The Toronto Maple Leafs finally did the thing! Congrats to the 2019 Hockey Hall of Fame Class and taking a look at who might join them in 2020.
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Tag: American Hockey League
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Bruins complete wild comeback over Wild, win, 5-4, in OT
Torey Krug scored the game-winning goal in overtime in his return to the lineup for the Boston Bruins, while Patrice Bergeron contributed four assists in their, 5-4, comeback win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night at TD Garden.
Tuukka Rask (11-2-2 record, 2.18 goals against average, .928 save percentage in 15 games played) made 32 saves on 36 shots faced (.889 SV%) in the overtime win for the Bruins.
Jaroslav Halak was originally slated to start, but was sick and replaced by Rask ahead of warmups Saturday.
Minnesota goaltender, Alex Stalock (5-3-1, 2.79 GAA, .908 SV% in 12 games played) had a season-high 34 saves on 39 shots against for an .872 SV% in the overtime loss.
Boston improved to 15-3-5 (35 points) on the season, while maintaining their top of the Atlantic Division statues.
Meanwhile, Minnesota slipped to 9-11-3 (21 points) on the season and remained last (7th) in the Central Division.
The Bruins improved to 9-0-4 at home this season and the Wild fell to 8-4-1 all time in Boston.
The B’s are now on a three-game winning streak.
Kevan Miller (knee) suffered a setback in his ongoing efforts to return from his injuries near the end of last season and in the offseason and missed his 23rd game this season on Saturday.
Miller and John Moore (shoulder) have yet to make their season debuts for Boston so far.
The Bruins were also without the services of Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Zach Senyshyn (lower body) and Par Lindholm (laceration) on Saturday night against the Wild.
Kuhlman’s been out for the last 15 games and is still wearing a boot after being injured in Toronto on Oct. 19th, while Backes participated in Saturday’s optional morning skate in a red no-contact sweater.
Backes’ ongoing upper body injury– likely a concussion suffered in his collision with Ottawa Senators forward, Scott Sabourin, on Nov. 2nd– is one that the Bruins are not looking to rush his return, considering it would be at least his third concussion with the club since signing with Boston on July 1, 2016.
Meanwhile, Senyshyn missed his 5th consecutive game and cannot be reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) while injured, so even though most of Boston’s forwards are ready to go and his services are not needed, the focus is on his return to health before he can be assigned as necessary in whatever role the team feels is right for him.
Lindholm sustained a cut in Thursday night’s matchup with the Buffalo Sabres, missed most of the first period, but returned and would have been a healthy scratch on Saturday with Brett Ritchie’s return to the lineup.
Now, instead of Lindholm sitting comfortably in the press box on level nine at TD Garden, he is likely doing so while bandaged or stitched up and doing his best to heal while taking in the game.
Bruce Cassidy juggled his lines for Boston’s matchup with Minnesota, moving Chris Wagner to the second line right wing slot with Jake DeBrusk on the left wing and David Krejci at center and returning Charlie Coyle to the third line center position between Anders Bjork and Danton Heinen.
Ritchie’s return to action meant he’d skate on the fourth line right wing with Joakim Nordstrom on the left and Sean Kuraly down the middle.
On defense, Krug returned to the action for the B’s after missing the last five games with an upper body injury and resumed his role as a second pairing defender on the left side with Brandon Carlo as his partner.
Matt Grzelcyk returned to his usual spot on the third defensive pairing, but was matched up with Steven Kampfer on Saturday as Cassidy wanted to keep his veteran 7th defender fresh and scratched Connor Clifton for a night.
As a result of Krug’s return, Urho Vaakanainen was reassigned to Providence.
Jared Spurgeon kicked off the game’s action with a hooking penalty against Bjork at 1:07 of the first period. Boston didn’t convert on the ensuing power play opportunity.
Less than a minute after their power play expired, the Bruins were shorthanded when Zdeno Chara hooked Jason Zucker at 3:55.
Minnesota was unsuccessful on their first skater advantage of the night.
But at 8:46 of the opening frame, Krug slashed Kevin Fiala in retaliation for some stick work that Fiala had initiated on Krug, resulting in the Wild’s second power play of the game.
This time around, Minnesota was sure to notch a power play goal as Zucker (8) collected a goal off a rebound from Brad Hunt’s initial shot from the point to give the Wild the, 1-0, lead at 8:53, while on the skater advantage.
Hunt (6) and Mats Zuccarello (6) tallied the assists on the goal.
It was the 7th time this season that the Bruins gave up the first goal in a game– and for the 2nd consecutive game as the B’s allowed the first goal on Thursday against the Sabres.
Midway through the period, Brad Marchand and Matt Dumba exchanged pleasantries along the wall, yielding roughing minors at 11:25 and resulting in 4-on-4 action.
About 90 seconds later, the Wild went on a rare 4-on-3 power play thanks to Charlie McAvoy’s tripping infraction against Zucker at 12:56.
Minnesota was unable to convert on the resulting abbreviated 4-on-3 and 5-on-4 opportunities.
After one period of play at TD Garden on Saturday night, the Wild led the Bruins, 1-0, on the scoreboard with Minnesota holding the advantage in shots on goal, 15-10.
The Wild also led in takeaways (5-2) and hits (9-7), while the Bruins led in faceoff win percentage (54-46).
Both teams had four blocked shots aside and two giveaways each heading into the first intermission.
Minnesota was 1/3 on the power play and Boston was 0/1 on the skater advantage entering the second period.
Early in the middle frame, Chara blasted a shot from the blue line that was tipped in by DeBrusk (4), tying the game, 1-1, at 4:14 of the second period.
Chara (6) and Ritchie (2) picked up the assists on DeBrusk’s goal, yielding Ritchie’s first assist on a goal since Oct. 19th in Toronto.
Two minutes later, Victor Rask (2) turned and angled his skates flawlessly at a flying pass from Spurgeon to put Minnesota back into command of the scoreboard, 2-1, with a goal at 6:14.
Spurgeon (9) and Ryan Suter (11) nabbed the assists as the Wild regained the lead.
Midway through the period, Chara caught Zucker with a high stick that drew blood and resulted in a four-minute double-minor for Boston’s captain at 12:43.
Eric Staal (7) deflected Suter’s shot on the ensuing power play to the empty space right in front of himself and utilized his hand-eye coordination to whack the loose puck into the twine as the Bruins netminder reacted to the initial shot by the Wild defender.
Suter (12) and Zuccarello (7) each earned their second assist of the night as Minnesota pulled ahead, 3-1, at 14:26.
Moments later, Marchand cross checked Carson Soucy and presented the Wild with yet another power play at 17:14. This time, Minnesota was unsuccessful on the advantage.
With only seconds remaining in the period, Krug sent a shot that caromed off the boards and back into the slot whereby Marchand (16) snagged the rebound and sent the puck into the back of the twine– bringing the Bruins to within one-goal– at 19:56.
Krug (12) and Bergeron (13) had the assists as the B’s trailed, 3-2, entering the second intermission.
Through 40 minutes of action, the Wild led the Bruins, 3-2, on the scoreboard and, 26-23, in shots on goal– despite Boston holding a, 13-11, advantage in the second period alone.
Boston led in blocked shots (12-11) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Minnesota led in takeaways (5-4) and hits (16-13) heading into the third period.
Both teams had three giveaways aside and the Wild were 2/6 on the power play, while the Bruins were still 0/1.
Just 30 seconds into the third period, Bergeron tripped Jonas Brodin and was charged with Boston’s 7th straight penalty of the night.
Minnesota did not score while Bergeron was in the box, but capitalized on a lucky bounce early in the period when Fiala (5) tried to work a backhand deke through the low slow while attempting to shake off a Bruins defender and accidentally sent the puck airborne, deflecting it off of Krug’s stick and into Boston’s own net.
Fiala’s unassisted effort gave the Wild a, 4-2, lead at 5:19 of the third period.
Midway through the final frame of regulation, Minnesota’s Victor Rask, received a holding penalty at 14:39 and ended Boston’s run of seven consecutive penalties in the game.
The Bruins did not score on their second power play of the night.
With 2:22 remaining in regulation, Cassidy pulled his netminder for an extra attacker, which proved successful– not just once, but twice– first on Krejci’s (3) goal at 18:05 and then again on the power play with another goal from Krejci (4) at 18:53.
On Krejci’s first goal of the game, DeBrusk couldn’t redirect an initial attempt into the net, leading to Bergeron’s quick tap of the puck to the veteran No. 2 center for the surefire goal on the unguarded side of the net while Stalock was out of position.
Bergeron (14) and DeBrusk (4) had the assists as the Bruins pulled to within one, 4-3, at 18:05.
Then at 18:29, Minnesota’s Luke Kunin tripped McAvoy, which led to Boston’s third power play opportunity of the game and Minnesota’s 2nd consecutive penalty of the night.
While Kunin was in the box, the Bruins went to work on a 6-on-4 advantage with 1:31 remaining on the gameclock and their goalie pulled.
That’s when, at 18:53, Krejci rocketed a one-timer pass from Bergeron into the back of the net after Bergeron had enough time to retrieve a new stick from the bench and chip in for his third assist of the night, tying the game, 4-4.
Bergeron (15) and Krug (13) tallied the assists on Krejci’s second goal and the B’s forced overtime for the 6th time this season after scoring two goals in 48 seconds.
After 60 minutes, Boston led Minnesota in shots on goal, 38-33, and had a, 15-7, advantage in shots on net in the third period alone.
The Bruins also led in hits (25-23) and faceoff win% (52-48) heading into overtime, but the Wild led in blocked shots (15-13), takeaways (13-6) and giveaways (7-5) as the extra frame began.
Since no penalties were called in overtime, Minnesota finished the night 2/7 on the power play and Boston went 1/3 on the skater advantage.
Cassidy started overtime with Krug, Marchand and Bergeron on the ice while Bruce Boudreau opted for Joel Eriksson Ek, Suter and Spurgeon to kick things off for Minnesota.
Midway through the overtime period, Krug (3) waltzed his way from end-to-end, skating right up the middle of the ice while the Wild players just… let him go by… …and slipped a shot through Stalock’s five-hole to complete Boston’s comeback and seal the deal on a, 5-4, overtime win.
Once more, Bergeron (16) and Marchand (23) had the assists as Bergeron picked up his fourth assist of the game on Krug’s game-winning overtime goal at 2:41 of the extra frame– completing a span of three goals in 4:36 elapsed game time from the third period to the end of overtime for Boston.
The Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 39-36, despite trailing in shots on goal in the overtime period, 3-1, to the Wild.
Minnesota wrapped the night up leading in blocked shots (16-13) and giveaways (7-5), while Boston ended the night leading in hits (25-23) and both teams split faceoff win% (50-50).
The Wild fell to 0-3 on the season in overtime, but the Bruins improved to 1-1 in the extra frame this season, while improving to 2-2-2 when trailing after two periods.
Boston finished their two-game homestand 2-0-0.
The B’s will begin a two-game road trip with games on back-to-back nights next Tuesday in Montreal and Wednesday in Ottawa before returning home to close out the month of November against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee in the NHL’s 2019 Discover Thanksgiving Showdown.
The Bruins will unveil their new alternate sweaters on Sunday at an event for season ticket holders and likely debut their new threads on the ice in their matchup with the Rangers.
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Mike Babcock Fired: What Does This Mean for The– Bruins?
Wednesday afternoon, the Toronto Maple Leafs fired their now former head coach, Mike Babcock, and promoted Sheldon Keefe as the new head coach of the Leafs from his previous head coaching duties with the Toronto Marlies (AHL).
It’s a move that everyone likely saw coming, but this soon? That’s impressive.
Babcock was adamant in his coaching abilities and in his belief in himself as “the greatest coach who ever lived” (paraphrasing, obviously), but could not salvage his hubris when it mattered most– right now.
Toronto is currently 9-10-4 (22 points) on the season, 5th place in the Atlantic Division and outside of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Luckily for the Leafs, the Pittsburgh Penguins (11-7-3, 25 points), Philadelphia Flyers (10-7-4, 24 points) and Buffalo Sabres (10-8-3, 23 points) aren’t that far ahead of them in the standings for now.
It’s the perfect time to be bold and make a move if you’re looking to provide a short-term spark that will hopefully re-ignite some cooling embers and launch the Maple Leafs back into playoff contention at the very least– if not Stanley Cup contention, as many have expected for a few years now before Toronto’s General Manager, Kyle Dubas, was forced to spend about $40.489 million on William Nylander, Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner while somehow forgetting the importance of a defense and a backup goaltender in the process.
For a team that used to employ a coach that notoriously bet on himself and his process for better or worse, well, they’re betting heavily on the salary cap ceiling to make a significant jump by the time a new national TV rights distribution package in the United States is negotiated in 2022.
But that’s a separate discussion entirely.
For now, we’re left in the wake of a post-Babcock Leafs Era and what it means for the Boston Bruins– Toronto’s biggest rival most recently.
The 56-year-old former head coach in Toronto was in his 5th year of an eight-year, $50.000 million contract with the Maple Leafs.
Toronto went 29-42-11 in the 2015-16 season, which led them to drafting Matthews with the 1st overall pick in the 2016 Draft.
The following year, Babcock and the Maple Leafs improved to 40-27-15, qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2013, before losing in six games to the Washington Capitals in the 2017 First Round.
Then history repeated itself as the Leafs went 49-26-7 in the 2017-18 regular season before losing in seven games to Boston in the 2018 First Round.
From there it was a broken record for Toronto– a 46-28-9 effort in 2018-19 led to another First Round matchup with Boston and another Game 7 loss on the road to the Bruins in the 2019 First Round.
This season, through 23 games, the Leafs have six wins in regulation. They have nine total.
Babcock hasn’t won a playoff series since he was still with the Detroit Red Wings in 2013. He hasn’t led a team back to the Stanley Cup Final since losing in 2009 with Detroit in the Red Wings-Penguins rematch from 2008.
He may be “Canada’s Coach”, but he isn’t “Canada’s favorite team’s head coach” anymore.
Enter Keefe, a 39-year-old, from Brampton, Ontario– a short drive from Toronto– emerging as “The Chosen One”.
Hired by Toronto to lead the Marlies on June 8, 2015, Keefe had a respectable first season with Toronto’s AHL affiliate in 2015-16, notching a 54-16-5-1 record (wins-losses-overtime losses-shootout losses, for those of you who aren’t AHL savvy).
Keefe pushed his team all the way to the Eastern Conference Final in the 2016 Calder Cup Playoffs (his rookie season as an AHL coach, mind you) before the Marlies succumbed to the Hershey Bears in five games.
In 2016-17, Keefe coached his team to a 42-29-4-1 record and a North Division Final appearance in the 2017 Calder Cup Playoffs that resulted in a Game 7 loss to the Syracuse Crunch.
That loss didn’t set the Marlies back, but instead motivated Keefe and his team as they marched to a 54-18-2-2 record in 2017-18 and a 2018 Calder Cup Final appearance.
They defeated the Texas Stars in seven games and captured Toronto’s first championship in ice hockey since the NHL’s Maple Leafs raised the Stanley Cup in 1967.
Though it was only the AHL, it proved that something was in the works.
Dubas’ masterplan was coming to fruition as the analytics guru rose to power– taking over as GM of the Maple Leafs with Lou Lamoriello’s departure in the 2018 offseason.
Keefe had followed Dubas from the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL) to the Maple Leafs organization in 2015, but Babcock stood in the way of his destiny, it seemed.
Babcock was Lamoriello’s choice and fit with Brendan Shanahan’s “Shanaplan”.
Keefe fit with Dubas in the contemporary game, “Shanaplan” be damned.
In 2018-19, Keefe led the Marlies to a 39-24-9-4 record and an Eastern Conference Final appearance for the 2nd year in a row in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
Though the Marlies lost to the Charlotte Checkers in six games, one thing was for certain– Keefe had it going in the minor league.
It’s not every day that a coach is able to make it all the way to the Eastern Conference Final in his rookie season, let alone in three of his first four full seasons as an AHL bench boss.
Up until his promotion to the NHL, Keefe amassed a 10-2-2-1 record with the Marlies this season.
They were 1st in the North Division at the time of his departure for the big league.
In 320 career AHL games with the Marlies, Keefe collected a 199-89-22-9 record and a .622 winning percentage in the process– plus one Calder Cup championship in 2018.
So, what does this mean for the Bruins?
A lot when you factor in advantages and disadvantages for each team in the promotion of Keefe from the Marlies to the Leafs.
First, for Toronto, the advantages of having Keefe for a potential playoff matchup with Boston.
The core of Toronto’s current roster (Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander, Kasperi Kapanen, Zach Hyman, Morgan Rielly and even Frederik Andersen) has lost in the First Round in at least one of the last three postseasons (Tavares is the only member who hasn’t had to endure three-straight soul crushing First Round departures under Babcock’s reign).
Yes, this may seem bad, but it actually speaks volumes for their playoff experience.
This team is hungry– right from its core– and its fanbase, its front office and its backyard media wants to win sooner rather than later.
Plus, Nylander’s 2nd season in the AHL (although it was only a partial season) overlapped with Keefe’s time behind the bench of the Marlies, so there’s some familiarity between one of the four highest paid players on the Leafs and their head coach.
Additionally, Kapanen, Hyman and others have experience with Keefe and the Marlies’ system.
There’s enough familiarity there for something– potentially something dangerous.
Now for the advantages for Boston.
History is on their side. Boston’s core (Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Brad Marchand, David Pastrnak, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask) has shown its capable of making another Cup run (even with an aging captain and 1-2 centers).
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, remains a constant and in control.
Boston missed the playoffs in 2015 and 2016, but Claude Julien was still their head coach then, so the combination of Cassidy, plus Chara, Bergeron and Krejci’s leadership made for an easier transition into getting the team back into a “top of their game” playoff performer (and eventual Cup contender in 2019).
This isn’t a luxury the Leafs have, where the team’s looking to get back into postseason contention, period, let alone win a series.
Toronto missed the playoffs in their first year with Babcock, but made it for the last three years and lost each year in the First Round.
This leads to Toronto’s disadvantages for another potential postseason meeting with the Bruins.
History is not on Toronto’s side and neither are the statistics.
Yes, Dubas’ 2nd favorite thing in the world– analytics– could get in the way of his 1st favorite thing in the world– bringing the Cup back to the Maple Leafs organization.
As things stand, the Leafs have a greater chance of missing the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs than making them currently.
Toronto– the city, the fans, the players, the front office and the media– wants to win right now. There’s no room for excuses (even if they’re legitimate, like taking one’s time to formulate a defense via prospects or trades and supplementing Andersen in the crease with a legitimate backup goaltender).
But, whereas Cassidy inherited broken pieces in Boston that were addressed and revamped as the team went from outside the playoffs two years in a row to making three consecutive postseason appearances under Cassidy in his head coaching tenure with the B’s– addressing the need for depth down the lineup in the process without the likes of a highly touted free agent acquisition– Keefe and the Leafs have the majority of this season to work on that necessary synergy with a better offense (on paper).
Cassidy was named interim head coach of the Bruins in Feb. 2017. Boston was ousted by the Ottawa Senators in six games in the 2017 First Round and lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the 2018 Second Round prior to their 2019 Stanley Cup Final appearance.
Keefe has Tavares, Matthews and Marner (when healthy) to unleash on any given night and could very well pull a turnaround in one season a la the St. Louis Blues last season (who beat the Bruins in the Final in Game 7 at TD Garden) or the Penguins in 2009 (when Dan Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien midseason and won the Cup) and 2016 (when Mike Sullivan replaced Bylsma midseason and won the Cup).
In that sense, recent history is actually on Toronto’s side.
Boston had some growing pains to go with their dramatic improvement, but the Leafs are built to counteract that pain if Keefe can find a better way to manage it than Babcock did.
As it is, Cassidy is 130-55-27 in 212 games with Boston from 2017-present (good enough for a .613 winning percentage), but 207-128-21-24 in 380 games with the Providence Bruins (AHL) from 2011-16 (.545 winning%).
Babcock was 173-133-45 in 351 games with the Maple Leafs from 2015-19 (.493 winning%).
Keefe gets the final say and has his .622 winning% in 320 games with the Marlies going for him as he steps into the biggest role behind any bench in the National Hockey League.
Playoffs or not, the rest of this season is about to be a wild ride for the Maple Leafs and their fans.
Bruins fans be worried or not.
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Pastrnak and Grzelcyk score a pair in B’s, 5-1, win over Devils
David Pastrnak and Matt Grzelcyk had a pair of goals in the Boston Bruins’, 5-1, victory over the New Jersey Devils Tuesday night at Prudential Center.
Tuukka Rask (9-2-2 record, 2.06 goals against average, .930 save percentage in 13 games played) made 25 saves on 26 shots against for a .962 SV% in the win for the Bruins.
Devils goaltender, Mackenzie Blackwood (7-5-3, 2.94 GAA, .899 SV% in 15 GP) stopped 23 out of 28 shots faced for an .821 SV% in the loss.
Boston maintained the Atlantic Division lead, while improving to 13-3-5 (31 points) on the season and 6-3-1 on the road.
New Jersey fell to 7-9-4 overall (18 points) and slipped to last place (8th) in the Metropolitan Division.
The Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Torey Krug (upper body) and Zach Senyshyn (lower body) on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Boston welcomed Jake DeBrusk and Brett Ritchie back to the lineup after the pair of forwards missed the last five games due to injuries.
Patrice Bergeron (lower body) was a game-time decision and did not participate in warmups. As a result, he missed his 2nd consecutive game this season.
With a laundry list of injuries hampering the lineup, Paul Carey and Trent Frederic were reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Sunday.
Urho Vaakanainen was originally sent down as well in a paper transaction, but later recalled from Providence on Monday.
Brendan Gaunce joined Vaakanainen on Monday’s recall as the forward was added as an extra body for the B’s in their short trip to New Jersey in case DeBrusk or Ritchie were not ready to go.
Gaunce has four goals and three assists (seven points) in 11 games with Providence this season and signed with the Bruins as an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2019.
He was later reassigned to Providence before warmups in New Jersey.
Bergeron and Krug did not practice on Monday, but Krug skated earlier in the morning before Monday’s full practice group. He is likely to return later this week.
With Bergeron out of the lineup for the second game in a row, David Krejci resumed his status as the first line center with Brad Marchand and Pastrnak as his wings.
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, left Anders Bjork with Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen on the second line.
Par Lindholm remained in charge of centering the third line with DeBrusk on the left side and Ritchie on the right side in their return to game action, while Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner comprised the fourth line as usual.
Cassidy left his defensive pairings alone from Saturday night’s, 3-2, shootout loss to the Washington Capitals, while Steven Kampfer remained the only healthy scratch for Boston on Tuesday.
Midway through the opening frame, DeBrusk tripped up Pavel Zacha and was assessed a minor infraction at 12:12 of the first period.
New Jersey’s ensuing power play did not go as planned.
After Boston killed off DeBrusk’s minor, the Devils found themselves trapped in their own zone as a fresh from the box– fresh off a quick change– Bruins team pounced.
Grzelcyk (1) fired a shot from the point that rang the iron, bounced off of Blackwood’s back and ended up in the twine to give Boston the game’s first goal.
Marchand (20) and Krejci (10) had the assists on Grzelcyk’s goal as the Bruins jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 14:26 of the first period.
New Jersey barely had enough time to reset before Boston was again on the offensive– this time with Marchand setting up Pastrnak (18) for a one-timer blast that gave the Bruins a two-goal lead at 14:40.
Marchand (21) and Krejci (11) had the assists once more as the B’s took a, 2-0, lead with a pair of goals in 14 seconds.
Seven seconds after Pastrnak scored, Heinen tripped up Blake Coleman and was sent to the penalty box at 14:47.
The Devils didn’t convert on the ensuing skater advantage.
With less than two minutes left in the first period, pending-unrestricted free agent, Taylor Hall, caught Charlie McAvoy with an errant stick and tripped the Boston defender, yielding a power play for the Bruins for the first time of the night at 18:06.
Through one period in New Jersey, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and held the advantage in shots on goal (6-5), hits (5-2) and faceoff win percentage (59-41), while the Devils led in blocked shots (4-3) and giveaways (9-2) entering the first intermission.
Both teams had two takeaways aside heading into the second period as New Jersey was 0/2 on the power play and the Bruins were 0/1.
An almost uneventful (on the event sheet anyway) second period wrapped up with a late goal in the middle frame from Coleman (5).
New Jersey defender, Will Butcher, led a rush up-ice and completed a short pass to Nikita Gusev as the Devils entered the attacking zone.
Gusev found Coleman as Coleman cut to the low slot– where he was able to ring a shot off the post and in over Rask’s blocker side to cut Boston’s lead in half and put New Jersey on the scoreboard, 2-1.
Gusev (3) and Butcher (5) tallied the assists on Coleman’s goal at 18:11 of the second period.
After 40 minutes of play, the Bruins led on the scoreboard, 2-1, and in shots on goal, 18-16– including a, 12-11, advantage in the second period alone.
Boston also maintained an advantage in blocked shots (10-7), takeaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (56-44), while the Devils led in giveaways (14-5) and hits (12-11).
New Jersey was still 0/2 on the skater advantage and the B’s were still 0/1 on the power play as there were no penalties called in the middle period.
Early in the final frame of regulation, P.K. Subban tripped up Pastrnak and was assessed a minor penalty at 3:11 of the third period.
Eight seconds later, Pastrnak (19) scored his 2nd goal of the game with a one-timer blast from the point on the power play.
The B’s won the ensuing faceoff, moved the puck quickly to Marchand along the boards, then flipped it back to Pastrnak for the one-timer goal at 3:19.
Marchand (22) tallied his third assist of the night, while Coyle (7) picked up the secondary assist and the Bruins led, 3-1.
Midway through the third period, Grzelcyk (2) danced around Subban while entering Boston’s offensive zone, then snapped a shot bardown over Blackwood’s glove to make it, 4-1, Bruins.
McAvoy (7) had the only assist on Grzelcyk’s 2nd goal of the night at 10:33– marking the first two-goal game of Grzelcyk’s NHL career.
A few minutes later, Connor Clifton (2) rocketed a slap shot from the point while preventing the puck from clearing the zone– sending it over Blackwood’s glove, off the iron and into the twine in the process.
Clifton’s unassisted goal made it, 5-1, for Boston at 13:42 as the New Jersey native notched a goal in his home state.
At the sound of the final horn, the Bruins had won, 5-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 28-26, despite both teams amassing ten shots on net aside in the third period.
The Devils finished the game leading in giveaways (15-6) and hits (18-15), while the Bruins wrapped up the action with the advantage in blocked shots (14-7) and faceoff win% (60-40)
New Jersey went 0/2 on the power play, while Boston finished 1/2 on the skater advantage Tuesday night.
With his goal in the first period, Pastrnak (341 games) became 2nd fastest to score 150 goals with the Bruins among players who made their NHL debuts with the franchise. Only Barry Pederson (316 games) did it faster.
The Bruins improved to 11-2-3 when scoring first this season, 10-1-0 when leading after the first period and 8-0-2 when leading after two periods.
Boston begins a two-game homestand against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and hosts the Minnesota Wild on Saturday.
The B’s close out November with back to back nights in Montreal (Nov. 26th) and Ottawa (Nov. 27th) before finishing the month at home against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee on Nov. 29th.
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Washington capitalizes on, 3-2, shootout win in Boston
Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals came back to beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, in a shootout on Saturday at TD Garden.
Holtby (10-1-3 record, 2.98 goals against average, .904 save percentage in 15 games played) is now 13-1-0 in his last 14 starts against Boston and made 21 saves on 23 shots against (.913 SV%) in the win for the Caps.
Jaroslav Halak (4-1-3, 2.57 GAA, .924 SV% in eight games played) stopped 42 out of 44 shots faced for a .955 SV% in the shootout loss.
Prior to puck drop, the Bruins held a moment of remembrance for Worcester firefighter, Jason Menard, who was killed while battling a fire on Wednesday.
Menard rescued a probationary firefighter and another member of his crew before a mayday was called around 1:32 in the morning after conditions worsened on the third floor of the three-decker building.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsBefore tonight’s game, we pause to remember the life of one of Worcester’s bravest, lieutenant Jason J. Menard. pic.twitter.com/MHyJ0N0xuD
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) November 17, 2019The Bruins fell to 12-3-5 (29 points) on the season, but remain 1st in the Atlantic Division after the loss.
Meanwhile, Washington is still in command of 1st place in the Metropolitan Division with a 15-3-4 record and 34 points on the season so far.
Boston fell to 7-0-4 at home as a result of Saturday’s loss.
Steven Kampfer served as Boston’s only healthy scratch with Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper body), Torey Krug (upper body) and Zach Senyshyn (lower body) out of the lineup due to injury.
Joining them in the press box Saturday night was Patrice Bergeron (lower body), who sustained some discomfort during Friday night’s matchup in Toronto.
As a result, Paul Carey was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL).
The 31-year-old center has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 17 games with Providence this season and skated in his 100th career NHL game as a result of being recalled on Saturday.
Krug, in the meantime, was placed on the injured reserve on Saturday, despite skating earlier in the morning with Ritchie, DeBrusk and Moore.
Of the injured Bruins, Ritchie is the closest to returning to the lineup, according to B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy.
Cassidy juggled his lines from Friday night to Saturday night thanks to Bergeron’s day-to-day status, moving David Krejci up to center the first line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak as his wings, while reuniting Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen as a trio on the second line.
Boston’s usual fourth liners– Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner– were promoted to third line duties, while Trent Frederic, Par Lindholm and Carey comprised of the new fourth line for Saturday night’s action.
The defensive pairings remained the same from Friday night against the Maple Leafs to Saturday night against the Capitals.
Midway through the opening period, Pastrnak hooked Jakub Vrana and was sent to the penalty box. The Caps didn’t convert on the ensuing power play at 8:03 of the first period.
In the vulnerable minute after special teams play, Heinen worked the puck deep into Boston’s attacking zone, then sent a pass to Coyle (4) as Coyle crashed the net and redirected the puck through Holtby’s five-hole– giving the Bruins a, 1-0, lead at 11:32 of the first period.
Heinen (5) and Charlie McAvoy (5) notched the assists on the goal.
The goal extended Coyle’s current point streak to four games (a career-high).
Moments later, Travis Boyd (1) tipped in a shot from the point while standing in front of Halak, tying the game, 1-1, in the process.
John Carlson (24) and Brendan Leipsic (5) tallied the assists on Boyd’s goal at 14:27.
With less than a minute remaining in the opening frame, Radko Gudas hooked Marchand and was sent to the sin bin, leaving Washington shorthanded into the second period as Boston couldn’t score on the skater advantage before time expired in the first period.
After one period in Boston, the score was tied, 1-1, while the Capitals led in shots on goal, 18-9. It was the most shots allowed by the Bruins in the first period at any point this season, but the B’s led in blocked shots (4-0) and takeaways (4-3) to make up for it.
Washington also managed the advantage in giveaways (9-3), hits (13-11) and faceoff win percentage (72-28) entering the first intermission.
Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.
The Capitals killed off the remainder of Gudas’ penalty early in the second period as things resumed at TD Garden.
Early in the period, McAvoy missed an empty net, sending the puck wide and off the endboards, whereby Pastrnak (17) gathered the carom and banked the puck into the twine to give Boston the lead, 2-1, at 3:30 of the second period.
McAvoy (6) and Krejci (9) picked up the assists on the goal as the Bruins surged out of the gate for the middle frame before falling back on a heavy defensive presence in their own zone for the remainder of the period.
About a minute later, Heinen hooked Leipsic and was sent to the box at 4:42.
Washington did not convert on the resulting skater advantage and responded with a penalty of their own midway through the period.
Holtby tripped up Carey as the Bruins forward skated by the crease, yielding a minor infraction for the Capitals goaltender that was served by Leipsic at 10:05.
With 16 seconds left in the period, Evgeny Kuznetsov cross checked McAvoy and was charged with a minor penalty at 19:44, meaning the B’s would still be on the power play into the third period if they couldn’t score by the end of the second period.
Boston didn’t score and carried their advantage into the third period as the Bruins led, 2-1, through 40 minutes of action Saturday night.
The Caps led in shots on goal, 30-15, after two periods– including a, 12-6, advantage in the second period alone– and held the advantage in takeaways (9-8), giveaways (11-9), hits (21-16) and faceoff win% (72-28), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (10-0).
Washington was 0/2 on the power play through two periods and Boston was 0/3 on the skater advantage in that same span.
Midway through the final frame of regulation, Tom Wilson tried to mix things up with McAvoy after each player had big hits in the third period.
Wilson grabbed hold of McAvoy’s stick– but was not penalized for holding the stick– and exchanged words with the young defender until Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, skated over to offer his opinion on the subject matter– at which point, Wilson fell over and the two (Chara and Wilson) were assessed roughing minors at 13:59 of the third period.
The two teams survived 4-on-4 action unscathed for two minutes before returning to full strength.
With 1:22 left in the third period, Capitals head coach, Todd Reirden, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker and it was very effective.
T.J. Oshie (10) blasted a one-timer from the low slot over Halak’s glove side to tie the game, 2-2, at 19:01 of the third period.
Kuznetsov (11) and Nicklas Backstrom (13) had the assists on Oshie’s goal as Washington force overtime.
After regulation, the score was tied, 2-2, and the Caps led the B’s in shots on goal, 41-21– including an, 11-6, advantage for Washington in the third period alone.
Boston led in blocked shots (11-5), while Washington led in takeaways (14-12), giveaways (20-13), hits (28-23) and faceoff win% (66-34).
The Capitals finished the night 0/2 on the power play and the Bruins finished 0/3 on the skater advantage as there were no more penalties called after 60 minutes of play.
Kuznetsov, Carlson, Wilson, Coyle, Marchand and McAvoy were the starters in overtime for both teams as the two squads couldn’t get the job done in the five-minute allotted extra frame of 3-on-3 action.
Washington led in shots on goal, 3-2, in overtime alone, bringing their shot total advantage to, 44-23.
Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (11-5), but trailing the Capitals in giveaways (20-15), hits (28-23) and faceoff win% (67-33).
In the shootout, the B’s elected to shoot second, yielding Oshie as the shootout’s first shooter for Washington.
Oshie skated his way in toward Halak and tried to fire one past the Bruins netminder’s glove, but Halak made the save.
Coyle followed up with Boston’s first attempt of the shootout and slid one through Holtby’s five-hole to give the Bruins a, 1-0, advantage after one shootout round.
Kuznetsov hit the post to the right of Halak and couldn’t muster the puck into the twine, leaving Pastrnak with the chance to win it as Boston’s second shooter.
Instead, Pastrnak went for the gaping five-hole that Holtby quickly squeezed his pads together to close after poking the puck off of Pastrnak’s stick and letting the rubber biscuit slide through his legs with just enough time to cover it comfortably.
Next up, Backstrom wired a shot into the back of the net on Halak’s glove side– keeping Washington’s shootout hopes alive.
With the game on his stick, Marchand tried to do exactly what every Bruin has done in just about every shootout attempt this season– aim for the five-hole.
Marchand was unsuccessful.
In the fourth round of the shootout, the Caps sent in their best shot– Alex Ovechkin.
Ovechkin tried to sneak it past Halak, low on his glove side, but the Boston goaltender dove in desperation and robbed the Washington captain– barely getting his glove around the puck before Ovechkin could sneak it over the goal line.
In response, Cassidy sent Krejci out to try to win the game with the last shot in the fourth round of the shootout.
But Krejci also opted for the predictable five-hole and did not score, leaving the fate of the game undecided.
Vrana opened the fifth round of the shootout with a toe-drag that left Halak doing the splits, which was just enough to let Vrana elevate the puck over Halak’s leg pads and into the net.
Boston had to score on their next shot or else the shootout (and the game) would be over.
As such, Wagner was presented the opportunity to extend the shootout, but he too, tried to go five-hole on Holtby, who didn’t face much pressure on the shot as the puck trickled through the crease and wide of the goalframe.
The Capitals had won.
Washington improved to 3-1 in shootouts this season, while Boston fell to 0-4 in such instances.
Holtby improved to 25-14 overall in shootouts in his career as Halak stumbled to 32-33 in shootouts.
The Bruins fell to 7-0-2 when leading after two periods this season and 10-2-3 when scoring the game’s first goal.
Boston travels to New Jersey to take on the Devils next Tuesday (Nov. 19th) before a two-game homestand against Buffalo (Nov. 21st) and Minnesota (Nov. 23rd).
The B’s close out November with back to back nights in Montreal (Nov. 26th) and Ottawa (Nov. 27th) before finishing the month at home against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee on Nov. 29th.
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Marchand’s two-goal game lifts Bruins over Leafs, 4-2
After blowing a four-goal lead heading into the third period against the Florida Panthers before losing, 5-4, in a shootout on Tuesday, the Boston Bruins entered Scotiabank Arena on a four-game losing streak.
The B’s snapped their four-game losing streak with a, 4-2, victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.
Brad Marchand had a pair of goals in his 700th career National Hockey League game en route to the win, while Tuukka Rask (8-2-2 record, 2.14 goals against average, .927 save percentage in 12 games played) made 29 saves on 31 shots against for a .935 SV% in the win for the Bruins.
Maple Leafs goaltender, Frederik Andersen (9-4-3, 2.74 GAA, .912 SV% in 16 GP) stopped 30 out of 33 shots faced for a .912 SV% in the loss.
Boston maintained 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while improving to 12-3-4 (28 points) on the season.
Toronto fell to 9-8-4 (22 points) and remained 4th in the Atlantic as a result of the loss.
The Bruins improved to 5-3-1 on the road this season and snapped their first four-game losing streak since Nov. 2017 in the process.
Once more the Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper body) and Torey Krug (upper body) due to various injuries.
Zach Senyshyn (lower body) joined them on the long list of players out of the lineup against Toronto on Friday after being injured in Tuesday night’s matchup against the Panthers. He will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks.
As a result, Trent Frederic was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and inserted on the third line left wing alongside Par Lindholm and Danton Heinen.
Frederic has five assists in 15 games with Providence this season and skated in 15 games with Boston last season.
Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, left his lines the same as Tuesday night with the exception of Frederic’s addition in place of Senyshyn.
Urho Vaakanainen was paired with Connor Clifton on the third defensive pairing while Matt Grzelcyk was bumped up to the second pairing with Brandon Carlo, as well as the first power play unit.
Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy remained together on the first pairing, while Steven Kampfer was the only healthy scratch for the Bruins against the Maple Leafs.
Midway through the first period, Bjork sent Grzelcyk behind the goal whereby the Bruins defender then flipped a pass from the trapezoid to Coyle (3) as No. 13 in black-and-gold ripped a shot high past Andersen’s glove on the short side to give Boston a, 1-0, lead.
The goal was Coyle’s first in seven games and was assisted by Grzelcyk (4) and Bjork (1) at 13:48 of the first period.
Less than a minute later, David Pastrnak was assessed an interference minor after bumping John Tavares while the Leafs captain did not have possession of the puck at 14:09.
Toronto did not convert on the ensuing power play.
Shortly after exiting the penalty box, Pastrnak was held by Nicholas Shore, resulting in a minor infraction for Shore at 16:37 and a power play for Boston.
The Bruins weren’t able to capitalize on the skater advantage.
After one period of play at Scotiabank Arena Friday night, Boston led Toronto, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing in shots on goal, 9-8.
The B’s led in blocked shots (9-2) and hits (16-9), while the Maple Leafs held the advantage in giveaways (7-2) and faceoff win percentage (74-26) entering the first intermission.
Both teams had two takeaways each and were 0/1 on the power play entering the second period.
Toronto announced that forward, Trevor Moore (shoulder), would not return to the night’s action prior to the end of the first period and was short a skater for the remainder of the game.
Jake Muzzin let go of a shot from the point that was redirected by Auston Matthews (14) and found its way past Rask to tie the game, 1-1, at 9:20 of the second period.
The ref closest to the goal ruled it a goal, while the ref farthest away from the action deemed it “no goal” thinking Matthews altered the direction of the puck with a high stick, but after an official review, the call on the ice (the one made by the ref at the goalframe) stood.
Muzzin (8) and William Nylander (9) tabbed the assists on Matthews’ goal as the Leafs tied the game midway through the middle frame.
Moments later, Andreas Johnsson tripped up McAvoy– yielding a power play for Boston at 11:11.
The Bruins did not capitalize on their second power play opportunity of the night and instead took a penalty of their own late in the period.
Patrice Bergeron took a skate to the sin bin for slashing Tavares at 16:52 and the Maple Leafs went on the power play.
Toronto did not score on the ensuing skater advantage, despite heavy pressure in the attacking zone.
Through 40 minutes of play, the game was tied, 1-1.
The Leafs led in shots on goal, 24-19, after two periods– including a, 15-11, advantage in the second period alone. Toronto also led in giveaways (9-5) and faceoff win% (63-37) entering the second intermission.
Boston led in blocked shots (20-6) and hits (24-18) after two periods, while both teams had three takeaways each and were 0/2 on the power play heading into the third period.
Marchand (12) pocketed his own rebound on a quick break off the opening faceoff to begin the final frame of regulation with a goal 11 seconds into the third period.
Carlo (5) and Bergeron (11) had the assists as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead.
Less than four minutes later, Kasperi Kapanen (6) tied the game with a catch-and-release shot from point blank while Rask performed a split from one side of the crease to the other.
Tavares (8) and Zach Hyman (1) notched the assists on Kapanen’s goal at 3:56 of the third period and the two teams swapped a pair of goals in a 3:45 span.
Marchand (13) tallied his 2nd goal of the game after once again gathering his own rebound and finding the back of the twine– this time after a quick shot that was stopped by Anderson’s glove initially, but rebounded to the Bruins forward as Marchand crashed the slot, picked up his own rebound and slid the rubber biscuit under Andersen’s leg pad for the eventual game-winning goal at 5:08.
Coyle (6) and David Krejci (8) collected the assists on Marchand’s 2nd goal as Boston pulled ahead with a, 3-2, lead just 1:12 after Toronto tied the game.
The two teams combined for three goals in a 4:57 span.
With 1:51 remaining in regulation, Maple Leafs head coach, Mike Babcock, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker in a last ditch effort to tie the game.
It did not go as planned, however, as Sean Kuraly sent the puck deep into the offensive zone, fished it out from along the wall and forced the play back to Chara as the seconds ticked down.
The Bruins captain then blasted a shot from the point for his 4th goal of the season as Chara (4) notched the empty net goal at 18:27 of the third period on an unassisted effort.
Boston sealed the deal on a, 4-2, victory that was ensured at the sound of the final horn.
The B’s finished the night leading in shots on goal, 34-31, and led in shots on net in the third period alone, 15-7.
Boston also wrapped up the action with the advantage in blocked shots (22-10) and hits (35-24), while Toronto finished the game leading in giveaways (13-8) and faceoff win% (63-37).
The two teams finished 0/2 on the power play Friday night as no penalties were called in the third period.
The Bruins are now 10-2-2 when scoring the game’s first goal this season and 9-1-0 when leading after the first period.
Boston returns home to take on the Washington Capitals on the second day of back to back games on Saturday. The Bruins then travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils next Tuesday (Nov. 19th) before a two-game homestand against Buffalo (Nov. 21st) and Minnesota (Nov. 23rd).
The B’s close out November with back to back nights in Montreal (Nov. 26th) and Ottawa (Nov. 27th) before finishing the month at home against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee on Nov. 29th.
Of note, per the NHL’s PR team, Chara is now the fourth defender in NHL history to record a point streak of three or more games at the age of 42 or older, joining Chris Chelios (four games in 2003-04 with the Detroit Red Wings, and again over three games with Detroit in 2006-07), Tim Horton (three games in 1972-73 with the Buffalo Sabres) and Doug Harvey (three games in 1968-69 with the St. Louis Blues).
Meanwhile, Marchand is the first player in NHL history to score a goal in the opening 15 seconds of a period on seven occasions (including OT).
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Flyers fly away with, 3-2, shootout win in Boston
Sean Couturier and Travis Konecny each had a pair of points, while Joel Farabee scored the only shootout goal in the Philadelphia Flyers’, 3-2, shootout victory over the Boston Bruins at TD Garden Sunday night.
Carter Hart (6-3-1 record, 2.71 goals against average, .893 save percentage in 11 games played) made 26 saves on 28 shots against for a .929 SV% in the shootout win for the Flyers.
Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (4-1-2, 2.68 GAA, .918 SV% in seven games played) stopped 27 out of 29 shots faced for a .931 SV% in the shootout loss.
The B’s fell to 11-3-3 (25 points) on the season, but remain in control of 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while Philadelphia improved to 10-5-2 (22 points) and rose to 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Bruins are now 7-0-2 at home this season and are in the midst of a three-game losing streak.
Boston was without Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body) and Brett Ritchie (upper body) on Sunday, but Joakim Nordstrom (infection) and Par Lindholm (upper body) returned to the lineup against Philadelphia.
DeBrusk was ruled out for the upcoming week and not likely to return before next weekend by Bruce Cassidy hours before the game against the Flyers.
Meanwhile, Cassidy inserted Lindholm on the third line, centering Anders Bjork and Zach Senyshyn.
As a result, Peter Cehlarik, was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) and Charlie Coyle was bumped up to the second line right wing with Danton Heinen sliding over to the left of David Krejci.
Nordstrom returned to his usual spot on the left side of Sean Kuraly with Chris Wagner resuming his right wing duties on the fourth line.
Cassidy kept the Bruins defense the same from the last couple of games, leaving Connor Clifton on the first pairing with Zdeno Chara and Boston University alums, Matt Grzelcyk with Charlie McAvoy on the third defensive pairing.
Once more, Steven Kampfer was Boston’s only healthy scratch.
Midway through the opening period, after dominating the game flow, the Flyers finally struck first with a goal by Konecny (8).
Konecny’s goal was assisted by Couturier (7) and Oskar Lindblom (6) at 13:50 of the first period and was marked the first time this season that a visiting team had scored the game’s first goal at TD Garden.
It was also just the 13th shot on net for Philadelphia, while Boston was limited to three shots on goal at the time of Konecny’s goal.
Less than a minute after taking the, 1-0, lead, the Flyers went on the penalty kill thanks to Farabee’s minor infraction for high sticking against Brad Marchand at 14:14.
The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing power play.
Late in the period, Philippe Myers (3) sent a laser past Halak with heavy traffic in front of the net to give Philly a two-goal lead.
Konecny (11) and Travis Sanheim (5) notched the assists on Myers’ goal at 17:56 and the Flyers led, 2-0.
After one period, Philadelphia led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 14-5, in shots on goal. The Flyers also held the advantage in takeaways, 2-1.
Meanwhile, the B’s led in blocked shots (4-3), hits (12-11) and faceoff win percentage (75-25).
Both teams had three giveaways each and Boston was 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the second period.
Early in the middle frame, the Bruins thought they had scored, but the officials on the ice made no clear indication as to what the call was until after video review in Toronto automatically reviewed something they couldn’t review.
See, the on-ice officials decided there was goaltender interference on the play, which, there had been something that happened in the crease– whether it was caused by Philly bumping a Boston forward into the Flyers goaltender or simply a Bruin colliding under his own volition into Hart– and thus, no goal was the call on the ice and it could not be reviewed.
Or something like that.
The fact of the matter is fans at the rink and casual viewers at home would simply like an explanation of what is believed to have happened (a.k.a. “the call on the ice”) and why or why not there was a review (a.k.a. “further review” or lack thereof).
Regardless, Boston trudged on with better possession in the second period than the first period, but committed the only penalty of the period when David Pastrnak hooked Ivan Provorov at 8:11 of the second period.
Philadelphia didn’t capitalize on their first power play of the night and play resumed even strength with no issue.
Through 40 minutes of play, the Flyers still led, 2-0, and held a, 20-10, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 6-5, advantage in the second period alone.
Philly also led in takeaways (10-4) and hits (21-20), while Boston led in blocked shots (11-8), giveaways (9-7) and faceoff win% (70-30).
Both teams were 0/1 on the power play.
Early in the final frame of regulation, Coyle worked the puck deep into Boston’s attacking zone, then sent a bouncing biscuit to the slot whereby Heinen (4) scooped up the loose puck, spun and wrapped it into the twine from point blank– cutting Philadelphia’s lead in half, 2-1.
Coyle (4) and Chara (4) had the assists on Heinen’s goal at 5:59 of the third period and the Bruins began to surge.
Midway through the third period, Brad Marchand (11) received a pass from Grzelcyk and fired a wrist shot top shelf over Hart’s glove from the faceoff dot to tie the game, 2-2, at 12:22.
Grzelcyk (3) had the only assist on the goal.
Less than a few minutes later, Provorov slashed Pastrnak as the Bruins forward was on a breakaway and yielding a penalty shot to the young Boston winger at 15:04.
Pastrnak was denied by Hart and play resumed as the score remained deadlocked, 2-2.
Almost two minutes later, Lindblom tripped up Marchand and was sent to the penalty box at 16:40.
The B’s did not convert on the resulting skater advantage, despite taking a timeout with 1:36 remaining in regulation to draw up a last ditch effort plan on the advantage.
At the horn, the Bruins and Flyers remained tied, 2-2, and headed for overtime.
Shots on goal were even, 27-27, despite Boston’s, 17-7, advantage in the third period alone. Blocked shots were also tied, 12-12, after regulation.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia held the advantage in takeaways (14-8) and hits (29-26) and Boston led in giveaways (13-9) and faceoff win% (65-35) heading into overtime.
The Flyers were 0/1 on the power play and the B’s were 0/2.
Philadelphia head coach, Alain Vigneault, started Claude Giroux, Lindblom and Provorov in overtime while Cassidy opted for Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy.
The Flyers used their timeout after a stoppage with 1:15 remaining in overtime.
Shortly thereafter, in the final seconds of the extra frame, Boston had too many skaters on the ice and was assessed a bench minor penalty.
Krejci was selected to serve the infraction and Philadelphia didn’t capitalize on the skater advantage as overtime wrapped up.
After 65 minutes of action in Boston, the score remained tied, 2-2, with the Flyers leading in shots on goal, 29-28 (2-1 in overtime alone).
Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (14-13), giveaways (13-9) and faceoff win% (61-39), while Philadelphia finished the action leading in takeaways (16-8).
Both teams had 29 hits aside and went 0/2 on the power play as the shootout commenced.
Boston elected to shoot first in the shootout– leading off with Coyle, who deked backhand, pulled the puck back to his forehand in effort to sneak it around Hart, but was denied by Philadelphia’s netminder with the leg pad.
Farabee shot first for the Flyers and scored on Halak’s glove side while taking it nice and slow into the zone.
Marchand tried to go blocker side to lead off the second round of the shootout, but was stopped with the leg pad as he couldn’t elevate the puck enough.
Giroux shot next for Philly, but was stopped by Halak as the Flyers forward tried to fake a slap shot, then went glove side before catching Halak’s forearm.
Finally, Pastrnak worked his way in on Hart as Boston’s last chance to extend the shootout, but the Philly goaltender broke up the attempt before Pastrnak could complete his shot– winning the game in the process.
Philadelphia improved to 3-2 in shootouts on the season, while Boston fell to 0-2 after overtime this year.
The Flyers also improved to 6-0-0 when leading after the 1st period this season and the Bruins fell to 1-2-2 when trailing after one period, as well as when trailing after two periods thus far.
Boston finished their two-game homestand (0-0-1) Tuesday night against the Florida Panthers before traveling to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs on Friday (Nov. 15th).
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Red Wings down Bruins, 4-2
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-2, at Little Caesars Arena on Friday– winning for just the 2nd time in their last 14 games.
Jonathan Bernier (3-4-1 record, 3.35 goals against average, .891 save percentage in 10 games played) made 26 saves on 28 shots against for a .929 SV% in the win.
The Red Wings goaltender also had two assists in the effort.
Boston netminder, Tuukka Rask (7-2-1, 1.99 GAA, .933 SV% in 10 games played) stopped 28 out of 31 shots faced for a .903 SV% in the loss.
Boston fell to 11-3-2 (24 points) on the season, but still in command of 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while Detroit improved to 5-12-1 (11 points) so far this season. The Red Wings are still 8th in the Atlantic.
The Bruins fell to 4-3-1 on the road this season, while the Red Wings snapped a four-game losing streak in their win over the B’s.
Boston also fell to 9-2-1 when scoring the game’s first goal this season and 1-2-1 when trailing after two periods.
The Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), Joakim Nordstrom (infection), Par Lindholm (upper body), David Backes (upper body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) on Friday, but Miller, Lindholm and Nordstrom all practiced with the team while wearing red no-contact sweaters on Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena.
Per B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, Nordstrom is the closest among the three to returning to the lineup.
Miller and Moore have yet to make their 2019-20 season debuts, while DeBrusk is still being evaluated and did not travel with the team to Detroit.
In an official scoring change made after Tuesday night’s loss in Montreal, Zach Senyshyn had an assist added to Connor Clifton and Anders Bjork’s goals against the Canadiens, yielding two assists for Senyshyn in his season debut in the process.
Peter Cehlarik and Senyshyn were recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Thursday after Senyshyn and Cameron Hughes were originally assigned to Providence earlier in the week on Wednesday.
With DeBrusk out of the lineup, Cehlarik took over the second line left wing slot alongside David Krejci at center and Danton Heinen on right wing.
Senyshyn remained in his third line right wing spot with Bjork and Charlie Coyle.
Brett Ritchie (upper body) did not take part in warmups prior to Boston’s matchup with the Red Wings and was a late scratch from the lineup.
In his place, the Bruins went with seven defenders, allowing Steven Kampfer to join the lineup on the fourth line right wing in place of Ritchie– resulting in no healthy scratches for the B’s on Friday.
Kampfer, however, did not play a shift in Detroit.
On defense, Cassidy switched his first and third pairings up, moving Clifton to the first defensive pairing with Zdeno Chara to start the game and placing Charlie McAvoy with Matt Grzelcyk on the third pairing.
Krejci (2) kicked things off with the game’s first goal 69 seconds into the first period after Cehlarik worked the puck into the attacking zone, circled back towards the slot and found Krejci for the wrist shot goal on Bernier’s short side.
Cehlarik (1) had the only assist on Krejci’s goal and the Bruins jumped out to the, 1-0, lead.
But it was short lived.
Roughly 90 seconds after Boston scored, Dylan Larkin (5) skated past Clifton, wrapped around the net and banked the puck off of Patrice Bergeron’s skate and into the twine, tying the game, 1-1, in the process.
Madison Bowey (3) and Bernier (1) notched the assists on Larkin’s goal as the Red Wings pulled even at 2:41 of the first period.
A minute later, David Pastrnak hooked Detroit blue liner, Dennis Cholowski and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 3:40.
The Bruins managed to kill off Pastrnak’s minor, but went undisciplined midway through the opening frame as Brad Marchand took an interference penalty against Filip Hronek at 11:12.
Detroit only needed 37 seconds on the ensuing power play to capitalize on the skater advantage with Robby Fabbri (2) snapping a shot past Rask to give the Red Wings their first lead of the night, 2-1.
Tyler Bertuzzi (9) and Anthony Mantha (7) tallied the assists on Fabbri’s first goal with the Red Wings since being acquired by Detroit in a trade with the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
The Blues acquired Jacob de la Rose in the transaction.
Fabbri’s first goal of the night came at 11:49 of the first period.
Less than a minute later, Bowey was guilty of holding Heinen, but the B’s weren’t able to convert on the resulting power play opportunity.
After one period at Little Caesars Arena, the Red Wings led, 2-1, and shots on goal were even, 12-12.
Boston led in blocked shots (6-4) and takeaways (1-0) heading into the first intermission, while Detroit held the advantage in giveaways (6-2), hits (9-7) and faceoff win percentage (57-43).
The Red Wings were 1/2 on the power play heading into the second period and the Bruins were 0/1.
Pastrnak hooked Larkin 28 seconds into the second period and presented Detroit with an early skater advantage to begin the middle frame.
Fabbri (3) made sure to capitalize on the power play opportunity, acting as the bumper in the slot and scoring his 2nd goal of the night on a one-timer at 1:30 of the second period.
He became the 7th player in Red Wings history to score two or more goals in his team debut.
Bertuzzi (10) and Cholowski (4) had the assists on Fabbri’s 2nd power play goal of the game and Detroit led, 3-1.
Torey Krug sent the puck over the glass and out of play, yielding an automatic delay of game penalty at 3:30.
Detroit’s resulting power play opportunity was cut short as Larkin tripped up Chara behind the Boston net at 3:50, resulting in 4-on-4 action for a 1:41 span before the Bruins would have an abbreviated power play.
The B’s did not score on the skater advantage.
Midway through the second period, Marchand and Hronek exchanged pleasantries and dropped the gloves. Each received a five-minute major for fighting at 11:16.
It was just the 2nd fight of the season for the Bruins (previous, Ritchie vs. Barclay Goodrow on Oct. 29th against the San Jose Sharks).
A couple of minutes later, things were still chippy as Krejci was penalized for roughing Valtteri Filppula at 13:35.
In response, shortly after failing to convert on the skater advantage, Filppula tripped Pastrnak at 15:56 and elicited a power play chance for the Bruins.
With only seconds to spare on the advantage, Krug ripped a shot from the point that was deflected by Bergeron (8) in front of the net to cut Detriot’s lead to one-goal.
Krug (11) and Krejci (5) had the assists on Bergeron’s power play goal as the Bruins trailed, 3-2, at 17:52.
Through 40 minutes of action in Detroit, the Red Wings led, 3-2, on the scoreboard, but trailed Boston in shots on goal, 24-22– including a, 12-10, advantage for the B’s in the second period alone.
Detroit held the advantage in blocked shots (10-9), giveaways (12-2), hits (17-14) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Boston led in takeaways (3-0).
The Red Wings were 2/5 on the skater advantage and the Bruins were 1/3 on the power play entering the third period,
Early in the final frame, Bowey slashed Marchand and was sent to the sin bin with a minor infraction at 4:34 of the third period.
Boston did not score on the ensuing power play.
Neither team found the back of the net until the Bruins pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker with about two minutes left in regulation.
Shortly thereafter, Mantha (10) pocketed an empty net goal at 18:32 and sealed the deal on the win for the Red Wings.
Bernier (2) had the only assist on the goal as Detroit finished the night with a, 4-2, win over Boston– dominating the third period in shots on goal, 10-4, bolstering their total shots on net advantage to, 32-28.
The Red Wings finished Friday night’s action leading in blocked shots (15-11), giveaways (17-7) and hits (27-21), while the Bruins finished the night leading in faceoff win% (51-49).
Detroit went 2/5 on the power play and Boston went 1/4 on the skater advantage.
The Bruins return home on Sunday for a two-game homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers (Sunday, Nov. 10th) and the Florida Panthers next Tuesday (Nov. 12th) before traveling to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs next Friday (Nov. 15th).
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Habs end B’s winning streak at six, beat Boston, 5-4
The Montreal Canadiens eked out a, 5-4, win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night at Bell Centre thanks to an overturned goal in the third period– snapping Boston’s six-game win streak in the process.
Goaltending was optional as Montreal’s Carey Price (7-4-1 record, 2.75 goals against average, .883 save percentage in 12 games played) made 21 saves on 25 shots against for an .840 SV% in the win.
Meanwhile, Boston netminder, Tuukka Rask (7-1-1, 1.88 GAA, .936 SV% in nine games played), stopped 26 out of 31 shots faced for an .839 SV% in the loss.
The Bruins fell to 11-2-2 (24 points) on the season, but remained in control of 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while the Canadiens improved to 8-5-2 (18 points) and tied the Florida Panthers for 4th in the Atlantic in points (though the Panthers hold the tiebreaker, having played in one fewer game than Montreal).
Kevan Miller (knee) and John Moore (shoulder) have yet to debut this season for the Bruins as both missed their 15th game Tuesday night due to lingering injuries from last spring.
Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), Joakim Nordstrom (infection), Par Lindholm (upper body) and David Backes (upper body) were all still out against Montreal, with Lindholm as the latest Bruin to join the injured reserve prior to Tuesday’s matchup.
Despite sustaining a nasty cut in Monday night’s, 6-4, win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, Charlie McAvoy was in the lineup against the Canadiens, as was Torey Krug (who caught a skate up high and drew some blood Monday night as well).
Zach Senyshyn was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and inserted into the lineup on the right side of the third line with Anders Bjork and Charlie Coyle.
Senyshyn has three points (two goals, one assist) in 12 games with Providence this season and one goal in two career NHL games (made his NHL debut last season).
With Senyshyn entering the lineup, Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, bumped Brett Ritchie down to the fourth line right wing with Chris Wagner returning to the left side of Sean Kuraly.
After making his NHL debut against Pittsburgh on Monday, Cameron Hughes joined Steven Kampfer as Boston’s only healthy scratches on Tuesday.
B’s captain, Zdeno Chara, played in his 1,500th career game and became just the 21st player and sixth defender in league history to play in 1,500 or more games in their career.
Chara joined Chris Chelios (1,651 career games), Scott Stevens (1,635), Larry Murphy (1,615), Ray Bourque (1,612) and Nicklas Lidstrom (1,564) as the only defenders to play in 1,500 or more games.
Habs head coach, Claude Julien, reached the 1,200th game of his career behind the bench on Tuesday as well.
Julien won the Cup with the Bruins in 2011 and received an ovation from the Bell Centre crowd before Chara’s milestone was acknowledged at the following media timeout in the first period.
Victor Mete (2) kicked things off with a quick start for Montreal as the Canadiens defender jumped at the perfect opportunity to collect the game’s first goal after the puck deflected off of a teammate in front of the goal and rebounded into the low slot unattended.
Mete’s goal was assisted by Joel Armia (4) and Jeff Petry (7) at 1:13 of the first period and the Habs jumped ahead with the, 1-0, lead.
Late in the period, Mete hooked Senyshyn and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 14:49 of the first period.
Boston only needed six seconds on the power play for Patrice Bergeron to win the faceoff back to Krug, then slide the puck over to David Pastrnak (15) for the one-timer slap shot power play goal.
Krug (10) and Bergeron (9) tallied the assists as the Bruins tied the game, 1-1, at 14:55.
With the goal, Pastrnak extended his current point streak to 13 games– setting a new career-high in the process. He also became the first Bruin to score 15 goals in their first 15 games of the season since Peter McNab did so in 1976-77.
A couple of minutes later, Tomas Tatar (5) sent a shot off of Rask’s glove and into the twine to put the Canadiens ahead, 2-1.
Brendan Gallagher (6) and Ben Chiarot (2) had the assists on Tatar’s goal at 16:45.
Less than a minute after retaking the lead, Montreal extended their lead to two goals as Paul Byron (1) barely kept the puck in the attacking zone and succeeded on an individual effort– sending a shot through Rask’s five-hole– for his first goal of the season.
Byron’s goal was unassisted at 17:16 of the first period and the Habs led, 3-1.
Entering the first intermission, Montreal led Boston, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 13-6, in shots on goal.
The Canadiens also held the advantage in blocked shots (5-3), while the Bruins led in giveaways (10-9), hits (12-11) and faceoff win percentage (67-33).
Both teams had two takeaways aside and the B’s were 1/1 on the power play, while the Habs had yet to see any action on the skater advantage heading into the second period.
Less than a minute into the middle frame, Bergeron hooked Phillip Danault and presented the Canadiens with a power play 50 seconds into the second period.
Boston killed Bergeron’s minor infraction without any issue, but followed up the special teams action with another hooking infraction– this time for Pastrnak against Shea Weber at 3:58.
Montreal didn’t capitalize on the ensuing skater advantage.
Almost midway through the period, Ryan Poehling blocked a shot by Krug that rocketed off of the side of Poehling’s helmet, sending the Montreal forward to the ice before the whistle was blown for the injured skater to head down the tunnel under his own power.
While Poehling went down with an injury, so did Petry as the Canadiens defender caught the ice in an awkward manor with his leg.
Petry returned from the dressing room shortly thereafter and had no issues. Poehling returned to the action too without any major damage.
Connor Clifton (1) walzted around two Canadiens players, held the puck and sniped a shot over Price’s glove while Coyle screened the Montreal goaltender at 7:17 of the second period, bringing the Bruins to within one goal.
Clifton’s unassisted effort cut Montreal’s lead to, 3-2, and was his first career regular season NHL goal in just his 32nd career game.
Late in the period, Bjork (2) slid a rebound under Price’s pad from point blank to tie the game, 3-3.
McAvoy (4) had the only assist on the goal at 18:13, but the game wouldn’t remain tied for long.
Almost 40 seconds later, Mete (3) tucked in his 2nd goal of the ngiht with a shot from the point that floated over Rask, top-shelf, as Chara bumped Montreal center, Nate Thompson, into the Boston goaltender.
Artturi Lehkonen (4) and Petry (8) collected the assists on Mete’s goal at 18:55 and the Canadiens regained the lead, 4-3.
Through 40 minutes of action in Montreal, the Habs led the B’s, 4-3, on the scoreboard and, 25-15, in shots on goal (including a, 12-9, advantage for Montreal in the second period alone).
The Canadiens also led in blocked shots (14-7) and takeaways (7-5), while the Bruins led in giveaways (16-15), hits (25-22) and faceoff win% (62-38) entering the second intermission.
Montreal was 0/2 and Boston was still 1/1 on the power play heading into the third period.
Weber caught Brad Marchand with a high stick 14 seconds into the third period and was sent to the sin bin for a minor penalty, but the Bruins weren’t able to capitalize on the ensuing power play.
Instead, in the vulnerable minute after special teams action, Boston’s fourth line went to work with Wagner dishing a quick pass to Kuraly (1) for the fourth line center to bank the puck off of Price’s skate and into the net– tying the game, 4-4, at 3:03 of the third period.
Wagner (4) had the only assist on the goal and the B’s had momentum on their side.
Moments later, after Coyle thought he had scored by redirecting a pass from Senyshyn through Price’s five-hole while the Habs goaltender was without his stick, Julien used his coach’s challenge arguing that the Bruins had originally entered the zone offside.
After review, it was determined that Coyle had just barely entered the zone by about half a skate ahead of the puck and was offside prior to the play that led to the goal and the call on the ice was overturned at 5:23.
Instead of rallying against the overturned call, Boston went into a hole and found themselves clamoring towards the end of games in back-to-back nights.
Chiarot (2) sent a shot of Rask’s glove and into the back of the net to give the Canadiens the lead once more, 5-4, at 9:06 of the third period after Montreal sustained tremendous pressure in the attacking zone.
Weber (8) and Tatar (8) each had an assist on the game-winning goal as the Canadiens never looked back for the remaining half-a-period.
After Boston iced the puck with 58.5 seconds remaining, Julien used his timeout to rally his attackers for one last push for a goal before the Bruins could pull their goaltender for an extra skater.
Neither team could score as time expired and the final horn sounded at Bell Centre.
The Canadiens had finished Boston’s six-game winning streak with a, 5-4, victory on home ice.
Montreal wrapped up Tuesday night’s contest leading in shots on goal (31-25), blocked shots (27-11) and giveaways (24-19), while Boston led in shots on net in the third period alone (10-6), hits (36-31) and faceoff win% (60-40).
The Canadiens went 0/2 on the power play and the B’s finished the game 1/2 on the skater advantage.
Boston is now 4-2-1 on the road this season and 1-1-1 when trailing after two periods.
The Bruins face the Detroit Red Wings on Friday at Little Caesars Arena. Boston returns home on Nov. 10th for a two-game homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers (Nov. 10th) and Florida (Nov. 12th).
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Marchand’s five-point night leads Bruins to, 6-4, win over Penguins
A wild night at TD Garden led to ten goals combined as Brad Marchand scored the game-winner late in the third period on a wacky play before Patrice Bergeron added an empty net goal to lift the Boston Bruins over the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4, on Monday.
Jaroslav Halak (4-1-1 record, 2.83 goals against average, .917 save percentage in six games played) made 40 saves on 44 shots faced (.909 SV%) in the win for Boston.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh starter, Matt Murray (7-3-1, 2.35 GAA, .917 SV% in 12 games played), stopped eight shots on 11 shots against for a .727 SV% before being replaced by Tristan Jarry (1-3-0, 2.25 GAA, .929 SV% in four games played), who made 12 saves on 14 shots for an .857 SV% in 34:37.
The Bruins improved to 11-1-2 (24 points) on the season and remained in 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while the Penguins fell to 8-6-1 (17 points), but didn’t move from 4th place in the Metropolitan Division.
Marchand had 2-3–5 totals for his 2nd five-point night of the season and the 5th five-point night of his career.
According to the NHL’s PR department, the 2019-20 season marks the third consecutive season in which the Bruins (8-0-2 in their last 10 games) have posted at least one point streak of 10 or more games. The longest such run in franchise history spanned five seasons from 1975-76 to 1979-80.
Kevan Miller (knee) was still in a red no-contact sweater at practice and John Moore (shoulder) was still out of the lineup on Monday. Both players have yet to debut this season and have missed the first 14 games.
Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), Joakim Nordstrom (elbow) and Par Lindholm (upper body) all remained out of the lineup for Boston due to their various injuries, but Brett Ritchie returned after missing Saturday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators due to an infection.
David Backes (upper body), however, joined the long list of injuries for the Bruins and is doubtful for Monday and Tuesday’s action, but feeling better since being injured against Ottawa.
As a result of all the injuries and with the penalty kill in mind, according to head coach, Bruce Cassidy, Peter Cehlarik was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) and Cameron Hughes was recalled from Providence on Monday.
Hughes made his NHL debut against the Penguins Monday night on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly at center and Chris Wagner back on the right side.
He has two goals and four assists (six points) in 13 games with Providence this season and tallied 13-15–28 totals in 52 games with the Baby Bruins last season.
Cassidy placed Ritchie back on the third line right wing with Anders Bjork and Charlie Coyle and replaced Steven Kampfer with Connor Clifton on the third defensive pairing as planned after Clifton served as a healthy scratch against the Senators to keep Kampfer fresh.
Kampfer was the only healthy scratch for the B’s against Pittsburgh.
The action between the Bruins and Penguins on Monday night kicked off with a tremendous pace that had no stoppages for the opening 4:44 span of non-stop action.
Less than a minute later, Jake DeBrusk (3) intercepted a pass in the neutral zone, skated around a Pittsburgh defender and fired shot over Murray’s blocker on the short side to give Boston the game’s first lead, 1-0.
DeBrusk’s individual effort was unassisted at 5:24 of the first period.
Almost five minutes later, David Krejci was guilty of tripping Pens forward, Jared McCann, at 9:04 and was sent to the penalty box, yielding the first power play of the night to Pittsburgh.
The B’s killed off Krejci’s minor with ease as Halak robbed Sidney Crosby with the glove while the Penguins were on the skater advantage.
Midway through the first period, Zdeno Chara let go of a shot that found its way to David Pastrnak for a deflection.
The loose puck bounced wildly in the low slot, whereby Marchand (9) batted it out of the air and over Murray’s glove from point blank to give Boston a two-goal lead.
Pastrnak (15) and Chara (3) tallied the assists on Marchand’s goal and the Bruins led, 2-0, at 13:05.
With the goal, Marchand extended his current point streak to 13 games– becoming just the 3rd Bruin in the last 25 years to record a point streak of at least 13 games in franchise history, joining Phil Kessel and Adam Oates.
Meanwhile, Pastrnak collected his 28th point in 14 games this season– tying his career-high 12-game point streak in the process, set from Nov. 22- Dec. 18, 2017– becoming just the first player to record 28 points in 14 games to begin a season since Peter Forsberg and Daniel Alfredsson did so with the Philadelphia Flyers and Ottawa Senators, respectively, in the 2005-06 season.
Late in the period, Kris Letang slashed Marchand and was assessed a minor penalty that resulted in a Bruins power play extending into the second period, since the B’s couldn’t capitalize on their chances before the horn signaled the end of the first period.
Entering the first intermission, Boston led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-9, in shots on goal.
Pittsburgh held the advantage in every other statistical category, however, leading in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (2-1), giveaways (6-1), hits (11-7) and faceoff win percentage (62-39).
Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the second period.
A couple of minutes into the middle frame, Evgeni Malkin made a pass behind his back to Alex Galchenyuk to send the Penguins forward in all alone on a breakaway against Halak, but the Bruins netminder stopped Galchenyuk’s attempt with a leg pad.
Moments later, Pastrnak (14) sent a wrist shot over Murray’s blocker for a top-shelf goal and his 29th point of the season.
Marchand (16) and Brandon Carlo (4) collected the assists on Pastrnak’s goal as Boston extended their lead to three unanswered goals at 4:22 of the second period.
With the score reading, 3-0, for the Bruins, Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, replaced Murray with Jarry and effectively made his own timeout without using his timeout.
The Pens reset and began a four-unanswered goal charge right back into the game– taking the lead in the process.
First, Justin Schultz sent a shot intentionally wide of the net to force a carom over to McCann in the corner, who then tossed a pass through the low slot for Dominik Kahun (2) to send the puck past Halak with a one-timer as the Boston goaltender was forced to push side-to-side in the crease.
Pittsburgh was on the board, 3-1, while McCann (2) and Schultz (6) nabbed the assists at 5:35 of the second period.
Roughly four minutes later, a poor line change for the Bruins exposed their defense to a stretch pass from Letang up ice to Nick Bjugstad (1) for the breakaway and snap shot goal, bringing the Penguins to within one.
Letang (8) and Brian Dumoulin (4) notched the assists on Bjugstad’s first goal of the season at 9:56.
Nearly six minutes later– on almost the same play– Malkin received a stretch pass through the neutral zone, spun, and threw the puck to Bryan Rust (2) whereby Rust broke free of the B’s defense and scored on a quick shot from close range, tying the game, 3-3.
Malkin (1) and Galchenyuk (3) were credited with the primary and secondary assists, respectively, as the Penguins tied the game at 15:59 of the middle frame.
Boston had given up three unanswered goals almost as quick as they had scored three unanswered goals to begin the game.
John Marino tripped Bergeron at 17:50 and sent the Bruins on their second power play of the night.
Seven seconds into the vulnerable minute after special teams play, Marino was freed from the box and lucked out into a puck that split Boston’s defenders and was unattended in the neutral zone.
Marino (1) completed Pittsburgh’s comeback with a breakaway goal– his first career NHL goal– in front of his hometown crowd, giving the Pens their first lead of the night, 4-3, at 19:57 on an unassisted effort.
After 40 minutes of action in Boston on Monday night, the Penguins led the Bruins, 4-3, on the scoreboard and dominated shots on goal, 30-16– including a, 21-6, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.
Boston led in blocked shots (8-7), while Pittsburgh led in takeaways (4-2), hits (19-15) and faceoff win% (57-43) entering the second intermission.
Both teams had eight giveaways aside, while the Penguins were 0/1 on the power play and the B’s were 0/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.
Midway through the third period, Carlo and Zach Aston-Reese received roughing minors after getting into a skirmish post-whistle at 7:02 of the final frame.
The two teams played 4-on-4 for two minutes until full strength resumed, but in the meantime, Boston went to work on tying the game while even at four skaters aside.
Marchand kept the play alive in the offensive zone at the point while protecting the puck and sent a pass to Torey Krug for a one-timer while the Bruins defender was down by the goal line in the attacking zone.
Krug (2) rocketed his shot past Jarry for the tying goal, 4-4, at 8:14 of the third period as Marchand (17) and Krejci (3) picked up the assists.
Nearly a few minutes later, Bjugstad caught DeBrusk with a high stick at 11:47 and was sent to the sin bin for his minor infraction.
The Bruins did not score on the ensuing power play and nearly gave up a short handed goal against as Rust broke into the zone, but was denied by Halak while Charlie McAvoy crashed into the net– head first– while racing back to bail out his goaltender.
McAvoy skated off on his own while bleeding profusely after Boston’s head athletic trainer, Don DelNegro, attended to the young defender.
Nearly four minutes after McAvoy went down with an injury, Krug appeared to have been cut in a melee in front of the net after Pittsburgh thought they had scored with 2:59 remaining in the game, but had actually knocked the net off of its moorings by their own volition as Rust had bumped the net off its pegs while crashing into the goal.
Less than a minute later, Marchand (10) rang the post with a shot that bounced off the iron, then off of Jarry’s back and just across the goal line before Crosby got his stick on the puck and banked it out of the net, off of his goaltender and back into the net (as if it hadn’t already gone in the first time).
Needless to say, the Bruins had made it, 5-4, at 18:03 of the third period on a wacky bounce.
With nothing left to lose, Sullivan pulled Jarry for an extra attacker with about 80 seconds left in the game, but it was to no avail as Boston cleared the zone in the dying seconds.
Marchand freed the puck to Krejci who sent Bergeron (7) through the neutral zone for the empty net goal at 19:46– securing the victory for the Bruins, 6-4.
Krejci (4) and Marchand (18) tabbed the assists on Bergeron empty netter and Boston finished the night with the win at the final horn, despite being outshot by Pittsburgh, 44-26– including a, 14-10, advantage in the third period alone for the Pens.
The Bruins finished Monday night’s action leading in blocked shots (12-9), giveaways (13-11) and hits (29-26), while the Penguins left TD Garden leading in shots and in faceoff win% (54-46).
Neither team found any success on the power play with Pittsburgh going 0/1 on the skater advantage and Boston finishing the night 0/3.
The Bruins are 7-0-1 at home this season and are on a six-game winning streak.
The B’s improved to 8-1-0 when leading after the first period and have scored first in all eight of their home games so far this season, while progressing to 9-1-1 when scoring first this season.
Boston also improved to 1-0-1 when trailing after two periods this season as the Penguins fell to 5-2-0 when leading after 40 minutes.
The Bruins finished their three-game homestand 3-0-0and head up to Montreal to face the Canadiens on Tuesday before traveling to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Friday. Boston returns home on Nov. 10th for a two-game homestand against the Philadelphia Flyers (Nov. 10th) and Florida Panthers (Nov. 12th).
Down the Frozen River 
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