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Bruins Hold Off Canes 3-2

Here in New England, we’re used to handling blizzards and “hurricanes.” For the Boston Bruins, they were able to score a pair of goals in the third period and weathered the storm the Carolina Hurricanes brought to the ice for the 3-2 victory.

Daniel Paille scored his first goal of the season to put the B’s on top early in the second period before Jamie McBain tied things up for Carolina. Goals by Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron early in the third period put Boston up by a pair and for the game. Joe Corvo added a goal later in the third but it wasn’t enough for the Hurricanes.

The win brought the Bruins record to 29-15-7 on the year, good for 65 points and first in the Northeast Division. Boston is ahead of Montreal by only four points for the lead.

The loss hurt the Hurricanes as they are trying to gain some momentum to make the playoffs. They are currently sitting in ninth place with a record of 25-20-6 (56 points) and are behind Atlanta by only one point.

The Hurricanes came out on Tuesday night trying to even the season series with the Bruins, but to no avail got turned down once again. Boston won the series 3-1 for the season but Carolina has played very well against the Bruins this year and the players know that.

“It’s nice to win games,” said Chara, who had two assists. “Give Carolina  credit. They play a high-tempo, speedy skill game and they put a lot of  pressure on you. We found a way to put a lot of shots on Ward, who was  basically playing unbelievable.”

From the goaltender standpoint, it was a rematch from the All-Star game a couple nights ago.

For the Bruins, Tim Thomas had yet another stellar effort as he stopped 24-of-26 shots on goal for his 25th win of the season. Thomas’ record now stands at 25-5-6 for the year and is in the lead for this second career Vezina Trophy for best goaltender.

“We found a way to win against a hungry team that’s battling to get into  a playoff spot,” Thomas said. “They played good, and we played pretty  good defensively but weren’t getting too much started. We went into the  third and found a way to win.”

Cam Ward started in goal for the Hurricanes and also had a solid outing. He stopped 30-of-33 shots on goal as he saw his record dip a little to 22-16-5.

First Period

• No scoring, a lot of tough defense by both teams.
• Milan Lucic and Jay Harrison got into a scuffle with both players ending up in the penalty box with a five minute fighting major.

Second Period

• Just over four minutes into the period and Paille netted his first goal of the season on a deflection. He was assisted by Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton on the play. Bruins up 1-0
• Just past the midway part of the period and McBain scored his fourth goal of the season to tie things up. He was assisted by old friend Sergei Samsonov and Erik Cole. Game tied 1-1

Third Period

• Less than four minutes into the period, Horton scored his 13th goal of the season to put the B’s back on top. He was assisted by Chara and David Krejci on the play. Bruins up 2-1
• A little over a minute later and Bergeron added to the lead with a goal of his own. It was his 17th of the season and he was assisted by Mark Recchi and Andrew Ference. Bruins up 3-1
• Just over eight minutes into the period and on the power play, Corvo scored his eighth goal of the season. He was assisted by Cole and Samsonov while Brad Marchand sat in the penalty box for holding. Bruins up 3-2

Up Next

The Bruins will head back to Boston as they prepare to take on the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. The Stars are coming off a tough loss against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday night 4-1. Dallas is no team to sleep on though. The team has a record of 30-15-5 and went 8-2-1 in the month of January. They are led by Brad Richards with 57 points on the year and Brenden Morrow with 21 goals. Thursday’s game will be the first and only game against Dallas this season.

Game Notes

• The Bruins out-shot the Hurricanes 33-to-26 in the game.
• Boston didn’t have a power play opportunity as Carolina went 1-for-4 with the man advantage. The Canes went 0-for-2 on the power play in the first ten minutes of the game.
• The Hurricanes out-hit the Bruins 32-to-23 in the game.
• Boston won the majority of the faceoffs 37-to-25.
• Carolina’s Jussi Jokinen left the game in the first period with a lower-body injury and didn’t return.
• Mark Recchi celebrated his 43rd birthday Tuesday.

Tags: Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton, Patrice Bergeron, Tim Thomas, Zdeno Chara