B's Save What Otherwise Was A Rough 24 Hours for Boston Sports Fans With a 3-2 Win vs. Buffalo

The Celtics (22-8) getting waxed 113-97 last night at TD Garden by the Raptors (22-11)-only their second home loss this season and revenge for their beating in Toronto on Christmas-was one thing but seeing the Patriots (12-4) crap themselves this afternoon at Gillette Stadium and falling 27-24 to the hapless Dolphins (5-11) thereby throwing away a bye and the No. 2 seed in the AFC playoffs was downright shocking. Nobody nationally will ever feel bad for Boston sports fans with the unmatched run of success that all of our teams have had in the past few decades but at least locally, we needed a win. Thankfully, the Bruins (24-7-9) were happy to oblige with one of their favorite longtime punching bags-the Sabres (17-16-7)-in town. It was harder than it had to be but Boston held on for a 3-2 win, their third in a row overall and second in three days vs. Buffalo.

The Bruins improved to 3-0 vs. the Sabres this season with sadly only one more meeting left: March 13 in Buffalo. Additionally, the B's built their Atlantic Division lead back to double-digit points, in this case 10 points ahead of second-place Toronto (21-14-5) just one game away from exactly halfway through the regular season. Boston coasted to a 3-0 victory in Buffalo on Friday thanks to the 50th career NHL shutout of Jaroslav Halak's (9-3-4) career. This evening, Tuukka Rask (15-4-5, 24 saves) got the start and while he wasn't as sharp as Halak had been, he still managed to outduel Linus Ullmark (11-10-3, 19 saves) who oddly enough played in both games while backup goaltender Carter Hutton rotted on the bench.

It was a strange game for the B's who are now 14-1-8 at the Garden. They were outshot 7-2 in the first period yet led 1-0 after the first 20 minutes of action. David Pastrnak staked his team to a 1-0 advantage with his NHL-best 29th goal of the season at 12:39. Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron had the assists as Bergy started the play by winning a puck battle along the boards and pushing the disc ahead to Marchand who skated in with Pasta on a 2-on-1. Pastrnak roofed a beautiful wrist shot past the diving Ullmark. Victor Olofsson hit the crossbar for Buffalo in the first period, a theme for the Sabres as Curtis Lazar also rang a shot off the crossbar late in regulation.

Buffalo got a lucky bounce to tie it at one at 6:37 of the second period. Rask stopped Rasmus Ristolainen's initial shot but Zdeno Chara ended up putting the puck in his own net as he hit it off the back of Rask's skate. Sam Reinhart and former Bruins playoff hero Marcus Johansson had the assists on Ristolainen's fourth goal of the season. Jake DeBrusk was benched in the first period by Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy for lack of hustle (failing to attempt to block a shot) but he responded with a pair of power play goals that were ultimately the difference in the final outcome of the contest. Torey Krug is on IR with an upper-body injury and Charlie McAvoy has also missed the last two games with what I suspect is a concussion so Steven Kampfer has received some rare consistent playing time in the NHL. Credit to him for making the most of it with his first two-point performance in almost nine years (he had a goal and assist on Jan. 13, 2011!). He took a shot that DeBrusk re-directed for his 10th goal of the season at 2:37 with Pasta getting the second assist. Just 18 seconds later, Ullmark gave up a brutal goal as DeBrusk's attempted centering pass actually snuck in the near post that old Linus wasn't up against tight enough. David Krejci and Kampfer had the assists on DeBrusk's second tally.

The Bruins have had trouble recently closing games out on home ice but this time, they were able to get it done in regulation without the need of their worst enemy: overtime and/or a shootout where they are hopeless in both. Of course, there were some nervy moments as Lazar put in a loose puck to cut it to 3-2 at 5:08 of the third period. Rask gloved the first shot but the puck popped loose nearby where Lazar was able to take advantage of that mistake. Boston survived a tripping penalty by bum Brett Ritchie in crunch time. This was another two points where Boston's special teams units carried them with not only DeBrusk's two power play goals (Sabres PK is #28, is that bad?) but their penalty kill was a flawless 3-for-3 (granted Buffalo's PP is #19 in the NHL).

Connor Clifton left in the second period with an upper-body injury of his own but Cassidy didn't think it was too serious. I also saw McAvoy talking in the hall after the game so he's probably not too far off from returning to action. There is only one game left in 2019/this decade for the Bruins which seems crazy to say: Tuesday afternoon (1, NESN) at terrible New Jersey (13-19-6). Thankfully they don't have to spend New Year's Eve in Newark which sounds like the script for a cheesy late-night horror movie on Cinemax. Boston's next home game is also their first of 2020-Thursday (7, NESN) vs. Columbus (17-14-8). They also host Edmonton (20-17-4) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) so hopefully the Patriots Wild Card home game (talk about an oxymoron) is either that night or on Sunday. Either way, this is a forgiving stretch against four non-playoff teams in a row (5 games since they played Buffalo back-to-back) which should help the Bruins rack up points. Let me be the first to tell you (albeit a few days early), Happy New Year!

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A Christmas Miracle: The Bruins Not Only Beat the Capitals, They Destroyed Them 7-3 at the Garden

It didn't matter how it happened, the Bruins (22-7-9) needed a win this evening more than in any other game that they've had so far in 2019-20. The fact that they were taking on the juggernaut Capitals (26-7-5) only made this 7-3 destruction at TD Garden even sweeter. Now Boston can fully rest during the upcoming three-day Christmas break instead of totally dwelling on the last few unfulfilling weeks (where they had lost 8 of 10) of action. They avenged a pair of one-goal losses to Washington-the NHL's top team-earlier this season (3-2 shootout loss here on Nov. 16 and a 3-2 loss in D.C. on Dec. 11) as well.

Not surprisingly, given that the Caps had won 16 of their previous 17 meetings with the B's, Tuukka Rask's (14-4-5, 39 saves) lifetime numbers against Washington were horrific. His only two wins against Washington in his career were shutouts so while he didn't manage that, it was more than enough since Braden Holtby (4 goals allowed on 11 shots on goal) puked on himself early and headed for the showers after one miserable frame of work. This matchup was never really competitive as the Black and Gold jumped ahead with four unanswered goals in the first period alone, took a 5-0 lead in the second and coasted from there. The Capitals are not only uber-talented with a ton of great players but they are also tough and chippy/dirty so they didn't take their rare beating in stride.

Boston's blue line was already missing captain Zdeno Chara (getting maintenance done on his surgically-repaired jaw)-out for the first time this season-before the game had even started. The injuries began to pile up to B's defensemen as Torey Krug left in the second period with an upper-body injury after taking a hard hit from Caps instigator Tom Wilson into the boards. Late in garbage time of the third period, Washington winger T.J. Oshie buried Charlie McAvoy with a clean but very solid check into the half wall by Washington's bench. McAvoy was down on the ice for a bit and when he finally got to Boston's bench, he was on his hands and knees being attended to by the Bruins trainer. Yikes. David Pastrnak even got into it with Wilson in the third period after he was jabbed in his jingle bells by Wilson's errant stick. Ouch.

The special teams of the Bruins dominated as their power play scored twice against Washington's #2 ranked penalty kill unit and their PK was a perfect 5-for-5 plus they scored a goal to boot. Jake DeBrusk got the holiday cheer started early with a power play tally at 5:37 of the first period. His ninth goal of the season was assisted by David Krejci and Matt Grzelcyk. It was a simple play as Jake went to the net then stayed with the puck to knock in the rebound. Boston really took control of the game with a pair of goals 27 seconds apart beginning at 13:29: Brad Marchand scored his first tally in nearly a month (Nov. 27 at Ottawa) and then Anders Bjork put in a shot from the slot to stun the Caps who own the NHL's best record. Brad's goal was on a juicy rebound by Holtby after Pasta put a low hard shot on him. McAvoy had the second assist on Marchand's 19th goal of the season. Bjork's goal was his sixth of the season and Charlie Coyle had the lone assist on it. Tilts aren't over in the first period but Patrice Bergeron's power play (a 2-man advantage for 2 whole minutes!) tip-in at 18:57 made the B's and their fans feel pretty great. Pastrnak had the shot that Bergy deflected for his 14th goal of the season with Krejci picking up the other assist.

Coyle's shorthanded goal at 6:55 of the second period made the Bruins' lead balloon to an almost unfathomable 5-0 advantage. His seventh goal of the season was also the 100th of his NHL career, a nice little milestone for the guy from Weymouth, MA by way of BU. Marchand had his team-leading 34th assist to send Coyle in alone on Washington's backup goaltender Ilya Samsonov (no relation to Sergei?). Boston could use that kind of move and top shelf shot in their fruitless shootouts (where they are 0-5 this season) but I digress for it is the holiday season and there is no need for negativity. Alex Ovechkin (game-high 8 shots on goal & 6 hits) fittingly got his team on the board with a snipe from Wilson and John Carlson (35 assists, good for 3rd in the NHL), his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.

The physical plays were more interesting in the third than the goals (a pair of empty-netters by Krejci and Bergeron sandwiched by Lars Eller's deflection and Maine native Garnet Hathaway taking advantage of a miscommunication by the Bruins defense). Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy thought that the NHL's Department of Player Safety could be busy looking at all the borderline stuff from this game. He joked that if Marchand (a repeat offender himself) had done some of the stuff that the Capitals resorted to tonight, he would definitely be punished for it. Sad but true.

Besides the break, the Bruins couldn't ask for a much more favorable end to 2019. First, they have a home-and-home with the sputtering Sabres (17-14-7) starting on Friday (7, NESN) in Buffalo then back here on Sunday night (7, NESN). Then they spend New Year's Eve afternoon (1, NESN) in Newark, NJ against the wretched Devils (12-19-5)-the second worst team in the Eastern Conference. I'm not going to say three wins or bust for the B's in that tiny stretch but anything less than four or five points would be a disappointment against those clubs. Most importantly, like the Bruins I hope that you enjoy these next few wonderful days with family and friends and Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas to all!

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Christmas is on the Verge of Being Cancelled In A Few Days for the Bruins After Yet Another OT Loss

It is a few days before Christmas but the Bruins (21-7-8) must feel like they are living in the movie "Groundhog Day." After falling 4-3 tonight at TD Garden to the Predators (17-12-6) in overtime, they have now lost eight of their last nine games. What makes this skid even more frustrating is that so many of them have been decided by just a single goal. Boston entered the third period with a 2-1 lead but in the span of 35 seconds, goaltender Jaroslav Halak (25 saves, 8-3-4) made two fatal mistakes. The Bruins tied it with an extra skater on the ice with 1:05 left in regulation to bail him out but as usual, going into OT or a shootout didn't end well for the Black and Gold. Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis won it with 54.2 seconds left in the extra session, which at least spared us from another shootout (where they are 0-5) loss.

I technically watched the entire scoreless first period but I have to admit that I was very distracted by the Patriots' win over the Bills that clinched their 11th consecutive AFC (L)East title. For the third game in a row (all losses), Boston scored first as Par Lindholm (who had been a healthy scratch for the past 6 games) drove to the net for a rebound and was rewarded as the puck deflected in the net off of Nashville center Kyle Turris. Lindholm's second goal of the season snapped a 15-game scoreless stretch for him with assists to Brett Ritchie (who hadn't played the last 3 games) and Sean Kuraly at 7:30. Roman Josi tied it at one at 12:14 when his screened backhander found its way by Halak. Ryan Johansen had the lone assist on Josi's 12th goal of the season. Things seemed fine for the B's though as Patrice Bergeron put in a one-timer from his famous bumper position on the power play with 47.7 seconds left in the frame. David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand got the assists on Bergeron's 12th goal of the season.

The Bruins had been 12-0-2 this season when they led after two periods while the Preds were 3-9-3 when they trailed after two. If only things were that simple, right? Halak has been really good in 2019-20 and I believe that him and Tuukka Rask form the best 1-2 goaltender combination in the NHL. With that said, everyone has a rough game from time to time and surprisingly, his night unraveled in the third. First, Nashville was about to get a power play (it was a delayed penalty) when Filip Forsberg put a no-angle shot on Halak from the side of the net that somehow snuck in. The 13th goal of the season for Forsberg (tying him with BU's Nick Bonino for the team lead) featured assists from Johansen and Mattias Ekholm. If you thought that was bad (and it was), you hadn't seen anything yet as Halak topped it with a Cardinal sin for a goalie: getting caught way too far out of his net trying to play the puck. Ironically, he beat Josi to the loose puck but wasn't able to do anything with that advantage. Instead, he meekly cleared it right to him and the Swiss defenseman fired it into the vacated net before Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy could block it with his diving body.

Bergeron's clutch tying goal was just another chapter in a career full of such moments for the future Hall-of-Famer. He tipped in David Pastrnak's shot with Brad Marchand being credited with the secondary assist. Nashville's game-winning goal in overtime had to be the result of one final bad bounce for the home team as a clearing attempt behind their own net went off a ref and stayed there allowing Johansen to feed a wide open Turris out front for the one-timer. Turris had the other assist on Ellis' sixth goal of the season and his second career OT tally. You won't find two much worse teams in the NHL when it comes to overtime since they are both 2-4 with this latest result.

Let's hope that the old reverse lock is in effect for the Bruins on Monday (7, NESN) because on paper, it doesn't look too hot with the best team in the league-the Caps (26-6-5)-coming in here for one last game before a much-needed three-day Christmas break. Oh and did I mention that Washington has won 15 out of the last 16 times that they've met Boston, including twice already this season (3-2 in a shootout here on Nov. 16 and 3-2 last Wednesday in D.C.)? The Capitals have the best record, the most points (57), the highest goal-differential (+30) and they are the top road team in the NHL (16-3-1). Haha is that all? Honestly, almost nothing with the Bruins in the past week has made any sense so I think a blowout win against the Caps is a natural conclusion to this frustrating time. It doesn't matter how they get it, the B's desperately need a win, otherwise it's going to be a miserable few days stewing at home with their families and friends.

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Karma Has Caught Up to the Bruins Over the Last Few Weeks As They Drop Another Winnable Game

When the Bruins (21-7-8) got off to such an unexpectedly great start to this season, one of the main reasons was that they kept finding ways to pull out wins and points from games that they probably should have lost. The exact opposite has happened lately as they have lost seven of their last eight games, including a 3-2 setback to the Islanders (23-8-2) in a shootout tonight at TD Garden. By the way, can the B's just refuse to play in overtime (where they are 2-3 this season) or especially in shootouts (where they fell to an unfathomable 0-5 in 2019-20)? Anything past regulation for them seems like a waste of their time.

Like their 4-3 overtime loss to the Kings (15-18-4) on Tuesday that kicked off this four-game homestand before Christmas, the Bruins dominated the Islanders in terms of shot attempts (62-45) but putting them on net was another story as they had 19 blocked and 14 missed the net so they only registered eight more shots on goal (29-21) than New York. Furthermore, Boston scored first as Anders Bjork had a wrist shot that went top shelf on Semyon Varlamov (27 saves, 12-3-2) at 1:58 of the first period. Charlie Coyle (his first point in 8 games) had the lone assist on Bjork's fifth goal of the season. The B's nearly doubled their lead as Danton Heinen's redirect on a power play went off the post. The teams combined for a sleepy seven shots on goal (4-3 Isles) in the first 20 minutes, yawn.

The low-scoring, tight-checking style favored the Islanders and they grabbed a lead with a pair of goals in the second period. Old friend Johnny Boychuk tied it with a blast from the point (I'm assuming that NESN's maniac announcer Jack Edwards called it a Johnny Rocket for old time's sake) that beat former teammate Tuukka Rask (19 saves, 13-4-5) at 3:26. Jordan Eberle and Anders Lee had the assists on Boychuk's second goal of the season. Varlamov made two huge stops in that frame, including a spectacular diving glove save on Bjork's one-timer followed by a save on Jake DeBrusk's breakaway. As those things seem to often go in hockey, New York took advantage on the other end as Mathew Barzal ripped in a sweet cross-ice feed from Boychuk (his first multi-point game of the season, because of course) at 18:26. It was Barzal's team-leading 14th goal of the season.

Boston has been a great third period team so far this season and this evening was no exception. Boston's power play had been 0-for-3 but when they got a two-man advantage, they came through with a pretty goal by Torey Krug. David Krejci and David Pastrnak (3 goals, 4 assists in his last 6 games) provided the helpers on his fifth goal of the season. There was a scary moment for everybody involved when Patrice Bergeron's errant skate (he was falling to the ice) appeared to graze Cal Clutterbuck's wrist. The rugged Islanders fourth line winger quickly skated off the ice and went down the tunnel to their dressing room. After the game, New York's excellent head coach Barry Trotz reported that Clutterbuck went to the hospital "to get stitched up."

For all the excitement that was mostly lacking in the first 60 minutes, overtime made up for it despite not featuring a game-winning goal for either club. Brad Marchand wheeled around New York's net but his shot was stopped by Varlamov and he later had a backhander skid wide. Pastrnak also crushed a patented one-timer from the slot that Varlamov had to look behind himself to find but he had stopped it. On the other end, Lee was stopped by Rask after a nifty feed from Barzal. Quinnipiac's Devon Toews had a breakaway in the closing seconds but the puck rolled off the defenseman's stick.

The Isles might not score a ton of goals but they have plenty of skilled guys who obviously thrive in the overtime (6-2) and shootout (3-0) formats unlike the Bruins. Eberle and Barzal both scored on New York's first two attempts before Rask stopped Josh Bailey's possible game-winner. For Boston, Coyle hit a post, Pastrnak scored but then Marchand was stuffed to end it. I'm sure that some frustration is naturally creeping into the heads of many Bruins. They have been playing in all these close games lately but coming up on the wrong end of most of them. Surprisingly, it isn't hurting them in the Atlantic Division standings where they still sit 11 points ahead of second-place Buffalo (16-13-7) and 12 points ahead of third-place Tampa Bay (17-12-4) who has three games in hand.

At the moment, the Predators (16-12-6) are two points behind Calgary (18-14-4) for the second Wild Card in the Western Conference. They are also six points behind Dallas (20-12-4) in the loaded Central Division so the Wild Card is probably their best bet into the playoffs this season. Saturday's meeting with Boston is the finale of Nashville's four-game road trip before they head home to host Arizona (20-12-4) on Monday. The Bruins have their own first-place team looming on Monday-the Capitals (24-6-5)-so that contest should be quite meaningful to both teams. Nashville lost 5-4 in overtime in Ottawa (15-18-3) earlier tonight so they were no doubt disappointed in that result and will want a better performance vs. Boston. And yes, Patriots-Bills starts at 4:30 on Saturday afternoon meaning that you'll need to get B's-Preds up on your computer unless you are a master of the remote control.

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The Lowly Kings Tie It Up Late In Regulation Then Shock The Bruins With Kopitar's Overtime Goal

One of Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy's favorite sayings about his team is "starting on time" which means getting off to a good start in the first period. Returning home from a rough four-game road trip (1-3), Boston (21-7-7) didn't do that as they allowed a goal 2:17 into the contest vs. the Kings (15-18-3) who began the night as the worst team in the Western Conference. The B's were able to overcome that though and rallied from a pair of deficits to lead 3-2 in the third period before blowing that lead and subsequent point as LA won 4-3 in overtime on Anze Kopitar's snipe.

When you have 13 more shots on goal (40-27) not to mention 19 more shot attempts (65-46) and 17 more face-off wins (43-26) than your opponent, you simply have to win that game. Also, this should have been the one layup of a four-game pre-Christmas gauntlet of a homestand for the Black and Gold. Their next three tilts involve the Islanders (22-8-2), Predators (16-12-5) and Capitals (24-6-5) and while Nashville isn't what they used to be, those clubs are all light years ahead of the going nowhere Kings. So how did the Bruins lose this one? Well goaltender Tuukka Rask (23 saves, 13-4-4) is now 0-3-1 in his last four starts and he hasn't won since Dec. 1 vs. Montreal (15-12-6). Cassidy and Rask both agreed that he just never made that one key stop when the Bruins had to have it. Instead, something named Matt Roy beat him cleanly with a shot from a few feet inside the blue line to knot it at three with 2:01 left in the third period. The other three goals were tougher to pin on Rask but a top-level goalie in the NHL needs to make a spectacular save here or there.

This wasn't a case from years past where Jonathan Quick (37 saves, 10-12-2) stole two points for the Kings but he was unquestionably better than Rask which shouldn't happen anymore in 2019. You knew that something was off with the B's at the beginning of the game as they were called for too many men on the ice exactly one minute into the action. What the hell? LA has the second-worst power play in the league so obviously they scored on their first opportunity of the evening as Blake Lizotte redirected a pass from Jeff Carter. Lizotte's fourth goal of the season was also assisted by Tyler Toffoli. Boston tied it up at 19:01 of the first period with a power play tally of their own. Danton Heinen used his pregame soccer juggling skills to knock the puck in with his skate. It was quickly reviewed but remained a goal as Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak had the helpers on his sixth goal of the season.

It was a weird game as LA's penalty kill unit (also ranked #30) somehow found a way to score on its second chance. Adrian Kempe was able to skate by a gassed Marchand and Pastrnak for a breakaway then slide a backhander under Rask's pads for his fifth goal of the season (unassisted at 2:45 of the second period) and a 2-1 Kings lead. Patrice Bergeron answered with a snap shot off the post and in at 10:44. Torey Krug had the lone assist on Bergeron's 11th goal of the season (he has 3 goals and an assist in 5 games since returning from his latest lower-body injury). Boston outshot LA 16-8 in the third period and finally took their first (and only) lead at 1:24 as Brandon Carlo threw the puck on net from the point and it went in. Jake DeBrusk and Heinen provided the assists on Carlo's third goal of the season. That should have been enough but I guess that Roy's goal was karma for the softy that Quick had allowed to Carlo. Your guy Nikolai Prokhorkin (who must be so bummed that his fellow Russian Ilya Kovalchuk just got waived by the Kings) had the lone assist on Roy's fourth goal of the season.

They were only credited with three shots on net in overtime but Boston absolutely dominated LA and should have ended it multiple times. Marchand barely missed the net, Quick made two saves on Charlie McAvoy (team-high 26:17 with a game-high 6 shots on goal), he stopped Anders Bjork's breakaway after Sean Kuraly stole the puck and fed it to him and finally, Bergeron shot over the net on his breakaway. LA made the Bruins pay for all their wasted opportunities as Doughty hit Kopitar with a long pass and let Bergeron's brother from a Slovenian mother do the rest. His 14th goal of the season came at 3:23 and it gave Anze 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 21 career games vs. Boston. The Kings improved to 4-2 in overtime this season while the Bruins dropped back under .500 (2-3) in them.

The Islanders are coming off of their most wretched performance of the season as they got blasted 8-3 by the Predators tonight on Long Island so you know that head coach Barry Trotz won't need much to fire up his team. The Isles are 9-5-1 on the road this season so expect a close, low-scoring game (New York has allowed an NHL-low 80 goals this season) on Thursday. Despite tonight's mess, Boston still has only lost once in regulation at TD Garden in 2019-20 (12-1-6) so there is that. The Rangers (16-13-4) have been mediocre for years and the Devils (10-17-5) are completely irrelevant, so if you want a Boston-New York rivalry in hockey, this is it. Sorry Buffalo (16-12-7), Upstate NY and New York City/Northern New Jersey are basically different planets.

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The Avalanche Stake Their Claim As the Best Team in the NHL (or At Least the Western Conference)

There are very few teams in the NHL these days that can outplay the Bruins (20-4-6) from start to finish and walk away with a win. The Avalanche (19-8-2) came to TD Garden tonight on a mission to prove that their 4-2 win vs. Boston way back on October 10 in Denver was anything but a fluke. Point made as the Avs played even better in this their only other regular season meeting with the B's, beating them 4-1. In case you can't do the incredibly easy math, that means that Colorado owns half of Boston's regulation losses (2 of 4) so far in 2019-20.

You can also simultaneously kiss goodbye to a pair of impressive streaks by the Black and Gold: their 13-game point streak (9-0-4) is over and their 17-game home point streak (12-0-5)-the second longest in franchise history-also came to a halt against what has to be on the shortlist of top clubs in the league. What made this road victory even more remarkable was that Colorado's starting goaltender Phillip Grubauer (3 saves, 1 goal allowed) left in the first period with an injury (groin?) but no problem as your guy Pavel Francouz (16 saves, 7-2-0) was flawless in his place. They also lost stud rookie defenseman Cale Makar (the greatest thing to come from UMass in years) to what looked like a possible concussion suffered on a hit by Brad Marchand in the third period. Bottom line, with all the injuries that they had already suffered in this campaign, they apparently don't get rattled by losing key players during games.

Boston actually scored first which is surprising when you see the final score. Chris Wagner tipped in John Moore's shot from the point for his third goal of the season at 13:14 of the first period. Anders Bjork had the second assist as Wagner scored in back-to-back contests for the fifth time in his NHL career. The Bruins' lead was rather short-lived though as Valeri Nichushkin tied it up at one following a poor clearing attempt by Boston's defensemen. He put in a backhander-that just went over the goal line-at 17:25 of the first, assisted by BU's Matt Nieto.

It was 1-1 after one frame but Colorado outshot Boston 9-4. Go figure, four more shots on goal for the B's in the second period didn't get the job done as the Avalanche stormed ahead (sorry, bad weather pun) for a 3-1 advantage. First, defenseman Ian Cole (playing in his 500th NHL game) wired a shot top-shelf over Jaroslav Halak's (16 saves, 7-2-3) glove. His first goal of the season was assisted by his defensive partner Mark Barberio and Joonas Donskoi (3 goals, 7 assists in his last 7 games). The goal that made it 3-1 late in the second period was the one that truly affected the B's since defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy got in each other's way, leading to a breakaway for Andre Burakovsky. He put the puck by Halak for his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon (7 goals and 12 assists in his last 10 games) and Donskoi.

Trailing 3-1 going into the third, the Bruins had their work cut out for them and despite getting two full power plays and part of another, they never found a way to beat Francouz. The four combined penalties in the third period was unexpected after there wasn't a single call in the first 45:54 of action. Boston doubled Colorado in shots on goal (12-6) in the final 20 minutes but they kept missing the net (15 times) or having their shot blocked (21 times) by Colorado skaters. B's head coach Bruce Cassidy took Halak out for an extra skater during Boston's last power play but even going 6-on-4 couldn't boost the Bruins' sputtering offense in this case. Gabriel Landeskog's empty-netter (his fifth goal of the season) with 2.2 seconds left was just window-dressing at that point, Colorado had already looked every bit the part of a true Stanley Cup contender this spring.

The Bruins won't be back on the Garden ice for awhile (Dec. 17 vs. LA to be exact) since they are leaving for a four-game road trip tomorrow, starting Monday (7:30, NESN) in Ottawa (12-17-1). The wretched Senators are a good foil for getting their groove back before things get much more real later in the week. Boston is at Washington (22-4-5)-the NHL's best team-on Wednesday (7, NBCSN) and then at Tampa Bay (14-10-3) the following evening (7, NESN). The Lightning seem to still be in a haze from their first-round exit vs. Columbus last April but you can't overlook that roster for a second because they are due to turn it around any day now. Finally, the Bruins end the trip on Saturday night (7, NESN) in Florida (14-9-5) who believe it or not are currently in second-place in the Atlantic Division. Like the B's (who won't practice tomorrow), I recommend watching Patriots-Chiefs (4:25, CBS) and chilling out on Sunday since next week is going to be a busy one as Boston looks to improve on its 8-3-1 road record.

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B's Use Up All Their Luck Rallying From Down 3-0 in 3rd, Losing 4-3 On Controversial Toews OT Goal

You can only tempt fate so much in sports and in life and lately, the Bruins (20-3-6) had been living on the edge (at least your lame uncle got that very dated Aerosmith reference). Time after time, they pulled points and more than a few wins out of thin air during the eight-game win streak. That came to an end though on Thursday at TD Garden as they fell 4-3 to lowly Chicago (11-12-5) in overtime as Jonathan Toews took down David Pastrnak (legally, I guess) then broke in a breakaway that ended with him sliding the puck under Tuukka Rask (27 saves, 13-2-3) with a backhand shot 54 seconds into the extra frame-the only shot on goal for either team. Connor Murphy had the lone assist on Chicago's captain's fifth goal of the season.

The game could be broken down into three chewable segments: 1) where Chicago jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third period; 2) Boston rallied for an epic comeback with three goals in the third; 3) the no-call and wet fart of a way to end what turned out to be a pretty entertaining contest between two teams going in completely different directions. Fear not, for even though the Bruins' win streak is over, they still managed to breath more life into their overall point streak (9-0-4) and they remain unbeaten at home in regulation this season (12-0-5)-only four games back from their best home start ever (19-0-2 in 1973).

Looking back, this probably served as a classic trap game for the Black and Gold both because of the weak opponent on the schedule this evening and the true Stanley Cup contender coming to visit on Saturday night (7, NESN)-Colorado (18-8-2) to close out their season-high five game homestand. Regardless of the excuse that you choose, they should have been better against the ghost of those great Blackhawks teams from earlier this decade with only Patrick Kane, Toews, Duncan Keith (out with a groin injury), Brent Seabrook, Brandon Saad and Corey Crawford (backup goalie tonight) left over from those powerhouse clubs that won Cups in 2010, 2013 (no Bruins fan sadly will ever forget that one) and 2015.

Rask was also outplayed by Robin Lehner (37 saves, 6-5-3) which should never happen in 2019 or really any year for that matter. Chicago struggles to put the puck in the net (among many other issues) but they somehow scored twice 37 seconds apart late in the first period thanks to their special teams units. Ryan Carpenter put in a rebound at 18:14 off of a save by Rask on Murphy's initial shot. Carpenter's first goal of the season was the third career shorthanded goal of his NHL career and first shorthanded goal allowed by the Bruins this season. After missing the last four games with an injury, the Blackhawks' promising young center Dylan Strome doubled their lead by tipping in a shot by Erik Gustafsson on the power play. Strome's sixth goal of the season was also assisted by Kane who has 11 goals and 14 assists in his last 17 games which is all the more impressive considering the nobodies that dot Chicago's current roster.

Boston's number two ranked power play in the NHL had plenty of chances but they ultimately finished 0 for 4 which is never going to get it done, particularly when you allow a power play tally to the 27th ranked man advantage in the league. Ugh. When Alex DeBrincat (6th goal of the season from Strome and Calvin de Haan) sniped a shot past Rask 17 seconds into the third period for a 3-0 Blackhawks lead, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to change the channel or turned your TV off altogether (who cares about Bears-Cowboys anyway?). It just didn't feel like the Bruins' night, that is until Joakim Nordstrom of all people gave everybody at the Garden something to cheer about with a goal at 1:49 of the third period. Nordstrom's third goal of the season was his first since Nov. 12 vs. Florida but who's counting? David Backes had the primary assist after Lehner stopped his shot but kicked the rebound right to Nordy to put in with Charlie McAvoy getting the other helper.

At that point, it only looked like the Bruins would avoid the embarrassment of a shutout. Pasta got drilled by a possibly suspendable hit from Zack Smith that led to John Moore (making his 2019-20 Bruins debut after off-season shoulder surgery) dropping the gloves in his defense and getting knocked down in the first round. He went right to Boston's dressing room but thankfully returned shortly after that. It would have been pretty depressing if he got a fresh injury that soon, after all he was just doing the right thing by standing up for his star teammate.

Chicago finally looked like one of the worst teams in the NHL when the Bruins applied a little game pressure to them. The Blackhawks were on the power play after a roughing penalty on Charlie Coyle but Chris Wagner broke out for a shorthanded chance that turned into a breakaway when Gustafsson comically blew a tire (lost his footing And-1 mixtape style). Wagner skipped his usual backhand move for a strong forehand into the top corner, his second goal of the season (1st since Oct. 29 vs. San Jose) was assisted by Sean Kuraly and Matt Grzelcyk at 15:01. It almost feels routine but at that point, you pretty much knew that Boston would at the very least tie it up. Lo and behold, Torey Krug did the honors as he smashed in a one-timer into the corner of the net after a sweet behind the net feed by Jake DeBrusk. Krug's fourth goal of the season came at 17:27 and it ended up giving Boston that precious point.

It was inevitable that Boston would lose again sometime soon and truth be told, they would always prefer to have that happen against a Western Conference team rather than an Atlantic Division or even Eastern Conference foe. The Bruins currently have the fewest losses in regulation this season and you have to go back nearly two months (Oct. 10 in Denver) for when the Avalanche tagged them with one of those rare defeats (4-2). Colorado has battled through a ton of injuries to some of their better players (Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky to name a few) but they should have close to a full lineup for Saturday's showdown with the Bruins. It is the end of a three-game road trip for the Avs but they should have plenty of juice since they have won five straight games (3-2 tonight in Montreal) and they are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games with a 10-5-1 record on the road. Center Nathan MacKinnon (18 goals, 26 assists) is one of the best players in the NHL pushing for a Hart Trophy (regular season MVP) while UMass Amherst product defenseman Cale Makar (8 goals, 20 assists) has to be a front-runner for the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year). In other words, you don't want to miss this game even if you have to DVR it cause you have other plans on a Saturday night-what a concept!

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A Strong Third Period & a Shutout By Halak Gives Boston Its Eighth Straight Win, 2-0 vs. Carolina

You know that you are spoiled as a fan of a certain team when you start critiquing wins like they are blowout losses. The Bruins (20-3-5) haven't quite reached that absurd reality level of say the Patriots but they are entering rare territory. Take tonight's 2-0 victory vs. Carolina (16-11-1) at TD Garden as an example of why the Black and Gold are starting to spoil us (at least as far as the regular season is concerned). With no goals in over 55 minutes of regulation, you better believe that there were plenty of low-hanging fruit (what is this soccer?) jokes to be had by the masses. Luckily, the B's turned it on just in time with a pair of goals 1:08 apart to avoid overtime, win their eighth game in a row, extend their overall point streak to 12 games (9-0-3) and their home point streak to 16 games (12-0-4) aka all of 2019/2020 so far.

On a team loaded with so many accomplished veteran players, it often feels like individual Bruins are reaching career milestones in nearly every contest. This was "backup" goaltender Jaroslav Halak's (24 saves, 7-1-3) 500th career NHL game-him and Tuuuka Rask are the only current NHL tandem to both do that-so he marked that special occasion with his second shutout of the season and 49th of his career. Surprisingly, it turned out to be Bostons' first shutout over Carolina since way back on January 17, 2011 (Tim Thomas in a 7-0 blowout on home ice) roughly five months before winning the Cup. Like Halak, David Krejci won't be a Hall of Famer but he's had a really solid career (entirely as a Bruin). He scored Boston's insurance goal which was also his 200th in the NHL.

This was a rematch of the 2019 Eastern Conference Final but truth be told, it would be a shock if Carolina makes it back there anytime soon. That's not to say that they aren't good because they will definitely be in the playoffs again this spring but I doubt that they will get that far then again hockey is more unpredictable than the other three major pro sports in the US (NFL, NBA and MLB). Both teams were called for two penalties-all in the first period-but neither power play could get anything going. The Hurricanes had a great scoring chance early in the second period as veteran left wing Nino Niederreiter hit the post with his backhand shot. Carolina's talented young defensemen Jaccob Slavin thought that he had beaten Halak but his backhander actually went through the side of the net. Seriously, that Hailey's Comet type once in a lifetime occurrence seriously happened in an NHL game.

Boston has been playing a bunch of close contests during this stretch so they obviously must feel confident when they are facing such circumstances. With Hurricanes backup goaltender and former Maple Leafs bum James Reimer (32 saves, 5-5-0) in net, it was only a matter of time before he cracked from the immense pressure of a game on December 3. Not once but twice this evening he stopped shots only to look behind or around him for what he expected to find: a loose puck. The Bruins saved the heroics for crunch time with steady local guy Charlie Coyle redirecting a pass from Brad Marchand (5 goals & 7 assists in his last 8 games; 8 goals & 8 assists in his last 13) at 15:55 of the third period. Danton Heinen started the played by forcing a turnover then smartly funneling it to Marchand along the wall. Coyle's sixth goal of the season gave him 11 points (4 goals, 7 assists) in his last 12 games. Before Bruins fans had a chance to revive a "Reimer, Reimer" chant, it was 2-0 and game over.

This time Krejci tipped in a shot from the point by Charlie McAvoy. David Pastrnak had the second assist on Krejci's sixth goal of the season that gave him eight points (4 goals, 4 assists) in his last six games and 16 points (5 goals, 11 assists) in his last 13 games. Not to be outdone by Marchand, Pastrank has 10 points (8 goals, 2 assists) in his last nine games. For the season, Brad leads the team with 44 points (18 goals, 26 assists) and Pasta only trails him by one point (25 goals, 18 assists). Not that it really means anything or matters all that much but that race between them for most points could go down to the wire in April.

Team records don't mean everything in hockey but at least on paper, Chicago (10-12-5) looks like a team that the Bruins should be able to handle rather easily when they visit here on Thursday (7, NESN). Some teams would possibly be looking ahead to Saturday night's (7, NESN) meeting with Colorado (16-8-2) as a possible Stanley Cup Final preview and far sexier matchup. However, with so many veterans and leaders on the team, the B's rarely overlook any opponent so I am confident that they won't ignore the Blackhawks even though most knowledgeable fans probably will given Chicago's mediocrity in recent years. If it helps you get more interested in Thursday's tilt, take a time machine back to the 2013 Stanley Cup Final when Bruins-Blackhawks was everything in the hockey universe.

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The Bruins Continue To Roll Along While Claude Julien's Canadiens Fall Deeper Into a Pit of Despair

One of the many fun things about sports is how they can almost eerily echo things that happen in anybody's everyday life. Sometimes, a team can play bad but then figure out how to turn the momentum just at the right time to ultimately get the desired result. Is that not similar to when you are having a crappy day but then some simple act of kindness or random thing (a song, a joke, a pet, etc.) makes you smile and suddenly, things are looking up again. This is a long-winded way of pointing out that right now, the Bruins (19-3-5) are on fire while their hated rivals the Canadiens (11-10-6) are falling apart at the seams.

In their third of four meetings of the season (stupid NHL schedulemakers) already, Boston allowed the first goal less than two minutes into the tilt but then used a trio of third period goals to send Montreal away with their eighth straight loss. The 3-1 victory for the B's extended their win streak to seven games and their point streak to 11 games (8-0-3) overall, they last lost in regulation on November 8 in Detroit (4-2)-a entirely forgettable setback that we shall not ever talk about again. Another tell-tale sign of a club that's on a serious roll is when they get unexpected contributions from role players up and down the lineup. Enter David Backes: playing in his first game in nearly a month (Nov. 2 vs. Ottawa was when he got concussed), he scored the game-winning goal midway through the third, on the power play of all things.

The regular season is not even a third of the way through so I'm not suggesting that we start making plans for a Bruins duck boat parade next June quite yet but you have to admit that this team is A) really fun to watch and B) also very easy to root for. The fact that the Black and Gold could even cost Claude Julien his job for the second time in less than three years is deliciously ironic as well. Poor Coach Potato Head aka Handsome Ralph is watching his franchise goaltender Carey Price play like a bum (he entered tonight with a 3.19 goals against average-46th in the NHL-and .897 save percentage-43rd in the league) while their penalty kill unit is similarly awful (30th in the NHL).

Claude has already been fired once as Canadiens head coach so why not make it twice? Granted, he's still owed a ton of money the next few years so I don't know how willing they will be to get rid of him at this juncture but that's always the obvious move in pro sports when a team is floundering like this. Also, the Montreal media and fans are not exactly the most reasonable and well-adjusted people in the world either which doesn't help his cause.

The only goal that the Habs scored was a direct result of a brutal mistake from captain Zdeno Chara. His defensive partner Charlie McAvoy passed the puck to him behind Boston's net but Montreal third line right wing Joel Armia stole the puck off his stick then flipped a backhander at Tuukka Rask (28 saves, 13-2-2) that ended up in the net after it deflected off of McAvoy's skate. Armia's 10th goal of the season was unassisted and it tied him with that little weasel Brendan Gallagher for the meager team lead. Rask made sure that his team didn't face a bigger deficit as he made a pair of good saves later in the opening frame-on a blast from the point by defenseman Jeff Petry then a one-timer by Armia from the slot.

By turning up the intensity (both emotional and physical) the Bruins started to dig their way back in the second period. Defenseman Connor Clifton knocked over Montreal second line left winger Nick Cousins with a nice hit. Price (31 saves, 10-9-3) made a good save on Chris Wagner's spinning shot from the slot but soon after that, all hell (for all intents and purposes 2019 style) broke loose as Pasta went after Canadiens captain Shea Weber. Jake DeBrusk got taken down by Gallagher while Charlie Coyle and Brandon Carlo played peacemakers. It all resulted in a power play for Boston (interference on Weber) which they didn't score on. Still, Price almost let a shot by Matt Grzelcyk elude him and the Charlestown native swept the rebound across the goal line (but never over). Montreal still led 1-0 after the second period but you could feel like things were going to change soon enough for the home team.

David Pastrnak scoring the tying goal at 6:16 of third period was perhaps the most predictable part of the whole evening. His NHL-best 25th goal (!!) was a rocket off the post and in. Anders Bjork and Carlo had the assists on Pastrnak's eighth goal in his last eight games. Boston's second power play was the moneymaker as Cousins was called for holding and Backes put in a one-timer from David Krejci and Grzelcyk at 10:29 for his first goal of the season (in his 9th game). With Patrice Bergeron (lower-body injury) out, Backes stepped into Bergy's bumper position on the man-advantage and did a reasonable enough impression of it. The Canadiens quickly folded from there as Jake DeBrusk scored on a one-timer of his own less than three minutes later (at 13:27). Charlie Coyle (3 goals, 7 assists in his last 11 games) had the lone assist on DeBrusk's sixth goal of the season. Jake is starting to heat up a bit himself with six points (3 goals, 3 assists) in his last five games. Price was getting the classic Carey Carey chants from the Garden crowd and for old time's sake, Julien's hapless team got called for too many men on the ice thus nullifying the slim chance they had to comeback.

The Bruins get the day off tomorrow then they will have a pregame skate on Tuesday ahead of that night's (7, NESN) meeting with the Hurricanes (16-10-1). Can you say 2019 Eastern Conference Finals rematch? Carolina isn't a great team but they have some talented players and they play generally entertaining games so that should be more interesting than your typical Tuesday night in early December affair. Boston still hasn't lost in regulation at TD Garden (11-0-4) this season and with the way that Pastrnak and Marchand are playing along with the timely things by everyone else, there are many good reasons to tune into the Bruins these days.

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