It wasn't easy for the B's (who were coming off a brutal 4-3 loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon where they blew a 3-0 lead) as Vegas scored on their first shot on goal and also were up 2-1 in the second period before the Black and Gold closed with a pair of tallies in the third period. No need for overtime or a shootout since they all have planes to catch to warmer locations, well at least the guys that aren't tied down with wives and young children in school. This is only the third year of existence for the Golden Knights and so far they have had spectacular success for an expansion team but not at the expense of the Bruins. Nope, Boston improved to 5-2 all-time against them including 3-0 at the Garden while also sweeping the brief two-game season series after they won 4-3 way back on October 8 in Sin City.
Vegas is a bit of a mess at the moment since they unexpectedly fired their head coach Gerard Gallant last Wednesday and appointed former Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer (canned earlier this season by San Jose) in his place. They are clinging to the second Wild Card in the Western Conference but then again, they have just as many points (57) as the Coyotes (26-20-5) who are the top Wild Card club. Oh and in the Pacific Division, they have the same amount of points as Edmonton (26-18-5) and Calgary (26-19-5) with only one less than first-place Vancouver (27-18-4). Insanity. Stone-the former Senators star that they traded for last season-beat Jaroslav Halak (27 saves, 12-6-6) with a weak backhander that seemed to handcuff him just 1:24 into the contest. Nate Schmidt provided the lone assist on Stone's 18th goal of the season which gave him 22 points (7 goals, 15 assists) in his last 20 games.
Called up earlier in the day and appearing in only his second NHL game of the season, Jeremy Lauzon naturally scored the tying goal at 11:40 as his shot from the point found its way past Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves, 19-12-4). Hat tip to Danton Heinen for the fine screen as well with David Krejci (back after missing 2 games with an upper-body injury) and rookie Karson Kuhlman notching the assists on Lauzon's second career goal (oddly enough the other was also against Vegas, last season). It was tied at one after one period but it felt like Boston should have been ahead because they outshot Vegas 14-8.
The Bruins' third-ranked power play in the NHL could never get going (0-for-5) in this one and the Golden Knights took advantage of one of their only two power plays in the entire game when rookie defenseman Nicolas Hague blasted in a one-timer at 10:59 of the second period. It was his first career NHL goal, assisted by Schmidt and former Panther Jonathan Marchessault. It started to feel like it wasn't meant to be for Boston since David Pastrnak missed a wide open net with a backhander earlier in the frame (something which never happens, especially this season for the NHL's top goal-scorer) and then Charlie McAvoy took a header into the boards thanks to a push from Chandler Stephenson. That was the final power play of the game for the Bruins and when they trailed 2-1 after two periods, you could feel the nerves and frustration building throughout the crowd.
Instead, the home team responded with two unanswered goals in the third period that involved both skill and determination. The tying goal was an absolute snipe by Jake DeBrusk over Fleury's glove hand at 4:26. His 15th goal of the season (4 goals, 5 assists in his last 8 games) was assisted by Charlie Coyle and Halak. It also served as some personal redemption for DeBrusk after Fleury stopped his breakaway attempt late in the first period. Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk left with an arm/wrist injury after getting tangled up with Cody Eakin and he never returned to action. His status will be something to keep an eye on during the break. Krejci bagged the game-winning goal by first deflecting a shot from Brandon Carlo and then following up for the rebound while Flower was out of position. Krejci's 12th goal of the season was also assisted by Heinen. The Golden Knights called a timeout late and pulled Fleury for an extra skater but the Bruins held on for a valuable two points.
Pastrnak and head coach Bruce Cassidy-by virtue of Boston leading the Atlantic Division-will head to St. Louis while other deserving Bruins like Patrice Bergeron (lost in the fan vote) and Brad Marchand (hated by seemingly everyone around the league) more importantly get to rest up for what should be an intense last few months of the regular season. Of Boston's remaining 31 games, only 13 of them will be at the Garden as they have plenty of road trips left to go on. The pieces are still there for another run to the Stanley Cup run, I truly believe that the Capitals are the only team in the Eastern Conference that they could not beat in a series and if they should somehow find themselves back in the Final, we'll reassess the situation at that juncture. The NHL trade deadline is a little over a month away (Feb. 24) and as always, Bruins GM Don Sweeney should be a busy man working the phone lines. BC alum and Topsfield native Chris Kreider-Rangers right winger and All-Star replacement for teammate Artemi Panarin-is rumored to be on the top of Sweeney's wish list but we shall see since that price figures to be going up. Boston is at Minnesota (22-21-6) on February 1 (8, NESN) against the Wild and their next home game is exactly two weeks away on February 4 vs. Vancouver.
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