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Savard Returns, Bruins Dominate Lightning in 8-1 Win

The Boston Bruins welcomed back center Marc Savard with an 8-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night. The Bruins scored first in Wednesday’s 3-0 win in Philadelphia, and did so again on Thursday, meaning they are now 10-0-0 when scoring first.

Savard, who missed 23 games due to post-concussion syndrome, played 21 shifts in the game. He received a standing ovation several times throughout the matchup from those in attendance at the TD Garden.

Twelve players tallied points in the tilt – the first goal was a wrister by David Krejci 10 minutes, 52 seconds into the first period. Krejci, who hadn’t scored since Oct. 30, had two goals and an assist in the matchup.

Bruins’ netminder Tim Thomas (.974) made 37 saves and improved to 13-2-1 this season.

With just 20 seconds remaining in the first period, Dennis Seidenberg skated just inside the red line and as both teams were changing lines, he took a slap shot to beat the Lightning’s goaltender, Mike Smith (17 saves).

The Bruins saw goals from Milan Lucic and Shawn Thornton in the second period, while Tampa Bay also got on the board at 15:14 with a wrist shot from Victor Hedman.

Going into the third, the Bruins were up, 4-1. Krecji tallied his second goal just 34 seconds into the period, resulting in Smith being replaced with Dan Ellis (7 saves).

Following Krecji’s goal, Michael Ryder scored an unassisted goal (1:50 in the third), Mark Recchi had a power-play goal (7:28) and Blake Wheeler took a wrist shot to finish out the Bruins’ high-scoring win.

Up next, the Bruins will travel to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs on Saturday Dec. 4.

Game Notes

• The last time the Bruins scored 8 goals was on Dec. 18, 2008 against Toronto. Boston won, 8-5.
• Patrice Bergeron played in his 400th NHL game Thursday night.
• Nathan Horton snapped a six-game scoreless streak with an assist in the second period.
• Thomas tallied an assist on Thornton’s second period goal.
• Boston is now 5-5-2 at home.

Tags: Bruins, David Krejci, Marc Savard, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tim Thomas