Newest Bruins Help Boston Continue Their Point-Streak (9-0-5 in last 14) vs. Carolina With OT Win

Franchise center Patrice Bergeron is out indefinitely with a small fracture in his right foot and the Bruins (38-15-8) had dropped their last two games of a disappointing 2-3 road trip so they returned to the Hub with a growing sense of frustration and perhaps a small dose of doubt as they come down the stretch in the regular season. Boston was greeted by their longest homestand of the season (6 games) and despite spotting Carolina (27-25-11) an early 3-1 lead in the first period at TD Garden, they managed to rally for a much-needed 4-3 overtime victory thanks to Charlie McAvoy's game-winning goal at 1:08 (his 7th goal of the season, assisted by Riley Nash).

It was a great night for some of the new guys as well with Tommy Wingels bagging a goal and assist in his Bruins debut while Rick Nash also scored a goal (his 1st as a Bruin) in his first home game for the Black and Yellow. The two points coupled with Toronto's (39-20-6) overtime loss at Florida (28-25-6) brought Boston back within a point of second-place in the Atlantic Division. The Leafs own 85 points and the B's have 84 points but Boston still has a whopping five games in hand over Toronto so that's something to bank on. The Bruins trail the Lightning (43-17-3) by five points with only two games in hand so that'll be much more of a challenge to ultimately overcome this spring.

The first period was about as good as it gets in a professional hockey game as the two teams combined for five goals including a pair on the power play (both for Carolina) and a tally with 2.9 seconds left in the frame. Brock McGinn gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead at 10:01 after he batted in a loose puck on the man advantage, Jeff Skinner and Justin Faulk had the assists on his 11th goal of the season. It only took Rick Nash two games into his Bruins career to find the scoresheet (he hit a post in Buffalo in Sunday's forgettable 4-1 loss) with a memorable goal-his 800th career NHL point-that tied it at one. His new linemates David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk provided the helpers on his 19th goal of the season overall at 11:41. After a turnover, Krejci found Nash wide open and he wasn't going to miss from there with Scott Darling (28 saves, 10-16-7) between the pipes.

The Bruins couldn't stay out of the box as David Pastrnak was nabbed for a high-sticking double-minor (4 minutes) and Carolina made them pay as Teuvo Teravainen went top shelf on Tuukka Rask (29 saves, 25-11-4) for a 2-1 Hurricanes lead. Faulk and Victor Rask had the assists on Teravainen's 16th goal of the season. An ugly defensive breakdown led to Sebastian Aho being all alone so Carolina's top scorer doubled his team's lead at 19:04. Teravainen and Derek Ryan assisted on Aho's 22nd goal of the season. Boston got a big boost from Riley Nash's goal at 19:57 which was the result of great patience by him to wait out Darling for a backhander and a killer forecheck by Wingels that started the whole sequence. Torey Krug somehow received a secondary assist (maybe his dad was tonight's official scorer?) on Riley's 11th goal of the season.

As you would expect, things slowed down considerably in the second period. Wingels tied it up with a snipe of his own at 5:34. DeBrusk and McAvoy assisted on his eighth goal of the season, congrats to the former Worcester Sharks legend. Carolina outshot Boston 15-12 in the second period and each club put up eight shots on goal in the third period. McAvoy's goal was the only shot on goal for either team in overtime. You'd be hard-pressed to find two worse overtime teams in the league, coming into this tilt Boston was 2-6 in the extra session while Carolina was 2-7. Keep in mind that Boston's mini-losing streak was nothing compared to the annual second-half tailspin for the Canes who have now lost six games in a row. If I know the Hurricanes though, they'll probably go on a crazy run right at the end but come up like a point or two short of the second Wild Card spot in the East.

The Bruins needed these two points for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that mighty Pittsburgh (36-24-4) is up next on Thursday (7, NESN). As expected, the Penguins' midseason slump was just a mirage as they have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL for weeks (7-2-1 in their last 10 games after Tuesday's 3-2 loss to New Jersey). Boston-Pittsburgh is a playoff series that could very well become reality once again this spring and Thursday's matchup promises to provide a great atmosphere at the Garden (kudos to tonight's crowd that was much better than you'd expect for any game involving Carolina). The Penguins are still the defending two-time Stanley Cup champs so until further notice, they remain the team to beat in both the Eastern Conference and around the entire league. Haha please, I beg of you Hockey Gods, no Pittsburgh three-peat. It doesn't have to be the Bruins (although that would be hunky dory), just anyone but Sidney Crosby and the Pens.

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At 20-2-4 In The Last 26 Games: You Can't Stop the Bruins, You Can Only Hope to Contain Them

It's tough to guess how long this will last for but at this moment, it is time to embrace the fact that your Boston Bruins (35-12-8) are the best team in the NHL. What does this mean on Valentine's Day? Well nothing tangible but as they rack up all these wins (8-2-0 in their last 10 games) and own the best goal-differential in the league (+52), the expectations for what they can ultimately do this spring (which is all that really ever matters) likewise start to burst at the seams. Calgary (29-20-8) is a good team from the rugged Pacific Division that is fighting for every point that they can get just to sneak into the Western Conference playoffs. Boston spotted them an early 2-1 lead in the first period tonight at TD Garden but proceeded to reel off four straight goals en route to the somewhat misleading 5-2 victory.

Calgary's usual starting goaltender Mike Smith (23-16-6) got hurt in Sunday's 3-2 win against the Islanders (27-25-6) which meant that something named David Rittich (5-2-2) blessed us with his presence. I was hoping to see PC's own Jon Gillies (recently called up from the minors) between the pipes for the Flames but alas it wasn't meant to be. For awhile, this nameless character stood on his head (35 saves) as Boston scored first 28 seconds into the contest then tied it at two late in the second period. The Flames are the second-best road team in the league (16-7-5; behind the Bruins of course) but they predictably fell apart in the third period as the B's improved to 19-7-4 at the Garden.

Riley Nash and Patrice Bergeron both scored a pair of goals for the home team while David Backes (who moved up to the top line after David Pastrnak was temporarily demoted for his silly slashing penalty) had two assists. Nash gave the B's the 1-0 lead right off the bat by putting in a pass from Backes. Matt Grzelcyk had the second assist on Nash's ninth goal of the season. Grzelcyk returned the favor by coughing up the puck a few minutes later, leading to an easy tally for Calgary's Sam Bennett (his 8th of the season), assisted by Brown alum and Maine native Garnet Hathaway. It was a big night for local college hockey products since BC's Johnny Gaudreau gave the Flames their only lead of the entire game at 9:12 of the first period. Tuukka Rask (28 saves; 23-9-4) made two saves before Johnny Hockey was there to deposit a rebound for his 19th goal of the season (7-game point streak). Did you know that Gaudreau is the second-leading scorer in the league? I'd say that he's been a great pro thus far in his young professional career North of the border.

Nash tied his career-high with his 10th goal of the year at 16:20 of the second (he also had 10 for the Hurricanes in 2013-14). Tim Schaller and Charlie McAvoy assisted on the pretty goal for the Bruins who doubled up the Flames for shots on goal (16-8) in that frame. Bergeron is putting together the best season that he's ever had in his storied career so it was only fitting that he potted a power-play goal 1:15 into the third. Torey Krug had the stretch pass that sprung him on the breakaway that resulted in his 26th goal of 2017-18. A little over eight minutes later, he gave Boston a two-goal lead which basically equals curtains for the opponent. Bergeron tipped in a shot from Brad Marchand with Backes picking up the other helper. Zdeno Chara put the proverbial cherry on top of this delicious black and gold sundae with a 200-foot empty netter for his sixth goal of the season.

The Bruins' next home game isn't for two weeks (Feb. 27 vs. Carolina) so it was nice to see them head off on their long journey with another two points in their travel bags. Who knows, they could have a new player or two (pray that it's Rangers stud defenseman Ryan McDonagh) by the time that they get back to town since the NHL Trade Deadline is on February 26. Their upcoming five-game road trip doesn't begin until Saturday night (10, NESN) in Vancouver (22-28-6). From there, they work their way back from Western Canada with a President's Day matinee (4, NESN) in Calgary on Monday followed by a visit to Edmonton (23-28-4) the next night (9, NESN). They are in Toronto (34-19-5) on Saturday (7, NESN), February 24 and the road trip mercifully ends in Buffalo (17-30-10) on Sunday (5, NESN). Who needs to go to the West Coast or down South in the middle of the winter when you can go to all of these lovely places?

Tampa Bay (38-16-3) surprisingly lost 5-3 in Buffalo this evening which leaves Boston just one point behind the Lightning for the best record in the NHL with two games in hand. Vegas (37-15-4) still paces the Western Conference with Nashville (34-12-9) a point behind the Golden Knights for the best record in the West. Think about it: this is the lofty company that the Bruins currently keeps. The postseason remains off in the distance (still 2 months away) but this stuff has to be noted while we pass the time through the marathon that is known as an NHL regular season. The Celtics (40-18) rightfully got plenty of attention for the early part of their season as they were the best team in the Eastern Conference. Now that they have come back to Earth a bit-dropping to second in the East behind Toronto (40-16)-you can reasonably conclude that the B's actually present more of a threat in terms of championship contention this summer in their respective sport. This is something to keep in mind while you figure out which team to devote more of your precious attention to the rest of the way.

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Bruins Finally Solve the Maple Leafs, Thanks In No Small Part to Their Ageless Captain Zdeno Chara

Right now, there probably isn't a team in the NHL that the Bruins (31-11-8) should be fearful of. I say that with tonight's 4-1 win vs. Toronto (30-19-5) at TD Garden still within sight of their rear-view mirror. The B's had been winless in their last six games with the Leafs (0-5-1) including losses on back-to-back nights in November. That was then and this is now as the Bruins are a remarkable 16-1-4 in their previous 21 contests. What's more, Tuukka Rask (18-0-2) extended his own point streak to 20 games while he works his way up the franchise list (still the 4th best mark in team history) for goaltenders.

There was more historical context to this regular season meeting as Bruins captain Zdeno Chara played in his 1400th career NHL game. Tomorrow will most likely be all about Tom Brady (who picked up yet another NFL MVP award this evening) but the Black and Yellow 40-year-old has proven over and over that he still has plenty left in his super-sized frame. He was a game-high +2 vs. Toronto, skated a game-high 24:00, had an assist, five hits and he blocked two shots. What is the Slovakian translation for "are you not entertained?" I know that many Bruins fans (not to mention radio hosts, cough cough Felger) had begun to write him off years ago but what can you say now when he's still performing at such a high level-he should have been an All-Star last weekend in Tampa?

Boston had it's 18-game point streak (14-0-4) snapped on Tuesday in their 3-1 loss to Anaheim (25-18-10) but since then, they've immediately bounced back with a solid 3-1 victory against St. Louis (32-19-3) on Thursday followed by this strong performance versus the only club that can realistically catch them for second-place in the Atlantic Division. The two points means that they are five points ahead of Toronto with four games in hand. After allowing the first goal in eight straight games, the B's have begun to make things easier on themselves by striking first on Thursday and tonight. Patrice Bergeron hammered in a pass from Danton Heinen at 4:29 of the first period. That play started after a ferocious forecheck by the rookie led to a turnover by the Maple Leafs (they had 12 more than the Bruins in the entire tilt). Bergeron's goal was his team-leading 22nd of the season, Brad Marchand has 21 but one game remains on his suspension.

It was a great sight to see Charlie McAvoy back on the ice since he missed the last four games following a heart procedure. He was noticeably rusty as you would expect, never more so than when Mitch Marner's shot (that was going wide of the net) was deflected in by McAvoy's stick. Tuukka Rask (23 saves in his 21st win of the season) consoled him after the play and it was knotted at one after the first period. Boston used a pair of power play tallies in the second period to take control of things: David Pastrnak's shot slipped by Frederik Andersen (26 saves) at 9:22 and Torey Krug smoked a one-timer at 16:47 for the 3-1 Bruins lead. Pastrnak's goal was his 21st of the season, assisted by Krug and Heinen. Krug's eighth goal of the season featured helpers by Austin Czarnik (making his first appearance for Boston since Nov. 8) and David Krejci.

Boston outshot Toronto 30-24 and while the Leafs owned the third (10-6), the B's still potted the only goal in the final frame-an empty-netter by Tim Schaller that was assisted by Rask (!) and Chara. These are heady times for the Bruins since they have the second most points in the Eastern Conference (trailing only Tampa Bay) and fourth most in the NHL (Winnipeg and Vegas are also in front of them) which is sort of mind-blowing. Nobody wants to be the Washington Capitals-regular season heroes that turn into pumpkins every spring in the playoffs-and Boston is showing early signs of what should be a tough out in the postseason. Tonight felt like a game that you'd see in April or May, not early February and these teams will meet one more time in the regular season (Feb. 24 in Toronto) and perhaps again when it really counts. The B's have been great at the Garden (18-6-4) and also very good on the road (13-5-4) which should come in handy with a back-loaded second half schedule.

The Bruins visit two struggling teams in the East this week that currently sit outside the playoff picture: they are in Detroit (21-22-8) on Tuesday (7:30, NESN) followed by a back-to-back at the Rangers (25-21-5) the next night (8, NBC Sports). The next home game is a week from tonight (7, NESN) vs. wretched Buffalo (14-29-9). Since he's in such a groove and because the Red Wings are in the Atlantic Division, I'm betting that Rask will get the start in Motown and then Anton Khudobin appears on Broadway. As New England sports fans, we are insanely lucky these days: the Patriots could win their sixth Super Bowl tomorrow night, the Celtics are the best team in the Eastern Conference (and they seem like the only team in the East capable of pushing the Warriors in a potential NBA Finals) and the Bruins are the hottest team in the NHL. Go Pats!

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