Much better!

Well, that was much better! That's the team I remember driving 40 minutes to see 41 times last season. The Bruins came out with a much more spirited effort last night versus the Carolina Hurricanes. You know the Hurricanes, right? They're team that knocked us out of the second round last season. The Bruins got off to a lightning fast start, scoring on their first powerplay as Marc Savard took the feed from Michael Ryder and buried it into the back of the net. It was so nice to see them convert right off the bat on the powerplay since their powerplay on Thursday was absolutely horrible. The Bruins weren't done in the first period; Michael Ryder tallied a powerplay goal of his own as he wristed the puck past Cam Ward off of a rebound of a Zdeno Chara wrist shot from the blueline. And they weren't done; just 26 seconds after Ryder's goal, Blake Wheeler redirected a Steve Begin pass off his stick and then off his skate that went top corner over Cam Ward's left shoulder. The Hurricanes challenged the goal, but to no avail; Wheeler scored a good goal, and there was no direct kicking motion, so it was all good. The Bruins had more shots in the first period last night than they did in the entire home opener; I think Claude Julien got through to them.

The scoring barrage continued in the second as Marco Sturm hooked up with Marc Savard for the first time in the 2009-2010 campaign. Savvy was behind the net and centered a pass into the slot, and Sturm one-timed it past Cam Ward, officially ending Ward's night. The Bruins kept pouring it on as Dennis Wideman made it a 5-0 game, scoring on a one time slapshot from the left faceoff circle. The villian of the playoffs last season, Scott Walker, broke up the shutout as he redirected former Bruin Aaron Ward's half slapper from the point; coincidentally, Ward was the one who got punched in the face by Walker during Game 5 last season. The Bruins were quick to respond as our tough guy, Shawn Thornton, redirected a Steve Begin pass from the corner through the legs of backup goaltender Michael Leighton to make it 6-1 Bruins. There was a bit of frustration boiling from the Carolina side as I noticed Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason gave David Krejci a little bit of a push after the whistle for no apparent reason. This led to a little meeting of the minds; no punches, just words exchanged. When the puck dropped Milan Lucic checked Jay Harrison, a rookie Carolina defenseman, and for whatever reason, Harrison wanted to go with Lucic...Big mistake. Lucic literally rearranged Harrison's face and he got at least 5 good punches to the face, including his right eye. I could see blood splattered all over the ice and Harrison left the ice looking like he had a leading role in Saving Private Ryan. The puck dropped after the Lucic fight and former Bruin deadweight defenseman and Boston College trash, Andrew Alberts, crosschecked Marco Sturm headfirst into the boards. Since Sturm is coming off an injury riddled season, including a serious concussion, the Bruins came together as one and stood up for him. Marc Savard and Zdeno Chara led the charge. Chara tossed former Montreal Canadian Tom Kostopolus around like a ragdoll, but that's nothing new with Kostopolus. Alberts recieved a nice little beating, but he had it coming. The score remained 6-1 after 2.

The third period was another solid 20 minutes of hockey despite Eric Staal making it a 6-2 game as he beat Tim Thomas shortside coming down the left side. I must give Staal props because he came back to play after receiving 25 stitches in the face after getting hit in the face by a Joe Corvo slapshot. Garden favorite Shawn Thornton still felt as though he needed to take care of some unfinished business as he took it upon himself to take care of Andrew Alberts for his cheapshot on Sturm, and Thornton gave Alberts a serious beating. What Alberts had done really upset me because he was teammates with Sturm for at least 2 seasons, and he still hit Sturm headfirst into the boards despite his knowledge of Sturm's concussion history. I was on my feet and jumping up and down like an idiot, screaming in praise for Thornton as he gave Alberts a beating. Matt Hunwick finished off the scoring as he pinched in down low on the powerplay, took the cross rink pass from Savard, and one timed it top shelf. The Bruins won the game, they won the fights, and definitely had something to build on as the tough Anaheim Ducks come to town on Thursday.

I was also very lucky enough to be there for the Bruins dedication to Fred Cusick during the first TV timeout of the second period. Fred Cusick passed away on September 15, 2009 at the age of 92. Fred was the voice of the Bruins for nearly 60 seasons, if I recall correctly. I grew up listening to Cusick on NESN as he teamed up with Derek Sanderson and Dave Shea as an amazing broadcast team, much better than having to listen to the walking orgasm, Jack Edwards, our current play by play momo on NESN (not having to listen to Jack 41 times a year is a major perk to having season tickets). They framed a microphone in Cusick's honor and it is displayed under the Bruins broadcast booth.

My section was pretty tame for the most part, nothing exciting really, but when I went to the bathroom after the first period there was a Montreal fan in there and any hockey fan knows what that can lead to. The entire jam-packed bathroom all started to chant "ASSHOLE!" at him for a good 2 minutes straight. I then got the "you're gay, you're gay, you're gay, you're gay" song going, which was a huge hit! For those of you who are unaware, when Montreal comes to town, the fans bring their homemade Stanley Cups and flags and sing "olé, olé, olé, olé" which is actually a soccer song, but they don't know any better. The Bruins fans in years past have responded with "you're gay, you're gay, you're gay, you're gay." Another fan yelled out, "Why were the Kostitsyn sisters sent down to the AHL?" Montreal brothers Sergei and Andrei Kostitsyn were just recently summoned to the minor leagues and refused to report, and consequently are facing a fine and a suspension.

The line combinations were as follows...

• Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Marco Sturm
• Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
• Mark Recchi-Patrice Bergeron-Chuck Kobasew
• Shawn Thornton-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz

• Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
• Dennis Wideman-Andrew Ference
• Mark Stuart-Matt Hunwick

Scoring summary...

• BOS: Marc Savard assisted by Derek Morris and Michael Ryder (PPG)
• BOS: Michael Ryder assisted by Zdeno Chara and Derek Morris (PPG)
• BOS: Blake Wheeler assisted by Milan Lucic and Steve Begin
• BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Marc Savard
• BOS: Dennis Wideman assisted by Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron (PPG)
• CAR: Scott Walker assisted by Aaron Ward and Sergei Samsonov
• BOS: Shawn Thornton assisted by Steve Begin
• CAR: Eric Staal (unassisted)
• BOS: Matt Hunwick assisted by Marco Sturm and Marc Savard (PPG)

Bruins goal videos...

• Savard - the dancing Bruin
• Ryder - 3 Stooges dancing
• Wheeler - John Travolta and Uma Thurman dancing in Pulp Fiction
• Sturm - Wedding Crashers scene popping the champagne bottles
• Wideman - Polka dancing scene from the European Vacation
• Thornton - Talladega Nights scene where Ricky Bobby celebrates after a win
• Hunwick - Rodney Dangerfield dancing in Caddyshack

Warmup music...

• AC/DC - "Back in Black"
• Twisted Sister - "I Want to Rock" (ROCK!)
• Nirvana - "Breed"
• Rush - "Limewire"