By Joe Haggerty
CSNNE.com
DENVERGregory Campbell would be the first to tell anyone that hes not one of those scary players thats going to intimidate in the way that a potential fight with Shawn Thornton or Milan Lucic can.
But Campbell constantly shows his leadership and burning will to win when he picks and chooses spots to drop the gloves, and thats exactly what he did again in Saturdays 6-2 win over the Avalanche.
His fight with Cody MacLeod wasnt a knockout win while the two were throwing punches, but theres little doubt that the entire vibe on the ice changed once the brawl was broken up.
I think he did a great job. He went out there dropped the gloves, and it really did seem to settle our team down and change the momentum a little bit, said Claude Julien. Hes done a really good job of recognizing those moments in a game, and taking advantage of them.
The Bs were down 1-0 after a quick Colorado goal and seemed to be a bit on their heels to start the game.
Perhaps Campbell felt the skittishness coming off a flat loss to Buffalo, and decided to take it into his own hands and change the momentum that was trending away from Boston. Both players got in some decent shots with the more experienced pugilist in MacLeod taking the victory in the fisticuffs, but Campbell got the last laugh that he pretty much solely concerns himself with.
Boston Bruins
Those things happen. We were down 1-0 and sometimes its good to start something like that early and give a wakeup call to everybody. It sends a message to everyone that were here on the road and were not going anywhere, said Campbell. It was a little enthusiasm and a little emotion was what we needed, and we answered pretty quickly after that.
Fighting is not an easy thing to do. Im not Thornton or Lucic. Im not a scary guy. But you kind of have to put yourself out there, show that you care and its pretty satisfying when you see the other guys respond.
With Mark Recchis second period goal, he notched the 573rd goal of his career and moved into a tie with Mike Bossy for 19th place all-time on the NHL career goals scored list.
Brad Marchand finished with two goals, two assists, a plus-4 rating, four shots on net and a hellacious hit on Matt Duchene in the first period, but somehow the rookie rink rat didnt earn the No. 1 star of the game at the Pepsi Center. Might be time for a recount.
Strong games for both Milan Lucic and David Krejci, who both struggled in the Thursday night loss to the Sabres at TD Gardenand had been battling with some consistency issues as of late.
Its about winning board battles. We knew before the game that they like to pinch a lot, and we knew if we held the boards and made strong plays that wed be in good shape, said Lucic. That was one of our best skating games recently. Thats why we were able to create a lot out there. But we cant sit on it. We need to go out there and keep going for more.It was an unfortunately eventful day for former Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick in his first game back against his old teammates at the Pepsi Center. Hunwick played a mistake-free 21:48 against the B's and finished with a plus-1 in a 6-2 loss -- a pretty difficult thing to do -- and it seemed that many of his Bruins teammates and colleagues appreciated the chance to catch up with "Munch."Hunwick was also the Colorado player involved in the collision with Marc Savard in the corner that left the playmaking center dazed and in pain after his head slammed against the glass once Hunwick finished his check. It was clear that Hunwick was concerned as watched Savard struggle to get to his feet, and skate off with what seemed to be another apparent head trauma in a career that's had way too many of them already."I got a chance to see Matty in the hotel a bit on Friday and it was good to see him," said Julien. "He's a good player and a very good person, and in this day and age these kinds of moves are made for salary cap purposes. It seems that he's really gotten comfortable here in Colorado and things are working out for him, and as a coach you're happy when you see that."
Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs