The Bruins Lost 2-1 To The Capitals In A Completely Meaningless Regular Season Finale

 

    In a goofy scheduling quirk, Boston (33-16-7 overall, 15-9-4 away) had to go to DC tonight to play the Capitals (36-15-5 overall, 17-8-3 home) at the Verizon Center in their final game of the regular season, only to return there on Saturday night (7:15, NBC) for Game 1 of the first round of the NHL playoffs. With almost all of their best players benched, the Bruins' backups and lesser known guys mostly held their own against an almost full-strength Caps lineup but Washington won 2-1 thanks to a last-second goal. Veteran left wing Michael Raffl scored his first goal as a Capital (4th of the season) with three seconds left in regulation to clinch the victory (assisted by defenseman Justin Schultz) and thankfully avoid a needless overtime and/or shootout. Boston finished 4-2-2 against Washington in the regular season which should give them plenty of confidence heading into their fourth ever playoff series against the Capitals. 

    Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (30 saves, 7-3-0) made the start for the B's and besides Raffl's fluky game-winner (over his shoulder from no angle), his only other mistake was coughing up a rebound which led to the tying goal for left wing Carl Hagelin in the second period. He crashed the net and put in the loose puck at 16:15 for his sixth goal of the season, assisted by Brown's Garnet Hathaway and some guy named Zdeno Chara. Washington's rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek (21-10-4) made 24 saves in the victory and the only goal he allowed came earlier in the second period. Center Curtis Lazar drove to the net and was there to re-direct a feed from defenseman Jarred Tinordi. Left wing Jake DeBrusk had the other assist on Lazar's seventh goal of the season at 10:11.

    The Capitals seemed to have run the much bigger risk by having so many regulars play tonight but the Bruins turned out to be the team to suffer an injury as defenseman Jakub Zboril left with an upper-body injury in the second period and he never returned to action. I'd love to tell you when Games 2-4 will be but thus far, Game 1 is all that has been confirmed by the NHL. Regardless of when it all takes place, I think we all know that this is going to be a hell of a series. With the Penguins (37-16-3) facing the Islanders (32-17-7) in the other East Division semifinal, I think that the winner of the Bruins-Capitals series (assuming that they don't have tons of injuries to key players) has a great chance to be the last team standing from the East. That's the thing about playoff hockey though, predictions are useless but the games are always out of this world. Enjoy them everybody, let's hope for a long run for the black and gold.

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. 

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.

After Quite A Lengthy Wait, The B's Finally Signed Forward Jake DeBrusk To A Two-Year Contract

 

    NHL free agency officially opened a month and a half ago so you are not alone if you basically forgot that winger Jake DeBrusk (a restricted free agent) was still sitting around waiting for the Bruins to hit him up with a contract offer. Naturally, on a sleepy Monday night a few days before Thanksgiving, B's GM Don Sweeney & Co. got it done as they signed DeBrusk to a two-year deal worth $7.35 million. It has to be a relief for Jake after he saw literally hundreds of players from around the league get paid recently while he and his agent patiently bided their time waiting for Boston to make a decision. 

    In many ways, this was an easy move for the Bruins since DeBrusk represents one of their few young forwards who has really shown anything positive lately at the NHL level. He was the middle pick of Boston's infamous three first round selections in the 2015 Draft. Sandwiched around DeBrusk at No. 14 were defenseman Jakub Zboril at No. 13 and right wing Zach Senyshyn. Haha who? Only hardcore Bruins or hockey fans know who those other two guys are since neither has made any kind of impact yet for the B's and they've mostly been stuck wasting away in Providence. 

    Jake just wrapped up his third full season with the Bruins and he's been consistently productive from his rookie year until now. He's scored at least 16 goals and had at least 16 assists in all three seasons. He's also been relatively durable-and almost always worthy of a lineup spot-since he played 70 games in 2017-18, 68 games the following season and 65 in this past Covid-19 shortened schedule. After recording 27 assists in his rookie campaign and 27 goals in his second season, I think that many were understandably a bit disappointed that his game didn't take any noticeable leap in 2019-20 but rather it felt stuck in neutral. 

    His plus/minus has also plummeted from plus-13 in his first year, to plus-two then minus-one. For most of his brief Bruins career, David Krejci has centered DeBrusk on the second line with a revolving door of nobodies at right wing. That's not an excuse for the dip in his numbers but a statement of fact. When you watch Jake over a full season including the playoffs, you see more than a few glimpses of some outstanding tools: game-breaking pace, great hands to get around defensemen and goaltenders in small areas not to mention the clutch plays that he often makes. He's been on the Bruins' second power play unit for much of the last two seasons and he has potted eight goals and seven goals there respectively. He also put up 14 game-winning goals (in the regular season) between his first three years which is nothing to sneeze at.

    The bubble playoffs were not his friend though as he was mostly shut down to the tune of only four points (all goals) in 13 games. That paled in comparison to his rookie season when Boston where he notched six goals and two assists in only 12 games or the next season where they went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals and he had four goals and seven assists. He's definitely an X-factor kind of guy and like most teams, the Bruins are always in need of some secondary scoring from DeBrusk as well as many others besides the top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

    If you've ever watched Behind The B (NESN's underrated behind the scenes show about the Bruins) or you've caught some of his hilarious post-game interviews, you know that Jake is a character to say the least. Having grown up around the NHL (his dad Louie was a long-time enforcer), he has a great sense of humor-witness the mullet that he has sported for long stretches-and being Canadian the typical down-to-Earth, relatable nature. Playing here generally doesn't bring the same insane pressure as a Toronto or Montreal but for an American market, it's still pretty tough. I wouldn't worry too much though about that being a factor for DeBrusk since he seems well equipped to handling the ups and downs of a professional sports career. With the right attention to details-like getting stronger for puck battles in the corners and better touch around the net-he has the ability to be a 30-goal scorer in the near future. It took way too long to get this done but I think we can all agree that this was a good day for the Bruins.