Just a few weeks earlier, Matt Hunwick’s backhander hits the crossbar instead of finding the space between the goalie’s shoulder and the top of the net.

A few weeks earlier Alex Goligoski’s third period weird angle shot off the end boards careens off the right post and angles itself into a net vacated by Tim Thomas.

And a few weeks earlier, instead of an empty net goal, Patrice Bergeron misfires on an oddly bouncing puck and Pittsburgh collects it and scores in the last 30 seconds on an empty net power play.

But all three of those breaks went for the Bruins and not against them on Tuesday night as they beat the defending Stanley Cup champs, 3-0, at TD Garden, giving the Bruins consecutive wins for the first time this season.

Here’s an audio sample from a happy/relieved Bruins dressing room.

Tim Thomas said back-to-back wins feels great finally.

Thomas said the Bruins’ defense has been solid in the last two weeks.

Thomas said the team is focused on a getting a winning rhythm.

Thomas said the B’s deserved some good luck on the puck that scooted across the goal.

Daniel Paille said it was great to contribute to the win with his first goal. Read the rest of this entry »

Tim Thomas gets the call in net tonight for the Bruins while the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins counter with Marc-Andre Fleury.

Center David Krejci is taking part in warmups and is expected to make his return after missing the last two games with H1N1 virus.

After missing practice on Monday, Michael Ryder is available tonight for the B’s.

Tuukka Rask gets his fifth start of the season between the pipes tonight for the Bruins as they host the Buffalo Sabres at TD Garden. Rask is 2-1-1 this season in his four previous games with a 2.41 goals against.

The Sabres, who lost on Friday night at home to Philadelphia, counter with 21-year-old rookie Jhonas Enroth, who is making his NHL debut in net for the first-place Sabres.

The Bruins, with 14 points, trail the Sabres by five points in the Northeast Division.

Say this much for Bruins head coach Claude Julien – he’s not looking for sympathy.

In the opening month of the season, he has lost his leading playmaker Marc Savard, his leading tough guy in Milan Lucic and now, David Krejci, one of his most skilled young forwards has been diagnosed with the H1N1 virus.

Add to that the team’s power play is dead last among the 30 NHL clubs and you have a team that is having a hard time scoring. How hard? Try 192 minutes, six seconds without lighting the lamp between Vladimir Sobotka’s tally on Saturday and Patrice Bergeron’s game-tying goal with 51.7 seconds to go on Thursday.

Still, the Bruins had to settle for just the one point as the trio of Blake Wheeler, Bergeron and Mark Recchi could not solve Carey Price in the shootout and fell 2-1 to the Montreal Canadiens.

Claude Julien said no one will feel sorry for the Bruins.

Julien said Bergeron deserved a star Thursday as Boston’s best player.

Montreal’s Carey Price said he could tell Bruins were desperate to score.

Tim Thomas said the Bruins couldn’t get discouraged when the Bergeron goal was disallowed in the second period.

Patrice Bergeron said the Bruins had to keep going, even after disallowed goal.

Bergeron said this is one step forward for the Bruins.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli addressed the media prior to Thursday’s game with Montreal and explained why the club decided to sign goaltender Tuukka Rask to a two-year contract extension through the 2011-12 season.

Chiarelli said they have seen steady improvement from Rask since they drafted him from Finland.

Chiarelli said veteran Tim Thomas is still the team’s No. 1 and a great role model for the 22-year-old Rask.

Chiarelli explained the origin and motivation of the Rask contract talks.

More from the team release below:

Rask has appeared in nine NHL games in his career  - all with the Bruins – and has registered a 5-2-2 record, 2.43 Goals Against Average, .917 save percentage and two shutouts. He has played in four games this year for the Bruins and has posted a 2-1-1 record, 2.41 GAA and .920 save percentage. He is coming off a 2-0 shutout win of the Edmonton Oilers in his last start on October 31.

Rask made his NHL debut for the Bruins on November 20, 2007 against the Toronto Maple Leafs and recorded his first NHL victory in that game. He spent the majority of the last two seasons in the American Hockey League with the Providence Bruins where he had a 60-33-6 record and five shutouts in 102 appearances. He opened the season on an NHL roster for the first time in his career this year.

The 6’2’’, 171-pound native of Savolinna, Finland played two seasons in the Finnish Elite League before coming to North America in 2007 and he has represented Team Finland in three World Junior Championships.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli addressed the media prior to Thursday night’s game against Montreal announced the club’s medical staff has confirmed a diagnosis of H1N1 for David Krejci.

Based on Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommendations, Krejci will be isolated from the rest of the team until he is symptom and fever free for 24 hours.

Chiarelli said the team is taking all precautions to ensure that facilities are kept sanitized.

Chiarelli said the team is taking this diagnosis very seriously.

Chiarelli admitted this adds to a very frustrating time for a team trying to find it’s early season rhythm.

Tim Thomas was disappointed like everyone else hoping the Bruins, not the Devils, would score late and pull out a two-pointer on Thursday night against the Devils.

But the puck fell behind him with 1:26 remaining in the third period, and Dainius Zubrus was there, more than willing to scoop up the spare change and flick the puck into the vacant net behind the Bruins netminder for the winning goal in New Jersey’s 2-1 win.

So there was no miracle finish like last Saturday night, when the Bruins scored two extra-attacker goals in the final two minutes against Ottawa, winning in a shootout. Despite the loss, however, Thomas insisted that there was plenty of reason for optimism on the ice.

“The direction we’ve been playing in the past few games is the right direction,” Thomas said. “And we’re getting effort and getting people moving their legs and we’re getting guys playing physical and we’re getting going toward the net so we’re doing lots of good things. Read the rest of this entry »