B's Showed How Far They've Come in A Week, Beating The Caps 6-3 In Their Fourth Straight Win

 

    The Bruins (25-12-6) have picked a wonderful time of the regular season to start playing their best hockey in 2021. This afternoon at the TD Garden, Boston outlasted Washington (29-13-4) 6-3 thanks to a pair of goals from left wing Brad Marchand (2 assists), center Patrice Bergeron (assist) and center David Krejci. Like most meetings with the Capitals, this turned out to be a wild one complete with cheap shots and plenty of blood but sadly no Zdeno Chara (undisclosed) who hadn't missed a game before that for Washington. Boston scored twice to start the game, Washington responded with three goals in a row from late in the first period to the early in the second period to take a temporary 3-2 lead. Finally, the black and gold shut the door by scoring three more times in the middle frame then adding an empty-net goal late in the third period. After bottoming out in their 8-1 beating at the hands of Washington last Sunday night at the Garden, the B's have completely turned it around since this was their fourth straight victory. Boston took a 1-0 lead at 12:02 of the first period thanks to some great hustle by Marchand. He deflected an attempted pass behind his own net by Capitals defenseman John Carlson (game-low minus-5!) and the puck ended up right on Bergy's stick in front of goaltender Vitek Vanecek (22 saves, 17-9-3). He went around him so easily and finished with a backhander for his 17th goal of the season. Less than two minutes later, Krejci doubled the Bruins lead by going to the net and redirecting a pass from defenseman Connor Clifton. Right wing Craig Smith notched the secondary assist on Krejci's fourth goal of the season at 13:56. Washington got on the board with a goal at 19:50 of the first period. Center Nicklas Backstrom skated in on a breakaway that was stopped by B's goaltender Tuukka Rask (30 saves, 10-4-2) but right wing T.J. Oshie followed it up to knock in the rebound for his 15th goal of the season. 

    As good teams often tend to do, the Caps took advantage of the situation when Clifton was called for his second high-sticking penalty (double minor) of the game early in the second period. First some tic-tac-toe passing led to a sweet one-timer for Oshie right from the slot. Center Evgeny Kuznetsov and Backstrom had the assists on the tying goal at 3:48. The newest Capital right wing Anthony Manta fired in a screened shot at 4:54 of the second period for another power play tally. His 15th goal of the season (and 4th as a Cap, he's scored in every game so far) was assisted by defenseman Dmitry Orlov and center Lars Eller. Marchand tied it at three with his a nifty move by Vitacek that resulted in his team-best 22nd goal of the season at 6:33. Pasta and Bergeron had the helpers with Brad possibly taking the puck off David's stick, oh well! Krejci's second goal was a vintage edition: he deked around a Capitals defenseman before slowly roofing a shot for his fifth goal of the season at 16:02. Smith and left wing Taylor Hall provided the assists on that game-winner. Late in the second period, Boston's top line combined for a gorgeous goal: Marchand and Pastrnak raced in on a 2-on-1 with Pasta eventually dropping the puck back to Bergeron for a one-timer. The captain's 18th goal of the season came at 17:45 of the second period and it gave his club a 5-3 advantage. 

    Marchand closed out his great performance by bagging that empty-netter at 18:16 of the third period, assisted by Pastrnak. Boston has earned at least a point in six of their seven meetings (4-1-2) with Washington this season; they take on the Capitals one more time-the regular season finale for both teams on May 11 (7, NESN) which will probably have some type of playoff implications in it. Winning four out of five games last week was nice and all but I think the Bruins have a good chance to really make a move in the East Division since they play their next three games against the wretched Sabres (12-26-7) at the KeyBank Center: Tuesday (6:30, NESN), Thursday (7, NESN) and Friday (7, NESN). The long five-game road trip concludes with a pair of games in Pittsburgh (28-14-3) next Sunday afternoon (3, NBC) followed by Tuesday's finale (7, NESN). The Bruins are only six points behind the first-place Caps, four points in back of the Islanders (28-13-4) and the Pens lead them by three points. They also have at least two games in hand over all those teams. Boston must pay attention to the Rangers (23-16-6) though who have won four games in a row to remain four points behind the Bruins in fifth-place and show no signs of letting up (7-1-2 in their last 10) anytime soon. 

The B's Are Suddenly Unbeatable In OT As They Sweep Another Season Series, This Time Vs. Wings

Without Patrice Bergeron (broken foot), Charlie McAvoy (sprained MCL) and Tuukka Rask (lower-body injury), the Bruins (41-15-8) are understandably a little lacking right now at least in terms of top-notch talent. Don't misconstrue that for lack of compete level as they continue to find ways to get wins (4 in a row), tonight they outlasted Detroit (26-29-11) 6-5 in overtime at TD Garden (3 of their last 4 have gone to OT) thanks to yet another Brad Marchand (3rd career hat trick, 2 assists; tying a career-high for points in a contest) game-winner (his 2nd straight game and 11th regular season OT tally of his career). It helps that they have been at home for the past week plus, a better location to stabilize things amidst all these changes to the lineup seemingly every game.

Boston swept the four-game season series with Detroit for the first time since 2008-2009 and improved to 14-1-1 in their last 16 games against the Red Wings who are destined for another spring without the playoffs in the place formerly known as "Hockey Town." Besides the extra hockey that they've been kindly giving their fans during this homestand, the B's are also rewarding those that are in their seats before the first puck drop. This evening, they scored two goals in the first 52 seconds and by the time the Firewagon Hockey first period was over, there were already five total goals on the scoreboard.

Torey Krug had a memorable performance as well, setting a new career-high with four points (2 goals, 2 assists) so he began the barrage of pucks into the net only 37 seconds into regulation. His blast from the point-his 12th goal of the season-was assisted by Nick Holden (3 assists in 3 games as a Bruin) and Marchand. Poor Jared Coreau was making his first start of the season for Detroit and it wasn't a long one since he got pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 16 shots. Before you could say "Where are You Chris Osgood?", the Bruins had made it 2-0. Jake DeBrusk's attempted centering pass deflected in off a Red Wings defenseman for an unassisted goal (his 14th of the season) which gave him a four-game point streak.

I will give Detroit credit for one thing: they might be mediocre at best and headed nowhere but the NHL Draft this summer but they play harder than you would think (or at least that was the case tonight). Bruins killer Frans Nielsen hopped on a loose puck for a power play goal (his 14th of the season) at 2:16 of the first period from Henrik Zetterberg who I believe has been a Red Wing for 40 years. Anton Khudobin (30 saves, 15-4-4) wasn't even that bad but without McAvoy and by taking too many penalties, Boston's defense was a mess. Mike Green tied it up with another shot from close range (his 7th goal of the season) at 7:53 thanks to a nifty drop pass by Anthony Athanasiou with the other assist going to Anthony Mantha (2 goals, 2 assists). Boston answered with its first of two power play goals: Krug from Marchand and David Pastrnak (3 assists-a career-high, including the 100th of his career) at 13:48.

If you thought that things might perhaps slow down a bit in the second period, well you'd be wrong my friend. Marchand's power play goal at 3:27 chased Coreau for Maine alum Jimmy Howard (19 saves, 2 goals allowed). Krug and Pastrnak had the assists on a beautiful play that ended with a wicked one-timer from Marchand. Those three guys had a spectacular game together, it felt like they were in on every scoring play for the B's (which basically they were). The Red Wings could have easily rolled over at this point but Mantha cut it to a one-goal lead for the home team when he gathered a rebound and put in a backhander at 12:05 after Green's blast was deflected. Seconds earlier, Detroit's power play had expired. Tyler Bertuzzi had the second assist on Mantha's team-leading 22nd goal of the season. 1:13 after that, Marchand comically banked the puck off of Howard's leg right after he had missed the net with another shot. Pastrnak and Riley Nash had the helpers on the tally that gave Boston a 5-3 advantage. Mantha produced another goal after the Bruins' defense was nowhere to be seen at 15:50. Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin had the assists as Boston only led 5-4 after two bonkers periods.

Boston blew its second two-goal lead when Detroit struck right after a power play went by the wayside yet again. Martin Frk who has one of the most interesting last names in the universe tied it at 9:46 on his 11th goal of the season from Bertuzzi and Mantha. As recently as the start of last week, the B's were a woeful 2-6 in overtime. Now, 5-6 doesn't look too bad does it? On the other end of the spectrum, the Wings fell to 3-10 (!) in OT including two losses to these Bruins. Unlike the individual masterclass put on by Marchand to beat Montreal (25-30-11) on Saturday night, this overtime goal was much simpler as Riley Nash drove to the net and dished to Krug. His initial shot was stopped but Howard left a juicy rebound on a platter for Marchand who waited for a beat then finished things off with a top-shelf backhander.

The Bruins can't afford this many mistakes on Thursday (7, NESN) when the Flyers (34-21-11) come for a visit. Unlike the Canadiens or Red Wings, Philadelphia is actually a legit playoff team this season and as such, they need to be respected (6-2-2 in their last 10 games). Unfortunately for the Flyguys, they have to host the Penguins (38-25-4) in their usual blood war on Wednesday (Rivalry Night bitches!) before taking the short trip up the East Coast to Boston (plus they will have to fly through the snow storm). Assuming that we all survive another New England weather spectacular, that should be an entertaining tilt. Haha the B's haven't faced the Flyers since Super Bowl 52 so maybe they can exact some revenge on a Philly team for their football brothers (Patriots). Too soon?

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