B's Score 4 and Win; Celtics Win, Finish Week 4-1

The Bruins played great team hockey tonight en route to registering 4 goals against the Sabres, the team's biggest offensive output since October 24th. The Sabres, coming off of a loss last night, came into Boston and started their backup goalie Jhonas Enroth. The Bruins had the opportunity to capatalize against the opponent's backup goalie and that's exactly what they did.

• The B's held the Sabers to 0-7 on the powerplay.

• Conversely, Boston converted 2 of 3 chances on the powerplay with a tip shot by Recchi and a bomb by Chara. The B's were 0-11 in their last three games and have struggled all year with this. Hopefully the team can use this to turn around their efforts on the PP.
  
• Byron Bitz returned to action and notched a goal.
• Marco Sturm buried a one-timer off a beautiful feed from Bergeron.
• Shawn Thornton sparked the B's by picking up a couple of fighting majors.
• The recently re-signed Tuukka Rask had another impressive game in net, stopping 28 of 30 shots and picking up another victory.

The B's get a few days off before a home game versus the defending Stanley Cup Champion Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.



The Celtics came out flat tonight in NJ and for the first three quarters of the game Rondo and Pierce were the only ones keeping it close. In the fourth quarter the C's outscored the Nets 27-15 to pull away and pick up a tough 86-76 road win.

• Pierce had 16 points (5-8 FGs. 6-7 FTs), 7 assists, 2 steals, and block. Another solid night from the captain highlighted by excellent efficiency.
• Rondo hit 8 of 11 shots for 16 points. He only had 4 boards and 3 assists, but he dominated on defense with 5 steals that set up a lot of fast break opportunities.
• Garnett was off tonight, shooting just 3 of 13 shots. He had 9 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 steals.
• Ray had 8 points in the fourth quarter that helped the C's pull away in the end. Allen finished with 12 pts, 4 rebs, and 4 assists.
• Perk, who battled foul trouble much of the night, had 9 points and 8 boards.
• The bench was without Marquis Daniels tonight who was not with the team due to a family matter. They did, however, still outplay the Nets reserves and kept the team in the game.
• Sheed lead all bench players in minutes while tallying 9 points, 4 boards, and 4 steals. He did not hit any of his 4 three point attempts.
• Scalabrine really stepped up tonight. After missing last night's game with a back injury, Scal replaced Daniels in the rotation and played a good game of hoop. He only had 5 points (2-3 shooting), but played great D including 3 steals.
• The C's hit just 1-10 shots from downtown. Not a good effort from downtown tonight.
• The Celtics defense was dominant tonight, holding NJ to 43% shooting and registering 20 steals.
• The team did a great job of drawing fouls and had 15 more free throw attempts than the Nets tonight.

It wasn't the Celtics prettiest game tonight but it was a win nonetheless. The Celtics played five times in seven nights and finished an impressive 4-1. When asked if he was going to rest the team the next few days, Doc Rivers said "some (rest) but that the team needed to get into the gym and work on a lot of stuff." The 7-1 C's take on the Jazz at the Garden Wednesday night at 7:30.