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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