The Blackhawks laughed off the Bruins’ early lead and pumped four pucks behind Tim Thomas, prompting coach Claude Julien to replace his starter with Tuukka Rask at 10:13 of the second. Chicago added a third-period goal to secure a 5-2 win before 17,565 at TD Garden last night, exposing the Bruins as having neither the skill nor the character to belong on the same ice surface.
“It’s getting to the point where talk is getting so cheap right now,’’ said Blake Wheeler (goal and assist). “Rah-rah speeches, hitting the boards on the bench, that only goes so far. You’ve just got to do it.
“We’ve got to quit treating this like it’s a privilege or a right of ours to play in front of 18,000 people every night and start playing like it’s the most important thing to us. For whatever reason, we’ve lost sight of that night in and night out.’’
The Bruins welcomed Milan Lucic back for the first time since Nov. 25, when he sprained his left ankle against Minnesota. But a lineup that was already missing its top player in Patrice Bergeron (thumb) and two defensemen in Andrew Ference (groin) and Mark Stuart (sternum) took another hit on the game’s opening shift.
Marc Savard got tangled up with Toews, fell legs-first into the boards just 28 seconds into the game, and injured his knee. After staying down for several moments, Savard, appearing to favor his right leg, was helped off by Marco Sturm and Mark Recchi. Savard never returned, leaving the Bruins without their top two centers. Julien said Savard will undergo an MRI today.
The Bruins were also without Byron Bitz, who was scratched because of an injured back. Julien said a promotion from Providence might be in order prior to tomorrow’s home game against the Rangers.
So by the third period, Recchi, a natural center, took the opening draw. To Recchi’s right was Miroslav Satan, who had been out of competitive hockey all year. Satan, who officially signed Sunday, was supposed to practice for a week before making his Bruins debut. But because of Bergeron’s injury, Satan played in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over Ottawa.
Last night, Satan scored a goal in 18:19 of ice time and replaced Savard as the right-side half-wall quarterback on the No. 1 power-play unit.
