying the hatchet even more, Steve Begin tallied his fourth goal of the season just a minute and a half into the third to put the B’s up by four. In what was a pretty average routine night, Tuukka Rask earned his fourth shutout of the season, making 27-saves look easy as the Bruins cruised through the rest of the third and beat the Thrashers 4-0 for the second time this season. Refusing to let up from the puck-drop, the Boston victory increased the Bruins’ precious lead to three points over the Thrashers for the eighth and final playoff spot and rather than looking behind them, the Bruins now could find themselves in sixth place if they can continue this success with a win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Ty’s Take

Getting my second glimpse of the crowd at the Philips Arena this season (Atlanta doesn’t really bring in enough ratings to be on VS, real shocker there), I refuse to believe the notion that Atlanta is a sustainable market for hockey. Watching the game, fans were able to see actual full rows of seats empty in a crowd of predominantly Bruins fans. With cities such as Quebec City, Winnipeg, and Hamilton begging for an NHL team, the lack of attendance for a team in one of their ‘most important games in franchise history’ is almost as much of a joke as Shawn Thornton waiting for Eric Boulton to get his arm out of his sweater before fighting (which really happened).

A Tip of the Cap To…

Kudos to rookie goaltender Tuukka Rask, who improved to 3-1-0 over his last four starts. Over that span Rask has posted a 1.50 GAA, .950SV% and moved ahead of Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller for the league-leading save-percentage with tonight’s victory.

What’s Next?

The Bruins head home to start a three-game homestand against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Bolts, sitting eight points behind Boston in the playoff race, are seemingly done barring a miraculous push, have played Boston fairly well in 2009-10. With a 1-2-0 record against the Bruins this season, the Lightning have found themselves able to keep up with Boston primarily due to the success of Martin St. Louis, who has tortured the Bruins with four points in three games this season.

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