Nick talks a little about why Joe Thornton didn’t get traded and the moves the Boston Bruins made leading to the trade deadline.
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Tag: Boston Bruins
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Analysis: Avs rent goalie depth and make a return
Luckily for Colorado Avalanche General Manager, Joe Sakic, Calle Rosen was still under warranty as the Avs traded the defender back to the Toronto Maple Leafs at Monday’s trade deadline for goaltender, Michael Hutchinson.
With Philipp Grubauer out of the lineup due to an injury, Sakic needed to add an NHL ready insurance policy to the crease for the stretch run and postseason just in case Grubauer cannot come back or return to form and things go south with Pavel Francouz.
Not every team can be lucky enough to have an emergency backup goaltender like Dave Ayres.
In the meantime, Toronto reacquainted themselves with a familiar face and took back an ex.
Hutchinson, 29, is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end and has split time with Toronto at the NHL level and their affiliate, the Toronto Marlies (AHL), this season.
The Barrie, Ontario native is 4-9-1 this season with a 3.66 goals against average and an .886 save percentage in 15 games with the Maple Leafs and 3-1-0 with a 1.98 GAA and a .943 SV% in four games with the Marlies.
Originally drafted by the Boston Bruins in the third round (77th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft, Hutchinson has a 50-52-14 record with a 2.81 GAA, .905 SV% and five shutouts in 126 career NHL games with the Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers and Winnipeg Jets.
Rosen, 26, has two-years remaining on his current contract and carries a $750,000 cap hit.
In eight games with Colorado this season, the Vaxjo, Sweden native has two assists. He has three goals and 12 assists (15 points) in the American Hockey League over 35 games with the Colorado Eagles.
He has appeared in 16 career NHL games with the Maple Leafs and Avalanche and was originally traded to Colorado as part of the Nazem Kadri, Tyson Barrie and Alex Kerfoot swap the two franchises made on July 1, 2019.
Rosen was originally signed to a two-year entry-level contract by the Leafs as an undrafted free agent on May 16, 2017.
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Analysis: Heinen trade inevitable for Bruins
The Boston Bruins made one trade at Monday’s trade deadline, sending Danton Heinen to the Anaheim Ducks for Nick Ritchie.
Yes, Brett Ritchie’s brother.
Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney, is confident in his group of players and added more size to his lineup with the acquisition of Ritchie, while saving about $1.300 million in cap space in the transaction.
Fans in Boston were split on Heinen– with those in favor citing his ability to move the puck and generate chances in the offensive zone and those opposed citing his lack of confidence and lack in body mass for a physical game among the bottom-six forwards.
One thing’s for sure, however, with Karson Kuhlman and Anders Bjork emerging onto the scene this season, somebody was going to end up getting a ticket out of the city between Heinen, Kuhlman and Bjork.
Could Sweeney have gotten more in return on Heinen? Sure, if other assets might have been involved or Heinen’s recent cold streak not occurred, but speculation is just that– speculation.
For now, Sweeney did his best at improving Boston’s chances at making another deep run and leaving more of an impression on their opponents than last season’s Stanley Cup Final run.
In the long run, the Ducks are hoping a change of scenery will help Heinen’s confidence in his own game return and blossom into what Boston currently has going for them– hopes for another long postseason.
Ritchie, 24, had eight goals and 11 assists (19 points) in 41 games with Anaheim this season and has 78 penalty minutes in that span.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound native of Orangeville, Ontario was originally drafted by the Ducks in the first round (10th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft and has 43-66–109 totals in 287 career games (all with the Ducks).
He is signed through the 2020-21 season.
Heinen, 24, had seven goals and 15 assists (22 points) in 58 games this season with Boston and eight penalty minutes in that span.
The 6-foot-1, 188-pound native of Langley, British Columbia was originally drafted by the Bruins in the fourth round (116th overall) of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and has 34-69–103 totals in 220 career NHL games (all with the B’s).
He is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end.
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Analysis: Thompson brings depth to bottom-six in Philadelphia
Philadelphia Flyers General Manager, Chuck Fletcher, was busy brining in forwards at Monday’s trade deadline– acquiring Derek Grant in a separate deal with the Anaheim Ducks and Nate Thompson from the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for a 2021 5th round pick.
Thompson, 35, had four goals and ten assists (14 points) in 63 games this season with Montreal.
The Boston Bruins’ sixth round pick (183rd overall) in the 2003 NHL Draft, Thompson has 62-93–155 totals in 760 career games in parts of 13 seasons with the Bruins, New York Islanders, Tampa Bay Lightning, Ducks, Ottawa Senators, Los Angeles Kings and Canadiens.
A native of Anchorage, Alaska, he has 18 points (seven goals and 11 assists) in 62 career Stanley Cup Playoff games and is a pending-unrestricted free agent.
The Canadiens own 23 selections over the next two drafts, including 14 picks in the 2020 NHL Draft.
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Analysis: Oilers add depth on blue line in Green with Klefbom out
Early Monday morning, the Edmonton Oilers jumpstarted the 2020 NHL trade deadline by acquiring Mike Green from the Detroit Red Wings while most fans on the East Coast were likely sleeping.
The Red Wings acquired Kyle Brodziak and a conditional 2020 4th round pick in return.
If the Oilers make the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs, advance to the Western Conference Final and Green plays in 50 percent of the playoff games in the first two rounds, then Detroit receives Edmonton’s 2021 3rd round pick instead of their 2020 4th round pick.
Detroit retained 50% ($2.688 million) of Green’s salary in the trade.
Green, 34, has three goals and eight assists (11 points) in 48 games with Detroit this season and was third on the team in blocked shots (63) at the time of the trade.
A Calgary, Alberta native, Green was originally drafted by the Washington Capitals in the first round (29th overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
He has 10-27–37 totals in 76 career Stanley Cup Playoff games and 150-351–501 totals in 878 career regular season games for the Red Wings and Capitals.
Oilers General Manager, Ken Holland, addressed a need for a durable extra body in Edmonton’s own end with Oscar Klefbom out two-to-three weeks with a shoulder injury sustained in Feb. 19th’s, 2-1, overtime loss against the Boston Bruins.
Green is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.
Brodziak, 35, has not played this season due to a back injury and will remain on the long-term injured reserve for Detroit.
He is in the final year of his current contract ($1.150 million cap hit) and will be a pending-UFA at season’s end and has 129-167–296 totals in 917 career NHL games with the Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild.
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Canucks down Bruins, 9-3
The Vancouver Canucks routed the Boston Bruins, 9-3, at Rogers Arena on Saturday night in what was Boston’s third game in four nights of traveling.
That said, Canucks goaltender, Jacob Markstrom (23-16-4 record, 2.75 goals against average, .918 save percentage in 43 games played) made 34 saves on 37 shots against for a .918 SV% in 58:12 time on ice en route to the win.
Meanwhile, his teammate and Canucks backup goaltender, Thatcher Demko (10-6-2, 3.03 GAA, .905 SV% in 20 games played) made a brief relief appearance for a 1:48 span after Markstrom took an inadvertent stick through the cage of his mask early in the first period.
Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (23-6-6, 2.17 GAA, .928 SV% in 36 games played) stopped 21 out of 27 shots faced for a .778 SV% in the loss.
Rask was replaced by Jaroslav Halak (16-6-6, 2.42 GAA, .918 SVT in 29 games played) after amassing 46:28 TOI and allowing six goals.
Halak came into the game during a stoppage in play after a Bruins power play goal in the second period and turned aside five out of the eight shots he faced for a .625 SV% en route to no decision in Boston’s loss.
All four goaltenders that dressed for the game took part in the action on Saturday– on a night in the National Hockey League where, 42-year-old, emergency backup goaltender, Dave Ayres, stole the show for the Carolina Hurricanes in their, 6-3, victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road.
Also, the Arizona Coyotes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-3, on Saturday night.
Apparently goaltending was optional league wide for one night only!
Boston fell to 39-12-12 (90 points) on the season, but remained in command of the entire league standings, while Vancouver improved to 33-22-6 (72 points) and rose to 2nd place in the Pacific Division.
The B’s also fell to 18-10-3 on the road this season, while the Canucks improved to 20-7-4 at home this season.
February 9, 2016 was the last time Boston allowed nine goals (a, 9-2, loss on home ice to the Los Angeles Kings).
Once more, the Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee) and Connor Clifton (upper body/conditioning loan) on Saturday night.
B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Friday night’s, 4-3, win in Calgary to Saturday night’s action in Vancouver.
Joakim Nordstrom, Par Lindholm and John Moore were healthy scratches for Boston, while Ondrej Kase was a de facto healthy scratch as he won’t meet up with the team until Monday for practice at Warrior Ice Arena after having been acquired by the Bruins on Friday.
Kase hasn’t played since Feb. 7th due to an illness and was skating with the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday prior to being traded the following day.
A little past the four-minute mark in the action, the Canucks struck first with a blast from Troy Stecher (4) from the faceoff dot, off of Rask, then off the post and over the goal line– giving Vancouver the game’s first lead, 1-0.
Tyler Motte (4) and Jay Beagle (5) recorded the assists on Stecher’s goal at 4:14 of the first period.
Less than a few minutes later, Boston responded on the scoreboard with a goal of their own– tying the game, 1-1, when David Pastrnak (44) deked and wrapped the rubber biscuit around Markstrom with a forehand goal after breaking into the zone on a breakaway thanks to a stretch pass from Matt Grzelcyk through the neutral zone.
Grzelcyk (15) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s first goal of the night at 7:06 of the first period. The goal tied Pastrnak for the most goals by a Bruin in a season since Glen Murray scored 44 goals in the 2002-03 season.
Moments later, Danton Heinen caught Markstrom with an errant stick while engaged in a net front battle and accidentally clipped the Canucks goaltender inside the cage with the blade of his stick.
There was no penalty on the play and Markstrom was forced to briefly leave the game before returning almost two minutes later.
In the meantime, Jeremy Lauzon received a holding infraction against Elias Pettersson at the other end of the ice at 10:21 of the first period, which provided Markstrom with the chance to replace Demko at the stoppage in the action.
Less than a minute later, Canucks captain, Bo Horvat (19), rocketed a one-timer from the high slot past Rask while Zdeno Chara and Brandon Carlo were split chasing J.T. Miller deep into the corner (from where the one-timer opportunity was generated by Miller to Horvat) and protecting the front of the crease.
Miller (36) and Vancouver’s newest forward, Tyler Toffoli (18), tallied the assists on Horvat’s power play goal and the Canucks led, 2-1, at 11:08 of the opening frame.
About four minutes later, Horvat took a trip to the penalty box for a holding minor against Brad Marchand and presented Boston with their first power play opportunity of the night at 15:34.
Boston’s power play was cut short when Patrice Bergeron also cut a rut to the sin bin for holding against Motte at 17:13– resulting in 21 seconds of 4-on-4 action before the Canucks had an abbreviated power play.
Neither team was able to score on the special teams action.
After one period of play in Vancouver on Saturday, the Canucks led the Bruins, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 17-12, in shots on goal.
Vancouver also held the advantage in every other statistical category, including blocked shots (4-1), takeaways (7-4), giveaways (5-0), hits (14-10) and faceoff win percentage (57-43).
The Canucks were 1/2 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the first intermission.
Early in the middle frame, Adam Gaudette (11) wired a shot under the bar and over Rask’s glove from close range to extend Vancouver’s lead to two-goals.
Quinn Hughes (40) notched the only assist on Gaudette’s goal and Vancouver led, 3-1, at 5:32 of the second period.
Late in the period, the Canucks added a pair of goals when Tanner Pearson (18) pocketed a rebound to extend Vancouver’s lead to three-goals at 14:48.
Loui Eriksson (6) and Tyler Myers (13) had the assists on Pearson’s goal, which made it, 4-1, for the Canucks before Eriksson (6) tallied a goal of his own after stuffing in a loose puck off a deflection in the slot to make it, 5-1, for the Canucks.
Horvat (29) and Alexander Edler (21) recorded the primary and secondary assists on Eriksson’s goal at 15:39 of the second period.
Less than a minute later, Chara took exception to Myers’ hit on Karson Kuhlman in front of the benches and attempted to engage the Vancouver defender in an exchange of fisticuffs, but the Canucks blue liner didn’t want any part of it.
As a result, Myers was assessed a minor for roughing, while Chara picked up two roughing minors at 16:37– yielding a power play to the Canucks in the waning moments of the middle frame.
With less than a minute left in the second period, Charlie Coyle and Horvat got into a scrap and traded punches.
Both players received five-minute majors for fighting at 19:30 and were sent to the dressing room 30 seconds ahead of everyone else.
Through 40 minutes of action in Vancouver, the Canucks led on the scoreboard, 5-1, and in shots on goal, 25-24.
The Canucks also maintained the advantage in blocked shots (11-2), takeaways (12-6), giveaways (8-3) and faceoff win% (56-44), while the Bruins led in hits (25-23).
Vancouver was 1/3 on the skater advantage, while Boston was 0/1 on the power play heading into the third period.
Less than a minute into the final frame of regulation, Pettersson (25) snapped a wrist shot over Rask’s blocker side and into the twine.
Miller (37) and Stecher (9) had the assists on Pettersson’s goal and the Canucks led, 6-1, 46 seconds into the third period.
Moments later, Antoine Roussel caught Torey Krug with a high stick at 5:25 of the third period and presented the B’s with their second power play of the night.
This time around, Boston made sure to capitalize on the skater advantage.
Pastrnak (45) blasted one of his patented power play goals behind Markstrom to cut the deficit to four-goals at 6:28.
Krug (34) and Marchand (54) tallied the assists as Pastrnak picked up his 45th goal of the season– becoming the highest goal-scoring Bruin since Murray in 2002-03– and the B’s trailed, 6-2.
Before the ensuing faceoff, Cassidy replaced Rask with Halak in the crease.
Less than two minutes later, Boston began to mount some momentum with another quick goal from Chris Wagner (5)– his first goal in 18 games– after Wagner followed up on his own rebound and slipped in a backhand goal to make it, 6-3, at 8:11 of the third period.
Grzelcyk (16) and Sean Kuraly (16) had the assists on Wagner’s first goal since Jan. 7th.
Boston’s surge in momentum didn’t last long as Toffoli (19) slapped a one-timer past Halak about three minutes later.
Miller (38) had the only assist on Toffoli’s first goal and once again worked the puck from the end boards back to a teammate for the surefire one-timer goal at 11:10 of the third period and the Canucks led, 7-3.
Less than two minutes later, after Halak managed to stop multiple consecutive shots, finally the Canucks slipped a shot through as chaos ensued in front of the net.
Toffoli (20) mustered his second goal of the game and extended Vancouver’s lead back to five-goals.
Hughes (41) had the only assist on Toffoli’s second goal at 13:03 and the Canucks led, 8-3.
Finally, Jake Virtanen (17) snaked his way through the neutral zone and beat Halak clean with a wrist shot goal past Halak’s glove at 18:15 of the third period and extended Vancouver’s lead to six-goals.
Edler (22) and Stecher (10) each amassed their second assists of the night on Virtanen’s goal and the Canucks finished off the Bruins, 9-3.
At the final horn, Vancouver had beaten Boston, despite trailing the Bruins in shots on goal, 37-35.
The Canucks finished the night leading in every other stat, including blocked shots (18-6), giveaways (12-4), hits (31-29) and faceoff win% (55-46).
Vancouver wrapped up Saturday night’s action 1/3 on the skater advantage, while the B’s went 1/2 on the power play in the 60-minute effort.
Boston fell to 6-5-3 when trailing after one period and 5-9-4 when trailing after two periods this season, while Vancouver improved to 17-3-2 when leading after one period and 21-1-1 when leading after two periods this season.
Hughes became the 2nd Canucks rookie defender to record 40 or more assists in a season, joining Dale Tallon (14-42–56 totals) in 1970-71. Hughes joined Bryan Berard (40 in 1996-97), Janne Niinimaa (40 in 1996-97) and Nicklas Lidstrom (49 in 1991-92) as just the fourth rookie defender in the last 30 years to amass at least 40 assists in a single season.
Vancouver became the third different team this season to score nine goals, joining the Lightning (9-3, win against the New York Rangers on Nov. 14, 2019 and a, 9-2, win against Vancouver on Jan. 7, 2020) and Colorado Avalanche (9-4, win against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 7, 2019).
Boston finished their four-game road trip (3-1-0).
The B’s return home for a two-game homestand on Tuesday, Feb. 25th and Thursday, Feb. 27th for meetings with the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars, respectively, before wrapping up the month of February with a road game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 29th.
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B’s comeback to win, 4-3, in Calgary
After giving up two quick goals in the first period, the Boston Bruins came back to defeat the Calgary Flames, 4-3, on Friday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.
Jaroslav Halak (16-6-6 record, 2.33 goals against average, .920 save percentage in 28 games played) made 18 saves on 21 shots against for an .857 SV% in the win.
Flames goaltender, Cam Talbot (9-10-1, 2.83 GAA, .914 SV% in 23 games played) stopped 19 out of 23 shots faced for an .826 SV% in the loss.
The Bruins improved to 39-11-12 (90 points) on the season and remain in 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while Calgary fell to 31-25-6 (68 points) and remained in 4th place in the Pacific Division.
Boston also improved to 18-9-3 on the road this season with the victory and the B’s have now won 11 out of their last 12 games.
For just the seventh time in NHL history, a team that gave up three goals in the opening four minutes of a game came back to win as Calgary scored three goals in a little over three minutes into Friday’s action, but lost.
The Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee) on Friday, while Connor Clifton (upper body) is still with the Providence Bruins (AHL) on a conditioning stint.
B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made a few minor changes to his lineup from Wednesday night’s, 2-1, overtime win in Edmonton– swapping Danton Heinen and Karson Kuhlman on the second and third line right wings (reuniting Heinen with Jake DeBrusk and David Krejci and Kuhlman with Anders Bjork and Charlie Coyle in the process).
Cassidy also re-inserted Anton Blidh on the fourth line left wing while scratching Joakim Nordstrom in the process.
Earlier in the day on Friday, Boston General Manager, Don Sweeney, made a trade with Anaheim Ducks GM, Bob Murray– sending David Backes, defensive prospect, Axel Andersson and Boston’s 2020 1st round pick to the Ducks for Ondrej Kase.
Boston retained 25% of Backes’ contract ($1.500 million through the 2020-21 season) in the transaction. Kase won’t join the team until Monday, when the Bruins are back from their current road trip and back to practice at Warrior Ice Arena.
Kase has not played since Feb. 7th with “flu-like symptoms”, but resumed skating on Thursday with the Ducks (prior to being traded on Friday).
Meanwhile, Nordstrom, Par Lindholm and John Moore served as healthy scratches for the Bruins on Friday.
Calgary charged into the attacking zone and fired a shot off the post in the opening seconds of Friday night’s action.
The puck rebounded right to the blade of Mikael Backlund (11), who promptly shot the puck past Halak as the Bruins netminder was committed to the initial shot off the iron and couldn’t recover in time.
Rasmus Andersson (15) and Noah Hanifin (14) had the assists on Backlund’s first goal of the game 20 seconds into the first period and the Flames had the game’s first lead, 1-0.
About two minutes later, Backlund (12) scored again on a one-timer as a result of a saucer pass from Tobias Rieder on a two-on-one break with Zdeno Chara as the lone defender for Boston.
Rieder (6) and Matthew Tkachuk (31) tallied the assists on Backlund’s second goal of the game and Calgary jumped out to a, 2-0, lead at 2:24 of the first period.
Not to be outdone, Patrice Bergeron (28) responded quickly after a shot from the point was deflected wide and caromed off the end boards to Bergeron in the slot for the backhand goal 24 seconds after the Flames extended their lead to two-goals.
David Pastrnak (42) and Charlie McAvoy (22) notched the assists on Bergeron’s first goal of the night as the B’s cut Calgary’s lead in half, 2-1, at 2:58 of the first period.
Less than a minute later, Johnny Gaudreau (15) beat Halak with a backhand shot and put the Flames back in command of a two-goal lead.
Elias Lindholm (22) had the only assist on Gaudreau’s goal at 3:23 and Calgary led, 3-1.
Then for a short period of time (less than three minutes) neither team scored a goal.
But Bergeron wasn’t done scoring for the night as the lively boards at Scotiabank Saddledome worked in his favor once more and Bergeron (29) pocketed his second goal of the night on Talbot to pull the B’s within one-goal once more.
Pastrnak (43) and Brad Marchand (53) were credited with the assists on Bergeron’s second goal and the Bruins trailed, 3-2, at 6:12 of the first period.
Less than 30 seconds after the ensuing faceoff after Bergeron’s goal, Matt Grzelcyk leveled Rieder with a huge hit in the neutral zone, but was dealt a minor infraction for elbowing– yielding the first power play of the game to the Flames at 6:33.
Calgary didn’t convert on their first power play opportunity of the night.
Midway through the opening frame, Kuhlman sent Coyle into the attacking zone on a breakaway, whereby Coyle (15) deked backhand to forehand and wired a shot over Talbot’s glove to tie the game, 3-3, at 12:20 of the first period.
Kuhlman (5) and Bjork (10) tallied the assists on Coyle’s goal as the tow teams entered the first intermission deadlocked, 3-3, on the scoreboard, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 12-6.
The Bruins also held the advantage in blocked shots (7-2) and faceoff win percentage (62-38), while the Flames led in giveaways (6-3) and hits (7-6).
Both teams had one takeaway aside, while Calgary was 0/1 on the power play. Boston did not see any time on the skater advantage in the entire game.
Less than a minute into the middle frame, Marchand (24) redirected a shot from Brandon Carlo and gave Boston their first lead of the night, 4-3, at 52 seconds of the second period.
Carlo (14) and Torey Krug (33) had the assists on Marchand’s goal and both teams combined for seven goals in the game in the first 21 minutes of action.
Nobody scored again for the rest of the night, however.
Midway through the second period, Jeremy Lauzon dropped the gloves with Tkachuk and the two players were sent to the box with fighting majors at 10:17 of the middle frame.
It was the 14th fight this season for Boston and the first career fighting major for the rookie Bruins defender, Lauzon.
Through 40 minutes of play in Calgary, the B’s led the Flames, 4-3, on the scoreboard and, 17-11, in shots on goal.
Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (12-6) and giveaways (9-8), while Calgary held the advantage in takeaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (55-45).
Both teams had 16 hits aside and the Flames were still 0/1 on the power play.
Early in the final frame, Bergeron tripped up Derek Ryan and was assessed a minor infraction at 5:55 of the third period.
Calgary didn’t score on the ensuing power play.
There were no goals and no more penalties scored in the final frame of regulation as both teams swapped chances and both goaltenders found their rhythm.
Flames interim head coach, Geoff Ward, pulled Talbot for an extra attacker with about a minute left in the game, but it was to no avail as the Bruins won, 4-3, at the final horn.
Boston finished Friday night’s effort leading in shots on goal (23-21), blocked shots (19-9), while Calgary ended the night leading in hits (22-20) and faceoff win% (54-46).
Both teams had 11 giveaways each and the Flames ended the night 0/2 on the power play.
The Bruins have now won 11 out of their last 12 games and improved to 11-2-6 when tied after one period and 24-1-6 when leading after two periods this season.
Boston also improved to 16-4-4 when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while Calgary fell to 17-7-3 when scoring the game’s first goal this season.
The Flames also fell to 10-10-2 when tied after one period and 7-24-2 when trailing after two periods this season.
Boston wraps up their four-game road trip (3-0-0) on Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.
The B’s return home for a two-game homestand on Feb. 25th and Feb. 27th for meetings with the Flames and Dallas Stars, respectively, before wrapping up the month of February with a road game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 29th.
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Pastrnak, Bruins, beat Oilers, 2-1, in OT
David Pastrnak lifted the Boston Bruins over the Edmonton Oilers, 2-1, in overtime with his game-winning breakaway goal about a minute into the extra frame at Rogers Place on Wednesday night.
Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (23-5-6 record, 2.04 goals against average, .932 save percentage in 35 games played) made 28 saves on 29 shots against for a .966 SV% in the win.
Oilers goaltender, Mike Smith (16-10-5 record, 2.89 GAA, .905 SV% in 33 games played), stopped 32 shots out of 34 shots faced for a .941 SV% in the overtime loss.
Boston improved to 38-11-12 (88 points) on the season and maintained their dominance atop the Atlantic Division, while Edmonton fell to 32-21-7 (71 points), but remained in command of the Pacific Division.
With the win, the Bruins have now won 11 out of their last 13 games (including ten out of their last 11 games) and improved to 17-9-3 on the road this season.
Boston was without the services of Kevan Miller (knee) and Connor Clifton (upper body/AHL conditioning loan) on Wednesday, while Par Lindholm, John Moore and Anton Blidh served as healthy scratches for the B’s.
Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Sunday afternoon’s, 3-1, victory in New York against the Rangers.
Almost midway through the opening frame, Pastrnak worked the puck to Brad Marchand as the veteran winger brought the rubber biscuit into the attacking zone along the boards.
Marchand flipped a quick pass to Patrice Bergeron (27) in the slot, whereby Bergeron deked and got a forehand shot around Smith to give Boston the game’s first lead, 1-0, at 8:28 of the first period.
Bergeron’s goal was assisted by Marchand (52) and Pastrnak (41) as No. 37 in black and gold amassed his fifth goal in his last six games.
About 90 seconds later, Ethan Bear slashed Marchand and was assessed a minor infraction, yielding the game’s first power play to the Bruins at 10:56.
Boston did not score on the ensuing power play opportunity.
A few minutes after the Oilers killed off Bear’s minor, Joakim Nordstrom tripped up Gaetan Haas and presented Edmonton with their first power play of the night at 15:12, but the Oilers’ skater advantage was short lived.
Kailer Yamamoto caught Charlie Coyle with a high stick at 16:07 of the first period and drew some blood– resulting in a four-minute double minor infraction assessed to Yamamoto and 4-on-4 action for a span of 1:05 before Boston had an abbreviated extended power play.
After 20 minutes of action in Edmonton, the Bruins were leading the Oilers, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-2, in shots on goal.
Edmonton held the advantage in blocked shots (10-4), giveaways (6-5) and faceoff win percentage (67-33), while Boston led in takeaways (5-4) and hits (9-7).
The Oilers were 0/1 on the skater advantage and the Bruins were 0/3 on the power play entering the first intermission.
Early in the middle frame, Adam Larsson slashed Marchand and was sent to the sin bin at 3:37 of the second period.
Boston did not score on the ensuing power play– a trend which lasted the entire night for the Bruins.
Moments later, Torey Krug tripped up Haas and cut a rut to the penalty box at 6:49, but Edmonton didn’t capitalize on the resulting power play.
Just past the midpoint of Wednesday night’s action, Bergeron was called for hooking Bear at 10:56 as Boston was forced to kill off back-to-back penalties.
While on the power play, Oilers forward, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was penalized for holding the stick while tying up Coyle from entering the neutral zone and assessed a minor penalty at 12:15– resulting in 41 seconds of 4-on-4 action before the Bruins had an abbreviated power play.
Through two periods of play at Rogers Place, Boston still held a, 1-0, lead over Edmonton, despite trailing the Oilers, 20-19, in shots on goal heading into the second intermission.
Edmonton actually held an, 18-9, advantage in shots on goal in the second period alone, while also leading in blocked shots (16-9), takeaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (64-36) after 40 minutes of action.
Boston held the advantage in giveaways (10-9) and hits (18-15) as neither team had mustered a power play goal– with the Oilers operating at 0/3 and the B’s at 0/5 on the skater advantage.
Karson Kuhlman tripped Caleb Jones at 1:59 of the third period and presented Edmonton with a power play early in the final frame.
This time the Oilers took advantage of their skater advantage as Bear wired a shot from the point that Sam Gagner (5) deflected over Rask’s glove from in front of the net.
Bear (14) and Nugent-Hopkins (30) were credited with the primary and secondary assists as the Oilers tied the game, 1-1, with Gagner’s power play goal at 3:42 of the third period.
Less than a couple minutes later, Edmonton had too many skaters on the ice at what was supposed to be regular 5-on-5 action. As a result, the Oilers were charged with a bench minor for too many men at 5:25 and Yamamoto was elected to serve the infraction.
Moments later, after failing to capitalize on their legal skater advantage, the Bruins found themselves shorthanded once again as Nordstrom was dealt a roughing minor at 9:34 after a fracas developed behind the Boston net.
Edmonton didn’t score on the resulting power play and, in fact, cut short their own skater advantage when Darnell Nurse slashed Coyle to breakup a shorthanded breakaway for the Bruins center.
Nurse was sent to the box at 11:10 and the two teams skated 4-on-4 once more for 24 seconds before Boston went on an abbreviated power play.
Late in the period, Pastrnak tripped up William Lagesson and was sent to the box at 17:30, but the Oilers weren’t able to score on their last power play of the night.
At the end of regulation, the game was tied, 1-1, despite the Bruins holding the advantage in shots on goal, 33-29.
Edmonton led in blocked shots (17-12), takeaways (8-7) and faceoff win% (62-28), while both teams had 15 giveaways and 22 hits aside.
As there were no penalties called in the overtime period, the Oilers finished 1/6 and the Bruins finished 0/7 on the power play.
Cassidy started Coyle, Jake DeBrusk and Charlie McAvoy in overtime, while Oilers head coach, Dave Tippett, opted for Leon Draisaitl, Yamamoto and Bear.
A little over a minute into the extra action, David Krejci sent Pastrnak on a breakaway into the attacking zone with a lead pass through the neutral zone.
Pastrnak (43) deked and sent a backhand shot through Smith’s five-hole– clinching the game-winning overtime goal in the process– and lifting the Bruins over the Oilers, 2-1, in overtime.
Krejci (27) and Krug (32) notched the assists on Pastrnak’s goal at 1:14 of the overtime period.
Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal (34-29), while Edmonton wrapped up Wednesday night with the advantage in blocked shots (19-12), giveaways (16-15) and faceoff win% (62-38).
Both teams finished the night with 22 hits each, while the Oilers fell to 3-5 in overtime this season.
Boston, in the meantime, improved to 5-5 in overtime this season, while Pastrnak recorded his 25th multi-point game this season with a goal and an assist in Wednesday night’s effort.
The Bruins improved to 23-7-8 when scoring the game’s first goal, 22-5-3 when leading after the first period and 23-1-6 when leading after two periods this season.
The B’s also improved to 5-5 in overtime this season and 5-12 past regulation overall.
Boston continues their four-game road trip (2-0-0) with stops against the Calgary Flames on Friday and Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.
The Bruins return home for a two-game homestand on Feb. 25th and Feb. 27th for meetings with the Flames and Dallas Stars, respectively, before wrapping up the month of February with a road game against the New York Islanders on Feb. 29th.
Down the Frozen River 
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