Boston Bruins Down Dallas Stars 6-3: Daniel Paille Gets 4 Game Suspension On Hit

On Thursday night the Bruins were back at the TD Garden taking on the Stars and it was an interesting opening two minutes of the game, with three fights and a goal.

Steve Ott and Greg Campbell got into it within the first few seconds of the 1st period, with Ott winning that one with Campbell bloodied after the bout.

Just a second later, Krys Barch and Shawn Thornton get into it with Thornton getting that one.

Two seconds after that, Brian Sutherby and Adam McQuaid throw down the mitts and McQuaid drops Sutherby with two right shots in the face.

Then Just 35 seconds into the game, Milan Lucic opened up the scoring.

The Bruins kept up the pace as just 45 seconds later, Marchand passed to Bergeron to make 2-0.

Then we had yet another fight with Adam Burish and Andrew Ference as Ference edged that bout.

Marchand and Bergeron were at it again with Bergeron getting his second goal of the night. 3-0 Bruins.

Thornton scored with a shot from the mid left point to give the Bruins a commanding 4-0 lead.

So the opening period sounded like this:

Score:

Boston 4

Dallas 0

Penalty Minutes:

Dallas 24

Boston 22

Fighting Majors:

Boston 4

Dallas 4

If you got to be at the game, the opening period was worth the picket price alone.

2nd Period

Karlis Skrastins scored the loan goal in the second period to put the game at 4-1 Bruins.

3rd Period

The Stars made the game interesting and showed why they are the leaders of the Pacific Division.

Just 45 seconds in, Brenden Morrow scored shorthanded to make the score 4-2 Bruins.

Less than three minutes later, Brad Richards scores from the left point on the three-on-two odd man rush to make it a one goal game.  4-3 Bruins.

But the Bruins would not be denied as Blake Wheeler passed a shot to Seguin who one timed it at the net to regain the two goal lead.

Marchand completed the scoring with Bergeron nearly earning his second career hat rick but he missed the empty net.

But continued behind the net to get it to Marchand.  The goal earned both Bergeron and Marchand their third point on the night.

Paille was sent off the ice with an attempt to injure on Raymond Sawada.  Paille gave Sawada an open ice hit that sent him reeling and dazed on the ice.

This gave the Bruins a five minute major and Tuukka Rask was up to the task with 10 saves on the penalty kill.  

Rask ended up with a 30 save night and a well deserved win for the goalie who can play better but is not getting the numbers in win column too easy.

Paille's hit resulted in Sawada with a broken nose and a sprained shoulder.

Andrew Ference was talking to TSN regarding the hit.  "It was a bad hit," said the Bruins defenseman after the game. "We can't be hypocrites when your own team does a hit like that which the league is trying to get rid of."

Paille received a four game suspension as a result of that hit.  While Pialle accepts the punishment, he feels it was a shoulder on shoulder and no intent to injure.  

“When I hit him, I felt that I hit his shoulder at that moment,’’ Paille said, explaining the hit that resulted in a broken nose and injured shoulder for Sawada. Paille was assessed a match penalty that ended his night.

When talking to Boston.com, he didn't necessarily disagree with the suspension, but the length of it.

“I felt like he turned toward me, so I tried to finish my check,’’ Paille said. “Obviously with Rule 48 now, it’s sensitive and I know that it’s something where someone has to be made an example of and it happened to be me in this situation right now.

“While I don’t agree with the amount of games, I accept it and I’m just going to focus now on being ready to come back.’’

Paille will give up $23,118.28 and will return to the lineup until Feb. 15, when the Bruins host the Leafs.

On the replay, it looked like he did get shoulder, but the hit jarred Sawada's head and that struck with the follow through of Paille's elbow which was raised at the end of the hit. 

After the fact, Burish, Barch and, of course Sawada are injured in the game.  Burish and Barch were injured as a result with their tussles with Ference and Thornton respectively.

The Bruins ended up with 51 PIMs while the Stars earned 40 for a total of 91 minutes in penalties.

This is Cory Ducey saying "Hit Hard, But Keep It Clean".