Fernandez (22 saves), calm under pressure and square to the shot, hit the deck and got his pads in front of Guerin's bid. Moments later, David Krejci and Blake Wheeler took advantage of an ill-timed jump-up by defenseman Freddy Meyer that gave the Bruins a two-on-one rush. Wheeler, taking a dish from Krejci, buried an off-wing wrister behind starter Joey MacDonald at 6:48, a goal that would become the winner in Boston's 7-2 rout before 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden in the debut of the Bruins' new third jersey.
"What Guerin does is almost outwait the goalie a lot," said Wheeler (1-1 -2, plus-3). "You see it a lot in shootouts. He's making sick fakes with the stick, then he slips it right by you. Manny did a great job being patient there. He took the low shot away from him and we just kept moving."
It was one of five times that Krejci was on the ice for a Boston goal. The clever center (1-1 -2, plus-3 in 14:19 of ice time), fast becoming one of the most lethal No. 3 pivots in the NHL, had a new right wing riding shotgun: the scuffling Michael Ryder, who entered the game with only one goal in his last 12 appearances.
Because of Ryder's slump and Chuck Kobasew's aggressive play, Julien flip-flopped the wingers, hoping that Krejci could activate Boston's $12 million offseason acquisition. The ex-Hab responded, canning two strikes with a sharpshooter's authority.
"It seems that whoever you put Krejci with, he seems to get himself going," said Julien. "He's done a great job at that, whether it's intentional or not. [Marco Sturm] started scoring goals. Now we've got Ryder."
In the second period, Ryder snapped a 1-1 tie with his fourth goal of the season. Wheeler and Krejci kicked things off with a strong forecheck behind the net that forced defenseman Brendan Witt to commit an ugly cough-up to Ryder in the slot. Ryder settled the puck, loaded his wrister, and popped a top-shelfer over MacDonald at 15:16.
