By JoeHaggerty
CSNNE.com
BOSTONHere are five thoughts from the first period with the Bruins and Senators tied at a 1-1 score after the first 20 minutes of play at TD Garden.1)Nathan Horton tangled with Zach Smith in an extended bout midway through the second period that saw both players throwing a lot of bombs. Not sure exactly what Horton was doing there with the playoffs less than a week away and the potential for injury there after some hellacious punches, but you cant fault the fire from a guy thats played very well down the stretch. His second period power play goal gives him 26 goals on the season, and puts him close to the 30 that were expected of him to start the year. He went back to the dressing room after the fight for some repairs, but finished out the second period.2)Two shots on net in 9:09 of ice time for Tyler Seguin. He also got some power play time at the end of the second period. Hes skating hard and trying to fight for loose pucks, and he had a nice tip of a point shot at the end of the period. Seguin is doing what he can at this point to show he wants to play. 3)A stick salute to Mark Recchi for his 1,652nd NHL game this afternoon that pushes him past Chris Chelios for fourth place all-time on the NHL games played list. The accomplishments just keep on coming.4)Three blocked shots for Andre Benoit of the Senators. Its pretty clear he hasnt given up on the season.5)A solid job of showing up by the Bruins today in their final regular season game at home this year. They could have coasted, but theyre finishing up strong with a No. 2 seed potentially still available to them.
Joe Haggerty can be reached at jhaggerty@comcastsportsnet.com.Follow Joe on Twitter at http:twitter.comHackswithHaggs