Bruins Win Their 1st Shootout of the Season, 2-1 vs. Islanders Thanks to Marchand, Rask & Donato

With a lineup that has been absolutely decimated by injuries, odds are that the Bruins (14-7-4) aren't going to set the NHL on fire in terms of goal-scoring anytime soon. However, Bruce Cassidy's mentally tough group still keeps finding ways to win as they showed in Thursday's 2-1 shootout victory vs. Islanders (12-9-4) at TD Garden. Tuukka Rask (6-4-2) made 29 saves-including six in overtime-as Boston outlasted New York in its first shootout appearance of 2018-19.

Rask's comeback story is an easy one to identify (even if we'll never know what the real issue for him was) but these two points were also courtesy of rookie forward Ryan Donato who was recalled from Providence on Wednesday. In his first game with the B's in nearly a month (10/30 at Carolina), he managed to score the lone goal for either side in four rounds of the shootout.

As you would expect from a tilt that featured only two goals in 65 minutes of action, there really wasn't too much to talk about from regulation and overtime. Anders Lee had the goal for the Isles that made it 1-0 at 12:17 of the first period. Rask stopped the first shot from last season's Rookie of the Year Mathew Barzal but left the rebound on the doorstep for the Notre Dame product to knock it in for his eighth goal of the season. Defenseman Scott Mayfield had the second assist on what turned out to be New York's only real highlight of the contest.

Both teams only had one power play for the entire game and while the Bruins were able to hold off the Islanders terrible power play (ranked 24th in the NHL) in the second period, the same couldn't be said for Boston's excellent man-advantage (ranked 3rd in the NHL) which cashed in its only chance a few moments later. Torey Krug started the play but David Pastrnak did most of the leg work by beating an Islander in their offensive zone then dishing a backhand pass right on the money to Brad Marchand who smacked in the one-timer at 12:09 of the second. It was Marchand's seventh goal of the season, fittingly also his first in the past seven games (how much does he miss his best buddy Patrice Bergeron?).

The B's probably should have won without needing overtime or a shootout as they outshot the Isles 34-23 through three periods. Still, Barry Trotz's (it's so weird to see him leave the Capitals for this middling franchise) team dominated the extra session as they outshot the home team 6-2 but couldn't convert on two breakaways. New York even had a goal waved off (and held up under review) after one of their players interfered with Rask in the crease. For a team that's seen many similar calls go against them this year, the Black and Gold were happy that at least that one didn't flip on them.

Barzal, Brock Nelson, Valtteri Filppula (playing in his 900th NHL game) and Josh Bailey were all stopped by Rask in the shootout. Jake DeBrusk and Pasta couldn't beat Lehner while Marchand failed at his opportunity to end it. No matter as Donato ended a long night (that began with Rick Middleton's #16 going to the rafters) with a nifty (get it?!) backhander along the ice. The Garden was not nearly full anymore when that happened (it was a school night after all) but those that stuck around were treated to a nice moment for a local guy trying to make his mark.

Saturday night (7, NESN) will already be the third meeting of the season between the Bruins and Red Wings (11-11-3). Boston destroyed them 8-2 here on October 13 then fell 3-2 in overtime in Detroit on the night before Thanksgiving. No matter who is in or out for the B's, I still feel confident that they can find a way to beat the mediocre at best Wings. Boston defensemen Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Charlie McAvoy (concussion) appear close to returning and it sounds like the former could play against Detroit.

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Bruins Close Out a Successful Homestand (3-1-0) With Another Solid Win, 4-1 vs. Golden Knights

Naturally, after Thursday night's ugly 8-5 loss to Vancouver (10-6-2), many feared that debacle (how head coach Bruce Cassidy would later describe it) for the Bruins (10-5-2) would send the Black and Gold over a nearby cliff. Goaltender Tuukka Rask taking an unexpected leave of absence from the team on Friday sent another shockwave through the naturally Debbie Downer fanbase. Of course, there was nothing to be worried about at all as Boston rattled off an easy 5-1 win on Saturday vs. Toronto (11-6-0)-the team right ahead of them for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division-thanks to David Pastrnak's hat trick and then they showed that wasn't a fluke by capping off the weekend back-to-back with a 4-1 victory vs. Vegas (7-10-1) this evening at TD Garden.

It turns out that at least for now, all the B's need is a healthy Jaroslav Halak (6-1-2) as everyday Jaro made 37 saves vs. the Golden Knights for yet another impressive performance by the veteran netminder. Do you realize how good he has been in his first season as a Bruin? He's tied for second in the NHL in goals against average (1.77) and save percentage (.945) plus he's tied for the lead in shutouts (2). As we all know, besides Halak the other major reason that the Bruins are even over .500 is their peerless top forward line (Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak). Thankfully, the rest of their underachieving forwards have started to come around over the last few games.

Facing former Bruins draft pick and bust Malcolm "yes I'm P.K's much less talented brother" Subban (33 saves), the B's scored a pair of goals in the first period and another early in the second period to take a commanding 3-0 lead. They improved to a perfect 8-0-0 this season when they are up by 2+ goals. The most promising part about that burst was that two guys outside of the top line tallied the first two goals: after driving to the net, Danton Heinen tipped in a gorgeous backhand pass from Anders Bjork at 2:54 then rookie defenseman Jeremy Lauzon took advantage of a brutal misplay on the puck by Subban for his first NHL goal at 17:51. Heinen's goal was his second of the season while Sean Kuraly and John Moore (team-high 22:35 of ice time) had the assists on Lauzon's goal.

Not to be left out, Boston's top line still managed to chip in with the final two goals of the contest. Right as a power play expired, Marchand knocked in a slow-motion pass from Bergeron and Pastrnak for his sixth goal of the season 58 seconds into the second period. Cody Eakin had the lone goal for Vegas as he finished a one-timer from BC's Alex Tuch at 10:55 of the second that cut it to 3-1 Bruins. Boston's No. 3 ranked power play didn't have a banner night (1-for-7 even though they had a trio of 2-man advantages) but they made their last 5-on-3 count as Pastrnak beat Subban for his NHL-best 16th goal of the season from Torey Krug and David Krejci at 16:08 of the third period. Bergeron leads the NHL in points (9 goals, 16 assists) so I have to wonder when the last time was that the B's had the the top goal-scorer and points leader at the same time? I'm guessing that it's been a minute.

It's hard to believe but Boston won't play another game here until after Thanksgiving (they host the Penguins on Black Friday). They get another lengthy four-game road trip that will last over a week since they leave on Tuesday after practice and won't return until late the following Wednesday. The itinerary is about as random as they can get too since they start in Colorado (8-6-3) on Wednesday (10, NESN), go to Dallas (9-6-2) on Friday (8, NESN) then Arizona (8-7-1) the next night (8, NESN) and conclude with their somewhat customary Thanksgiving Eve (7:30, NESN) meeting in Detroit (7-8-2). They will have plenty of time to continue to bond on the road since after that Penguins tilt, they travel to Montreal (9-5-3) and Toronto before closing the month on November 29 (7, NESN) against Halak's most recent former employer-the Islanders (8-6-2). A great home team (7-2-0), they are squarely .500 on the road thus far (3-3-2) so that will have to pick up if they want to go anywhere.

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bruins Would Like to Cordially Welcome You to Their Gongshow

Once in a while in every season for your favorite sports team, you are treated to a certified Gongshow. That denotes the type of game where everything goes off the rails early and just continues to devolve from there. Unfortunately for the Bruins (8-5-2), they found themselves on the wrong end of such a normally comical occasion (if you're winning) as the Canucks (10-6-1) came to TD Garden tonight and hung a snowman (8 goals) on them in a humbling 8-5 defeat. It was the most goals that Vancouver had scored in nearly nine years (Nov. 14, 2009).

Where to start? Both Boston goaltenders were truly awful, Jaroslav Halak gave up five goals in his first poor performance as a Bruin before he was pulled and Tuukka Rask allowed three more (including a brutal shorthanded goal). It didn't help that their defense was pathetic too as the Canucks scored five goals on them in the second period alone. The B's can only hope that this was a one-off disaster (burn the video!) and not a harbinger of things to come with two good teams coming to town this weekend for the dreaded three games in four days: Toronto (10-5-0) on Saturday night (7, NESN) followed by Vegas (7-8-1) the following night (7, NESN). It isn't all doom and gloom for the Black and Gold though since four of their five goals came from guys not on their annoyingly perfect top line and they also scored two power play goals.

The first period was routine enough in a sense as both teams scored a lone goal. Bo Horvat (2 goals, 2 assists) got an unassisted tally (his 8th of the season) just 2:46 into the contest as a fumbled pass from Danton Heinen to David Backes resulted in a rare soft tally allowed by Halak (hey, that's Tuukka's thing!). Torey Krug Jr., I mean Matt Grzelcyk tied it with a bomb at 13:41. His first goal of the season was assisted by David Krejci (3 assists) and Jake DeBrusk (2 goals). Believe it or not, the Bruins actually led for a few minutes as Patrice Bergeron put in a rebound from a Krug shot 36 seconds into the second, his eighth goal of the season. The Canucks scored a pair of goals 1:26 apart to take a 3-2 lead. Bruins legend Loui Eriksson banged in a loose puck at 7:02, his second goal of the season was assisted by Erik Gudbranson and Markus Granlund. Maine's Ben Hutton's screened shot on the power play found its way past Halak through traffic for his fourth goal of the season, assisted by Horvat and Nikolay Goldobin.

DeBrusk tied it with a nifty tip in at 9:00, his fourth goal of the season came from Krejci and Joakim Nordstrom. It was basically a carbon copy of the same Krejci sauce connection to DeBrusk that worked on October 25 vs. Philadelphia as well. Boston's three penalties in a row in the second period didn't help matters as Vancouver once again cashed in on another power play opportunity. Hutton's shot from the point was tipped in by Eriksson at 13:23, Brendan Leipsic had the second assist on Eriksson's second goal of the night. Halak's outing was over 1:30 later as Antoine Roussel beat him with a tip-in from a bad angle, his third goal of the season was assisted by Granlund and Michael Del Zotto. DeBrusk cut it to 5-4 with his new favorite move (say it with me kids, tip-in), the power play goal was assisted by Krug and Brad Marchand at 17:18. The excitement caused by that goal which trimmed Vancouver's lead to 5-4 lasted for a little over two minutes of game action as Gudbranson beat Rask with a long-range wrist shot with 31.9 seconds left in the frame. His first goal of the season was assisted by Horvat and Eriksson Ugh, that was so deflating.

Tuukka did his best to make sure his team had no chance to rally in the third as he handed Horvat a shorthanded goal by passing the puck right to him for essentially an empty-netter at 9:40. Something called Jake Virtanen doubled up Vancouver's advantage (8-4) at 11:12, his sixth goal of the season was assisted by Goldobin and rookie phenom Elias Pettersson (who wasn't even a factor in the blowout). What's even scarier for the Bruins is that Vancouver's other stud young forward Brock Boeser (groin injury) didn't even dress, so if those two guys had been on, you'd figure they would have reached double-digits easy. Fitting for a guy that's been so invisible to begin this year, Danton Heinen finally got his first goal, a power play strike from Grzelcyk and Krejci in extended garbage time (at 13:38). All that was left was a short (no pun intended) bout between Krug and good old Darren Archibald after the Canucks' fourth liner blasted Nordstrom.

You figure that Rask was scheduled to start vs. the Maple Leafs and I suppose that Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy will stick to that plan but how do you feel confident about either him or Halak? It'll be the first meeting between Boston and Toronto since their epic seven-game playoff series last spring. Also, Saturday represents John Tavares' first game for his hometown team against their new biggest rival (sorry Montreal). Auston Matthews is out with a shoulder injury so that takes away a tiny bit of the anticipation and truth be told, like last season these clubs figure to be playing for second place behind Tampa Bay (12-3-1) in the Atlantic Division. The Golden Knights have predictably gotten off to a sketchy start after their unfathomable success in their inaugural campaign. They are at Montreal (8-5-3) on Saturday night so Sunday could be a bit of a slog for each team. It is the end of Vegas' four-game road trip that lasted over a week so I'm sure they'll be ready to get back to the sun in the desert and out of this crappy weather.

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Marchand Rescues Boston In OT From What Would Have Been a Bitter Loss to Overmatched Dallas

Returning home after a 3-2 win at Carolina and frustrating 1-0 loss in Nashville last week, the Bruins (8-4-2) leaned on what has carried them throughout the early goings of the 2018-19 regular season: their vaunted top line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Tuukka Rask. Pasta scored a power play goal in the first period and Marchand won it with a power play goal (5-on-3) in the extra session as the B's held off the Stars (8-5-1) 2-1 on the always fantastic Military Appreciation Night at TD Garden. Embattled goaltender Tuukka Rask (24 saves; 4-3-0) gave up another dog's breakfast of a goal but bounced back enough not to allow any other goals thus picking up the victory that got him back over .500.

If you watched the game or just by glancing at the box score, you could easily conclude that the Bruins should have won this game by at least two or three goals. They had 73 shot attempts (!) to just 38 for Dallas. The problem was that despite outshooting the Stars 35-25, they had nine more shots blocked (13-4) and missed the net 16 more times (25-9) which is alarming. Old friend Anton Khudobin (33 saves; 2-1-1) deserved better as he did everything that he possibly could to earn his team a hard-fought point. He was sloppy with some rebounds and also benefited from an insanely quick whistle in the second period that would have wiped out an easy goal for Anders Bjork.

Owner John Henry, president Sam Kennedy and reliever Joe Kelly were apparently all the guys affiliated with the Red Sox that were still in town after their Tour De Force at local sporting events (Celtics game last Thursday and Patriots game last night) so they dropped the ceremonial puck before this contest with the repaired World Series trophy on hand as well. Kelly was wearing a personalized Bruins jersey with red bordering the numbers. It was a weird game as Dallas scored a shorthanded goal at 3:51 of the first period with Roman Polak in the penalty box for interference. Radek Faksa's high-school level shot on net apparently deflected off of Torey Krug's stick (or so he claimed in Boston's dressing room afterwards) but regardless, Rask has to make that save. Miro Heiskanen had the lone assist on Faksa's third goal of the season. What is it with Rask and first periods this season? He had sat on the bench for the past three outings since Jaroslav Halak (4-1-2) has greatly outplayed him in his first campaign with the Black and Gold.

Rask's teammates picked him up though as Pastrnak scored on that same power play, his team-leading 12th goal of the season. Bergeron and Jake DeBrusk had the assists as Dallas for some reason left David wide open (think Bruins vs. Alex Ovechkin in recent years) for a practice type one-timer at 5:11. You wondered if the B's would score another goal all night as Torey Krug rattled the post and Noel Acciari hit the crossbar in the second period. Bergeron had a shot that slid inches wide of the Stars' goal in the third after Khudobin got a piece of it and Bergy later hit the crossbar in overtime (it looked like it went in but I never saw a replay). Marchand's fifth goal of the season came with 31 seconds left in overtime. He waited on the side of the net (looking for a backdoor pass to Bergeron) but ended up picking the low far corner with the game-winner. David Krejci and Krug had the assists as Dallas was called for too many men on the ice and cross-checking 11 seconds apart (talk about a meltdown).

Including the Predators game on Saturday, Boston has five games in eight days so needless to say it is going to be a very busy week. Thankfully, they at least don't have to go anywhere besides Warrior Ice Arena for practices and morning skates as they welcome Loui Eriksson and Tim Schaller back to town not to mention stud rookie Elias Pettersson and the surprising Canucks (9-6-0) to the Garden on Thursday (7, NESN). Sadly, the Sedin sisters are retired so Vancouver is a little tougher to dump on now. Almost as rare as a Monday night tilt, the Bruins are playing in the usual Saturday night time slot (7, NESN) vs. Toronto (9-5-0) followed by Sunday night (7, NESN) vs. Vegas (6-7-1). It'll be interesting to see how many starts each goaltender gets over those three games, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy has been abundantly clear that Rask needs to be better to earn more playing time. What a novel idea!

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