The game featured two of the three goaltenders that will representing the United States in this year's Olympics in Vancouver, BC as Tim Thomas went up against Jonathan Quick. The Kings got on the board first on the powerplay after the Bruins had a fairly ineffective powerplay. Jarret Stoll slid the puck over to Anze Kopitar, who fired a shot from the right point, which Dustin Brown then redirected past Tim Thomas. It was very annoying as, yet again, the Bruins squandered on two powerplays before Los Angeles got theirs, and the Kings scored just 12 seconds after the powerplay started. The Bruins couldn't muster anything for the remainder of the period and went into the room down 1-0. The Bruins played a pretty flat period which is what I've come to expect of late. I sometimes question myself as to why I even go to the Garden and torture myself. The way I see it is that the tickets are already paid off, it's only $15 a game, and I get to see a lot of my friends that I wouldn't see if I didn't go to the Bruins.
The Bruins came out with a much improved period of play in the second as they were creating quality scoring chances and getting quality shots on Jonathan Quick while generating traffic in front of the net. Mark Stuart woke up the Garden with a thunderous open ice hit at the blueline as he lined up Kings' top scorer Anze Kopitar. It was a good, clean hit. Kings forward Wayne Simmonds took exception to the hit and dropped the gloves with Stuart. Unfortunately, Stuart is now out for four weeks since he broke his pinky finger punching Simmonds' faceshield on his helmet. There is nothing more annoying than a player fighting with a faceshield. There is no honor in that. Besides, I don't know what Simmonds' problem was; it was a clean hit. That must have sparked the team, because they finally tied the game on the powerplay with just under five minutes to play in the second period. Marc Savard fed Marco Sturm in the slot, and Marco waited for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty to commit and go down before he rifled a shot top shelf to tie the game. It was German's first game since returning from a leg injury and, as usual, the German was all fired up. I thought he was going to jump into the glass as he pumped his fist and skated towards the glass, but Patrice Bergeron went over to hug him; I would have loved to see Sturm pull an Ovechkin. That definetely got some of the energy back in the building as it was setting up for a great third period.
The Bruins came out for the third period on the man advantage and went ahead just before the powerplay was going to expire; Mark Recchi went end to end and finished off a nice give and go with David Krejci to put the Bruins ahead. Krejci slid a pass to the front of the net and Recchi tipped it in. I can't believe that Mark Recchi is 42 years old; he plays like he's 22 on most nights. The Bruins, however, gave the lead right back on the powerplay as Anze Kopitar, who apparently recovered well from his Mark Stuart wakeup call, snapped a deadly wristshot from the off wing over Tim Thomas' glove to tie the game at 2. It was a pretty disturbing shot, and Kopitar is quite the talent. I know the Kings came in last season, but I don't remember seeing him. He really impressed me a lot. He's definetely a can't-miss player for sure. The Bruins and Kings remained tied through the rest of the third period and then overtime. The Bruins had a number of quality scoring chances in the third, but Jonathan Quick stood on his head to keep it tied at 2, forcing a shootout. The shootout started with Zdeno Chara whiffing on a slapshot, which really set me off because I would not have started the shootout with Chara; everyone in the NHL knows that he's going to take a slashot and the goalie has plenty of time to react. After Chara's lovely whiff, my boy Kopitar went in on Tim Thomas and completely faked him out, and he was able to finish off a one-hand backhand around Timmy. Thomas got absolutely owned. After Blake Wheeler and Dustin Brown failed to score, Michael Ryder, with the game on his stick roofed one under the crossbar to keep the game going. After LA failed to score, Marc Savard and Michal Handzus traded goals to make it 2-2. It remained that way for 2 more rounds before Jarret Stoll finally ended the shootout by blowing a wristshot past Thomas. I stormed out of my section in such a mood, and I walked out of the Garden with my head down in disbelief. I can't remember a Bruins team having such a difficult time putting teams away, and this should be a clear message to Peter Chiarelli that something needs to happen, and happen now!
The Line Combinations were as follows...
- Milan Lucic-Marc Savard-Miroslav Satan
- Marco Sturm-Patrice Bergeron-Mark Recchi
- Blake Wheeler-David Krejci-Michael Ryder
- Daniel Paille-Steve Begin-Byron Bitz
- Zdeno Chara-Derek Morris
- Dennis Wideman-Matt Hunwick
- Mark Stuart-Johnny Boychuk
The Scoring Summary...
- LAK: Dustin Brown assisted by Anze Kopitar and Jarret Stoll (PPG)
- BOS: Marco Sturm assisted by Marc Savard (PPG)
- BOS: Mark Recchi assisted by David Krejci (PPG)
- LAK: Anze Kopitar assistey by Randy Jones and Michal Handzus (PPG)
Bruins Goal Videos...
- Sturm: Carlton Banks dancing
- Recchi: The Dancing Bear
Warmup Music...
- Metallica - "Enter Sandman"
- Disturbed - "Indestructable"
- Foo Fighters - "Monkeywrench"
- Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Snow"
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