The Bruins’ winger scored goals in both the first and third period, and he added an assist on a Milan Lucic third period goal, as Boston cruised to the 6-2 win over the New York Islanders.  Horton entered the game with only five points in his previous 12 games, but his most recent effort has upped his total to four goals and four assist on the season, and it also earns him “The Stat Line of the Night” for Monday, November 7, 2011.

During the first television timeout of the game, a video montage of Horton appeared on the jumbotron.  Moments later Horton was shown standing at the zamboni entrance waving a yellow towel and urging the crowd and his teammates to get fired up.  It worked.

The Bruins will now travel to Vancouver for Game 7, and there will be no video montages of Horton to motivate them this time around, but you can bet that the injured Bruins forward will still be on the minds of his teammates.  Will that be enough to get Boston their first road win in the Finals and their first Stanley Cup since 1972?  We’ll find that out on Wednesday night.

In the meantime, here is a look at Horton’s inspirational jumbotron appearance.

Hat Tip – [Barstool Sports]

Some of that interest may have to do with the fact that Boston was able to win their first game of the series by an 8-1 score, cutting Vancouver’s series lead to 2-1, but most of it likely has to do with the crushing hit delivered by Aaron Rome on Nathan Horton, which will force the Bruins’ forward to miss the remainder of the playoffs, and may have the same effect on the Canucks’ defenseman after the league decides on the length of a suspension.

Just over five minutes into the first period, Horton carried the puck through the neutral zone and dished it off to linemate Milan Lucic.  Seconds later, he was crushed by Aarone Rome at the Canucks blueline.  Horton remained on the ice motionless for several minutes before being stretchered off the ice and taken to a local hospital.

Near the end of the first period, the players and fans in the TD Gardens were informed via the jumbotron that Horton was alert and able to move his extremities.  That seemed to give the Bruins players a sense of relief going into the dressing room for the first intermission, and they came out looking like a different team in the second, as they scored four goals in the period, and added another four in the third, en route to the 8-1 victory.

For those who don’t remember, it was a questionable hit by the Canucks’ Raffi Torres on the Blackhawks’ Brent Seabrook that sparked the Chicago’s rally from 3-0 down to tie their first-round series at 3-3 earlier in this year’s playoffs.  However, the Canucks went on to win Game 7 in overtime.

With last night’s loss, it appears as though another dirty hit by a Canucks player has helped ignite the opposition.  Boston will look to use Rome’s hit as motivation going forward, while the Canucks will want to redeem themselves following the embarrassing beating they endured on the scoreboard last night.

Yes, things have certainly become interesting once again in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals.  It appears as though we now have a series on our hands.  Could this hit by Rome on Horton be the turning point?

Nathan Horton

Horton got caught up in a heated scrum with some Lightning players just seconds after Tampa had sealed the 5-4 victory, but when the referees finally intervened and sent the players on their way, he turned his attention to the Lightning fans.

While making their way to the dressing room, Horton witnessed fellow teammate David Krejci get hit in the head with a noisemaker, before taking matters into his own hands and hosing down a few of the rowdy Lightning fans with a water bottle.  Horton could receive a fine for the incident, which wasn’t caught on television, but was recorded on a fan’s cell phone.

As for the Lightning fans, if they thought this was bad, they will be happy to hear that Rick Rypien will not be in the Vancouver Canucks lineup during the Stanley Cup Finals, should they make it there in the first place.

Here is a look a Horton’s water bottle incident at the conclusion of Game 6.

And here is a closer look at David Krejci getting hit in the hear with a noisemaker.

Two of those players showed off their versatility last night as Nathan Horton delivered a knockout punch in a fight with the Oilers’ Theo Peckham, while Milan Lucic dropped the gloves with Jim Vandermeer in a bout that was worthy of our “Frozen Fisticuffs Fight of the Night” for Sunday, February 27, 2011.

Here is a look at the Lucic vs. Vandermeer fight, followed by Horton’s one-punch.

A inside source of TPS has identified that their is a possibility that Jay Bouwmeester and Nathan Horton of the Florida Panthers could be traded any day now to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Tomas Kaberle a draft pick and either of 3 options in Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin or Jiri Tlusty.

A second rumor has also surfaced during the All Star weekend that Leafs prospect Justin Pogge is on the trading block and can be traded for JS Giguere of the Anaheim Ducks or Niklas Backstrom of the Minnesota Wild.

These both would be an interesting trades and possibly excellent moves for the Leafs who would be able to fill their needs with talented young players.  The only problem with trading Pogge is that the Leafs would then have 2 starting high priced goalies on their roster.  If this trade does happen you can expect Vesa Toskala to also be traded.

We’ll just have to wait and see if these rumors actually come to fruition.

4.  Florida Panthers Season Preview

Bit of a drop after finishing 3rd last year, but that has more to do with the improved Lightning than the moves made by the Panthers.

Florida will be leaning heavily on young guys Nathan Horton, Stephen Weiss and Rostislav Olesz to put the puck in the net for them this year. Cory Stillman, Radek Dvorak and Richard Zednik will also be relied upon to put up some points as the veterans up front. Anthony Stewart will look to make an impact this season and solidify himself as a top power forward in the making.

Their defence isn’t great, but it isn’t that bad either. Bryan Allen, Keith Ballard, Nick Boynton, Cory Murphy and Karlis Skrastins are all legitimate defenceman and decent options. Bryan McCabe and Jay Bouwmeester will be looked upon to lead the offensive charge from the blueline.

In net the Panthers are pretty well set with Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson.

They have great goaltending from Vokoun and have a good defence, but aside from Horton their young forwards aren’t ready to make that push towards contention yet.