The Boston Bruins came out of a physical battle against Dallas with a win Thursday night, a game that featured two goals, a Stars' goalie change and three fights -- and that was just in the first 80 seconds.
Right out of the gate the battle had begun when Shawn Thornton took a face off to allow Gregory Campbell to fight Steve Ott, who blindsided him two years ago. Campbell came out bloodied and went to the dressing rooms for repairs, but soon returned to the game.
Next was Shawn Thornton's turn in fight night, as he bouted with Krys Barch just one second later. Two years ago, the last time the Bruins and Stars met, Ott hit Milan Lucic from behind, causing Marc Savard of all people to start pounding on Ott, resulting in a huge on-ice brawl.
After Thornton was finished, it was Adam McQuaid's turn. Brian Sutherby took him on, and I bet he wishes he didn't, with McQuaid coming out the obvious winner. Is there video of all this? Of course!
There's a hockey game?
Oh yeah, 31 seconds later, Milan Lucic potted his 21st goal of the season to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead, and then just 45 seconds after that, Patrice Bergeron scored to really put Dallas in a hole early. Brad Marchand and Mark Recchi picked up the assists.
That was when Dallas pulled former Bruins Calder trophy winner Andrew Raycroft, replacing him with Kari Lehtonen. A few minutes later, the Stars' Adam Burish shot on Tuukka Rask after an offsides whistle blew. Andrew Ference took exception to this, so another fight ensued.
Soon after that, Bergeron scored his second of he night to give the Bruins their dreaded 3-0 lead. Shawn Thornton then showed the sniper within and ripped a goal past Lehtonen to make it 4-0. It should have been 5-0 after McQuaid scored, but the ref determined Blake Wheeler interfered with the goalie. He appeared to be pushed into the goalie by a Star, and then skated out a bit, only for Lehtonen to attempt to make the save outside the crease.
And that was just the first period.
As the second rolled along, Dallas finally scored on Rask, with a goal from Karlis Skrastins. Rask appeared to have been screened by Johnny Boychuk. Later into the second, Daniel Paille was penalized for an illegal blindside hit to the head of Raymond Sawada. And it definitely was. Paille came from the lateral and levaled Sawada with an elbow. I'd expect discipline from the league announced soon.
That gave Dallas a 5:five-minute power play, which the Bruins killed off. But Dallas was not done scoring. Brenden Morrow scored a shorty in the third period, and then Brad Richards tallied one to make it 4-3 all of a sudden.
But a Tyler Seguin wrist shot put the Bruins up 5-3 with some more breathing room. Later, Brad Marchand scored the EN to give the Bruins a 6-3 win.
The Bruins play again Saturday, against the San Jose Sharks.