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 Blew 2-0 Lead In The 3rd Period But Recovered To Beat Pens 3-2 In OT On Smith's Goal

 

    For nearly 50 minutes of game action tonight at TD Garden, the Bruins (4-1-1) had a near perfect performance. Left wing Brad Marchand scored a shorthanded goal (the 28th of this excellent career) in the first period and Boston's secret power play weapon Nick Ritchie added a goal on the man-advantage for a 2-0 lead in the second period. Pittsburgh (4-2-1) entered as the league's hottest team as they came in on a four-game win streak after going 0-2-1 to start 2021. The Penguis predictably wouldn't go down that easily as they scored a pair of goals in the the third period-by left wing Jason Zucker and right wing Kasperi Kapanen-to tie it at two and eventually send it to overtime. Luckily for the B's, the newest Bruin-right wing Craig Smith-was able to win the game when he finished a 2-on-0 with center David Krejci, there was a little over 10 seconds left in overtime.

    This could have been a disastrous loss for the home team but instead, it turned into their third straight victory. Goaltender Tuukka Rask (28 saves, 3-1-0) shook off an injury scare to grab his third win of the season. The only real bad news to come out of this contest for the B's was that right wing Jake DeBrusk left in the first period with a lower-body injury and never returned. The play that seemed to cause the discomfort was a textbook hip check by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby delivered near center ice as DeBrusk tried to get into Pittsburgh's defensive zone. Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk took warm-ups with the team before the game but ultimately he was a last-minute scratch as he nurses a lower-body injury of his own. 

    Marchand is one of the best shorthanded goal-scorers in the history of the NHL. He took a pass from defenseman Charlie McAvoy (3 assists) and used Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (game-high 29:57 of ice time) as a screen then he ripped a shot by Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry's (33 saves, 2-2-1) glove at 7:41 of the first period. McAvoy had the lone assist on Marchand's team-leading fourth goal of the season. Boston only received three power plays all game long (as opposed to Pittsburgh's woeful 0-for-6 showing!) but they made the most of one in the second period as a 5-on-3 expired. Marchand fired a pass across the crease to Ritchie who was stationed next to the post and simply had to sweep it in. We don't have to complain about what he did in the bubble anymore because Ritchie looks like a different guy with five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in his last three games. All three of his tallies this season have come on the power play as well. 

Speaking of the postseason, the Pens have been eliminated early in their last few playoff appearances which means that while their high-scoring games may work in the regular season, once it changes to the playoffs, it's been a different story lately. After a mad scramble by Rask (and a few saves in the sequence), Pittsburgh finally got on the scoreboard at 9:47 of the third period as veteran forward Jason Zucker was able to find the loose puck and whip it past Tuukka. Center Jared McCann and left wing Drew O'Connor (first NHL point in the NHL debut for the Dartmouth alum) were credited with the assists on Zucker's first goal of the season. Things got a bit sketchy for the Bruins when they allowed the tying goal to Kapanen at 16:44. His first goal of the season was assisted by center Evgeni Malkin and Zucker. The former Maple Leaf was able to use his speed to leave McAvoy in the dust then he went to the net and slid a backhander under Rask. 

    Boston evened their overtime record to 1-1 thanks to a complete defensive breakdown by the Pens (shocking, I know!) that left Krejci and Smith all alone on a breakaway with almost too much time and space to make the correct decision. They passed back and forth before Smith put the puck through Jarry's five-hole for his second goal as a Bruin. You could say that he was due for the goal since he managed to accumulate a game-high seven shots on goal. In another mini-series, these same clubs meet at the same place on Thursday (7, NESN). I'd expect a battle of backup goalies with Jaroslav Halak taking on UNH's Casey DeSmith. Hopefully Grzelcyk can return for the B's and maybe DeBrusk's injury isn't that bad, otherwise those are two sneaky important holes that head coach Bruce Cassidy will have to fix in the lineup.

Tonight Should Serve As A Strong Reminder to Bruins Fans Why You Never Leave a Game Early

Look I get it. When I was younger, I could never understand why anyone would leave an expensive professional sporting event early. Now, adult Richard has thankfully grown from child Richard (in at least some ways, I hope) and I understand that life can come calling at times and you simply cannot spend all day/night at a particular game. However, I still think there are certain situations like tonight (Saturday night!) where there is no reasonable excuse (minus a medical emergency, awful weather, etc). For that alone, it did feel like some sort of poetic justice for all the Bruins (15-3-5) fans who bounced in the third period with their team down 4-2 that they pulled a miracle out of their sweaty hockey pants with an unreal 5-4 overtime victory against the Wild (9-11-3).

David Krejci scored twice with an extra skater on with under two minutes left to tie it up at four then Torey Krug broke in on a breakaway and finished a backhander through Alex Stalock's (34 saves, 5-3-1) five-hole to send the TD Garden into a drunken frenzy. It was Boston's first overtime win of the season and Minnesota fell to 0-3 in the extra session. In many ways, these two points felt stolen by the B's since they committed seven penalties which were basically all easy calls by the referees for utterly lazy mistakes (hooking, slashing, tripping, etc.). Much like their club, the Wild's power play is normally mediocre at best (ranked #18 in the NHL) but they did go 2-for-7. Conversely, Boston's power-play is ranked #2 in the league and while they only got three chances, they converted on the most crucial one with Krejci's tying goal.

With this final score that is straight out of the 80s or early 90s NHL, it seems odd to talk about the goaltenders but Stalock and Tuukka Rask (32 saves, 11-2-2) were both better than you would think. Rask saved his two best saves for crunch time too as he stopped Jason Zucker's breakaway late in the third with the Wild up 4-2 then he made an incredible toe save (in a full butterfly position) on defenseman Brad Hunt's slap shot in overtime. Did I mention that Boston is still unbeaten in regulation (9-0-4) at the Garden this season?

The Black and Gold weren't themselves from the start as Zucker gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 8:53 of the first period. He put in a rebound for his eighth goal of the season (tied with Zach Parise for the team lead) with assists to Hunt (who took the original shot) and Mats Zuccarello. Brad Marchand wrestled with Wild defenseman Matt Dumba to try to get his club emotionally charged. Boston actually had a super rare 3-on-0 but somehow they didn't score as Charlie McAvoy's shot was robbed by Stalock after Marchand unselfishly passed it to him. Note to Brad, McAvoy has zero goals this season so next time keep it for yourself! The fact that Boston only trailed 1-0 after the first period despite being outshot 15-10 and taking four penalties (leading to 3 power plays) was a pleasant surprise.

The B's appeared to find their balance in the second period as Jake DeBrusk tied it at 4:14 by tipping in Zdeno Chara's shot from the point. Brett Ritchie had the second assist on DeBrusk's fourth goal of the season. It remained knotted at one for exactly two minutes as Victor Rask (no relation as far as I know) had the good fortunate of having the puck go off his skate and past Tuukka. It was quickly reviewed but stood up since he didn't make a distinct kicking motion. Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter (who played a game-high 29:40!) had the assists on Victor's second goal of the season. Chara was called for a high-sticking double minor after he caught Zucker in the face and drew blood. Minnesota cashed in with a power play goal by Eric Staal at 14:26. He chopped in a loose puck by Tuukka for his seventh goal of the season, assisted by Suter and Zuccarello.

If the Wild led 3-1 after two periods, it might have been game over but they left the door open due to Marchand's ultra timely goal with 3.1 seconds left in the frame. Krug had taken a shot that went wide of everything but rimmed around to Marchand on the other side of the net. His 16th goal of the season was also assisted by Bergeron. That good fortune for the home team evaporated early in the third period as Kevin Fiala's shot/pass was deflected past Rask by none other than Krug. Yikes, Fiala's fifth goal of the season was unassisted and made it 4-2 Minnesota at 5:19. This all set the stage for a Toronto-like collapse by Minnesota in crunch time: Krejci's first goal at 18:05 was from the doorstep where he was assisted by Bergeron and DeBrusk. The next one 48 seconds later took a bit more skill as he cranked a one-timer from Bergeron and Krug for his fourth goal of the season. Krejci has been back on the second line since Bergeron returned on Thursday but he still has 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in his last 12 games.

The seas parted for Krug to go from one end of the rink to another on the game-winning goal at 2:41. Bergeron (6 goals and 10 assists in his last 11 games) and Marchand (6 goals & 5 assists in his last 7 games) obviously had the assists on his third goal of the season and undoubtedly one of the most memorable of his career/life. Jaroslav Halak was originally slated to start this game for the Bruins but he showed up sick this afternoon so Rask got the start at the last-minute.

This is a really busy stretch for the B's with four games in seven days. No practice tomorrow so they'll be back on the ice Monday morning before traveling to Montreal (11-7-5) for Tuesday's game (7, NESN) followed by Wednesday's (7, NESN) contest in Ottawa (11-11-1). The NHL must have forgotten how many Americans are on the Bruins these days since they are right back to work on Friday (1, NBC)-the day after Thanksgiving-against the Rangers (10-9-2). Rest up guys, you are going to need it to survive until December.

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Can Anyone Play Goaltender for the Bruins Tomorrow Night at Madison Square Garden?

It didn't all happen at once but between injuries to goaltenders Tuukka Rask (general soreness, day-to-day) and Anton Khudobin (upper-body, out 3 weeks) over the last few days, this left the Bruins (3-3-0) in quite a predicament. Tonight, they were forced to suit up both of their Providence Bruins (AHL) goaltenders-Malcolm Subban (13 saves, 3 goals allowed) and Zane McIntyre (15 saves, 2 goals allowed)-against a decent Wild (4-2-1) team at TD Garden with predictable results: an embarrassing 5-0 Minnesota victory that was as ugly as you'll ever see in an NHL regular season game on home ice.

Like a fateful David Price start in the MLB playoffs, you quickly wondered why we ever thought for a second that maybe the B's could squeak out a point or two tonight. Subban, their terrible first-round pick from 2012 (24th overall) made his second NHL start and just like the last time in St. Louis (spring 2015), he was pathetically pulled in the second period. Where did it all go so wrong for Malcolm? It was 0-0 after a dull first period (save for a brief mauling of one Zac Dalpe by PC's own Tim Schaller). It all began when BU's Charlie Coyle managed to get a weak shot through traffic that Subban (who probably didn't see it) couldn't stop. Coyle's third goal of the season came at 5:07, assisted by Nino Niederreiter and Eric Staal. 12 seconds later Chris Stewart banged in the puck that came shooting out to him in front of Boston's goal, it had deflected off of Patrice Bergeron's skate. Stewart's second goal of the season was assisted by Joel Eriksson Ek and Jason Zucker.

Subban's night was prematurely over after he gave up the softest goal of the trio: Ryan Suter floated a one-timer by his glove (which seemed to be in the proper position). Suter's second goal of the season was assisted by Matt Dumba and Mikael Granlund at 10:36. McIntyre's first NHL appearance (in a regular season game) was a strange one and he didn't have that much more success although down 3-0 with a lifeless team in front of him (no David Backes either), what did you realistically expect? Boston's defense let Zucker park in front of McIntyre where he tipped in Suter's shot from the point. Eriksson Ek had the other helper on Zucker's first tally of the season.

If you were hoping for any kind of spark for the Bruins to build on from the third period, it wasn't your night. At least they showed some balls when Torey Krug stuck up for Noel Acciari who had been boarded by Dalpe. Former Sabre Jason Pominville deposited a rebound after McIntyre made an initial quality save on Eriksson Ek. Pominville's second goal of the season rounded out the scoring mercifully at 15:12 (by that time the Garden was so empty, on Hockey Fights Cancer night no less) with the other assist credited to Zucker.

Along with these key injuries that have piled up recently, the B's have no luck from the schedule as tonight kicked off their first of 14 sets of back-to-back games. Tomorrow is Rivalry Night on NBCSN so the entire hockey world will get to see another potential disaster as the Rangers (4-2-0) host the Bruins in primetime (8 pm). I suppose the team doesn't have a choice but to start Subban again for fear of losing him mentally if they started McIntyre over him. Then again, barring the return of Tim Thomas or some other Bruins legend from the past, it's tough to see a much different outcome playing out in the Big Apple. All we can hope is that Rask's injury is not that serious; obviously if it is, the front office can't sit by idly and watch all those points get flushed down the Black and Gold toilet.

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Loui Eriksson's Third Career Hat Trick (1st With Boston) Leads Bruins to A 4-2 Win Over Wild

In his third year in Boston and most importantly, with a clean bill of health, Loui Eriksson has been the Bruins' most consistent player so far this season. Tonight, he was rewarded with his third career hat trick (1st for the Bruins) as the B's (9-8-1) beat the Wild (10-5-3) 4-2 at TD Garden. Boston is 2-2 on its longest homestand of the season with the finale on Saturday night (7, NESN) vs. Toronto (6-9-4). This victory improved their wretched home record to 3-6-1.

Jonas Gustavsson (4-1-0) made his first start as a Bruin at the Garden and it was a good one since he had 24 saves to earn the third star of the game. Given how bad Tuukka Rask has been and the fact that Gustavsson hadn't played in nearly two weeks (11/7 at Montreal was his last outing) created an easy decision for Bruins head coach Claude Julien. I have no doubt that Rask will be back in between the pipes on Saturday but Gustavsson should be in action again on Monday when Boston travels to Toronto.

The Bruins still have the worst penalty kill in the NHL but it took a step forward tonight. They killed a Minnesota power play that started less than a minute into the game and went 3-for-3 for the duration of the contest. Brad Marchand made it 1-0 Boston at 5:30 when he wrapped around the net and beat Devan Dubnyk (34 saves) after Brett Connolly's shot from the slot had missed the net. It was Marchand's seventh goal of the season.

Boston showed some toughness (something which has been rare for them this season) as Matt Beleskey fought Brett Bulmer four seconds after Marchand's goal. Apparently it was a spur of the moment thing because Bulmer is a nobody who was just playing in his second NHL game of the year. Ryan Spooner had a great chance on a 2-on-1 late in the frame but his shot hit the crossbar.

The Bruins had a two-man advantage for 1:16 but they weren't able to convert as Dubnyk made a couple great saves. Jason Zucker tied it at 5:12 of the second period after Gustavsson gave him a juicy rebound. Mikko Koivu and Nino Niederreiter assisted on Zucker's sixth goal of the season. Rookie Frank Vatrano got crushed along the boards by Minnesota defenseman Nate Prosser, he went to the dressing room and never returned because of he suffered a concussion (no word on the severity).

Loui's hat trick was the first for a Bruin since David Krejci's in 2014 (March 4, 2014 vs. Tim Thomas and Florida) and the fastest since Brad Boyes in 2006 (March 18 vs. Carolina). The Swede got it started when his centering pass to Connolly at 7:37 went off a Wild skate and in the net. Krejci and McQuaid assisted on Eriksson's seventh goal of the season. For a guy that's not particularly big or strong, Eriksson does a nice job of going to the net and using his hands to score many goals. He struck on the power play (Boston's PP remains No. 1 in the NHL) in that fashion at 11:21, assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug.

The Wild were playing in the final game of a four-game road trip without their star Zach Parise but they showed some heart by cutting it to 3-2 at 13:37 of the second. Jordan Schroeder tipped Ryan Suter's wrist shot from the point with the other assist going to Ryan Carter. One crazy note on Suter: he leads the NHL in ice time and he played 32:36 (32 shifts!) tonight. He must be a cyborg, that's not human.

Eriksson finished the hat trick at 4:14 of the third period with a one-timer from Krejci and Beleskey. Ironically, he and Tyler Seguin have the same amount of hat tricks at the Garden in 2015-16. For two teams that rarely see each other, there was some nastiness particularly at the end when Colin Miller got a game misconduct after a large scrum. After the final whistle, Zucker had to be helped off following a seemingly innocent tap by Beleskey behind his knee. I have no idea if he typically embellishes stuff but you would have thought that he broke his leg or something, very strange scene.

Not that it should matter since the Maple Leafs are still one of the worst teams in the league but Toronto is at Carolina (6-10-2) tomorrow night before coming to Boston. I've said it before and it hasn't happened thus far but this little stretch here before Thanksgiving is a perfect time for the B's to put a win streak together. We shall see, the first part is to win back-to-back games at home-a simple task which they haven't successfully completed yet this season.

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