B's Had Two Possible Goals Ruled No Goal In The Final Minutes As NJ Once Again Blanked Them 1-0

 

    Well I've certainly had my fill of 1-0 losses by the Bruins (17-9-5) to the Devils (13-16-4) at the TD Garden this season, how about yourself? After losing by that same exact score three weeks ago, Boston suffered a similar fate tonight as they put 40 shots on New Jersey goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (1st shutout of the season, 9-9-1) but none of them could get by him. If that wasn't bad enough, the B's also saw not one but two possible tying goals waved off for various reasons in the final minutes of the game. Therefore, you can understand why I think that this was the most frustrating loss of the season for the Bruins. This isn't the Islanders (22-9-4)-a quality opponent that has a complete hex on them, NJ stinks when they play almost anyone else but you. In fact, they improved to 4-0-1 vs. Boston this season, which is unfathomable, with the only loss coming in a shootout in the season opener two and a half months ago.  

    I could complain about the Black and Gold missing a bunch of important players due to Covid-19 or injuries but that's a pointless exercise given how hard both of those things have hit basically every NHL club at some point already in 2021. Furthermore, with all the testing and protocols in place, I think there's nobody but the guys themselves (Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, Sean Kuraly) to blame for a positive test. Whatever caused those, it's likely their own fault for choosing to be in sketchy situations. I understand pandemic fatigue-we are all feeling that these days-but you have to do better than being unavailable when your team is floundering and needs you the most. 

    Rant over, the game's lone goal transpired in the first period as New Jersey defenseman Ty Smith threw the puck on net and it deflected off right wing Kyle Palmieri's leg/knee for his seventh goal of the season. Left wing Jesper Bratt provided the secondary assist on the game-winning tally at 16:37. Boston is really struggling to score right now so you can understand why their defense and goalies have kept them in many games that they probably should have lost by multiple goals. Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak (28 saves, 7-5-3) was almost perfect as well but that wasn't good enough in this tight tilt. 

    In the closing moments of the third period with Boston scrambling to get the tying goal, it looked like they had somehow gotten it when captain Patrice Bergeron put in a shot that was immediately reviewed for goaltender interference since center David Krejci appeared to bump Blackwood while they were both digging for a loose puck. Ultimately, it was called no goal after a long review of it. Blackwood's best save of the game was his last one as he absolutely robbed the Bruins by kicking out a deflected puck that was almost over the goal line. From our limited views of it on NESN, there really were no definitive look where you could tell if the puck was ever so slightly over the goal line before he knocked it away with the toe of his skate. 

Boston returns to practice on Monday before another meeting with the Devils on Tuesday (7, NESN) right back at the Garden. They have to find a way to get two points or we might all lose our minds assuming that you haven't already done that. New Jersey is 10-15-3 against the rest of the NHL this season which tells me that they are a terrible team vs. everyone else. This shouldn't be all that complicated (even without some of their best players who remain sidelined), just get it done B's and put these two awful shutout losses behind you for good.

The Bruins Waste A Great Opportunity to Get Four Easy Points As They Lose 2-1 In OT At New Jersey

 

    In a shortened season like this one that just began in the NHL, you have to clean up against the inferior opponents that you see on your schedule (like the Celtics have been doing). Unfortunately, the Bruins (1-0-1) didn't seem to get that memo yet as they fell 2-1 in overtime this afternoon against the Devils (1-0-1) at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. It marked the first win for Lindy Ruff (who has been in the NHL for around 80 years) as New Jersey's head coach. Unlike Thursday's season-opener when Boston blew two different leads but saved themselves with a rare shootout victory, this was a game where they simply got outplayed by what is guaranteed to be a bottom-feeder in the Eastern Conference in 2021. Rookie center Yegor Sharangovich scored the game-winning goal with 1.7 seconds left in overtime, his first NHL coming as a result of a fatal defensive breakdown by the B's that this time wasn't stopped by goaltender Jaroslav Halak (29 saves).

    Without David Pastrnak, the Bruins' offense has predictably sputtered. In fact, they still haven't scored an even-strength goal so far this season since today's lone tally came via a shorthanded goal (the 18th of his brilliant career) by captain Patrice Bergeron. It didn't help when winger Ondrej Kase left in the first period with an upper-body injury (concussion?) and never returned, causing head coach Bruce Cassidy to shuffle his already struggling forward lines. Devils goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (27 saves) is decent enough but it's not like Boston really tested him too much in either of these meetings. Don't worry, the NHL's version of Ambien (Bruins vs. Devils) will happen six more times this season! Haha if you're looking to fall asleep fast, just turn on these boring as watching paint dry games.

    New Jersey had their first lead of the season as BC's Miles Wood (who fought Kevan Miller to start the game after he ran into Tuukka Rask twice on Thursday) scored for the second straight game. He tipped in rookie defenseman Ty Smith's shot from the point with the second assist going to promising young center/child star lookalike Jack Hughes. Trailing 1-0 deep into the second period, the B's turned to a familiar duo for another memorable shorthanded goal: left wing Brad Marchand fended off Palmieri in Boston's zone then skated in with Bergy before passing it to his best friend who wasted no time letting a low and hard shot past Blackwood. You knew this one couldn't be decided in regulation once again and another shootout looked likely until Sharangovich found the puck on his stick with a step on B's defenseman Matt Grzelcyk. His snap shot went under Halak's pads and quite honestly, he didn't have much of a chance to stop it. In the third period, Halak had stopped Palmieri on a breakaway so what more do you want from him? 

    Winger Anders Bjork got his one-game audition on Boston's top line and it didn't go well, shocker. He had no shots on goal, no hits, no blocked shots and no takeaways in 10:58 of ice time. That is hard to do especially since most of that was with Bergeron and Marchand on the ice with him. I doubt that Kase will be available on Monday (5, NESN) when the Bruins travel to face the Islanders (1-1) at Nassau Coliseum with a special Martin Luther King Day start time. Rookie winger Jack Studnicka should be back in the lineup after he was a healthy scratch this afternoon following his chance on the top line on Thursday. Rask will get the start but goaltending is the least of Boston's worries at the moment. New York is a very stingy defensive team (much like them), so it'll be tough to get their offense untracked without the help of their strong special teams.

The NHL Returns As The B's Win Their Season-Opener 3-2 Vs. The Lowly Devils In A Shootout

 

    It's 2021 and the United States is still in shambles due to Covid-19 and our disgrace of a President who will mercifully be out of the White House next week. On a lighter note, at least we have some NHL hockey back in our lives as we try to get through the pandemic both healthy and sane which coupled together is a tall order. Tonight, the Bruins opened their season at the empty Prudential Center in Newark, NJ against the Devils-who are temporarily in the same division (East) as them-for this abbreviated 56-game schedule. The Bruins led 1-0 going into the third period and 2-1 later in the frame but the Devils tied it up both times forcing a dreaded shootout. In three rounds, left wing Brad Marchand (goal, assist) had the lone tally as the final shooter of the night allowing Boston to survive for a 3-2 victory. It wasn't pretty and it should have been over in regulation (since the Bruins outshot the Devils 37-22) but two points is all that you can ask for.

    There were plenty of changes for the B's since the last time that we saw them when they lost in Game 5 of the second round playoff series vs. Tampa Bay (the eventual Stanley Cup champion) in August: most notably, captain Zdeno Chara is now on the Capitals, defenseman Torey Krug is a highly paid Blue, superstar right wing David Pastrnak is out for a bit longer as he recovers from off-season hip surgery and defenseman Kevan Miller returned to action after missing two years following a pair of broken knee caps. Despite all that, Boston can still count on its core players: goaltender Tuukka Rask (seen for the 1st time since leaving the Toronto bubble early) made 20 saves including a pair of huge stops in overtime, Patrice Bergeron had an assist and he won 73% of his face-offs and David Krejci also added an assist as Boston scored both of its goals on the power play. Defenseman Matt Grzelcyk has always been viewed as Krug Lite and this evening he performed admirably in that tough role to fill. He played 24:07 (2nd most on the team) including a game-high 5:51 on the power play with a game-high six shots on goal. Who knows if he can maintain that type of workload for a full season but this was a promising beginning for him. 

    With the Bruins only playing the other seven teams (Devils, Islanders, Flyers, Caps, Sabres, Penguins and Rangers) in their new division eight times apiece in the regular season, they would be wise to beat up on the bad clubs which undoubtedly will be headlined by New Jersey who has seemingly been rebuilding for years upon years. With that said, Boston couldn't have asked for a cushier start to this campaign (other than playing at the empty TD Garden) since they also meet the Devils on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) in Jersey for a quick rematch. Jaroslav Halak no doubt will get the start in that one which isn't much of a drop off from Rask while the Devils will probably sit goaltender MacKenzie Blackwood (35 saves) in favor of his backup Eric Comrie? 

    The Bruins took a 1-0 lead late in the first period as Marchand went to the net and re-directed a cross-ice from Krejci for the team's first goal of the season. Bergy had the second assist on the goal at 17:40. Assuming that ESPN Classic still exists, this forgettable contest won't be featured on it anytime soon as nothing really notable happened in the second period. Thankfully, things got a little more interesting in the third period as former BC star Miles Wood skated in on a breakaway (during a delayed penalty) and roofed a wrist shot past Rask. The No. 1 overall draft pick from 2019-forward Jack Hughes-had the lone assist on that tying goal at 8:51. Less than four and a half minutes later, the B's answered with what should have been the game-winning goal. It was basically a carbon copy of Marchand's goal expect rather than one of the best players in the league, it came from a complete hack-winger Nick Ritchie. Stationed at the familiar left post, that slob was at least aware enough to place his stick on the ice and put in Marchand's sweet feed to him. Grzelcyk provided the second assist on the go-ahead goal at 13:12. Sadly, it only took 34 seconds for New Jersey to tie it yet again with one of the weirdest goals that I've ever seen. Rookie defenseman Ty Smith's shot took at least three or maybe four deflections before it reached Boston's net. Defenseman Matt Tennyson and Hughes provided the helpers on a goal that Smith won't soon forget, for many reasons. 

    After getting outplayed for much of the game, the Devils finally woke up in overtime and truthfully should have won it at least twice as their best forward-Kyle Palmieri-skated most of the length of the ice on a breakaway before Rask stoned him then later Hughes was stopped in close and center Travis Zajac couldn't find the rebound that was at his feet. Rask made a few good saves in regulation but he really earned his paycheck in overtime and the shootout where he stopped the immortal trio of Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist and Hughes. Shootouts have always been a frustrating weakness for the B's so after Charlie Coyle and Ondrej Kase were stopped, we were all spared from a tediously long shootout by Marchand. Bless you Brad. Nothing less than two more points on Saturday is acceptable, especially if the Bruins face a nameless backup goaltender. Devils defenseman P.K. Subban (game-high 30:18 time on ice!) deserved better in Lindy Ruff's first game behind the bench as New Jersey's head coach.