(Originally posted on 4SportBoston.com )
I don’t remember NESN putting as much hype into the return of Joe Thornton a few years back as they did into these past two games featuring Phil Kessel back at the Garden, but the network seemed to be having fun with the aura surrounding the game.
I will tell you one person who didn’t have any fun, and that was old Phil the Thrill himself. The totals after two games in Beantown over the past six days? Zero goals, zero assists, zero points, two shots, and a -3.
Stretches like that happen in hockey, but for Kessel, the big bagel came at a very inopportune time, as he was back in front of packed barns on Causeway Street thirsty for his failure.
Those fans got what they paid for on Saturday as Kessel was a non-factor all night, except for when his no-effort, no-thinking pass off the half-boards landed square on Zdeno Chara’s stick for a bomb from the point to extend the Bruins’ lead. A great play in 2008 by Kessel. This year, not so much.
Thursday night, Kessel wasn’t as much of a direct factor in the game, more of a space-filler. That was just fine for Bruins fans, as they st ...
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Article written by 4 Sport Boston
Five Minute Major: Kesselmania II
December 11th, 2009 by 4 Sport Boston Leave a reply »
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