Marco Sturm

By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff Michael Ryder signed a two-year, $7 million contract with Dallas, highlighting the movement of players with Boston ties around the NHL today. Here's what happened with other ex-Bruins, with help from TSN: Chuck Kobasew, Colorado (two years, $2.5 million) Marco Sturm, Vancouver (one year, $2.25 million) Alex Auld, Ottawa (one year, $1 million) Marty Reasoner, Islanders (two years, $2.7 million) Sean O'Donnell, Chicago (one year, $850,000)

Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period of his 500th game with San Jose and the Sharks went on to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Thursday night for their third straight win. Ryane Clowe added a power-play goal, Jason Demers had two assists and Thomas Greiss made 23 saves in his first game since Dec. 3 as the Sharks followed up road wins over nemesis Vancouver and Anaheim with one against the NHL's worst team....

DENVER -- The hits just keep coming for the Bruins. Not only did they learn last night that defenseman Nick Boynton will be out for 4-6 weeks because of a fractured left kneecap suffered in the first period of Sunday's game in Vancouver, they limped out of here with a 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center. It was the Bruins' second straight defeat and they head home a disappointing 1-2 on the three-game road trip. After back-to-back wins over Ottawa and Edmonton, which were generated in part by the major trade of captain Joe Thornton to San Jose for defenseman Brad Stuart and forwards...

By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff Michael Ryder signed a two-year, $7 million contract with Dallas, highlighting the movement of players with Boston ties around the NHL today. Here's what happened with other ex-Bruins, with help from TSN: Chuck Kobasew, Colorado (two years, $2.5 million) Marco Sturm, Vancouver (one year, $2.25 million) Alex Auld, Ottawa (one year, $1 million) Marty Reasoner, Islanders (two years, $2.7 million) Sean O'Donnell, Chicago (one year, $850,000)

MONTREAL - Boston against Montreal? Or was that Washington against Harlem? Last night, in the latest installment of 2007-08 laughers against the Canadiens, the Bruins bumbled through their worst showing yet. The Bruins, playing the Generals to Montreal's Globetrotters, lost their sixth straight match to their hated rivals this season, dropping an 8-2 decision before 21,273 at the Bell Centre, giving up the most goals they've allowed all...

WASHINGTON - Before last night's 10-2 bloodbath, Bruins coach Claude Julien came up with a twist. Julien, concerned with the Bruins' wretched record in home games that directly followed road matches (0-4-1), decided to have his players fly home immediately after last night's meeting with Washington and stay at a downtown Boston hotel prior to tonight's showdown with Florida at TD Banknorth Garden. Rumor has it, however, that the Bruins headed straight to Mass. General for ice packs, IVs, and transfusions to rid their bodies of last night's ill affair.

Montreal goalie Yann Danis stopped 32 shots in his NHL debut, shutting down Ilya Kovalchuk and a powerful Atlanta attack in the visiting Canadiens' 2-0 victory over the Thrashers last night. Danis, 24, from Brown University, earned the shutout in his first start as Montreal coach Claude Julien rested starting goalie Jose Theodore. Kovalchuk, who in 2003-04 tied Jarome Iginla and Rick Nash for the league lead in goals with 41, made his season debut after signing a five-year, $32 million deal with the Thrashers Saturday.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- If Joe Thornton keeps this up, he will quickly shed any lingering disappointment about being traded. He certainly made a memorable first splash in the Shark Tank. Thornton assisted on his new team's first goal, then scored later in the opening period to lead the Sharks to their third straight victory in his home debut, 5-3, over Atlanta late Tuesday in San Jose. Thornton had a pair of assists in each of his first two games with the Sharks and already has six points for rejuvenated San Jose since being acquired last Wednesday from Boston in a blockbuster...

Boos and debris rained down on the ice. This wasn't the ending Colorado's fans wanted in a matchup of the NHL's two best teams and biggest rivals. Brett Hull scored 57 seconds into overtime after two Colorado players were hit with penalties at the end of regulation, leading the Detroit Red Wings to a 3-2 win over the Avalanche last night in Denver. Detroit had a two-man advantage to start overtime after Steve Konowalchuk and Adam Foote were called for four-minute high-sticking penalties with 1.6 seconds left.

Joe Thornton scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period of his 500th game with San Jose and the Sharks went on to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Thursday night for their third straight win. Ryane Clowe added a power-play goal, Jason Demers had two assists and Thomas Greiss made 23 saves in his first game since Dec. 3 as the Sharks followed up road wins over nemesis Vancouver and Anaheim with one against the NHL's worst team....

Maybe Marc Savard would play for the first time this season. But hey, maybe he wouldn’t. Marco Sturm, who owns a no-trade contract with the Bruins, perhaps was traded to Los Angeles. But wait, hold on, maybe he wasn’t. The Tampa Bay Lightning would show themselves as the up-and-coming stars of the NHL, led by sensation Steven Stamkos. But hey, maybe they’d play like ECHL stumblebums and Stamkos would go pointless and log a minus-2. A long, wacky, and for the most part upside-down day on Causeway Street — renamed Mayberry Street for the evening — played itself out yesterday, and it culminated...

WILMINGTON — Marc Savard passed a conditioning test yesterday morning and was cleared to return to practice and take part in noncontact drills. The Bruins were so pleased with the development that general manager Peter Chiarelli held a news conference to make the announcement. Savard, who suffered a concussion March 7, returned for some playoff games, then began experiencing post-concussion symptoms during the summer and has not played this season. Chiarelli said the 33-year-old center still needs to undergo tests next week before resuming contact, but...

NEWARK — Martin Brodeur leaned to his right, expecting Gregory Campbell, who had stickhandled behind the New Jersey net, to emerge from that side with the puck. Campbell never emerged. The fourth-line center slammed on the brakes, cut against the grain, looked the other way, and spotted Shawn Thornton open at the circle. With Brodeur expecting a wraparound, Thornton took Campbell’s feed, loaded his stick, and immediately snapped a rising puck into the net at 16:43 of the second period to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead.

When Tyler Seguin hit the ice with Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi for the first shift of yesterday’s Black vs. White scrimmage at TD Garden, the 18-year-old mistakenly believed he was at center. After the initial confusion, Seguin moved to right wing, Recchi skated on the left side, and Bergeron remained at center. Later in the scrimmage, Seguin and Recchi switched wings under the instruction of assistant coach Geoff Ward. The maneuvering paid off, as the three forwards, skating for Team White, clicked for the first goal.

WILMINGTON — During the final drill of a 45-minute practice yesterday at Ristuccia Arena, Zdeno Chara triggered the breakout by giving Johnny Boychuk a D-to-D pass. Boychuk then hit Marc Savard, the weak-side center, with a cross-ice pass along the left wall to gain the offensive zone. As Savard barreled into the corner, he whirled around and found Chara at the point for a shot on goal. Later in the sequence, Milan Lucic cycled out of the corner, set up in the slot, and one-timed a Savard pass toward Tim Thomas.

By the end of last night’s stink bomb, barely a quarter of TD Garden was populated. When your team has a chance to shake its opponents’ hands goodbye and mails in its worst postseason performance, disgusted mass exodus is the expected consequence. Forty years to the day when Bobby Orr flew, the Bruins never got off the ground. The Flyers struck first, and even when Brian Boucher, one of the postseason’s sharpest goalies, departed in the second period because of what appeared to be a left knee injury, the Bruins proceeded to let in three more goals to drop a 4-0 decision that was far worse...

Bruins defenseman David Tanabe knew what Phoenix left wing Ladislav Nagy was capable of. He and Nagy were teammates on the Coyotes and Tanabe had defended against Nagy's shifty moves plenty of times in practice. Last night, though, they were opponents, and Nagy's shot from the top of the left circle at the 30-second mark of overtime nicked off Tanabe's skate before beating goalie Hannu Toivonen to the glove side as Phoenix edged the struggling Bruins, 2-1, at TD Banknorth Garden.

SUNRISE, Fla. -- The roller coaster ride continued for the Bruins last night. A week ago, it was an inspired home win over Toronto, followed the next evening by a road loss to the Maple Leafs. On Tuesday, it was a dominating Boston win over the Capitals in Washington, which had all the earmarks of being a good jumping-off point at the start of this three-game road trip. Instead, the Bruins followed that up last night with a sloppy 6-4 loss to the Florida Panthers at the BankAtlantic Center.

PHILADELPHIA — If there was anything positive about Bruins center David Krejci dislocating his right wrist in the first period Wednesday night, it was that the right doctor was in the house. Flyers team physician Thomas Graham, surgeon-in-chief at Baltimore’s Union Memorial Hospital, was at the Wachovia Center for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series when Philadelphia’s Mike Richards dropped Krejci with a serious injury — one that required swift attention. After the game, Krejci traveled with Graham to Baltimore, where he underwent surgery to repair his dislocated wrist, ending his...

WILMINGTON — As parts, the Bruins defensemen qualify as pedestrian. At the start of the season, the coaching staff pegged Johnny Boychuk as the No. 7 defenseman, a designation the rookie endorsed. Dennis Wideman and Matt Hunwick, whose downswings coincided in the dark winter months, were so troublesome together that the Bruins couldn’t dress them as a pairing. Andrew Ference has been troubled by a groin tear that could rip apart on any shift. Adam McQuaid is a rookie who spent most of the year in Providence.