1,500 games into his career, Mark Recchi still feels good.
October 26, 2009, 6:41 PM
By: Matt Kalman
WILMINGTON, Mass. -- So, Mark Recchi, you've just played your 1,500th career NHL regular season game. Do they give you anything for that?
"A kick in the (rear). That's about it," the 41-year-old Recchi responded today after the Bruins practiced at Ristuccia Arena.
Oh, I'm sure somewhere down the line the Bruins will do more to acknowledge the future Hall-of-Fame winger's milestone. For now, all Recchi has to show for his accomplishment is that the Bruins turned his historic night into one that couldl have an asterisk next to it when this season is over, as Boston rallied from two goals down to tie the score and then won a shootout in Ottawa on Saturday. Recchi even scored the goal that cut the lead to one, just his second goal and fourth point of the season.
"I felt good (from the start of the season). So when you feel good, you feel like you're playing good," said Recchi. "Point-wise, you're going to go through stretches like that. And if it happens at the start, it happens at the start."
The Bruins' quirky schedule prevents us from finding out if Recchi is on a scoring roll because the team won't play again until Thursday -- a stretch of four straight non-game days. But when the Bruins as a team are establishing a forecheck and getting pucks to the net from the point, that's when Recchi can thrive. The last few games, the Bruins have done both and Recchi has been able to elevate his play.
Recchi recently received more responsibility to add to his workload. The NHLPA named him as a member of its four-person review committee to investigate the association's entire operation in the aftermath of the firing of executive director Paul Kelly and some dissension in the ranks.
The investigation could be a daunting task, especially in the midst of a season, but Recchi's not worried about it interfering with his on-ice work.
"We'll fit it in. We'll find ways," he said. "Obviously we're all busy, but we'll do some stuff. We're going to make a game plan this week and then go from there."
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Matt Kalman
Matt Kalman covers the Boston Bruins for ESPNBoston.com and is the founder/managing editor of TheBruinsBlog.net. Send any questions for Matt to his mailbag and he might answer them in his Bruins mailbag.
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