In the days and weeks leading up to Wednesday's trade deadline, the Boston Bruins were rumored to be in the mix for defensemen Chris Pronger and Tomas Kaberle, potentially giving the Bruins an intimidating blue line that few teams could match. Instead of selling the farm for such prized assets, general manager Peter Chiarelli opted to bring in the steady veteran hand of Mark Recchi. After failing to show up on the score sheet in his Boston debut on Thursday, Recchi picked up his first two Bruins goals in Saturday's 5-3 win over Chicago.
Recchi opened the scoring for Boston at the 10:19 mark of the first period, and then added his 15th of the season late in the second period to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead.
It was his first two-goal game since December 12, 2007, when he was a member of the Atlanta Thrashers. It was his debut game in Atlanta after being claimed on waivers.
Boston had been struggling entering Saturday's game, having lost nine of their past 12 games, including three in a row. The Bruins raced out to a 4-1 lead before Chicago stormed back in the third period, picking up a pair of goals from Kris Versteeg and Patrick Kane. P.J. Axelsson added an empty net goal in the final minute to seal the win for Boston.
Despite the Bruins recent struggles, they still have a commanding lead over New Jersey and Washington for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, which is a testament to how much they've dominated this season.
While Recchi may not be the impact player a Pronger or Kaberle would have been, he's a nice pickup for a young Bruins team that has little playoff experience. He's won two Stanley Cups, and was a valuable deadline pickup for the Carolina Hurricanes back in 2005-06, registering 16 points in 25 postseason games. Seeing as how he's joining a talented Boston team, it wouldn't really be a shock to see a rejuvenated Recchi make a similar impact this year.
Chicago, meanwhile, had its modest two-game winning streak snapped, losing for the fourth time in its past six games.
