Posted by Joe Haggerty

Bruins goaltender Manny Fernandez perhaps put it best after getting the start and earning the best seat in the house to watch his team trounce a shellshocked Canadiens outfit by a commanding 6-1 score last night. The Habs have owned the Black and Gold’s number over the last few years — and in particular last season when they demoralized the B’s by taking all eight regular season games from a plucky Bruins club.

Thursday’s Hab-stomping was the most lopsided win for the Bruins over their Montreal rivals since they dropped a 5-0 butt-kicking on the Habs on Dec. 20, 2001 — a time when guys like Bill Guerin, Rob Zamuner and Marty LaPointe still roamed the Boston ice wearing the Spoked B on their sweater. The white-hot B’s have also won an impressive five games in a row. 

“It seems like it’s a different page this year,” said Manny Fernandez, a riff on the “Turn the Page” philosophy that another pro athlete named Manny used to employ in the Hub. “From just watching last year in the playoffs we broke the ice there just a little bit. We showed each other we could actually win against that team. Today was huge for us. Any time you can back them off a little and make them think about…that’s big.”

“The next time we play them we’re going to show up twice as hard as we played tonight, but still a win [is huge] against that team knowing the history — especially last year when it was tough,” added Fernandez, who made 27 saves on the night, but was at his best early in the contest when tested on a two-shot rush by Robert Lang.

Bruins coach Claude Julien said he opted for Fernandez to give his potentially fatigued team — after they arrived back in Boston a few minutes before 3 AM Thursday morning — any edge they could possibly find against a rested Montreal Canadiens group. After the game, the B’s coach beamed at the prospect of having two goalies playing as well as both Fernandez and Tim Thomas both are between the pipes.

“We had an opportunity to put in a fresh goaltender tonight in case we got in the situation that we had some tired guys.  We had to give ourselves an edge somewhere.  We’re so lucky to have two goaltenders right now that are at the top of their game,” said Julien. “Right now it’s important for me to try and handle it in a way where both of them maintain that standard of goaltending. 

“They both deserve to play, but we all know goaltenders like to play as much as they can, and right now they’re both responding.  Not only that, I think they’re both very supportive of each other, and that’s something that’s important.”

The Last Shall Become First

The fourth line of Stephane Yelle, Shawn Thornton and Petteri Nokelainen had been lauded from here to Moncton over the first six weeks of the season for the energy and sandpaper-style they brought to the B’s fold, but the addition of a healthy Chuck Kobasew — and the subtraction of the hard-working Nokelainen – has admittedly brought some added offensive punch to the trio.

During Wednesday night’s 2-1 win over Chicago the “energy line” was kept off the ice for long stretches of a penalty-filled game and Kobasew (9:34), Yelle (13:43 largely due to his duties on the PK unit) and Shawn Thornton (3:32) all played short minutes. In a strange way the idle moments at the United Center might have helped the trio find their legs quickly last night against the hated Habs,and given them some jump that started up the B’s attack.

The fourth line grinders popped in the first two goals of the game and set the Black and Gold off and running in what became a Boston hockey celebration with 16,816 invites to the TD Banknorth Garden. The first was a great hustle play by the usually rough-and-tumble Thornton as he busted right through Mike Komisarek and Mathieu Dandenault, stole the puck from the half-hearted Canadiens duo and then rifled a five-hole backhand bid through the pads of Montreal wunderkind goalie Carey Price.

Yelle followed with a pure hustle goal and popped in a loose puck rebound in front of Price’s net with three minutes to go in the period, and all of a sudden a snake-bitten line was lugging both energy and points to the table. The fourth line outburst is all the more impressive as it — on most nights — gives Claude Julien and Co. four different lines that can strike offensively and clearly raises the team’s overall offensive potential this season. The Law Firm of Thornton, Yelle and Kobasew collected a whopping seven total points on the night.

“Did you see [Yelle] look me off on that 2-on-1…he’s lucky he scored right there I tell ya,” said a tongue in cheek Thornton after the game. “He’s looking awfully dangerous out there, and we’re getting along really well on and off the ice. Chucky too. He’s easy to play with because he’s always in the right spot and half the I don’t have to look because I just know he’s going to be there. He’s been a treat, and Chucky has been on the second line on just about every team that he’s played. He works so hard and he’s such a skilled guy. I think it’s been a while coming for us, and we’ve been working, working, and working and it finally paid off for us.” 

Hey I’m just a simple Irish guy living in the city of Boston,” said Thornton, who is in possession of more offensive skill than traditionally given credit for given his usual role as Bruins’ enforcer. “I think the fact that all 20 guys are going hard and we didn’t have any passengers tonight — and we haven’t had any in a while — and that’s the way we have to be successful.”

The Looch finds his first victim

Bruins left wing Milan Lucic was again an emotional and physical catalyst for the Bruins, and gave everyone another Neely-esque taste of the tone-setting, skilled hockey player he continues to develop into. Looch may not be Cam redux, but he’s as close as the Bruins Nation could possibly hope for in the sanitized era of the NHL.

 Canadiens captain Saku Koivu finally put the Habs on the scoreboard with 6:26 to go in the second period and took back a bit of momentum, but the Looch seized it right back in the third.

During a 5-on-5 faceoff in the Canadiens zone, Phil Kessel popped a faceoff draw directly onto the stick of charging Lucic gone mad, and the brawling 20-year-old drilled a wrist shot past an unsuspecting Price to make it a 5-1 hockey game. The score marked his fifth goal of the season, and later in the period — with the game well in hand — Lucic finally dropped the gloves with longtime nemesis Mike Komisarek. It had been a long time coming for both combatants as they’ve doled out plenty of face-washes and tough talk to each other in the recent past, but the two had never actually engaged in “The Dance.”

Komisarek is probably still wishing that he hadn’t.

The Looch went Berserker-style on the Habs defenseman and hit him with a series of vicious rights before one final roundhouse punch dropped Komisarek to the ground, and a victorious Lucic raised his hand and started excitedly screaming to anyone and everyone in attendance. He then stopped and smacked on the boards by the penalty box before entering the sin bin, and then left midway through to get a bevy of cuts on his right knuckles treated before returning to the game.

“We could have made excuses coming into tonight’s game after coming in late last night, but we felt like we had a good jump to our step,” said Lucic. “We knew the importance of tonight’s game. It felt like before the game we were more calm and cool and we weren’t overexcited like we’ve been sometimes in the past.”

And as far as his first bout of the 2008-09 season?

“We’ve had our battles in the past, and it was just a matter of time before something like that happened,” added Lucic. “First off the fans have been great for the first part of the season, and they’ve really helped us be a tougher team to play against in the Garden. [The fans] appreciating that physical play is just guys from the past that created that identity of the Bruins. It’s lucky for me that I just fit into that.”

Stops and Starts

Defenseman Andrew Ference has arguably been Boston’s best blueliner this season for the first 15 games, but he went down at the end of the second period when he took an Andre Markov shot off the foot. Ference gamely stayed on the ice to help kill of a Canadiens power play after dragging himself from the ice in obvious pain, but he didn’t return for the third period.

Bruins coach Claude Julien was tight-lipped about Ference’s status following the game.

“He’s fine.  He’s being evaluated,” said Julien.  Honestly, we’ll probably have a little more on his situation tomorrow.  Nothing’s clear right now and hopefully it’s just something minor.”

Lucic had a priceless response after he informed reporters that he’d had a negative X-ray on his right hand to make sure it wasn’t broken after he used Mike Komisarek as a punching bag.

 ”There’s so many broken bones in there from before that you can’t really tell,” said Lucic of his oft-battered right hand.

Posted by Alex Speier

Join our live chat for updated coverage and insight from a host of WEEI.com personalities. Follow the action as it happens and join in the conversation as the Patriots and Jets fight for supremacy in the AFC East.

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Troy Brown, on the night he will be honored at Gillette Stadium, spoke with reporters prior to the game. He will be honored with a ceremony at halftime.

New England's Mr. Versatile from 1993-2007

“I just want to go out and hopefully, I can relay to the fans how much they meant to me over the years, through the bad times, the good times and the great times and just let them know how much it means to me to be here and share this moment with them and close out what I like to think has been a pretty darn good career,” he said. “Hopefully, I won’t screw it up when I get out there.

“I think I’m going to be in pretty high spirits and try to keep it exciting,” he continued. “The fans are here to cheer and not hear a sob story or a sad speech. I’ll just try to put a little energy behind it and keep them up because a team I love very much has got to come out for the second half and they need to be jacked up and they need their fans behind them when they come back out.”

The irony of playing the green and white clad New York Jets wasn’t lost on Brown on Thursday night.

Brown sounds off about playing the Jets on his special night.

Brown played for the Thundering Herd of Marshall, whose colors are identical to the Jets. Furthermore, it was the Jets who approached Brown before the season to see if he were interested in finishing his career in New York.

Brown says Belichick is the only coach for me.

“They asked me what day I wanted to do it, I picked this day and I didn’t know who they were playing and it turned out to be the Jets,” Brown said. “And I said, ‘Geez, what a coincidence, picking the Jets night to go out and do this.’ I’m sure I’ll be looking out there and thinking I could have worn that green and white one more time like I was in college. But, I’m satisfied with my career, I’m happy with it, it was a great run. If I ever feel that itch to come back, the only person I’ll be calling is Bill Belichick. That’s the only colors I’ll ever wear. If he ever needs me to come in there and do something, I’ll give it my best. I don’t know what it’ll be, I’ll be 42 years old, 44 years old, going out there and try to jam somebody, get an interception, catch a pass, he knows I’ll give him 120 percent every time I’m out there for him.”

Brown was a member of five Super Bowl teams, including three winners. The man who set up Adam Vinatieri’s game-winning kick in Super Bowl XXXVI against the Rams has no regrets about spending his whole career in New England red, white and blue.

“It’s hard, it’s hard to even get there and have a chance to win one,” Brown said. “So to be able to be apart of five Super Bowl teams, and come away with three wins, the only thing I could ask for is that we could get those other two back we lost and find a way to get into those games and help my team get over the hump.”

Posted by Jessica Camerato

A year ago a game between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks was hardly worth a second look. On Wednesday night, the telecast of the postseason rematch was the highest rated regular season game in Comcast SportsNet history.

The final half hour, which included Paul Pierce’s game-winning heroics, was the top rated program on Boston television, beating out network hits such as House and Law & Order. The game drew an estimated 245,000 households in New England and 163,000 in the Boston market alone.

The next Celtics telecast on Comcast SportsNet is Friday’s game against the Denver Nuggets.

Posted by Joe Haggerty

Mike Komisarek is one of those guys that you worship for his hard hitting and “on the edge” play if he’s wearing your home team’s sweater, and you absolutely detest if he’s skating for the hated rivals. The 26-year-old Canadiens defenseman has been one of the main attraction pugilists during the most recent editions of “Puck Wars” between the Bruins and Habs, and he’s looking forward to another knock-down, drag-out battle between Northeast Division foes tonight.

–Speaking of the Northeast Division, Yahoo!’s top hockey dog, Puck Daddy, wonders this morning if the B’s division is shaping up to be the best in the NHL this season. I’d have to wholeheartedly agree.

Only you can vote for Tim Thomas

–In other link news, hubhockey.com has created an excellent Facebook Page dedicated to an NHL All-Star write in campaign for Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas now that All-Star fan voting has begun. You can vote for Thomas here. The B’s netminder has had a strong showing thus far in the voting and currently ranks third, but is lagging way, way behind Habs goalie Carey Price. It seems that the Canadiens fans have cornered the market on cyber-ballot stuffing. The current vote would have Canadiens’ players at each of the six starting positions in the Eastern Conference All-Star starting lineup. I’m going to love watching how the NHL is planning on handling this one.

–A handful of Bruins players skated this morning in a brief workout including Shane Hnidy, Petteri Nokelainen, Stephane Yelle and Matt Hunwick.

Anyway, here’s a few minutes with Komisarek this morning, who looks like he’s already anticipating another round in his ongoing skirmish with Milan Lucic:

How do you feel like the team has been playing as of late? MK: The biggest thing is that the expectations have been so high. We haven’t accomplished or won anything yet. We’ve gotten off to a great start, but nothing has been accomplished yet, and I think we get ourselves in trouble when we rely strictly on our talent, speed and skill up front. What’s given us success, especially last year, was playing well without the puck and taking pride in our defense.

That train looked like it had a number 17 on the back...

With the coach that we’ve had, that’s what he’s always stressed to us and our team identity has always been to play solid defensively. I think we got away from that a little bit in Toronto and started playing some run and gun hockey back and forth, and we’re not going to win many games like that.

What have been the year-to-year changes in Carey Price’s game? MK: Pricey is sort of in better shape and he’s gotten into better habits. His work ethic is unbelievable and he’s always working out and doing cardio now. He’s eating better now and he looks good and seems to have more energy back there, and he looks a little bit quicker.  Everyone saw last year what he can do with his talent and God-given ability, but he took it upon himself this summer to come into camp in the best shape possible and sort of maximize his potential. He wants to be the best and you can see that hunger and drive when he comes to the rink.

There’s a little more firepower with Tanguay and a little more punch with Laraque this season. How have those guys added and adjusted to the team identity? MK: I think those guys have fit in really well. They’re great guys. We’ve always had good chemistry and you try not to tweak too much. Those guys have come in and fit right in. Big George is that mean, tough, big physical guy on the ice, but off the ice you couldn’t have found a better teammate. The same with Langer and Tanguay.

There’s a lot of busting each others’ chops and getting on everybody’s case. I can’t think of one particular story, but those guys have fit in very well.

Is there any change to strategy when you’re playing a team like Boston that’s coming into their second game in back-to-back nights? MK: Not really. We know they got in late last night, but they’re playing really well and we got a chance to watch some of the [Blackhawks] game. It seems like they’re rolling three lines and it seems like they have a balanced attack and they have some guys that are really playing with confidence.

So I guess any time you play a team that’s on a back-to-back you want to jump on them early and stay on them and not back off. We should be the fresher team.

Has it surprised you at all how well the Bruins have started off after really gelling against your team in the playoffs last year? MK: They’re a talented team and I think with [Patrice] Bergeron back he’s really the heart and soul guy on their team. He’s helped them out tremendously. These are divisional games and there’s a lot of history going back with [the Bruins], especially over the last few years with the playoffs. These matchups are always very physical and you can almost see the hatred on the ice watching these games. 

Are you guys better this year? MK: I think we’ve made some adjustments this year with George, Alex and Lang. Those guys, we have three or four solid lines that can put the puck in the net and are a solid threat every time they step on the ice. I think on paper we’re definitely better, but it’s up to us to come together and peak at the right time.

Physical games and feeling hatred on the ice…are those your kind of games? MK: You’ve got to love it. Sometimes there are games during the year where teams aren’t very physical and they really back off. Then there’s other games when teams initiate [contact]. Being a big guy and a physical player, you’ve got to love those games.

Posted by Steve Ciaccio

Where to start.  First off, happy birthday to , as Iggy would say my BFF,  Curt Schilling Nov 14th.  Curt I will miss all the pub we got out of you this year, next season.  Okay onto my gripe.  All 3 of my readers know that I am a Bruins fan and love to watch the games on TV, but I have three words for Jack Edwards, Please Stop Talking!  Now I don’t know Jack from Jill, I have met him once and he seems like a nice guy.  And I’m not writing this because I work with Dale, I would write this, or tell him to his face, if I worked with him as well.  Jack, it is TV and we don’t need the overkill of information/chatter/useless information.  If it were the radio, what you’re doing now would be perfect, but it is TV and I don’t need to know the B’s dumped it the 200 feet, I CAN SEE IT.  Also when a player has it on the “half boards” not a big fan of that either.  I guess what I am saying is you are giving us to much stuff, less is more, and stop with the hockey cliche’s.  You have the Remy of hockey sitting next to you, let the guy who played the game talk a little more, in fact a lot more.  Who am I to be telling you this, I am nobody but a fan of the Bruins, love to watch them, but hearing to much is killing me.  It all isn’t bad, I do appreciate the excitement, it shows you care about the Bruins, and when the time calls for it you do a great job at it, its just the down time that I don’t need all the chatter!

Ty Law

Ty, welcome back to the NFL, sorry it is with the Jets.  I, for one, would have loved a reunion with old number 24.  Now we know it wasn’t about the money, a prorated salary of 850,000 vet minimum(which is around 340,000).  It is a great thing for the rivalry, more story lines when these two teams come together.  Thats why the NFL Network is going 5-8 with Pregame!  I love the NFL Network!  If Ty came to the Pats, I think it would have made them more of an option to go to the AFC championship game.  Then came the injury to A.T., plus Rodney and we all know the most important injury, 12.

Meghan!!!!!!!!

My friend Meghan.  Meghan we don’t know each other, but I appreciate you reading and the criticism, as noted above about Jack Edwards, if I can dish it out, I have to be able to take it.  In case you all missed it, Megan sent an email to the show about…well read it for yourself:

CHACH’S EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

John - while I give chach enormous props for truly getting the station ‘blogging’ during spring training this year, I am begging you to PLEASE tell him to stop using an exclamation point to end EVERY sentence. He is adored by us all, I promise you. But please rip the number 1 key from his keyboard for the forseable future so that we can restore some levity to his musings.  - Meghan

Meghan, its my Blog!!! and I’ll Exlamation what I want!!! When I want to!!!  Seriously, thanks for the email and I’ll try to tone it down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Next post.  Again thanks for reading, comments and feedback to sciaccio@weei.com.

Posted by James Stewart

A jammed packed show today as Dale and Michael will have thoughts on the Celtics victory over the Hawks, the Bruins win in Chicago, the Patriots against the Jets tonight in Foxboro and for sure some Red Sox chatter.

Guests on today’s program will be Boston Celtics Guard Ray Allen, Steve Mariucci of the NFL Network and Manny Delcarmen, pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. Go to http://mannyd17.com/ and buy tickets for his “Bowlin’ Strikes for Schools” event on Saturday afternoon. Cheap plug! Check in between 10 and 2 by clicking listen live in the up part of the website.

Posted by Mike Petraglia

Let’s hope that Wednesday night was just the beginning… the beginning of what could be the best rivalry this year in the Eastern Conference. Anyone attending the Cs encounter with the Atlanta Hawks could tell almost immediately that these Hawks, who nearly dashed the Celtics’ hopes last spring in the first round, are no fluke. And those same Celtics fans who were shocked when Marvin Williams hit a three-pointer with 7.4 seconds were were overjoyed when Paul Pierce’s rainbow fell through with half a second to go, handing Atlanta their first loss in seven games and improving Boston to 8-1.

Paul Pierce describes the winning shot.

Pierce said Atlanta is certainly legit.

Kevin Garnett said make way for Superman on the