When the night was over, the Bruins having matched the 7-2 pasting they handed the Hurricanes in game No. 2 of the season, Kessel had been outscored by Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, who pocketed an assist on Mark Recchi’s goal at the start of the third period that boosted the lead to 5-0.
Marc Savard (hat trick) led the deluge for the Bruins, who bounced back impressively from the humiliation of a 5-1 loss Friday night in Montreal. Marco Sturm, Zdeno Chara, rookie Johnny Boychuk (first career goal), and Recchi also scored for the Bruins, who moved back into first place in the Northeast Division and remained tucked among the leaders in the Eastern Conference.
“Claude’s pregame speech tonight was probably one of the best I have ever heard,’’ said Savard, noting coach Claude Julien’s efforts to shake his club from the doldrums of the loss in Montreal. “It really fired us up early . . . It was just a really inspirational one and I don’t know whose book it was out of, but it was pretty good.’’
The point of it all , said Julien, was that his team had to “redeem’’ itself after getting manhandled by the Habs on the final night of Montreal’s centennial celebration. “For us to lose, 5-1, it was an embarrassment for us . . . It was important for us to bounce back and have this kind of game, important for us to show our character.’’.
Left unsaid apparently was the importance to muzzle Kessel, who entered the evening with 10 goals and 15 points in his first 15 games in Blue and White. By early in the second period, following strikes by Sturm, Savard, and Chara, the Bruins boasted a 3-0 lead and all Kessel had to show was one shot on net and the minus-3 next to his name. He had been on the ice for all three strikes and was the last to touch the puck before Chara ripped in the third goal with only 2:09 gone in the second period.
Officially, the strike was unassisted, but it had Kessel’s fingerprints on it.
