Boston Sports Then and Now

The scoreboard at the Garden, told the whole story.

There aren’t too many words that excite Bruins fans like “I got FREE tickets to the game tonight! Want to go?”

Well maybe, “Boston Bruins 2009 Stanley Cup Champs”, would put more chills down your spine.

My friend scored free tickets to the game versus Pittsburgh on Tuesday night. I was pumped. It was my first game of the year.

Granted, I didn’t give the Bruins much of a chance because of their helter skelter play of late. They had a good game against Buffalo but that was with the Sabres star goaltender, Ryan Miller, on the bench.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions were in town or I what like to call them, “The OTHER Black and Gold team.”

I am still not happy that the Penguins stole the Bruins color scheme.

Can’t the Bruins copyright that or something?

The Pens were limping a bit.  Evgeni Malkin was injured, but they still had Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal.

They are still a dangerous team.

The crowd was ready for a fight.

So were the Bruins.

The Bruins came out flying. They outshot the Pens 10-2.

It looked like Pittsburgh was skating in quicksand, but Fleury held down the fort and the first period ended in a scoreless tie.

Of course, my friend and I had to wet our whistles, so we missed Matt Hunwick’s roofer to open up the second period.

After a lengthy review, the goal was allowed and the Bruins were on top 1-0(serves me right for not getting back into my seat).

The Garden crowd was really into the game. It ALMOST felt like the Old Garden, but as we all know, you can never capture that magic again in a modern building.

The Pens came out with a little more intensity in the second period; I guess they finally got off the plane.

Pittsburgh put 13 shots on Tim Thomas in the second frame, but no puck was allowed to pass.

Tim Thomas has been playing at his Vezina Trophy level of last year. This is a very scary thing for the rest of the league. Plus Rask has been playing extremely well too.

Claude Julien must have chewed his players’ ears off at the intermission. A one goal lead against Pittsburgh was not going to cut the mustard. The Bruins had to continue to take the game to Pens.

Boston must finish up with a 60 minute effort which has been few and far between during the 2009 season.

Sitting in the stands, I was very impressed by the Bruins play.But just like Julien, I knew 1-0 was not going to give anyone a sense of security.

The Bruins answered the bell and their coach’s challenge.

OBJECTIVE: Close out the game and snuff any chance of a Pittsburgh comeback.

Daniel Paille has paid instant dividends since coming over from Buffalo.

Daniel Paille, who has been superb since coming from Buffalo, scored on a beautiful breakaway beating Fleury and giving Boston a commanding 2-0 lead. Paille’s tally was the kiss of death for the Pens.

You could feel the life getting sucked right out of Pittsburgh.

They appeared defeated only two minutes in the third period.

The Bruins kept up the pressure and Tim Thomas remained solid in net.

Time ran out on Sidney Crosby and his mates for their second straight shutout loss (third loss in a row).

This is the first back to back wins for the Bruins this season.

Will this be the win to catapult the Bruins back to the elite of the Eastern Conference?

You have to beat the best to be the best. Right?

FUN GAME NOTES:
Most idiotic choice of clothing-One fan wearing an Indianapolis Colts t-shirt

Pens fan stupid comeback of the night-Well we won the cup last year (psst the Bruins still have won more cups than the Pens. Granted it’s been 37 years since the last one).

Joe Gill is a featured blogger for Boston Sports Then and Now, Rootzoo.com and Trufan.com