Larry Brown Sports

Raffi Torres likes to think he’s one of the NHL’s tough guys. He loves getting into fights and taking runs at players — some of which are extremely dirty like this one.  The reason the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup last season and are one of the best teams in the league this year is their toughness.  If you’re going to cheap shot one of the Bruins players, you had better be ready to drop your gloves and defend yourself afterward.  When Torres put a hit on Andrew Ferrence Wednesday night, he had to answer to Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid. He did fine with the glove dropping part. The defending himself? Not so much.

Advantage: McQuaid.  Winning fights seems to be a common theme for the 2011-2012 Boston Bruins (see: Lucic, Milan).  The bloodying of the eye was just McQuaid’s way of giving it a personal touch.

David Krejci was the hero for the Bruins Monday night when he netted the game-winner in overtime to give Boston a 2-0 series lead over the Flyers.  The real star of the game, however, was Tim Thomas.  His career high 52 saves — including 22 in the third period alone — kept the Bruins in the game and allowed them to put Philly away in OT.  I don’t need to explain why the 2-0 series lead means nothing for Boston when it comes to this particular opponent, do I?

While the Bruins pulled out a huge win, it wasn’t all sunshine and farts for every member of their team.  Defenseman Adam McQuaid went for a huge hit on Philly’s Scott Hartnell in the first period and ended up knocking himself out of the game.  It was one of the ugliest failed checks I’ve ever seen.  Check out the Adam McQuaid check fail video:

McQuaid was able to leave the ice under his own power, but I think it’s safe to say his dome will be hurting tomorrow. Glad to see he was alright after the nasty collision with the boards.