The Bruins' Start To Free Agency This Weekend Has Been Underwhelming To Say The Least

 

    If you were expecting fireworks (sorry for the tired holiday cliche-it is July 3rd you know!) from the Bruins this weekend, you have no doubt been very disappointed as they entered free agency with a whisper rather than a loud pop. We knew that GM Don Sweeney did not have much money to spend-even after the Taylor Hall trade earlier in the week-but it was a tough pill to swallow to see the three valuable guys that they obtained before the trade deadline last season all quickly end up elsewhere. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov (2 years, $7.75 million AAV) signed with Carolina (no surprise since we knew the Russian would go to the highest bidder no questions asked), winger Garnet Hathaway is now a Flyer (2 years, $4.78 million) and the real kick in the teeth came tonight as word came out that winger Tyler Bertuzzi was going to the Maple Leafs on a very affordable one-year deal for $5.5 million. The other notable Bruin to depart was defenseman Connor Clifton who signed a three-year deal worth $10 million with Buffalo. However, for an undrafted guy from Quinnipiac coming off of a career season, we expected that Cliffy would cash in so good for him and his family.

    Losing Bertuzzi to a division rival is especially frustrating since you had to believe that Hall's trade was likely meant to clear some cap space specifically to try to bring back Tyler. I guess not and no matter if Sweeney or Bertuzzi's agent screwed this up, the bottom line is that he obviously panicked and signed a deal that the B's should have been able to offer before. I'm assuming that they had already moved on and committed elsewhere when Bertuzzi's camp might have come crawling back. Ugh. So who has Boston signed to replace these guys? Well get ready to take a time machine back five to ten years and Sweeney would be having a hell of a time. Of the five main players that the Bruins have signed, the three that you have all heard of are former B's left wing Milan Lucic, former BU/Team USA defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk and former UNH star winger James van Riemsdyk. Additionally, former BC forward Patrick Brown (2 years, $800,000 AAV which is the veteran minimum) and forward Morgan Geekie (2 years, $2 million AAV) are the other guys that will join the Bruins next season. 

    35-year-old Looch (who has 3 daughters!) needs no introduction if you are reading this and rumors of him signing with his beloved Boston started to percolate last week. On a one-year deal worth $1 million plus up to $500,000 in performance based incentives, it's hard to dislike Milan's return where he can hopefully anchor the fourth line and bring some toughness along with an edge that the Bruins have sorely lacked in recent years. 34-year-old Shattenkirk-who will make $1.05 million in one season here-used to be one of the best puck-moving defenseman in the league but Boston will be his seventh club after stops in Anaheim, Tampa, NY (Rangers), Washington, St. Louis and Colorado. Still, having him replace Clifton on the third defensive pairing would be ideal for a guy with a boatload of experience (891 career NHL games) not to mention talent-he was the 14th overall pick in the 2007 Draft-and plenty of points (97 goals and 363 assists). Finally, JVR also is here for peanuts (1 year, $1 million) and you will remember him mostly for his successful time as a Flyer, not so much as a Leaf. He is 34 as well and was the second overall pick of that 2007 Draft. He has had a very productive NHL career with 591 points (300 goals, 291 assists) in 940 games. 

    It is easy to see Sweeney's thinking with these moves; he could not get any top players without making a real hockey trade so why not fill in any roster and lineup holes with decorated veterans that he and B's head coach Jim Montgomery can trust from Day 1? At least on paper-which is all we have in early July-I do not know how the totality of these additions and subtractions makes Boston a better team. Granted, hockey is the ultimate chemistry sport so maybe bringing back Lucic's mojo will spark his former teammates like left wing Brad Marchand and right wing David Pastrnak. Last week, Cam Neely admitted that the team is operating like both of their ancient centers David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron won't be coming back next season but would it kill either of those guys just to make a decision ASAP? This is beginning to get those gross Brett Favre in Green Bay vibes as I cannot stomach another summer of waiting to hear what these guys are going to do. Truth be told, Krejci looked pretty cooked in his return to the Bruins last season so if he decides to retire and/or go back to playing in his native Czech Republic, oh well. Bergy is the trickier one because he can still compete at a high level-as evidenced by his record sixth Selke Trophy that he won last week-but this is getting ridiculous. I can only surmise that behind the scenes, the front office, coaches and players already know his decision, otherwise this does everyone a complete disservice. Rant over.

Boston Holds Serve & Forces Game 7 (Saturday) Thanks To A 5-2 Win In Game 6 At TD Garden

 

    One of the weirdest playoff series in recent NHL history will fittingly conclude with a Game 7 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Boston scored first for the first time in the series and never looked back as they cruised to a 5-2 victory tonight at a fired up TD Garden to even the first round series at three games apiece. If you are keeping score, the home team is 6-0 in the series with Game 7 set for Saturday afternoon (4:30, NESN) back at PNC Center. At this point, it is hard to explain how these two teams have played so differently at home versus on the road for these six contests which have been mostly blowouts (the closest margin of defeat was Game 3 a 4-2 triumph by the B's). 

    After missing Games 3-5, Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm returned from a concussion (we think) and had a game-high 24:48 time on ice. Five different B's scored goals and rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (23 saves) posted his third win of the series. After a scoreless first period, Boston let their home fans exhale with a goal early in the second period then a key insurance tally late in the frame. Boston's star left wing Brad Marchand opened the scoring with a wicked snap shot 46 seconds into the second. His team-leading fourth goal of the postseason was assisted by BU's Charlie Coyle and Quinnipiac's Connor Clifton. Weymouth's own Coyle doubled the Bruins' lead at 18:04 as the center put in a rebound (his 2nd goal of the playoffs) from right wing David Pastrnak (dropped to the second line) and Marchand on the power play.

    The Hurricanes briefly made it tight as right wing Andrei Svechnikov cut it to 2-1 Bruins with a nasty top shelf wrist shot at 3:24 of the third period. Center Seth Jarvis had the lone assist on Svechnikov's second goal of the series. Boston's depth guys put this one to bed though as center Erik Haula scored the key goal that boosted the Bruins' lead back to two (3-1). He tipped in defenseman Charlie McAvoy's slap pass for his first goal of the playoffs at 7:08. The wheels started to come off for Carolina's goaltender Antti Raanta as he allowed a soft wrister from the blue line by B's defenseman Derek Forbort to elude him and increase Boston's lead to 4-1. Forbort's first goal since November was assisted by left wing Tomas Nosek at 10:43. Five minutes later, Bruins center Curtis Lazar (who has played a sneaky good series) added an empty-netter for his first goal of the postseason. Left wing Nick Foligno and Nosek recorded the helpers on Lazar's well deserved strike. In garbage time, Svechnikov notched a power play goal which came after Carolina's power play had started 0-for-5 in Game 6. 

    So what's going to happen in Game 7, who the hell knows? You figure that we are long overdue for some overtime or at least a one-goal game. Other than that, you have to assume that Boston will make it a little more competitive than their disastrous first three outings in Raleigh in this series (where they were outscored 15-4). I'll take Swayman over Raanta along with the Bruins' big game experience over the Hurricanes' history of choking against them in recent years. Also, if you are looking for another factor that should favor the road team (for once in this wacky series): all the pressure will be on Carolina who you'll remember led this series 2-0 and then 3-2. On paper at least, Saturday promises to be an awesome day for the NHL as there are three Game 7s (also Lightning-Maple Leafs and Oilers-Kings) which should help juice what has felt like a pretty forgettable first round up until this critical juncture.

For The Fifth Straight Season (Since Bruce Cassidy Took Over), The Bruins Are Going To The Playoffs

 

    With the NHL regular season ending next week, at this time it's not hard to figure out which teams are fighting for spots in the playoffs while the rest are counting down the days until they can get away from hockey for at least a little while. Tonight, the Bruins (31-14-6 overall, 15-8-3 away) were lucky enough to find themselves in the front end of a back-to-back against one of those already checked out kind of teams. The host Devils (17-28-7 overall, 6-18-3 home) barely put up any resistance as they lost 3-0 to the B's. Boston outshot New Jersey 42-20 and goaltender Tuukka Rask (20 saves, 14-4-2) barely broke a sweat in his second shutout of the season and the 52nd (!!!) of his NHL career. Most importantly, with five games left on their schedule, the black and gold officially clinched a playoff spot for the fifth consecutive year. 

    The visitors dominated in the first period as the Bruins outshot the Devils 17-4 but had nothing to show for it. New Jersey's goaltender Scott Wedgewood (39 saves, 3-7-3) was one of the only guys on his team that bothered putting forth any sort of effort this evening. Boston stuck with it though and got a pair of goals in the second period to essentially put it out of reach. Left wing Nick Ritchie scored off a one-timer from defenseman Jakub Zboril and center Sean Kuraly that made it 1-0 at 9:08. It was Ritchie's 14th goal of the season which tied a career-high, I'm guessing he'll top that in the next week. Captain Patrice Bergeron doubled the Bruins' lead after a beautiful backhand feed from left wing Brad Marchand (who was behind the net) that led to the center's 20th goal of the season at 17:54. It is the eighth straight season that Bergy has reached 20+ goals and the 12th time in his career that he's done that. Not to sound too much like a homer but he's gotta be a Hall of Famer someday, right? 

    In the third period, BU's A.J. Greer (who was making his Devils debut) dangerously hit Zboril from behind a few feet away from the boards which led to Quinnipiac's Connor Clifton (Zboril's defensive partner) dropping the gloves with Greer. Thankfully, Zboril ended up being fine but it was nice to see such an immediate and strong response from a Bruin to his teammate taking an uncalled for cheap shot. Speaking of the Terriers, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk rounded out the scoring for Boston with a shot from the point that bounced off the ice (Mighty Ducks knuckle puck style!) then off New Jersey defenseman Ryan Murray's leg and into the net. Grzelcyk's career-high fifth goal was assisted by Marchand and Bergeron at 17:17. 

    This game could not have turned out much better for the B's since they took care of their own business plus they also got some unexpected help from the Sabres (14-32-7) of all teams who actually beat the Islanders (31-16-5) 4-2. That moved Boston one point ahead of New York and into third-place in the East Division. The Bruins only trail first-place Washington (33-14-5) and second-place Pittsburgh (34-16-3) by three points each with a game in hand on the Caps and two on the Pens. The B's get another possible gift of two points tomorrow night (7, NESN) back in Newark as they close out the season series with the Devils. Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (6-2-0) gets the start and defenseman Brandon Carlo will return from injury (again) so there will be some interesting things to watch in what should be another easy Bruins victory.

UPDATE 5/4/21: Jaroslav Halak will start tonight for the Bruins, not Swayman. Carlo & Mike Reilly are in for defensemen Kevan Miller & Zboril while Trent Frederic replaces Karson Kulhman at forward. 

Halfway Through The Season Series Vs. Sabres, B's Are Unbeaten (4-0) After Last Night's 2-0 Shutout

 

    With the borderline AHL club that the Sabres (12-27-7) are rolling out there this season, it truthfully doesn't take much to beat them. Still, give the Bruins (26-12-6) credit for staying focused while they play the worst team in the league. Last night at the KeyBank Center, Boston blanked Buffalo 2-0 for their fifth straight win thanks to 32 saves by goaltender Tuukka Rask (11-4-2) who earned his first shutout of the season and the 51st of his NHL career. Thanks to a scheduling quirk in a year that's full of them, this was the first of three straight games between the Bruins and Sabres while Boston will also play these bums five times in their next seven contests. Haha what a gift as they try to lock up a playoff spot and move up in the East Division: the B's are now only four points behind the Capitals (29-13-4) and Islanders (29-13-4) plus just three points behind the Penguins (29-14-3) with two games in hand against all of those clubs.

    As you can probably conclude from the final score, this contest was pretty cut and dry. Boston scored a goal in the first period and a goal in the second period and that's more than they needed to beat a punchless group that went 0-for-6 on the power play. Left wing Brad Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a sweet backhander at 8:06 of the first period. Sabres goaltender Dustin Tokarski (39 saves, 2-6-2) left a juicy rebound then Marchand was able to swoop in and finish a backhander top shelf. Right wing David Pastrnak and defenseman Mike Reilly had the assists on Marchand's team-leading 24th goal of the season. 

    Defenseman Connor Clifton's goal at 3:03 of the second period was a classic goal allowed by an awful team. His shot from the point squeaked through Tokarski's five-hole and then for good measure, he kicked it with his skate which gave it just enough momentum to get over the goal line. It was the first goal of the season for the former Quinnipiac star, assisted by left wing Sean Kuraly and center Curtis Lazar (playing in his first game back in Buffalo). After a day off today, these teams return to the ice in Western NY tomorrow night (7, NESN) followed by a back-to-back on Friday (7, NESN). The Bruins are 4-0 against the Sabres with four matchups left this season and needless to say, those are eight easy points that they need to grab like their lives depend on it.

The Bruins Are Our Only Hope & Thankfully, They Are Just The Team To Carry That Unfair Burden

 

    As I just wrote on the post below this, the Celtics are suddenly going nowhere fast this season, the Patriots don't have much hope unless they can unearth a legitimate quarterback in free agency, the draft or via trade and the Red Sox are sure to be awful once again just like last year which no one watched and/or will remember. That leaves the Bruins (11-3-2) to shoulder the weight of expectations for Boston sports teams right now while all the other ones sputter at best. The good news is that at least in the regular season (get back to me when they are ready to win another Cup), they are not only going to win a bunch of games but they are also going to have fun doing it: see the above picture filled with fantastic 90s outfits that they all wore this afternoon to the rink. Tonight at Lake Tahoe (yes that one), they pummeled the poor Flyers (8-4-3) 7-3 in the NHL's latest outdoor game. It wasn't even that close as B's superstar David Pastrnak potted a hat trick as Boston improved to 5-0 against Philly this season with three more meetings left to go with their East division punching bag.  

    With no fans in this spectacular setting, except a few randoms in boats and kayaks floating nearby, the Bruins had to manufacture their own excitement and boy did they ever particularly in the second period where they took a 2-2 tie and turned it into a 6-2 blowout. Pasta understandably will get most of the attention but plenty of other Bruins did good things too: left wing Nick Ritchie had a goal and an assist, left wing Brad Marchand and right wing Craig Smith along with defensemen John Moore and Connor Clifton each had two assists, left wing Trent Frederic scored his first NHL goal and defenseman Urho Vaakanainen recorded his first NHL assist/point. 

    As you can imagine, Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (16 saves, 7-2-1) was barely required to do anything while the Flyers goaltending duo of Carter Hart (17 saves, 6 goals allowed before he was pulled) and Brian Elliott (11 saves, 1 goal allowed) still can't figure out a way to beat Boston this season. Perhaps the most promising aspect of this victory for the Black and Gold was that they only scored one power play goal meaning that six of them came 5-on-5. It was also a hell of a night for Boston University hockey since they had three guys (Charlie McAvoy and Charlie Coyle on Boston; Joel Farabee on Philadelphia) all score goals in this event that the entire hockey world was watching on national TV during an otherwise sleepy Sunday night sports-wise. Somewhere former Terriers head coach Jack Parker was surely smiling while he thought about how much this will help recruiting efforts for future teams on Comm. Ave. 

    Pasta scored 34 seconds into the game because of course he did and from there, Philadelphia briefly led 2-1 (haha for 39 seconds!) before McAvoy tied it up at two heading into the first intermission. Boston could no wrong in the second period as Pastrnak, Coyle, Frederic and Ritchie (on the PP) all tallied goals with the final three coming in a span of 1:39. It might have been the thin mountain air but the Flyers' collective heads were no doubt spinning by that point. UNH's James van Riemsdyk (goal, 2 assists) would be in the Hockey Hall of Fame if he only played the Bruins, the guy always seems to show up against them. All that was left to do in the third period was for Pasta to get his 10th career NHL hat trick. He also paces the B's with nine goals in only nine games. 

    With a long flight home late tonight, Boston will return for a few days and then they will go back to New York for the weekend just like they did two weeks ago. That sounds like a cruel joke, with the only difference being that they play at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday (7, NESN) vs. the Islanders (8-6-3)-who have won both meetings in 2021-before a two-game set at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers (6-7-3) on Friday (7, NESN) and Sunday afternoon (12, NBC). With no practice tomorrow, they can catch up on their sleep and become reacclimated to the Eastern Time Zone before getting back to work. They should also savor all the sweet pictures and memories that they created these last few days in Lake Tahoe; if they do win that elusive Cup this summer, you can bet that this bonding trip will be prominently featured in the DVD celebrating the championship season and often cited in numerous stories as a key moment.

UPDATE 2/24/21: More bad news for Boston's defensive corps as Jeremy Lauzon broke his left hand on Sunday, he had surgery today and he's expected to miss at least the next four weeks. 

The Bruins Earn Another Two-Game Series Sweep Vs. The Flyers With A Playoff-Style 2-1 Victory

 

    You can't realistically ask for a much better road trip than the one that the Bruins (8-1-2) just completed tonight at Philadelphia's (7-3-2) First Union Center. Thanks to a 2-1 win against the Flyers, Boston wrapped up four games against Washington (6-2-3) and Philly-the other two best teams in the East Division now and probably for the rest of the season-with seven out of a possible eight points. Unless you are a fan of boring, defensive hockey with very few scoring chances, this tilt was not exactly filled with highlights but it nevertheless proved that the B's can still find a way to come out on top no matter how you want to play. They also improved to 4-0 against Philadelphia this season, halfway through their regular season slate with them.

    The theme of the entire trip was third period comebacks so Boston had one more granted it wasn't quite the three-goal rallies in DC nor the two-goal deficit that they overcame in Philly on Wednesday. Not much happened in the first two periods except a nice fight between B's defenseman Connor Clifton and Flyers right wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Tuukka Rask (23 saves, 5-1-1) easily stopped a penalty shot by BU's Joel Farabee. It was scoreless heading into the third period and UNH's James van Riemsdyk tipped in a shot from the point by defenseman Erik Gustafsson for a power play goal 27 seconds into the frame. Center Claude Giroux added the second assist on JVR's sixth goal of the season which also extended his point-streak to six games (3 goals, 8 assists). That would turn out to be the only goal that Rask would allow. 

    The Bruins continued to grind away and eventually tied it on a greasy goal by left wing Brad Marchand at 12:01. Right wing David Pastrnak's initial shot was stopped by Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott (21 saves, 3-1-0) but Marchand was in front (along with Patrice Bergeron) and he was able to win a puck battle then sweep in the rebound. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy notched the secondary assist on Marchand's team-leading seventh goal of the season. It wasn't tied for long as center Sean Kuraly made it 2-1 in favor of Boston 27 seconds later. He fired a snap shot from just inside the blue line that Elliott's glove totally whiffed on. The puck hit the far post and rattled in for his second goal of the season. Left wing Anders Bjork and center David Krejci-part of a rejiggered line-supplied the assists on the game-winning tally. 

    Boston was scheduled to host Buffalo (4-4-2) on Saturday night and Monday at TD Garden but the Sabres are one of four NHL teams currently paused due to Covid-19 outbreaks so those games will be postponed to a later date in the season. For the B's, the timing isn't so bad since they get to return home and relax for a few days before their next games: Wednesday (7, NBCSN) and Friday (7, NESN) at Madison Square Garden vs. the Rangers (4-4-2). That's followed by another visit to Long Island to face the Islanders (3-4-2) on Saturday night (7, NESN). Like the rest of us (that aren't clueless idiots during a pandemic), the Bruins won't be able to have their traditional Super Bowl party with all their wives and girlfriends in the same place but at least they can all kick back and enjoy a long weekend in Boston before they return to work.  

Bruins Sweep The Flyers Behind A 6-1 Blowout, Easily Their Best Performance Of The Early Season

 

    Who said that the Bruins (3-1-1) had any offensive struggles whatsoever? Those seem like a distant memory as Boston dispatched Philadelphia (3-2-1) for the second straight game, this time much more decisively to the tune of a 6-1 laugher tonight at TD Garden. After scoring three combined goals in their first three contests, the B's scored four in Thursday's 5-4 shootout victory vs. Philly then topped that with a six-pack of goals this evening led by the incomparable center Patrice Bergeron (2 power play goals, assist) and left wing Brad Marchand (2 goals-1 PPG, assist). Goaltender Jaroslav Halak (1-0-1) got the start for the Bruins but he didn't have to do much of anything beyond staying awake since the Flyers only landed 17 total shots on him. 

  B's defenseman Matt Grzelcyk was out with a lower-body injury but the usually reliable Connor Clifton (plus-1, 4 hits, blocked shot in 18:12) filled in well for him in his season debut. As usual, Bergy and Marchy earned the majority of the headlines with plenty of highlights of their own but there were some notable achievements by other Bruins as well: rookie forward Trent Frederic (plus-2, 3 shots on goal, 2 hits and takeaway in 14:31) and rookie defenseman Jakub Zboril (2 shots on goal, hit and blocked shot in 19:41) each earned their first NHL points/assists while winger Craig Smith (assist, plus-2, 2 shots on goal in 15:00) scored his first goal for the Spoked B. BU's Charlie Coyle found the back of the net for the second straight game, helping Boston win two games in a row for the first time in 2021. 

    Rather than being down by two goals heading into the third period (like they did on Thursday), the B's took a new and much easier approach as they scored first and then closed things out with five unanswered goals. Bergeron got the fun started with a power play goal (his 2nd goal of the season) at 8:09 of the first period. Winger Nick Ritchie (2 assists) and center David Krejci had the helpers as Boston created plenty of traffic in front of Flyers goaltender Carter Hart (20 saves, 2-2-1) which allowed Bergy to brush a tough-angle backhander by him. Up 1-0 after the first period, the only real adversity that the Bruins faced all night-if you can even call it that-was when BC's Kevin Hayes tipped in a shot by right wing Jakub Voracek 1:14 into the second period for his third goal of the season. Just 1:16 after that, Smith nabbed his first tally in the Black and Gold thanks to a sweet spin-around pass from Coyle that left him with a wide open net to shoot at. Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon had the second assist on Smith's goal, his first point of the season. Coyle was repaid for his great feed with an equally beautiful look from Frederic. The pride of Weymouth tipped it in for a 3-1 advantage at 17:50 of the second period with Smith notching the other helper. 

    After a few days in Boston where they probably couldn't do much of anything besides play hockey (because of the pandemic and freezing temperatures) and sit alone in their hotel rooms, I'm sure that Philadelphia was understandably ready to get home by the time that the third period came around. Truthfully, they played like a club that was halfway on the bus to the airport for much of that extended garbage time. Marchand made sure of it as he potted his pair of goals 3:46 apart in the frame. First he was the recipient of a ferocious forecheck by Bergeron that led to an easy tap-in at 4:13 for his second goal of the season. The top line's latest right wing-Jake DeBrusk-got the second assist. The wheels completely fell off at that point for the Flyers as they continued to take penalties and the Bruins were more than happy to pay for them. Marchand ripped in a wrist shot at 7:59 for a power-play goal, assisted by Ritchie and Zboril. Bergeron fittingly wrapped it up with a very similar goal to his first one except this time-at 13:33, assisted by Marchand and Charlie McAvoy-it came on the man advantage. 

    As you probably guessed, Boston earned a day off from practice tomorrow so they'll be back to work on Monday morning at Warrior Ice Arena for their first practice ahead of two games at home vs. Pittsburgh (3-2-0). The B's host the Penguins on Tuesday (7, NESN) and Thursday (7, NESN), their first two matchups of the season with superstar Sidney Crosby and his team who are temporarily in the same division (East) as the Bruins. After losing their first two games of the year vs. Philly, the Penguins have rattled off three straight wins. They still score plenty of goals (18) but they also allow even more (21) so expect some high-scoring tilts when these sneaky rivals meet once again in Boston.

Lifeless Bruins Rally From Two-Goal Deficit In The 3rd Period For A Thrilling 4-3 Victory In Game 4

 

    If you are a Bruins fan, I sincerly hope that for some reason you missed the first two miserable periods of tonight's Game 4 between Boston and Carolina. It wasn't bad enough that the Hurricanes led 2-0 after the second period but simultaneously, the B's couldn't find a way to solve James Reimer (29 saves) who is just as mediocre as you remember from 2013 with Toronto. Luckily, the Black and Gold saved all their energy for an absolutely scintillating third period where they outscored the Canes 4-1 en route to a 4-3 win that gives them a commanding 3-1 lead in the series. 

    Both of Carolina's goals in the first and second period respectively were ones that Jaroslav Halak (16 saves) would surely like to have back. Justin Williams' shot from along the boards at least seemed to be through some traffic thus affecting Halak's vision but nonetheless, his glove hand just missed it for a 1-0 Canes lead at 9:17 of the first. Speaking of former Leafs bums, Jake Gardiner had the primary assist and Vincent Trocheck added the other helper on Williams' first goal of the postseason. Boston had some chances, like when David Krejci hit the post but for much of the first 45+ minutes of action, they were gripping their sticks too tightly and trying to pick corners on a guy that frankly shouldn't necessitate that type of effort or precision.

      Things got worse for the B's in the second period as Jordan Martinook's shot slipped right under Halak's glove once again. No excuse on that, Martinook's second goal of the playoffs was assisted by Sebastian Aho (NHL-best 8th assist of the postseason) and came at 12:08 for Carolina's first two-goal lead of the entire series. Suddenly, everyone's hot take after Game 3 that the Bruins were somehow better without Tuukka Rask seemed at best silly. The larger point was that without David Pastrnak in the lineup, the B's were failing to generate any goals 5-on-5. Their power play actually went 0-for-3 tonight as well so they really needed to get it all done even strength. 

    There were two plays in the third period that were shall we say co-turning points for the Bruins: Charlie McAvoy's bone-rattling hit on Eric Staal (that ended the night for Carolina's captain) and Jake DeBrusk's first goal that cut it to 2-1 Hurricanes and mercifully breathed some life into Boston. Reimer came flying out of the crease to get a loose puck but Jake was just a little faster to stickhandle around Reimer and still manage to shoot it while he was falling down. DeBrusk's second goal of the postseason came at 7:26 and it was assisted by Ondrej Kase and Connor Clifton. Little did we know that would set off an explosion as Boston outshot Carolina 16-2 (!!) in the frame and they scored the four goals in a wild span of 6:51. 

    Playing in his second straight game, Clifton made his presence felt even further with the tying goal-an absolute missile to the top corner of the net-at 10:10. Joakim Nordstrom (game-high 7 hits) and Chris Wagner had the assists on Clifton's first goal of the postseason which also gave him his first career multiple-point playoff game. If those weren't enough highlights for the B's, Torey Krug sprang Brad Marchand for a breakaway and a beautiful go-ahead goal at 11:40. Brad's third goal of the postseason also gave him a four-game point streak (3 goals, 4 assists) in the series. Boston's second line put the icing on their fantastic performance as DeBrusk bagged his second goal at 14:17 after some deft passing from Kase and Krejci. It was never Halak's night so he couldn't resist but to give up one more questionable goal as Teuvo Teravainen's backhander/deflected shot beat him at 18:33. Teravainen's third goal of the playoffs was assisted by Brady Skjei and Dougie Hamilton. Luckily, there wasn't enough time left for the Hurricanes to put anymore pressure on Halak that likely would have resulted in the tying goal and a subsequent overtime. 

    It's tough to overstate how important that win was for the Bruins and conversely, how devastating the loss was for the Canes. Now Boston has three chances to beat Carolina only once more which is not too tall an order given their revolving door of goaltenders and growing list of injured forwards. Anytime you can eliminate a team in the NHL playoffs, you have to do it because you never know what can happen once a team starts to gain momentum back in a series. Game 5 is Wednesday afternoon (4, NESN) and I feel confident that the Bruins can get rid of the still-overmatched wannabe Whalers in only one more game than it took them last year. Perhaps most importantly (besides the final result), Halak needs to have a sharp performance to prove that he can be counted on against a better team(s) that will be down the road. This should give you some comfort before you fall asleep: the Bruins have a 19-2 all-time record in best-of-seven series when they lead in a series 3-1. It's not over yet but it is very close to saying goodbye to the Hurricanes once and for all.   

       

      

    

    

    

The Bruins Rallied For A Thrilling 4-2 Victory In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final vs. the Blues

For two teams (Boston and St. Louis) that had been off for roughly a combined three months since their last contests in the Conference Finals, you have to say that Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final was way more exciting than most would have expected. The Blues built a 2-0 lead a minute into the second period before the Bruins came roaring back (sorry for that bad pun) with a pair of goals in the second and two more in the third to come away with a 4-2 win at TD Garden on a picture perfect Memorial Day. It marked the first time this postseason that Boston actually won a game after they trailed by two goals, the other four times had all resulted in losses.

If you've been paying attention for this entire playoff run by the B's, there were some familiar patterns throughout the 60 minutes that emerged for the home team: the incredible depth of Boston's roster was once again on full display as their first the three stars of the night (as chosen by the NHL's official scorers) were a fourth-line center (Sean Kuraly), a third-line winger (Marcus Johansson) and a third pairing defenseman (Connor Clifton). Also, the Bruins' top-ranked power play managed to score a goal despite starting 0-for-3 and their penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2. Tuukka Rask barely had to break a sweat after that second goal by St. Louis as he only was forced to make 18 saves for his and the team's eighth straight win.

I don't think it has all that much relevance since we're talking about nearly 50 years ago but I still think it's funny that with tonight's result, the Blues remain winless all-time in the Stanley Cup Final (0-13). I'm certainly not enough of a Bruins honk to say that this series is over (all you have to refer to is last season's Stanley Cup Final when Vegas took Game 1 then proceeded to lose the next four to Washington) but there were a lot of reasons if you root for the Black and Gold to be confident following this first step.

Honestly, both goals for St. Louis could be directly attributed to fatal mistakes by Boston: Brayden Schenn scored the first goal of the series at 7:23 of the first period when he was able to put in a loose puck that multiple Bruins failed to clear out of danger after an initial save by Rask. Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester had the assists on Schenn's third goal of the postseason. The shots were even at eight after one frame but it felt like the Bruins should have been up since Jordan Binnington (34 saves) made a couple great saves on one-timers by David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk missed the net on a breakaway and Johansson hit the post with a shot. An unforgivable turnover by Pasta behind his own net was the beginning of the goal that made it 2-0 thanks to Vladimir Tarasenko's snipe (his 9th of the playoffs) from Schenn.

Down 2-0, the Bruins didn't allow themselves or their fans (many of whom had paid obscene amounts of money to be in the building) much time to dwell on the hole that they built as Connor Clifton of all people cut it to 2-1 just 1:16 after Tarasenko's backbreaking goal. The Quinnipiac University product drove to the side of the net and was able to re-direct enough of a pass from Kuraly for the puck to sneak in. Joakim Nordstrom had the second assist on Clifton's second career playoff goal. St. Louis then started to take some very dumb penalties (high-sticking on Joel Edmundson and cross-checking on Oscar Sundqvist) and wouldn't you know it, Boston eventually made them pay dearly for their utter stupidity.

Charlie McAvoy burst through the middle of the St. Louis defensive zone and a pair of Blues defensemen were too slow to react as he beat Binnington with a low shot at 12:41 of the second period that tied it up 2-2. The ex-BU star's second goal of the postseason was unassisted. That extended Boston's power play goal streak to five games and in that span they are 8-for-20 (40%). The Bruins outshot the Blues 18-3 in the second and yet it somehow felt like even more than that. Marchand had two great chances to score late in the stanza as he spun around for a brilliant backhander that was stopped by Binnington and then in the closing seconds, he also hit the post.

Boston kept at it in the third period and they were rewarded by another key goal from Kuraly (all he does is score important goals) that gave them their first lead at 3-2. Noel Acciari fed him a pass across the goal-line and he was able to flip in the rebound for his third goal of the postseason at 5:21 with Zdeno Chara picking up the second assist. The Blues came in with the ninth ranked power play in the playoffs and they looked average in their few chances (including in the 3rd when David Krejci was called for an illegal check to the head). The highlight of Game 1 that will surely be remembered for a long time (assuming that you cheer for the Bruins) was a thunderous hit by Torey Krug on Robert Thomas. Krug had been tangled up for what seemed like five minutes in his own end with David Perron (causing him to lose his helmet) but he returned to the play and lined up Thomas from a mile away.

Blues head coach Craig Berube probably pulled Binnington too early (with 2:13 left in regultion) which allowed Marchand to quickly take out the suspense with an empty-netter at 18:11, his eighth goal of the postseason. Game 2 is Wednesday (8, NBC) and while I expect St. Louis to play much better, I believe that Boston can take it up another level too (at least as far as many of their stars are concerned). For what it's worth, the Bruins are 37-16 all-time in best-of-7 series when they lead a series 1-0 (5-1 in the Stanley Cup Final) while the Blues are 6-24 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail 0-1 (although they did beat San Jose in the last round after dropping Game 1). The B's are 32-20 in Game 2s when leading a series 1-0 (4-2 in SCF) and the Blues are 14-16 when trailing a series 0-1. As we just saw vs. overmatched Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals, a 2-0 series lead is a huge thing so Boston would love nothing better to put some more pressure on St. Louis by going back to what would be an absolute must-win Game 3 if they trailed 0-2.

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