The Senators came into Boston and shut the Bruins out 1-0. Erik Karlsson scored the only goal of the game on the power play in the first period. The Bruins had 32 shots on goal, but once again struggled to put goals on the board. The power play unit went 0-4, including a last chance in the final minutes of the third period. Tim Thomas played extremely well, making 37 saves, but his counterpart Robin Lehner stopped all 32 Boston shots.

Bruins suffer fifth shutout loss in February

The Bruins fail to score a goal for the fifth time this month and seventh time this season. With no help from the power play most nights, this Bruins offense needs to score early to get confidence.

Tyler Seguin has just about disappeared for the last 14 games with only one goal during that stretch. He needs to find his game if this team is going to be successful heading towards the playoffs. Seguin was aggressive Tuesday night with five shots on goal, but he also missed the net a handful of times.

The power play finished the night at 0-4 but did produce a few chances in the third period. It is easy to see the importance of a power play goal with the Senators winning the game with a goal on the man advantage.

Battle between the pipes

Tim Thomas and Robin Lehner both deserved to win the game.

Lehner, the backup goalie for the Senators, got his first career shutout. He fought off the third period surge when the Bruins started to put a few shifts together with solid offensive time.

Thomas was only scored on one time while being double-screened on a power play. He really did play well enough to win, though. He made several key saves, including a late breakaway bid by the Senators.

Black and gold debut

Brian Rolston and Mike Mottau played for the first time with the Bruins. Rolston only logged 8:21 of ice time and Mottau saw 10:49. It should take these guys a few games to feel comfortable with a new team and they will see more ice time as we move forward.

© Bobby Doherty for Sports of Boston, 2012. | Permalink | No comment
Filed under: Bruins, Featured, Top Story.

Boston is coming off a surprising 4-3 come-from-behind win over Ottawa last Saturday, a win that saw the Bruins erase a two-goal deficit within the last 90 seconds of the third period. The Bruins would later win the game on Patrice Bergeron’s lone shootout goal.

For New Jersey, they come north after losing last night to Buffalo, 4-1 in the Garden State. The Devils (6-4-0) are a very unimpressive 1-4-0 at home this season, but are unbeaten (5-0-0) away from the Prudential Center. (No, not our Prudential Center…)

Here now, a few more notes to feast your eyes on, leading up to tonight’s Garden party…

• Tonight’s goalie matchup will feature two men with five Vezina trophies between them. Of course, we know Boston’s Tim Thomas is coming off his first Vezina Trophy win last season, so that leaves the other 4 with Devils veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur. The 37-year-old Brodeur is in his 16th year between the pipes for New Jersey, having led the Devils to 3 Stanley Cup winning seasons. This season, the Devils’ workhorse has played every minute of New Jersey’s 10 games thus far, posting a 6-4-0 record with a 2.58GAA. He has won 7 of his last 9 starts vs. Boston.
• New Jersey’s scoring is led by young left winger Zach Parise. Parise, who is coming off a 45-goal year last season, has hit for 6 goals and 7 assists thus far. Also near the top of the Devils’ stat sheet is center Travis Zajac, who has a 5-goal, 5-assist stat line through the team’s first 10 games.
• The Devils will look to get their power play attack back on track tonight. They are just 2 for the last 22 on the man-advantage, and rank 23rd overall at a very lackluster 17.1%.
• The Bruins, with both Milan Lucic (finger) and Marc Savard (foot) out with long-term injuries, aren’t the only ones dealing with injuries to key players. New Jersey is without one of their top defensemen Paul Martin, for the next 4-6 weeks with a broken left arm, while veteran left winger Jay Pandolfo will also be sidelined for the same amount of time with a separated right shoulder. Pandolfo, born in Winchester, MA, played his high school hockey at Burlington High School, followed by a four-year college career at Boston University from ’93 to ’96.
• Also raised locally is New Jersey defenseman Mike Mottau. The 31-year-old Mottau was born in nearby Quincy, MA, and suited up for Thayer Academy (Braintree) and Boston College (Class of 2000) before turning pro.
• Head coach Claude Julien will be looking for the 100th win of his Bruins career tonight, facing off against his former employers. Julien led the Devils for 79 games of the ’06-’07 season, being replaced with just three games remaining in the season. That year, he took the Devils to a 47-24-8 record. The team was sitting atop the Atlantic Division when GM Lou Lamoriello pulled the plug on Julien’s days as a Devil.
• Lastly, adding to Boston’s walking wounded this week was Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli. Chiarelli, who tore cartilage in his knee over the summer, went under the knife Monday for arthroscopic surgery, and will be seen hobbling around the Garden offices on crutches for the foreseeable future while he recovers.

© Brian Kintz for Sports of Boston, 2009. | Permalink | One comment
Filed under: Bruins.