Bruins notch up 10th victory in row

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-01-04 09:43

BOSTON: The Boston Bruins recorded a season-high 10th victory in a row by beating the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins 4-2 on Thursday.

Boston Bruins' Zdeno Chara (33) celebrates his goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins with teammate Michael Ryder (R) in the second period of their NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, December 30, 2008. [Agencies]

It was the second time in three days the league-leading Bruins (29-5-4) defeated the Penguins, after a 5-2 win on Tuesday.

Goaltender Manny Fernandez had 30 saves and four different Boston skaters scored to put the Bruins on their longest winning streak since March 1973. It was also Boston's 15th victory in the last 16 contests.

"They trap well and they take advantage of any miscues," said Penguins defenseman Hal Gil, a former Bruin.

"I think it's all about their team, when they're playing a team game, everyone is involved, everyone is playing the same system.

"You can interchange parts, but when everyone is buying into the system that's when you get wins."

Rookie Dustin Jeffrey's first goal of the season provided Pittsburgh with an early lead, but the Bruins responded with three unanswered scores.

David Krejci's 14th goal of the season at 4:05 in the first period made it 1-1, PJ Axelsson added a power-play goal five minutes later and Milan Lucic put Boston up 3-1 in the second period, collecting a loose puck and slapping it past Pittsburgh goalie Dany Sabourin, who finished with 22 saves.

Penguins left wing Ruslan Fedotenko scored to cut the deficit to one goal in the third period before Boston's Marc Savard scored into an empty net to make it 4-2.

Boston have a 14-1-1 record on home ice this season.

It was the third loss in a row for the defending Eastern Conference champions Penguins (19-15-4), who have struggled to score as of late.

Evgeni Malkin registered his league-leading 45th assist of the season and has an NHL-best 60 points, while Sidney Crosby failed to register a point and has scored just two goals in the last 15 games.

Despite their recent slide, the Penguins remain a dangerous opponent.

"They can string a lot of goals together," said Boston's Dennis Wildeman. "They've got a great goalie over there, great defense, just a great team."

In Chicago, the Detroit Red Wings celebrated the New Year with a 6-4 comeback win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the NHL's outdoor Winter Classic at Wrigley Field.

For the second successive season the league began the year by returning to its outdoor roots, with the Red Wings and Blackhawks delivering a thriller to cement the game's status as a Jan 1 tradition.

Trailing 3-1 after the first period, Stanley Cup champions Detroit hit back with three goals in the second period and two in the third.

"This is what we hoped it would be," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters after the game.

"People shouldn't lose sight of the fact 240,000 people signed up for a lottery to get a handful of tickets. So there was great interest in Canada and the United States."

Bettman said the future was bright for the Winter Classic. "I'm not prepared to say where we're going to do this next, although today was a fun, fun day."

Agencies