To Open Free Agency, B's Were Very Active But Did They Get Anyone That Will Make A Big Difference?

 

    When free agency opens in any professional sport, most fans just want to see their favorite team be active and engaged. When NHL free agency officially started today at noon, the Bruins were certainly as busy as any club in the league but when you run through all the names of guys that they signed, you are left wondering if any of them will have any type of major impact for Boston. Leaving out the four players that will most likely be stuck in Providence for most of (if not all of) next season, B's GM Don Sweeney brought in six legitimate NHL veterans. The most notable names are goaltender Linus Ullmark (formerly of the Sabres) and forward and former Blue Jackets captain Nick Foligno. In addition, depth forwards Erik Haula and Tomas Nosek are here too along with defensemen Derek Forbort and Mike Reilly (who was traded to the Bruins before the trade deadline last season).

    Haha is that it? For a team that likes to think of themselves as true Stanley Cup contenders every season, it sure feels like Sweeney was trying to shop at The Dollar Store to get what he needs rather than spending a little more to get some better players. Jaroslav Halak signed with Vancouver and free agent Tuukka Rask is out for awhile following hip surgery so the B's needed a veteran goalie to work with promising young netminder Jeremy Swayman. That's fine and Ullmark had actually put up respectable numbers somehow on the worst team in the league in 2021: 9-6-3 w/.917 save percentage and a 2.63 goals against average. He's only 27 years old but did he really need a four-year contract with an annual cap hit of $5 million (faints)?

    Foligno feels a little bit like David Backes light and we all know how that went for the B's. A well-respected leader and dependable player that at 33 is definitely on the back end of his career after being traded to Toronto last season and not making many contributions to that loser franchise. In 49 games last season between the two teams, he had 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists). The former first-round pick (28th overall in 2006) got a two-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3.8 million. Haula is truthfully a journeyman since this will be his sixth NHL team but he is coming off a pretty nice little season in Nashville: eight goals, 10 assists & plus-21. For that, the 30-year-old earned a two-year contract with an annual cap hit of $2.375 million. Finally for the forwards, Nosek put up eight goals and 10 assists with a plus-seven rating for the Golden Knights in 38 games. Like Haula, he is 30 and he was signed for two years but with a lower annual cap hit ($1.75 million). Foligno could be insurance if David Krejci doesn't re-sign with Boston while Haula and Nosek should easily replace center Sean Kuraly who signed a four-year contract with his hometown team-the Blue Jackets-earlier today. 

    Reilly was a pleasant surprise in 15 games last season with the black and gold after being obtained from Ottawa as he notched eight assists and was plus-seven. In his first postseason with Boston, he slowed down to four assists and a plus-three rating in 11 games. On a good team (which the Bruins hopefully can still qualify as), he is a third-pair left-shot defenseman that is a solid puck-mover with some offensive ability. The fact that he's 27 is most likely why he signed a three-year deal with an annual cap hit of $3 million. I can't say that I know much about Forbort besides the fact that he's big (6-foot-4, 219 pounds) which is something that Boston really lacks on the back end and he averaged over 20 minutes of ice time last season with Winnipeg. He is 29 and with a three-year deal that carries an annual cap hit of $3 million, I'd guarantee that Sweeney expects him to be much more than Jarred Tinordi who signed with the Rangers this afternoon. 

    It would be dumb to make any sweeping conclusions already about this group since odds are that Sweeney still has some tinkering to do both in terms of additional signings and perhaps a few more trades (for instance, backup goaltender Dan Vladar got flipped to Calgary for a third-round pick this afternoon). You also have to remember that he signed Brandon Carlo, Taylor Hall-and to a much lesser extent Trent Frederic-in the past few weeks, who are likely to be more important moves this offseason in the long run when it's all said and done. I'll just leave this here: Jack Eichel is still on Buffalo and while it is probably a pipe dream that he'll ever be a Bruin, we can choose to hold out hope that Sweeney finds a way to acquire him for basically whatever it takes. Can you imagine your excitement level if Eichel was going to be a Bruin for a long period of time? 

The Bruins Fittingly End Their Frustrating Regular Season Series (3-3-2) With One Last OT Loss To NJ

 

        Hopefully after a long playoff run this spring/summer, the Bruins' (31-14-7 overall, 15-8-4 away) struggles with the lowly Devils (18-28-7 overall, 7-18-3 home) in the 2021 regular season will be all but forgotten. However, at the moment it's tough to rationalize how one of the better teams in the league had so many problems with one of the worst clubs from the opening games in January to the final week in May. It still makes no sense whatsoever but at least the madness ended tonight at the Prudential Center as NJ won their home finale 4-3 in overtime against Boston. Left wing Pavel Zacha scored his second goal of the game at 2:42 in the extra session leading to B's goaltender Jaroslav Halak (17 saves,  9-6-5) destroying his poor stick against the net then by the Bruins' bench as well for good measure.

    Halak's last start was on April 3 so you can completely understand his frustration. He might not get another start before the postseason and would anybody be surprised if rookie Jeremy Swayman (6-2-0) has taken his job as Tuukka Rask's (14-4-2) backup? Of course, it shouldn't have come to that as the Bruins led 2-1 after two periods on the second night of a back-to-back and 3-2 midway through the third period. When they had playoff seeding to play for and New Jersey had nothing except pride or playing spoiler to motivate them, this needed to end with two more points for the visitors and their fifth straight victory. I guess the only good news to come out of this is that B's head coach Bruce Cassidy can simply get rid of all the Bruins-Devils highlights from this season and move on to other more pressing duties facing his team. 

    It was a great performance by Zacha who began the scoring with a wicked one-timer on the power play for his 14th goal of the season. Child center Jack Hughes and center Nico Hischier had the assists at 8:42 of the first period which turned out to be the only goal of the first frame. The Bruins outshot the Devils 15-9 in the first period but they turned up the heat even more in the second period where they blitzed them 12-4 and more importantly, outscored them 2-0. B's captain Patrice Bergeron tied it with a power play tally of his own at 4:36. He turned around and fired the puck past New Jersey goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (33 saves, 13-16-4). Bergy's 21st goal of the season was assisted by right wing David Pastrnak and defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. Boston took its first lead on a fluky play as Grzelcyk tried to put the puck on net with left wing Taylor Hall crashing the cage against one of his former clubs. The puck actually ended up deflecting off of him and into the net, not exactly a top highlight reel play but nevertheless still very effective. Hall's eighth goal of the season was also assisted by center David Krejci at 14:02. 

    Halak did not have any puck luck on his side in this loss either since NJ's tying goal in the third period came off a deflection in front of him that led to an easy tap in for center Jesper Boqvist at 9:10. Defensemen Damon Severson and rookie Marian Studenic picked up the assists on the fourth goal of the season for Boqvist. The black and gold regained the lead thanks to a sweet feed from Pastrnak to an onrushing center Sean Kuraly who knocked it in at 10:42 for the 3-2 Bruins advantage. Defenseman Mike Reilly had the secondary helper on Kuraly's fourth goal of the season. A missed poke check by Reilly proved to be fatal mistake a few minutes later as rookie right wing Yegor Sharangovich was able to skate past him and fire a heavy wrist shot past Halak at 12:41. Rookie defenseman Kevin Bahl provided the second assist on Sharangovich's 16th goal of the season. 

    In overtime, the Bruins were about to be shorthanded but the Devils kept the puck and hemmed them into their defensive zone. Eventually, Boston collapsed under the pressure as Zacha simply drove to the net and roofed a backhander at 2:42. Hughes and defenseman Will Butcher had the assists on the game-winning goal. Boston got the pity point from the overtime defeat and coupled with another gift result from Buffalo (15-32-7)-in the form of a 4-3 shootout victory over the Islanders (31-16-6)-they were able to stay a point ahead of New York for third-place in the East Division. Pittsburgh (35-16-3) rolled 7-3 over the Flyers (23-23-7) so the Penguins are four points clear of the B's atop the East Division. Idle Washington (33-14-5) is two points behind Pittsburgh but two points ahead of Boston in second-place in the East Division. 

    There are only four games left in the regular season for the Bruins (3 at home) and up next, they get to have a two-game set at the TD Garden against the Rangers (26-21-6 overall, 12-11-3 away) who have been eliminated from playoff contention already. Boston hosts the Rangers on Thursday (7, NESN) and Saturday afternoon (3, NESN) and once again, they will be fortunate enough to miss New York's best player-star forward Artemi Panarin who is recovering from being ragdolled to the ice by Capitals goon Tom Wilson last night. The Bruins are 4-2 against the blueshirts this season so a win in either matchup will clinch the season series in their favor.

UPDATE 5/5/21: I forgot to mention last night that Bruins center Charlie Coyle left with an undisclosed injury after one shift in the third period and never returned so we'll have to see if he's ready to go tomorrow. 

For The Fifth Straight Season (Since Bruce Cassidy Took Over), The Bruins Are Going To The Playoffs

 

    With the NHL regular season ending next week, at this time it's not hard to figure out which teams are fighting for spots in the playoffs while the rest are counting down the days until they can get away from hockey for at least a little while. Tonight, the Bruins (31-14-6 overall, 15-8-3 away) were lucky enough to find themselves in the front end of a back-to-back against one of those already checked out kind of teams. The host Devils (17-28-7 overall, 6-18-3 home) barely put up any resistance as they lost 3-0 to the B's. Boston outshot New Jersey 42-20 and goaltender Tuukka Rask (20 saves, 14-4-2) barely broke a sweat in his second shutout of the season and the 52nd (!!!) of his NHL career. Most importantly, with five games left on their schedule, the black and gold officially clinched a playoff spot for the fifth consecutive year. 

    The visitors dominated in the first period as the Bruins outshot the Devils 17-4 but had nothing to show for it. New Jersey's goaltender Scott Wedgewood (39 saves, 3-7-3) was one of the only guys on his team that bothered putting forth any sort of effort this evening. Boston stuck with it though and got a pair of goals in the second period to essentially put it out of reach. Left wing Nick Ritchie scored off a one-timer from defenseman Jakub Zboril and center Sean Kuraly that made it 1-0 at 9:08. It was Ritchie's 14th goal of the season which tied a career-high, I'm guessing he'll top that in the next week. Captain Patrice Bergeron doubled the Bruins' lead after a beautiful backhand feed from left wing Brad Marchand (who was behind the net) that led to the center's 20th goal of the season at 17:54. It is the eighth straight season that Bergy has reached 20+ goals and the 12th time in his career that he's done that. Not to sound too much like a homer but he's gotta be a Hall of Famer someday, right? 

    In the third period, BU's A.J. Greer (who was making his Devils debut) dangerously hit Zboril from behind a few feet away from the boards which led to Quinnipiac's Connor Clifton (Zboril's defensive partner) dropping the gloves with Greer. Thankfully, Zboril ended up being fine but it was nice to see such an immediate and strong response from a Bruin to his teammate taking an uncalled for cheap shot. Speaking of the Terriers, defenseman Matt Grzelcyk rounded out the scoring for Boston with a shot from the point that bounced off the ice (Mighty Ducks knuckle puck style!) then off New Jersey defenseman Ryan Murray's leg and into the net. Grzelcyk's career-high fifth goal was assisted by Marchand and Bergeron at 17:17. 

    This game could not have turned out much better for the B's since they took care of their own business plus they also got some unexpected help from the Sabres (14-32-7) of all teams who actually beat the Islanders (31-16-5) 4-2. That moved Boston one point ahead of New York and into third-place in the East Division. The Bruins only trail first-place Washington (33-14-5) and second-place Pittsburgh (34-16-3) by three points each with a game in hand on the Caps and two on the Pens. The B's get another possible gift of two points tomorrow night (7, NESN) back in Newark as they close out the season series with the Devils. Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (6-2-0) gets the start and defenseman Brandon Carlo will return from injury (again) so there will be some interesting things to watch in what should be another easy Bruins victory.

UPDATE 5/4/21: Jaroslav Halak will start tonight for the Bruins, not Swayman. Carlo & Mike Reilly are in for defensemen Kevan Miller & Zboril while Trent Frederic replaces Karson Kulhman at forward. 

Behind Craig Smith's Hat Trick, Boston Beats Buffalo 6-2 To Finish 7-1 Vs. The Sabres In 2021

 

    After playing Buffalo (13-32-7 overall, 7-16-3 away) approximately 25 times in the past few weeks, selfishly I am happy to report that I don't have to say anything else about the worst team in the NHL for a long time after Boston (30-14-6 overall, 16-6-3 home) easily dispatched them 6-2 this afternoon at the TD Garden. Right wing Craig Smith recorded his second career hat trick, center David Krejci added three assists and the B's closed out the season series (7-1 Boston) in dominant fashion. The Bruins inched closer to clinching a playoff spot plus they are only one point behind the Islanders (31-15-5) and three points in back of the Capitals (32-14-5) for third-place and second-place respectively in the East Division. 

    The black and gold never really gave the Sabres much hope all game as they outshot them 43-19, led 2-1 after the first period and 3-1 heading into the third period to cruise to the valuable two points. Rookie goaltender Jeremy Swayman (17 saves, 6-2-0) could have taken a nap in the crease for most of the contest and it wouldn't have changed the final outcome. With the recent addition of left wing Taylor Hall, Boston's second forward line has really taken off. Playing with Hall and Smith, Krejci's career has been revitalized. That trio combined for a pretty goal at 1:21 of the first period as Smith re-directed in a pass from Krejci with the secondary assist going to Hall. Sabres center Riley Sheahan responded with a shorthanded goal at 12:35 as he found himself on a breakaway and beat Swayman for his fourth goal of the season, assisted by PC's Jacob Bryson and center Casey Mittelstadt. B's center Sean Kuraly helped put his team ahead again when he knocked in a rebound at 16:38. Left wing Nick Ritchie had the lone assist on Kuraly's third goal of the season. 

    Captain Patrice Bergeron had the lone tally of the second period and it was a similar one to Kuraly's: he followed up a rebound and used a backhander (unlike Sean) to hit the puck over the goal line. Defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and left wing Brad Marchand provided the assists on Bergeron's 19th goal of the season that turned out to be the game-winner. Not surprisingly, the wheels came off for Buffalo in the third period. Ritchie tipped in a shot from defenseman Matt Grzelcyk for a 3-1 Bruins lead at 3:18. Fellow defenseman Kevan Miller added the other assist on Ritchie's 12th goal of the season. Smith's second goal was another pretty one when defenseman Mike Reilly (what a pickup he's been as well!) fed him in front for the simple tap in. Krejci had the other assist on Smith's second goal of the game that helped Boston's lead balloon to 5-1. 

    Sabres right wing Arttu Ruotsalainen scored the other useless goal for Buffalo that cut it to 5-2 at 7:02. He was on the doorstep and therefore in good position to sneak a rebound through Swayman's five-hole. Left wing Rasmus Asplund and Mittelstadt were credited with the helpers on the young Finn's fifth goal of the season. All that there was left to do was get Smith his hat trick and he did just that thanks to one last assist from Krejci. Smith basically put his stick on the ice and Krejci was able to fire the puck right on the money so Craig could redirect it in at 14:05. BU's Charlie Coyle notched the second assist on the memorable power play goal that resulted in Smith's first ever hat trick as a Bruin. 

    We are only a few weeks away from the start of the playoffs. In fact, the B's remaining schedule is down to six games as they head to New Jersey (17-27-7 overall, 6-17-3 home) to play the Devils on Monday (7, NESN Plus) and Tuesday (7, NESN Plus). For some bizarre reason, the Bruins have struggled against New Jersey all season (2-3-1) who are the second worst team in the East Division and one of the worst in the entire league. By now, New Jersey must want to get this miserable campaign over with ASAP so hopefully the B's can take advantage of their collective disinterest and win this back-to-back to collect four more points.

Halfway Through The Season Series Vs. Sabres, B's Are Unbeaten (4-0) After Last Night's 2-0 Shutout

 

    With the borderline AHL club that the Sabres (12-27-7) are rolling out there this season, it truthfully doesn't take much to beat them. Still, give the Bruins (26-12-6) credit for staying focused while they play the worst team in the league. Last night at the KeyBank Center, Boston blanked Buffalo 2-0 for their fifth straight win thanks to 32 saves by goaltender Tuukka Rask (11-4-2) who earned his first shutout of the season and the 51st of his NHL career. Thanks to a scheduling quirk in a year that's full of them, this was the first of three straight games between the Bruins and Sabres while Boston will also play these bums five times in their next seven contests. Haha what a gift as they try to lock up a playoff spot and move up in the East Division: the B's are now only four points behind the Capitals (29-13-4) and Islanders (29-13-4) plus just three points behind the Penguins (29-14-3) with two games in hand against all of those clubs.

    As you can probably conclude from the final score, this contest was pretty cut and dry. Boston scored a goal in the first period and a goal in the second period and that's more than they needed to beat a punchless group that went 0-for-6 on the power play. Left wing Brad Marchand gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a sweet backhander at 8:06 of the first period. Sabres goaltender Dustin Tokarski (39 saves, 2-6-2) left a juicy rebound then Marchand was able to swoop in and finish a backhander top shelf. Right wing David Pastrnak and defenseman Mike Reilly had the assists on Marchand's team-leading 24th goal of the season. 

    Defenseman Connor Clifton's goal at 3:03 of the second period was a classic goal allowed by an awful team. His shot from the point squeaked through Tokarski's five-hole and then for good measure, he kicked it with his skate which gave it just enough momentum to get over the goal line. It was the first goal of the season for the former Quinnipiac star, assisted by left wing Sean Kuraly and center Curtis Lazar (playing in his first game back in Buffalo). After a day off today, these teams return to the ice in Western NY tomorrow night (7, NESN) followed by a back-to-back on Friday (7, NESN). The Bruins are 4-0 against the Sabres with four matchups left this season and needless to say, those are eight easy points that they need to grab like their lives depend on it.

The Bruins Finally Discovered First-Hand What A Joy It Is To Play Against The Sabres This Season

 

    The Sabres (6-19-4) are really lucky that there isn't a relegation system in the NHL because they are the worst team in the league by a wide margin this season. Tonight at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo head coach Don Granato's (brother of Tony and Cammi) debut, the Bruins (16-8-4) easily dispatched them 4-1 in their first of eight meetings in 2021. It was the 13th straight loss for the Sabres, a once proud franchise that has become a laughing stock in recent years and a place where good hockey players go to die. Boston won its second game in a row for the first time in over a month (February 12), so you can bet that they are psyched to be playing these bums at just the right time. 

    This morning, it looked like this game might not even happen today since a Bruins player (later revealed to be center Sean Kuraly) entered Covid-19 protocols and the morning skate was promptly cancelled. Not to be outdone, Buffalo didn't have a morning skate either since a member of their hockey staff had entered Covid protocols as well. On a lighter note, it's always a good day when you get to say Greg McKegg's wonderful name and wouldn't you know, he was in the lineup this evening for Kuraly and he tipped in a shot from the point by defenseman Matt Grzelcyk for the first goal of his illustrious Bruins career (2 games and counting!) at 2:56 of the first period. 

    Buffalo's lone highlight of the whole game was early in the second period when right wing Kyle Okposo tied it at one with a shorthanded goal. His shot deflected off Grzelcyk's stick, causing the puck to elude B's goaltender Jaroslav Halak's (23 saves, 7-4-2) glove. PC's Jacob Bryson had the lone assist-the first of his NHL career-on Okposo's first goal of the season. No problem as Boston responded with two goals later in the frame to regain control. First, left wing Jake DeBrusk made the most of some power play time to bat a rebound out of the air and past Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton (33 saves, 1-10-1). Right wing David Pastrnak and center David Krejci (who reached 700 points on the play, only the 8th player in Bruins history to do that) provided the assists on DeBrusk's third goal of the season at 9:15. The real backbreaker for the home team was the next goal as right wing Craig Smith put in a low shot from the slot that Hutton should have stopped. Smith's fifth goal of the season came at 18:36 and it gave the B's a 3-1 lead with Krejci and defenseman Connor Clifton recording the assists.

    Pasta added another power play goal at 4:44 of the third period. His team-leading 14th goal of the season was a rocket of a one-timer from Krejci and left wing Brad Marchand. The shot was hit so perfectly that it went into the net then bounced out. Even in an easy victory like this, the Black and Gold can't seem to avoid injuries right now as left wing Trent Frederic blocked a shot in the first period and didn't return due to a lower-body injury. Head coach Bruce Cassidy said that X-Rays were negative on that so he shouldn't miss much if any time. This evening also marked the NHL debut of undrafted (out of St. Cloud State) free agent defenseman Jack Ahcan. From what I can tell, he's a dollar store version of Torey Krug (remember him?): 5-foot-8, 178 pounds, left shot. In 17:55 of ice time, he had three shots on goal, blocked two shots and had a hit. Who knows what will become of him in the NHL but the Bruins GM Don Sweeney definitely has a very specific type of defenseman (Krug, Grzelcyk, Ahcan, etc) that he is obsessed with. 

    These same clubs meet on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) and I honestly hope that Cassidy gives his temporary backup goalie Dan Vladar his second career NHL start. Think about it, he'll never have a better spot to follow up his amazing debut on Tuesday in Pittsburgh. Even if Tuukka Rask is ready to return, I would hold him out for another game since why would you waste him against this checked out opponent? Ditto for Halak, let him rest up after a very busy stretch for him. Give the rookie another chance to show what he can do/increase his potential trade value down the line.

UPDATE 3/19/21: Four more Bruins (David Pastrnak, David Krejci, Craig Smith and Jake DeBrusk) went into the league's Covid-19 protocols today so tomorrow's rematch in Buffalo and Tuesday's game vs. the Islanders have both been postponed. Ugh, we still can't have nice things in 2021. 

The Bruins Earn Another Two-Game Series Sweep Vs. The Flyers With A Playoff-Style 2-1 Victory

 

    You can't realistically ask for a much better road trip than the one that the Bruins (8-1-2) just completed tonight at Philadelphia's (7-3-2) First Union Center. Thanks to a 2-1 win against the Flyers, Boston wrapped up four games against Washington (6-2-3) and Philly-the other two best teams in the East Division now and probably for the rest of the season-with seven out of a possible eight points. Unless you are a fan of boring, defensive hockey with very few scoring chances, this tilt was not exactly filled with highlights but it nevertheless proved that the B's can still find a way to come out on top no matter how you want to play. They also improved to 4-0 against Philadelphia this season, halfway through their regular season slate with them.

    The theme of the entire trip was third period comebacks so Boston had one more granted it wasn't quite the three-goal rallies in DC nor the two-goal deficit that they overcame in Philly on Wednesday. Not much happened in the first two periods except a nice fight between B's defenseman Connor Clifton and Flyers right wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel and Tuukka Rask (23 saves, 5-1-1) easily stopped a penalty shot by BU's Joel Farabee. It was scoreless heading into the third period and UNH's James van Riemsdyk tipped in a shot from the point by defenseman Erik Gustafsson for a power play goal 27 seconds into the frame. Center Claude Giroux added the second assist on JVR's sixth goal of the season which also extended his point-streak to six games (3 goals, 8 assists). That would turn out to be the only goal that Rask would allow. 

    The Bruins continued to grind away and eventually tied it on a greasy goal by left wing Brad Marchand at 12:01. Right wing David Pastrnak's initial shot was stopped by Flyers goaltender Brian Elliott (21 saves, 3-1-0) but Marchand was in front (along with Patrice Bergeron) and he was able to win a puck battle then sweep in the rebound. Defenseman Charlie McAvoy notched the secondary assist on Marchand's team-leading seventh goal of the season. It wasn't tied for long as center Sean Kuraly made it 2-1 in favor of Boston 27 seconds later. He fired a snap shot from just inside the blue line that Elliott's glove totally whiffed on. The puck hit the far post and rattled in for his second goal of the season. Left wing Anders Bjork and center David Krejci-part of a rejiggered line-supplied the assists on the game-winning tally. 

    Boston was scheduled to host Buffalo (4-4-2) on Saturday night and Monday at TD Garden but the Sabres are one of four NHL teams currently paused due to Covid-19 outbreaks so those games will be postponed to a later date in the season. For the B's, the timing isn't so bad since they get to return home and relax for a few days before their next games: Wednesday (7, NBCSN) and Friday (7, NESN) at Madison Square Garden vs. the Rangers (4-4-2). That's followed by another visit to Long Island to face the Islanders (3-4-2) on Saturday night (7, NESN). Like the rest of us (that aren't clueless idiots during a pandemic), the Bruins won't be able to have their traditional Super Bowl party with all their wives and girlfriends in the same place but at least they can all kick back and enjoy a long weekend in Boston before they return to work.  

B's Finish Off Perfect Homestand (4-0) Vs. Teams From PA With 4-1 Lockdown Of The Penguins

 

    With a condensed training camp and no preseason games this year, perhaps we can consider Boston's (5-1-1) first three clunky games-where they went 1-1-1-a warmup to the real action that would soon follow. Let the record show that right after that bumpy opening road trip, the Bruins' first four home games were all wins. After sweeping two games against the Flyers (5-2-1) last week at TD Garden, they followed that up with another sweep-this time vs. the Penguins (4-3-1) which concluded this evening with a 4-1 victory. It was a strange visit to Boston for Pittsburgh who came here on a four-game win-streak, then they lost 3-2 in OT on Tuesday, their long-time GM Jim Rutherford abruptly resigned yesterday (citing the always vague personal reasons) and then tonight they left with the Bruins owning a four-game win-streak of their own. Life comes at you fast as the kids say, haha they still say that right?

    Boston has allowed four goals in its last three games including just three in the Pittsburgh mini-series. They have yet to earn a shutout but except for last Thursday's 5-4 shootout win vs. Philly, the Bruins have allowed two goals or less in every other contest so far in this campaign. Captain Patrice Bergeron led them with a pair of goals while Boston's fourth line came up big with goals by right wing Chris Wagner and center Sean Kuraly. B's goaltender Jaroslav Halak (16 saves, 2-0-1) was barely tested which was nice considering that Dan Vladar was his backup for the night with Tuukka Rask resting whatever injury he picked up in Tuesday's win. Speaking of nagging injuries, Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk (assist, plus-3 in 12:31) suffered another lower-body injury that forced him to leave early and never return. When considering all the ways that he'd struggle to replace Torey Krug, it looks like Krug's remarkable durability for a guy his size is another thing that Grzelcyk sadly lacks. 

    It didn't take too long for Wagner to get the Bruins on the board as he was quick to a loose puck in front of Pittsburgh's goaltender Tristan Jarry (16 saves, 2-3-1) and he fired it in for his first goal of the season (unassisted) at 6:10 of the first period. The only highlight of the entire proceedings for the Penguins came at 15:03 as defenseman Cody Ceci made a nice move to pull the puck off the wall and into the slot where he beat Halak with a snap shot. His first goal of the season was assisted by right wing Bryan Rust and center Teddy Blueger. You felt like it was going to be a good result for the Black and Gold when they got a completely fluky bounce for the go-ahead goal. Left wing Anders Bjork weaved around a few Penguins and tried to throw a saucer pass to Wagner driving to the net but the puck deflected off a Pittsburgh defenseman then off Kuraly's leg and into the net. His first goal of the season came at 18:53 of the first period to give Boston a 2-1 lead. 

    Bergy did what any good leader does: he made sure to put the opposition away without hesitation. He followed up his own shot and put in a backhander at 8:13 of the second period. His team-leading fourth goal of the season was assisted by BU alums Grzelcyk and Charlie Coyle. He capped off the very solid performance for the home team with a power play tally from his famous bumper position. Left wing Brad Marchand fed him for the one-timer while defenseman Charlie McAvoy added the secondary helper. It'll be a much-anticipated two-game set this weekend in DC for the Bruins as they get their first look at their former captain Zdeno Chara (who scored his first goal as a Capital in tonight's 6-3 win vs. Islanders). Washington (5-0-3) hosts Boston on Saturday night (7, NESN) and Monday (7, NESN). The Caps have owned the Bruins more than any other club in recent history. The good news for Boston is that former Washington goaltender Braden Holtby is now in Vancouver which means that they wouldn't see him this season until the Stanley Cup Final. You know it'll be so weird to watch Big Z in another uniform, playing against so many of his former teammates and coaches. 

With Pasta Still Out & Rask Gone, Halak & The B's Respond With An Impressive 3-1 Win In Game 3

 

    There were only two ways that this afternoon's pivotal Game 3 between the Bruins and Hurricanes would go after Tuukka Rask's stunning departure: either Boston would be shell-shocked and they'd lose behind a rusty Jaroslav Halak or like the Canadiens playing yesterday for Claude Julien, they'd be extra inspired (not that it should take much during the NHL playoffs) and cobble together a great performance. Thankfully for purposes of our collective sanity (haha relatively speaking during a pandemic) and the overall quality of this blog and post, the Black and Gold came through with a rock solid 3-1 victory which gives them a 2-1 series lead. 

    Making his first appearance since getting shelled in a 4-1 loss on August 2-Boston's first round-robin game vs. Philadelphia-not to mention his first playoff game in years, Halak showed that he still has plenty left in the tank with 29 saves. He was this close to a shutout if not for a brutal turnover that led to the easiest goal of Nino Niederreiter's life that cut it to 2-1 early in the third period. The Bruins would not be denied as they scored first for the second game in a row but this time actually made it mean something. They also had the first two-goal leads (twice) of the series, adding a power play goal and a shorthanded goal to the all-around team effort.

    Boston was lucky to survive the first period scoreless since Carolina outshot them 15-7. The noon start was apparently rough on Boston's mostly old legs but they bounced back with a great second period, outshooting the Hurricanes 20-8. Following a double-minor high-sticking penalty on Trevor van Riemsdyk late in the first frame that carried over to the second, Coyle gave his team a 1-0 advantage when he batted in a rebound 14 seconds in. You'll remember that James Reimer won Game 2 for the Hurricanes but their head coach Rod Brind'Amour decided to roll the dice and go back to Game 1 starter Petr Mrazek (36 saves) and while it wasn't his fault that they lost, the curious choice didn't pay off. Like Red Sox hitters used to do (you know, when they tried to actually win games), Coyle deftly hit the puck out of mid-air after a trademark rebound by Mrazek. Charlie's second goal of the postseason was assisted by Brad Marchand and playoff David Krejci. 

    Once again, the B's came out ready to go in the third period and were rewarded with a huge shortanded tally by Sean Kuraly (their first of the postseason) at 1:16. Coyle and Charlie McAvoy had the helpers as Kuraly drove to the net and perfectly deflected in Coyle's on the money feed. He might not score many goals but the rate of extremely important ones that Kuraly gets from his entire total is insane. 

    Niederreiter's goal was actually on the power play and his first of the postseason was unassisted unless you count the silver platter that Halak used to put the puck right in his glove. With the net vacant, Niederreiter laid the disc on the ice and knocked it in the net. Woof. Showing the mettle of a battle-tested veteran, this didn't rattle Halak and similarly, his Bruins teammates refused to fold after his gaffe. Fittingly, the B's iced it with an empty-netter with 31 seconds left in regulation as Krejci lofted the puck ahead to Marchand to slide into Carolina's net. Game over on Brad's second goal of the postseason and already his sixth point (2 goals, 4 assists) of the series. Krejci's assist gives him five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in the three games which isn't too shabby either.

    The only real downer of Game 3 was what looked to be a very serious injury suffered by Hurricanes budding star Andrei Svechnikov late in the third period. He was battling Zdeno Chara in front of Boston's net when fell over in pain due to his knee/ankle twisting in a weird angle. It's the playoffs but you never want to see anybody get hurt, especially like that, when you know that he is probably going to be out for a long time. The fact that he is arguably Carolina's best forward (and they don't have much depth there to begin with) will certainly be a factor for the rest of the series. 

    For the B's, Anders Bjork was called for three penalties today so he could definitely be a healthy scratch for Game 4. Karson Kuhlman, Nick Ritchie and Jeremy Lauzon were all out this afternoon after playing in Game 2. Connor Clifton was fine, Jack Studnicka looked good in his NHL playoff debut and Par Lindholm was about as visible on the ice as he ever can be (competing against his former club). Both teams get a few more extra hours to rest before Monday night and it's basically a must-win for the Canes. It's tough to see them winning three straight against the Bruins, particularly without Svechnkikov. 

 

    

     

The NHL Needs an Epic Bruins-Lightning Series This Upcoming Postseason In the Worst Way

I could go on all day about the beauty of the NHL playoffs (only about a month away now!) but one of my favorite aspects is that the matchups don't even really matter that much (at least like they do in other sports) to still produce a classic playoff series. Still, if two clubs (most likely division rivals) can enter with built in hatred and animosity, well all the better! The Bruins (43-14-12) and Lightning (43-20-5) finished the regular season series tonight at TD Garden with a thoroughly entertaining 5-3 victory by Tampa Bay. Boston went 1-2-1 against the Lightning in 2019/20 but the previous three contests were all decided by a goal: Tampa won a shootout 4-3 on Oct. 17, Lightning edged the B's 3-2 on Dec. 23 and Boston won 2-1 on Tuesday. These are no doubt about it two of the best teams in the NHL complete with star power up and down their lineups so another meeting in the playoffs (remember the Lightning wiped the Bruins out of the second-round in 5 games 2 years ago) would be nirvana for hockey fans.

An NHL regular season game on March 7 has no business being this thrilling but when you have line brawls and chipiness after seemingly every whistle, you know that Jack Edwards might need a clean up in the NESN booth afterwards. Before things got wild, they were weird as Tampa Bay scored on its first two shots of the game and they both happened to be during the same Bruins power play. The Lightning built up a 3-0 lead before the B's came roaring back with a pair of goals to cut it to 3-2. Harvard's best NHL player in a generation-Alex Killorn-gave Tampa an insurance goal before the top goal-scorer in the league (David Pastrnak, 48!) got on the scoresheet. Nikita Kucherov has points in 21 of his last 22 games (his only scoreless outing was Tuesday's loss vs. Boston) so he fittingly got some retribution with an empty-netter that clinched it. Meanwhile, the two teams combined for 94 penalty minutes which included two official fights and two misconducts not to mention countless scrums, donnybrooks and even a line brawl in the second period. Say it with me folks, old time hockey! Are you not entertained?

Tuukka Rask (20 saves, 25-8-6) is the frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy this season (it would be his second after capturing it in 2013-14) as the top goalie in the NHL but understandably, many Bruins fans will never fully feel comfortable with him until he wins a Stanley Cup of his own. He was Tim Thomas' backup in 2011 and never entered during that magical run. I hate to even bring it up but allowing two goals on the first two shots by the Lightning definitely sported the odor of Game 7 vs. St. Louis in June when a couple early goals by the Blues crippled the Bruins right away and they never recovered. Keep in mind that Steven Stamkos (core muscle surgery) is expected to miss six to eight weeks for Tampa Bay and their All-World defenseman Victor Hedman only played 4:36 tonight (7 shifts) after picking up an injury of his own. In other words, as great as those guys are, the Lightning clearly aren't a one or two-man team. Brandon Carlo (upper-body injury, cough concussion) was also a key player missing for the Bruins after getting hurt on Thursday at Florida (34-26-8) in Boston's 2-1 win.

Anthony Cirelli (who sounds like someone that plays in your Wednesday night men's league at Hockeytown in Saugus, MA) made it 1-0 Tampa at 5:08. His 16th goal of the season was unassisted and it came just six seconds into Boston's first power play of the tilt. If that wasn't bad enough, the Lightning doubled their lead 1:02 after that with another shorthanded tally. Mikhail Sergachev (forced into a game-high 28:20 of ice time with Hedman out) cranked in a one-timer from Yanni Gourde for a stunning 2-0 lead for Tampa and his 10th goal of the season. Boston hadn't allowed two shorthanded goals in the same game in over a year (Dec. 23, 2018 vs. Carolina) and you have to go back to Dec. 4, 1966 (vs. Toronto) when they allowed a pair of shorties on the same power play. Yeesh. Chris Wagner and Barclay Goodrow (a lost lax bro?) tried to fight later in the first period but the refs wouldn't allow it. Luckily after they went to the penalty box for unsportstmanlike conduct, they proceeded to come out and get into a bout six seconds after the penalty had expired. It wasn't exactly Wilder-Fury I but the Garden crowd certainly ate it up like it was a boxing classic. The scoreboard almost seemed like a joke at the end of the frame as the B's trailed 2-0 yet had outshot the Lightning 14-5. Spoiler alert, kids: that's really hard to do!

When Cedric Paquette put Tampa Bay ahead 6:50 into the second period with a wide open roof job from the door step, you had to wonder if this would be like Boston's 9-3 humbling defeat in Vancouver two weeks ago. Thankfully for the paying customers (and the Bruins fans around the globe), this was not a repeat performance of that dreadful no-show to end an otherwise great road trip. Nope, this evening the Black and Gold decided to fight back both literally (with fists) and where it counts the most (with goals). After a rough season offensively, Charlie McAvoy has played like the franchise defenseman that Boston hopes that he can fully turn into once the ageless Zdeno Chara finally retires. Boston University can be directly thanked for the first Bruins goal since it came from McAvoy (4-on-4), assisted by Charlie Coyle and Matt Grzelcyk (all BU alums). McAvoy's fifth goal of the season cut it to 3-1 and it came at 14:50 of the second period. The next few minutes were truly bizarre as the puck seemed to sneak by Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy (35 saves, 35-13-3) but play continued for a few minutes well until things devolved into a full out battle royale 90s WWF style. After a review, Sean Kuraly was credited with the goal (his 6th of the season) from McAvoy and Ondrej Kase (his 1st point as a Bruin) at 18:37. Those last five-plus minutes of the second period after McAvoy's goal were scintillating: hockey (or sports in general) doesn't get much better than that in terms of incredible plays, physicality or crazy twists and turns.

Killorn's career-high 26th goal of the season at 1:08 of the third period was a bit of a wet fart to the proceedings. He tipped in Sergachev's shot from the point with Brayden Point fittingly grabbing the other helper. Somehow though like a horror movie villain, the Bruins wouldn't die as Pasta's blast of his own on the power play trimmed Tampa Bay's lead to 4-3 at 6:37. Torey Krug (40th assist! 5-game point streak) and Brad Marchand (NHL-best 13-game point streak) had the assists on the goal that put Pastrnak one goal ahead of Washington's Alex Ovechkin. Once again with all the momentum on their side, the B's felt destined to tie it and they couldn't have asked for a better chance to do that but Vasilevskiy stopped Pastrnak on a breakaway. Boston head coach Bruce Cassidy waited a bit to pull Rask but it was a moot point when Kucherov stole the puck in the Bruins' end and put in his team-best 33rd goal of the season with 1:02 left in regulation.

Just recapping that memorable meeting, I feel like I need a hot shower and message to recover so I can only imagine how the players and coaches feel. As you would expect, the Bruins won't practice tomorrow and they will be back at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton, MA on Monday morning before hitting the road to play the hottest team in the league-the Flyers (41-20-7)-on Tuesday (7, NBCSN). Philadelphia has won nine straight games to pull into a virtual deadlock with the sputtering Capitals (4-4-2 in their last 10 games) for first-place in the Metropolitan Division. Philly's rapid rise has to be one of the most unexpected developments of this season, especially considering how stacked the Metropolitan is with the Islanders (35-23-9) and Blue Jackets (32-21-15) currently occupying the top two Wild Card spots in the East. Furthermore, the Hurricanes (36-25-5) and Rangers (36-28-4) are breathing down their necks as well. It's a relatively quiet week for the B's as they go to lifeless Buffalo (29-31-8)-losers of their last six games (Free Eichel!) on Friday (7, NESN) then they have a back-to-back with Toronto (35-25-9) coming here on Saturday night (7, NESN).

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After Two Losses on the Road, Boston Returns Home to Beat Pittsburgh 4-1 In a Playoff-Type Tilt

Up until tonight, it had been a rough week for the Bruins (28-9-12). First, they blew a 5-2 lead in Philadelphia (25-17-6) on Monday then fell to an unexplainable 0-7 in shootouts as Brad Marchand touched the puck but never got control of it on the fruitless last shot attempt. The next night in Columbus (24-16-8) they might not as well have shown up as they got blanked 3-0 by the Blue Jackets and even worse, Tuukka Rask (17-4-6) suffered a concussion from an errant elbow by a nobody that the B's never really responded to. This evening's satisfying 4-1 victory against the Penguins (29-13-5) at TD Garden doesn't erase those losses (or the fact that they placed Rask on IR this afternoon) but at least they gave the Black and Gold not to mention their fans something to feel good about. After all, the Pens entered with a four-game win streak and 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, making them one of the NHL's hottest teams.

What makes this result interesting is that this is essentially a taste of the playoffs for the B's since their next game is Sunday afternoon (12:30, NBC) in Pittsburgh. The Penguins are in Detroit (12-32-3) tomorrow night before the return bout with the Bruins but that hardly counts since the Red Wings are easily the worst team in the entire NHL. In their only other meeting this season which was over two months ago, the Bruins also came out on top with a wild 6-4 victory on Nov. 4 at the Garden. The extra physical play was probably just setting the stage for Sunday yet you couldn't help but think what fun it would be to see these teams meet again this spring in the postseason. The 2013 Eastern Conference Finals is the last time they meet in the playoffs so it's been far too long!

Things didn't exactly start out positively for Boston as Sidney Crosby (in his 2nd game back after missing 28 games following muscle core surgery) fired in a laser only 24 seconds into the contest. He returned with four points (1 goal, 3 assists) in Tuesday's 7-3 beating of the Wild (21-20-6) so in that sense, he picked right up where he left out with his seventh goal of the season. Dominik Simon and Jack Johnson (300th NHL point for the veteran defenseman, not the singer from your college days) had the assists on the first shot of the game for either club. Naturally, Boston turned to its third and fourth liners to put them ahead with a pair of goals later in the frame.

Karson Kuhlman is about the furthest thing that you'd find from Crosby-a generational talent-but the Bruins' scrappy rookie returned from missing 32 games of his own with a broken leg. In less than ten minutes of ice time (9:56), he managed to notch two assists (his 2nd multi-point game in the NHL and 1st time he had a pair of helpers) to help spark the offense. Sean Kuraly threw the puck at the net and Kuhlman's net drive did enough to distract Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry (26 saves, 16-7-1) with the puck deflecting off a Pittsburgh defenseman. Charlie McAvoy had the secondary assist on Kuraly's fourth goal of the season at 10:03. A little over two minutes later, Par Lindholm tipped in Kuhlman's shot for his third goal of the season.

Things were simmering in the first with five combined penalties and they started to boil over in the second period namely for Torey Krug and Patric Hornqvist. Besides the fact that he stinks, the main reason that Brett Ritchie was placed on waivers yesterday by the B's (for assignment to Providence) is because he didn't step up in a physical way after the Rask injury. Krug is not exactly what you picture when you think of an enforcer but he more than held his own in his fight with Hornqvist late in the second. They were called for matching roughing penalties but that didn't stop them from settling things six seconds after they got out of the box from serving those infractions. With David Krejci out with an upper-body injury, Boston survived another injury scare as Joakim Nordstrom blocked a shot and glided on one leg to the bench in what seemed like serious pain (Patrice Bergeron helped him get to the bench). From there, he briefly sat down then got helped to the dressing room but miraculously he returned and barely missed any time, playing 12:06.

It shouldn't have taken this long to mention him but Jaroslav Halak (29 saves, 11-5-6) played his best game in awhile which was good timing since he'll probably get the other two starts before the All-Star break with Dan Vladar (recalled from Providence today with no NHL regular season experience) serving as his backup. Halak made many fine stops but none were better than the three (Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy thought there were four) saves late in the second when Pittsburgh somehow broke in on a 2-on-0 while they were shorthanded. Halak stoned Bryan Rust once then Northeastern's Zach Aston-Reese at least twice leading the Garden crowd to go crazy (in a good way of course).

Pittsburgh mostly dominated the third period but they had nothing to show for it thanks to Halak. Boston put it out of reach with Bergeron's sweet top-shelf shot at 3:19 from David Pastrnak. It was Bergeron's 20th goal of the season, the seventh year in a row that he's reached that mark and 11th time in his brilliant (and one day Hall of Fame career). Pasta's pass was beautiful too as he spun around by the boards and put the puck right on Bergy's stick without even seeing him there. The NHL's leading goal-scorer was in a giving mood as Pastrnak passed up an empty-netter in the final minute and instead gave it to Marchand who could use that positive reinforcement (especially after he had another puck issue-a shorthanded breakaway ending with him fumbling it away).

Scoreboard watching after the game, the Bruins got some help from the Wild who surprisingly beat the Lightning (28-15-4) 3-2 in regulation. That leaves Boston eight points ahead of Tampa Bay although the Lightning still have two games in hand. Toronto (25-16-7) is a little bit less of an immediate threat since they trail the Bruins by 11 points with only one game in hand on them. No doubt, the B's would love to sweep the season series with the Pens but it won't be easy to complete at PPG Paints Arena where Pittsburgh is 17-5-3 this season. For whatever reason, I feel like Boston's games there in recent years have usually been bonkers.

The Bruins return to the Garden on Tuesday (7, NESN) to host the Golden Knights (25-19-6) who fired their head coach Gerard Gallant yesterday in a move that few saw coming because the team still holds the top Wild Card spot in the Western Conference. From there, Pastrnak and Cassidy head to the All-Star Game (Rask is skipping it even if he's healthy by then) in St. Louis while everyone else-unless Bergeron or Marchand is an injury replacement for a guy from the Atlantic Division team-gets a legitimate break since the next game isn't until January 31 (8, NESN) at Winnipeg (25-18-4). If the B's can get points in those final two matchups, they'll put themselves in a great spot heading into the stretch drive-the last 31 games of the regular season.

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The B's Closed Out November In Style: With Another Memorable Rally & OT Win at TD Garden

It's probably not a sustainable way to get positive results in the long run but at least for the time being, the Bruins (18-3-5) are finding ways to get wins even when they sleepwalk through much of a game. This afternoon in their usual Black Friday matinee at TD Garden, they spotted the Rangers (12-9-3) a 2-0 lead early in the second period only to rally for a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory thanks to David Krejci. Boston's sixth win in a row also ensured that they'll survive until December with their unbeaten in regulation record at home (10-0-4) intact.

New York is still rebuilding but at the moment, they seem to be making some progress under former BU head coach David Quinn. Coming into today's matchup, they had been 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and they were seeking revenge after absorbing a 7-4 Bruins blowout at Madison Square Garden back on October 27. The two Original Six teams will meet one more time in the regular season: February 16 in New York. Between Thanksgiving and the fact that they were playing their third game in four days (after winning at Montreal on Tuesday & at Ottawa on Wednesday), you can understand why the Black and Gold came out slow in their new third jersey (that is pretty sharp in my humble opinion).

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 14:14 of the first period as Pavel Buchnevich beat Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak (26 saves, 6-1-3) with a hard shot to his glove side. Tony DeAngelo and Jacob Trouba had the assists on Buchnevich's-their top line right wing-fifth goal of the season. Boston had managed to kill its first penalty of the contest (tripping on Sean Kuraly) but it might as well have counted as a power play goal since his infraction expired just five seconds before the breakthrough tally. Leading 1-0 after the opening frame, New York doubled its lead at 6:21 as Filip Chytil was able to drive right to the net and put in a juicy rebound at 6:21. Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin (8 goals and 19 assists in his last 16 games) provided the helpers on the young Czech center's eighth goal of the season.

B's defenseman Charlie McAvoy is known for many great things that he can do on the ice but dropping the gloves usually isn't one of them. The 21-year-old did help change the momentum for his team by getting into a very rare fight (which admittedly he lost) to New York fourth line left wing/part-time defenseman Brendan Smith-former Bruin Reilly's older brother. The other main factor that helped Boston dig out of its self-inflicted hole was their penalty kill which finished an incredible 6-for-6 on the day. First, they killed a two-man advantage that lasted for 1:02 with the Rangers already up 2-0. Not long after that, the Bruins finally put one past Rangers legendary goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (24 saves, 7-5-2). It came on a fluky play-the soccer equivalent of an own goal-as Jake DeBrusk threw a shot on net that was tipped by Kuraly and hit the post before bouncing off of King Henrik who ended up knocking it in his own net with his stick. Oops! Kuraly's second goal of the season was also assisted by Brandon Carlo and suddenly, Boston only trailed by one goal (2-1) heading into the third period.

After being outshot 11-7 in the first and 11-8 in the second, the Bruins officially woke up in the third (aka winning time) as they had five more shots than the Rangers (11-6). Boston didn't wait too long to tie it up either as David Pastrnak (who else?) scored his NHL-best 24th goal of the season at 4:27. David Krejci and DeBrusk had the assists as Jake's centering pass to Krejci in front of the net somehow deflected right to Pasta who knew exactly what to do with it-firing the puck low under Lundqvist's leg pads. Cool nerd stat: Pasta and Brad Marchand both have 40+ points now, becoming the first Bruins teammates to do that in 26 games since Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito (ever heard of them?) in 1974-75. It's only the fifth time in franchise history that has happened so yes, it's kind of a big deal if you're into that type of thing.

Par Lindholm got a double-minor for high-sticking more than halfway through the third period but yet again, Boston's killers (relax, head coach Bruce Cassidy lovingly refers to them as that) survived being shorthanded that long. Charlie McAvoy (who skated a game-high 25:22) also reminded everyone that the BU-BC hatred never goes away as he crushed former Eagle Chris Kreider with an open ice hit late in regulation in Boston's defensive zone.

There was some back-and-forth action in the abbreviated extra session but Krejci's goal turned out to be the only shot on goal for either club. Halak actually started the entire sequence by getting the puck to Krejci in the neutral zone. From there, he passed back to Pastrnak who dangled by a Ranger then slid a beautiful return dish to his fellow countrymen who admitted afterwards that he basically had an open net to shoot at. His fifth goal of the season came at 1:40 and Boston's first overtime win vs. New York in almost 11 years (Phil Kessel in a shootout on Jan. 19, 2008 was surprisingly the last time) helped extend their point streak to 10 games (7-0-3). The Bruins' last regulation loss was three weeks ago (4-2 at Detroit-an unexplainable setback to a putrid opponent). The B's also improved to 2-0 in overtime this season while the Rangers fell to 2-2.

A very busy stretch continues for the Bruins next week but at least they get to stay home and be around their loved ones. They host cratering Montreal (11-9-5) who played the only game in the NHL last night and lost their sixth straight game-at the Bell Centre to New Jersey (9-11-4). They are in Philadelphia (13-7-5) tomorrow afternoon so by the time that Claude Juilien's boys get here on Sunday night (7, NESN) they could be in full panic mode (let's be serious though, I'm sure the city of Montreal is already falling down with these recent results). Boston continues to play every other day as they host the Hurricanes (15-9-1) on Tuesday (7, NESN) followed by the Blackhawks (10-9-5) on Thursday (7, NESN) and wrapping up with Colorado (14-8-2) next Saturday night (7, NESN). Got it? This lovely five-game homestand is followed by a four-game road trip so there is that. At this hour, the Bruins have the most points (41) in the whole NHL so there isn't a whole lot to complain about if you are a fan of them.

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Bruins Return Home to Blank the Devils 3-0 In Their 2019-20 Regular Season Home Opener

There is no such thing as a homecoming game in the NHL, that's more of a high school or college football term (where the home team presumably takes on a cupcake opponent that they can blow out in front of their adoring alums) but if such a thing existed in hockey, the Devils (0-3-2) would be one of the most fitting choices these days. Boston (4-1-0) went 3-1-0 to start this campaign on a very difficult West Coast road trip to Dallas, Arizona, Las Vegas and Colorado before coming back to the newly redesigned TD Garden. Things couldn't have gone much better for the home team on the ice for the first real contest since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final vs. St. Louis in June. How did that one end again? I forget.

The Bruins scored twice in the first period and added a power play goal in the second which is about what you would expect against New Jersey-who is still one of the true bottomfeeders not just in the East but in the entire league. B's goaltender Tuukka Rask (3-0) made 31 saves for his first shutout of the season and the 46th of his NHL career. He made his presence felt the most in the second period when the Devils actually controlled play and outshot the Bruins 15-9. Coming off of their first loss of the season (4-2 against the Avs on Thursday), the Black and Gold predictably got back on track in front of their extra lubed up Saturday night crowd.

It only took Boston 3:33 to take a lead that turned out to be too much for Dirty Jersey to overcome. Brad Marchand wheeled around with the puck near the blue line and fired a shot on net that actually deflected in off a Devils defenseman before Patrice Bergeron could tip it. Marchand's team-leading fourth goal of the season (4-game point-streak with 4 goals & 3 assists) was assisted by David Pastrnak who has a team-high four helpers. Marblehead native and BC alum Cory Schneider (0-2-0; 29 saves) was basically on his own as the Bruins' reunited fourth line had another strong performance. Playing in his second game of the season, Joakim Nordstrom was able to put in a loose puck in front at 11:22. His first goal of the year was assisted by his linemates Chris Wagner (aka the Mayor of Walpole) and Sean Kuraly.

Marchand nearly made it 3-0 later in the first with what would have been a highlight reel tally for the ages. With his team shorthanded, he blocked a shot in his own zone then skated in on a breakaway but his shot was stopped by Schneider. For the contest, New Jersey's pathetic power play was 0-for-4 which is bad but nothing compared to their neutered season output (0-for-15, yuck!). I get that they have a bunch of scrubs around them but how has that happened to a team with offensive talents like Taylor Hall (former MVP), rookie Jack Hughes (June's No. 1 overall draft pick) and P.K. Subban? It's mystifying but then again, who really notices in North Jersey besides director Kevin Smith and maybe Bruce Springsteen?

The best chance for the Devils to score came early in the second period as Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo coughed up the puck right in front of his own net and Hughes was able to pounce on it but his shot hit the post. Too bad, it would have been neat to see his first NHL point/goal of what should be a long and fruitful career (he's only 18 years old!) for one of the most exciting American prospects in decades. The Bruins penalty kill got better as the game went along and of course-as any hockey coach will tell you-the goaltender can be the best penalty killer when he is locked in like Rask already is this fall (he's only allowed 4 goals in his 1st 3 starts).

Boston's power play is working out the kinks but after going 0-for-2 on their first two chances tonight, they cashed in on the third thanks to Patrice Bergeron. It was a similar tally to Nordstrom's as he battled in traffic in front of New Jersey's net and was rewarded when the puck popped out to him on his backhand. Jake DeBrusk and Marchand had the assists on Bergy's first goal of the season. Other than Canton's own Kevin Rooney (a proud NCAA champion at PC) missing a check on DeBrusk along Boston's bench then suffering the indignity of Jake pushing his skates over the side as well, that's about the only other notable thing to transpire for the rest of the rather routine defeat.

There are two games left on this homestand for the B's: their usual Columbus Day matinee (1, NESN) has them facing the Ducks (4-1-0) before the Lightning (2-2-1) come here on Thursday (7, NESN) for what should be a great early season showdown between's last season's top two teams in the Eastern Conference (haha in the regular season before Tampa had an epic choke job in Round 1 vs. Columbus). Any thoughts of a Stanley Cup hangover for the Bruins has already been put to bed and also importantly, they are racking up the points which is a good thing when you look at how hard the rest of October looks like for them: home and home with Toronto, St. Louis and San Jose are all looming ahead.

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The Bruins Rallied For A Thrilling 4-2 Victory In Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final vs. the Blues

For two teams (Boston and St. Louis) that had been off for roughly a combined three months since their last contests in the Conference Finals, you have to say that Game 1 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final was way more exciting than most would have expected. The Blues built a 2-0 lead a minute into the second period before the Bruins came roaring back (sorry for that bad pun) with a pair of goals in the second and two more in the third to come away with a 4-2 win at TD Garden on a picture perfect Memorial Day. It marked the first time this postseason that Boston actually won a game after they trailed by two goals, the other four times had all resulted in losses.

If you've been paying attention for this entire playoff run by the B's, there were some familiar patterns throughout the 60 minutes that emerged for the home team: the incredible depth of Boston's roster was once again on full display as their first the three stars of the night (as chosen by the NHL's official scorers) were a fourth-line center (Sean Kuraly), a third-line winger (Marcus Johansson) and a third pairing defenseman (Connor Clifton). Also, the Bruins' top-ranked power play managed to score a goal despite starting 0-for-3 and their penalty kill was a perfect 2-for-2. Tuukka Rask barely had to break a sweat after that second goal by St. Louis as he only was forced to make 18 saves for his and the team's eighth straight win.

I don't think it has all that much relevance since we're talking about nearly 50 years ago but I still think it's funny that with tonight's result, the Blues remain winless all-time in the Stanley Cup Final (0-13). I'm certainly not enough of a Bruins honk to say that this series is over (all you have to refer to is last season's Stanley Cup Final when Vegas took Game 1 then proceeded to lose the next four to Washington) but there were a lot of reasons if you root for the Black and Gold to be confident following this first step.

Honestly, both goals for St. Louis could be directly attributed to fatal mistakes by Boston: Brayden Schenn scored the first goal of the series at 7:23 of the first period when he was able to put in a loose puck that multiple Bruins failed to clear out of danger after an initial save by Rask. Jaden Schwartz and Jay Bouwmeester had the assists on Schenn's third goal of the postseason. The shots were even at eight after one frame but it felt like the Bruins should have been up since Jordan Binnington (34 saves) made a couple great saves on one-timers by David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk missed the net on a breakaway and Johansson hit the post with a shot. An unforgivable turnover by Pasta behind his own net was the beginning of the goal that made it 2-0 thanks to Vladimir Tarasenko's snipe (his 9th of the playoffs) from Schenn.

Down 2-0, the Bruins didn't allow themselves or their fans (many of whom had paid obscene amounts of money to be in the building) much time to dwell on the hole that they built as Connor Clifton of all people cut it to 2-1 just 1:16 after Tarasenko's backbreaking goal. The Quinnipiac University product drove to the side of the net and was able to re-direct enough of a pass from Kuraly for the puck to sneak in. Joakim Nordstrom had the second assist on Clifton's second career playoff goal. St. Louis then started to take some very dumb penalties (high-sticking on Joel Edmundson and cross-checking on Oscar Sundqvist) and wouldn't you know it, Boston eventually made them pay dearly for their utter stupidity.

Charlie McAvoy burst through the middle of the St. Louis defensive zone and a pair of Blues defensemen were too slow to react as he beat Binnington with a low shot at 12:41 of the second period that tied it up 2-2. The ex-BU star's second goal of the postseason was unassisted. That extended Boston's power play goal streak to five games and in that span they are 8-for-20 (40%). The Bruins outshot the Blues 18-3 in the second and yet it somehow felt like even more than that. Marchand had two great chances to score late in the stanza as he spun around for a brilliant backhander that was stopped by Binnington and then in the closing seconds, he also hit the post.

Boston kept at it in the third period and they were rewarded by another key goal from Kuraly (all he does is score important goals) that gave them their first lead at 3-2. Noel Acciari fed him a pass across the goal-line and he was able to flip in the rebound for his third goal of the postseason at 5:21 with Zdeno Chara picking up the second assist. The Blues came in with the ninth ranked power play in the playoffs and they looked average in their few chances (including in the 3rd when David Krejci was called for an illegal check to the head). The highlight of Game 1 that will surely be remembered for a long time (assuming that you cheer for the Bruins) was a thunderous hit by Torey Krug on Robert Thomas. Krug had been tangled up for what seemed like five minutes in his own end with David Perron (causing him to lose his helmet) but he returned to the play and lined up Thomas from a mile away.

Blues head coach Craig Berube probably pulled Binnington too early (with 2:13 left in regultion) which allowed Marchand to quickly take out the suspense with an empty-netter at 18:11, his eighth goal of the postseason. Game 2 is Wednesday (8, NBC) and while I expect St. Louis to play much better, I believe that Boston can take it up another level too (at least as far as many of their stars are concerned). For what it's worth, the Bruins are 37-16 all-time in best-of-7 series when they lead a series 1-0 (5-1 in the Stanley Cup Final) while the Blues are 6-24 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail 0-1 (although they did beat San Jose in the last round after dropping Game 1). The B's are 32-20 in Game 2s when leading a series 1-0 (4-2 in SCF) and the Blues are 14-16 when trailing a series 0-1. As we just saw vs. overmatched Carolina in the Eastern Conference Finals, a 2-0 series lead is a huge thing so Boston would love nothing better to put some more pressure on St. Louis by going back to what would be an absolute must-win Game 3 if they trailed 0-2.

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For the 2nd Year In a Row (3rd Time in 7 Years), the Bruins Win Another Game 7 Against the Leafs

One of the million great aspects of sports is at some point, almost every epic drought ends: after all, the Red Sox and Cubs won the World Series so at some point, the Maple Leafs will win another Stanley Cup. Thankfully for the Bruins and their fans, that won't happen on their watch at least for another year as Boston beat Toronto 5-1 tonight in Game 7 at TD Garden to take the first-round series 4-3. Would you believe that the Leafs haven't won the Cup in 52+ years now? Hell, they haven't even won a series in 15+ years. What makes that hilarious is the fact that the B's continue to torment them the most, having also beaten them at the Garden in epic Game 7s in 2013 and 2018 as well. Oh and Canada hasn't won a Cup since Montreal in 1993 which is utterly insane.

Boston finally became the first club in this back-and-forth series to win consecutive games and while it took them long enough, they got the job done when most had counted them out and their collective backs were all against the wall (double cliche alert!). The Bruins' overall depth was on full display this evening as five different guys scored goals for them and goaltender Tuukka Rask (32 saves) was the best player on the ice in his top performance of the series. Now they have home ice for the rest of the Eastern Conference playoffs and they begin their second round series vs. Columbus on Thursday (7, NBC Sports) back at the Garden.

Everybody knows how important it is to score first in Game 7s and the Bruins doubled down with a pair of goals late in the first period to take firm control of the contest. First, Joakim Nordstrom somehow squeezed a shot past Frederik Andersen (27 saves) from no angle at 14:29 for his second goal of the series. Matt Grzelcyk and Sean Kuraly had the assists on the opening tally. It's a credit to B's head coach Bruce Cassidy for putting Nordstrom back in the lineup after sitting him in Game 5. Toronto's defenseman Jake Gardiner deserved credit for Marcus Johansson's first playoff goal as a Bruin since his pass behind the Leafs net went right to him and he skated around the cage before whipping a low snipe on Andersen at 17:46 of the first period.

The Maple Leafs dominated the second period, outshooting Boston 13-8 and cutting it to 2-1 on John Tavares' big-time goal at 3:54. Mr. Toronto's only previous goal in the series was an empty-netter way back in Game 1. Tyler Ennis had the lone assist on the wide open shot that Rask had no chance to stop as it went over his leg pad and past his blocker. Boston killed a cross checking penalty by Brandon Carlo in the second and it still felt like a victory when the frame ended with them on top.

Luckily, there was no overtime needed in Game 7 (or any other game in this series) as Boston closed with a strong third period. Kuraly scored a huge insurance tally at 2:40 as he ripped a shot past Andersen at 2:40, his first goal of the series was assisted by linemates Noel Acciari and Nordstrom. The B's survived a too many men penalty (do they always have to get those in Game 7s?) and a pair of empty-netters by Charlie Coyle and Patrice Bergeron made sure that the stress would quickly drift away for nervous Bruins fans.

This is the second year in a row that Boston has advanced to the second round and seventh time in the last nine postseasons. It will be the first ever playoff meeting vs. Columbus who they went 2-1 against in the regular season (which obviously means nothing). However, with Tampa Bay out (thanks to the Blue Jackets) along with the Penguins (and possibly Capitals if they lose Game 7 tomorrow vs. Carolina), the road to another Stanley Cup Final for the B's couldn't be more favorable. The other Eastern Conference semifinal is Islanders vs. Capitals/Hurricanes with Washington for sure being the biggest obstacle for the Black and Gold. This doesn't even take into account the powerhouse Western Conference teams (Calgary and Winnipeg) that have already been knocked out too. Needless to say, the NHL playoffs this season have been even more bananas than usual.

Boston improved to 15-12 all-time in Game 7s and they are now 4-1 all-time vs. Toronto in Game 7s. The Maple Leafs fell to 12-12 in Game 7s and this was another painful chapter in their constantly updating encyclopedia on choke jobs since they blew a 3-2 series lead and lost at home before getting eliminated tonight. Their players, coaches and fans must be wondering what it will take to get past from Boston let alone just win a single series and end this stupid curse once and for all.

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The B's At Least Temporarily Get Rid of Their Blues (Sorry, Had to Do It), Dispatching St. Louis 5-2

There wasn't a cause for major concern but the Bruins (27-16-5) were having a frustrating week that began with Monday's 3-2 overtime loss to Montreal (26-17-5) followed by last night's terrible 4-3 loss in Philadelphia to the tanking Flyers (18-23-6). Going back to last week's latest setback to Washington, the B's were getting tons of shots on goal and scoring chances but not converting those into enough goals to win. Enter the hapless Blues (20-21-5) who are going nowhere and figure to soon be selling off players like you read about. It was far from perfect but the final result was all that matters as the black and gold picked up a closer than it looks 5-2 victory against St. Louis tonight at TD Garden.

Former Blues captain David Backes was a healthy scratch on Wednesday and he took that demotion about as well as anyone with his NHL resume possibly could. That's what made it a truly special moment when the pro's pro scored the tying goal (2-2) in the second period on the power play that ultimately helped the Bruins end the contest with four straight tallies. B's goaltender Tuukka Rask (28 saves, 14-8-3) continued to play his best hockey of the season as he's gone 6-0-1 in his last seven starts. He also tied the franchise record for wins (252) with my man Tiny Thompson.

It was a balanced attack for the B's since five different guys each had a goal and 11 in total registered a point. Boston improved to 17-6-1 at TD Garden this season and 17-4-3 when they score first. Those statistical trends are great but what is most impressive to me is their mastery of the second legs of back-to-back sets (now 7-1-1) and Game 2s of three games in four days (now 7-1-2). Those are all marks of a mature team that doesn't let tough losses get to them or linger into long losing streaks.

After a scoreless first period that was only notable for the rare Zdeno Chara fight (he briefly took on Patrick Maroon), things picked up in the second period as both team scored a pair of goals. David Krejci (5-game point streak) was handing out apples aka assists all game long, beginning with a pretty feed to Torey Krug who was left wide open in the slot for an easy goal at 3:31. Rookie Peter Cehlarik (who had a pair of goals in his season debut vs. Philly) had the second assist on Krug's fifth goal of the season.

Boston is picking up a bad habit of allowing goals shortly after they score and that continued as former Sabre Ryan O'Reilly tied it 52 seconds later. There was a big pileup by Rask in Boston's crease which allowed O'Reilly to flip the puck into the net. His 17th goal of the season was assisted by Jordan Kyrou and David Perron (13-game point streak, currently the longest in the league). St. Louis used seven defensemen and 11 forwards for this tilt, something you rarely see in the NHL. It paid off as the extra defenseman-Carl Gunnarsson-made his presence felt with his first goal of the season. Jaden Schwartz hit the former Leaf for a one-timer that he hammered at 13:36, also assisted by supposed Bruins trade target Brayden Schenn. 2-1 was the only lead the Blues could muster though as Backes tipped Chara's missile from the point at 16:00. Krejci had the other helper on Backes' fifth goal of the season.

Every point is precious with the Bruins, Maple Leafs (29-15-2), Canadiens and Sabres (24-17-6) so tightly bunched in the Atlantic Division so it was nice to see the B's put away the sad-sack Blues (haha what a fitting team name for those bums). Walpole, MA native Chris Wagner scored the game-winning goal with what I'm confident was the prettiest goal of his life. BU's Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson chipped the puck ahead to Wagner who skated in on a breakaway and beat Jake Allen (22 saves, 15-15-4) with a forehand shot-his sixth goal of the season (7 is his career-high, from last season with Anaheim). Charlie McAvoy (game-high +3) wheeled around the St. Louis net and found Brad Marchand for a roof job at 13:12, the insurance tally that sealed the eventual two points. Patrice Bergeron had the second assist on Marchand's 18th goal of the season. Wagner almost bagged a second goal on an empty-netter but his shot hit the post and then he couldn't jam it in. Ah the life of a fourth liner. His buddy Sean Kuraly was able to put it in at 19:08 which made it 5-2 Bruins. Krejci and Wagner had the assists on Kuraly's sixth goal of the season.

The rebuilding Rangers (20-20-7) are here on Saturday night (7, NESN) before the snow is going to bury us all alive on Sunday. It's also Boston's final game before their bye week which is followed by the All-Star break (so far only David Pastrnak is slated to travel to San Jose for the festivities). Former BU head coach David Quinn is in his rookie season behind the bench in the NHL and predictably there have been some growing pains with such an incomplete roster. Before the players get out of town to some warm location, another win would serve them well and get their minds right before the last 33 games of the regular season which are sure to fly by.

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