Bruins Head Into Their Extended Break (8 days!) After A Satisfying 3-2 Victory vs. Golden Knights

Thanks to the NHL's scheduling Gods, the Bruins (29-10-12) get an extra long vacation. Not only are they off for the All-Star break (the festivities and game is this weekend in St. Louis if you care) but they had the good fortune to also have their mandatory five-day rest period tacked onto the end of that. Long story short, they won't be back on the ice as a team until next Thursday for practice before traveling to Winnipeg (25-21-4) for next Friday's (8, NESN) meeting with the Jets. That looming layoff heightened the importance of their matchup with the Golden Knights (25-20-7) this evening at TD Garden. Boston's 3-2 win meant that the players and coaches could go into their time off with a clear mind since after all, they have the second most points in the league trailing only Washington (33-11-5).

It wasn't easy for the B's (who were coming off a brutal 4-3 loss in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon where they blew a 3-0 lead) as Vegas scored on their first shot on goal and also were up 2-1 in the second period before the Black and Gold closed with a pair of tallies in the third period. No need for overtime or a shootout since they all have planes to catch to warmer locations, well at least the guys that aren't tied down with wives and young children in school. This is only the third year of existence for the Golden Knights and so far they have had spectacular success for an expansion team but not at the expense of the Bruins. Nope, Boston improved to 5-2 all-time against them including 3-0 at the Garden while also sweeping the brief two-game season series after they won 4-3 way back on October 8 in Sin City.

Vegas is a bit of a mess at the moment since they unexpectedly fired their head coach Gerard Gallant last Wednesday and appointed former Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer (canned earlier this season by San Jose) in his place. They are clinging to the second Wild Card in the Western Conference but then again, they have just as many points (57) as the Coyotes (26-20-5) who are the top Wild Card club. Oh and in the Pacific Division, they have the same amount of points as Edmonton (26-18-5) and Calgary (26-19-5) with only one less than first-place Vancouver (27-18-4). Insanity. Stone-the former Senators star that they traded for last season-beat Jaroslav Halak (27 saves, 12-6-6) with a weak backhander that seemed to handcuff him just 1:24 into the contest. Nate Schmidt provided the lone assist on Stone's 18th goal of the season which gave him 22 points (7 goals, 15 assists) in his last 20 games.

Called up earlier in the day and appearing in only his second NHL game of the season, Jeremy Lauzon naturally scored the tying goal at 11:40 as his shot from the point found its way past Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury (34 saves, 19-12-4). Hat tip to Danton Heinen for the fine screen as well with David Krejci (back after missing 2 games with an upper-body injury) and rookie Karson Kuhlman notching the assists on Lauzon's second career goal (oddly enough the other was also against Vegas, last season). It was tied at one after one period but it felt like Boston should have been ahead because they outshot Vegas 14-8.

The Bruins' third-ranked power play in the NHL could never get going (0-for-5) in this one and the Golden Knights took advantage of one of their only two power plays in the entire game when rookie defenseman Nicolas Hague blasted in a one-timer at 10:59 of the second period. It was his first career NHL goal, assisted by Schmidt and former Panther Jonathan Marchessault. It started to feel like it wasn't meant to be for Boston since David Pastrnak missed a wide open net with a backhander earlier in the frame (something which never happens, especially this season for the NHL's top goal-scorer) and then Charlie McAvoy took a header into the boards thanks to a push from Chandler Stephenson. That was the final power play of the game for the Bruins and when they trailed 2-1 after two periods, you could feel the nerves and frustration building throughout the crowd.

Instead, the home team responded with two unanswered goals in the third period that involved both skill and determination. The tying goal was an absolute snipe by Jake DeBrusk over Fleury's glove hand at 4:26. His 15th goal of the season (4 goals, 5 assists in his last 8 games) was assisted by Charlie Coyle and Halak. It also served as some personal redemption for DeBrusk after Fleury stopped his breakaway attempt late in the first period. Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk left with an arm/wrist injury after getting tangled up with Cody Eakin and he never returned to action. His status will be something to keep an eye on during the break. Krejci bagged the game-winning goal by first deflecting a shot from Brandon Carlo and then following up for the rebound while Flower was out of position. Krejci's 12th goal of the season was also assisted by Heinen. The Golden Knights called a timeout late and pulled Fleury for an extra skater but the Bruins held on for a valuable two points.

Pastrnak and head coach Bruce Cassidy-by virtue of Boston leading the Atlantic Division-will head to St. Louis while other deserving Bruins like Patrice Bergeron (lost in the fan vote) and Brad Marchand (hated by seemingly everyone around the league) more importantly get to rest up for what should be an intense last few months of the regular season. Of Boston's remaining 31 games, only 13 of them will be at the Garden as they have plenty of road trips left to go on. The pieces are still there for another run to the Stanley Cup run, I truly believe that the Capitals are the only team in the Eastern Conference that they could not beat in a series and if they should somehow find themselves back in the Final, we'll reassess the situation at that juncture. The NHL trade deadline is a little over a month away (Feb. 24) and as always, Bruins GM Don Sweeney should be a busy man working the phone lines. BC alum and Topsfield native Chris Kreider-Rangers right winger and All-Star replacement for teammate Artemi Panarin-is rumored to be on the top of Sweeney's wish list but we shall see since that price figures to be going up. Boston is at Minnesota (22-21-6) on February 1 (8, NESN) against the Wild and their next home game is exactly two weeks away on February 4 vs. Vancouver.

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Bruins Close Out a Successful Homestand (3-1-0) With Another Solid Win, 4-1 vs. Golden Knights

Naturally, after Thursday night's ugly 8-5 loss to Vancouver (10-6-2), many feared that debacle (how head coach Bruce Cassidy would later describe it) for the Bruins (10-5-2) would send the Black and Gold over a nearby cliff. Goaltender Tuukka Rask taking an unexpected leave of absence from the team on Friday sent another shockwave through the naturally Debbie Downer fanbase. Of course, there was nothing to be worried about at all as Boston rattled off an easy 5-1 win on Saturday vs. Toronto (11-6-0)-the team right ahead of them for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division-thanks to David Pastrnak's hat trick and then they showed that wasn't a fluke by capping off the weekend back-to-back with a 4-1 victory vs. Vegas (7-10-1) this evening at TD Garden.

It turns out that at least for now, all the B's need is a healthy Jaroslav Halak (6-1-2) as everyday Jaro made 37 saves vs. the Golden Knights for yet another impressive performance by the veteran netminder. Do you realize how good he has been in his first season as a Bruin? He's tied for second in the NHL in goals against average (1.77) and save percentage (.945) plus he's tied for the lead in shutouts (2). As we all know, besides Halak the other major reason that the Bruins are even over .500 is their peerless top forward line (Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak). Thankfully, the rest of their underachieving forwards have started to come around over the last few games.

Facing former Bruins draft pick and bust Malcolm "yes I'm P.K's much less talented brother" Subban (33 saves), the B's scored a pair of goals in the first period and another early in the second period to take a commanding 3-0 lead. They improved to a perfect 8-0-0 this season when they are up by 2+ goals. The most promising part about that burst was that two guys outside of the top line tallied the first two goals: after driving to the net, Danton Heinen tipped in a gorgeous backhand pass from Anders Bjork at 2:54 then rookie defenseman Jeremy Lauzon took advantage of a brutal misplay on the puck by Subban for his first NHL goal at 17:51. Heinen's goal was his second of the season while Sean Kuraly and John Moore (team-high 22:35 of ice time) had the assists on Lauzon's goal.

Not to be left out, Boston's top line still managed to chip in with the final two goals of the contest. Right as a power play expired, Marchand knocked in a slow-motion pass from Bergeron and Pastrnak for his sixth goal of the season 58 seconds into the second period. Cody Eakin had the lone goal for Vegas as he finished a one-timer from BC's Alex Tuch at 10:55 of the second that cut it to 3-1 Bruins. Boston's No. 3 ranked power play didn't have a banner night (1-for-7 even though they had a trio of 2-man advantages) but they made their last 5-on-3 count as Pastrnak beat Subban for his NHL-best 16th goal of the season from Torey Krug and David Krejci at 16:08 of the third period. Bergeron leads the NHL in points (9 goals, 16 assists) so I have to wonder when the last time was that the B's had the the top goal-scorer and points leader at the same time? I'm guessing that it's been a minute.

It's hard to believe but Boston won't play another game here until after Thanksgiving (they host the Penguins on Black Friday). They get another lengthy four-game road trip that will last over a week since they leave on Tuesday after practice and won't return until late the following Wednesday. The itinerary is about as random as they can get too since they start in Colorado (8-6-3) on Wednesday (10, NESN), go to Dallas (9-6-2) on Friday (8, NESN) then Arizona (8-7-1) the next night (8, NESN) and conclude with their somewhat customary Thanksgiving Eve (7:30, NESN) meeting in Detroit (7-8-2). They will have plenty of time to continue to bond on the road since after that Penguins tilt, they travel to Montreal (9-5-3) and Toronto before closing the month on November 29 (7, NESN) against Halak's most recent former employer-the Islanders (8-6-2). A great home team (7-2-0), they are squarely .500 on the road thus far (3-3-2) so that will have to pick up if they want to go anywhere.

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The Undermanned Bruins Find a Way to Hold Off the Golden Knights, 2-1 at TD Garden

David Backes is out for eight weeks after colon surgery and David Krejci missed his fifth straight game with a back injury so it's understandable that Boston (5-3-3) wasn't expecting a work of art as they hosted Vegas (8-4-0) tonight at TD Garden. It wasn't an instant classic unless you love boring defensive hockey but the B's will happily take the two points as they beat the Golden Knights 2-1 thanks to goals by Riley Nash and Sean Kuraly. Since Vegas had nearly blanked Boston back on Oct. 15 (3-1 at T-Mobile Arena) in their first ever meeting, the Bruins needed to do whatever it took to avoid the series sweep (which would have been Vegas' first).

The Golden Knights weren't feeling sorry for the Bruins' recent rash of injuries since they are currently starting their fourth goaltender of the young season-your boy Maxime Lagace (26 saves)-backed up by Dylan Ferguson who was just called up from juniors. Having to play four goalies in less than a month of existence is borderline insane. The B's are the same club that was nearly shut out by their former first round bust Malcolm Subban so I guess we should have expected a similar pop gun performance by their middling offense that is trying to find their way with one legitimate forward line at the moment.

After a scoreless first period, Boston got on the board first as Nash's first shot hit the post but then he stuck with it long enough to knock the loose puck in for his first goal of the season at 3:24 of the second. Austin Czarnik (recalled earlier today from Providence) notched his first assist of the season and Torey Krug had the other helper (only his 2nd of the season). The Golden Knights answered a little over six minutes later as Cody Eakin one timed a pass from Nate Schmidt for his second goal of the season. Bruins rookie Jake DeBrusk coughed up the puck in his own end, putting his teammate Tuukka Rask (28 saves) in a vulnerable position.

Boston's penalty kill went 3-for-3 this evening and Kuraly scored the game-winning goal at 9:53 of the third period after some fine work by Krug and DeBrusk. Krug had the initial shot that was blocked in front but DeBrusk fought down low to force a save by Lagace and Kuraly crashed the net (and ran into the post) leading to the memorable tally (his 1st NHL regular season goal; he had two including the 2OT GWG vs. Ottawa in Game 5 last spring).

On Saturday night (7, NESN), Boston hosts Washington (6-6-1) who is off to a puzzling start themselves to say the least. Backes had surgery today and I doubt that Krejci will be back by then so the B's will have to continue to find a way to grab points while they have this mish-mash of a lineup. The good news is that even when the Black and Gold aren't playing particularly well in 2017-18, multiple times they have still recorded points when it was less than their best effort-Monday's 4-3 shootout loss at Columbus (9-4-0) being a perfect example after they trailed 3-0 but rallied for the still disappointing point.

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