Three goals in a frenzied burst of production from the Boston Bruins in the second half of the first period was all it took for them to build up a 3-0 lead against the Philadelphia Flyers in their March 9 matinee, but the team then successfully held that lead and gave Tuukka Rask the 13th shutout of his career.
Tyler Seguin scored a power play goal from a bad angle to get things started with his eighth goal of the season, which is good for second among the Bruins. Not even two full minutes later, though, Chris Kelly put up his second goal of the season after an excellent pass from Jordan Caron, having his Boston debut by playing on the third line. Then, Daniel Paille made it three and so the Bruins finished all of the game's goal-scoring before the end of the first 20 minutes.
However, maintaining a lead gained earlier has been somewhat difficult for Boston lately, especially when there are three goals on the board, so there was reason to worry for the other 40 minutes. This time, though, the Bruins were back on point and working well.
Seguin even helped Rask play goaltender late in the third period when Rask was caught far out of the net--and the appreciative goalie thought that his teammate's move should be officially marked as a save. The TD Garden crowd enjoyed the effort, too, and cheered and applauded loudly.
Coach Claude Julien was pleased by how his team's defense looked in this game, although he said he would need to see some more consistency before declaring that it was really back to normal.
The upcoming week will be very busy for the team, including back-to-back road games against the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins, but these games should provide ample opportunity for the team to show more improved defense and to continue producing offense.
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