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After scoring his 570th career goal with just 19.7 seconds remaining
 in regulation against the Lightning last night, Mark Recchi and the
Bruins are back in first place in the Northeast Division. 

Beginning a long and arduous road trip that has the Bruins playing five games in just eight days, the Black and Gold opened up the first two legs of their journey in supreme style Monday and Tuesday night, sweeping a double dip in Florida against the Panthers and Lightning, respectively. And, while Boston enjoys a much needed day off on Wednesday after playing two games in as many nights, the Bruins must prepare for a rematch with the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday, then face the Sabres and Maple Leafs before returning home January 6th to host the Minnesota Wild.

The good news: with back-to-back victories over Florida and Tampa Bay, the Bruins leapfrog the Montreal Canadiens to take sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division, improving their overall record to 20-11-4 on the young season.

Kicking off the road trip, the B's came from behind not once but twice to defeat the Panthers 3-2 in a shootout Monday night. Once again, it was the stellar play of Tim Thomas between the pipes that paced the Bruins, as the former Vezina Trophy winner finished with 32 saves, including several of the highlight reel variety. Offensively, it was a coming out party of sorts for the Bruins' gifted Czech centerman David Krejci. After falling behind 1-0 just over a minute into the second period, Krejci tied the game some eight minutes later when he backhanded home a rebound bid past Panthers' goaltender and former Boston College netminder Scott Clemmensen.

However, Florida bounced back to reclaim the lead at 2-1 later in the period on a questionable call after David Santorelli deflected a Michal Frolik shot from the point past Thomas. It appeared Santorelli's deflection came from a high-stick but, after video replay, the goal stood due to inconclusive evidence to prove otherwise. Nevertheless, the Bruins battled back to tie the score once again when Krejci took a beautiful feed from linemate Blake Wheeler and beat Clemmensen for his second goal of game midway through the third period.

The 2-2 stalemate would remain through overtime until Blake Wheeler scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Bruins a gritty 3-2 victory. The story of the game was Boston's unstoppable third line, the recently reunited trio of Krejci centering Wheeler and Michael Ryder. While Krejci scored a pair of goals, Ryder added a pair of assists and Wheeler chipped in with an assist as well as the game winning shootout goal.

Riding the momentum of Monday night's victory, the Bruins quickly jumped out to a 1-0 lead over the Lightning Tuesday night when Ryder put home a rebound on the power play just 28 seconds into regulation. However, in a back and forth affair, Lightning sniper Steven Stamkos tied the game 1-1 with his 29th goal of the season nearly six minutes later.

Displaying their resiliency, the Bruins reclaimed the lead with a milestone goal early in the second period. Catching a beautiful cross-ice feed from Marc Savard with his left skate, Bruins rookie defenseman Steve Kampfer quickly corralled the puck then fired it past Tampa Bay goaltender Dan Ellis for his first career NHL goal. The assist for Savard also marked his 700th career NHL point.

After goals by Vincent Lecavalier, the Bruins' Brad Marchard and former University of Vermont star Martin St. Louis, the contest looked destined for overtime with the score knotted up at 3-3.

Not so.

With just under two minutes remaining in regulation, Bruins' fourth line center Gregory Campbell was crushed from behind into the boards on what looked to be a vicious, yet clean hit from Stamkos. However, the referees called Stamkos for boarding, giving Boston a crucial power play with time winding down. Taking supreme advantage, the ageless wonder known as Mark Recchi took a feed from Patrice Bergeron and snuck home a wrist shot past Ellis with just 19.7 seconds remaining to give the Bruins the victory. For the 42-year-old Recchi, it was his 570th career goal and 1506th career point, putting him in 20th and 13th place on the all-time list, respectively.

Less than two weeks ago, it appeared Bruins coach Claude Julien was on the hotseat after his team slipped to 1-3-1 during a five game stretch. Now, the Bruins have won three in a row and look a lot like a team that can do some serious damage in the playoffs.