Bruins Team Report

INSIDE SHOTS

Here’s an idea for the Bruins: Play a hockey game that’s only 60 minutes long.

Hard to do? The B’s have played two of them in the last nine. They have played three straight that have gone to shootouts, winning two, and have gone extra time in five of the last six.

After losing to New Jersey in a shootout Friday, they beat Ottawa in another shootout Saturday, thus taking over first place in the Northeast Division.

Eleven of Boston’s 26 games this season have gone into extra time, nine of them to shootouts. This current run of seven of the last nine games started with a 1-0 shootout loss to Florida. The B’s have gone 4-0-3 in those seven extra-time games.

The win Saturday night came in the second game of a stretch that calls for the Bruins to play five of six at home. Tampa Bay comes in Wednesday before the B’s visit Montreal Friday night.

Saturday night’s game also featured the return of goalie Tim Thomas(notes), who had missed six straight games because of a minor injury, believed to be a hand problem.

Bruins 4, Senators 3  (SO): Tim Thomas was rusty in his first game since Nov. 14, rusty enough to give up a goal on the first shot he saw, two on the first four, and then a soft goal in the closing seconds that gave Ottawa a point.

Then, after the overtime period, last year’s Vezina Trophy winner was 4-for-4 in the shootout and notched his first victory since Nov. 10.

“I cost us the point. I felt terrible,” Thomas said after the game. “I let the team down big time. I feel like they deserved the win with the effort that they put throughout the game. They deserved to win outright. So at the time, it’s one of the worst feelings I’ve had in like four years here with the Bruins.”

The Bruins, who battled back from a 2-0 deficit, got power play goals from David Krejci(notes), Michael Ryder(notes) and Dennis Wideman(notes), and it was Ryder, in the fourth round, scoring the only goal of the shootout.

NOTES, QUOTES

• RW Michael Ryder is anything but a king of the shootouts, but he had the winner Saturday night, his third success in 14 career tries. Earlier in the 4-3 win over Ottawa, he had a power play goal, his first goal in five games. “I feel like I think too much—maybe that was the difference,” said Ryder, who had been 0-for-2 this season. “I just went on instinct. I really didn’t know what I was going to do going in on him.”

• G Tim Thomas, back from a six-game absence, escaped with a win after going 4-for-4 in the shootout Saturday night, raising his career shootout mark to 19-18. The injury layoff was the longest for Thomas since he also missed six in December 2007. The win raised his season record at 6-6-3.

• From the “turnaround is fair play” department, the Senators scored with their goalie pulled Saturday night. Oct. 24 in Ottawa, the Bruins scored twice with Tim Thomas out. The Bruins won both games in shootouts, but neither Boston nor Ottawa has lost a divisional game in regulation time.

• C Marc Savard(notes), playing his fourth game after missing 15 with a broken foot, has had assists in the last three.

• The Bruins have points in 11 of the last 12 games, going 7-1-4 over those 11 games.

• The B’s have only 15 power play goals this season, and that includes two games with three PPGs and two with two. Boston is 4-0 when scoring multiple power play goals.

• The Bruins are 5-4 in shootouts, 6-5 in games decided in extra time.

Quote To Note:   “Oh, I was so excited because you salvage what you can out of it. I mean I didn’t even see (Michael Ryder’s). I just asked him where it went because I just couldn’t watch because I was sick to my stomach. That was a game that was in the bag, and I let the team down.”—Bruins goalie Tim Thomas after letting in a soft goal that gave Ottawa a point Saturday night. He then was perfect in the shootout to get the win.

ROSTER REPORT

Goaltenders:   Tim Thomas, Tuukka Rask(notes).

Defensemen:   Zdeno Chara(notes), Derek Morris(notes), Dennis Wideman, Mark Stuart(notes), Andrew Ference(notes), Matt Hunwick(notes).

First Line:   Blake Wheeler(notes), Marc Savard, Byron Bitz(notes).

Second Line:   Marco Sturm(notes), Patrice Bergeron(notes), Mark Recchi(notes).

Third Line:   Vladimir Sobotka(notes), David Krejci, Michael Ryder.

Fourth Line:   Daniel Paille(notes), Steve Begin(notes), Shawn Thornton(notes).

Player Notes:  

• D Dennis Wideman, who has had trouble getting his offensive game going as he concentrates more on defense, had a goal and an assist, both on the power play, Saturday night, the goal his first in 21 games. “Yeah it’s been a long frustrating time since the last time one went in but you know it was something that we needed to do tonight, we needed to start shooting more on the power play so I just kind of threw that one at the net,” he said.  “Obviously a great screen by (Mark Recchi) in front.”

• D Zdeno Chara, who had a career-high 19 goals last season, has one so far in 2009-10, one of the reason the Boston defense, which led the NHL in scoring last season, was No. 22 in the league entering play Saturday.

• C David Krejci scored his first goal in the last seven games Saturday night.

• C Vladimir Sobotka doesn’t have a point in his last 12 games, since a two-point effort against Edmonton.

Medical Watch:  

• C Patrice Bergeron, who has already dealt with enough adversity to last a lifetime, hobbled off the ice after blocking a first-period shot with his right leg but was able to return and finish the game. There was no indication this will cause any future problem.

• G Tim Thomas, out with an upper body injury believed to be a hand, returned Saturday night after a six-game absence, leaving Milan Lucic(notes) (high ankle sprain) as the only injured Bruin.