Name a Better Boston University Product In the NHL These Days Than Jack Eichel, You Can't!

Massachusetts is not California, Texas or Florida when it comes to grooming professional athletes so while we have a noted advantage when it comes to hockey players (it's cold here for roughly 8 months out of every year), it is still pretty cool to see a hometown guy doing very well at the highest level. Enter Chelmsford MA native and BU one-and-done Jack Eichel who seems to always save his best for when he plays the Bruins. Tonight he had two goals and two assists as Buffalo (20-9-5) doubled up Boston (17-12-4) 4-2 at TD Garden. It's not just the fact that he had a hand in every goal for the Sabres but Eichel did it in a manner befitting a superstar such as himself: two incredible assists, a snipe of a goal and an empty-netter to clinch it. Are you not entertained, Massholes?

After winning three games in a row, the B's had a bummer of a weekend as they lost 5-3 at Pittsburgh (15-11-6) on Friday and followed it up with another zero-point performance. Boston had 67 shot attempts (37 on goal, 14 blocked, 16 missed net) to just 40 for Buffalo (27 on goal, 8 blocked, 5 missed net) so besides Eichel, the Sabres can thank Jeff Skinner (2 goals), Sam Reinhart (2 assists) and Peanuts star Linus Ullmark (35 saves, 7th win of the season) for the victory that split the season series at one game apiece with two more meetings to come.

The Bruins never led in the entire contest but you can't say that they didn't have a good chance as Ryan Donato drew an ultra-rare penalty shot late in the first period. He was hauled down on a breakaway but he slipped taking the penalty shot and Ullmark was able to stop his shot anyway. Things picked up in the second period as Skinner scored his team-leading 23rd goal of the season at 3:18 thanks to a sweet pass from Eichel behind the net. No. 1 pick and defenseman Rasmus Dahlin (who is only 18-years-old) had the second assist. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better offseason pickup from last summer in the NHL than Jeff Skinner's trade from Carolina to Buffalo. Two minutes later, Steven Kampfer scored his first goal since his return to Black and Gold as he ripped a shot past Ullmark from Joakim Nordstrom and David Backes. Boston seemed to go up 2-1 late in the frame as Brad Marchand brushed in a loose puck but for some reason, the play was whistled dead before the puck had gone in the net. It was reviewed with the refs concluding after a lengthy delay that it was no goal since it couldn't be reviewed to begin with. Haha OK cool guys, thanks for completely wasting our time.

At the start of the third, Danton Heinen was absolutely robbed by Ullmark who did a full split to make the save. Torey Krug went to the dressing room after taking a puck to the face, something which later happened to Kampfer as well. Eichel's lucky 13th goal of the season came at 5:43, assisted by Reinhart and Dahlin. Krug answered with a goal of his own at 13:21. David Krejci (6-game point streak) did his best Eichel impression with a great feed that led to Krug's slightly mishit but still effective one-timer. His third goal of the season was also assisted by Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson (anothe much lesser known BU guy). Buffalo's go-ahead goal came via an eerily similar play by Eichel and Skinner: this time Eichel used a backhander to Skinner for a one-timer that gave him the same amount of goals that he had last season in 48 more games with the lowly Hurricanes. Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy did all that he could do-calling a timeout and pulling Rask for an extra skater-but all that happened was Eichel clinched it with an empty-netter at 19:35.

The B's have no time to feel bad for themselves as they are in Montreal (17-11-5) tomorrow night (7:30, NESN) for a huge game with the Canadiens. The winner will be the top Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference while the loser will drop (or in Boston's case remain) in second-place. Jaroslav Halak (9-5-2) figures to get the start for the Bruins who are 1-1 vs. Montreal this season. It'll be Boston's third game in four nights and second half of a back-to-back but at least then their next game isn't until Thursday (7, NESN) vs. Anaheim (18-11-5) at the Garden. The B's haven't been great on the road (6-8-4) but they had perhaps their best road win of this campaign at the Bell Centre: a 3-2 triumph on November 24 thanks to John Moore's game-winner/the only goal of his Bruins career.

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B's Basically Steal Two Points from the Hurricanes With an Improbable 2-1 Shootout Victory

For almost 60 minutes tonight at TD Garden, the Bruins (13-10-1) and Hurricanes (9-9-5) played just about the most boring NHL game that you've ever seen. Then Teuvo Teravainen kicked the puck into his own net with 32 seconds left in regulation, giving the Bruins a much-deserved tying goal (they had 80 total shot attempts!). From there, they battled through a scoreless overtime (Carolina survived a hooking penalty on Viktor Stalberg) and at the end of it all, the B's managed to escape with a 2-1 shootout win after goals by Ryan Spooner and David Pastrnak.

Backup goaltender Anton Khudobin (1-3-0) earned the distinction of first Bruins goalie not named Tuukka Rask to earn a victory this season as he made 29 saves. The backups (Subban, McIntyre and him) had been 0-6-0 collectively before tonight. Haha is that bad? They might not have shown it for much of the contest but Boston still owns Carolina (7-0-3 in their last 10 games) including 5-0-2 in their last seven games here against the Hurricanes. One other note for the B's: this was the first time this season that they had rallied for two points after being down after two periods (they had been 0-8-1).

After losing at Philadelphia in a lengthy shootout on Tuesday (3-2), it figures that Boston had to decide things in their third shootout of this campaign. Carolina outshot Boston 12-10 in the first period but neither punchless offense could find the back of the net. Former BC star (and Norwood, MA native) Noah Hanifin once again had a good performance in his hometown as he gave Carolina a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 7:37 of the second period. His shot from the point found a hole through traffic with Jeff Skinner and Derek Ryan notching assists on Hanifin's second goal of the season (he has 2 goals, 2 assists and a shootout winner in his 4 NHL games here).

Boston was lifeless for most of the first two periods and the fans even booed them early in the third (totally within their right after paying for that garbage) when they were on a fruitless power-play. Eventually they flipped that proverbial switch with some serious pressure on Cam Ward (34 saves; 7-8-3). Carolina's No. 1 penalty kill unit in the league acquitted themselves well (4-for-4) so the Bruins ended up scoring their lone goal after they had pulled Khudobin for the extra attacker. Torey Krug took the shot from the point and David Backes created some chaos in front of the net which in turn forced Teravainen to freak out and kick the puck like a soccer player. Haha or something like that. Krug's second goal of the season extended his point-streak to three games (1 goal, 4 assists) while David Pastrnak (9 goals, 2 assists in his last 13 games) and David Krejci (3-game point streak with 1 goal and 2 assists) had the helpers.

The B's dominated in overtime as well, outshooting the Hurricanes 6-2 but they still couldn't find the ocean with their shots. Hat tip to Khudobin for stopping Skinner on two breakaway attempts (a 3-on-0 in the second period then a more usual vintage in the extra session). After Tuesday's shootout lasted nine tedious rounds (Boston was 1-for-9), it was nice that the home team decided things with only needing their first three shooters. Something called Jaccob Slavin scored for Carolina in the first round but Khudobin stepped up with stops on Hanifin and Skinner to mercifully end it. Surprisingly, only Brad Marchand failed to score of Boston's three shooters.

The Bruins know that they were lucky to walk away with two points after such a pathetic showing in so many ways. They are at Buffalo (9-9-5) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) as they get their first look at former BU star (and Chelmsford, MA native) Jack Eichel who made his season debut this week after missing tons of time with a severe ankle sprain. The Sabres are improving but that's another club the Bruins own. For the B's there are very few givens anymore left in the NHL so when they meet them, they need to find a way to get a win no matter what. Tuukka Rask has to sleep a little easier tonight knowing that hopefully he won't be run into the ground as Khudobin begins to prove once again that he's a capable backup on a decent team.

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Bruins Reach 1st-Place in Atlantic Division for 1st Time This Season, By Losing 3-2 in OT to Carolina

In the most Bruins of 2015-16 way possible, the team has finally reached first-place in the Atlantic Division for the first time all season yet that is little solace to them after they fell 3-2 in overtime tonight at TD Garden vs. Carolina (31-26-11). Something named Philip Di Giuseppe (which sounds like a side character from The Sopranos) had the game-winning goal at 1:30 for the Hurricanes. Boston still hasn't reached the .500 mark at home (15-16-5) but the point earned from their fourth straight overtime contest was enough to propel them ahead of idle Tampa Bay (83 points) and Florida (who beat Ottawa 6-2 to also reach 83 points). The problem is that the Lightning and Panthers both have two games in hand over Boston (38-23-8) but I guess that we'll worry about that later.

The Hurricanes never trailed as their terrible power play (ranked No. 23 in the NHL coming into this evening) made it 1-0 just 5:06 into the game. Elias Lindholm's shot from the point trickled past Tuukka Rask (25 saves) for his ninth goal of the season. Norwood MA native (and BC product) Noah Hanifin and Riley Nash had the assists after Patrice Bergeron had been called for high-sticking. Carolina led 1-0 despite being outshot 8-5 in the opening frame.

Boston tied it at 5:13 of the second period when Patrice Bergeron hit Loui Eriksson with a beautiful cross-ice pass, right on his tape. Eriksson didn't get much on the one-timer, in fact Cam Ward (30 saves) almost stopped it with his paddle, but it still went in the net. Torey Krug had the second assist on Erikkson's 25th goal of the season (also his 5th NHL season of 50+ points). Ryan Spooner had a breakaway for the B's but his backhander went wide; Carolina came back down the other end of the ice and scored as another BC guy (Nathan Gerbe) poked in a rebound at 8:34. Rask made the initial stop on Chris Terry with Nash picking up another helper on Gerbe's third goal of the season. Carolina was up (2-1) heading into the second intermission.

David Pastrnak did what maybe only he could do on the Bruins when he sniped a shot by Ward's short-side at 5:54 of the third period. David Krejci assisted on Pastrnak's 10th goal of the season with a nice stretch pass along the boards, culminating in a glimpse of Pasta's immense potential that we get to see from time to time. By winning in overtime at Florida on Monday (5-4 on Lee Stempniak's goal) and at Tampa Bay on Tuesday (1-0 on Brad Marchand's tally), it felt like the Bruins were due for a loss. Hanifin-who recently turned 19 and is going to be a superstar in the NHL-actually started the winning play by passing back to Ward (when do you ever see that in hockey?) before Hanifin found Jeff Skinner for a breakaway. Once again, Rask had the first shot covered but Di Giuseppe was there to jam in the rebound through Bergeron (who fell back into the net trying to block it).

The Bruins are back in action on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) as they host Johnny Boychuk and the Islanders (37-20-8). Boston has had plenty of success against New York these last few seasons but the Isles are 7-1-2 in their last 10 games. New York is in its own divisional race, trying to get second-place in the Metropolitan Division behind Washington with the Rangers two points ahead of them (Islanders have two games in hand though). As B's head coach Claude Julien said after the overtime loss, he expects a better performance from his club on Saturday and so do I. For whatever reason, since the trade deadline Boston has played better against the contenders and slipped a bit against the pretenders (like Carolina, not the band).

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Bruins Lose To A Shitbag Team-Hurricanes-But Gain A Swede That Could Help Them

When you lose to a team that came in with seven straight losses, miss out on clinching a playoff spot and most importantly, don't retake possession of first place in the Northeast Division, it has been a rough night. Boston (26-11-4) had everything in their hands but they couldn't get the job done as they lost 3-2 at Carolina's (17-22-2) PNC Arena.

While the B's were faltering against one of the Eastern Conference's worst teams, the Canadiens were getting curbstomped by the Maple Leafs. Montreal ended up losing 5-1 which means that if Boston had won, they would have jumped one point ahead of the Habs.

I guess it wasn't to be; the only thing that should give B's fans a sliver of hope after this punch to the balls is that they were able to sign Swedish forward Carl Soderberg to a three-year deal. He's expected to play on Wednesday and he'll be eligible for the playoffs as soon as he suits up for the Bruins. It is beyond stupid to pin our hopes on a guy that's never played in the NHL, joining a new team right before the postseason but at least he is obviously skilled and he could potentially give Boston more scoring punch which would help balance out their faltering lines.

Milan Lucic scored his first goal in 10 games (his sixth of the season) at 6:07 of the first period from Matt Bartkowski and Jaromir Jagr. Looch tipped Bartkowski's shot from the point past Hurricanes goaltender Justin Peters (28 saves). Boston hadn't recorded a fighting major since March 27 so it was nice to see the Bruins drop the gloves three times in the first period: Shawn Thornton vs. Kevin Westgarth, Zdeno Chara vs. Jay Harrison and Gregory Campbell vs. Nicolas Blanchard.

The Hurricanes spoiled the fun provided by the fisticuffs since Jeff Skinner scored a backbreaking power play goal with 36 seconds left in the first period. He banked it in off Tuukka Rask's (34 saves) pads with assists to Alexander Semin and Justin Faulk.

Jiri Tlusty sneaked one past Rask at 14:04 of the second period from Jordan Staal and Tim Gleason. Boston pushed back as Tyler Seguin tied it at two with his 15th goal of the season, from Andrew Ference at 17:57. A bad line change by Carolina and heady chip by Ference led to Seguin skating in on a breakaway. Let's face it, there's nobody else on the Bruins that we'd rather see in that situation.

Joltin' Joe Corvo provided the game-winning goal against his former employer, Carolina scored its second power play goal at 9:36 in the third period. Corvo one-timed a pass from Marc-Andre Bergeron that Rask would normally stop. Tlusty added an empty-netter with 29 seconds left. Make no mistake about it, given the circumstances I think this was Boston's worst loss of the season.

The Bruins are back at TD Garden for a busy week of four games in seven days-all in Boston. They begin by hosting Ottawa (21-14-6, 4th in Northeast Division) on Monday (7 p.m., NESN). Boston is 4-0 against the Senators this season (all 1-goal games) so they'll go for the season sweep on Monday. Keep in mind that all numbers pointed to them beating the Hurricanes tonight. You never know what'll happen when two of your best players (Patrice Bergeron & Brad Marchand) are out.

Boston still has a chance to catch Montreal since five of their last seven games are at home while the Canadiens play four road games in their last seven contests to close out the regular season.

UPDATE 4/17: Jordan Caron was sent to Providence while Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand return to action for the B's tonight vs. Buffalo.

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Anton Khudobin Wins 1st Start Of Season, Bruins Pick Up 1st Road Win 5-3 At Carolina

The B's (4-0-1) continued their great start to the 2013 season with a thrilling 5-3 victory tonight at PNC Arena in Raleigh, NC. Boston blew leads of 2-0 and 3-1 but Carolina (2-3-0) couldn't rally once the Bruins clinched it with David Krejci's game-winner at 18:10 of the third period followed by Tyler Seguin's empty-netter. Anton Khudobin (29 saves) acquitted himself well in his first start of the season, he did enough to allow Boston to pick up its first road win of the season.

Boston's much-maligned power play scored twice, boosting its season total to three although one was Seguin's so that doesn't really count. Sorry Claude! The Bruins' penalty kill stayed perfect (23 for 23, every other team in the NHL has allowed a power play goal) and they added a bonus: a short-handed goal. Brad Marchand got it started (3rd of the season) with the short-handed tally (Boston's first of the season) just 3:16 into the contest. He was wide open and Zdeno Chara (1 goal, 2 assists) found him with a cross-ice feed that he slammed home past Cam Ward (33 saves). Patrice Bergeron had the second assist. Chara notched a power-play goal (his 2nd goal of the season) less than three minutes later thanks to a screen from Milan Lucic. Krejci and Seguin had the assists on Chara's second goal in as many games.

Carolina looked like they might be run out of their own building but they answered with Jamie McBain's (1st of the season) tip-in at 14:50 of the first period from Eric Staal and Alexander Semin. Tim Gleason took one for the team by fighting Lucic after Boston's second goal and before Carolina's first. That seemed to give the Hurricanes some life in their skates.

Nathan Horton (2nd of the season) made it 3-1 with one of the best goals of his Black and Gold career. He gained the puck at center ice, skated around multiple Hurricanes then dangled around the last one before scoring at 15:52 from Chara and Johnny Boychuk. Again Carolina responded, this time they knotted it at three thanks to a pair of goals within 50 seconds of each other. Jeff Skinner (5th of the season) used his own sick move to cut it to 3-2 at 17:55 from Jordan Staal then Chris Kelly's bad giveaway in his own end led to a one-timer from Semin to Eric Staal (4th of the season) at 18:45.

To Boston's credit, they picked it up immensely in the third period. They clearly didn't want to go to overtime for the third straight game, especially with another game tomorrow night not to mention three games in four days and four games in six days this week. Krejci's goal came after a scramble with Dougie Hamilton laying it off to him when most guys, particularly rookies, would have shot it into traffic. Horton had the second assist, capping his solid night.

Tuukka Rask (3-0-1) should be in net tomorrow as the defending Eastern Conference champs, the Devils (3-0-1) come to TD Garden (7 p.m., NESN). Also, expect Adam McQuaid back in the lineup (and Aaron Johnson out) after Quaider missed tonight for "personal reasons." Tomorrow should be a nice early test for the B's, both in terms of caliber of opponent and what they can do in their first back-to-back.

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