Category: Nick’s Net

Goalie talk and more from a former DekHockey goalie.

Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast Through 20 Games

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date April 6, 2021
No Comments on Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast Through 20 Games

O.K., so I’m still behind on some things around here.

Whether you’re new to DTFR or a long-time fan(?), you’re able to see the finished products around here and think “wow, that’s neat” and go about your day doing whatever the next thing on your mind happens to be.

You don’t have to wake up everyday to all the shot charts, player and team forecasts, expected points total models, Photoshop files, running list of game notes, podcast notes (yes, that’ll be back soon) and more that’s related to the day-to-day DTFR operations around here or other seemingly useless bits of information that may or may not see the light of day.

But that’s all the fun parts anyway. Hockey is my passion.

The long, grueling, season is counteracted by moments like Nathan MacKinnon underhand tossing Conor Garland’s helmet back to him and being fined $5,000 in the process.

Nathan MacKinnon got a 10-min misconduct for tossing Conor Garland’s helmet at him. 🤭 pic.twitter.com/HdQHogvSut
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) April 1, 2021

Guess I’m going to have to start tracking how often that happens now.

In addition to everything mentioned above, you might not know that I’m constantly applying to jobs, so sometimes little things like this forecast write up gets put on the back burner until there’s a minute or two between games, guest appearances on other podcasts and more job applications.

Not trying to use anything as an excuse here, but please forgive me for being *checks notes* 15 games behind on the latest forecast, which will be irrelevant in another five games anyway, because it’ll be time to update Boston’s forecast through 40 games this season.

I do this all by hand in Microsoft Excel, so you know I’m not a real mathematician or statistician.

If you ask me to code something, I’ll ask you “what ‘R‘ you talking about? Get it? Did you see the pun I made there? Words, am I right?”

15 games ago, I updated each individual Bruins player’s forecast after writing my recap about Zdeno Chara’s first game back in Boston as a member of the Washington Capitals then eventually got around to updating the corresponding chart that you’ll see below.

Then I had to do that for whatever other teams I’ve been able to keep track of on time and I promise I’ll be writing about those forecasts… …eventually.

Oh and apply to more jobs.

Anyway, you probably don’t care about the life behind the screen, so let’s get to Boston’s forecast through 20 games, shall we?

As always, remember that my degree is in communication and my minor was in sport management. I got a “C” in my Intro to Stats class back in my first semester of college, which was eight years ago this fall.

Between then and now, I’ve worked in live sports production (TV and radio) and been unemployed, which explains why I’m constantly applying to jobs.

First year players are impossible to predict until they’ve built up some time in the National Hockey League. Generally at least a game will suffice, but their numbers might look a little “inflated” (for the lack of a better term) until the season rolls on and their expectations fall back to Earth.

In other words, Zach Senyshyn is now forecasted for 18 assists in this latest forecast, but that shouldn’t surprise you since he only had two assists in six career NHL games over the last two seasons.

That will change in the 40-game update, since he’s played in at least seven more games between the time this report was originally intended to be done and the next one.

Remember that forecast is different from pace.

Finally, remember that there’s a lot of variables, like injuries, being a healthy scratch or on the taxi squad, other American Hockey League related or waiver related transactions, trades, sickness, COVID protocol, general superstitions, hot and cold streaks, etc. that can (whether scientifically proven or not) disrupt a player’s season.

None of these can be accounted for in Microsoft Excel’s forecast function.

In a perfect world, everyone plays a full season. Every player has a chance to live up to expectations, hit and/or exceed their mark or miss it by a little/a lot.

Hockey is a game made up of collective actions and sheer puck luck. It’s unpredictable, which technically defeats the purpose of this (so if you’ve made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back).

Boston Bruins Forecast Through 20 Games (36 Games Remaining)

David Pastrnak came back from offseason surgery and looked like he hadn’t missed a step, since his scoring prowess left an immediate impact on the team and kept him forecasted as the team’s leader in goals by season’s end with 26, though Boston’s forecasted points leader has now shifted from Pastrnak to Brad Marchand.

Marchand’s forecasted 23-31–54 totals lead Pastrnak’s 26-26–52 totals, while B’s captain, Patrice Bergeron is on track to round out the top-3 in scoring with 20-30–50 forecasted totals– good enough for the second-most assists on the roster, one behind Marchand’s 31 and three ahead of David Krejci’s forecasted 27 assists.

It’ll be fun to see just how much things have changed in the next forecast, since Krejci’s gone off in the assist department lately and Marchand missed a couple of games due to COVID protocol, but let’s save that speculation (or hindsight) for the 40-game report, O.K.?

On defense, Charlie McAvoy continues to lead the way with 7-29–36 forecasted totals, while Matt Grzelcyk (13 points) and Jakub Zboril (12 points) are the only other defenders expected to reach double-digit points totals.

That’s quite an area of concern for the Bruins.

Not so much in the “oh no, who might get taken by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft” sense, but rather, the general “oh no, this team is not as good as they were last year, but we expected that, so they still need to acquire a defender and more at the trade deadline this year” sense (especially if one of the younger blue liners like Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon or Urho Vaakanainen aren’t developing as fast or as well as Boston desires).

Nevertheless, what might be more pressing than ever before is the question of what comes next after Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak?

Rask (2.27-2.37 forecasted goals-against average, .914-.921 forecasted save percentage) is expected to have decent numbers this season if he can make a return to full health, while Halak (2.45-2.48 forecasted GAA, .910-.916 forecasted SV%) looks solid for a backup.

Yet, at the time of this writing, both goaltenders are out of Boston’s lineup– Rask due to injury and Halak due to COVID protocol.

Stay tuned for first impressions on Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman in the next forecast and what that might mean for the offseason’s plans with both Rask and Halak as pending-unrestricted free agents.

For a look at how things might have gone for the Bruins entering the 2020-21 season, feel free to read the original forecast through zero games played.

Tags Anders Bjork, Anton Blidh, Arizona Coyotes, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Callum Booth, Cameron Hughes, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Colorado Avalanche, Connor Clifton, Conor Garland, Craig Smith, Dan Vladar, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Greg McKegg, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jeremy Lauzon, Jeremy Swayman, John Moore, Joona Koppanen, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Matt Grzelcyk, Nathan MacKinnon, National Hockey League, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Ritchie, Nick's Net, Ondrej Kase, Par Lindholm, Patrice Bergeron, Paul Carey, Sean Kuraly, Seattle Kraken, Steven Kampfer, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Urho Vaakanainen, Washington Capitals, Zach Senyshyn, Zdeno Chara

NHL Nick's Net

Sanheim, Flyers, down Bruins, 3-2, in OT

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date April 6, 2021
No Comments on Sanheim, Flyers, down Bruins, 3-2, in OT

Travis Sanheim scored the game winning goal in overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins for the first time this season, 3-2, on Monday night at TD Garden.

Brian Elliott (10-5-1, 2.92 goals-against average, .890 save percentage in 20 games played) made 27 saves on 29 shots faced in the win for Philadelphia.

Boston goaltender, Dan Vladar (3-1-0, 2.25 goals-against average, .922 save percentage in four games played) made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the overtime loss.

The B’s fell to 19-10-6 (44 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Philly improved to 18-14-5 (41 points)– stuck in 5th in the same division.

The Bruins are now 5-0-1 against the Flyers this season.

The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Monday.

Halak was placed in the league’s COVID protocol due to a positive test as revealed by Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, in a media Zoom prior to Monday night’s game against the Flyers.

Meanwhile, Jake DeBrusk returned to the lineup for the first time since he was placed in COVID protocol on March 19th after Boston’s, 4-1, win in Buffalo on March 18th.

He told reporters via Zoom ahead of Monday night’s action that he had some symptoms, but “nothing too major” in addition to losing his taste and smell.

Cassidy made a few adjustments to his bottom-six forwards and defense, slotting DeBrusk in on the third line left wing with Charlie Coyle at center and Zach Senyshyn at right wing, while Sean Kuraly centered the fourth line, flanked by Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman.

Matt Grzelcyk remained paired with Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Jakub Zboril suited up with Steven Kampfer and Jeremy Lauzon was partnered with Connor Clifton on the blue line.

Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Anton Blidh, Jarred Tinordi and Miller made up Boston’s list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and players that were already out due to injury against Philadelphia on Monday.

Earlier that day, Jeremy Swayman was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL), while Jack Studnicka and Callum Booth were reassigned to Providence.

Swayman suited up as Vladar’s backup goaltender Monday night while Rask and Halak were both unavailable.

Midway through the opening frame, Travis Konecny (8) was in the right place at the right time while crashing the net to pound on a loose puck that had been deflected, taken a few wacky bounces and rebounded to Konecny for the game’s first goal.

Claude Giroux (19) and Ivan Provorov (13) tallied the assists on Konecny’s goal and the Flyers led, 1-0, at 10:15 of the first period.

Late in the first period, Zboril and Coyle forced a turnover in the attacking zone, whereby No. 13 in black and gold sent a quick pass across the high slot to Kuhlman (2) for the wrist shot over Elliott’s glove– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

Coyle (6) had the only assist on Kuhlman’s goal at 17:33.

About a couple of minutes later, Shayne Gostisbehere tripped up McAvoy and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 19:18.

Boston’s power play would spill over into the middle frame as the Bruins weren’t able to convert on the skater advantage as the horn sounded for the first intermission.

Though the score was tied, 1-1, the Flyers led in shots on goal, 10-7, after one period of play.

Philadelphia also led in blocked shots (4-2), while Boston led in giveaways (4-2), hits (13-7) and faceoff win percentage (53-47). Both teams had one takeaway each after 20 minutes.

The B’s were 0/1 on the power play, while the Flyers had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the second period.

Patrice Bergeron (12) redirected a shot pass past Elliott from the slot to give Boston their first lead of the night, 2-1, with a power-play goal 46 seconds into the second period.

David Pastrnak (15) and Grzelcyk (10) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s goal, which helped the Bruins captain surpass Rick Middleton for the fourth most points in franchise history.

Bergeron has 364-535–899 totals in 1,124 career games (all with Boston), while Middleton had 402-496–898 totals with Boston from 1976-88. No. 37 in black in gold is now one point away from his 900th career point and would be the fourth Bruin in franchise history to reach at least 900 points with the club.

Phil Esposito (1,012 points) sits third in Boston’s all time scoring list with the club ahead of Bergeron, while Ray Bourque (1,506) and Johnny Bucyk (1,339) rank first and second overall, respectively.

Less than two minutes later, Lauzon was penalized for holding and cut a rut to the sin bin at 2:44, but Philly’s resulting power play was powerless despite Nolan Patrick’s efforts at drawing a penalty.

The Flyers got another chance on the skater advantage when Pastrnak hooked Nicolas Aube-Kubel at 5:46 of the second period.

Once again, however, Philadelphia failed to capitalize on the power play.

Midway through the middle frame, Justin Braun hooked Coyle and presented the B’s with another power play at 13:20, but Boston was not successful on their second skater advantage of the night.

Through 40 minutes of action on Monday, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing, 23-18, in shots on goal, including, 13-11, in the second period alone.

Philadelphia held the advantage in blocked shots (7-6), while Boston led in takeaways (4-1), giveaways (7-3), hits (18-17) and faceoff win% (57-43).

The Flyers were 0/2 on the power play, while the B’s were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

Lauzon was sent to the penalty box with a holding minor at 5:21 of the third period and the Flyers went to work on the power play.

About a minute later, Sean Couturier (11) tied the game on a shot from the faceoff dot that snuck through net front traffic and found its way over Vladar’s glove into the twine.

Provorov (14) and Kevin Hayes (14) tallied the assists on Couturier’s power-play goal as Philadelphia evened things up, 2-2, at 6:56.

At the horn, the Bruins and Flyers were tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard and, 28-28, in shots on goal, despite Boston outshooting Philadelphia, 10-5, in the third period alone.

Heading into overtime, the Bruins led in blocked shots (11-9), giveaways (8-7), hits (30-25) and faceoff win% (55-45), while both teams had five takeaways aside.

As there were no penalties called in the extra frame, Philly finished 1/3 on the skater advantage, while Boston went 1/2 on the power play on Monday.

Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, started Couturier, Konecny and Provorov in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Bergeron, Brad Marchand and McAvoy.

After a few quick line changes and end-to-end action, Sanheim blocked a shot from the point and scooped up the loose puck– generating speed and breaking past Bergeron while the B’s captain cut a rut in the ice and fell.

Sanheim (2) walked in all alone and scored on an unassisted effort, giving Philadelphia the, 3-2, victory at 3:08 of the overtime period.

At the final horn, the Flyers had won and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 32-29, including a, 4-1, advantage in overtime alone, despite trailing Boston in blocked shots (12-10), giveaways (8-7), hits (30-26) and faceoff win% (56-44).

The Bruins fell to 3-4 in overtime this season (6-6 past regulation), while the Flyers improved to 5-2 in overtime and 6-7 overall after 60 minutes.

Boston also dropped to 7-7-3 (4-5-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21, while Philadelphia improved to 12-4-3 (6-2-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

The B’s are now 5-4-2 (2-3-2 at home) when tied after the first period and 11-0-2 (7-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

Philly, in the meantime, is now 5-3-2 (4-2-1 on the road) when tied after one period and 4-12-1 (3-6-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

The Bruins wrapped up their seven-game homestand (3-2-2) and will begin a three-game road trip in Philadelphia on Tuesday before swinging through Washington, D.C. on Thursday and Philadelphia again on Saturday. Boston returns home next Sunday to host the Capitals to kick off a five-game homestand on April 11th.

Tags Alain Vigneault, Anders Bjork, Anton Blidh, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brian Elliott, Bruce Cassidy, Buffalo Sabres, Callum Booth, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Claude Giroux, Connor Clifton, Dan Vladar, David Pastrnak, East Division, Ivan Provorov, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jeremy Lauzon, Jeremy Swayman, John Bucyk, John Moore, Johnny Bucyk, Justin Braun, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Kevin Hayes, MassMutual NHL East Division, Matt Grzelcyk, National Hockey League, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Nolan Patrick, Ondrej Kase, Patrice Bergeron, Phil Esposito, Philadelphia Flyers, Ray Bourque, Rick Middleton, Sean Couturier, Sean Kuraly, Shayne Gostisbehere, Steven Kampfer, TD Garden, Travis Konecny, Travis sanheim, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Washington Capitals, Zach Senyshyn

NHL Nick's Net

Marchand’s hat trick lifts Bruins over Penguins, 7-5

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date April 3, 2021
No Comments on Marchand’s hat trick lifts Bruins over Penguins, 7-5

Brad Marchand had a hat trick to go along with his four-point afternoon in the Boston Bruins’, 7-5, victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at TD Garden on Saturday.

David Pastrnak had a pair of goals and David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron set career milestones in the process, while Jaroslav Halak (9-5-3, 2.44 goals-against average, .910 save percentage in 17 games played) made 23 saves on 28 shots against in the win for Boston.

Pittsburgh netminder, Casey DeSmith (9-4-0, 2.13 goals-against average, .922 save percentage in 15 games played), stopped 21 out of 27 shots faced in the loss.

The Bruins improved to 19-10-5 (43 points) on the season and remain in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Penguins dropped to 24-12-2 (50 points) overall and remained in command of 3rd place in the same division.

The B’s improved to 4-2-0 against the Pens this season with the win.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (lower body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) on Saturday afternoon.

As a result, head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup from Thursday night’s, 4-1, loss against Pittsburgh.

Cassidy swapped his first and second line right wings, placing Craig Smith alongside Marchand and Bergeron, while uniting Pastrnak with Nick Ritchie and Krejci.

Sean Kuraly was back in the lineup for the first time since being placed in COVID protocol on March 18th. He was taken off the league’s COVID protocol list prior to Thursday night’s loss, but did not suit up against the Penguins until Saturday.

Kuraly centered the third line with Anders Bjork at left wing and Charlie Coyle at right wing.

Jack Studnicka, meanwhile, centered the fourth line with Trent Frederic to his left and Zach Senyshyn to his right.

On defense, Cassidy paired former Boston University teammates, Matt Grzelcyk and Charlie McAvoy on the first defensive pairing.

Jakub Zboril suited up alongside Steven Kampfer and Jarred Tinordi was back in the lineup with Connor Clifton after Tinordi was as a healthy scratch since March 25th.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players on Saturday afternoon included Chris Wagner, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Lauzon, DeBrusk, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Miller and Callum Booth.

Mike Matheson sent a shot towards the goal off of an attacking zone faceoff that tipped off of Coyle’s stick, then Mark Jankowski’s, over Halak’s shoulder, off the crossbar and under into the back of the twine.

As Jankowski (3) was the last to touch the rubber biscuit, the goal was his and the Penguins led, 1-0, at 3:24 of the first period.

Matheson (6) had the only assist on the goal.

Shortly after the midpoint in the opening frame until late in the first period, the two clubs engaged in a span of 8:05 of consecutive action.

Heading into the first intermission, Pittsburgh led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 9-6, in shots on goal.

The Pens held the advantage in giveaways (5-1), hits (13-12) and faceoff win percentage (53-47), while both teams had four takeaways each.

Neither team had seen any time on the power play entering the middle frame.

Just 11 seconds into the second period, Bergeron (11) capitalized on a rebound from his usual spot in the bumper to tie the game, 1-1, on an unassisted effort.

Bergeron tied Rick Middleton for the fourth most points (898) in a Bruins uniform in franchise history as a result of his goal. In 1,123 career games, Bergeron has 363-535–898 totals– all with Boston– while Middleton recorded 402-496–898 totals in 881 games as a Bruin from 1976-88.

34 seconds later, Pastrnak (15) buried a shot from the slot after the puck bounced off of Ritchie due to an initial shot by Krejci from the point to give the B’s their first lead of the afternoon, 2-1.

Ritchie (9) and Krejci (21) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s goal 45 seconds into the second period.

As a result of his secondary assist on the goal, Krejci reached 500 career NHL assists in his 941st game (all with Boston). Pastrnak made sure the puck was delivered to the Bruins’ bench for future display purposes in the Krejci household.

The Bruins did not hold the lead for long, however, as Jake Guentzel (16) scored on a close-range one-timer as he was fed by a backhand pass from Sidney Crosby while the Penguins captain was skating behind the net in “Gretzky’s office”.

Crosby (27) and Brian Dumoulin (5) tabbed assists on Guentzel’s goal as the score was evened, 2-2, at 2:45 of the second period.

On an ensuing play in Boston’s defensive zone, McAvoy closed his hand on the puck in the crease and received an automatic delay of game minor infraction for (you guessed it) closing his hand on the puck at 4:45.

Pittsburgh’s first power play of the afternoon went right to work as Crosby setup Guentzel into the slot who then passed the puck to Jared McCann (9) for the one-timer past Halak’s blocker side as the Bruins goaltender dove from left to right in the crease.

Guentzel (21) and Crosby (28) had the assists on McCann’s power-play goal at 5:11 and the Pens grabbed a, 3-2, lead in the action.

Midway through the period, Pittsburgh and Boston swapped penalties when Sam Lafferty caught Clifton with an elbow at 9:59 and Grzelcyk tripped Cody Ceci at 10:20, resulting in 1:40 of 4-on-4 action before the Penguins had an abbreviated 5-on-4 advantage.

Neither team scored on the special teams play.

Moments later, however, the Bruins rallied when Marchand (15) sent a catch and release shot while cutting a quick turn in front of DeSmith in the low slot– elevating the puck top-shelf in the process– to tie the game, 3-3, at 14:56.

Grzelcyk (9) and Smith (9) had the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the afternoon.

After a stoppage in play resulted in a slashing minor for Marchand against Kris Letang and a roughing infraction for Letang against Marchand at 15:10, the two clubs resumed 4-on-4 action for a pair of minutes, though that didn’t last long.

Boston went on the 4-on-3 advantage when Evan Rodrigues hooked Pastrnak at 16:53.

The Bruins then had 18 seconds on the unconventional 4-on-3 power play before yielding an abbreviated 5-on-4 advantage.

While on the ensuing power play, Boston whipped the puck around the zone before Pastrnak sent it to Marchand who whizzed a shot pass through the slot to Krejci (2) for the redirection from the edge of the crease to the left of DeSmith.

The Bruins re-took the lead, 4-3, as Marchand (24) and Pastrnak (14) were credited with assists on Krejci’s power-play goal at 18:29.

Boston was not done scoring, however, as Marchand (16) received an indirect pass from McAvoy from the slot off of a faceoff win in the attacking zone that bounced from Smith to No. 63 in black and gold (or, gold and black, as it were, since the Bruins donned their Reverse Retro jerseys on Saturday), before sending another catch and release shot past DeSmith.

Smith (10) and McAvoy (18) tallied the assists on Marchand’s second goal of the afternoon and the Bruins led, 5-3, at 19:40– marking three unanswered goals for Boston to finish off the second period.

Entering the second intermission, the Bruins led, 5-3, on the scoreboard, but trailed the Penguins, 18-17, in shots on goal, despite holding an, 11-9, advantage in shots on goal in the second period alone.

Boston also led in takeaways (9-7), hits (23-17) and faceoff win% (53-47), while Pittsburgh held the advantage in blocked shots (7-2) and giveaways (10-2) through 40 minutes of action.

Both teams were 1/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

Ceci (3) opened the scoring in the third period after Boston failed to clear their own zone and Jankowski sent a pass to the wide-open Penguins defender to bring Pittsburgh to within one at 4:38.

Jankowski (4) and Lafferty (5) had the assists as the Pens trailed, 5-4.

Midway through the final frame, Ritchie made a hit at the attacking zone blue line to take possession of the puck and generate a 2-on-1 advantage for the Bruins on the break-in.

Ritchie fed Pastrnak (16) a pass across the slot for another catch and release goal– this time over DeSmith’s glove side to make it, 6-4, for Boston.

Ritchie (10) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s second goal of the game at 13:28 of the third period.

With 2:25 remaining in the action, Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

Letang, in the meantime, had other ideas and hooked Pastrnak and cut a rut to the penalty box at 17:49.

After clearing their own zone, Pittsburgh once again pulled DeSmith for an extra skater, whereby Crosby (15) mustered a soft goal through Halak to pull the Penguins to within one goal once more at 18:45.

Guentzel (22) had the only assist on Crosby’s shorthanded goal and the Pens trailed, 6-5.

Sullivan used his timeout on the ensuing stoppage with 1:15 remaining in the action to drum up a plan.

On the resulting center-ice faceoff, Bergeron may have caught Crosby in the sternum with an inadvertent butt-end while pulling the puck back from the dot as Crosby brushed Bergeron’s visor before Bergeron made the turn.

Crosby whipped his head back and fell to the ice, perhaps embellishing (depending on which team you cheer for) what resulted in a four-minute double minor for high sticking for Bergeron, despite no evidence of an injury or blood drawn, while nobody seemed to notice Krejci’s errant stick to McCann’s face that was quite evident in the replay and review of whether or not Bergeron touched Crosby.

Regardless, Bergeron skated to the box at 18:49 and the Penguins went on the power play.

This time, however, Pittsburgh’s power play was powerless as they once again pulled DeSmith for a de facto two-skater advantage, but Marchand (17) sealed the deal on the game’s fate with an empty net goal– scoring a hat trick in the process.

Coyle (5) had the only assist on Marchand’s third goal of the afternooon– marking his first hat trick of the season and his fourth overall in his NHL career– at 18:59 and the B’s led, 7-5.

At the final horn, Boston had won, 7-5, and finished even in total shots on goal, 28-28, despite leading, 11-10, in shots on goal in the third period alone.

The Bruins wrapped up the afternoon leading in blocked shots (8-7), hits (28-25) and faceoff win% (60-40), while the Penguins finished Saturday’s effort leading in giveaways (12-3).

Both teams finished 1/3 on the power play in the matinée action.

The Bruins improved to 7-7-2 (4-5-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Penguins fell to 13-4-1 (5-3-0 on the road) when scoring first in 2020-21.

Boston also improved to 5-6-2 (3-2-0 at home) when trailing after one and 11-0-1 (7-0-1 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

Pittsburgh dropped to 12-3-1 (2-2-0 on the road) when leading after the first period and 4-8-1 (2-7-1 on the road) when trailing after the second period this season.

The Bruins wrap up their seven-game homestand (3-2-1) next Monday (April 5th) against the Philadelphia Flyers before hitting the road for a three-game road trip through Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia again.

Tags Anders Bjork, Anton Blidh, Boston Bruins, Boston University, Boston University Terriers, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brian Dumoulin, Bruce Cassidy, Callum Booth, Casey DeSmith, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Cody Ceci, Connor Clifton, Craig Smith, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, East Division, Evan Rodrigues, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jake Guentzel, Jakub Zboril, Jared McCann, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, John Moore, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Kris Letang, Mark Jankowski, MassMutual NHL East Division, Matt Grzelcyk, Mike Matheson, National Hockey League, NHL, Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Patrice Bergeron, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Rick Middleton, Sam Lafferty, Sean Kuraly, Sidney Crosby, Steven Kampfer, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Washington Capitals, Zach Senyshyn

NHL Nick's Net

DeSmith, Pens, down B’s, 4-1

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date April 2, 2021
No Comments on DeSmith, Pens, down B’s, 4-1

Casey DeSmith backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to a, 4-1, victory over the Boston Bruins Thursday night at TD Garden in what was Pittsburgh’s first win in Boston since Nov. 24, 2014.

DeSmith (9-3-0, 1.84 goals-against average, .933 save percentage in 14 games played) made 30 saves on 31 shots against in the win for the Penguins.

Bruins goaltender, Dan Vladar (2-1-0, 2.05 goals-against average, .929 save percentage in three games played) turned aside 19 out of 22 shots faced in the loss.

Pittsburgh improved to 24-11-2 (50 points) overall and remained in command of 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Boston dropped to 18-10-5 (41 points) on the season and remained in 4th place in the division.

The Bruins also fell to 3-2-0 against the Pens this season.

Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) on Thursday, while Sean Kuraly was removed from league protocol on Wednesday and took part in an optional morning skate on Thursday.

Kase also took part in the optional morning skate, while DeBrusk skated on his own at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday morning for the first time since entering COVID protocol on March 19th.

B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, left his lines intact from Tuesday night’s, 5-4, shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils, rendering Kuraly as a healthy scratch, along with Chris Wagner, Jack Studnicka, Steven Kampfer and Jarred Tinordi.

Moore, Kase, Rask, DeBrusk and Miller remained out due to injury, while Callum Booth was part of Boston’s taxi squad.

Greg McKegg, meanwhile, was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday with Jeremy Swayman, who was briefly called up to the taxi squad and reassigned.

Brian Dumoulin delivered a cross check to David Pastrnak and presented the Bruins with the first power play of the night at 10:59 of the first period.

Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage and neither team was penalized further, nor scored a goal in the opening frame.

Entering the first intermission, the Penguins led in shots on goal, 7-2, while the scoreboard was even at, 0-0.

The B’s led in blocked shots (8-6), hits (12-6) and faceoff win percentage (55-45), while the Pens led in takeaways (3-1) and giveaways (3-1) after 20 minutes of play.

Pittsburgh had yet to see any action on the power play, while Boston was 0/1 heading into the middle frame.

The Bruins tweeted prior to puck drop on the second period that defender, Brandon Carlo, would not return to Thursday night’s game with an upper body injury.

Carlo had missed 10 games this season with an upper body injury that he sustained on March 5th against the Washington Capitals prior to returning to the lineup in Tuesday night’s win against New Jersey.

Jeremy Lauzon was also not on the bench to start the middle period, but returned shortly after the second period was underway after being cut by a skate late in the opening frame.

Meanwhile, early in the period, Zach Aston-Reese (8) capitalized on a rush– redirecting a pass from Brandon Tanev past Vladar low on the glove side.

Tanev (9) and Frederick Gaudreau (3) tallied the assists on Aston-Reese’s goal and the Penguins led, 1-0, at 2:01 of the second period.

Midway through the period, Mike Matheson (3) went post-to-post on a wraparound break-in and gave Pittsburgh a two-goal lead.

Anthony Angello (2) and Cody Ceci (6) had the assists on Matheson’s goal and the Pens led, 2-0, at 13:12.

Through 40 minutes of action on Thursday night, Pittsburgh was in command, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 17-15, in shots on goal, despite Boston leading, 13-10, in shots in the second period alone.

The Bruins held the advantage in blocked shots (14-9), hits (27-13) and faceoff win% (55-45), while the Penguins led in takeaways (10-3) and giveaways (5-3).

Boston was still 0/1 on the power play, while Pittsburgh awaited their first taste of the skater advantage in the action.

The Penguins went on the power play when Lauzon caught Bryan Rust without the puck and was assessed an interference minor 31 seconds into the third period.

Though Brad Marchand and Kris Letang exchanged pleasantries about half-a-minute later, Marchand’s ensuing roughing infraction was matched by Letang’s holding minor, thereby leaving the Pens on the 5-on-4 advantage at 1:03 of the final frame.

Pittsburgh did not score on the skater advantage.

Matt Grzelcyk went down the tunnel after catching an errant puck off the helmet with 13:24 remaining in the action.

Moments later, Marchand (14) scored a one-timer off of a pass that deflected off of Ceci’s stick from Patrice Bergeron through the slot.

Bergeron (18) and Jakub Zboril (7) had the assists on Marchand’s goal and the Bruins trailed, 2-1, at 11:14 of the third period.

Less than two minutes later– in a span of 1:53, to be exact– Jason Zucker (5) put the Penguins ahead by two-goals once again after Pastrnak’s self-pass in traffic in the neutral zone was botched and led to a turnover, yielding a one-timer for Zucker while Grzelcyk (back from his trip down the tunnel) pressured Evan Rodrigues and Vladar was caught a little too far out of the crease in effort to cut down on Rodrigues’ shooting angle.

Instead, Pittsburgh led, 3-1, on Zucker’s goal with assists from Rodrigues (4) and Marcus Pettersson (3) at 13:07.

With 3:09 remaining in the game, Cassidy pulled Vladar for an extra attacker.

It wasn’t long before Jake Guentzel (15) used geometry to his advantage and angled the puck off of the boards and into the open twine from about the center red line.

Letang (22) and Sidney Crosby (26) had the assists on Guentzel’s empty net goal and the Penguins led, 4-1, at 17:51/

Mark Jankowski was penalized for holding at 18:44, yielding one final power play to Boston, but despite pulling their netminder once again with 1:16 remaining in the game, the Bruins fell flat.

At the final horn, Pittsburgh had won, 4-1, despite trailing Boston in the final shot total, 31-23, including a, 16-6, advantage for the B’s in the third period alone.

The Bruins wrapped up the night leading in blocked shots (15-12), hits (35-29) and faceoff win% (57-43), while the Penguins led in giveaways (7-5).

Pittsburgh finished 0/1 and Boston finished 0/2 on the power play on Thursday.

The Bruins dropped to 5-4-1 (2-3-1 at home) when tied after the first period and 4-6-1 (3-4-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

Pittsburgh improved to 6-2-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when tied after one period and 14-1-0 (4-0-0 on the road) when leading after the two periods this season.

Boston fell to 6-7-2 (3-5-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Pens improved to 13-3-1 (5-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

The Bruins take on the Penguins once again on Saturday before wrapping up their seven-game homestand (2-2-1) next Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers before hitting the road for three games.

NHL Nick's Net

Third period rally sparks Boston’s, 5-4, shootout win over Devils

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 31, 2021
No Comments on Third period rally sparks Boston’s, 5-4, shootout win over Devils

For the fourth time this season, the Boston Bruins came back from trailing in the third period to winning past regulation with a, 5-4, shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night at TD Garden.

The B’s lead the league in third period multi-goal comeback wins this season with four– setting a franchise record in the process.

Jaroslav Halak (8-5-3, 2.27 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 16 games played) stopped 31 out of 35 shots faced in the shootout win for Boston.

Devils goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood (9-9-2, 2.87 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 20 games played) made 44 saves on 48 shots against in the shootout loss.

Boston improved to 18-9-5 (41 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while New Jersey fell to 13-16-5 (31 points) and remained in 7th place in the division.

Tuesday night, the Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol) and Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol), while Brandon Carlo and Brad Marchand made their returns to the lineup.

Carlo made his first appearance in 10 games since sustaining an upper body injury (concussion, though it was never officially stated by the team) against the Washington Capitals on March 5th, while Marchand returned from COVID protocol after a false positive kept him out of the last two games.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, adjusted his lineup, returning Marchand to his usual role on the first line left wing alongside B’s captain, Patrice Bergeron, at center and David Pastrnak at right wing.

Cassidy moved Trent Frederic to center the fourth line as a result and scratched Jack Studnicka.

On defense, Jeremy Lauzon suited up alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Matt Grzelcyk was partnered with Carlo to round out the top-four defenders.

Cassidy put Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton together on the third pairing, while Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Studnicka, Moore, Kase, Rask, Steven Kampfer, Kuraly, DeBrusk, Jarred Tinordi, Callum Booth and Miller made up Boston’s list of taxi squad members, healthy scratches and/or injured players out of the lineup on Tuesday.

Jack Ahcan was reassigned from Boston’s taxi squad to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Monday.

Miles Wood (11) kicked things off with the game’s first goal on New Jersey’s first shot of the night after stopping P.K. Subban’s shot pass before firing it over Halak’s glove from the slot.

Subban (12) had the only assist on the goal as the Devils took a, 1-0, lead at 1:28 of the first period.

Moments later, the Bruins evened things up, 1-1, when Nick Ritchie (10) mustered a shot from just above the faceoff circle off of Blackwood’s glove hand and into the twine for Boston’s first 5-on-5 goal against New Jersey this season.

David Krejci (18) and Craig Smith (6) tallied the assists on Ritchie’s goal at 5:55.

Almost midway into the opening frame, an odd bounce didn’t go Karson Kuhlman’s way while the Bruins forward was pressuring to keep the puck in the attacking zone led to a New Jersey breakaway the other way for Devils forward, Michael McLeod.

McLeod (5) deked, pulled the puck to his backhand and beat Halak down low to give the Devils a, 2-1, lead at 9:34 of the first period.

Jesper Boqvist (1) and Ryan Murray (5) notched the assists on McLeod’s goal.

Entering the first intermission, New Jersey led, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Boston in shots on goal, 12-11.

The Bruins also led in blocked shots (2-1), takeaways (4-2) and hits (12-6), while both teams had two giveaways each and were 50-5o in faceoff win percentage after one period of action.

Neither team had yet to see any time on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Travis Zajac (5) tipped a shot from Jesper Bratt through Halak’s seven-hole on the blocker side to give the Devils a two-goal lead, 3-1, at 3:45 of the second period.

Bratt (15) and Murray (6) had the assists on Zajac’s goal, which was his 200th tally of his National Hockey League career in 1,021 games (all with New Jersey).

Moments later, Marchand yielded the first power play of the night to the Devils after receiving a roughing minor at 9;20 of the second period.

New Jersey did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

Shortly after being free from the penalty box, Marchand made a big hit in the attacking zone that resulted in Bratt and Marchand exchanging pleasantries and receiving roughing infractions at 12:59 after the Bruins winger landed a takedown of the Devils defender.

About a minute later, Subban slashed Krejci and presented Boston with a 4-on-3 advantage for about 52 seconds before the Bruins would have an abbreviated 5-on-4 power play.

Nearly three minutes after his second roughing penalty of the game, Marchand (13) wired a catch and release snap shot past Blackwood’s blocker to pull Boston to within one.

Bergeron (17) and Krejci (19) had the assists on Marchand’s power-play goal and the Bruins trailed, 3-2, at 15:48.

Less than two minutes later, a costly turnover for Lauzon in his own zone off of a faceoff benefited Kyle Palmieri (8) with a quick unassisted goal to put New Jersey on top, 4-2, at 17:06.

Through 40 minutes of play, the Devils led, 4-2, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Bruins in shots on goal, 25-23.

Boston held the advantage in takeaways (9-6), hits (18-15) and faceoff win% (57-43), while New Jersey led in blocked shots (8-4) and giveaways (4-3).

The Devils were 0/1 on the power play, while the B’s were 1/1 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

Midway through the third period, McAvoy (4) buried a rebound to bring the Bruins back to within one– trialing, 4-3, at 10:22 of the third period.

Smith (7) and Marchand (23) had the assists on McAvoy’s goal.

Boston went on the power play at 13:43 when Damon Severson caught McAvoy with a high stick, but didn’t convert on the ensuing advantage.

Moments later, however, Grzelcyk (3) sent a wrist shot from the high slot off an attacking zone faceoff win past Blackwood on the far side to tie the game, 4-4.

Smith (8) and Krejci (20) each had their third assist of the night on Grzlecyk’s goal at 16:00 of the third period– forcing overtime after Bergeron’s hooking minor at 16:18 was successfully killed by Boston’s penalty kill.

The Bruins finished the 60-minute effort leading in shots on goal, 44-32, including a, 19-9, advantage in the third period alone.

The B’s also led in hits (23-19), while the Devils led in blocked shots (11-7) and giveaways (8-3) entering the overtime period.

Both teams had 11 takeaways each and were 50-50 in faceoff win% heading into the extra frame.

New Jersey was 0/2 and Boston was 1/2 on the power play entering overtime.

Devils head coach, Lindy Ruff, started Pavel Zacha, Bratt and Severson in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy to kick things off.

McAvoy slashed Severson while trailing on a play about midway through the overtime period, yielding a 4-on-3 advantage to New Jersey at 2:39 of overtime.

Boston then utilized their timeout to counter New Jersey’s power play and hold things off until the seconds ticked down and a shootout commenced.

Entering the shootout, Boston and New Jersey were tied, 4-4, on the scoreboard, while the Bruins led in shots on goal, 48-35, including a, 4-3, advantage in overtime alone.

The B’s finished the night leading in hits (24-22) and and faceoff win% (51-49), while the Devils wrapped up the night leading in blocked shots (12-8) and giveaways (8-3).

New Jersey finished Tuesday night’s action 0/3 on the power play, while Boston went 1/2 on the skater advantage.

The Bruins elected to shoot second in the shootout.

Ruff sent out Zacha, but the Devils forward’s attempt was stopped by Halak with a routine pad save.

Cassidy countered with Charlie Coyle, who promptly deked while skating towards Blackwood, pulling the New Jersey netminder out of position.

Coyle went from his backhand to his forehand while wrapping the puck around Blackwood– slipping it between the Devils goalie and the post to give Boston the, 1-0, advantage after the first round of the shootout.

New Jersey turned to Palmieri to even things up, but Halak got a chunk of the puck with his blocker before the rubber biscuit was deflected wide of the net.

Pastrnak mimicked Coyle’s goal– going from his backhand to his forehand and slipping the rubber biscuit between Blackwood’s outstretched pad and the post, only this time with less room between the Devils’ goaltender’s skate and the metal goal frame.

The Bruins won the shootout, 2-0, and added to their final total on the scoreboard– defeating the Devils in the process, 5-4.

Boston improved to 2-3-1 against New Jersey in 2020-21, as well as 3-2 in shootouts overall this season.

The Devils, meanwhile, fell to 0-4 in shootouts this season.

The Bruins improved to 6-6-2 (3-4-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Devils dropped to 11-7-1 (7-2-1 on the road) when scoring first in 2020-21.

Boston is now 4-6-2 (2-2-0 at home) when trailing after one period and 4-5-1 (3-3-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season, while New Jersey fell to 8-3-1 (4-1-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 7-2-1 (5-1-1 on the road) when leading after the second period this season.

The B’s finished the month of March with a 6-4-3 record and will begin April with a pair of home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday and Saturday.

Boston is 2-1-1 in their current seven-game homestand.

Tags Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Bruce Cassidy, Callum Booth, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Connor Clifton, Craig Smith, Damon Severson, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Greg McKegg, Jack Ahcan, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jeremy Lauzon, Jesper Boqvist, Jesper Bratt, John Moore, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Kyle Palmieri, Lindy Ruff, Mackenzie Blackwood, MassMutual NHL East Division, Matt Grzelcyk, Michael McLeod, Miles Wood, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, P.K. Subban, Patrice Bergeron, Pavel Zacha, Pittsburgh Penguins, Ryan Murray, Sean Kuraly, Steven Kampfer, TD Garden, Travis Zajac, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Washington Capitals

NHL Nick's Net

Blackwood backstops Devils to, 1-0, shutout over Bruins

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 28, 2021
No Comments on Blackwood backstops Devils to, 1-0, shutout over Bruins

Kyle Palmieri scored the game’s only goal late in the first period, while Mackenzie Blackwood stopped all 40 shots that he faced– backstopping the New Jersey Devils to a, 1-0, shutout over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden on Sunday.

Blackwood (9-9-1, 2.82 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 19 games played) earned his first shutout of the season (the sixth of his National Hockey League career) in the 40-save effort for New Jersey.

Boston goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (7-5-3, 2.17 goals-against average, .919 save percentage in 15 games played) made 28 saves on 29 shots against for a .966 save percentage in the loss.

The Bruins dropped to 17-9-5 (39 points) overall and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Devils improved to 13-16-4 (30 points) on the season and in command of 7th place in the division.

The B’s also fell to 8-4-2 at home this season and 1-3-1 against New Jersey this season.

The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) and Brad Marchand (COVID protocol) on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Karson Kuhlman returned to the lineup after missing Saturday’s, 3-2, win against the Buffalo Sabres due to an injury sustained on March 25th against the New York Islanders.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made a few adjustments to his lineup on Sunday, leaving his first three lines the same as they were on Saturday, while inserting Anton Blidh and Kuhlman on Jack Studnicka’s wings on the fourth line and swapping Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon on the second and third defensive pairings.

Zboril was demoted to playing third pairing minutes alongside Steven Kampfer, while Lauzon was bumped up alongside Connor Clifton to round out the top-four defenders.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, injured players, taxi squad members and players in COVID protocol on Sunday evening included, Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Kuraly, Marchand, DeBrusk, Jarred Tinordi, Miller, Jack Ahcan and Callum Booth, who was recalled and assigned to the taxi squad late Saturday.

Weymouth, Massachusetts native and Bruins forward, Charlie Coyle, took part in his 600th career NHL game on Sunday, wearing an “A” on his jersey for the second-straight game with Marchand out due to COVID protocol.

Midway through the opening frame, Andreas Johnsson caught Craig Smith up high with an illegal check to the head and was assessed a minor infraction, yielding the first power play of the game to Boston at 11:27 of the first period.

Moments later, after killing the penalty, New Jersey struck first and scored the only goal of the game when Ty Smith sent a shot from the faceoff dot that deflected of Palmieri (7) and into the twine over Halak’s glove.

Smith (7) and Jesper Bratt (14) tallied the assists on Palmieri’s goal as the Devils took the, 1-0, lead at 16:37.

Entering the first intermission, New Jersey led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 12-9, in shots on goal.

The Devils also led in takeaways (3-2) and giveaways (3-0), while the Bruins held the advantage in hits (8-6) and faceoff win percentage (62-38) after 20 minutes of action.

Both teams had four blocked shots, while the B’s were 0/1 on the power play and the Devils had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

Clifton hooked Bratt at 11:55 of the second period, presenting New Jersey with their first power play of the evening, but the Devils didn’t convert on the advantage as Boston’s league-leading penalty kill did its job.

Trent Frederic caught his teammate, Patrice Bergeron, with an errant elbow to the face while making a hit in the corner that sent Bergeron down the tunnel before returning ahead of the third period without issue.

Late in the period, Matt Grzelcyk was penalized for holding against Miles Wood at 17:33 and P.K. Subban tripped Studnicka at 19:42, but neither team managed to get anything going on the special teams action.

Heading into the second intermission, the Devils held onto the lead, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 24-23, in shots on goal, despite the Bruins outshooting New Jersey, 14-12, in the second period alone.

Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (9-5), hits (20-14) and faceoff win% (57-43), while New Jersey led in takeaways (5-4).

Both teams had four giveaways each and were 0/2 on the power play entering the final frame.

Janne Kuokkanen caught Charlie McAvoy with a high stick and drew blood at 4:49 of the third period, presenting the B’s with their best chance on the skater advantage as Kuokkanen cut a rut to the penalty box with a four-minute double-minor infraction.

Boston’s power play was cut short when McAvoy tripped Yegor Sharangovich at 8:36, lending the Devils an abbreviated power play after 14 seconds of 4-on-4 action.

Moments later, Zach Senyshyn took a holding penalty at 13:18, but New Jersey didn’t score on the resulting skater advantage.

Cassidy pulled Halak with 1:38 remaining for an extra attacker and Bergeron thought he tied the game while burying a loose puck from just outside the crease, but Devils head coach, Lindy Ruff, used a coach’s challenge on the grounds that David Krejci had interfered with Blackwood’s ability to make a save.

After review, the call on the ice was reversed and the score remained, 1-0, in favor of New Jersey as Krejci’s stick work while battling to free a loose puck in the crease was deemed goaltender interference.

With about eight seconds remaining, the Bruins thought they tied the game again, but the puck did not fully cross the goal line as was confirmed by video review.

At the final horn, the Devils had won, 1-0, and finished the afternoon with back-to-back shutouts against the Bruins in their last two meetings for the first time since 1997.

Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 40-29, including a, 17-5, advantage in the third period alone.

The B’s also led in hits (23-18) and faceoff win% (64-36), while New Jersey wrapped up the evening’s action with the advantage in blocked shots (14-10) and giveaways (12-5).

Both teams went 0/4 on the power play in the action.

The Bruins fell to 5-6-2 (2-4-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Devils improved to 11-7-0 (7-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

New Jersey also improved to 8-3-0 (4-1-0 on the road) when leading after one period and 7-2-0 (5-1-0 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

Boston fell to 3-6-2 (1-2-0 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-5-1 (2-3-0 at home) when trailing after two periods in 2020-21.

The Bruins close out the month of March against the Devils on Tuesday. Boston begins the month of April with a pair of home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday (April 1st) and Saturday (April 3rd).

Boston is 1-1-1 in their current seven-game homestand.

NHL Nick's Net

Smith tops Bruins comeback, 3-2, against Sabres

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 27, 2021
No Comments on Smith tops Bruins comeback, 3-2, against Sabres

The Boston Bruins extended the Buffalo Sabres’ current losing streak to 17 games after Craig Smith capped a, 3-2, comeback with his game-winning goal in the third period Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

Dan Vladar (2-0-0, 1.51 goals-against average, .952 save percentage in two games played) turned aside 25 out of 27 shots against for a .926 save percentage in the win for the Bruins.

Sabres goaltender, Linus Ullmark (5-5-2, 2.49 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 13 games played), returned from injury and made 33 saves on 36 shots faced for a .917 save percentage in the loss.

Boston improved to 17-8-5 (39 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Buffalo fell to 6-23-4 (16 points) and stuck in last place in the division.

The B’s improved to 2-0-0 against the Sabres this season and 8-3-2 at home in 2020-21.

The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (hip), Tuukka Rask (upper body), Karson Kuhlman (undisclosed), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) and Brad Marchand (COVID protocol) on Saturday afternoon.

Kase missed his 28th game this season due to an injury that he sustained on Jan. 16th in New Jersey. Though he is skating before practice, there is no timetable for his return.

Miller and Carlo have been skating as well.

Moore underwent a hip arthroscopy and labral repair on March 22nd in New York City and will miss the rest of the season as recovery time is expected to be five to six months.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, ruled Rask out for the weekend due to a lingering injury that was re-aggravated in Thursday night’s, 4-3, overtime loss to the New York Islanders.

With Kuhlman awaiting results of an MRI after blocking a shot in the third period against the Islanders on Thursday night and Marchand entering COVID protocol, Zach Senyshyn returned to action for Boston for the first time since missing the last five games with an upper body injury.

Trent Frederic suited up on the first line with Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, at center and David Pastrnak on right wing.

Cassidy left his second line intact while Senyshyn was inserted on the right side of the third line with Anders Bjork at left wing and Charlie Coyle sporting an “A” at center in light of Marchand’s absence.

Greg McKegg slid over to the left side of the fourth line while Jack Studnicka centered the line and Chris Wagner remained at right wing.

On defense, Cassidy made one change, replacing Jarred Tinordi with Jeremy Lauzon on the third pairing alongside Steven Kampfer.

Lauzon made his return to the lineup for the first time since being injured in the 2021 NHL Outdoors matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers at Lake Tahoe on Feb. 21st. He missed 13 games between his 34-second shift outdoors and Saturday afternoon.

Jaroslav Halak served as Vladar’s backup on Saturday and is expected to get the start on Sunday against New Jersey.

Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, injured players, COVID protocol and taxi squad members on Saturday afternoon included Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Kuraly, Marchand, DeBrusk, Tinordi, Miller, Jack Ahcan and Kuhlman.

Callum Booth was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) from Boston’s taxi squad on Saturday.

Connor Clifton opened the game’s action with an elbowing infraction against Sabres forward, Jeff Skinner, at 1:16 of the first period.

Less than a minute into the ensuing power play, Buffalo capitalized on a giveaway when Vladar misplayed the puck and sent a pass right to Sam Reinhart’s tape from the trapezoid.

Reinhart (12) cut to the front of the empty net while Vladar chased the play and scored a power-play goal to give the Sabres a, 1-0, lead at 2:01 of the first period.

Reinhart’s goal was unassisted.

About a couple minutes later, Brandon Montour tripped Senyshyn and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the afternoon.

Boston did not convert on the resulting skater advantage, however.

Late in the period, Casey Mittelstadt hooked Pastrnak at 14:59 and Pastrnak tripped Dylan Cozens at 18:54, but neither team was successful on the resulting special teams action.

Entering the first intermission, the Sabres led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Boston in shots on goal, 13-10.

The B’s led in blocked shots (4-2), takeaways (4-1), giveaways (4-2), hits (8-6) and faceoff win percentage (63-38).

Buffalo was 1/2 and Boston was 0/2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

Coyle caught Skinner with a high stick midway through the second period and presented the Sabres with a power play at 7:15, but Buffalo couldn’t score on the resulting advantage.

Moments later, Matt Grzelcyk (2) skated along the blue line in the attacking zone and fired a wrist shot from the high slot– beating Ullmark on the glove side, while Coyle screened the Sabres netminder in front of the crease.

Pastrnak (13) and Bergeron (16) tallied the assists on Grzelcyk’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 1-1, at 11:41 of the second period.

With the secondary assist on the goal, Bergeron pulled to within three points of tying Rick Middleton for the fourth most in a B’s uniform in franchise history. Bergeron currently has 895 career points with Boston, while Middleton had 898.

The game wasn’t tied for long before Kyle Okposo (2) pocketed a rebound into the twine for his second goal of the season in as many games against the Bruins this season.

Henri Jokiharju (2) and Rasmus Dahlin (11) had the assists on Okposo’s goal as the Sabres pulled ahead, 2-1, at 14:12.

Less than a minute later, Jean-Sebastien Dea caught Coyle with a high stick and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 15:00 of the second period.

Boston failed to convert on the ensuing power play opportunity.

Through 40 minutes of action at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon, the Sabres led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 24-21, in shots on goal, including a, 14-8, advantage in the second period alone.

The Bruins led in takeaways (5-2), giveaways (8-3), hits (16-10) and faceoff win% (55-45), while both teams had seven blocked shots aside.

Buffalo was 1/3 on the power play, while Boston was 0/3 on the skater advantage entering the second intermission.

Early in the third period, Nick Ritchie (9) pocketed a loose puck from the doorstep behind Ullmark after Charlie McAvoy impressed the fans in attendance with an incredible display of skill– skating around the attacking zone prior to setting up Ritchie for the goal.

McAvoy (17) and Grzelcyk (9) notched the assists on Ritchie’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2, at 5:22 of the final frame.

Moments later, Montour hooked Smith and was sent to the sin bin at 9:38, but the B’s couldn’t muster anything on the resulting power play.

Late in the period, Smith (6) buried a short pass from David Krejci in the low slot over Ullmark’s glove side to give Boston their first lead of the night, 3-2.

Krejci (17) and Ritchie (8) tallied the assists on Smith’s goal at 16:10 of the third period as the Bruins completed the comeback and held onto the victory at the final horn after Rasmus Ristolainen picked up a goaltender interference minor at 19:35.

Sabres interim head coach, Dom Granato, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker with 1:43 remaining, used his timeout after a stoppage with 40 seconds left and pulled his netminder again to even things up 5-on-5 while Ristolainen was in the box in the dying seconds, but Buffalo was no match for Boston in the end.

The Bruins had won, 3-2, and finished the afternoon leading in shots on goal, 36-27, incluidng a, 15-3, advantage in the third period alone.

Buffalo finished the game leading in blocked shots (11-9), while Boston wrapped up the afternoon leading in hits (23-15) and faceoff win% (57-44).

Both teams finished with eight giveaways each, while the Sabres went 1/3 on the skater advantage and the B’s finished 0/5 on the power play.

Vladar became the eighth goaltender in franchise history to win each of his first two career appearances with the Bruins, joining Rask (2007-08), Tim Thomas (2002-03), Blaine Lacher (1994-95), Mike Moffat (1981-82), John Adams (1972-73), Andre Gill (1967-68) and Frank Brimsek (1938-39) in doing so.

Buffalo, meanwhile, suffered their 17th consecutive loss, which tied the second-most consecutive losses in National Hockey League history, joining the 1974-75 Washington Capitals and 1992-93 San Jose Sharks in trailing the 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins for the most consecutive losses in a row (18) in NHL history.

The Sabres face the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Monday, March 29th and look to avoid tying the 2003-04 Penguins for the most consecutive losses.

Cassidy told reporters after the game that Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean was not behind the bench on Saturday due to coming in close contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19.

Dean will not be joining his colleagues behind the bench on Sunday, as well.

Boston improved to 5-5-2 (2-3-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while Buffalo fell to 4-4-2 (3-4-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season in the process.

The B’s also improved to 3-5-2 (1-1-0 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-4-1 (2-2-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

The Sabres dropped to 2-3-2 (2-3-1 on the road) when leading after one period and 4-1-2 (3-1-1 on the road) when leading after two periods in 2020-21.

The Bruins welcome the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET puck drop) before closing out the month of March against the Devils on Tuesday. Boston begins April with a pair of home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Boston is 1-0-1 in their current seven-game homestand.

Tags 2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe, AHL, American Hockey League, Anders Bjork, Andre Gill, Blaine Lacher, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brandon Montour, Bruce Cassidy, Buffalo Sabres, Callum Booth, Casey Mittelstadt, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Connor Clifton, Craig Smith, Dan Vladar, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Dom Granato, Dylan Cozens, East Division, Frank Brimsek, Greg McKegg, Henri Jokiharju, Jack Ahcan, Jake DeBrusk, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jean-Sebastien Dea, Jeff Skinner, Jeremy Lauzon, John Adams, John Moore, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Kevin Dean, Kyle Okposo, Linus Ullmark, MassMutual NHL East Division, Matt Grzelcyk, Mike Moffat, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Patrice Bergeron, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, Providence Bruins, Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Rick Middleton, Sam Reinhart, San Jose Sharks, Sean Kuraly, Steven Kampfer, TD Garden, Tim Thomas, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Washington Capitals, Zach Senyshyn

NHL Nick's Net

B’s return to action in, 4-3, overtime loss to Isles

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 26, 2021
No Comments on B’s return to action in, 4-3, overtime loss to Isles

For the first time in a week, the Boston Bruins played a regular season game after COVID protocols postponed two games and shut down their facilities until Wednesday.

Thursday night in front of roughly 2,100 fans in TD Garden, the Bruins lost, 4-3, to the New York Islanders in overtime.

Anthony Beauvillier scored the game-winning goal 21 seconds into the extra frame, while Semyon Varlamov (14-6-3, 2.20 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 23 games played) made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the win for the Islanders.

Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (8-4-2, 2.41 goals-against average, .907 save percentage in 15 games played) made six saves on six shots faced before leaving the game after the first period due to an upper body injury.

Jaroslav Halak (7-4-3, 2.25 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in 14 games played) stopped 17 out of 21 shots faced in the overtime loss in relief of Rask.

Boston fell to 16-8-5 (37 points) overall and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while New York improved to 22-8-4 (48 points) and remained in command of the division lead.

The B’s also dropped to 0-3-2 against the Isles this season.

After Sean Kuraly was placed in COVID protocol prior to last Thursday’s game on March 18th in Buffalo, four more Bruins forwards joined the league’s COVID list prior to Wednesday night’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena.

Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk remained in COVID protocol entering Thursday night’s matchup with the Islanders, while David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Craig Smith were cleared from COVID protocol and did not miss Thursday night’s action against New York.

Rask returned after missing the last six games due to an injury, but left the game after the first period, while Jarred Tinordi also returned to Boston’s lineup after missing one game due to an upper body injury sustained on March 16th in Pittsburgh.

Trent Frederic didn’t miss a beat, despite uncertainty entering Wednesday night’s practice.

Meanwhile, Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Jeremy Lauzon (hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Zach Senyshyn (upper body) and John Moore (undisclosed) on Thursday.

Urho Vaakanainen, Oskar Steen and Jeremy Swayman were reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Thursday, while Callum Booth was recalled to Boston’s taxi squad.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, rolled out Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak as his usual first line with Nick Ritchie, Krejci and Smith rounding out his top-six forwards.

Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Karson Kuhlman comprised of the third line, while Frederic suited up on the left side of Greg McKegg on the fourth line with Chris Wagner at right wing.

On defense, Matt Grzelcyk was suited up with Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton rounded out the top-four defenders.

Tinordi was back in his usual role on the left side of the third pairing with Steven Kampfer as his partner.

Senyshyn, Jack Studnicka, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Kuraly, Jack Ahcan, Lauzon, Booth, DeBrusk, Dan Vladar and Miller were all members of Boston’s list of healthy scratches, injured and/or taxi squad members.

Early in the first period, Mathew Barzal took a stick to the face and drew blood, leading the on-ice officials to think that Grzelcyk caught the Islanders forward with his stick.

Boston braced for a four-minute penalty kill, but in accordance with the new rule to review whether or not a high stick was indeed a high stick or just an errant stick from a teammate, replay determined that Jordan Eberle had accidentally caught Barzal with his stick, thus rendering no penalty on the Bruins defender.

In short, Eberle hit his own teammate in the face with his stick.

Midway through the opening frame, Kuhlman (1) fired a shot from the faceoff dot to the right of the New York netminder over Varlamov’s glove on the far side to give Boston the first lead of the night, 1-0, at 11:42 of the first period.

McAvoy (15) and Bjork (3) tallied the assists on Kuhlman’s goal– his first of the season, as well as his first in 397 days.

Moments later, Casey Cizikas tripped Clifton and presented Boston with the first power play of the night at 15:37 of the opening frame.

Just as the power play was about to expire, Kampfer (1) blasted a shot from outside the dot over Varlamov’s blocker side to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

McAvoy (16) and Krejci (16) tallied the assists on Kampfer’s power-play goal as the B’s led, 2-0, at 17:35. It was also his first goal in 732 days.

Less than a minute later, Boston went back on the skater advantage when Michael Dal Colle tripped McAvoy at 18:13.

This time, however, New York’s penalty kill managed to kill Dal Colle’s minor infraction without any mishaps.

Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-6, in shots on goal.

Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (4-2) and faceoff win percentage (63-38), while the Islanders led in takeaways (3-1) and giveaways (4-3).

Both teams had nine hits aside after 20 minutes of action.

New York had yet to see any time on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage.

The B’s tweeted that Rask would not return to the game with an upper body injury and Halak made his entrance to kick things off for the middle period.

Scott Mayfield caught Bergeron with a high stick and drew blood– yielding a double minor infraction at 3:12 of the second period, but Boston was not able to convert on their extended power play opportunity.

Instead, shortly after his release from the penalty box, Mayfield contributed the primary assist on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s (11) rebound goal to cut the Bruins’ lead in half, 2-1, at 7:21 of the second period.

Mayfield (7) and Leo Komarov (3) notched the assists on Pageau’s sixth point in five games against Boston this season.

Pageau finished Thursday’s game with a goal and two assists on the night, extending his totals to 5-3–8 in five games against the Bruins in 2020-21 so far.

Through 40 minutes of play at TD Garden on Thursday, the Bruins maintained a, 2-1, lead on the scoreboard, as well as a, 23-18, advantage in shots on goal, including a, 13-12, advantage in the second period alone.

New York led in blocked shots (7-6) and hits (21-16), while Boston led in takeaways (4-3) and faceoff win% (57-43).

Both teams had five giveaways each through two periods.

The Islanders had yet to see any action on the skater advantage, while the Bruins slumped to 1/4 on the power play.

Early in the final frame, Josh Bailey (5) worked a give-and-go to his advantage for a blocker side goal while entering the slot to tie the game, 2-2, at 4:33 of the third period.

Brock Nelson (7) and Nick Leddy (21) had the assists as the Isles took momentum and ran.

Marchand provided the Islanders with their first power play of the night eight minutes into the final frame of regulation for holding against Adam Pelech.

The Islanders did not convert on their only skater advantage of the night, however.

Late in the period, Oliver Wahlstrom (9) pounced on a puck that bounced off of Halak and Krejci to an open spot on the doorstep– giving New York their first lead of the night, 3-2, at 17:04.

Pageau (11) and Beauvillier (5) tallied the assists on Wahlstrom’s go-ahead goal, but the Bruins tied things back up less than a minute later when Bjork (2) sent a one-timer past Varlamov at 17:58.

Coyle won a battle down low and wrapped behind the net before connecting on the pass to his Bruins teammate.

Bjork’s goal knotted things up, 4-4, on the scoreboard, while Coyle (4) and Wagner (2) tallied the assists.

Heading into the overtime period, the Bruins and Islanders were tied, 4-4, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding a, 32-25, advantage in shots on goal, including a, 9-7, advantage in the third period alone.

New York led in blocked shots (13-9), takeaways (6-4) and hits (29-25), while the B’s led in faceoff win% (57-44).

Both teams had seven giveaways each, while the Isles finished 0/1 and the Bruins went 1/4 on the night on the power play as no penalties were called in overtime.

Islanders head coach, Barry Trotz, elected to start Pageau, Beauvillier and Leddy– his biggest performers of the night in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Coyle, Bjork and Grzelcyk– equally his brightest stars on a night featuring rare depth scoring from the bottom six for Boston.

Just 21 seconds into overtime, however, the Bruins were no match for the Islanders’ talent.

Leddy fired a shot, Halak made the initial save, but he surrendered a rebound in the crease and was slow to spot the loose puck before Beauvillier (5) crashed the net and cashed in on the game-winning goal.

Leddy (22) and Pageau (12) had the assists as the Islanders won, 4-3, in overtime in front of Boston’s first home game with fans in attendance since the pandemic began last year.

New York finished the night with the win, despite Boston finishing the night with the final advantage in shots on goal, 32-27.

The Islanders wrapped up Thursday night leading in blocked shots (13-9) and hits (29-25), while the Bruins led in faceoff win% (56-44).

Both teams finished the game with seven giveaways each as the B’s dropped to 3-3 in overtime this season (5-5 past regulation overall).

New York improved to 2-3 in overtime and 4-4 past 60 minutes overall in 2020-21.

The Bruins dropped to 12-3-3 (6-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, while the Isles improved to 8-7-2 (3-6-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

Boston also fell to 9-0-2 (5-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 10-0-1 (6-0-1 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

New York, meanwhile, improved to 4-3-2 (1-3-2 on the road) when trailing after one period and 3-6-1 (3-5-1 on the road) when losing through two periods this season.

Additionally, for the first time this season, the B’s lost a game when leading by two or more goals at any time in the action, falling to 9-0-1 in that department as a result.

The Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon in Boston before welcoming the New Jersey Devils on Sunday and next Tuesday to close out the month of March before hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins in a pair of games to kick off April.

Tags Adam Pelech, Anders Bjork, Anthony Beauvillier, Barry Trotz, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brock Nelson, Bruce Cassidy, Buffalo Sabres, Callum Booth, Casey Cizikas, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Connor Clifton, Craig Smith, Dan Vladar, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Greg McKegg, Jack Ahcan, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Jeremy Lauzon, Jeremy Swayman, John Moore, Jordan Eberle, Josh Bailey, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, Leo Komarov, MassMutual NHL East Division, Mathew Barzal, Matt Grzelcyk, Michael Dal Colle, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Leddy, Nick Ritchie, Oliver Wahlstrom, Ondrej Kase, Oskar Steen, Patrice Bergeron, Pittsburgh Penguins, Scott Mayfield, Sean Kuraly, Semyon Varlamov, Steven Kampfer, TD Garden, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Urho Vaakanainen, Warrior Ice Arena, Zach Senyshyn

NHL Nick's Net Previews

Preview: Game No. 29– Islanders @ Bruins

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 25, 2021
No Comments on Preview: Game No. 29– Islanders @ Bruins

For the first time in a week, the Boston Bruins are set to play another game. This time, the B’s will be kicking off the second-half of their 2020-21 56-game regular season schedule against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday night.

Boston defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, at KeyBank Center last Thursday (March 18th) without forward, Sean Kuraly, in the lineup as he had been placed in the league’s COVID protocol earlier that afternoon– jeopardizing that night’s action, when combined with the fact that the Sabres also had a positive test among their coaching staff– but nevertheless, the game went on as scheduled.

Until after the game.

Four more Bruins skaters were placed in COVID protocol, including Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Craig Smith, which forced the postponement of last Saturday’s scheduled matchup with the Sabres in Buffalo and Tuesday’s scheduled home game against the Islanders.

Boston’s facilities were shutdown until Wednesday, when the team held practice for the first time since March 18th’s game action at 7 o’clock in the evening at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton.

Everyone except for DeBrusk and Kuraly came off of the National Hockey League’s COVID protocol list prior to practice on Wednesday night.

Meanwhile, back in Buffalo last Thursday, Greg McKegg scored his first goal as a Bruin, DeBrusk added his third goal of the season, Smith notched his fifth and Pastrnak tallied his 14th goal of the year.

Krejci had three assists, surpassing 700 career points (all with Boston) in the process– becoming just the eighth player to do so in a Bruins uniform.

In 935 career NHL games, Krejci has 208-494–702 totals and trails Wayne Cashman (793 points) for the seventh-most points in a B’s jersey.

Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves on 24 shots against for a .958 save percentage in the win for Boston last Thursday, while Carter Hutton stopped 33 out of 37 shots faced for an .892 save percentage in Buffalo’s loss.

Now back to the present.

Entering Thursday night, the Bruins are 0-3-1 against the Islanders this season, with the most recent loss coming in a shootout, 2-1, on March 9th at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

New York is riding back-to-back wins against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 20th at home and March 22nd in Philadelphia as they enter Boston for the first time this season.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, provided a pregame update to reporters via Zoom and informed them that he expects Tuukka Rask to return to the lineup and get the start against the Isles on Thursday, while Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic will be game-time decisions.

Boston will be without Ondrej Kase, Kevan Miller, Jeremy Lauzon, Brandon Carlo, John Moore and Zach Senyshyn, though Carlo, Lauzon, Miller and Senyshyn are skating.

Moore underwent surgery on an undisclosed injury and is out longer-term, while Kase has no set timetable for when he’ll be back since sustaining an upper body injury in the second game of the season back on Jan. 16th in New Jersey.

Cassidy, meanwhile, is coaching in his 400th NHL game on Thursday night (177-74-38 overall in 289 games with Boston).

The Bruins (16-8-4, 36 points) are 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division as they embark on the second-half of their season, while New York leads the division with a 21-8-4 record (46 points).

The B’s are 7-3-1 on home ice this season and 5-3-2 in their last ten games, while the Isles enter TD Garden 8-7-2 on the road in 2020-21, as well as 8-2-0 in their last ten games.

Boston is 92-57-21-6 in 176 regular season meetings against the Islanders all time with 590 goals for and 501 goals against in that span.

New York is 18-20-2-4 in 44 games at TD Garden since the building was opened in 1995, outscoring the Bruins in that span, 134-113.

Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 12-22–34 totals in 28 games played, while Pastrnak leads the team in goals scored (14), but trails Marchand for the second-most points with 14-12–26 totals in 21 games played this season.

Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, rounds out the top-three scorers with 25 points in 28 games and is four points away from tying Rick Middleton for the fourth most points with Boston in franchise history.

Bergeron has 362-532–894 totals in 1,117 career games with the Bruins, while Middleton had 898 points in 881 games with Boston from 1976-88.

Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders in scoring with 9-16–25 totals in 33 games this season, while Anders Lee and Brock Nelson are tied for the team lead in goals with 12.

Lee’s recent injury has limited him to 27 games and ruled him out for the rest of the season, while Nelson has attained 12-6-18 totals in 33 games.

Isles defender, Nick Leddy, is second on the team in scoring with 1-20–21 totals in 33 games, while Jordan Eberle and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each have 20 points for the third-most points on New York’s roster.

Eberle’s recorded 20 points in 33 games, while Pageau has 20 points in 32 games, including 4-1–5 totals in four games against Boston this season.

Rask (8-4-2, 2.46 goals-against average, .906 save percentage in 14 games played) is expected to get his first start since missing the last six games for Boston due to an undisclosed injury.

He is one win away from reaching the 300-win plateau and would be the first Bruins goaltender in franchise history to reach that mark.

Semyon Varlamov (13-6-3, 2.17 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 22 games played) is likely to get the start in net for the Islanders on Thursday.

The Bruins kick off a seven-game homestand on Thursday, which is tied for the longest home stretch in team history (Jan. 2-16, 2006).

For the first time since the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began last year, fans will be in attendance at TD Garden as the building is limited to 12% seating capacity.

Roughly 2,100 fans will be at a Bruins home game for the first time since March 7, 2020, instead of the usual sellout crowd of 17,850 since the building’s most recent renovations and development of The Hub on Causeway.

Expected lineups

Boston Bruins

63 Brad Marchand (A) 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak

21 Nick Ritchie 46 David Krejci (A) 12 Craig Smith

10 Anders Bjork 13 Charlie Coyle 83 Karson Kuhlman

11 Trent Frederic 18 Greg McKegg 14 Chris Wagner

48 Matt Grzlecyk 73 Charlie McAvoy

67 Jakub Zboril 75 Connor Clifton

84 Jarred Tinordi 44 Steven Kampfer

40 Tuukka Rask

41 Jaroslav Halak

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Zach Senyshyn (upper body), Jack Studnicka, Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (undisclosed), Ondrej Kase (upper body), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jack Ahcan, Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Callum Booth, Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol), Dan Vladar, Kevan Miller (right knee)

New York Islanders

7 Jordan Eberle 47 Leo Komarov 13 Mathew Barzal

28 Michael Dal Colle 29 Brock Nelson (A) 12 Josh Bailey (A)

18 Anthony Beauvillier 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau 26 Oliver Wahlstrom

17 Matt Martin 53 Casey Cizikas 15 Cal Clutterbuck (A)

3 Adam Pelech 6 Ryan Pulock

2 Nick Leddy 4 Andy Greene

34 Thomas Hickey 24 Scott Mayfield

40 Semyon Varlamov

30 Ilya Sorokin

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Anders Lee (knee), TBA

Goaltending stats entering Thursday

Boston Bruins

40 Tuukka Rask 8-4-2 in 14 GP, 2.46 GAA, .906 SV%, 0 SO

41 Jaroslav Halak 7-4-2 in 13 GP, 2.06 GAA, .921 SV%, 2 SO

70 Callum Booth 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

80 Dan Vladar 1-0-0 in 1 GP, 1.00 GAA, .971 SV%, 0 SO

New York Islanders

30 Ilya Sorokin 8-2-1 in 11 GP, 1.97 GAA, .922 SV%, 2 SO

35 Cory Schneider 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

40 Semyon Varlamov 13-6-3 in 22 GP, 2.17 GAA, .923 SV%, 3 SO

Tags Adam Pelech, Anders Bjork, Anders Lee, Andy Greene, Anthony Beauvillier, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brock Nelson, Bruce Cassidy, Buffalo Sabres, Cal Clutterbuck, Callum Booth, Carter Hutton, Casey Cizikas, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chris Wagner, Connor Clifton, Cory Schneider, Craig Smith, Dan Vladar, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, East Division, Greg McKegg, Ilya Sorokin, Jack Ahcan, Jack Studnicka, Jake DeBrusk, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Jeremy Lauzon, John Moore, Jordan Eberle, Josh Bailey, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, KeyBank Center, Leo Komarov, MassMutual NHL East Division, Mathew Barzal, Matt Grzelcyk, Matt Martin, Michael Dal Colle, Nassau Live at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Leddy, Nick Ritchie, Oliver Wahlstrom, Ondrej Kase, Patrice Bergeron, Philadelphia Flyers, Rick Middleton, Ryan Pulock, Scott Mayfield, Sean Kuraly, Semyon Varlamov, Steven Kampfer, TD Garden, Thomas Hickey, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, Warrior Ice Arena, Wayne Cashman, Zach Senyshyn

NHL Nick's Net Previews

Preview: Game No. 28– Bruins @ Sabres

Post author By Nick Lanciani
Post date March 18, 2021
No Comments on Preview: Game No. 28– Bruins @ Sabres

For the first time this season, the Boston Bruins pay a visit to KeyBank Center to take on the Buffalo Sabres for Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Buffalo.

Last season, Boston went 3-0-0 against Buffalo in the pandemic shortened 2019-20 regular season, winning all three of their matchups, 3-2, on Nov. 21st in Boston, 3-0, on Dec. 27th in Buffalo and, 3-2, on Dec. 29th in Boston.

After Thursday night’s matchup, the two clubs will meet seven more times in 2020-21, including their next meeting on Saturday.

A couple of previous matchups against the Sabres were postponed to later dates in the season due to a plethora of Buffalo players in COVID protocol last month.

A coaching staff member for Buffalo and a Boston skater (Sean Kuraly) were placed in COVID protocol Thursday morning, resulting in both pregame skates being cancelled, but the game remains on schedule through contact tracing, etc.

The Sabres return home after a, 3-2, loss to the Devils in New Jersey and without their now former head coach, Ralph Krueger, who was fired on Wednesday.

Interim head coach Dom Granato was promoted from his position as an assistant coach in Buffalo, where he was hired in that role in 2019. He will be making his National Hockey League head coaching debut on Thursday.

Granato previously served as the head coach of the Columbus Chill (ECHL, 1997-99), head coach of the Peoria Rivermen (ECHL, 1999-2000), head coach of the Worcester IceCats (AHL, 2000-05), an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues (2005-06), head coach of the Chicago Wolves (AHL, parts of two seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10), head coach of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (2013-16), assistant coach with the Wisconsin Badgers (NCAA, 2016), assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks (2016-19).

Buffalo, of course, is without their captain, Jack Eichel, due to injury.

Boston, meanwhile, is suffering from a plethora of injuries, rendering Tuukka Rask unavailable for the last five games, which meant that Dan Vladar got his first career NHL start on Tuesday after Jaroslav Halak was handed a, 4-1, loss in Pittsburgh on Monday.

Vladar made 34 saves on 35 shots to backstop the Bruins to a, 2-1, victory against the Penguins in his regular season debut in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, is likely to tweak his lineup depending on player availability, as well as whether or not Rask will be good to go after missing six games this season due to an undisclosed injury.

Rask did travel with the team as part of their four-game road trip (1-1-0).

Boston will be without Ondrej Kase, Kevan Miller and Jeremy Lauzon, at least, as Kase has no timetable for a return, Miller is skating back in Boston and Lauzon is approaching one month since sustaining a fractured left hand, which takes four-to-six weeks recovery time.

Brandon Carlo, John Moore and Zach Senyshyn will also be out of the lineup for Boston, while Jarred Tinordi is likely to miss Thursday night’s game in Buffalo as well after sustaining an upper body injury on a hit from Pittsburgh’s Brandon Tanev that resulted in a boarding major, as well as a game misconduct and a five-minute power play for Boston.

Thursday marks the halfway point for the Bruins, who are 15-8-4 overall (34 points) and currently 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Sabres begin the second half of their season with a 6-18-4 record (16 points, last in the division).

Boston is 3-2 in overtime and 2-2 in shootouts (5-4 past regulation) this season, while Buffalo is 0-2 in overtime and 2-2 in shootouts (2-4 past regulation) thus far in 2020-21.

Boston is also 8-5-3 in 16 games on the road this season, including a 4-4-2 record in their last ten games, while Buffalo is 2-10-2 on home ice and 0-9-1 in their last ten games.

The B’s are 142-113-29-12 in 296 all-time regular season matchups against Buffalo with 949 goals for and 926 goals against in that span.

The Bruins are also 29-25-1-7 in 62 regular season games at KeyBank Center, though the Sabres have outscored Boston, 175-157, in that span.

Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 12-21–33 totals in 27 games, while Patrice Bergeron is second with 25 points in 27 games and David Pastrnak is third with 24 points in 20 games, while leading his teammates in goals scored (13).

Marchand has a team-leading plus-nine rating in 27 games, while Chris Wagner is a minus-eight in 23 games this season.

Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson lead the Sabres in scoring with 19 points in 26 and 28 games, repsectively. Eichel (18 in 21 games) ranks third in scoring, while Reinhart leads the roster in goals scored with 11.

Jake McCabe is a plus-two in 13 games, while Rasmus Dahlin is a minus-27 in 28 games thus far.

If Rask gets the start for Boston, he is one win away from his 300th career NHL win, which would also make him the first goaltender in a Bruins uniform to reach the 300-win plateau.

David Krejci is one point away from his 700th career point and currently eighth all-time in scoring in a Bruins uniform with 699 career points.

Wayne Cashman (793 points) is seventh in all-time scoring with Boston.

Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron (894 points) is four points away from tying Rick Middleton (898) for the fourth most points in a Boston uniform in franchise history.

The Bruins wrap up their four-game road trip with a Saturday matinee (1 p.m. ET puck drop) in Buffalo before returning home on March 23rd against the New York Islanders in what will be Boston’s first game at TD Garden to feature fans since the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic began last year.

TD Garden will be limited to a 12% seating capacity.

Expected lineups

Boston Bruins

63 Brad Marchand (A) 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak

74 Jake DeBrusk 46 David Krejci (A) 12 Craig Smith

21 Nick Ritchie 13 Charlie Coyle 62 Oskar Steen

11 Trent Frederic 18 Greg McKegg 83 Karson Kuhlman

48 Matt Grzelcyk 73 Charlie McAvoy

67 Jakub Zboril 75 Connor Clifton

54 Jack Ahcan 44 Steven Kampfer

41 Jaroslav Halak

80 Dan Vladar

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Jeremy Swayman, Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Zach Senyshyn (upper body), Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (lower body), Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (lower body), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Urho Vaakanainen, Jarred Tinordi (upper body), Kevan Miller (right knee)

Buffalo Sabres

13 Tobias Rieder 12 Eric Staal 23 Sam Reinhart

4 Taylor Hall 15 Riley Sheahan 72 Tage Thompson

53 Jeff Skinner 27 Curtis Lazar 37 Casey Mittelstadt

68 Victor Olofsson 20 Cody Eakin 21 Kyle Okposo

78 Jacob Bryson 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

44 Matt Irwin 62 Brandon Montour

26 Rasmus Dahlin 33 Colin Miller

40 Carter Hutton

34 Jonas Johansson

Healthy scratches, injured and taxi squad members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

Jack Eichel, Henri Jokiharju, Dylan Cozens

Goaltending stats entering Thursday

Boston Bruins

1 Jeremy Swayman 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

40 Tuukka Rask 8-4-2 in 14 GP, 2.46 GAA, .906 SV%, 0 SO

41 Jaroslav Halak 6-4-2 in 12 GP, 2.15 GAA, .918 SV%, 2 SO

80 Dan Vladar 1-0-0 in 1 GP, 1.00 GAA, .971 SV%, 0 SO

Buffalo Sabres

31 Dustin Tokarski 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

34 Jonas Johansson 0-5-1 in 7 GP, 3.79 GAA, .884 SV%, 0 SO

35 Linus Ullmark 5-4-2 in 12 GP, 2.43 GAA, .919 SV%, 0 SO

40 Carter Hutton 1-9-1 in 11 GP, 3.43 GAA, .884 SV%, 0 SO

Tags AHL, American Hockey League, Anders Bjork, Boston Bruins, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Brandon Montour, Brandon Tanev, Bruce Cassidy, Buffalo Sabres, Carter Hutton, Casey Mittelstadt, Charlie Coyle, Charlie McAvoy, Chicago Blackhawks, Chicago Wolves, Chris Wagner, Cody Eakin, Colin Miller, Columbus Chill, Connor Clifton, Craig Smith, Curtis Lazar, Dan Vladar, David Krejci, David Pastrnak, Dom Granato, Dustin Tokarski, Dylan Cozens, East Division, ECHL, Eric Staal, Greg McKegg, Henri Jokiharju, Hockey Fights Cancer, Jack Ahcan, Jack Eichel, Jacob Bryson, Jake DeBrusk, Jake McCabe, Jakub Zboril, Jaroslav Halak, Jarred Tinordi, Jeff Skinner, Jeremy Lauzon, Jeremy Swayman, John Moore, Jonas Johansson, Karson Kuhlman, Kevan Miller, KeyBank Center, Kyle Okposo, Linus Ullmark, MassMutual NHL East Division, Matt Grzelcyk, Matt Irwin, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, NHL, Nick Lanciani, Nick Ritchie, Ondrej Kase, Oskar Steen, Patrice Bergeron, Peoria Rivermen, Ralph Krueger, Rasmus Dahlin, Rasmus Ristolainen, Rick Middleton, Riley Sheahan, Sam Reinhart, Sean Kuraly, St. Louis Blues, Steven Kampfer, Tage Thompson, Taylor Hall, Tobias Rieder, Trent Frederic, Tuukka Rask, University of Wisconsin, Urho Vaakanainen, USA Hockey, Victor Olofsson, Wayne Cashman, Wisconsin Badgers, Worcester IceCats, Zach Senyshyn