Phil Kessel, Leafs rout Bruins to snap winning streak at five

Just moments after the puck dropped at the Air Canada Center, Tuukka Rask showed why he is the reigning Vezina Trophy winner, keeping the puck out of his net with a nifty stick save—although this was about the only highlight of his evening. Shortly after that the zero-zero tie was broken as Phil Kessel beat Zach Trotman to the puck and fired one past Tuukka’s blocker side. It is clear Kessel prefers to play the Bruins without Chara following him around all night.

As the first period progressed and concluded, the Bruins—as Doc Emrick would say—warmed to the task. They picked up their play and started to show signs of offensive production, although still trailed 1-0 to the Leafs.

The Leafs added an early goal in the second from, guess who? Yep, Phil Kessel. This time the former Bruin shot a wrister past Tuukka on the glove side. It is worth noting that Chara was also not on the ice for that goal…Joe Morrow was.

Morgan Reilly then made it 3-0 about a minute later forcing Claude Julien to take a timeout. The second period was not even two minutes old and the Bruins were in a hole.

The Bruins second period got worse just a couple of minutes later with Tyler Bozak making it 4-0, forcing a Scandinavian goalie switch early in the second. Svedberg replaced Rask, and the Bruins that had won five in a row were non-existent.

It was about halfway through the second period when the Bruins allowed their fifth goal of the night off a James van Riemsdyk tip, and what was bad, now was simply embarrassing.

It looked as if the Bruins grabbed one back but it was waved off due to Carl Soderberg running into Bernier (debatable) as Reilly Smith shot it past the Leafs goaltender.

Shortly after the no goal, the Bruins did officially get one past Bernier as Dennis Seidenberg’s point shot hit the back of Toronto’s net, with Simon Gagne screening in front, and the second period would end with the Leafs leading 5-1.

In a fairly mundane third period the Bruins penalty kill took another hit, as Toronto added their third power play goal of the night on their third power play shot of the night.

The Bruins need to throw this game away, forget everything about it and get ready to face Montreal in less than 24 hours. A big performance tomorrow night wold help us all forget the misery that is the reality of a 6-1 loss to Toronto.