Victims to the warpath

Flying in to the former hometown of General Manager Joshua Anderson, the Boston Bruins were eager to get off the slide and back to their winning ways against the Blackhawks. But too hard of partying at Irish Oak, followed by a late night food hit at Allinde's on Lincoln and Fullerton, left the team woozy and with a bit of the runs - a bad combination for a hockey team playing a matinee game. With that setting, the 3-2 loss was no surprise.

Erig Boguniecki struck first for the 'Hawks, leaving Andrew Raycroft holding his head to the ice to ease the pounding at 02:36 of the first period. Nine minutes later, John Grahame had entered the game as Raycroft had contortioned himself into several sick positions to stop the offensive onslaught and could no longer move his back.

A minute later, Sean Brown earned his second consecutive game misconduct and ejection. This time, the irate defenseman played Hi, Stick! with Todd Simpson's helmet. A fifteen minute penalty assessment went with Brown's staggering five minutes of ice time, giving him forty-two minutes in the last two games.

The Blackhawks struck first again in the opening of the second period. Petr Sykora - not to be confused with the Bruins' counterpart, Peter Sykora - beat Grahame at 01:29 of the period with a beautifully Scott Gomez set-up goal that just left Grahame lost. The Bruins got one back four-and-a-half minutes later when Jochan Hecht led an offensive charge with Tim Connolly, beating Dan Cloutier gloveside.

Once again in the third period, the Bruins started out sluggish and ceded an early goal to the home club. This time, it was Ivan Kolozvary scoring unassisted at 02:35. The Bruins took full advantage of a Todd Simpson hooking whistle, as Pierre Turgeon set up Keith Tkachuk for his sixteenth goal of the year and another power play effort with just twenty seconds left in the effort.

Unfortunately for the visitors, that would be the end of their connecting with the back of the net, as the final horn sounded to mark a 3-2 loss, the fourth consecutive loss of the road trip. The team will now slug home to welcome the Montreal Canadiens.