Bruins Beat Panthers 3-1 Behind Recchi’s Two Goals

By KC Downey in Bruins, Featured, Top Story ⋅ November 25, 2010 at 1:10am ⋅ Post a comment

Zdeno Chara, Mark Recchi (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Just last week, the Bruins beat Dennis Wideman’s Florida Panthers 4-0, and before we could catch our breath, the Bruins and Panthers locked horns again. This time, on Wednesday night, it was a tighter affair.

The Panthers led 1-0 heading into the third period thanks to a goal in the previous frame from Steven Reinprecht, his fourth of the season. To add insult to injury, Wideman, a former Bruin, got the assist. As you may remember, Wideman was traded with the No. 15 pick to Florida in the offseason for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell.

Just eight seconds into the third, however, the Bruins struck back. Brad Marchand scored the equalizer, and give one of the assists to Campbell against his former team.

With the score knotted at 1-1, 42-year-old Mark Recchi (yes, he’s actually older than Brett Favre) took over. Recchi buried his third goal of the year less than three minutes later for the game-winner, and then added his fourth of the year with four minutes to go to put the game out of reach. With the two goals, Recchi became just the 13th player in league history with 1,500 career points.

“It’s pretty nice when it comes on a big win like that,” Recchi said. “You get the two goals and it’s two important ones and that makes it even more special.”

Recchi is now just 1,357 points away from Wayne Gretzky.

Tim Thomas had another strong game between the pipes for the B’s, stopping 31 of the 32 shots he faced. He also denied the Panthers on both of their power play opportunities.

Tomas Vokoun, meanwhile, was the victim of the Bruins three-goal onslaught in the third period. With their backs against the wall, the Bruins pushed…and pushed hard. They fired 18 shots in the third alone after firing just 19 shots over the first two periods combined. Vokoun finished with 34 saves in 37 opportunities.

Next up for the B’s is a date with the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!