Joey MacDonald, making his third consecutive appearance in goal for the Leafs did not play badly but did not have much luck or support from his teammates. The Leafs were sloppy defensively for the second game in a row and this time they did not get away with it. Vesa Toskala replaced MacDonald for the third period for his first appearance since he suffered a groin injury on Nov. He was victimized for three goals by the Bruins, ending with Savard's third goal.
Marco Sturm opened the scoring for the Bruins when he made the final deflection on a shot from the point that hit a Leaf defenceman and then was deflected by Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron.
Forty-three seconds later, the Bruins went ahead by two when Savard scored from the slot. Savard also scored the Bruins' fourth goal, which gave him four goals and three assists in his last six games.
Savard said it was Bruins' head coach Claude Julien's speech before the game that gave the team its legs after a poor outing in Montreal. I don't know whose book it was out of but it was pretty good. You will have to ask him for the quotes. I can't pick any out because there were so many. Kessel, who had to listen to derogatory chants along with the boos, had his worst moment early in the second period.
He handed the puck to Chara, whose shot bounced off Leafs defenceman Francois Beauchemin and behind MacDonald to put the Bruins ahead They get it to the middle and they shoot it on net. Trading Kessel was the result of the Leafs' organizational belief that "the core group, it hadn't worked," according to president Brendan Shanahan at the time.
Most of the core returned, but Kessel's departure left a major hole that the team has struggled filling. The Leafs are averaging under two goals a game so far, and Phaneuf is their leading scorer with seven points -- all assists.
Meanwhile, the Penguins are starting to click after a rough start. Coach Mike Johnston said that while there is an adjustment, he's pleased with how Kessel has received messages.
Saying he has "no regrets" about his time with the Leafs, Kessel tried to signal he had moved on by reminding reporters he had faced the Leafs before from with the Bruins. Sign up for our weekly email newsletter delving into climate science and life on a changing planet. Related Stories Leafs appreciate Kessel's impact, expect the best from him with Penguins. More Sports Stories. Sponsors asked to defend support for Beijing Winter Olympics. Under John Herdman, the Canadian men's team has become a winning band of brothers.
Top Videos false. Why this B. Crowds return across Canada on Remembrance Day. Canadian stranded in Iraq to be issued emergency passport. A great play in by Kessel. This year, not so much. That was just fine for Bruins fans, as they still took every opportunity to rain down boos on him every time he touched the puck Between the lack of points, the turnovers and the general ineffectiveness, Bruins fans saw exactly what they wanted from Kessel, except for maybe a big crumpled mess after a Big Z body check.
Alas, that will have to wait for the next meeting between the two teams. Due to that importance, there is always a question of how can the position be improved and any time the starter starts struggling, calls go out for the backup to play or trades to be made.
The Bruins thought they had locked down the goaltender position locked up with Tim Thomas. However, year old Tuukka Rask has made things very interesting this year. Finally seeing regular playing time at the NHL level after a few years of work in the minors, Rask has excelled this year. He is and is second in the NHL in goals-against-average at 1. He earned the majority of those wins while Thomas was out with an undisclosed injury, but now the Tank is healthy and Rask is still getting the playing time.
That is not uncommon in the NHL. Head coaches will ride a hot goalie until his pads fall off, and the guess here is that Thomas understands that. Plus, it is better for the team. He is 35 and will benefit from not having to play games.
Also, competition never hurt anyone. Complacency in goal is deadly and Claude Julien is most likely okay with his two keepers having to earn their playing time. It will be interesting to see how the rotation shakes out over the next few weeks. There are nine games left in December over the final 17 days.
While fellow American Ryan Miller of Buffalo is the probable starter at Olympus, Thomas needs to establish himself as the backup.
It has been a while since Bruins fans have had someone to truly hate. Being able to focus all your attention on someone just because you hate them and not because they are a good player is one of the fun things about being a sports fan. Now, the loyal followers of the Black and Gold have that in Phil Kessel.
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