Johnny Boychuk is due for a goal. He's currently goalless and only has three assists. He's capable of much more offensively and he's been launching rockets at opposing nets a lot lately. The offense will pick up for Johnny-B. We're keeping the faith.

But, dear lord, has he been a physical beast on the ice -- especially of late.

On Wednesday against the Filthadelpha Flyers, James Van Riemsdyk must've had a serious lapse in judgement as he tried to split Chara and Boychuk late in the game. This is an act of a desperate man... or Van Riemsdyk lost a bet at some point.

Then Thursday night against Tampa Bay, Mattias Ohlund decided to take on Ohlund. Boychuk dropped him like a hot kettle.

There's no video of the incident that we can find, so we did an artist recreation of the event.

And last night, against the Leafs, Boychuk took a pass from Rex and just bulldozered over Francois Beauchemin.

What a stud. Add these to his hits on Matt Stajan and Matt Ellis.

This one stung a bit. Bergeron should know better than to take a holding penalty like that. Bruins defense should know better than to run around like that in their own zone on a penalty kill. Whatever. Shit happens. Phil Kessel got lucky. Leafs fans can keep pretending he's a savior though. Tim Thomas deserves about 800 gold stars for everything he did tonight. He deserved a better fate in the end.

It will be interesting to see how the Bruins respond to a loss like this back home against Buffalo on Tuesday.

Despite the loss, this was an entertaining hockey game. Great action at both ends. Leafs played well. We'll give them that. Can't deny it.

Bruins didn't play a bad game either. Couple mistakes cost them. Boychuk destroyed lives. Campbell once again showed why the Bruins won the Horton-Wideman trade. Underrated pick-up. Can't say that enough. Thomas continues to play out of his mind.

Horton finally reappeared. Seemed he lost a bit of confidence recently after hitting so many posts. Hopefully tonight's goal gets him back on track. 

But by far the most humorous part of the night was Leafs fans bashing the Bruins, and specifically Thomas. Funny, Leafs fans are nowhere to be found prior to tonight. Oh, except for giving up on their team, demanding the head coach get fired, and talking about how much Kessel sucks.

Then the Leafs get a shootout win when Kessel scores a fluke goal and all of a sudden the Leafs are the best team in the NHL and Kessel is a stud.

Really Leafs fans, what do you have over the Bruins? Bruins Cup drought? Leafs is longer.

Leafs gave the Bruins Rask. For Raycroft. Leafs gave the Bruins Seguin. And the Leafs are going to give the Bruins another lottery pick in the 2011 draft. Congratulations. You got a regular season shootout win. It is sad when a win like this makes you celebrate this hard. Really, that is how bad your team sucks. 

After the jump, a mock recap celebrating how much Thomas "sucks".......

Holy shit. This t-shirt design is full of Win. 

And it can be yours for $23, plus shipping & handling. Just in time for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Festivus, etc., etc., etc.

We came across this image while Googling "Phil Kessel Sucks" for this morning's Boston Bruins-Toronto Maple Leafs game preview. Y'know, like you do.

The description is simple: "Celebrate Phil Kessel's second 30 goal season (and one nut) with this somewhat classy tee."

The design is by Leaf and Lion, who, like most Maple Leaf fans, seems pretty self-loathing at this point. They also have a Toska-LOL design, perfect for Leafs, Shark and Flames fans a-like.

We're thinking the NHL should mass produce these for the Hockey Fights Cancer fundraisers.

Bruins are on a two game winning streak. Big win in the Filth and then a dominating performance against the Lightning. Even Tim Thomas got a point against Tampa. Marc Savard is back in action. Things are starting to look good in Boston.

Things aren't so hot in Toronto's Toyland, though. They got completely owned by the Oilers on Thursday. Fans and media are calling for Ron Wilson's job. Just go to Pension Plan Puppets and look at the front-page headlines -- that pretty much sums things up for the Blue & White.

Another Top 3 draft pick looks to be in the Bruins future if this keeps up. Bs looking to help out their own cause there tonight.

Really, this match-up could be one of those awkward "bumping into your ex moments." Leafs brass seeing Tuukka Rask in net (potentially -- he always brings his A-game against the Leafs) and Tyler Seguin take the ice and playing well; Kessel hitting the ice and disappearing like Houdini for what could be like the 100th straight time against Boston.

Patrice Purrgeron caught this moment in Toronto this morning. Awkward.

Who knew it was so warm in December up there?

Speaking of Kessel.

We're kinda hoping Maple Leaf fans, in a fit of frustration, start this chant tonight. That'd be win.

After the jump... stupid stat of the day... some of our favorite Phil Kessel pictures... Tuukka Rask Meltdown Update watch... projected roster... game day links... and your game day video...

Today was a huge night for the Bruins. The type of victory that could turn into a loooooong streak. Coming off a good victory against the Flyers, the Bruins gave the home fans a party.

Marc Savard returned and the Bruins celebrated in grand style. They forgot they played hockey and scored a touchdown. Then gave Tampa Bay the finger and went for the two point conversion. They drove one Lightning goalie from the net and embarrassed the other. They held Stamkos pointless. They held St. Louis pointless. 

Savard played a great game too. He really did. Not just being nice because it was his first game back. He threw a hit. He drove to the front of the net looking for tip ins. He had some great takeaways. If you knew nothing about Savard, no way you would've know he had not played a game since May.

The Bruins put Tampa Bay on their heels and then slit their throats. They smelled blood and wanted the kill. And boy did they get it. Tampa Bay is certainly a better team than they showed tonight but the Bruins were just on fire. And Mike Smith kind of sucks. Only seven Bruins players didn't register a point. Not only was Thomas spectacular again, but he got an assist. They got amped up for the Flyers game and carried that emotion home.

I mean, just look at this freaking boxscore!

After the jump, goals, goals, goals and paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaain.....

We've been waiting since June to use this picture... it really is just gross.

Editor's note: The same sources that said this was a done deal are now saying it's on hold (at best) or dead (at worse). Someone must've told LA Sturm had two knee surgeries. Here's our original post. More on what the hell is going on when someone finally knows.

We know this is basically old news since it broke in the early afternoon by TSN.ca but we have day jobs and already had this cinematic masterpiece lined up in the queue right at the time when everyone started freaking out over the Sturm trade.

The deal is pretty simple: Kings get Marco "Sturmface" Sturm. Bruins get a conditional pick and, more importantly, dodge any more cap issues for the time being. This all pending Sturm can get he knees passed the TSA agents and into California to pass his physical. This is a mere formality -- minus the TSA frisk-down.

It's a good move by the Chiarelli. Sturm is over-the-hill in terms of hockey age and two blown knees in the last two years doesn't make him a very promising player. When your main asset is speed and you have two knee surgeries, things aren't looking up.

The big mystery is how they got Sturm to waive his No Trade Clause.

It's quite possible the Bruins informed Sturm in recent days that he might be assigned to Providence (AHL). Such type of speculation has a way of, shall we say, convincing players to waive their ''No Trade'' clauses.--KPD, Boston.com

That would probably do it.

Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler can now sigh in relief since the Bruins are under the cap ceiling. They can also start having dinner with Shawn Thornton again. We'd be surprised if any more moves came out of this.

Some people think the Bruins could've gotten more for Sturm - like a prospect defenseman or a third-round pick. Those people are idiots. Don't listen to them.

Sturm was the last piece of the Joe Thornton trade. Umm... yea. Go... us?

Sturm will be remembered, not just for his bad knees, but because of this:

We send you off, Sturmy, the only way we know how... with a song from the Village People.

Best of luck in LA, Sturm.