Game 24: Bruins 8, Lightning 1

Boy, that one was fun, wasn't it? Too bad they all can't be that entertaining.

The Good

• Ho hum, Thomas again It's really getting to be rather ridiculous how well Tim Thomas is playing. His record is now a remarkable 13-2-1. His save percentage is .956 and his GAA is 1.44. Yowza, those are some gaudy numbers. Thomas didn't have to make as many top-notch saves last night as he did against Philly, but he was stellar again overall.
• Attack, attack, attack Maybe it was just me, but I felt like the Bruins were more aggressive last night than I've seen them in a while. Whether it was Michael Ryder attacking passing lanes on the forecheck to force turnovers or Big Money Seids throwing the puck on goal from the neutral zone, the B's seemed to play a lot more up-tempo last night, and it worked: eight goals tell no lies.
  
• Speaking of Ryder... He's having a somewhat under-the-radar good season. In 24 games, Ryder has 17 points (7 G, 10 A). He finished last season with 33 points in 82 games, meaning he's already more than halfway to eclipsing last year's total in just a quarter of the season. He's currently got a nice little three-game point streak going, during which he's notched four points (1 G, 3 A). Ryder's been a notoriously good producer in contract years, but it's also likely that he's been spurred by rumors of a demotion to Providence. Threats of long, bumpy bus rides will light a fire under any player, but in my opinion, Ryder's been great so far.
• He's baaaaaaack No, he didn't score, but seeing #91 in black and gold skating around the ice was enough to make this observer happy. Savard didn't look all that rusty either, and while he didn't record a point, he certainly made a few good plays out there. With time, the points will come.

The Bad

• I'm not sure I really have any complaints. Maybe at the linesman for throwing Savard out of his first faceoff after the pivot got a standing ovation from the crowd? That ref clearly has no sense of pageantry. Come on!

The Rest

• It'll be interesting to see if Tyler Seguin hears any boos on Saturday night when he plays in Toronto against the Leafs for the first time. Seguin, an Ontario native, scored against the Leafs at the Garden earlier this season, prompting a "thank you, Kessel" chant from the Garden crowd. Some Leaf fans on HFBoards were miffed that B's fans were booing Kessel, and Damien Cox of the Toronto Star went so far as to suggest that the Leafs fans boo Seguin when the B's come to town. Not sure how the two are related, seeing as Kessel didn't want to play in Boston and Seguin hasn't done a thing to Toronto fans, but hey, I'm all for a little bad blood.
• The Leafs are pretty much in a free-fall right now. All Leafs (and Bruins fans) know in the back of their minds that the B's own the Leafs first-round pick again this year, so B's fans are rooting for the Leafs to finish as low as possible. Right now, the Leafs are in 28th place in the league, meaning that if the season ended today, the B's would get another top-3 pick in the draft. It's still early, but the B's want to keep the Leafs down. A win over a good Bruins club would likely provide a lift to this suffering Leafs team, something the B's don't want to provide. The Leafs are down now, and the B's and their fans would like nothing more than to see them down and out completely.

Attaboy: I'll give it to Savard in his first game back. Welcome back, Marc.

Providence shuttle: That linesman. Come on!