Thomas Freezes Penguins

Thomas stifled Crosby
and Co. for the win. (AP)

With points in its last 14 games (13-0-1), Boston entered tonight playing like the best team in the Eastern Conference.  With 36 points, the standings listed Pittsburgh as the best team in the East.  An on-ice battle was needed to determine which team actually should hold the title of top-dog.

The Bruins started off the game with a fire that has come to be expected from the tenacious bunch.  They outshot the Penguins 11-6 in the first period and also drew two penalties (to one Pittsburgh power play).  Alas, Marc Andre Fleury held the fort for the Penguins and Tim Thomas responded for the Bruins to keep the game scoreless.

Pittsburgh would put on the pressure in the second with 17 shots to Boston's eight, but it was the B's that put up numbers where it counted.  In a scrappy effort, Gregory Campbell  would slam home his own rebound to notch the game's first goal at 2:57.  Seconds later, Brad Marchand dropped the glove with the Penguins' Matt Niskanen, who was looking to spark the lethargic Pens.



The shot total might suggest Niskanen accomplished his mission, the score would say otherwise.  Benoit Pouliot sniped a perfect upper corner shot, which he's quickly coming close to trademarking, to give the B's the two-goal advantage at 7:18.

The rest of the period proved to be a slug fest with Boston taking three penalties (including a full two-minute 5-on-3 disadvantage) and the Penguins taking two before the horn sounded (or techincally one, and one whistled at the 20:00 mark).  Boston utilized the man-advantage that started the third.  Patrice Bergeron found young star Tyler Seguin on a two-on-one during the power play and Seguin finished on the far side past Fleury.

Trailing 3-0, the Penguins refused to give up, but so did the Bruins goalie, Thomas.  Matt Cooke finished a two-on-one with Joe Vitale at 10:54, after Boston's Dennis Seidenberg's dump-in attempt took a weird bounce.  Vitale then got into Thomas' grill seconds later causing a strong reaction from the Bruins and resulting in a brawl between Vitale and the B's Campbell.

The Penguins flocked the offensive zone the rest of the way, but reigning Vezina-winner Thomas held up his end of the bargain and more.  Pittsburgh finished with a tally of 46 shots (23 in the third alone), but found the twine behind Thomas just once on the night.

"I think we did a good job," said Thomas, who has now won a career-best 10 consecutive games.  "Going into the third period up 2-0, we had to get the next one and we did." 

The Bruins came ready to win and took the momentum early.  They scored the game's first three goals to take control and played their game from there, but the Penguins proved why they are also a top team in the conference.  They refused to go away or be blown out and definitely challenged Thomas to make him beat them.  "Timmy" was up to the task, but any time a team fires more than 20 shots in the final frame, it's a sign they're bringing it for the win.

"We just thought they were a really good team that we had to play against," Bruins Head Coach Claude Julien said of the game plan.  "I thought we played a really solid game and did well on the penalty kill.  Five-on-five, we did a great job scoring goals." 

Pittsburgh still sits a point in front of Boston, despite the B's 3-1 victory.  However, Boston has three games in hand on the conference-leading Pens.  The two will face three more times this season with the next meeting coming in Boston on Sat., Feb. 4 at 1 p.m. (ET).

Boston will head to Winnipeg for the second leg of a back-to-back tomorrow night at 8:30 p.m. (ET).  It will be the team's first visit to the city since the Jets returned to the NHL this offseason.  The Manitoba team is currently a middling 11-11-4.  Pittsburgh won't play again until Thursday, when it heads across the state to Philadelphia for a 7 p.m. (ET) game.