No Matter the Obstacle Thrown In Front of Them This Season, The B's Keep Racking Up the Wins

Not to sound like your grandpa or some internet contrarian but it wasn't always like this with the Bruins (42-15-8). For many years, they weren't exactly known for exciting games let alone routinely pulling off insane comebacks or finishes to grab two points like they're going out of style. Yet here we are: with Patrice Bergeron (broken foot), Charlie McAvoy (sprained knee) and David Backes (suspended 3 games) all out, Boston continues to get the job done despite mounting odds against them. Tonight at TD Garden, they allowed a power play goal to the Flyers (34-23-11) only 1:38 into the contest. Also, they gave up a shorthanded goal but who cares? They still came out on top, 3-2, thanks to Brad Marchand's third straight game-winning tally-this time with 22 seconds left in regulation. It's been that kind of homestand for the B's who will try to go a perfect 6-for-6 when this wraps up on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) vs. Chicago (29-31-8).

Tuukka Rask (31 saves, 27-11-4) had missed the last two games with a lower-body injury but he returned to face a team that he absolutely owns (now 14-2-3). Meanwhile, Boston improved to 11-1-2 in their last 14 games vs. Philadelphia including two victories this season with one more in the city of Brotherly Love coming up. Philly had lost to Pittsburgh (39-25-4) 5-2 last night so they entered on the second half of a back-to-back, meaning that rookie backup goaltender Alex Lyon (24 saves, 2-2-0)-the pride of Yale-got the start for them. The Flyers put forth a legitimate effort though, outshooting Boston 33-27 and playing well enough to beat most NHL teams with a similar performance. It's unlikely to happen but how happy would the Black and Gold be to meet the Flyguys in the playoffs this spring?

Kevan Miller got called for a high-sticking double minor right off the bat and the Flyers' No. 17 ranked power play converted nine seconds later. Jakub Voracek put in a rebound for his 16th goal of the season, assisted by rookie Nolan Patrick (No. 2 pick last summer) and Claude Giroux (tied for NHL lead along with Voracek for assists-57). Riley Nash should receive the 7th Player Award for the B's this season since who saw this kind of production coming from him? Since Bergeron went down last week, he has not been out of place at all with Marchand and David Pastrnak on Boston's top forward line. Life of Riley tied it up at 9:14 when he backhanded a loose puck a split second before Pastrnak could do the same. Miller had the second assist on Nash's career-high 13th goal of the season.

Speaking of random guys coming out of nowhere, who thought that Brian Gionta had anything left after you saw him in the Pyeongchang Olympics on the mediocre Team USA full of has-beens and never-weres? He has four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in his first four games in a Bruins sweater. Tonight, he put them ahead-2-1-late in the first period (at 19:34) with a breakaway goal from the other grey beard-Zdeno Chara with Tommy Wingels picking up the other helper. Gionta's first goal as a Bruin was a pretty one too as he beat Lyon with a backhander.

Jori Lehtera somehow found tons of space on the penalty kill nearly midway (at 7:21) through the second period and he went right at Rask before jamming it between his pads. Lehtera's third goal of the season was assisted by Valtteri Filppula and that goon Radko Gudas. Each goaltender made some solid saves after that (Lyon on Rick Nash and Rask on Ivan Provorov) but not much else really transpired until Marchand's late game heroics. Philly head coach Dave Hakstol challenged the last goal for offsides but it was ruled onside. Marchand got right to the net so he was in prime position when the puck squirted along the goal-line, all he had to do was tap it in for his team-leading 29th goal of the season. Pastrnak-who also had a chance to knock it in-and Chara provided the assists on what has to be an NHL 1st Star of the Week campaign for Mr. Marchand.

Back-to-backs are never easy, especially when you play the same team two days in a row but that's the challenge facing the B's when they take on the low-flying Hawks this weekend including Sunday in the Chi (12:30, NBC). Other than Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, you probably won't recognize most of the players on Chicago this ill-fated season. They are rebuilding and therefore look nothing like the dynasty from earlier this decade. As always, they serve as a fine lesson that you have to enjoy these special teams in sports when you get them since you don't know exactly when the next one might show up (it could be years or even decades later).

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Bruins Fall to Their Western Conference Clones-the Blues-and Lose Chara to an Undisclosed Injury

Former Blues captain David Backes met his old NHL team for the first time this evening as his Bruins (11-8-0) fell 4-2 to St. Louis (11-6-3) at TD Garden. Boston mustered 41 shots on goal but the combination of Jake Allen's quality start (39 saves) and a lack of scoring touch by the B's meant that it was a frustrating night for the Black and Gold. More worrisome, Bruins captain Zdeno Chara left after skating only one shift in the second period and never returned (head coach Claude Julien had no injury update after the game). Apparently he was hit by Jaden Schwartz which might have caused the departure but honestly, I didn't see it. So I guess we'll have to hold our breath on that until we hear more information from either the Bruins or more likely the most connected NHL reporters (Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, Pierre LeBrun, etc).

As is usually the case with these very identical clubs, they combined to produce an entertaining tilt. Backes actually gave Boston a 1-0 lead at 7:44 of the first period with a power-play goal. He tipped in Torey Krug's shot from the point and the puck just got over the line (under Allen's leg pads). Backes' fourth goal of the season was also assisted by David Krejci who now has seven points (1 goal, 6 assists) in his last six games. There were two noteworthy milestones on that tally: it was the 20,000 career goal in Bruins franchise history (only Montreal had reached that before them) and the 100th career NHL assist for Krug.

Both times that the B's took a lead in this game, the Blues responded like you would expect from a good team (despite their 2-5-1 road record coming in). Jori Lehtera tied it at one at 3:23 of the second period. He tipped in Colton Parayko's bullet past Tuukka Rask (24 saves) with Vladimir Tarasenko notching the other helper. Who has been a more pleasant surprise early on this season for the Bruins (given their respective expectations) than Dominic Moore? The former Harvard star made it 2-1 Boston at 8:59 with a gorgeous shorthanded strike. Riley Nash found him for a breakaway and he was able to lift a forehand shot over Allen's glove for his fifth goal of the season (he had 6 all of last season) and second shorthanded marker (which ties a career-high from 2 years ago with the Rangers).

Rask wasn't his normally locked in self from 2016-17 as he let up a pair of juicy rebounds which wouldn't you know it both came back to bite his team (no pun intended). Robert Bortuzzo tied it at two just five minutes later as Rask basically handed the puck right to him and the clunky defenseman was able to slide in a backhander. Patrik Berglund and Parayko assisted on Bortuzzo's first goal of the season. 2:12 after that, Paul Stasny scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal as once again Rask laid a puck out in a dangerous area on a silver Thanksgiving serving tray. Stasny's fifth goal of the season was assisted by Jaden Schwartz and the huge bust known as Nail Yakupov.

Boston came out with renewed energy in the third period and outshot St. Louis 17-7 but they couldn't find that all-important tying goal on Allen. Rask was pulled with 1:48 left in regulation and a face-off in the Blues' defensive zone. Lehtera put it in the win column via an empty-net goal at 18:44. David Perron and Berglund had the assists on Lehtera's second goal of the contest.

It promises to be a weird couple days for the Bruins, especially for the few Americans on the team, as they have a meeting with the Senators (11-7-1) on Thursday night (7:30, NESN). I've been lucky enough to cover the B's for five seasons and obviously I am a life-long fan but I can't ever recall them playing on Thanksgiving. The usual script is flipped too in the sense that they usually have the afternoon matinee on Black Friday at the Garden with the Celtics getting the nightcap. This time around, the Celts host San Antonio in the first game (1, CSN) followed by the Bruins hosting the Flames (8-12-1) that night (7:30, NESN).

I probably won't write anything until Friday so Happy Thanksgiving everybody, hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends!

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