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Bruins Clinch Division
Neil Becker
29sports.com
The Boston Bruins rose to the challenge presented by coach Claude Julien and as a result clinched the Northeast Division after their 4-1 win on Sunday night against the red hot New Jersey Devils.
Julien who has seen his team slump with an alarming 7-9-4 record in their past 20 games, challenged his team’s work ethic after they squandered a two goal lead in what was a 3-2 overtime win on Thursday night against the Los Angeles Kings. Jullien who called his team’s power playagainst the Kings ’flat’ saw them execute on their first two opportunities on Sunday night in what was a 4-1 home win against the New Jersey Devils.
“We really wanted this game,” Marc Savard who scored a goal for the Bruins said. “The biggest game of the year for us, the way we’ve been going, and we certainly proved we can do it.”
After the game there was only a subdued celebration as the Bruins who now have 102 points officially clinched the Northeast Division and have padded their lead to five points over the Devils in the race for first in the Eastern Conference.
“It wasn’t even mentioned once,” Julien said about the Bruins having a chance to clinch by beating New Jersey. “We didn’t talk about it. I didn’t hear any players talk about it.”
Boston who won their division for the first time since the 2003/04 season had the bounces going their way as two of their goals came on weird deflections. Michael Ryder continued his bounce back season for the Bruins as he benefitted from a lucky bounce in opening the scoring. Newly acquired forward Mrk Recchi centered the puck which hit Ryder’s stick before redirecting off Devils defenceman Paul Martin for a goal.
The Bruins got goals from Patrice Bergeron and Marc Savard to take a 3-0 lead which according to the statistics means game over for their opposition. This season, the Bruins have a remarkable 22-0-0 record when leading by three. With the score 3-0, Boston got another lucky bounce when Milan Lucic skated down the left side and threw a shot at the Devils net where it hit a defender and went in for the fourth goal.
“We’re not making proclamations that it’s all corrected,” said veteran Bruins defenceman Aaron Ward said. “But it’s a step in the right direction, especially timing wise. With all this time off, it’s something to build on.” The Bruins who have to be considered one of the surprise teams this year doesn’t play again until Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
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