By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com
LAKE PLACID, New YorkThe Bruins finally wrestled some momentum away from the Montreal Canadiens with a Game Three victory at the Bell Centre on Monday night, and on Tuesday they met and rested.The Bruins gathered for meetings at the Olympic Center smack dab in the middle of Lake Placid at 2364 Main Streetthe hallowed hockey spot where the 1980 U.S. Olympic Miracle on Ice took placeand recharged their batteries for a solid Wednesday practice, followed by an equally immense Game 4 back at the Bell Centre.Its so pretty. You look at around and even in Lake Placid you get a pretty good showing of media, said Andrew Ference. I dont think you really escape anything, but you feel relaxed in a setting like this. You go outside and its really casual and relaxed. You just chill out for a couple of days.The visit to Lake Placid is more meaningful to some players than others. Tim Thomas is was born in Flint, Michigan and he grew up influenced by the Miracle on Ice that inspired him to become a hockey playerand be like his boyhood hero, Jim Craig. But while its an inspiration setting for Thomas and a hockey Mecca of sorts, the Bs goaltender also said it wasnt going to be a Miracle-style upset if the Bruins rip off three more wins against Montreal.This is a great place to visit and very special for me, but my main focus is Thursday and playing the game in Montreal, said Thomas. It wouldn't be a 'Miracle' if we win Thursday, so its a different page in a different book. The only Bruins to practice Tuesday afternoon were Tyler Seguin, Shane Hnidy, Daniel Paille, Shawn Thornton, Adam McQuaid and Tuukka Rask and the rest of the Black Aces from the Providence Bruins. Claude Julien said Zdeno Chara was understandably tired after playing 26-plus minutes during Game 3 after returning from a bout of severe dehydration, but that hed bounced back well after waking up on Tuesday morning.He was good, said Julien. He pushed hard to make what he did yesterday happen. There was no doubt after the game he was tired, but I think even as a healthy player youd be tired. He stood in there and I thought he had a great game. For all of the challenges I thought he had to overcome, he played well. He was solid, physical and I thought he was very focused. Andrew Ference, not wanting to receive a penalty that would have negated the power play the Bruins were about to receive, said he was careful to wait for Benoit Pouliot to drop hisgloves before jumping into a fight with him in the first period ofMonday night's 4-2win at theBell Centre.
The 6-foot-5 Pouliot -- who tangled with David Krejci in the fight night atTD Garden during the season --left his skates and attempted tothrow an elbow, which wound up off target, toward Johnny Boychuks head. Pouliot was the second man in after Ryan White had already stapled Boychuk to the boards with a heavy body hit near the corner. Theunderachieving Habs winger was slappedwith a charging penalty whilealso earning himself a fighting major.Ference once again was among the first to respond when an opponent took liberties with one of his teammates. If it was up to him, Pouliot would have received supplementary discipline from the NHL . . . but the league, after reviewing the incident, declined to impose any further penalty. Ference avoided the instigator in the smart hockey player, and stood up for his teammate at the same time.
From what I saw, it looked like a really dangerous play," said Ference. "A hit like thatespecially to your partneryou want there to be some answer for it. But I didnt want to drop the gloves without him dropping them so as not to receive an instigator penalty. I was 100 percent aware of that. Chris Kelly was sporting a healthy shiner around his right eye after getting tripped by Scott Gomez and hurtling face first into the post during the first period of Monday nights win at the Bell Centre. Kelly finished the game after being momentarily dazed and Gomez was called for an interference penalty. But Julien didnt believe that there was true malicious intent to Gomezs actions.They got a penalty for interference. To be honest with you its a little bit of the Zdeno Chara hit on Max Pacioretty. Its a hit that turned out badly, said Julien. But I think in Kellys case it was interference, but he didnt mean to push him in the net or cause him to hit the post."Youve got to understand that sometimes the result of what happened wasnt exactly the intention. So is it a penalty? Absolutely. But I didnt think there any intent to injure and thats something you dont like to see.
Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs