Kessel Helps Bruins End Season on High Note

By KC Downey in Bruins, Featured ⋅ April 12, 2009 at 9:11pm ⋅ Post a comment

The Bruins wrapped up their incredible regular season Sunday afternoon against the New York Islanders and capped off their Eastern Conference Championship with a punctuating 6-2 victory.

Out recently with an undisclosed injury, Phil Kessel showed he’s ready for postseason play with three goals (one in each period) and an assist to finish the season as the Bruins leading goal-scorer. Keep in mind, Kessel is just 21 years old.

Michael Ryder scored just 23 seconds into the game, and so the tone was set. Kessel scored later in the period to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead after one frame.

Marc Savard, Kessel, Chuck Kobasew each scored goals in the second period to grab a 5-0 lead before New York’s Radek Martinek scored with less than two minutes left.

Doug Weight scored early in the third period to cut the deficit to 5-2, but Kessel later added his third goal for the hat trick in a convincing 6-2 Bruins win.

The Islanders lost the last four games and were the worst team in the NHL this season. They finished with 47 regulation losses.

“It’s not fun winding up the worst team in the league,” Doug Weight said. “It can only get better from here.”

For the Bruins, the sky’s the limit now. The team faces a familiar foe coming up in the first round of the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs against the Montreal Canadiens.