Michael Ryder has quickly progressed to one of the hottest players on one of the hottest teams in the NHL today.
Along with Phil Kessel, Michael Ryder led the way in Boston’s 4-2 victory tonight. Ryder scored 2 pretty goals, and nearly had an empty-netter, but time expired shortly before the puck went into the net.
The Bruins first goal came during their first power play of the game, when strong moves by Milan Lucic behind the net, and David Krejci on the near circle, fed a wide open Phil Kessel in front. Johan Hedberg made a terrific stop on Kessel’s first shot, but the youngster immediately collected the rebound and buried the buck between the goalie’s pads before the Atlanta defense could respond.
After Ryder scored on his backhand to make it 2-0, Atlanta managed to score with less than 40 seconds left in the 1st period, when the Bruins turned the puck over in their own end, and with traffic in front, Nathan Oystrick buried the puck from the blue line by a defenseless Manny Fernandez.
Fighting through sloppy play in the second period, both teams managed to increase the intensity, with the Bruins finally capitalizing on the power play at 18:16 of the second period. After cycling the puck for only a few seconds, Dennis Wideman fired a shot from the point and found the twine by a screened Hedberg.
The third period similarly started slow for the Bruins, while Atlanta carried the play for the first few minutes. The Bruins weathered this storm however, and during a stretch of 4-on-4 play Michael Ryder carried the puck along the left boards and carried it past two defenders, and fired the puck into a wide-open net as Hedberg had sprawled in an attempt to clear the puck off Ryder’s stick.
With slightly over two minutes left in the game, former Bruin, and BC star, Marty Reasoner, fired a puck from the slot and rifled it off the left post and in past a helpless Fernandez.
The Bruins are now 9 points ahead of rival Montreal, who sit in 2nd place with 37 points, 5 points ahead of Buffalo in 3rd.
