Stars vs. Bruins in Beantown Brawl: Dallas Gets Crushed by Boston

Coming off a third poor effort against the Vancouver Canucks, the Pacific Division-leading Dallas Stars traveled to Boston to take on the Northeast Division-leading Bruins.

Things did not go well for the boys from Big D.

The tone of the game was set from the drop of the puck as three fights occurred in the first four seconds of the 6-3 Boston victory.

That's right, seconds.

Boston lit the lamp just 35 seconds in, as Milan Lucic slid the puck under the pads of Stars goaltender Andrew Raycroft.

Less than a minute later, Patrice Bergeron had the puck deflect off his skate and beat Raycroft for a quick 2-0 lead.

Kari Lehtonen came on in relief for Raycroft, who let in two goals on two shots against his former team. (Ouch.)

After a fourth fight, Bergeron potted his second of the night, and with just under four minutes to play in the first period Shawn Thornton sent a laser beam past the shoulder of Lehtonen for a 4-0 Bruins lead.

The Stars scored the lone goal in the second frame when Karlis Skrastins put a shot past Tuukka Rask, cutting the Stars' deficit to 4-1.

The third period saw Dallas score two quick goals by Brenden Morrow and Brad Richards to make the game 4-3, but Boston rookie Tyler Seguin scored to re-establish the Bruins' two-goal advantage. 

Brad Marchand added an empty-netter to seal the final 6-3 score.

The Stars defeat was overshadowed by Boston's Daniel Paille's check on Dallas' Raymond Sawada in the second period.

As Sawada was moving through the Boston zone, Paille came from the blind side and laid a high hit on Sawada, leaving the Dallas forward woozy at best. Sawada did not return.

Replays appeared to show Paille making contact with the head, and the officials on the ice viewed the hit the same way, handing Paille a game misconduct and a five-minute major for a head-check. Paille could receive a suspension for the hit.

The Stars hope to get their first win since the All-Star break as they travel to Philadelphia to face the Eastern Conference leading Flyers on Saturday.

UPDATE:

Paille has been suspended four games.

Stars Notes

Krys Barch (scratched cornea), Adam Burish (swelled eye) and Sawada (possible concussion) all left the game due to injury...Boston outshot Dallas by a 35-33 margin...