Two Days Before The Trade Deadline, Bruins Help Their Defense By Trading For Hampus Lindholm

 

    After an uninspiring start to the 2021-22 regular season, the Bruins (38-19-5) have played some great hockey particularly in the last few months. With the NHL Trade Deadline fast approaching on Monday afternoon (3 pm EST), GM Don Sweeney was a little ahead of the rush as he made a significant move this evening: he traded three draft picks (2022 first-round, 2023 second-round and 2023 second-round) along with defensemen Urho Vaakanainen and John Moore to Anaheim (27-26-11) for defensemen Hampus Lindholm and minor leaguer Kodie Curran. To sweeten the deal, the Ducks will also retain 50% of Lindholm's salary. He is a free agent after this season so plenty hinges on whether Sweeney can retain him with a long-term deal (they are rumored to be working on an 8-year extension with an average annual value of $6.5 million) otherwise this move will be mostly a waste (except if the Bruins win the Stanley Cup this summer).

    Other than head coach Bruce Cassidy, the Bruins player that figures to benefit the most from this move (assuming that they are paired together) is their franchise defenseman Charlie McAvoy. Ever since Zdeno Chara left in free agency two seasons ago, McAvoy has yet to find a consistent defensive partner that can keep up with him on both ends of the ice. At age 28 and already in his ninth full season in the NHL, Lindholm profiles as just that type of guy that can be a top defenseman on a good team. He was the sixth overall pick by Anaheim in 2012 and if he played either not on the West Coast or for a better club, he would likely be more of a household name. 

    The Swede is that coveted left-shot defenseman and puck mover with prototypical size (6-foot-4 and 216 pounds). He probably won't win a Norris Trophy at this point and he won't be the top scoring defensemen in the league but he is on a tier just below those highest levels. His numbers won't wow you this season but keep in mind that the Ducks are basically a .500 team that isn't going to the playoffs: five goals, 17 assists, plus/minus of zero, 42 penalty minutes and four power play points (1 goal) in 61 games. His career-highs are 13 goals (in 2017-18), 27 assists (in 2014-15) and plus-29 in his rookie season (2012-13). For his career, he has 57 goals, 165 assists, 57 power play points (12 goals) and he is plus-74 in 582 regular season games. In 55 career playoff games, he has four goals, 17 assists, five power play points (1 goal) and he is plus-11.

    As for what they gave up, I really don't believe that it's that much. Vaakanainen was a first-round pick in 2017 (18th overall) but he's barely made an impact at the NHL level thus far, playing in just 31 games (only 15 this season that has been affected by injuries). Moore is a journeyman and the draft picks don't bother me that much considering how poorly Sweeney has drafted for most of his time in charge here. This is a win now move which is nice to see for an older team that is still led by Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand while also hopefully building something for the future when those guys will be long gone and the team is led by McAvoy and possibly goaltender Jeremy Swayman who has firmly taken over as the No. 1 goalie for the B's. Lindholm's Bruins debut could come on Monday (7, NESN) when they visit lowly Montreal (17-36-9) at the Bell Centre.

UPDATE 3/20/22: Before he has even played a single game for the B's, this afternoon Lindholm signed that reported eight-year extension with the average annual value of $6.5 million per year). Wow! 

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 Avalanche Stake Their Claim As the Best Team in the NHL (or At Least the Western Conference)

There are very few teams in the NHL these days that can outplay the Bruins (20-4-6) from start to finish and walk away with a win. The Avalanche (19-8-2) came to TD Garden tonight on a mission to prove that their 4-2 win vs. Boston way back on October 10 in Denver was anything but a fluke. Point made as the Avs played even better in this their only other regular season meeting with the B's, beating them 4-1. In case you can't do the incredibly easy math, that means that Colorado owns half of Boston's regulation losses (2 of 4) so far in 2019-20.

You can also simultaneously kiss goodbye to a pair of impressive streaks by the Black and Gold: their 13-game point streak (9-0-4) is over and their 17-game home point streak (12-0-5)-the second longest in franchise history-also came to a halt against what has to be on the shortlist of top clubs in the league. What made this road victory even more remarkable was that Colorado's starting goaltender Phillip Grubauer (3 saves, 1 goal allowed) left in the first period with an injury (groin?) but no problem as your guy Pavel Francouz (16 saves, 7-2-0) was flawless in his place. They also lost stud rookie defenseman Cale Makar (the greatest thing to come from UMass in years) to what looked like a possible concussion suffered on a hit by Brad Marchand in the third period. Bottom line, with all the injuries that they had already suffered in this campaign, they apparently don't get rattled by losing key players during games.

Boston actually scored first which is surprising when you see the final score. Chris Wagner tipped in John Moore's shot from the point for his third goal of the season at 13:14 of the first period. Anders Bjork had the second assist as Wagner scored in back-to-back contests for the fifth time in his NHL career. The Bruins' lead was rather short-lived though as Valeri Nichushkin tied it up at one following a poor clearing attempt by Boston's defensemen. He put in a backhander-that just went over the goal line-at 17:25 of the first, assisted by BU's Matt Nieto.

It was 1-1 after one frame but Colorado outshot Boston 9-4. Go figure, four more shots on goal for the B's in the second period didn't get the job done as the Avalanche stormed ahead (sorry, bad weather pun) for a 3-1 advantage. First, defenseman Ian Cole (playing in his 500th NHL game) wired a shot top-shelf over Jaroslav Halak's (16 saves, 7-2-3) glove. His first goal of the season was assisted by his defensive partner Mark Barberio and Joonas Donskoi (3 goals, 7 assists in his last 7 games). The goal that made it 3-1 late in the second period was the one that truly affected the B's since defensemen Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy got in each other's way, leading to a breakaway for Andre Burakovsky. He put the puck by Halak for his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Nathan MacKinnon (7 goals and 12 assists in his last 10 games) and Donskoi.

Trailing 3-1 going into the third, the Bruins had their work cut out for them and despite getting two full power plays and part of another, they never found a way to beat Francouz. The four combined penalties in the third period was unexpected after there wasn't a single call in the first 45:54 of action. Boston doubled Colorado in shots on goal (12-6) in the final 20 minutes but they kept missing the net (15 times) or having their shot blocked (21 times) by Colorado skaters. B's head coach Bruce Cassidy took Halak out for an extra skater during Boston's last power play but even going 6-on-4 couldn't boost the Bruins' sputtering offense in this case. Gabriel Landeskog's empty-netter (his fifth goal of the season) with 2.2 seconds left was just window-dressing at that point, Colorado had already looked every bit the part of a true Stanley Cup contender this spring.

The Bruins won't be back on the Garden ice for awhile (Dec. 17 vs. LA to be exact) since they are leaving for a four-game road trip tomorrow, starting Monday (7:30, NESN) in Ottawa (12-17-1). The wretched Senators are a good foil for getting their groove back before things get much more real later in the week. Boston is at Washington (22-4-5)-the NHL's best team-on Wednesday (7, NBCSN) and then at Tampa Bay (14-10-3) the following evening (7, NESN). The Lightning seem to still be in a haze from their first-round exit vs. Columbus last April but you can't overlook that roster for a second because they are due to turn it around any day now. Finally, the Bruins end the trip on Saturday night (7, NESN) in Florida (14-9-5) who believe it or not are currently in second-place in the Atlantic Division. Like the B's (who won't practice tomorrow), I recommend watching Patriots-Chiefs (4:25, CBS) and chilling out on Sunday since next week is going to be a busy one as Boston looks to improve on its 8-3-1 road record.

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B's Use Up All Their Luck Rallying From Down 3-0 in 3rd, Losing 4-3 On Controversial Toews OT Goal

You can only tempt fate so much in sports and in life and lately, the Bruins (20-3-6) had been living on the edge (at least your lame uncle got that very dated Aerosmith reference). Time after time, they pulled points and more than a few wins out of thin air during the eight-game win streak. That came to an end though on Thursday at TD Garden as they fell 4-3 to lowly Chicago (11-12-5) in overtime as Jonathan Toews took down David Pastrnak (legally, I guess) then broke in a breakaway that ended with him sliding the puck under Tuukka Rask (27 saves, 13-2-3) with a backhand shot 54 seconds into the extra frame-the only shot on goal for either team. Connor Murphy had the lone assist on Chicago's captain's fifth goal of the season.

The game could be broken down into three chewable segments: 1) where Chicago jumped out to a 3-0 lead early in the third period; 2) Boston rallied for an epic comeback with three goals in the third; 3) the no-call and wet fart of a way to end what turned out to be a pretty entertaining contest between two teams going in completely different directions. Fear not, for even though the Bruins' win streak is over, they still managed to breath more life into their overall point streak (9-0-4) and they remain unbeaten at home in regulation this season (12-0-5)-only four games back from their best home start ever (19-0-2 in 1973).

Looking back, this probably served as a classic trap game for the Black and Gold both because of the weak opponent on the schedule this evening and the true Stanley Cup contender coming to visit on Saturday night (7, NESN)-Colorado (18-8-2) to close out their season-high five game homestand. Regardless of the excuse that you choose, they should have been better against the ghost of those great Blackhawks teams from earlier this decade with only Patrick Kane, Toews, Duncan Keith (out with a groin injury), Brent Seabrook, Brandon Saad and Corey Crawford (backup goalie tonight) left over from those powerhouse clubs that won Cups in 2010, 2013 (no Bruins fan sadly will ever forget that one) and 2015.

Rask was also outplayed by Robin Lehner (37 saves, 6-5-3) which should never happen in 2019 or really any year for that matter. Chicago struggles to put the puck in the net (among many other issues) but they somehow scored twice 37 seconds apart late in the first period thanks to their special teams units. Ryan Carpenter put in a rebound at 18:14 off of a save by Rask on Murphy's initial shot. Carpenter's first goal of the season was the third career shorthanded goal of his NHL career and first shorthanded goal allowed by the Bruins this season. After missing the last four games with an injury, the Blackhawks' promising young center Dylan Strome doubled their lead by tipping in a shot by Erik Gustafsson on the power play. Strome's sixth goal of the season was also assisted by Kane who has 11 goals and 14 assists in his last 17 games which is all the more impressive considering the nobodies that dot Chicago's current roster.

Boston's number two ranked power play in the NHL had plenty of chances but they ultimately finished 0 for 4 which is never going to get it done, particularly when you allow a power play tally to the 27th ranked man advantage in the league. Ugh. When Alex DeBrincat (6th goal of the season from Strome and Calvin de Haan) sniped a shot past Rask 17 seconds into the third period for a 3-0 Blackhawks lead, I wouldn't blame you if you decided to change the channel or turned your TV off altogether (who cares about Bears-Cowboys anyway?). It just didn't feel like the Bruins' night, that is until Joakim Nordstrom of all people gave everybody at the Garden something to cheer about with a goal at 1:49 of the third period. Nordstrom's third goal of the season was his first since Nov. 12 vs. Florida but who's counting? David Backes had the primary assist after Lehner stopped his shot but kicked the rebound right to Nordy to put in with Charlie McAvoy getting the other helper.

At that point, it only looked like the Bruins would avoid the embarrassment of a shutout. Pasta got drilled by a possibly suspendable hit from Zack Smith that led to John Moore (making his 2019-20 Bruins debut after off-season shoulder surgery) dropping the gloves in his defense and getting knocked down in the first round. He went right to Boston's dressing room but thankfully returned shortly after that. It would have been pretty depressing if he got a fresh injury that soon, after all he was just doing the right thing by standing up for his star teammate.

Chicago finally looked like one of the worst teams in the NHL when the Bruins applied a little game pressure to them. The Blackhawks were on the power play after a roughing penalty on Charlie Coyle but Chris Wagner broke out for a shorthanded chance that turned into a breakaway when Gustafsson comically blew a tire (lost his footing And-1 mixtape style). Wagner skipped his usual backhand move for a strong forehand into the top corner, his second goal of the season (1st since Oct. 29 vs. San Jose) was assisted by Sean Kuraly and Matt Grzelcyk at 15:01. It almost feels routine but at that point, you pretty much knew that Boston would at the very least tie it up. Lo and behold, Torey Krug did the honors as he smashed in a one-timer into the corner of the net after a sweet behind the net feed by Jake DeBrusk. Krug's fourth goal of the season came at 17:27 and it ended up giving Boston that precious point.

It was inevitable that Boston would lose again sometime soon and truth be told, they would always prefer to have that happen against a Western Conference team rather than an Atlantic Division or even Eastern Conference foe. The Bruins currently have the fewest losses in regulation this season and you have to go back nearly two months (Oct. 10 in Denver) for when the Avalanche tagged them with one of those rare defeats (4-2). Colorado has battled through a ton of injuries to some of their better players (Mikko Rantanen, Gabriel Landeskog and Andre Burakovsky to name a few) but they should have close to a full lineup for Saturday's showdown with the Bruins. It is the end of a three-game road trip for the Avs but they should have plenty of juice since they have won five straight games (3-2 tonight in Montreal) and they are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games with a 10-5-1 record on the road. Center Nathan MacKinnon (18 goals, 26 assists) is one of the best players in the NHL pushing for a Hart Trophy (regular season MVP) while UMass Amherst product defenseman Cale Makar (8 goals, 20 assists) has to be a front-runner for the Calder Trophy (rookie of the year). In other words, you don't want to miss this game even if you have to DVR it cause you have other plans on a Saturday night-what a concept!

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Bruins Just Can't Quit You Overtime, But Hey At Least Now They Are Winning In The Extra Sessions

(30 for 30 voice) What if I told you that the Bruins (31-17-8) have gone to overtime now in five of their last seven games? If that wasn't enough, Boston needed an extra frame in back-to-back days this weekend at TD Garden but odds are they won't be complaining after they walked away with another victory. Brad Marchand (and Matt Calvert's skate) was the hero as the Bruins outlasted an equally gassed Avalanche (22-22-11) 2-1 this afternoon. In the process, they put an end to some embarrassing streaks: this was their first overtime win vs. Avs/Nordiques since March 31, 1992 and their first ever OT win here vs. them. Finally, Jaroslav Halak (35 saves, 14-9-4) picked up his first win in well over a month (Jan. 3 vs. Calgary).

If you are a stats humper like me, here are some more for your personal spank bank: the Bruins improved to 7-1-2 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season, 9-1-2 in Game 2s of three games in four days and a perfect 7-0-0 in matinees. Haha why can't all their games be afternoon contests tightly packed together like this? Colorado has lost their last seven games in a row including three straight in OT (they are a ghastly 1-10 in overtime this season which seems impossible). After a nice start to the season which included a 6-3 drubbing of the Black and Gold way back on Nov. 14 in Denver, they have plummeted back to Earth although they are currently just as close to the Wild Card spots in the Western Conference as they are to the basement.

Colorado's only goal in 64:03 of action came when Nathan MacKinnon flipped in a tight angle shot top shelf on Halak for a 1-0 Avs lead at 19:27 of the first period. Gabriel Landeskog and J.T. Compher had the assists on MacKinnon's 29th goal of the season. After getting outshot 12-7 in the first, the Bruins woke up as John Moore of all people tied it with a shot from the point at 3:40 in the second period. Semyon Varlamov (33 saves, 13-13-8) must have been screened since Moore beat him from some distance for his third goal of the season, assisted by Charlie McAcoy and Marchand. If you are into weird hockey plays (and who isn't?), Moore had another puck go in the net off of his stick but it didn't count due to an obscure rule: the dump-in went off the curved glass by Boston's bench and bounced past Varlamov with 29.1 seconds left in the frame. Apparently, that is a rule and it cannot be reviewed, alrighty then.

Besides having the top two forward lines in the NHL, both of these clubs possess quality power plays (Boston is No. 2 and Colorado is No. 6) but you wouldn't know that from today's yucky performances: the Bruins were 0-for-5 on the power play while the Avalanche were 0-for-4. Are you not entertained? From that perspective, overtime was probably a foregone conclusion and the B's are now 6-6 in the extra five minutes which is way better than the 4-6 mark they sported coming into yesterday's OT victory vs. LA (23-27-5). Halak made a nice save on a backhander by Calvert and shortly after that, Marchand's shot bounced in the goal after it deflected off Calvert's skate. Marchand's 21st goal of the season also extended his franchise record to 14 career overtime goals-the second most for all active players-trailing only Alex Ovechkin (22). Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug provide the assists with the latter running a Patriots style pick play to free up some space for Marchand to shoot from.

Chicago (23-24-9) comes here on Tuesday (7, NESN), Boston's last home game before they head out West for a five-game road trip. The Blackhawks looked like trash on New Year's Day when the Bruins beat them 4-2 at Notre Dame Stadium but surprisingly, they've been on fire lately (winners of 7 straight including Sunday's 5-2 win vs. Detroit). Every point is important at this time of the year and today's two points elevated Boston into third-place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of Montreal (31-18-7) and one point behind Toronto (34-17-3) who is playing at the Rangers (23-23-8) as we speak. The B's are riding a seven-game point streak (4-0-3) and another win would feel good as they head out of town for 10 days.

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B's Win Their Season-High Fifth Straight Game, 4-0 vs. Dog-Tired Wild As Rask Picks Up 1st Shutout

In the sports business (I feel like a complete tool saying that), this was a perfect example of what is known as a scheduled loss for the Wild (21-18-3) who arrived late last night after a 1-0 victory in Montreal (23-16-5). Every team has to go through these brutal stretches so Boston (25-14-4) showed no mercy as they jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period and coasted to an easy 4-0 win. With that result, the Bruins have won five games in a row-their longest stretch since last season's six-gamer (Feb. 27-March 10).

B's goaltender Tuukka Rask (12-8-2) has returned from his personal abyss earlier this campaign as he posted his first shutout with 24 mostly routine saves. This seems to follow his usual routine of early-season struggles followed by returning to form in the middle of the calendar. Now, the B's hope that he can play better down the stretch than he normally does. It was another big game for Boston's special teams unit as their power-play (currently ranked 4th in the NHL) continues to dominate. They scored two power-play goals and the penalty kill unit went a perfect 3-for-3. They are 12th in the league but continue to show signs of improvement.

Hockey players always talk about bounces and for this game, they all went Boston's way as they scored what many would call a trio of fluky tallies. Danton Heinen decided to appear for once and he scored his first goal in nearly a month (Dec. 11 vs. Arizona). He tipped in John Moore's shot at 5:23 for his fifth goal of the season with Torey Krug picking up the second assist. Brad Marchand made it 2-0 Bruins at 11:29 as Patrice Bergeron's shot caromed off the back boards right to him. You also must give Marchand credit for getting the shot off while multiple Wild swarmed him. Moore had the second assist (his 1st career multi-point game as a Bruin) on Marchand's 16th goal of the season. Boston had an abbreviated power play late in the first and they cashed in as Bergy's shot that was going wide of the net once again went off Jake DeBrusk's chest (think of a soccer player) and by the immortal Alex Stalock (23 saves). DeBrusk's 14th goal of the season was also assisted by Marchand-his 30th of the season.

There was one last weird goal that went the black and gold's way as Marchand's pass to Bergeron during a second period power play went in off his skate. It wasn't on purpose so Minnesota head coach Bruce Boudreau didn't even see a reason to challenge it. This was the 14th multi-point game of the season for Marchand, 12th for Bergeron and seventh for Krug. Rask's shutout was the 42nd of his long NHL career plus it was also his 250th win. It took 23 games but Boston finally notched a goose egg vs. Minnesota, leaving Nashville and Vegas as the only other active clubs that they have not shut out yet.

This win-streak and all the good feelings around the team gets put to the test on Thursday (7, NESN) as the defending champs-the Capitals (26-12-4)-are here for what looks like a huge tilt. Washington has completely owned Boston for years and who could forget the embarrassing 7-0 beating that they threw the B's back on Opening Night (Oct. 3)? Thus far there has been no Stanley Cup hangover for the Caps who lead the Metropolitan Division and are tied with Toronto (27-13-2) for the second most points in the Eastern Conference.

It's a fitting way to close out what has been a wildly successful homestand for the Bruins (3-0). Head coach Bruce Cassidy wouldn't commit to a starter vs. Washington but he sounded like he was leaning towards Jaroslav Halak (13-6-2) who last played on Thursday and hasn't started against the Capitals as a Bruin. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy is expected to skate with the team instead of on his own tomorrow, another step closer to his eventual return to action. He and Joakim Nordstrom (broken leg) are the only Bruins regulars that are out at the moment, therefore they are mercifully close to that elusive full lineup that we all dream about.

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Bruins Beat the Flames At Their Own Game, Outgunning Them 6-4 For Their Third Straight Win

Somehow the Flames (25-13-4) rolled into Boston as not only the top team in the Pacific Division but also the club with the most points in the Western Conference. With their better goaltender (David Rittich) scratched with an injury, Calgary had to rely on Mr. Unreliable in between the pipes-Mike Smith (12-9-1). Boston (23-14-4) took advantage of that lopsided matchup as they beat the Flames 6-4 at TD Garden in a very entertaining contest. Coupled with their thrilling 3-2 overtime victory in Buffalo (22-13-6) on Saturday night and Tuesday's awesome 4-2 Winter Classic win vs. Chicago (15-21-7) at Notre Dame Stadium, the B's have won three games in a row.

I believe that Jaroslav Halak (33 saves) deserves All-Star consideration this season and although the highlights from this back-and-forth affair probably won't help his cause, keep in mind that he did way more than Smith (21 saves) and actually made some big stops despite allowing four goals. David Pastrnak (goal, assist) rightfully earned his first All-Star bid and Patrice Bergeron (2 assists) is a nominee for the NHL's first-time "Last Man In" initiative. Why isn't Brad Marchand (2 goals) an All-Star? I'll hang up and listen. Former BC star Johnny Gaudreau (goal, assist) showed why he's considered one of the most dangerous forwards in the world while his fellow Eagle Noah Hanifin added two assists.

Boston improved to 14-5-0 at the Garden this season but they didn't make it easy on themselves as they allowed a shorthanded goal to Michael Frolik early in the first period. After Halak made multiple saves on PC's Mark Jankowski, Frolik flipped in a backhander for his ninth goal of the season at 7:46. The battle of the special teams (somewhere Bill Belichick drools) was on as John Moore tied it at 9:02 with a power-play goal. The BU brothers-Matt Grzelcyk and Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson-each had an assist on Moore's second goal as a Bruin. Boston took a 2-1 lead at 14:19 of the first as Jake DeBrusk tipped in a shot from David Krejci. Ryan Donato had the second assist on DeBrusk's 12th goal of the season. For such a young guy that's not particularly imposing in size, he has already shown that he's great at getting deflections in front of the net.

Calgary appeared to have the refs on their side as Elias "Sports Bureau" Lindholm got credited for a goal after it looked like Halak had covered it up at 1:05 in the second period. Instead, it was called a goal on the ice and withstood a challenge by Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy. Gaudreau and Hanifin had the assists on Lindholm's 20th goal of the season (how much does he love playing with Johnny Hockey and Sean Monahan?). Once again, the Flames' invisible defense let the Bruins answer back right away as Marchand tipped in Torey Krug's shot from the point just 36 seconds later. Bergeron had the second assist on Marchand's 14th goal of the season.

If you thought the final score would be 3-2, you were delusional. The Black and Gold were just getting warmed up as they bagged three more goals and the Flames added two of their own. Pasta scored a power-play goal off a beautiful set play with Krug: Torey slammed the puck off the end boards behind Calgary's goal and it took a hometown bounce right to David who weaved around Smith and scooped in a backhander for his team-leading 25th goal of the season-halfway to 50! Halak notched the other assist (his 3rd of the season!) which is notable since it's only one behind the franchise mark set by Eddie Johnston and Gerry Cheevers in the mid-70s. Gaudreau had many better chances but it figured that his tally came on a no-angle shot that he banked in off Halak's leg pad at 9:27. Johnny's team-leading 23rd goal of the season was assisted by Monahan and Hanifin which sounds like a douchey law firm in Southie. DeBrusk's backhander at 13:46 made it 5-3 with another assist credited to proud papa David Krejci (his wife gave birth to another child this morning). Mikael Backlund's backhander rounded out the scoring for Calgary at 16:27, his ninth goal of the season was assisted by captain Mark Giordano and Rasmus Andersson. Marchand bolstered his All-Star replacement resume with an empty-netter at 18:10, assisted by his linemates Pastrnak and Bergeron.

This was a great way to kick off Boston's four-game homestand as Buffalo (22-13-6) comes here on Saturday night (7, NESN). That is a huge matchup since the Bruins and Sabres are tied with 50 points apiece (Boston has more regulation plus overtime wins so they're in 3rd place while Buffalo is the top Wild Card) exactly halfway through the season. For you non-mathematicians, that means that the Bruins are on another 100-point pace for what it's worth. The B's are 2-1 against Buffalo this season and surprisingly, that will already close out their regular season series. Don't be surprised if they meet in the postseason either. After that, Minnesota (19-17-3) is here on Tuesday (7, NESN) and Washington (24-12-3) wraps things up on Thursday (7, NESN). Tuukka Rask (10-8-2) has won his last two starts-including in Buffalo last weekend-so I would expect him to get the nod again vs. their Atlantic Division foe. Also of note, David Backes' three-game suspension is officially over now so he'll be back in the lineup with I'm guessing either JFK or Colby Cave coming out.

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