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Kessel scores twice, propels Bruins past Blackhawks

Oct 26, 2007 - 3:10 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Phil Kessel may have been selected two spots after Jonathan Toews in the 2006 draft, but Kessel got the better of him on Thursday.

Kessel, the fifth overall pick last year, scored two goals as the Boston Bruins defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1, in a battle of "Original Six" teams.

With the game tied at 1-1 and 14:09 remaining in the second period, Kessel used his considerable speed to gain control of the puck at center ice. After breezing past defenseman Magnus Johansson, Kessel beat goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin with a forehand shot to give the Bruins the advantage.

"A little inside-out (move), and I was fortunate to beat a good goalie," Kessel said.

"Kessel is a good player, pretty shifty, and once you cross your feet, it is pretty tough to recover," Chicago coach Denis Savard said.

Kessel's speed also was on display on his first goal, which opened the scoring at 2:08 of the second. The 20-year-old outskated former Bruin Sergei Samsonov down the wing, stopped at the right faceoff circle and beat Khabibulin to give Boston a 1-0 edge.

"I just got lucky, I guess," Kessel said. "I was trying to use (Samsonov) as a screen there, but I didn't really see it go in, so I was fortunate."

Kessel has five goals and two assists this season after netting just 11 tallies with 18 assists as a rookie in 2006-07.

Toews, the third overall pick in the 2006 draft, continued his impressive play by answering on the power play at 5:13 of the period.

Toews, who has registered a point in every game he has played this season, had possession of the puck in the right circle. With no attractive outlets, the rookie blasted a shot that beat netminder Tim Thomas just under the crossbar to tie the game at 1-1.

"We feel that a couple of bounces our way (and) the outcome could have been different," Toews said. "We have to move on and keep doing the things we have been doing."

The goal was the fourth of the season for Toews, who missed the first two games of the campaign with a broken finger.

"From start to finish, we were strong," Savard said. "We got beat on two 1-on-1s, as simple as that on their goals, and that made the difference.

"If our players continue to play the way we did tonight, we are going to get lots of wins."

Seven minutes into the third period, Glen Metropolit scored his first goal of the season to give the Bruins a 3-1 bulge.

Defenseman Aaron Ward fed Metropolit, who quickly shifted from his backhand to his forehand in the slot and wristed a shot over Khabibulin's glove.

"It is always nice to score," Metropolit said. "That third goal kind of helps us a bit, up 2-1. They were playing hard against us and coming with momentum, and I was happy to get a goal, my first one."

Khabibulin finished with 15 saves, while Thomas stopped 26 shots.

"Timmy again was very good tonight," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "He is still the same goaltender that we have seen since day one, a goaltender that battles and a goaltender that competes, and he has certainly given us some big games."

While blue-liner Zdeno Chara did not factor in the scoring, he may have given the sparse crowd at the TD Banknorth Garden the biggest thrill of the night.

Boston's captain, Chara challenged Chicago enforcer David Koci to a fight midway through the first period. Koci was game, but Chara re-broke the left wing's nose and opened a pronounced wound before officials jumped in to stop the battle.

"It is just part of the game," Chara said. "He was going hard to the net and I was doing my job and protecting the crease and the goalie. Things like that happen."

Koci, who had broken his nose last week in an exchange with Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Wade Belak, went directly to the locker room and did not return.

It was Chara's first fight as a member of the Bruins. The towering Slovakian signed with the team in July 2006.

"That was months, if not a year, of tension and frustration," Ward said. "Unfortunately, that young man (Koci) bore the brunt of the emotion that Z had pent up there."