Terrific 10: Wheeler goes out of his range for winner

Wheeler

The antics of Sean Avery nearly overshadowed what the Boston Bruins accomplished April 4 at home against the New York Rangers.

But while the Rangers’ agitator was up to his usual tricks, Bruins winger Blake Wheeler tried something new to help lift the Bruins to a win that clinched the Bruins the top seed in the Eastern Conference and also earned the No. 7 slot on my list of the Bruins’ top 10 wins of the 2008-09 regular season.

The Bruins knew their showdown with the Rangers would be tight-checking because the teams had played a 1-0 game at the TD Banknorth Garden just two months earlier. At the 9:04 mark of the opening period, Wheeler made sure goaltender Tim Thomas had the offensive support he needed when he let go a slap shot from the right point off a feed from P.J. Axelsson. The puck eluded Rangers star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist for the only goal of the game.

After the contest, everyone joked that Wheeler might have a future at the point on the power play. But no one was joking about Avery, who decided during a TV timeout in the third period to “accidentally” hit Thomas in the head with his stick as he skated toward the Rangers bench and the Bruins’ netminder did some stretching. Th0mas reacted the only way you’d expect, by going after Avery. And the ensuing scrum made for great theatre.

If Avery was trying to throw Thomas off his game, the winger failed. Thomas finished up the third period with 13 of his 31 saves in the 1-0 shutout and the Bruins achieved the second major item on their season-long checklist.