(Photo: Bridget Samuels) Bergeron's shootout winner helped the Bruins move to 7-1 on the season in the shootout

Many hockey fans out there — myself included — are not huge fans of the shootout. The Boston Bruins on the other hands, are fans — very big fans in fact.

After today’s 4-3 shootout win over the Nashville Predators, the Bruins are now 7-1 in the shootout on the 2011-12 NHL season.

Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored the only two goals in the shootout helping the Bruins bounce back from their worst loss of the season against the Buffalo Sabres Wednesday night.

Today’s tilt was a highly entertaining game that, quite frankly, the Bruins dominated for the most part. But the pesky play of the Preds, and the tremendous goaltending from Pekka Rinne, kept Nashville in it.

Seguin got things going for the Bruins with a beauty of a move in the shootout.

“I had Krech’s [David Krejci] shootout there to look at, and one think I noticed right away was he [Pekka Pinne] was coming out pretty far” said Seguin. “So I knew when I was going up to do it I wanted to slow down after I gave up some speed, when I first got the puck to kind of let him out and when I got close, make a few moves and it worked out.”

After another save from Tim Thomas, Bergeron ended it in a big way. Even though the Bruins have a great record in the shootout, head coach Claude Julien can give or take the shootout.

“If I had a choice, I would prefer that we don’t have it because I’m still of the opinion that a hard-fought tied game is a hard-fought tied game. It’s worth a lot. And it would certainly eliminate these three-point games” said Julien. “But at the same time, sometimes you get into a game where you could be a last-place team, and you’re playing a top team, and you’re on the road, and you’ve got a tie. And for that team, it’s a win, but at the end, the individual talent takes over, and that’s how it’s decided. But having said that, I’m OK with it as well. That’s what the league wants, that’s what the fans want. We’re in the entertainment business, and you have to respect that, and if that’s what they want, it’s the same playing field for everybody.”

The seven shootout wins for the Bruins now ties them for second in the NHL in shootout wins with three other teams. The B’s are back at it Tuesday night when they host the Eastern Conference leaders, New York Rangers.