Preying on the Predators

Sometimes, you have to go right to the fight. When you're a one-time cellar dwellar looking to establish legitimacy as a conference title contender, the best way to do that is to knock off the top dogs in the league.

With that mindset, the Boston Bruins opened their doors to the Nashville Predators to take on the Best Team in the West. Six games before, the Bruins had knocked off the New York Islanders, current contenders for the President's Trophy, so the team had a bit of confidence, despite having been trounced in Nashville earlier in the year.

The two sides came out swinging - literally. Chris Pronger and Sean Brown squared off just twenty-six seconds into the period in a fight ruled a draw. Freddy Modin sat two minutes later for boarding, and oddly, both Blake Bellefeuille and Andy McDonald were called in a mysterious double-charging penalty.

Brian Rolston broke the scoring ice at 11:04 when he went topside on Tomas Vokoun, leaving the star goalie looking lost and grasping at air. Tomas Kopecky and Andrew Raycroft notched assists on the play. The offense for both teams sputtered for most of the period, though Andrew Raycroft was a large part of that, deflecting eleven shots in the period.

The second period was a lot of skating in circles with just a little bit of action, mostly based on Sean Brown's dropping an elbow on Joe Thornton, for fun. The teams retreated to the lockerroom with the Bruins still up 1-0.

Rolston made the next strike again in the third period as well, with a breakaway at 03:26, scoring his eighth of the year. Jochan Hecht added his twenty-fifth goal of the season at 11:08 of the third to put the Bruins up 3-0.

The defense slacked off once the game hit five minutes left. After Bill Guerin was whistled for highsticking, the Predators power play set-up a Chris Pronger goal at 16:50. Less than two minutes later, Adam Hall closed it to a one goal gap as he beat Raycroft stickside low.

Despite an onslaught of offensive attacking by the Preds, the Bruins managed to hold on for the 3-2 win. Rolston, Raycroft, and Jochen Hecht swept the three game stars to the cheers of the 16,594 fans in attendance.