To Open Free Agency, B's Were Very Active But Did They Get Anyone That Will Make A Big Difference?

 

    When free agency opens in any professional sport, most fans just want to see their favorite team be active and engaged. When NHL free agency officially started today at noon, the Bruins were certainly as busy as any club in the league but when you run through all the names of guys that they signed, you are left wondering if any of them will have any type of major impact for Boston. Leaving out the four players that will most likely be stuck in Providence for most of (if not all of) next season, B's GM Don Sweeney brought in six legitimate NHL veterans. The most notable names are goaltender Linus Ullmark (formerly of the Sabres) and forward and former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno. In addition, depth forwards Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek are here too along with defensemen Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly (who was traded to the Bruins before the trade deadline last season).

    Haha is that it? For a team that likes to think of themselves as true Stanley Cup contenders every season, it sure feels like Sweeney was trying to shop at The Dollar Store to get what he needs rather than spending a little more to get some better players. Jaroslav Halak signed with Vancouver and free agent Tuukka Rask is out for awhile following hip surgery so the B's needed a veteran goalie to work with promising young netminder Jeremy Swayman. That's fine and Ullmark had actually put up respectable numbers somehow on the worst team in the league in 2021: 9-6-3 w/.917 save percentage and a 2.63 goals against average. He's only 27 years old but did he really need a four-year contract with an annual cap hit of $5 million (faints)?

    Foligno feels a little bit like David Backes light and we all know how that went for the B's. A well-respected leader and dependable player that at 33 is definitely on the back end of his career after being traded to Toronto last season and not making many contributions to that loser franchise. In 49 games last season between the two teams, he had 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists). The former first-round pick (28th overall in 2006) got a two-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.8 million. Haula is truthfully a journeyman since this will be his sixth NHL team but he is coming off a pretty nice little season in Nashville: eight goals, 10 assists & plus-21. For that, the 30-year-old earned a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2.375 million. Finally for the forwards, Nosek put up eight goals and 10 assists with a plus-seven rating for the Golden Knights in 38 games. Like Haula, he is 30 and he was signed for two years but with a lower annual cap hit ($1.75 million). Foligno could be insurance if David Krejci doesn't re-sign with Boston while Haula and Nosek should easily replace center Sean Kuraly who signed a four-year contract with his hometown team-the Blue Jackets-earlier today. 

    Reilly was a pleasant surprise in 15 games last season with the black and gold after being obtained from Ottawa as he notched eight assists and was plus-seven. In his first postseason with Boston, he slowed down to four assists and a plus-three rating in 11 games. On a good team (which the Bruins hopefully can still qualify as), he is a third-pair left-shot defenseman that is a solid puck-mover with some offensive ability. The fact that he's 27 is most likely why he signed a three-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3 million. I can't say that I know much about Forbort besides the fact that he's big (6-foot-4, 219 pounds) which is something that Boston really lacks on the back end and he averaged over 20 minutes of ice time last season with Winnipeg. He is 29 and with a three-year deal that carries an annual cap hit of $3 million, I'd guarantee that Sweeney expects him to be much more than Jarred Tinordi who signed with the Rangers this afternoon. 

    It would be dumb to make any sweeping conclusions already about this group since odds are that Sweeney still has some tinkering to do both in terms of additional signings and perhaps a few more trades (for instance, backup goaltender Dan Vladar got flipped to Calgary for a third-round pick this afternoon). You also have to remember that he signed Brandon Carlo, Taylor Hall-and to a much lesser extent Trent Frederic-in the past few weeks, who are likely to be more important moves this offseason in the long run when it's all said and done. I'll just leave this here: Jack Eichel is still on Buffalo and while it is probably a pipe dream that he'll ever be a Bruin, we can choose to hold out hope that Sweeney finds a way to acquire him for basically whatever it takes. Can you imagine your excitement level if Eichel was going to be a Bruin for a long period of time? 

It Took Overtime But The Flyers Finally Beat The Bruins 3-2 In Their Sixth Meeting Of The Season

 

    On Easter Sunday, the Capitals (25-9-4) completed a season sweep (8 games!) of the Devils (13-17-6) which makes sense because Washington is one of the best teams in the NHL and New Jersey is one of the worst-that is when they're not playing Boston (19-10-6). Tonight at the TD Garden, the Bruins put their own unbeaten record on the line against the Flyers (18-14-5) and it finally came to an end as Philly beat them 3-2 in overtime on defenseman Travis Sanheim's goal. The B's dropped to 5-0-1 against the Flyers in 2021 while Philadelphia closed to within three points of them for fourth-place in the East Division (Boston still has two games in hand over them). The same teams meet tomorrow night (7, NESN) at the Wells Fargo Center before they close the season series there on Saturday afternoon (2, NESN). 

    Covid-19 continues to wreak havoc on the Bruins, granted not on the horrifying scale that the Canucks (16-18-3) are currently facing. This afternoon we found out that B's goaltender Jaroslav Halak had tested positive for the coronavirus and with Tuukka Rask still out (back injury), the team was forced to start rookie goaltender Dan Vladar (29 saves, 2-1-1) and dress another rookie Jeremy Swayman as the backup who had never appeared in an NHL game. Left wing Jake DeBrusk played in his first game since March 18 after he was sidelined with Covid-19. This is not to make excuses for Boston's loss this evening, only to point out that there are many things going on with the club both on and off the ice while the pandemic still unfolds all around us. 

    The last time that we saw the Flyers, the Bruins had buried them in the side of a mountain at Lake Tahoe. Things were obviously much different for them tonight than that embarrassing blowout defeat. Right wing Travis Konecny gave them a 1-0 lead at 10:15 of the first period as he put in a rebound. Center Claude Giroux and defenseman Ivan Provorov had the assists on Konecny's eighth goal of the season. Boston tied it at 17:33 on rookie right wing Karson Kuhlman's snipe over Flyers goalie Brian Elliott's (27 saves, 10-5-1) shoulder, off the post and in. BU's Charlie Coyle had the lone assist on Kuhlman's second goal of the season. 

    The Black and Gold notched the only goal in the second period which also gave them their lone lead of the tilt: center Patrice Bergeron one-timed in a nifty pass from right wing David Pastrnak on the power play 46 seconds into the frame. BU's Matt Grzelcyk provided the other helper on Bergy's 12th goal of the season. Philadelphia tied it in the third period with a power play tally of their own: center Sean Couturier's screened snap shot went by Vladar at 6:56. Provorov and BC's Kevin Hayes recorded the assists on Couturier's 11th goal of the season. Sanheim's goal was a lowlight for Bergeron as he tripped himself up skating backwards and trying to play defense on him, leading to a breakaway and the eventual game-winning goal. Sanheim's second goal of the season was unassisted and it came at 3:08. 

    Assuming that Halak is still out for tomorrow's rematch, does Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy choose to start Vladar again or go with Swayman in a very important matchup in terms of playoff implications? I'm not going to hold my breath for Rask to return tomorrow either so I believe it will be one of the rookie goaltenders in net on the road in a really big spot that happens to be the second half of a back-to-back set. On the other side, you wonder if Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault goes back to Elliott or he throws Carter Hart in there who has been nothing but a disaster lately? A Philly win in regulation would bring them within one point of the Bruins. Ruh roh.

UPDATE 4/6/21: Swayman will make his NHL debut tonight while defenseman Kevan Miller & right wing Chris Wagner both return to the lineup. 

Unless They Make Some Moves By The Trade Deadline, B's Aren't Going Anywhere This Season

 

    It's not quite as dire for the Bruins (18-10-5) this season as the Celtics but make no mistake, they have major issues of their own that need to be addressed or else they'll be fortunate to make the playoffs in 2021 where they would be promptly knocked out rather quickly. Tonight at the TD Garden, they hosted the Penguins (24-11-2) in the start of a two-game series. The Penguins easily took round one by a score of 4-1 for their fifth win in a row (and their first here since 2015!) as Pittsburgh cut the season series to 3-2 in favor of the B's. Boston never led in this listless performance as the Pens scored twice in the second period to take a 2-0 lead. The Bruins cut it to 2-1 midway through the third period but Pittsburgh answered right back then put in an empty-net goal to clinch it. 

    With the way that Boston's offense is struggling right now it doesn't take opposing goaltenders much to shut them down. Pittsburgh's goalie Casey DeSmith (30 saves, 9-3-0)-a NH native & UNH product-was solid all night as he won his third straight start. The Bruins have a rough mix right now of young guys who either aren't ready to contribute much yet at this level or maybe they're just not that good to begin with. Adding that to all the overrated and/or floating veterans and you can see why Boston is pretty much locked into the fourth seed in the East Division should they reach the postseason.

        After a scoreless first period, the B's got some bad news that defenseman Brandon Carlo (playing in his 2nd game in almost a month after sustaining a concussion) suffered an upper-body injury and wouldn't return to action this evening. The Penguins must have as many college hockey alums on their roster as any other current team in the NHL. Hockey East had a big second period for them as Northeastern's Zach Aston-Reese and BC's Mike Matheson each scored a goal that staked Pittsburgh to a 2-0 lead which against Boston might as well be 5-0. Aston-Reese took a great feed from PC's Brandon Tanev to redirect it in at 2:01. Center Frederick Gaudreau (any relation to Johnny?) had the other assist on Aston-Reese's eighth goal of the season. Matheson's was more of an outstanding individual play as he used his speed to get around the Bruins defense and beat rookie goaltender Dan Vladar (19 saves, 2-1-0) for the 2-0 lead. Center Anthony Angello and defenseman Cody Ceci provided the helpers on his third goal of the season that came at 13:02. 

    Left wing Brad Marchand has been one of the only Bruins forwards lately that has had any consistent jump in his game. That's why it figured that he would score their only goal. He roofed a wrist shot by DeSmith for his 14th goal of the season (tied with David Pastrnak for the team lead) at 11:14 of the third period. Center Patrice Bergeron and defenseman Jakub Zboril notched the assists on that lone highlight of the game for the Bruins. Less than two minutes later after a weak turnover by Pasta in the neutral zone, left wing Jason Zucker finished a beautiful pass from BU's Evan Rodrigues and defenseman Marcus Pettersson. His fifth goal of the season was at 13:07 and it served as a kind of backbreaker to the home team. Left wing Jake Guentzel padded his stats with an empty-netter-his 15th goal of the season at 17:51 for a 4-1 margin. Some guys named Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby happened to have the assists on that final tally. 

    These same teams will practice tomorrow in the city: the Bruins will be at Warrior Ice Arena and the Penguins who knows, maybe at BU (where their head coach Mike Sullivan used to coach) before they play again on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN). If Tuukka Rask is still unavailable, it'll be Jaroslav Halak in net for the B's. Through injuries, illnesses and slumps, Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy has had to constantly shuffle his lineup and I don't expect the matinee to be any different in that regard. Center Sean Kuraly and left wing Jake DeBrusk were skating at practice the last few days so perhaps they can finally return from their bouts with Covid-19. The Bruins are 2-2-1 on this seven-game homestand that feels pretty pivotal in their season. 

The Bruins Barely Survived What Would Have Been A Very Embarrassing Loss & Beat The Sabres 3-2

 

    The Covid-19 outbreak on the Bruins (17-8-5) is still alive as star left wing Brad Marchand was the latest guy to miss a game due to the NHL's Covid protocols. Left wing Jake DeBrusk and center Sean Kuraly are still out since they went on the Covid list last week. No matter if it had to be the Providence Bruins that faced the hapless Sabres (6-23-4) this afternoon at the TD Garden, there was no excuse not to beat a club that entered on a 16-game losing streak. Buffalo played what I'm assuming was one of their better games during this Scarlet Letter of a slump (now the second longest losing streak in league history): they scored first and were up 2-1 after two periods. However, Boston finally woke up in the third period-outshooting the Sabres 15-3-and scored twice to escape with a less-than-satisfying 3-2 "victory." Look, with all the guys that have been in and out of the lineup lately for the B's due to Covid or injuries, I'll never complain about two points but I have to admit that this was about as ugly a win as you'll ever find.

    Bruins rookie goaltender Dan Vladar made his second career NHL start and surprise, it didn't go quite as smoothly as his nearly flawless debut against Pittsburgh (22-11-2) a few weeks ago. The Sabres took a 1-0 lead 2:01 into the afternoon matinee as Vladar's pass was picked off by Buffalo center Sam Reinhart who stuffed it in for his 12th goal of the season. It was the rare power play goal that was unassisted. The Sabres led 1-0 after the first period before Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk's screened shot from the point found its way past Buffalo goaltender Linus Ullmark (33 saves, 5-5-2). The BU alum's second goal of the season was assisted by right wing David Pastrnak and center Patrice Bergeron at 11:41. Buffalo regained the lead moments later (at 14:12 to be exact) as right wing Kyle Okposo was in the perfect spot to backhand in a juicy rebound by Vladar. Center Steven Fogarty and defenseman Henri Jokiharju had the helpers on Okposo's second goal of the season. 

    Left wing Nick Ritchie tied it for the Black and Gold at 5:22 of the third period. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy (game-high 26:32 ice time) made the play happen as he wheeled around the net before passing it to Ritchie in front to knock in his ninth goal of the season. Defenseman Jakub Zboril provided the other assist on Ritchie's ninth goal of the season. With Trent Frederic taking Marchand's place on the top line, Boston's second line picked up the slack as they bagged the game-winning goal. Right wing Craig Smith did the honors as center David Krejci poked the loose puck in front to Smith to fire into the net. Ritchie notched the other assist on Smith's sixth goal of the season at 16:10. 

    This was also a must-win because the Bruins are right back in action tomorrow night (5:30, NESN) against the Devils (12-16-4) at the Garden. For whatever unexplainable reason, Boston has struggled vs. New Jersey this year (1-2-1) including a sleepy 1-0 shutout loss three weeks ago in a similar spot. Boston couldn't ask much more from its schedule right now as they also face the Devils on Tuesday (7, NESN) at the Garden as well. New Jersey has a shocking 8-5-2 record on the road this season so that's another good talking point for B's head coach Bruce Cassidy to hammer home to his team before these next two tilts. You can thank me later Butch! Goaltender Jaroslav Halak gets the start tomorrow and he could use a win as well.

As We All Predicted, Rookie Dan Vladar Was Fantastic In His First NHL Start For The Bruins

 

    After a rough stretch, the Bruins (15-8-4) were in desperate need of an energy boost. They got it tonight at PPG Paints Arena as they beat Pittsburgh (18-10-1) 2-1 behind 34 saves (including a show-stopping paddle save on a stunned Colton Sceviour) from rookie goaltender Dan Vladar in his first career NHL start. How improbable was this result? Well, the Penguins had won six games in a row along with their last seven consecutive contests at home against Boston. A third-round pick in 2015 (75th overall), Vladar's only other NHL appearance was mop-up duty in one loss last postseason against the Lightning. He's tall (6-foot-5) and could use a trip to the North End (185 pounds?) but the lanky 23-year-old Czech made it all work against one of the league's top teams. 

    This matchup on the second night of a back-to-back set felt like a playoff game for many reasons, beginning with the final score. Once again the B's scored first as superstar right wing David Pastrnak finished a breakaway with a nifty backhander through Penguins goaltender (and UNH alum/NH native) Casey DeSmith's five-hole. Pasta's team-high 13th goal of the season came just 3:20 into the first period and it was assisted by left wing Brad Marchand whose pass sprung him and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk picked up the second helper. Penguins left wing and one of my all-time favorite PC alums Brandon Tanev answered at 15:22 of the first period when he put in a rebound from the doorstep. BU center Evan Rodrigues and right wing Kasperi Kapanen had the assists on Tanev's seventh goal of the season.

    Boston defenseman Jarred Tinordi was in the middle of everything as a big hit on Penguins star Evgeni Malkin in the first period ended his night early. Later, he was on the other end of a monster collision with Tanev in the second period that resulted in Tinordi leaving with an upper-body injury and Tanev was wrongly assessed a boarding call and game misconduct penalty. The domino effect of this was that B's defenseman Charlie McAvoy ended up playing more than half of the game (30:16) which is insane in the regular season but what else could Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy do? The Black and Gold can't afford another injury to a defenseman so let's hope that Tinordi is alright. They are already missing Kevan Miller (of course), Brandon Carlo, Jeremy Lauzon and John Moore to various injuries so a journeyman that they just got off of waivers a few weeks ago is actually very important for the time being. 

    Another rookie for Boston came through with the game-winning goal as left wing Trent Frederic's floating wrist shot through major traffic found its way past DeSmith at 7:07 of the third period. Frederic's fourth goal of the season was assisted by defenseman Jakub Zboril and center Patrice Bergeron. With the victory, Boston improved to 3-1 against Pittsburgh this season and they pulled back within three points of them for third-place in the East Division (the Pens have still played 2 more games than them). The Bruins couldn't pick a better time to play the Sabres (6-18-4)-who are by far the worst team in the entire league. The B's are in Buffalo on Thursday (7, NESN) and Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) to take on a sorry excuse for an NHL team that has lost 12 straight games. It sounds like goaltender Tuukka Rask could return for one of those games but there's a little less of a rush now knowing that Vladar more than earned another start at some point this season.