Boston Bruins Defeat New Jersey Devils on North American Return

The Boston Bruins return to North America after a road game series in Europe, which included Northern Ireland and the Czech Republic.

In their season debut, they played the Phoenix Coyotes and split that series to bring them back on North American soil with a 1-1-0 record.

The New Jersey Devils' offense has been struggling of late with just 10 goals in their favor in six games.

The Boston Bruins, on the other hand, had only played three games so far and have amassed nine goals.

The Bruins were in the Prudential Center on Saturday looking to go above .500, while the Devils were looking to record their first regular season home win this year.

The scoring started with New Jersey's Dainius Zubrus popping his first of the year past a crowed Tim Thomas after he quickly picked up the rebound off Thomas' save and backhanded it for a 1-0 lead.  The Devils played that well.

The Boston squad wanted to show that they could crowd the net too.  After Zdeno Chara tried to backhand it past Martin Brodeur, Brodeur kicked the puck out.  It nearly cleared the zone on a bad clearing attempt, but Johnny Boychuk was waiting just outside and rushed in to rip one at the New Jersey net.  On the rebound right in front of a downed Brodeur, Jordan Caron earned his first career NHL goal on the backhanded shot.

Boston jumped ahead with a young Tyler Seguin play where he spun a pass from the right boards to a centered Michael Ryder.  Ryder quickly got the puck through Jamie Langenbrunner's legs and over Brodeur's glove side—2-1 Bruins.

Boston gets another tally on good fore checking.  The Bruins gain the zone, and the puck is slipped behind the New Jersey net to Gregory Campbell.  He quickly passed the puck to Shawn Thornton from Brodeur's left.  Thornton quickly wristed it stick side to give him his first of the year, putting the Bruins up 3-1.

The Bruins were not done.

David Krejci was in the left corner and quickly passed to Milan Lucic, who put it sick side past Brodeur. This completed the Devils being outscored 12-3 in the second period so far this season.

Overall, the Bruins outplayed the Devils in what seemed to be a shell of the defensive powerhouse that they once were.  While Martin Brodeur had a stellar career, age catches up to everyone (currently 38)—specially a goalie that played at the NHL level for nearly 20 years.

Bruins' net minder, while getting up in age for the NHL (36), he was not regularly playing at this level until he was in his early 30's.  Thomas played well in his first two starts having won both games and allowed just one goal (he recorded a shutout against the Phoenix Coyotes in Prague, Czech Republic).

His play has been great thus far, and we'll see how the season progresses, as it is far too early to call on who will be the starter for this season.  The Bruins organization would much rather have a great tandem than trying to decide who will get the lion's share of time between the pipes.

Next game is at D.C. with the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, October 19th at 7:30 EST.

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