Bruins burn Leafs, claim frontrunner spot

A sell-out crowd had the Fleet Center rocking for a showdown between the top teams in the Adams Division - the visiting Maple Leafs and their home team, the Boston Bruins. While Boston found themselves without Matt Hartigan - out with a knee injury following Kyle Calder's attack the previous night, veteran Pierre Turgeon stepped into the role in the interim.

The Bruins entered the night at an even 15-15-3 (33), trailing the Leafs for the division lead by one point, with an additional game played (15-13-3, 34). The Adams looks to be a run between the two teams, as the rest of the divisional foes have been mediocre at best - all under a breakeven record, all with losing records at home, and all with losing records against the rest of the conference.

This would be Andrew Raycroft's night to stand tall, as he shutout the Maple Leaf's offense - which had the most goals in the Adams entering the night by more than a five percent margin - and the Bruins offense shredded the defense that had allowed the fewest by nearly six percent.

The Leafs outshot the Bruins by a better than three-to-two margin - thirty-four to twenty-two - but Raycroft deflected each one with flair.

The Bruins got on the board first, as Sean Brown scored early in the game at 03:15 of the first off a Keith Tkachuk frozen rope, firing a twenty-foot bullet past Evgeni Nabokov.

Come the second period, the Bruins found themselves in the man disadvantage following a Lee Goren roughning minor, but paid little heed as they attacked the net. Bret Hedican, taking a dink pass from Tomas Kopecky, wrapped around the net and poked the puck in for the second score of the night, and his fourth of the season.

Tempers flared in the third as four penalties were whistled, including three against the home team. On all four power plays, the scoring came up short. Lars Jonsson closed the scoresheet for the night at 13:27 off of a Kaberle pass for his sixth basket biscuit of the year.

Andrew Raycroft graciously accepted the first game star for his 0-for-34 shot blocking, his first shutout of the season. Lars Jonnson accepted the second, and there was a hearty round of booing as Henrik Sedin received the third, not Jochan Hecht, despite his two assists on the night.

The Bruins will have the next three nights off to recoup and see how the other divisional action shakes out. Toronto travels to Anaheim tonight to face the Ducks - who have lost their last seven games - and can restake a claim on the divisional top spot.