Down the Frozen River

Tag: Brandon Carlo

  • Coyle nets two in Bruins’, 4-1, win at Rangers

    Coyle nets two in Bruins’, 4-1, win at Rangers

    Charlie Coyle scored a pair of goals, while Trent Frederic recorded the eventual game-winning goal as the Boston Bruins defeated the New York Rangers, 4-1, Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

    Tuukka Rask (8-3-1, 2.71 goals against average, .896 save percentage in 12 games played) stopped 20 out of 21 shots faced for a .952 SV% in the win– the 299th of his National Hockey League career.

    No Bruins goaltender has ever won 300 games in franchise history.

    Rangers goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev (3-2-2, 2.80 GAA, .907 SV% in eight games played) made 31 saves on 33 shots against for a .939 SV% in 45:25 time on ice as he was briefly pulled from the game by a concussion spotter after allowing the game’s first goal after Bruins forward, Nick Ritchie, fell on top of the New York netminder’s head minutes earlier.

    Igor Shesterkin (4-7-1, 2.44 GAA, .917 SV% in 13 games played) made one save on two shots against (.500 SV%) and was charged with the loss in 13:19 TOI as Frederic’s eventual game-winner got by Shesterkin while he was in net for Georgiev.

    The Bruins improved to 12-5-2 (26 points) on the season and retook command of 1st place in the MassMutual NHL East Division from the Washington Capitals (11-5-4, 26 points) who were in action later in the afternoon on Sunday.

    The Rangers fell to 7-9-3 (17 points) overall and remained in 6th place in the division– at least before later games on Sunday.

    Boston also picked up their 50th win in 107 games at Madison Square Garden (the fourth edition of New York City’s world famous arena), despite being outscored by New York, 333-325, in that span. The Bruins are 50-46-7-4 all time at the fourth iteration of MSG.

    The B’s are now 3-1-0 against the Blue Shirts this season.

    After Friday night’s, 6-2, loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup utilizing members of the club’s taxi squad.

    Cassidy slid Sean Kuraly to the left wing of the fourth line while inserting Greg McKegg and Karson Kuhlman back into the lineup at center and on the right wing, respectively.

    McKegg, in the process, made his Boston debut on Sunday.

    On defense, Cassidy jumbled his pairings, placing Jakub Zboril alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while uniting Connor Clifton with Brandon Carlo to round out the top-four defenders.

    Urho Vaakanainen was partnered with Steven Kampfer, who made his season debut on Sunday, on the bottom defensive pairing.

    Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner and John Moore were healthy scratches for the B’s, while Ondrej Kase (upper body), David Krejci (lower body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) and Kevan Miller (knee) remained out of the lineup due to injury.

    Callum Booth was the only taxi squad member not listed as a healthy scratch or out due to injury Sunday afternoon in New York.

    Early in the opening frame, Ryan Strome cross checked Kuhlman and was sent to the sin bin with a minor infraction at 5:35 of the first period.

    Boston’s ensuing power play did not last long, however, as Ritchie and Ryan Lindgren went at it shortly after Ritchie fell on top of Georgiev, resulting in two roughing penalties to Ritchie and one roughing minor for Lindgren at 5:48.

    Craig Smith served one of Ritchie’s minors as the two clubs had a little 4-on-4 before the Rangers had an abbreviated power play.

    Meanwhile, less than a minute later, Coyle (4) roofed a shot on the far side past the New York netminder to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 6:41 of the first period.

    David Pastrnak (8) and McAvoy (12) tallied the assists on Coyle’s first goal of the afternoon, which led to Shesterkin’s brief relief appearance in the crease.

    Six seconds after the B’s went up on the scoreboard, 1-0, Pastrnak caught Alexis Lafrenière with a high stick, yielding a 5-on-3 skater advantage to the Rangers at 6:47.

    New York, however, could not muster anything on the power play.

    Late in the period, Clifton wristed a shot from the point that Frederic (2) deflected past Shesterkin from the slot to give Boston a two-goal lead.

    Clifton (3) and Jack Studnicka (2) notched the assists as the Bruins led, 2-0, at 18:14 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the B’s had a, 2-0, lead on the scoreboard despite trailing the Rangers in shots on goal, 9-7.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (9-4) and takeaways (2-0), while New York led in giveaways (3-0), hits (21-18) and faceoff win percentage (53-47).

    The Rangers were 0/2 and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle period.

    Georgiev was back in net for New York to start the second period.

    Midway through the middle frame, after winning an attacking zone faceoff, the B’s worked the puck around the offensive zone, whereby McAvoy ended up sending a pass to Pastrnak across the ice before receiving the rubber biscuit back on the blade of his stick.

    McAvoy (3) rocketed a slap shot from the point past Georgiev to make it, 3-0, Boston at 10:20 of the second period.

    Pastrnak (9) and Marchand (13) had the assists as the Bruins extended their lead to three goals.

    No penalties were called in the second period as the two teams entered the second intermission with the B’s leading, 3-0, on the scoreboard and, 19-15, in shots on goal, including a, 12-6, advantage in the middle period alone.

    Boston also held the advantage in takeaways (2-0), hits (32-29) and faceoff win% (56-44), while New York led in giveaways (5-2).

    Both teams had 10 blocked shots aside, while the Rangers remained 0/2 and the Bruins remained 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Colin Blackwell (5) parted the seas, skated into the slot and fired a shot past Rask’s blocker side to pull the Rangers to within two goals at 10:47 of the third period.

    He then delivered a quick check– whether it was an accident on a follow through or not, he caught the ire of McKegg, the recipient of Blackwell’s blow– and a scrum ensued while New York was celebrating their goal.

    The Rangers trailed, 3-1, as Blackwell went to the box for roughing and McKegg went to the sin bin for slashing at 10:47.

    Neither team scored a goal on the resulting 4-on-4 even strength action.

    Meanwhile, Lafrenière (2) and K’Andre Miller (4) had the assists on Blackwell’s goal.

    Late in the period, Smith received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 16:09, but the New York wasn’t able to convert on the resulting power play.

    With about two minutes left in regulation, Rangers head coach, David Quinn, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker to try to even up the score.

    Seconds after Georgiev vacated his crease, Coyle (5) flipped the puck just about the length of the rink from his own zone past the faceoff circles into the open twine.

    Kuraly (2) had the only assist on Coyle’s empty net goal and the Bruins sealed the deal on their, 4-1, win at 18:05 of the third period.

    After a stoppage in play with about two seconds left in the game, the final faceoff commenced, but not before Brendan Lemieux and Ritchie had a little chat that resulted in a fight officially as time expired at 20:00 of the third period.

    Lemieux also received a misconduct in the matter as the both players picked up fighting majors to finish the afternoon.

    It was the seventh scrap this season for Boston and the first since Lauzon fought Pavel Buchnevich back on Feb. 12th in a, 1-0, win at the Rangers.

    At the final horn, the Bruins had won, 4-1, and finished Sunday afternoon leading in shots on goal, 36-21, including a, 17-6, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston also finished the game leading in blocked shots (16-12), hits (43-37) and faceoff win% (55-45), while New York wrapped up the afternoon’s action leading in giveaways (9-4).

    The Rangers finished 0/3 and the B’s went 0/1 on the power play on Sunday.

    The Bruins improved to 8-2-0 (4-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while the Rangers fell to 2-7-2 (1-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston also improved to 6-0-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when leading after the first period and 7-0-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when leading after the second period this season.

    New York dropped to 2-4-2 (1-3-1 at home) when trailing after one period and 0-6-0 (0-4-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins went 1-2-0 on their three-game road trip and 7-4-0 in the month of February. The B’s return home to face the Washington Capitals on Wednesday and Friday before squaring off with the New Jersey Devils next Sunday on March 7th.

  • Bruins lose big in, 7-2, blowout to Islanders

    Bruins lose big in, 7-2, blowout to Islanders

    The New York Islanders erupted for seven goals on home ice in their, 7-2, victory over the Boston Bruins at Nassau Live at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night.

    Semyon Varlamov (9-4-2, 2.06 goals against average, .928 save percentage in 15 games played) stopped 34 out of 36 shots faced for a .944 SV% in the win for the Isles.

    Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (4-2-1, 2.42 GAA, .903 SV% in seven games played) made 30 saves on 37 shots against for an .811 SV% in the loss.

    The former Islanders goaltender was visibly frustrated and broke his stick against the post after allowing four goals.

    Boston fell to 11-4-2 (24 points) on the season, but remained in command of the MassMutual NHL East Division standings.

    New York improved to 10-6-3 (23 points) overall and jumped from 5th in the division to 3rd place in the standings.

    Thursday night marked the 400th career National Hockey League game (all with Boston) for David Pastrnak. Entering Thursday, he had 393 points (189 goals, 204 assists) in 399 games, including 9-5–14 totals in nine games this season.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), David Krejci (lower body), Kevan Miller (knee) and Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) against the Islanders Thursday night.

    Boston did, however, see the return of Jakub Zboril to the blue line after Zboril missed the last two games with an upper body injury sustained on Feb. 13th at the Islanders.

    Grzelcyk, meanwhile, skated on Thursday morning and may make his return to the lineup on Friday or Sunday in Manhattan against the New York Rangers. He has missed 11 games so far this season due to a recurring lower body injury originally sustained on Jan. 21st vs. Philadelphia, then re-aggravated on Jan. 28th vs. Pittsburgh and again on Feb. 10th at the Rangers.

    The newest member of Boston’s long list of injuries– Lauzon– played 34 seconds in the 2021 NHL Outdoors at Lake Tahoe game against the Flyers and will be out for approximately four weeks with a fractured left hand.

    Krejci and Miller did not travel with the team to New York for the current three-game road trip.

    Halak earned his first start against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum since 2014, while Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy made no adjustments to his forward lines, but played with his defensive pairings from Sunday’s, 7-3, win over the Flyers outdoors to Thursday night’s battle indoors on Long Island.

    Urho Vaakanainen earned first pairing minutes with Charlie McAvoy to start the action, while Zboril was placed on the left side of Brandon Carlo on the second defensive pairing.

    Meanwhile, John Moore and Connor Clifton rounded out the six dressed defenders.

    Kase, Krejci, Grzelcyk, Lauzon, Karson Kuhlman, Miller, Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer and Callum Booth made up Boston’s long list of injuries, healthy scratches and taxi squad members on Thursday.

    Nick Ritchie (7) kicked things off by redirecting a pass through the low slot past Varlamov to give the Bruins the game’s first goal 62 seconds into the action.

    Zboril (3) and Charlie Coyle (3) tallied the assists as Boston led, 1-0, at 1:02 of the first period.

    The B’s didn’t lead for long before Adam Pelech (1) pocketed a rebound past Halak’s blocker side while crashing the net for his first goal in 42 games.

    Pelech’s goal was unassisted as the Islanders tied the game, 1-1, at 3:16 of the opening frame.

    A couple of minutes past the midpoint of the first period, Mathew Barzal (7) burst into the attacking zone with speed and sniped a shot over Halak’s glove side to put New York ahead, 2-1, at 12:39.

    Nick Leddy (10) and Varlamov (1) had the assists on Barzal’s goal as the two teams got off to a fast pace on Thursday.

    Entering the first intermission, New York led Boston, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite the Bruins holding the, 15-10, advantage in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (4-3), takeaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (53-47) after one period, while the Isles led in giveaways (5-1) and hits (12-5).

    Neither team had seen any action on the skater advantage entering the middle frame.

    Anthony Beauvillier tripped Pastrnak at 1:01 of the second period and yielded the game’s first power play to Boston, but the Bruins weren’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Craig Smith cut a rut to the sin bin for the B’s after hooking Leddy, but the Islanders didn’t capitalize on their first power play of the night as a result.

    In the vulnerable minute after special teams action, Boston capitalized on a shift in momentum when Smith redirected the puck behind his back to his stick with a free hand– never closing his hand on the puck in the process– in the neutral zone before skating into the attacking zone and sending a pass towards Jack Studnicka as Studnicka crashed the net.

    There was just one problem, however, as the puck deflected off of Matt Martin’s stick and fluttered over Varlamov and into the twine– tying the game, 2-2, in the process.

    Smith (4) was credited with the goal while Jake DeBrusk (3) and Vaakanainen (2) earned the assists at 11:36 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the scoreboard was even, 2-2, but the Bruins were leading in shots on goal, 28-19, including a, 13-9, advantage in the second period alone.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (12-5) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the New York led in takeaways (3-2), giveaways (9-3) and hits (20-14).

    Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Beauvillier (1) kicked things off in the third period with the eventual game-winning goal for the Islanders after stealing the puck right off of Trent Frederic’s stick and slipping the rubber biscuit through Halak to give New York a, 3-2, lead at 5:41.

    Then it started.

    The Islanders began an offensive onslaught, first when Barzal sent a pass to Jordan Eberle leading Halak to drop down into the splits while Eberle (8) roofed the puck over Halak’s glove and into the net.

    Barzal (10) and Anders Lee (4) notched the assists on Eberle’s goal and New York took a two-goal lead, 4-2, at 10:45 of the third period.

    Less than a couple of minutes later, Casey Cizikas sent the puck over the glass and received an automatic delay of game infraction at 12:04, but Boston’s power play was once again powerless and instead gave up an ensuing shorthanded goal against.

    That’s right, Jean-Gabriel Pageau (8) emerged with a quick breakout from his own zone that translated into a breakaway into the attacking zone before scoring top-shelf over Halak’s glove side to make it, 5-2, Islanders at 12:24.

    Pelech (4) had the only assist on Pageau’s shorthanded goal as the New York forward scored his third goal in three games against Boston this season.

    About two minutes later, a wacky deflection off of Clifton, then Halak, then Vaakanainen and the post (or the other way around, it doesn’t matter that much) left a loose puck with eyes finding its way to Lee’s stick for Lee (9) to pot his team leading ninth goal of the season to make it a four-goal game.

    Noah Dobson (7) and Leddy (11) had the assists on Lee’s goal and the Isles led, 6-2, at 14:44 of the third period.

    Again, less than two minutes later, after Halak made an initial stop with his shoulder, the puck flew back into the slot whereby Oliver Wahlstrom (2) was waiting and anticipating burying the rebound to make it, 7-2, for New York– capping off five unanswered goals in a span in the third period alone for the Islanders.

    Ryan Pulock (8) and Cizikas (3) were credited with the primary and secondary assists, respectively, at 16:33.

    About a minute later, Frederic delivered a swift cross check to Lee after a stoppage in play and was dealt a minor infraction for cross checking as well as a game misconduct at 17:53.

    Smith served Frederic’s minor as Boston’s penalty kill managed to go unscathed on the final special teams appearance of the night.

    At the final horn, the Islanders handed the Bruins their worst loss of the season thus far on the scoreboard, 7-2.

    It was Boston’s first game since beating the Flyers, 7-3, outdoors, so at least the Bruins managed consecutive games with at least seven goals scored by the winning team– just on both sides of the final result.

    New York finished night leading in shots on goal, 37-36, including an, 18-8, advantage in the third period alone– the most shots allowed by Boston in any third period this season so far.

    The B’s finished the game with the advantage in blocked shots (16-8) and faceoff win% (53-47), while the Isles managed the advantage in giveaways (13-6) and hits (26-24).

    Both clubs went 0/2 on the power play on Thursday.

    Thursday night’s game also marked just the second time this season that Boston lost by more than one goal. Coincidentally, the last time the Bruins did that this season was back on Feb. 13th against the Islanders on Long Island in a, 4-2, loss.

    The Bruins fell to 7-2-0 (3-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first game, while the Islanders improved to 3-5-2 (3-0-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston also fell to 2-2-2 (2-2-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 3-3-1 (3-3-1 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    New York, conversely, improved to 7-1-1 (4-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 6-2-2 (5-0-1 at home) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Bruins are now 1-3-0 in their last four games and continue their three-game road trip (0-1-0) to close out the month of February (6-3-0) with a pair of games at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

    The Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced earlier on Thursday that fans will be allowed at TD Garden, Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium at about 12% seating capacity as of March 22nd, which means Boston’s first home game with fans at TD Garden is currently scheduled for March 23rd against the Islanders.

    Information regarding ticket sales and more is coming soon. Check your local listings (nhl.com/bruins, preferably).

  • Bruins shred Flyers, 7-3, at Lake Tahoe

    Bruins shred Flyers, 7-3, at Lake Tahoe

    Philadelphia Flyers mascot, Gritty, and Boston Bruins mascot, Blades the Bruin, might have shared the slopes on Saturday, but their two teams weren’t in much of a sharing mood on Sunday when Boston defeated Philadelphia in a lopsided, 7-3, victory outdoors by the 18th hole of the Edgewood Tahoe Resort.

    David Pastrnak had a hat trick in the win for the Bruins, while Tuukka Rask (7-2-1, 2.56 goals against average, .901 save percentage in 10 games played) made 16 saves on 19 shots against (.842 SV%) for the win on the shores of Lake Tahoe.

    Flyers goaltender, Carter Hart (5-3-3, 3.68 GAA, .891 SV% in 11 games played) stopped 17 out of 23 shots faced for a .739 SV% before being replaced after two periods by Brian Elliott (3-1-0, 2.25 GAA, .928 SV% in six games played) in the loss.

    Boston improved to 11-3-2 (24 points) on the season and remained in command of 1st place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Philadelphia fell to 8-4-3 (19 points) overall, but stable in the division in 3rd place.

    The B’s also improved to 5-1-0 on home ice this season– yes, they were designated as the home team despite playing at a neutral rink in Stateline, Nevada.

    The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Vegas Golden Knights, 3-2, on Saturday night after an eight-hour sunny weather delay melted sections of the ice– deeming the playing surface too unsafe for both players and on-ice officials after the first period ended around midday on Saturday.

    The Avs and Golden Knights resumed play around midnight on the East Coast (9 p.m. local time Saturday) and finished the remaining 40 minutes of action unscathed.

    It was the first outdoor win for Colorado (1-2-0) and the very first outdoor appearance for Vegas (0-1-0) in the first of two games as part of the National Hockey League’s 2021 Outdoors at Lake Tahoe weekend.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), Jakub Zboril (upper body), David Krejci (lower body) and Kevan Miller (lower body) on Sunday.

    As a result, Boston recalled Urho Vaakanainen and Jack Studnicka from the taxi squad and head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several adjustments to his lineup.

    Pastrnak was returned to his usual role on the first line right wing, having spent last Thursday’s, 3-2, loss at home to the New Jersey Devils on the second line with Krejci at center.

    Craig Smith and Charlie Coyle moved up to the second line with Krejci out due to injury and Jake DeBrusk demoted to the third line comprised of Anders Bjork at left wing, Studnicka at center and DeBrusk on the right side.

    Meanwhile, Nick Ritchie retained his role on the second line left wing.

    Trent Frederic, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner were reunited on the fourth line.

    On defense, Vaakanainen slid in on the left side of the second defensive pairing with Brandon Carlo as his partner and wearing an “A” as an alternate captain while Krejci is out of the lineup.

    John Moore and Connor Clifton were paired on the third pairing, while Jeremy Lauzon and Charlie McAvoy remained as the top blue liners.

    Kase, Krejci, Grzelcyk, Zboril, Karson Kuhlman, Miller, Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer and Callum Booth were out of the lineup due to injury, being a healthy scratch and/or members of the taxi squad.

    All injured Bruins, in fact, did not travel with the team for Sunday’s matchup with the Flyers at Lake Tahoe.

    Several Flyers were also not in attendance, though the majority of them were in the league’s COVID protocol, including Travis Konecny, Oskar Lindblom, Scott Laughton, Jakub Voracek, Claude Giroux and Justin Braun. Meanwhile, Morgan Frost was already on the injured reserve.

    Pastrnak (7) opened the scoring 34 seconds into the first period after Patrice Bergeron blocked a shot in his own zone before sending Brad Marchand through the neutral zone with a pass that led to the two-on-one, one-timer opportunity for Pastrnak to rocket a shot past Hart.

    Marchand (10) and Bergeron (12) tallied the assists on the game’s first goal as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead less than a minute into Sunday’s action.

    With the secondary assist on Pastrnak’s first goal of the game, Bergeron tied Bobby Orr for 5th place on Boston’s all time scoring list with 888 points in a Bruins uniform.

    Meanwhile, Lauzon left the rink after just 34 seconds and later was ruled out for the rest of the night with an upper body injury as the Bruins would later confirm in a tweet during the first intermission.

    Nearly six minutes into the opening frame, Joel Farabee (8) pounced on a puck that took a wild bounce off the endboards with enough juice to make it back into the slot while falling and fired it past Rask to tie the game, 1-1.

    Sean Couturier (4) and James van Riemsdyk (12) notched the assists on Farabee’s goal at 6:41 of the first period.

    In fact, van Riemsdyk’s secondary assist marked the 500th career NHL point for the 31-year-old New Jersey native.

    By the end of the night, he had 502 career points– 208 in 343 games with the Flyers and 294 in 413 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs– as a result of his 1-2–3 totals in the loss.

    Midway through the opening frame, Couturier tripped Marchand and was sent to the box with a minor infraction at 12:34.

    Boston’s first chance on the power play did not go as well as they had hoped and resulted in a goal against in the vulnerable minute after special teams play.

    Fresh out of the sin bin, Couturier (3) buried a loose puck from the low slot after McAvoy shattered his stick in the other end, then played catchup without a blade in his hands.

    Kevin Hayes worked the puck to van Riemsdyk, but Rask made the initial save.

    Hayes (8) and van Riemsdyk (13) still ended up grabbing the assists on Couturier’s goal as Philadelphia took their first lead of the night, 2-1, at 14:48.

    Boston answered back in a hurry, however, when McAvoy (2) sent a blast from the point while Bergeron screened Hart in front of the net.

    Marchand (11) and Clifton (1) tallied the assists on McAvoy’s goal at 15:27, as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2.

    Entering the first intermission, the score was tied, 2-2, despite the Flyers holding an, 11-8, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (6-1), giveaways (1-0) and faceoff win percentage (58-42), while Philadelphia led in hits (13-8) after one period of action in Lake Tahoe.

    Neither team had a takeaway, while the B’s were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame (Philly had yet to see time on the skater advantage).

    Less than a minute into the second period, Pastrnak (8) added his second goal of the night after ripping a shot high over Hart’s glove on short side under the bar.

    Ritchie (7) and Vaakanainen (1) picked up the assists as Boston took a, 3-2, lead 46 seconds into the second period.

    Vaakanainen’s secondary assist marked the first point of his NHL career in just his eighth game.

    Meanwhile, the Flyers were penalized for too many skaters on the ice at 6:17, but the B’s weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Late in the second period, Boston kicked off a flurry of goals when Coyle (3) unleashed a shot off the post, off the back of Hart and into the net to give the Bruins a two-goal lead at 16:14.

    Smith (3) had the only assist on Coyle’s goal as the B’s led, 4-2, for less than a minute before Frederic (1) sniped a shot high-side side from about the faceoff circle to the left of the Philadelphia netminder to make it a three-goal lead.

    Moore (1) and Clifton (2) tallied the assists on Frederic’s first career NHL goal and the Bruins led, 5-2, at 16:47.

    After serving the bench minor for too many skaters, Andy Andreoff took out his frustrations after two quick goals against by delivering his stick to Kuraly’s face.

    The Flyers forward spent two more minutes in the penalty box– this time with a roughing infraction at 16:47.

    About a minute into the resulting power play, Ritchie (5) tipped in a shot from the point by Moore to give Boston a power-play goal and a, 6-2, lead on the scoreboard.

    Moore (2) and Smith (4) notched the assists at 17:53 of the second period as Boston riffled three goals in about 90 seconds.

    Less than a minute later, Bjork was penalized for holding and gave Philly a power play at 18:16 of the second period.

    After 40 minutes of play lakeside, the Bruins led, 6-2, on the scoreboard and, 23-14, in shots on goal, including a, 15-3, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston also held the lead in blocked shots (13-6), takeaways (3-2), giveaways (5-3) and faceoff win% (59-41), while Philadelphia led in hits (22-13).

    The Flyers were 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/3 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, swapped goaltenders in the second intermission, replacing Hart with Elliott for the final period at Lake Tahoe.

    Hart finished his night with six goals allowed on 23 shots, but in the process became the youngest goaltender to play in an outdoor NHL game at 22 years and 192 days old.

    He beat Semyon Varlamov’s previous record of 22 years and 249 days back when Varlamov was the netminder for the Washington Capitals in the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh.

    Meanwhile, Bjork cut another rut to the penalty box for hooking Flyers defender, Shayne Gostisbehere at 9:31 of the third period– presenting another power play opportunity for Philadelphia.

    Philly didn’t have any luck on their second skater advantage of the evening, but as the saying goes “the third time’s a charm” as Carlo was assessed an interference minor when colliding with Travis Sanheim in front of the Boston net at 12:37.

    This time the Flyers won the ensuing faceoff, worked the puck around the attacking zone before Hayes found van Riemsdyk in front of the net in the low slot whereby van Riemsdyk (8) inadvertently sent the puck off Vaakanainen and into the twine behind Rask while trying to make a no-look between the legs pass.

    Hayes (9) and Ivan Provorov (6) picked up the assists on van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal and the Flyers trailed, 6-3, at 12:45 of the third period.

    Late in the game, Pastrnak (9) completed his hat trick thanks to a one-timer goal from one knee on a pass from Studnicka at 17:04.

    Studnicka (1) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s third goal of the game and the Bruins took a four-goal lead, 7-3, while Pastrnak picked up his 10th career hat trick, as well as his 2nd hat trick of the season and just the 2nd hat trick in an outdoor NHL game in league history.

    Tyler Toffoli scored a hat trick for the Los Angeles Kings in their, 3-1, win over the Avalanche at Falcon Stadium in Colorado Springs, Colorado for the first outdoor NHL hat trick in the 2020 Stadium Series game.

    Pastrnak’s hat trick, meanwhile, was the first outdoor hat trick in Bruins franchise history and gave Boston an outdoor record tying seven goals as the B’s matched the same outcome of the New York Rangers’, 7-3, victory against the New Jersey Devils in a 2014 Stadium Series game at Yankee Stadium.

    The Rangers (four wins outside) are the only team with more outdoor wins than Boston (three) and Washington (three) as the Bruins picked up another outdoor victory over the Flyers at the final sound of the horn.

    The Bruins finished the evening with a, 7-3, win on the scoreboard and a, 35-19, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston also wrapped up Sunday’s effort leading in blocked shots (16-8) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Philadelphia maintained the advantage in giveaways (6-5) and hits (31-23).

    Both teams went 1/3 on the power play in the 60-minute effort.

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

    Boston also improved to 4-2-0 (2-1-0 at home) when tied after the first period and 6-0-0 (4-0-0 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    Meanwhile, Philadelphia fell to 2-2-1 (1-1-1 on the road) when tied after the first period, as well as 0-3-0 (0-2-0 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins improved to 3-1-0 all time in outdoor NHL games, while the Flyers fell to 1-3-1 all time outside.

    Boston and Philadelphia became the third pair of teams to face each other in an outdoor rematch (previous, Philadelphia vs. Pittsburgh– 2017 Stadium Series and 2019 Stadium Series, as well as Detroit vs. Toronto– 2014 Winter Classic and 2017 Centennial Classic).

    The B’s begin a three-game road trip on Long Island and in Manhattan with a meeting against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25th, as well as a pair of games against the New York Rangers to close out the month of February on the 26th and 28th.

  • Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast

    Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast

    Hello, friend.

    Last season, I didn’t get around to posting my forecasts for the Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets and Vegas Golden Knights’ rosters.

    I kept track of everything before the 2019-20 season began and after each quarter mark (roughly 20 games) as I normally do, but I just didn’t quite have the time and/or motivation to do a write up here on the blog for each one– let alone any of them.

    This season, I’m already behind in presenting my findings entering 2020-21, but I’ve prepared all four teams’ player forecasts as usual.

    To kick things off, we’ll take a look at how the 2020-21 season could’ve panned out if all Bruins players were healthy entering the 56-game season, but by the end of the month, Boston will already be 20 games into the season (provided nothing else is postponed) so it’ll be time for an updated forecast.

    For the rest of the teams– including the addition of the Colorado Avalanche for a total of five teams being tracked this season– we’ll just take a gander at how things looked coming into 2020-21 and where each player is tracking after their respective 20-game mark.

    In other words, Boston gets two posts (this one and another one in March) while Carolina, Colorado, Columbus and Vegas will each get a joint “forecast before the season began and forecast through 20 team games played” post, probably.

    If you’re a fan of those teams and my… …expertise(?), I’m sorry. Please be patient. You’ve already been waiting since the last forecast I published in the 2018-19 season.

    If you’re a fan of the B’s, well good news, let’s get into the forecast details.

    As always, keep in mind that my degree is in communication and my minor was in sport management. I got a “C” in my Intro to Stats class in my first semester of college way back in *checks notes* the fall of 2013.

    It was a night class and it was terrible, but I digress.

    First year players are impossible to predict until they’ve had at least one National Hockey League game under their belt.

    Young players that have had minimal NHL experience may also reflect “inflated” results.

    No, Zach Senyshyn probably isn’t going to have 28 assists this season, but since he has two assists in six games over the last two seasons (his entire NHL career), the forecasting function in Microsoft Excel does math stuff based on his entire career as it would relate to if he played in all 56 games for Boston this season.

    This will fix itself as the season progresses.

    The same goes for Jack Studnicka’s forecasted 28 assists. Entering 2020-21, Studnicka has only played in two NHL games since just last season.

    He’s already had a goal in six games this season and in the next forecast (after 20 team games played), he’ll likely be forecasted to have 1-8–9 totals by season’s end (assuming he plays in the remaining 36 games).

    Forecast is different from pace.

    Injuries, being a healthy scratch or on the taxi squad, other American Hockey League related or waiver related transactions, sickness, COVID protocol and general superstitions (getting enough sleep the night before a game, taping your stick a certain way every time, putting on the right skate before the left skate or whatever) may disrupt a player’s season.

    These variables– tangible or not– are part of the game and cannot be accounted for in your everyday “straight up” forecast.

    In an utopian timeline, this forecast pretends nothing bad could ever happen and every player has a chance to live up to their expectations. Of course, some will pan out, some will exceed expectations and some will miss the mark.

    It’s merely a suggested outcome for a sport that’s highly unpredictable because of its collectivistic nature and sheer puck luck.

    Boston Bruins Forecast Through 0 Games (56 Games Remaining)

    Had the 2019-20 season gone according to schedule, David Pastrnak might not have missed any time to start the 2020-21 season.

    Nevertheless, we’ll pretend that an alternate timeline stills exists for a moment and mention that if he had played in all 56 games this season, he was forecasted to lead the Bruins with 26-29–55 totals.

    Brad Marchand was forecasted as the next highest scorer with 21 goals and 47 points, while David Krejci looked to lead the B’s in assists (29).

    Of course, none of this is how it really happened, but Pastrnak is still off to a hot start, Marchand is feeling “100-percent” and Krejci is only now just about to miss game action, having not traveled with the team to Lake Tahoe for their outdoor matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday night.

    Senyshyn and Studnicka’s assist totals have been highlighted in the chart above in reference to what’s already been stated in the introduction to this post.

    Newcomer, Craig Smith, was forecasted to hit the twine 13 times and accrue 14 assists for 27 points this season, while Ondrej Kase was expected to notch 27 points in a 56-game season prior to injury.

    On defense, the loss of Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug is expected to be felt on the scoresheet, though we’re likely to see Charlie McAvoy’s stock rise in the next forecast after 20 team games played.

    Speaking of McAvoy, he was expected to lead the team in points from the blue line entering the 2020-21 season with 6-22–28 totals.

    In goal, Boston’s poised for another strong run from their goaltending tandem of Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak.

    Though Rask is likely to get more starts than Halak, the two are prime for producing similar numbers this season in differing workloads.

    Rask is set for another season with a goals against average in the low two’s, between 2.28 and 2.34, while Halak is right on track for being one of– if not– the best “backups” in the league with a forecasted GAA between 2.48 and 2.72.

    Stay tuned for the next forecast in about four games– however soon that will be, provided nothing else is postponed and the Bruins can avoid piling up names on the league’s COVID Protocol list.

  • Palmieri nets two as Devils defeat Bruins, 3-2

    Palmieri nets two as Devils defeat Bruins, 3-2

    Kyle Palmieri scored a pair of goals as the New Jersey Devils beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, at TD Garden on Thursday night in Boston.

    Mackenzie Blackwood (4-0-1, 1.94 goals against average, .945 save percentage in five games played) made 25 saves on 27 shots faced for a .926 SV% in the win for New Jersey.

    Boston netminder, Jaroslav Halak (4-1-1, 1.66 GAA, .928 SV% in six games played) stopped 23 out of 26 shots against (.885 SV%) in the loss.

    The Bruins fell to 10-3-2 (22 points) on the season, but remained in command of the MassMutual NHL East Division lead, while the Devils improved to 6-3-2 (14 points) overall and stagnant in 6th place in the division.

    Once more, the Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body) and Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), but Jakub Zboril (upper body) joined the pair of injured teammates in the press box on Thursday night– missing his first game of the season due to an injury sustained on Feb. 13th in the, 4-2, loss at the Islanders.

    Kase missed his 13th game due to an injury sustained on Jan. 16th in New Jersey, while Grzelcyk missed his ninth game due to an injury originally sustained on Jan. 21st against Philadelphia, then re-aggravated on Jan. 28th against Pittsburgh and on Feb. 10th in New York (against the Rangers).

    As a result of the injuries and more, Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, jumbled his lines.

    Jake DeBrusk replaced David Pastrnak on the first line right wing with Brad Marchand at left wing and captain, Patrice Bergeron, at center.

    Pastrnak was “demoted” to the second line with Nick Ritchie and David Krejci, while Trent Frederic, Charlie Coyle and Craig Smith were reunited on the third line.

    Anders Bjork, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner made up the fourth line.

    On defense, Cassidy left Jeremy Lauzon with Charlie McAvoy on the first defensive pairing, while John Moore filled in Grzelcyk’s usual role on the second pairing with Brandon Carlo and Connor Clifton was slotted into Zboril’s spot alongside Kevan Miller.

    Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer, Urho Vaakanainen, Callum Booth and Karson Kuhlman made up Boston’s taxi squad on Thursday, while Anton Blidh was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday and Par Lindholm had his contract terminated by the club on Monday after being placed on waivers for the purpose of terminating his deal on Sunday.

    Lindholm signed a multiyear contract with Skellefteå AIK in his return to the Swedish Hockey League (SHL).

    Not much happened in the first period. In fact, so much not much that the only event on the scoresheet was a penalty against Wagner for tripping Devils forward, Miles Wood, at 10:29.

    New Jersey did not convert on the ensuing power play.

    After one period of action Thursday night at TD Garden, the game was tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard and in shots on goal, 7-7.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (7-4) and giveaways (5-3), while New Jersey led in hits (9-8).

    Both teams managed three takeaways aside and split faceoff win percentage (50-50).

    The Devils were 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins had yet to see time on the skater advantage heading into the first intermission.

    Early in the middle period, Jack Hughes pulled both Boston defenders out of position before dropping a pass to Palmieri (1) for the wrist shot goal over Halak’s glove side.

    Hughes (6) had the only assist on Palmieri’s first goal of the night as the Devils took the lead, 1-0, at 1:34 of the second period.

    Less than a minute later, Palmieri cut a rut to the penalty box with McAvoy after the two players roughed each other up a bit after a stoppage in play, resulting in 4-on-4 action for a pair of minutes at 2:14 of the middle frame.

    Moments later, Moore tripped Jesper Bratt and was sent to the sin bin at 8:01, yielding a power play to New Jersey in the process.

    Once again the Devils weren’t able to convert on the skater advantage, however, as P.K. Subban caught Bjork with a high stick and drew blood at 9:05 of the second period, resulting in a four-minute double minor penalty on Subban.

    The two clubs shared 56 seconds of 4-on-4 action before the Bruins began an extended power play for a span of 3:04.

    While shorthanded, the Devils forced a turnover in the neutral zone, presenting Palmieri (2) with a clear lane to the net for his second goal of the night on a similar shot to his first goal of the game.

    Damon Severson (5) and Bratt (3) tallied the assists on Palmieri’s shorthanded goal as New Jersey led, 2-0, at 10:39 of the second period.

    In the waning minute of their power play, DeBrusk (1) found a loose puck in the slot and buried a shot over Blackwood’s blocker side to cut New Jersey’s lead in half, 2-1, and give Boston their first goal of the night.

    DeBrusk’s power-play goal was unassisted at 12:36.

    Moments later, the Bruins tweeted that Krejci (lower body) would not return to the night’s action– necessitating some changes to Cassidy’s in-game lineup.

    Late in the period, Nathan Bastian and Coyle received matching roughing minors after yet another post-whistle scrum at 15:08.

    On the ensuing 4-on-4 action, New Jersey worked the puck in the offensive zone while Moore and Carlo struggled to remain in proper positioning in their own end.

    Andreas Johnsson sent a pass to Pavel Zacha (4) for a one-timer goal over Halak’s blocker from the inside circle to the Bruins netminder’s right side.

    Johnsson (2) and Will Butcher (1) notched the assists on Zacha’s goal and the Devils led, 3-1, at 15:37 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of play on Thursday, New Jersey led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 18-15, in shots on goal, including an, 11-8, advantage in the second period alone while Boston struggled on home ice.

    The Bruins led in blocked shots (11-8), giveaways (8-6) and faceoff win% (58-43), while the Devils led in takeaways (5-4) and hits (16-15).

    New Jersey was 0/2 on the power play, while Boston was 1/2 on the skater advantage entering the final frame of regulation.

    The Bruins found themselves shorthanded when Lauzon tripped Palmieri at 7:01 of the third period, but made matters worse when Marchand caught Hughes with a high stick at 7:36 and presented the Devils with a two-skater advantage for 1:25.

    Boston’s penalty kill got the job done, however.

    Late in the final frame, Ty Smith sent an errant puck clear over the glass and received a minor infraction for delay of game at 17:49, presenting the B’s with a power play that– if they couldn’t score– would expire with 11 seconds left in the game.

    Cassidy pulled Halak for an extra attacker to make it a 6-on-4 advantage for Boston.

    About a minute into the ensuing power play, Pastrnak fired a shot from the point that McAvoy (2) deflected while battling Dmitry Kulikov in the slot to pull Boston to within one goal.

    Pastrnak (6) and Ritchie (6) were credited with the assists on the power-play goal and the Bruins trailed, 3-2, at 18:54 of the third period.

    With 1:06 to go, Cassidy used his timeout to rally Boston for another goal, but it was too little, too late as the final horn sounded 66 seconds later.

    New Jersey emerged victorious, 3-2, as time expired.

    The Bruins finished with the advantage in shots on goal, 27-26, including a, 12-8, advantage in shots on goal in the third period alone.

    Boston also wrapped up Thursday night’s action leading in blocked shots (16-13), giveaways (11-9) and faceoff win% (61-39), while the New Jersey finished the night leading in hits (24-21).

    The Devils went 0/4 on the skater advantage while the B’s converted on 2/3 power play opportunities.

    The B’s fell to 3-2-0 (1-1-0 at home) when tied after the first period, 2-1-1 (1-1-0 at home) when trailing after two periods and 4-2-2 (1-1-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    New Jersey, meanwhile, improved to 2-1-1 (2-0-1 on the road) when tied after the first period, 4-0-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when leading after two periods and 6-1-0 (4-0-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

    The Bruins hit the road for a home game outdoors at Lake Tahoe against the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday (2 p.m. ET on NBC) before returning to the road for a three-game road trip against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25th and New York Rangers on Feb. 26th, as well as Feb. 28th.

  • Halak, Bruins shutout Rangers, 1-0

    Halak, Bruins shutout Rangers, 1-0

    Nick Ritchie scored the only goal, while Jaroslav Halak stopped 21 shots in a, 1-0, shutout for the Boston Bruins over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Friday night.

    Halak (4-0-1, 1.38 goals against, .938 save percentage in five games played) earned his 51st career shutout in the win, as well as Boston’s first shutout of the season in his first start since Feb. 1st after B’s starting goaltender, Tuukka Rask, played in the last three games.

    Rask got the bulk of the workload due to additional days off thanks to a pair of games with the Buffalo Sabres having been postponed due to the league’s COVID protocol.

    Rangers goaltender, Igor Shesterkin (3-4-1, 2.16 GAA, .922 SV% in nine games played) made 29 saves on 30 shots faced for a .967 SV% in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 10-1-2 (22 points) and remained 1st in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Rangers fell to 4-6-3 (11 points) overall and stuck in 6th place in the division.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body) and Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) on Friday as both players were out of the lineup due to injury.

    Kase’s missed 11 games this season due to an upper body injury sustained on Jan. 16th at New Jersey, while Grzelcyk returned to the lineup on Wednesday night, but re-aggravated his nagging lower body injury and was held out of Friday night’s matchup– missing his seventh game of the season in the process.

    As a result, Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, replaced Grzelcyk with Connor Clifton on the second defensive pairing and made no other changes to his lineup from Wednesday night’s, 3-2, overtime win in New York.

    Greg McKegg, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Steven Kampfer, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh and Karson Kuhlman made up Boston’s all healthy scratches and/or taxi squad members Friday night.

    Brad Marchand and Mika Zibanejad had a standoff after the pregame warmup as neither player would leave the ice (both players like to be the last one off the rink for their respective teams).

    Marchand lost an ensuing rock-paper-scissors battle, which left Zibanejad as the last player off about five minutes after the ice resurfacing machines had already passed them by.

    Less than a minute into the opening frame, Clifton inadvertently sent the puck over the glass and drew an automatic delay of game infraction 56 seconds into the first period.

    New York did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Moments later, Kaapo Kakko tripped Craig Smith and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 6:02 of the first period, but Boston’s power play was also equally as powerless.

    Late in first period, Brandon Carlo was penalized for interference, but the Rangers couldn’t muster anything on the power play at 17:01.

    Entering the first intermission at Madison Square Garden on Friday night, the Bruins and Rangers were tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard, despite New York holding a, 10-6, advantage in shots on goal.

    The Blue Shirts also held the advantage in takeaways (4-3) and hits (14-7), while the B’s led in blocked shots (5-2) and faceoff win percentage (56-44).

    Both teams had three giveaways each, while the Rangers were 0/2 and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play after one period of action.

    Early in the middle frame, Charlie Coyle slashed Julien Gauthier and was sent to the sin bin as a result.

    New York couldn’t convert on the resulting power play at 2:12 of the second period, however, and was quickly shorthanded themselves after their skater advantage ended when Brendan Lemieux was dealt a minor for boarding against Sean Kuraly at 4:23.

    Boston couldn’t find the back of the net on the resulting power play.

    Moments later, Charlie McAvoy and Jacob Trouba exchanged pleasantries and received roughing minors at 6:33 after a few quick punches were thrown.

    Trouba picked up an extra roughing infraction, yielding another power play to Boston that went unfulfilled.

    In the vulnerable minute after the skater advantage, however, Ritchie (5) pocketed the puck off of Shesterkin’s pad and in between the post for the game’s only goal at 9:27 of the second period.

    David Krejci (10) and Jeremy Lauzon (3) tallied the assists on Ritchie’s goal and the Bruins led, 1-0.

    On the ensuing faceoff, Trent Frederic and Lemieux dropped the gloves before attempting to bash each others’ faces in with their fists.

    The two players received fighting majors at 9:28 and play continued at even strength, 5-on-5.

    It was the fifth fight of the second for Boston and first since Chris Wagner fought Anthony Bitetto on Wednesday night in New York.

    About a minute later, after a post-whistle scrum, Marchand cross checked Brett Howden, who countered with a slash on Marchand, while Kuraly was being assessed a boarding penalty on the original call.

    With Marchand and Kuraly heading to the box while only one Ranger (Howden) cut a rut to the sin bin, New York went on the power play at 10:41 of the second period.

    The Blue Shirts were not successful on the ensuing advantage.

    Late in the period, Lauzon and Pavel Buchnevich gave it a go behind the play after Lauzon finished his hit on the Rangers forward behind Halak in New York’s attacking zone.

    Buchnevich received five-minutes for fighting, while Lauzon picked up a fighting major as well as a ten-minute misconduct at 15:14.

    It was the sixth fight of the season for Boston and the first since Frederic and Lemieux dropped the gloves earlier in the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Friday night, the Bruins led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 24-16, in shots on goal, including an, 18-6, advantage in shots on goal in the second period alone.

    Boston also held the advantage in faceoff win% (56-44), while New York led in takeaways (11-5), giveaways (8-4) and hits (23-15).

    Both teams had eight blocked shots aside after two periods.

    The Rangers were 0/4 and the B’s were 0/3 on the power play heading into the second intermission.

    Trouba was guilty of holding Anders Bjork at 1:38 of the third period and presented Boston with an early power play to kick off the action in the final frame of regulation, but the Bruins– once again– could not score on the skater advantage.

    McAvoy tripped Kakko and presented the Rangers with a power play at 4:31 of the third period, but New York couldn’t fire anything past Halak on the resulting 5-on-4 advantage.

    With 6:38 remaining in the game, Ryan Lindgren smacked his face along the glass on a followthrough from Lauzon landing an otherwise clean bodycheck.

    Lindgren had a cut above the eye and was able to skate off on his own power, get a towel on the bench and some minor repairs before returning to the action in the closing minutes unscathed.

    Rangers head coach, David Quinn, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker with 1:10 left in the game, but even despite calling a timeout and having a 6-on-4 advantage after McAvoy cleared the rubber biscuit over the glass for an automatic delay of game penalty at 18:58, New York couldn’t execute a game-tying plan.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 1-0, and earned a shutout on the road at Madison Square Garden for the first time since March 9, 2008, when Alex Auld earned a shutout in a, 1-0, shootout loss for the Bruins.

    The B’s finished Friday night’s effort leading in shots on goal, 30-21, including a, 6-5, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston also maintained a lead in blocked shots (18-12) and faceoff win% (54-46), while New York capped off the night leading in giveaways (9-5) and hits (31-23).

    The Rangers went 0/6 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0/4 Friday night.

    The Bruins extended their winning streak to five games– earning each of them on the road in the process.

    Boston improved to 3-1-0 when tied after the first period, 5-0-0 when leading after two periods and 6-0-0 when scoring the game’s first goal this season with the win.

    The Bruins face the New York Islanders on the road Saturday before returning home (possibly) to face the New Jersey Devils on Feb. 18th (if it doesn’t get postponed).

    New Jersey still has a lot of players in COVID protocol, so there’s no guarantee that Boston will play another home game before taking on the Philadelphia Flyers outdoors on Feb. 21st at Lake Tahoe.

    And if the Flyers have too many players in COVID protocol, the Rangers are reportedly ready to make the trip to face Boston outdoors.

  • Kuraly caps another Bruins comeback, 2-1, over Flyers

    Kuraly caps another Bruins comeback, 2-1, over Flyers

    For the fourth consecutive game, the Boston Bruins mounted a comeback in the third period and for the third game in-a-row, they won– defeating the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, on Friday night at Wells Fargo Center.

    Tuukka Rask (5-1-1, 2.36 goals against average, .898 save percentage in seven games played) made 23 saves on 24 shots against for a .958 SV% in the win for Boston.

    Philadelphia netminder, Brian Elliott (3-1-0, 2.20 GAA, .929 SV% in five games played) stopped 21 out of 23 shots faced for a .913 SV% in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 8-1-2 (18 points) on the season and remained in command of the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Flyers fell to 7-3-2 (16 points) on the season and stuck in 2nd place in the division.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Wednesday night’s, 4-3, overtime win against the Flyers.

    Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) remained out of the lineup for their 9th, 6th and 5th games, respectively, due to injury.

    Meanwhile, Greg McKegg, Jack Studnicka, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Dan Vladar and Karson Kuhlman remained as members of the taxi squad or were healthy scratches on Friday night.

    Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, took part in his 1,100th career National Hockey League game (all with Boston).

    Early in the opening frame, Brandon Carlo was penalized for holding and yielded the first power play of the night to the Flyers at 3:26 of the first period.

    Philadelphia’s initial skater advantage didn’t pan out as planned.

    Moments later, Scott Laughton slashed Chris Wagner and presented Boston with their first power play of the night at 8:38.

    The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing advantage.

    Moments later, Connor Clifton and Nicolas Aube-Kubel exchanged fisticuffs in just the third fight of the season for Boston at 13:50.

    Less than a minute later, Wagner roughed up Travis Sanheim after a stoppage in play, while Travis Konecny interfered with Wagner.

    Wagner and Konecny each received minor infractions at 14:22, but Philly was gifted a 4-on-3 advantage after Charlie McAvoy caught Joel Farabee with a high stick at 14:28 of the first period.

    Less than a couple minutes later, Carlo hooked Jakub Voracek and cut a rut to the sin bin at 16:03.

    Nevertheless, Philadelphia’s power play was unsuccessful as the two teams entered the first intermission tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard, despite the Flyers leading in shots on goal, 7-5.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (7-4), takeaways (2-1), giveaways (2-0), hits (8-7) and faceoff win percentage (61-39) after one period of play.

    The Flyers were 0/3, while the B’s were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Late in the middle period, Farabee tripped Jakub Zboril and presented Boston with a power play at 14:16 of the second period.

    Farabee got a breakaway as he exited the box after Philly killed his minor and was promptly tripped by Zboril, yielding a penalty shot at 16:25.

    Rask denied Farabee’s five-hole attempt on the ensuing penalty shot attempt and the game remained tied, 0-0.

    With two seconds left in the second period, Wagner received a roughing minor and gave the Flyers a power play that would extend into the final frame at 19:58 of the middle period.

    Philadelphia pulled their goaltender for a 6-on-4 advantage to finish off the second period, but it was to no avail as the two clubs entered the second intermission scoreless.

    Boston held the lead in shots on goal, 13-11, including an, 8-4, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins also held the advantage in takeaways (6-1), giveaways (8-3), hits (18-12) and faceoff win% (67-33), while the Flyers led in blocked shots (13-10).

    Philadelphia was 0/4 and Boston was 0/2 on the power play after two periods.

    James van Riemsdyk (6) deflected a shot from the point by Erik Gustafsson past Rask to give the Flyers a, 1-0, lead 27 seconds into the third period.

    Gustafsson (6) and Claude Giroux (10) tallied the assists on van Riemsdyk’s power-play goal.

    Midway through the third period, Brad Marchand (7) tapped a loose puck into the twine on a rebound after a flurry of activity and tied the game, 1-1.

    David Pastrnak (3) and McAvoy (9) notched the assists on Marchand’s goal at 12:01 of the third period.

    Shortly thereafter, Anders Bjork sent a pass to Sean Kuraly while the two entered zone before Kuraly (2) one-timed a shot past Elliott to make it, 2-1, Boston 27 seconds after the Bruins tied the game.

    Bjork (2) and David Krejci (9) tallied the assists on Kuraly’s goal as the B’s took the lead at 12:28 of the third period.

    Moments later, Craig Smith tripped Voracek and presented Philly with one more chance on the power play at 16:03, but this time the Flyers were unsuccessful on the skater advantage.

    Alain Vigneault pulled Elliott for an extra attacker with 1:52 remaining and used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:29 left in the game, but Philadelphia couldn’t force overtime.

    At the sound of the final horn, the Bruins had won, 2-1, despite Philadelphia finishing the night leading in shots on goal, 24-23, including a, 13-10, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (15-14), giveaways (11-6), hits (28-22) and faceoff win% (58-42).

    The Flyers finished Friday night 1/5 on the power play, while the B’s went 0/2 on the skater advantage.

    The Bruins improved to 2-1-0 when tied after the first period, 2-1-1 when tied after the second period and 3-1-2 when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston was scheduled to return home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday and Monday (Feb. 8th), but at least four Sabres players and their head coach, Ralph Krueger, tested positive for COVID-19– rendering all Buffalo games to be postponed through Feb. 8th.

    The B’s will continue on a now extended road trip until Feb. 15th, with stops in Manhattan on Feb. 10th and 12th against the New York Rangers, as well as Long Island on Feb. 13th against the New York Islanders.

  • Bruins score five unanswered in, 5-3, comeback over Capitals

    Bruins score five unanswered in, 5-3, comeback over Capitals

    For the second game in a row, the Boston Bruins got themselves out of a, 3-0, deficit only this time they just kept scoring and beat the Washington Capitals, 5-3, in regulation at Capital One Arena Monday night.

    David Pastrnak recorded a pair of goals and the B’s notched five unanswered– including four goals in the third period alone– en route to the victory.

    Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (3-0-1, 1.72 goals against average, .923 save percentage in four games played), made 23 saves on 26 shots faced for an .885 SV% in the win.

    Meanwhile, Capitals netminder, Vitek Vanecek (5-1-2, 2.94 GAA, .913 SV% in eight games played), stopped 28 out of 32 shots against for an .875 SV% in the loss.

    Boston improved to 6-1-2 (14 points) on the season and remains in command of 3rd place in the MassMutual East Division, while Washington fell to 6-1-3 (15 points) overall and bounced out of their top spot for the division lead by the Philadelphia Flyers.

    The Capitals are now 2nd by virtue of having one fewer regulation win than the Flyers. Washington has four this season, while Philadelphia has five.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) on Monday, while Greg McKegg, Jack Studnicka, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Callum Booth and Dan Vladar all remained as healthy scratches and/or listed on Boston’s taxi squad.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, juggled his right wings from Saturday night’s, 4-3, loss in overtime to the Capitals to Monday night’s action– moving Craig Smith to the David Krejci’s right side on the second line and Chris Wagner to Charlie Coyle’s right side on the third line, while demoting Karson Kuhlman to the right side of the fourth line.

    Cassidy made no other adjustments to his lineup.

    Almost midway into the first frame, Bruins defender, Kevan Miller, was penalized for interference, yielding the game’s first power play opportunity to the Capitals at 8:18 of the first period.

    Washington did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

    Moments later, the Capitals thought they had taken advantage of a momentum swing thanks to their successful penalty kill when it appeared that a shot from John Carlson had eyes and was redirected by Carl Hagelin into the twine behind Halak at 11:41, but Boston used their coach’s challenge on the grounds that the play entering the zone was offside.

    After review, it was determined that Garnet Hathaway entered the offensive zone offside while the puck was mid-air at the blue line.

    It was not in Hathaway’s immediate possession, as Miller had forced the puck to take flight on a poke check.

    Had the Boston defender not gotten his stick on the puck, it’s likely the goal wouldn’t have been overturned as a result of an impressive move by the Washington forward in accordance with the new interpretation of “breaking the plane”.

    Then again, who knows? What’s a catch, anyway?

    Hagelin’s goal being discredited did not deter the Washington attack.

    A couple minutes later, the Capitals won a faceoff in the offensive zone, worked the puck back to former Bruin defender, Zdeno Chara, and let the 6-foot-9 blue line wind up for one of his patented slap shots from the point.

    Chara (2) sent a rocket low on Halak’s blocker side into the back of the net and gave the Caps the first official goal of the night at 13:26 of the first period.

    Washington led, 1-0.

    Hathaway (2) and Nic Dowd (2) had the assists.

    It was Chara’s first goal against Boston since April 11, 2006, when he was then a member of the Ottawa Senators and scored two goals– including the game-winner– in a, 4-3, overtime victory for the Sens.

    The Capitals grabbed a two-goal lead 11 seconds after Chara kicked off the night’s scoring when Daniel Sprong (2) worked his way in close and fired a shot through Halak’s five-hole.

    Jakub Vrana (4) and Nick Jensen (2) tallied the assists on Sprong’s goal and Washington led, 2-0, at 13:37.

    Late in the period, Jakub Zboril delivered a swift cross check to T.J. Oshie and promptly received a minor infraction at 18:23.

    Washington’s power play would extend into the middle frame, but yield no change in the scoreboard.

    After one period of play, the Capitals led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 15-8, in shots on goal.

    The Caps also held the advantage in blocked shots (4-3), giveaways (4-0), hits (9-8) and faceoff win percentage (61-39).

    Both teams had two takeaways aside, while Washington was 0/2 on the power play (Boston had yet to see time on the skater advantage).

    Oshie kicked off the middle frame with a holding penalty against Zboril– presenting the Bruins with their first taste of power play action at 3:07 of the second period.

    About a minute later, Hathaway cut a rut to the penalty box on an automatic delay of game minor for clearing the puck over the glass at 4:09.

    Boston had a 5-on-3 advantage for 58 seconds, but didn’t muster anything on the scoreboard in what was a failed power play operation.

    Shortly after killing off both infractions, Washington went on the power play after Jeremy Lauzon hooked Tom Wilson at 7:19.

    About a minute later, Carlson and Vrana setup a give-and-go through Wagner’s legs back to Carlson (4) whereby the Capitals defender waltzed into the slot before dragging and snapping a shot over Halak’s blocker side for a power-play goal.

    Vrana (5) had the only assist on Carlson’s goal as Washington took a, 3-0, lead at 8:35 of the second period.

    Less than a minute later, Boston couldn’t stop their bad habits as Krejci caught Trevor van Riemsdyk without the puck and received an interference minor at 9:03.

    Washington did not convert on the ensuing power play, however.

    Midway through the middle frame, the Bruins won a faceoff in the offensive zone before working the puck to Brad Marchand as Pastrnak setup in the bumper position.

    Marchand fed Pastrnak (1) for the one-timer goal while Patrice Bergeron screened the Washington netminder to cut the Caps’ lead to two-goals.

    Marchand (7) and Brandon Carlo (1) tabbed the assists on Pastrnak’s first goal of the season as the Bruins trailed, 3-1, at 12:37 of the second period.

    Dowd promptly tripped Pastrnak at 13:51 and presented the B’s with a skater advantage, but Boston’s power play was powerless on Monday– despite getting creative at one point and utilizing a special teams unit comprised of only forwards.

    Through 40 minutes of action in D.C., the Capitals led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 20-17, in shots on goal, despite Boston leading in second period shots alone, 9-5.

    Washington also maintained the advantage in blocked shots (10-7), takeaways (5-3) and giveaways (7-0), while Boston led in hits (17-14).

    The two clubs were 50-50 in faceoff win% after two periods.

    Meanwhile, the Caps were 1/4 on the power play, while Boston was 0/3 on the night on the skater advantage.

    Early in the final frame, the Bruins won an attacking zone faceoff whereby Boston’s defense worked the puck to Pastrnak for a quick wraparound from the dot to the circle on Vanecek’s right side before Pastrnak (2) unloaded a shot past the Washington goalie’s low blocker side.

    The Bruins trailed by one as Zboril (2) and Charlie McAvoy (7) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s second goal of the night.

    Washington barely held onto a, 3-2, lead at 6:08 of the third period with more than enough time for the inevitable comeback.

    Almost midway in the third, Trent Frederic and Wilson exchanged fisticuffs at 8:49, yielding fighting majors in what was a considerably favorable tradeoff for Boston.

    Sure, the Bruins first year forward would miss at least the next five minutes, but Washington’s power-forward scorer in Wilson would also be off of the ice too.

    The fight was just the second of Frederic’s young National Hockey League career (with his first coming back on Jan. 29, 2019, in his NHL debut against Brandon Tanev and the Winnipeg Jets), as well as just the second fight this season for Boston (previous, Kevan Miller vs. Miles Wood on Jan. 16th in New Jersey).

    At 10:02 of the third period, Alex Ovechkin slashed Nick Ritchie and presented Boston with a power play that coincided with an already surging momentum swing in the Bruins’ favor.

    Though the B’s did not score on the ensuing skater advantage, Boston caught Washington in the vulnerable minute after special teams action when Smith (3) one-timed a shot past Vanecek’s blocker side.

    Lauzon (2) setup Smith with the primary assist on a backhand pass through the slot, while Ritchie (4) was credited with the secondary assist as the Bruins tied it, 3-3, at 13:07 of the third period.

    A little more than four minutes later, the Bruins made good on the comeback– Carlo (2) blasted a one-timer past the Capitals netminder to give the B’s their first lead of the night, 4-3.

    Sean Kuraly (1) and Wagner (1) each earned their first assist of the season on Carlo’s goal at 17:23.

    With 1:38 remaining in regulation, Washington head coach, Peter Laviolette, used his timeout and pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

    Though the Caps drew up plans to try to tie the game, the B’s foiled them.

    Krejci setup Marchand (6) with a lead pass through the neutral zone so that No. 63 in black and gold could hit the empty net and give Boston a two-goal lead.

    Krejci (7) had the only assist on Marchand’s empty net goal at 18:34 and the Bruins led, 5-3.

    Washington pulled their goalie again with about 35 seconds left, but it was to no avail as the clock ticked down to the final seconds, then “zero”.

    Boston sealed the deal on the, 5-3, comeback victory– scoring five unanswered goals in what was just their sixth victory after overcoming a three-goal deficit in the regular season since 1995-96.

    The Bruins finished Monday night’s effort leading in shots on goal, 33-26, including a, 16-6, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston also finished the night leading in hits (27-17), while Washington wrapped up Monday’s action with the advantage in blocked shots (19-8) and giveaways (11-2).

    The teams finished the night 50-50 in faceoff win%, while the B’s went 0/4 and the Caps went 1/4 on the skater advantage.

    The Bruins improved to 1-0-2 when trailing after the first period, 2-0-1 when trailing after the second period and 2-1-1 when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    They also became the first team to beat Washington in regulation this season.

    Boston continues their four-game road trip (1-0-1) with a pair of games in Philadelphia against the Flyers on Wednesday and Friday before returning home to face the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

  • Bruins rally, Ovi ends it, Caps top B’s, 4-3, in OT

    Bruins rally, Ovi ends it, Caps top B’s, 4-3, in OT

    The Boston Bruins came back from being down, 3-0, only for Alex Ovechkin to do what he does best and score the game-winning goal less than a minute into overtime on Saturday night at Capital One Arena– giving the Washington Capitals the, 4-3, victory in the process.

    Vitek Vanecek (5-0-2, 2.78 goals against average, .918 save percentage in seven games played) made 40 saves on 43 shots against for a .930 SV% in the win for the Capitals.

    Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (3-1-1, 2.49 GAA, .890 SV% in five games played), stopped 19 out of 23 shots faced for an .826 SV% in the overtime loss.

    Boston fell to 5-1-2 (12 points) overall and slipped to 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Washington improved to 6-0-3 (15 points) and maintained their division lead.

    Saturday night marked the first of eight meetings between Capitals defender, Zdeno Chara, and his most recent former team after spending 14 seasons as captain of the Bruins.

    His last game against Boston was on April 11, 2006, as a member of the Ottawa Senators, in which Chara had two goals– including the game-winning goal in overtime– as the Sens beat the B’s, 4-3.

    Chara had a plus-1 rating on Saturday and recorded one shot on goal, as well as one takeaway in 20:54 time on ice.

    With David Pastrnak back in the lineup for the first time this season since undergoing a right hip arthroscopy and labral repair on Sept. 16th, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy made a few adjustments to his lineup from Thursday night’s, 4-1, win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    First, Pastrnak was slotted into his usual spot on the first line right wing, while Karson Kuhlman also made his season debut in place of Jack Studnicka in the lineup and placed on the second line right wing.

    Charlie Coyle was reunited with Trent Frederic and Craig Smith as his wingers on the third line, while Sean Kuraly was flanked by Anders Bjork and Chris Wagner on the fourth line.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk remained out of the lineup with a lower body injury, so Connor Clifton suited up next to Brandon Carlo on the second pairing.

    Ondrej Kase (upper body), Grzelcyk (lower body) and Jake DeBrusk (lower body) were out of the lineup due to injury, while Greg McKegg, Studnicka, Par Lindholm, John Moore, Urho Vaakanainen, Callum Booth and Dan Vladar made up Boston’s list of scratches and/or taxi squad members on Saturday.

    Late in the opening frame, Nicklas Backstrom (5) generated a turnover and broke into the attacking zone with possession before the puck had crossed the blue line (putting the new interpretation of what’s “offside” to the eye-test as the Bruins did not use a coach’s challenge) before wiring a shot past Rask.

    Backstrom’s goal was unassisted and gave the Capitals a, 1-0, lead at 18:06 of the first period.

    It also came after a barrage of shots by Boston that were turned aside with ease by Vanecek. Talk about a momentum swing.

    Less than a minute later, Washington presented the Bruins with the first power play of the night when Richard Panik tripped Coyle at 18:45.

    The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however.

    With 12.3 seconds left in the first period, Pastrnak fired a shot that deflected off of Chara’s stick and hit the Capitals defender in the face. Chara returned for the second period with a minor scratch and some signs of blood loss, but was undeterred.

    After 20 minutes of action at Capital One Arena, the Caps led, 1-0, despite trailing the B’s in shots on goal, 19-7.

    Washington held the advantage in just about everything else, however, including blocked shots (10-2), takeaways (4-3) and hits (12-5), while Boston led in faceoff win percentage (58-42).

    Both teams had four giveaways aside, while the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play.

    The Capitals had yet to see time on the skater advantage.

    Early in the middle frame, Washington established a net front presence that cut down on Rask’s line of sight enabling Trevor van Riemsdyk (1) to score his first goal as a Capital with a wrist from from the point while the Bruins netminder was screened.

    Brenden Dillon (4) and Backstrom (7) tallied the assists on van Riemsdyk’s goal and the Caps extended their lead to, 2-0, at 5:22 of the second period.

    Moments later, David Krejci hooked Nic Dowd and cut a rut to the penalty box, yielding a power play to the Capitals for the first and only time Saturday night at 8:39.

    Late in the ensuing power play, after an attacking zone faceoff, Washington zipped the puck back to the point then to Tom Wilson at the faceoff dot for a shot that ricocheted off of Panik (1) and over Rask’s blocker.

    Wilson (4) and Ovechkin (5) had the assists as Washington grabbed a, 3-0, lead thanks to Panik’s power-play goal at 10:03 of the second period.

    Moments later, Garnet Hathaway was penalized for interference at 16:43 and Boston had a chance to answer on the power play.

    The Bruins went to work as Nick Ritchie set himself up in front of the net while Patrice Bergeron sent a shot towards the crease, where the rubber biscuit first clipped Krejci on its way by before bouncing off of Ritchie (4) and into the twine.

    Krejci (6) and Bergeron (4) were credited with the assists as Ritchie’s power-play goal pulled Boston to within two goals, trialing Washington, 3-1, at 17:32 of the second period.

    Heading into the second intermission, the Caps led, 3-1, on the scoreboard, but the Bruins led, 34-17, in shots on goal, including a, 15-10, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston also led in faceoff win% (53-47), while Washington held the advantage in blocked shots (16-8), giveaways (6-4) and hits (27-9).

    Both teams had six takeaways each.

    The Capitals were 1/1, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage entering the final frame of regulation.

    Brad Marchand (5) fired a shot over Vanecek’s blocker side from point blank early in the third period to pull the Bruins to within one.

    Off of an icing, Boston won the ensuing attacking zone faceoff and worked the puck from Bergeron to Charlie McAvoy then over to Marchand for the goal to make it, 3-2, at 6:03 of the third period.

    McAvoy (6) and Bergeron (5) nabbed the assists on Marchand’s goal.

    Less than a minute later, Jakub Vrana caught Jeremy Lauzon with a high stick and was sent to the box at 6:43, but the Bruins couldn’t convert on the resulting power play.

    Late in the period, the Capitals lost count of their skaters and had too many on the ice with possession, thus rendering an automatic delay of game infraction at 14:04.

    Conor Sheary served Washington’s bench minor, but Boston couldn’t tie the game on the resulting power play.

    With 1:24 remaining in regulation, Rask vacated his net for an extra attacker.

    Seconds later, Boston hacked away at the puck until McAvoy (1) slipped it through Vanecek for his first of the season at 19:02 of the third period– tying the game, 3-3, in the process.

    Pastrnak (1) and Bergeron (6) tallied the assists on McAvoy’s game-tying goal as the Bruins forced overtime.

    At the end of regulation, the game was tied, 3-3, despite the Bruins outshooting the Capitals, 43-22, including a, 9-5, advantage in the third period alone.

    Washington led in blocked shots (25-10), takeaways (11-8) and hits (38-15), while Boston held the advantage in faceoff win% (55-45).

    Both teams had nine giveaways each, while the Capitals finished the night 1/1 on the power play and the Bruins went 1/4 on the skater advantage as there were no penalties called in overtime.

    Peter Laviolette sent out Backstrom, Ovechkin and John Carlson to start in overtime, while Cassidy matched with Krejci, Pastrnak and McAvoy.

    The puck hadn’t even been on the ice for 30 seconds in overtime before Ovechkin (2) skated from his own end on a drop pass from Backstrom to the attacking end and ripped a shot over Rask’s blocker side from just after the blue line to win the game for Washington.

    Backstrom (8) and Carlson (7) notched the assists on Ovechkin’s game-winning goal 28 seconds into the overtime period as the Capitals sealed the deal on the, 4-3, victory.

    Boston never had possession in overtime prior to what was the 24th career regular season overtime game-winning goal for Ovechkin.

    The Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 43-23, despite trailing Washington in shots in overtime alone, 1-0.

    Washington finished the night leading in blocked shots (26-10) and hits (38-15), while Boston led in faceoff win% (55-45).

    Both teams finished Saturday night’s effort with nine giveaways aside.

    The Capitals improved to 1-1 in overtime this season (2-3 overall past regulation), while the Bruins fell to 1-2 in overtime this season (3-2 past regulation).

    Boston also fell to 0-0-2 when trailing after the first period, 1-0-1 when trailing after the second period and 1-1-2 when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Despite all that, the B’s have not lost a game by more than one goal this season.

    The Bruins continue their four-game road trip (0-0-1) with another matchup with the Capitals on Monday (Feb. 1st) before venturing to Philadelphia for two games against the Flyers on Feb. 3rd and Feb. 5th prior to returning home to Boston on Feb. 6th against the Buffalo Sabres.

  • Bergeron notches pair in Boston’s, 4-1, win against Penguins

    Bergeron notches pair in Boston’s, 4-1, win against Penguins

    Patrice Bergeron had a pair of goals to provide some insurance for the Boston Bruins in their, 4-1, win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night at TD Garden.

    Jaroslav Halak (2-0-1, 1.30 goals against average, .938 save percentage in three games played) made 16 saves on 17 shots against for a .941 SV% in the win for Boston.

    Pittsburgh goaltender, Tristan Jarry (2-3-1, 3.93 GAA, .859 SV% in six games played), stopped 16 out of 20 shots faced for an .800 SV% in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 5-1-1 (11 points) on the season, while the Penguins fell to 4-3-1 (nine points) overall. Boston remained in command of 2nd place, while Pittsburgh remained 4th in the MassMutual NHL East Division.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup from Tuesday night’s, 3-2, overtime win against Pittsburgh.

    With Jake DeBrusk (lower body) out of the lineup due to injury, Craig Smith took over the first line right wing spot, while Charlie Coyle moved up to the second line right wing.

    Par Lindholm made his season debut on the third line with Trent Frederic and Jack Studnicka, while Anders Bjork and Chris Wagner were remained on the wings of Sean Kuraly’s fourth line.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk (lower body) returned to the second defensive pairing with Brandon Carlo after Grzelcyk missed the last two games due to an injury he sustained on Jan. 21st against the Flyers.

    In net, Halak got the start as expected, while Dan Vladar served as Boston’s backup with Tuukka Rask (lower body) in the press box for a night after laboring a bit, but playing through the rest of Tuesday night’s game.

    Once more, David Pastrnak (hip) and Ondrej Kase (upper body) missed Thursday night’s action, though the former may make his season debut on Saturday at the earliest.

    Pastrnak, Kase, DeBrusk and Rask were out of the lineup due to injury, while John Moore, Connor Clifton, Greg McKegg, Urho Vaakanainen and Callum Booth were all listed as healthy scratches and/or taxi squad members against the Penguins on Thursday.

    Jarry tripped up Patrice Bergeron 52 seconds into the first period as the Penguins goaltender reached outside his crease and caught the Bruins captain with his stick while Bergeron was chasing a loose puck in the near vicinity.

    Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Moments later, Wagner (1) buried a rebound to give the Bruins the, 1-0, lead at 6:10 of the first period. Wagner’s goal was unassisted.

    Less than a minute later, Coyle was guilty of holding against Penguins defender, John Marino, and presented Pittsburgh with their first power play opportunity of the night.

    The Pens were not successful on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Late in the opening frame, Cody Ceci (1) worked his way into the attacking zone and fired a shot past Halak’s blocker side from the slot to tie the game, 1-1.

    Bryan Rust (4) and Teddy Blueger (3) tallied the assists on Ceci’s goal at 15:03 of the first period as the Penguins breathed a sign of life.

    It did not last that long.

    Bjork sent a chip shot off of Blueger that led to a wacky bounce through Pittsburgh defender, Kevin Czuczman’s legs, before redirecting off of Kuraly and into the twine.

    Kuraly (1) was credited with his first goal of the season– having been the last Bruin to touch the rubber biscuit before it ended up in the back of the net– while Bjork (1) had the only assist as the B’s retook the lead, 2-1, at 18:53.

    After one period of action in Boston on Thursday, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 9-6, in shots on goal.

    The B’s also held the advantage in faceoff win percentage (67-33), while the Pens led in blocked shots (6-3), giveaways (7-2), as well as hits (12-7).

    Both teams had two takeaways and were 0/1 on the power play entering the first intermission.

    Almost midway through the middle frame, Bergeron (4) slipped a backhand shot under Jarry’s blocker side while falling to his knees from point blank to extend Boston’s lead to two-goals.

    Grzelcyk (3) and Coyle (2) had the assists on Bergeron’s first goal of the night and the Bruins led, 3-1, at 8:13 of the second period.

    Moments later, Jeremy Lauzon was called for interference as he knocked Drew O’Connor into Halak away from the puck at 13:40.

    Pittsburgh’s power play was powerless as Boston’s penalty kill got the job done.

    Grzelcyk cut a rut to the sin bin at 18:35 of the second period after earning an infraction for holding Jake Guentzel.

    The Bruins defender went to the box to serve his minor penalty, but would not return for the third period of play, as Boston later tweeted that Grzelcyk would not return to the action with a lower body injury.

    Through 40 minutes of play on Thursday, the Bruins led, 3-1, on the scoreboard and, 16-11, in shots on goal, including a, 7-5, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston also led in takeaways (5-4) and faceoff win% (67-33) after two periods, while Pittsburgh held the advantage in blocked shots (9-5) and hits (21-15).

    The two clubs each had nine giveaways entering the second intermission, while the Penguins were 0/3 on the power play and the Bruins were still 0/1 on the skater advantage.

    Less than a minute into the final frame, Marino was assessed an interference minor for tying up Smith away from the puck 55 seconds into the third period.

    Late in the ensuing power play, the Bruins worked the puck around the attacking zone in an umbrella formation– Charlie McAvoy to David Krejci, Krejci back to McAvoy, McAvoy to Brad Marchand and finally Marchand to Bergeron at the bumper.

    Bergeron (5) one-timed a shot past Jarry to give the Bruins a three-goal lead with a power-play goal at 1:40 of the third period.

    Marchand (6) and McAvoy (5) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal as the Bruins took a, 4-1, lead in Bergeron’s 47th career two-goal game.

    Shots were in short supply in the third period, as was just about everything else on the event sheet as time winded down and the final horn sounded.

    Boston won, 4-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 20-17, despite trailing Pittsburgh in shots on goal in the third period alone, 6-4.

    The Penguins left TD Garden with the advantage in giveaways (14-10) and hits (26-20), while the Bruins departed with the victory and the advantage in faceoff win% (63-37).

    Both teams had nine blocked shots each after 60 minutes of action.

    Pittsburgh finished the night 0/3 on the power play, while Boston went 1/2 on the skater advantage on Thursday.

    With the victory assured, the Bruins improved to 4-0-0 when leading after the first period, 4-0-0 when leading after the second period and 4-0-0 when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston is now on a four-game winning streak coinciding with their four-game homestand (4-0-0). The B’s hit the road for a four-game road trip in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia starting on Saturday when they take on former captain, Zdeno Chara, and the Washington Capitals.

    The Bruins face the Caps again on Feb. 1st before venturing to the “City of Brotherly Love” to face the Flyers on Feb. 3rd and Feb. 5th.