After 40 years of attending Boston Bruins games at the “Old” Boston Garden and the “New” TD Garden dating back to 1969, the unspeakable happened on Saturday, March 27, 2010 as the Bruins hosted the Calgary Flames in a matinée tilt… the Bruins Won! That may not seem like such a milestone, but considering that I have never seen a Bruins victory in 40 years, history had been written on this day… at least for me.
As for the game itself, the Bruins struck first with a power-play goal at the 14:08 mark of the first period as Dennis Seidenberg one-timed a slap shot just inside the blue line past Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff assisted by Dennis Wideman and Mark Recchi. After one period of play, the Bruins headed to the locker room with a 1-0 lead.
The Bruins struck again in the second period for two goals, as David Krejci assisted by Zdeno Chara and Johnny Boychuk scored on the second power-play of the game with a slap shot just above the left face-off circle at the 1:29 mark. The second goal of the period came on the third power-play of the game when Zdeno Chara received a pass from David Krejci , assisted by Milan Lucic who found himself all alone skating between the face-off circles and lifted a wrist shot past the glove side of Kiprusoff to make it 3-0 Bruins after two periods of play. Jodi dared to say the unthinkable… looks like today is finally going to be your day. Not to jinx the situation, Paul and I quickly silenced her as to not wake up the Garden demons.
The Bruins lit the lamp at 4:24 of the third period as Patrice Bergeron, assisted by Dennis Wideman banked a wrist shot off a Calgary defender from the low right face-off circle to pad the lead at 4-0 Bruins. Mark Recchi while falling to the ice just left of the goal net while in a battle to control the puck from a Calgary defender lifted a shot past Kiprusoff at 5:51 for the final goal of the afternoon. Recchi was assisted on the goal by Marco Sturm and Patrice Bergeron. Tim Thomas was flawless in goal stopping all 31 Calgary shots to preserve the shutout.
Then the celebration started for the 17,565 in attendance. I witnessed what I have been waiting 40 years for… the Bruins mascot dancing on the HD scoreboard screen with the words “Bruins Win!” as the backdrop with “Dirty Water” by The Standells blasting from the TD Garden speakers.
After the game, Jodi, Paul and I went shopping in the North End at our favorite shops and Quincy Market before heading out to dinner.
Paul and I celebrated our birthdays (Paul’s birthday is the 25th, while mine is the 24th) at Al Dente on Salem Street in Boston’s North End with another great meal.
Sunday, Jodi and I drove up to Rockport and the North Shore (Cape Ann) to visit and walk the beach. Even though the weather was chilly, you can’t beat being by the sea.
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