Bruins Keep Rolling; Beat Wings 4-1

Come Sunday morning, North Station was a quiet, desolate place. Not many would have known just 12 hours before the Boston Bruins, playing in front of yet another sold out crowd dominated Detroit for the last 50 minutes of play. To many, this was the test of this team. Could the red hot Boston Bruins, coming off a 7-2 rout of the DiPietro-less New York Islanders take down the defending Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings? Well, the answer we were given by guys like Kessel, Kobasew and Fernandez is a very loud yes.

The 1st period started slow as the Bruins didn't get their first shot on goal until almost 12 minutes into the period but for the B's the first shot was the charm as Ryder connected with Blake Wheeler for a one timer on the fly. The goal was Wheeler's 8th of the season, tying him for 2nd among NHL rookies. Just over 4 minutes later into the period Phil Kessel netted his 13th off a pass from defensemen Shane Hnidy during 4 on 4 play. After the 1st, it was the good guys 2, the bad guys 0.

After another Bruins goal scored by Chucky Kobasew 8 minutes into the 2nd the night was finished for Detroit G Ty Conklin who struggled mightily, stopping only 9 of the 12 shots against him. The sell-out Garden faithful joined in the chants of "Conk-lin, Conk-lin, Conk-lin" as the frustrated Alaska native stormed off the ice, visibly yelling at himself as he made his way down to the Wings locker room. After a call on Blake Wheeler for a fairly obvious hook Detroit scored their only goal of the night due to a deflection off Marc Savard's skate in front of Fernandez. Following a David Krejci goal near the 13 minute marker the Bruins held on defensively to beat Marian Hossa and the rest of the Red Wings 4-1.

The big thing Bruins fans should take from this game was the play of Manny Fernandez. Fernandez made 29 saves on 30 shots and nearly had a shut-out. This was the 2nd consecutive start for Fernandez, who improved his record to 7-1-1 and has become a capable "back-up" to red hot Timmy Thomas who missed last nights start due to a cold. Manny's 6-0-1 in his last 7 starts and has looked better in just about every start except in the 7-4 win over the Sabres. If Manny can continue to play solid between the pipes the Bruins could have a legitimate duo going forward into this season.

All I have to say from last nights game from my own point of view is Hossa who? This same guy fans were begging for the Bruins to offer a max contract this past summer was held to nothing during his 16+ minutes on the ice and often looked invisible out there. Compare that to Ryder's 2 assists and+2 in 6 less minutes on the ice. This obviously isn't saying that Ryder's better than Hossa but one player such as a Hossa wouldn't have made the Bruins dramatically better. This team is built off the team image.

4 days off, what are we to do? NHL09, many, many hours of NHL09.