Down the Frozen River

Tag: Carolina Hurricanes

Numbers Game 2018-19: One Month Down
Folks, it’s no longer October.

You can once again begin asking the question “is it October yet?” without facing any legal ramifications, despite the fact that the 2018-19 regular season is very much alive and in effect.

Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, but for all of you urban legend believers in postseason fate, American Thanksgiving has yet to pass– meaning every team’s playoff hopes is still technically alive. The majority of teams in playoff position by American Thanksgiving– in this case, Nov. 22nd– make the playoffs.

If you’re new to hockey, this is a thing, but it’s not set in stone. There’s always that one or two teams that sneak their way in from outside the picture frame. Likewise, there’s always that team that blows it down the stretch.

The Tampa Bay Lightning are off to a hot start, working their way to 1st place in the Atlantic Division by the end of October, with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins hot on their tail just as we all expected.

Though the Maple Leafs have a fiery offense and solid goaltending, defense has been the most apparent area for improvement. In Boston, depth scoring, injuries and a slow start in net for Tuukka Rask have held the Bruins back from realizing their full potential, but the depth of their defenders and backup netminder Jaroslav Halak have kept them in good-standing.

In the surprise of the month for the Atlantic Division, the Montreal Canadiens sit 4th and the Buffalo Sabres sit 5th– both with 14 points on the season so far. Meanwhile, to no surprise the Ottawa Senators are 6th, the Detroit Red Wings are in a rebuild and the Florida Panthers simply haven’t played as many games as their opponents.

Taking a look at the Metropolitan Division and you won’t be surprised to see the Pittsburgh Penguins back in control with Sidney Crosby at the steering wheel, but you might be surprised by the other current divisional playoff spot holders.

The New York Islanders are 2nd and the Carolina Hurricanes are 3rd after the Hurricanes led the division for most of the month, only to begin a recent skid.

Just on the outskirts of a wild card spot are the Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and New Jersey Devils.

Washington’s off to a slower start than expected, but overall not feeling as bad as a Stanley Cup hangover as it could’ve been– given how many fountains around D.C. they dove in and the number of beers consumed.

Columbus is just over .500 and the Devils have also played fewer games than anyone in their division, much like the Panthers.

The Philadelphia Flyers sit 7th in the Metropolitan Division in a tight race, but have shown weaknesses on the blue line and in the blue paint (goaltending, again) and the New York Rangers are in a full-scale rebuild to start things off this season.

In the Western Conference, the Nashville Predators are staking a case for defending their President’s Trophy season last year currently sitting atop the Central Division, as well as the league.

Filling out the remaining Central Divisions spots, last season’s biggest improvers, the Colorado Avalanche sit 2nd with the Minnesota Wild in 3rd. There’s two wild card berth in the Central Division, currently held by the Winnipeg Jets and Chicago Blackhawks(!?!)– that’s right, last season’s division bottom feeders are able to keep their heads barely above the surface with Corey Crawford back in the net.

The Dallas Stars sit 6th and the St. Louis Blues have had the wheels fall off in just a month’s time.

In the Pacific Division, the Vancouver Canucks lead the San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Arizona Coyotes, Anaheim Ducks, Vegas Golden Knights and the 31st place team in the league– the Los Angeles Kings.

Yes, the Pacific Division is that wide-open so far with legitimate playoff contenders from last season (San Jose, Anaheim, Vegas and Los Angeles) all over the place. The Sharks haven’t hit their stride, the Ducks are suffering from injuries and defensive breakdowns, while the Golden Knights are looking for last season’s inaugural season magic.

Oh and the Kings? Yeah, everything’s pretty bad right now and Jonathan Quick‘s out indefinitely.

Meanwhile, pleasant surprises in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Arizona are being led by… youth?

Nothing makes sense anymore.

Luckily, that’s just a quick recap of the first month in about as bland an outlook as you can get when the meat of this post is really about what’s to come. That’s right, everything above? Forget most of it. Let’s use a little foresight and figure out how November through April should go.

2018-19 Projected Standings after One Month

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division
1. y-Boston Bruins, 104 points (12 GP so far)
2. x-Tampa Bay Lightning, 103 points (11 GP so far)
3. x-Toronto Maple Leafs, 94 points (12 GP so far)
4. wc1-Montreal Canadiens, 93 points (11 GP so far)
5. Florida Panthers, 84 points (9 GP so far)
6. Ottawa Senators, 84 points (11 GP so far)
7. Detroit Red Wings, 81 points (12 GP so far)
8. Buffalo Sabres, 76 points (12 GP so far)
What’s bound to happen in the Atlantic?

The forecast is so close between the top-three teams in the division that none of their positions in the standings are truly set in stone, unlike how the Red Wings will undoubtedly land somewhere in the bottom-three spots in the Atlantic.

There’s a chance the Panthers never get off the ground and there’s a chance the Sabres are able to continue turning heads around the league by not currently being in the basement of the division. However, since this forecast takes into consideration recent seasons in addition to current gameplay…

Check back in another month.

(Is it too early to do one of these? Yeah, probably.)

Metropolitan Division
1. p-Washington Capitals, 107 points (10 GP so far)
2. x-Pittsburgh Penguins, 106 points (10 GP so far)
3. x-Columbus Blue Jackets, 93 points (11 GP so far)
4. wc2- New York Islanders, 89 points (11 GP so far)
5. Philadelphia Flyers, 89 points (12 GP so far)
6. New York Rangers, 89 points (12 GP so far)
7. New Jersey Devils, 87 points (9 GP so far)
8. Carolina Hurricanes, 85 points (12 GP so far)
The biggest takeaway from the Metropolitan forecast is after the top-two teams, anything goes.

Washington will be able to right the ship and land in a divisional spot– whether that’s top-dog or behind the Penguins remains to be seen. Columbus should even out as they’ve been doing as of late and settle in for another First Round exit (probably).

But between the Islanders, Flyers, Rangers, Devils and Hurricanes? Yeah, anything goes.

The Islanders are better than the Rangers, but the Rangers might somehow be better than the Flyers. Meanwhile, if New Jersey can get things going like they did last season, they’ve got a chance to box out the competition. Plus, Carolina remains unpredictable and foreseeably within striking range of a wild card spot in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Again, it’s only been one month. There’s still a little more than five months left in the regular season.

Western Conference

Central Division
1. z-Nashville Predators, 105 points (12 GP so far)
2. x-Minnesota Wild, 100 points (12 GP so far)
3. x-Chicago Blackhawks, 98 points (13 GP so far)
4. wc1-St. Louis Blues, 96 points (10 GP so far)
5. wc2-Winnipeg Jets, 94 points (12 GP so far)
6. Dallas Stars, 90 points (11 GP so far)
7. Colorado Avalanche, 85 points (12 GP so far)
In the Central Division, the Nashville Predators continue to reign supreme. Cool.

Minnesota, Chicago and St. Louis are all somehow destined for the postseason. This, after the Wild make it every year, Crawford’s return lifts the Blackhawks over the competition and supposedly the Blues will figure things out.

Wait, the Avalanche can’t be that bad.

Once again, it’s an extremely early forecast that takes into account recency bias from the last few seasons. Colorado won’t be last. Winnipeg shouldn’t be a wild card team.

But Dallas? Yeah, they’re definitely not making the playoffs if they keep playing like they have been.

Pacific Division
1. y-San Jose Sharks, 101 points (12 GP so far)
2. x-Anaheim Ducks, 98 points (13 GP so far)
3. x-Calgary Flames, 89 points (13 GP so far)
4. Los Angeles Kings, 87 points (11 GP so far)
5. Vancouver Canucks, 84 points (14 GP so far)
6. Edmonton Oilers, 83 points (11 GP so far)
7. Arizona Coyotes, 77 points (11 GP so far)
8. Vegas Golden Knights, 75 points (12 GP so far)
By now everything you’ve read should indicate what’s going to be written below.

San Jose? Good team. No surprise, given Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns and Marc-Edouard Vlasic are on the blue line with Joe Pavelski, Logan Couture, Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier and Evander Kane at forward. Oh and Martin Jones in net.

Anaheim? If they can whether the storm, they can make it in one of the most unpredictable divisions based on how bad the other teams are or should be.

Calgary? Bill Peters finally coaches a team to a playoff berth? Yeah. That should happen.

The Kings can recover from this slow start– if they don’t mess things up in November.

As for the Canucks, Oilers, Coyotes and Golden Knights, well, Vancouver might make some noise. Edmonton could be a pretender as long as Connor McDavid is a contender. Arizona remains to be seen and the situation looks like it’s only going to get worse for Vegas before anything gets better– if it even does.
November 1, 2018
DTFR Podcast #130- Boo: A Very Merry Boone Jenner Halloween (Part II: Pierre-Luc DuBOOis)

Injuries are scaring the masses across the league, while old ghosts haunt Colorado (then lose), the Los Angeles Kings’ reign of terror is spooked, Mark Borowiecki is back again, Nick and Connor do their best to talk about the Columbus Blue Jackets and the thing that goes bump in the night? That’s the Tampa Bay Lightning thundering their way to the top. We also reviewed Bohemian Rhapsody before it comes out.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

October 31, 2018
Marchand’s two goals, Halak’s 42 saves help B’s past Hurricanes, 3-2

Tuesday night at PNC Arena the visiting Boston Bruins defeated a shot-making machine offense in the Carolina Hurricanes, 3-2, thanks to a two-goal effort from Brad Marchand and goaltender, Jaroslav Halak‘s 42 saves.

Halak (4-0-2 in 7 games played with a 1.52 goals against average and .947 save percentage) made 42 saves on 44 shots against for a .955 SV% in the win, while Carolina’s Scott Darling made his 2018-19 season debut after returning from injury and his conditioning stint with the Charlotte Checkers (AHL).

Darling (0-1-0 in 1 GP) turned aside 28 shots out of 31 shots faced for a .903 SV% in 57:39 time on ice in the loss.

Boston improved to 7-3-2 (16 points) on the season, good enough for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division standings (trailing the Toronto Maple Leafs), while the Hurricanes slid to 6-5-1 (13 points) and 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division (behind the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders).

Torey Krug made his season debut for the Bruins as he was back in the lineup for the first time since his leg injury in the preseason, while Matt Grzelcyk was out of Bruce Cassidy‘s lineup with a lower body injury.

Early in the first period– like, 35 seconds into the opening frame, early– Jordan Staal tripped Bruins defender, John Moore, and gave Boston their first power play of the night. The B’s did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Late in the first period, Jeremy Lauzon tripped Carolina forward, Brock McGinn, and gave the Hurricanes their first power play opportunity of the night at 17:46 of the first period.

It only took eight seconds for the Canes to score on the skater advantage.

Micheal Ferland (7) notched the power play goal as a scramble for the loose puck ensued as Halak fell back in desperation, yearning to make a glove save while No. 79 in red pocketed the rubber biscuit in the twine.

Sebastian Aho (13) and Valentin Zykov (3) were credited with the assists on the goal that made it 1-0 Carolina at 17:54 of the first period.

Cassidy used his coach’s challenge on the call on the ice (goal) on the grounds for a goaltender interference review as Zykov had brushed behind Halak in the crease prior to Ferland getting a stick on the puck. After review, the call on the ice stood and the Bruins lost their timeout as a result.

With his assist on Ferland’s goal, Aho became the 3rd player in NHL history to record at least one assist in a season-opening streak of 12 games joining Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky (7-20–27 totals through 12 games in 1982-83) and Boston’s Ken Linseman (2-19–21, 1985-86).

The goal was also Ferland’s 100th career NHL point.

Less than a minute later, Brandon Carlo earned himself a minor infraction for slashing Andrei Svechnikov and was sent to the penalty box at 18:29. Carolina didn’t score as time expired in the first period, so the resulting power play carried over into the second period.

Entering the dressing room for the first intermission, Carolina held onto a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 12-8 advantage in shots on goal. The Hurricanes also led in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (4-2), giveaways (3-2) and hits (16-10), while the Bruins led in face-off win percentage (55-46).

Carolina went 1/2 on the power play in the first period and Boston was 0/1 after 20 minutes.

The second period started out much to the tune of a more controlled Bruins effort as Brad Marchand moved in all alone on Darling, only to lose the puck while switching to his backhand as the Hurricanes netminder dove to make a last-ditch effort poke check.

Jaccob Slavin received a slashing minor for his obstruction of Marchand’s ability to get a shot off and Boston went back on the power play 1:01 into the second period.

Moments later it was Marchand himself cutting a rut to the sin bin for slashing Hurricanes blue liner, Dougie Hamilton, in one of those retaliation “chop the stick out of the other guy’s hands” plays at 4:55.

Carolina did not score on the power play.

Just past the halfway mark of the second period, Hurricanes captain, Justin Williams caught Krug up high with a stick to the face and was subsequently penalized for high-sticking at 10:36.

The Bruins scored on the ensuing power play, tying the game, 1-1, thanks to David Pastrnak (11) and his third time’s a charm effort on a one-timer blast from about the goal line, beating Darling short side.

Krug (1) and Patrice Bergeron (10) were tabbed with the assists on Pastrnak’s power play goal at 12:22 of the middle frame.

Moore later sent the puck over the glass and received an automatic delay of game minor infraction, yielding a skater advantage to Carolina at 17:20.

While on a face-off in the attacking zone on the ensuing power play, Jordan Staal won the draw back to the left point where Hamilton (2) blasted a one-timer past Halak, high, blocker-side to give the Hurricanes a power play goal and the lead, 2-1 at 18:33.

Staal (3) had the only assist on Hamilton’s goal against the team that drafted him 9th overall in the 2011 NHL Draft prior to sending him to the Calgary Flames hours before the 2015 NHL Draft in exchange for a 2015 1st round pick (Zach Senyshyn, 15th overall) and two 2015 2nd round picks (Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson, 45th overall and Lauzon, 52nd overall).

The Flames, of course, traded Hamilton to Carolina this offseason, along with Adam Fox and Ferland in exchange for Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin.

Lucas Wallmark tripped Danton Heinen late in the second period and the Bruins went back on the skater advantage at 19:07.

After Bergeron stripped Warren Foegele of the puck on a break-in, No. 37 in black-and-gold sent a pass up-ice to his linemate wearing No. 63 awaiting entry in the attacking zone at the blue line.

From there, Marchand (3) broke in with speed and fired a wrist shot past Darling’s glove hand to tied the game, 2-2, on the power play as the Hurricanes were caught during a bungled line change.

Carolina’s bench was guilty of too many men on the ice and Boston went from ending one power play to beginning a new one at 19:42 of the middle frame.

Bergeron (11) had the only assist on Marchand’s power play goal and Ferland served the bench minor for the Hurricanes as play resumed.

Through two periods of play the score was tied, 2-2, and the Hurricanes were outshooting the Bruins, 36-22. Boston held onto an advantage in blocked shots (8-7), while the Canes led in takeaways (8-6), hits (19-18) and face-off win% (56-44). Both teams had nine giveaways aside after 40 minutes of play and Carolina was 2/4 on the power play, while the B’s were 2/5.

Boston was the only team to score a goal in the third period as Marchand (4) picked up his second of the night on a wraparound goal, having freed himself with speed from Williams behind the net at 5:23 of the final frame.

Darling overcommitted to the right side of the crease as Marchand maintained possession, wrapped around the goalframe and gave the Bruins their first lead of the night, 3-2, at 5:23 of the third period.

Bergeron (12) once again had the only assist on Marchand’s goal.

After a stoppage in play with 2:19 remaining in regulation, Hurricanes head coach, Rod Brind’Amour used his timeout to hone the focus of his players on the ice on getting the game-tying goal with the extra attacker as a result of pulling his goaltender.

Carolina’s plans didn’t come to fruition and almost backfired when Pastrnak sent the puck wide of the open 4-by-6 frame with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game.

At the final horn, Boston defeated Carolina, 3-2, on the scoreboard, despite trailing, 44-31, in shots on goal. The Hurricanes led in every other category, including blocked shots (17-12), giveaways (15-12), hits (28-23) and face-off win% (56-44) after the 60-minute effort.

The B’s finished 2/5 on the power play, while the Canes went 2/4.

The Bruins head to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee for a Saturday night matchup with the Predators before returning home on Monday, Nov. 5th against the Dallas Stars.

Among other stats…

Pastrnak led Boston with nine shots on goal. Marchand was the next closest with five. Carlo led his teammates in hits with six and Zdeno Chara recorded a team-high three blocked shots.

Williams and Trevor van Riemsdyk led Carolina with six shots on goal. Brett Pesce had four blocked shots for the Hurricanes, while Justin Faulk and Slavin each had three.

Jordan Martinook had a team-high five hits for Carolina in the loss.

October 30, 2018
The Price is right for a 3-0 shutout by the Habs over the B’s

Carey Price and the Montreal Canadiens shutout the Boston Bruins, 3-0, Saturday night at TD Garden. Price (4-1-2, 2.13 goals against average, .922 save percentage in seven games this season) made 33 saves in the win, while Brendan Gallagher, Max Domi and Jordie Benn each had a goal in the victory.

Boston netminder, Tuukka Rask (3-3-0, 3.15 GAA, .902 SV% in six GP this season), stopped 20 out of 22 shots faced for a .909 SV% Saturday night in the loss.

The win moved Price past Patrick Roy for 2nd place all-time in wins for the Canadiens as Price now has 290 to Roy’s 289 career wins with Montreal. Jacques Plante is 1st in franchise history for the Habs with 314 wins.

Another fun fact, Price leads Montreal all-time in losses with 202 currently. He’s been their starting netminder since the 2007-08 season and is in his 12th career NHL season. Ken Dryden and Plante had shorter careers with Montreal than Price and Roy, while Roy spent 1985-96 with the Canadiens before being traded to the Colorado Avalanche.

As a result, Roy ranks 2nd all-time in losses as a Hab with 175, while Jose Theodore is 3rd with 158 losses as a Canadien.

Had Roy not been traded to the Avalanche in the 1995-96 season, who knows what might’ve happened.

As a result of Saturday’s loss, the Bruins fell to 6-3-2 (14 points) on the season– dropping to 4th in the Atlantic Division thanks to, you guessed it, the now 6-2-2 (14 points) overall Montreal Canadiens. Montreal has played 10 games thus far, while Boston has played in 11, yielding a one-game in-hand advantage for the Canadiens in the standings.

Bruce Cassidy made two minor moves in his lineup for Boston, moving Anders Bjork to the right side of Joakim Nordstrom on the third line and swapping Chris Wagner and Ryan Donato on the left side of the third and fourth line.

Wagner was bumped to the left side of Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari, while Donato fit in with Nordstrom and Bjork.

Torey Krug is expected to return to the lineup next week, as Cassidy indicated prior to Saturday’s matchup, while David Backes, Charlie McAvoy, Urho Vaakanainen and Kevan Miller remain injured.

Early in the first period, David Pastrnak was guilty of slashing Canadiens defender, Xavier Ouellet, at 4:42. Montreal did not convert on the ensuing power play, but momentum began to swing in their favor.

Moments later, the Habs were first on the scoreboard and they’d remain the only ones on the scoreboard.

Brendan Gallagher (6) spun away from Acciari, then cut to the inside to fully free himself from entrapment and found an opening under the glove of Rask to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead 9:18 into the first period.

Matthew Peca (3) and Ouellet (3) picked up the tab on the primary and secondary assists on Gallagher’s goal.

Just 1:21 later, Max Domi (5) made it 2-0, Montreal, after an aerial pass sent Artturi Lehkonen into the zone, with Boston’s defense collapsing and a few quality rebound chances leading up to Domi’s goal.

Jonathan Drouin (5) and Lehkonen (6) had the assists on Domi’s goal at 10:39 of the first period.

Less than five minutes later, Peca cut a rut to the penalty box for tripping Bjork at 15:24 of the opening frame. Boston did not convert on their first skater advantage of the evening.

After 20 minutes of play, the Canadiens led, 2-0. Montreal also had the advantage in shots on goal (9-7), takeaways (7-2), giveaways (6-1) and hits (14-9), while Boston led in face-off win percentage (53-47). Blocked shots were even, 2-2, and both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the dressing room for the first intermission.

Early in the second period, the Bruins thought they had gotten on the scoreboard and cut Montreal’s lead in half with a goal by Donato, however, former Bruins bench boss and current Canadiens head coach, Claude Julien, used his coach’s challenge to get the call on the ice rightfully overturned after review.

The Bruins had entered the zone offside prior to Donato’s would-be goal, hence the call on the ice being overturned and the score remaining, 2-0, Montreal.

Past the midway-point of the second frame, B’s defender Brandon Carlo caught Drouin with a stick up high and was sent to the sin bin for high-sticking at 12:30 of the second period.

Through two periods of play, the Canadiens held onto a 2-0 lead and shots on goal were even (19-19) as were blocked shots (5-5). Montreal led in takeaways (10-8), giveaways (9-3), hits (23-17) and face-off win% (53-47). Entering the second intermission, the Habs were 0/2 on the skater advantage, while Boston was still 0/1.

Joel Armia kicked off the action in the third period by tripping Donato and being sent to the penalty box at 5:10.

While on the power play, Rask caught Paul Byron behind the net and promptly tripped the Canadiens forward, sending Donato to the box to serve the Bruins netminder’s minor infraction for tripping.

About two minutes later, Drouin and Brad Marchand were tangled up in an altercation after Drouin was going to be penalized for interference. Marchand received a roughing penalty and both sides sent a skater to the box for 4-on-4 action at 8:07 of the third period.

While the Bruins continued to fire shots at Price, eventually taking the lead in shots on goal, they weren’t nearly of any challenging, quality, caliber.

Nicolas Deslauriers hooked David Krejci at 12:30 of the third period and the Bruins went on the power play once again. They did not score. By now, you should definitely remember the first sentence in this recap mentioned the Canadiens shutout the Bruins on Saturday.

Cassidy pulled his goaltender with 2:59 remaining in regulation for an extra skater. It didn’t go as planned, even after Boston used their timeout after a stoppage with 1:25 left in the game and an offensive zone face-off.

Using physics and trick shots he learned by playing pool (I’m assuming), Jordie Benn (1) banked an indirect shot off the boards and into the empty net in for the insurance empty net goal.

Montreal led 3-0 as Lehkonen (7) picked up his second assist of the night on Benn’s first goal of the season at 19:31 of the third period.

At the final horn the Canadiens sealed the victory with the advantage in blocked shots (12-8), giveaways (14-7), hits (28-20) and face-off win% (51-49), while the Bruins lost, 3-0, despite outshooting the Habs, 33-23. Both teams finished the night 0/3 on the power play.

Price picked up his first shutout against the B’s since February 8, 2016 in the most shots he’s faced so far this season (33).

The Bruins travel to Raleigh, North Carolina for Tuesday’s matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes before visiting the Nashville Predators on Nov. 3rd. to wrap up a quick two-game road trip.

Among other stats from Saturday’s loss…

Boston’s first line of Patrice Bergeron, Marchand and Pastrnak, as well as defender Matt Grzelcyk were each minus-two in the plus/minus category. Pastrnak led the B’s in shots on goal with six, while Bergeron had the next highest total with four.

John Moore and Jake DeBrusk led Boston in hits with three apiece, while Bjork led his teammates in blocked shots with two.

Montreal’s Artturi Lehkonen was a plus-two and his teammates Gallagher and Byron led the Habs in shots on goal with three shots on net each.

Deslauriers and Karl Alzner had five hits, leading the Canadiens in that category, while Ouellet led the Habs in blocked shots with three.

October 28, 2018
Halak records 2nd shutout this season in Bruins 3-0 win

Zdeno Chara kicked off Thursday night’s scoring for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers on home ice and Chara ended scoring too. Jake DeBrusk added a power play goal in between Chara’s goals as Jaroslav Halak and the Bruins shutout the Flyers, 3-0, at TD Garden.

Boston improved to 6-2-2 (14 points) on the season with the win– good enough for 2nd in the Atlantic Division, despite being tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 1st on points (Toronto has one more regulation-plus-overtime win than the Bruins, yielding the tiebreaker).

Philadelphia fell to 4-6-0 (8 points) through their first 10 games, currently sitting 6th in the Metropolitan Division.

Halak (3-0-2, .945 save percentage, 1.43 goals against average in 6 games played) made 26 saves on 26 shots faced for a 1.000 SV% and his 2nd shutout of the season in the win, while Flyers netminder, Brian Elliott (2-5-0, .912 SV%, 3.38 GAA in 8 GP), stopped 22 out of 24 shots faced for a .917 SV% in the loss.

After ending a three-game losing streak in Ottawa, the Bruins now have back-to-back wins with a chance of extending their current winning streak to three games against their arch-rival– the Montreal Canadiens– Saturday night on home ice.

Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, didn’t make any changes to his lineup, save for the National Hockey League debut of Bruins defender, Jeremy Lauzon, out of necessity. Lauzon laced up on the third defensive pair alongside Steven Kampfer in place of the most-recently injured Bruins blue liner, Urho Vaakanainen (concussion).

David Backes (upper body), Torey Krug (lower body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body) and Kevan Miller (hand) also remained out of the lineup Thursday night, though Krug has begun practicing and should return to action next week.

Meanwhile, Lauzon became the first Bruin to wear No. 79 in a regular season game since current defender in the Colorado Avalanche organization (and Marshfield, Massachusetts native), David Warsofsky, did so in the 2014-15 season.

David Pastrnak and Gritty’s favorite Flyer, Claude Giroux, were given matching minor penalties 7:11 into the first period as the opening frame featured largely dull action.

Robert Hagg was guilty of slashing Brad Marchand at 11:27 of the first period and the Bruins went on their first power play of the night, but they failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Late in the first period, Chara sent the puck over the glass and received a delay of game minor. The timing of the penalty came at 18:05 of the first period, so the ensuing Flyers power play would carryover into the first five seconds of the second period (unless Philadelphia scored before the end of the period).

After 20 minutes of play, the score remained tied, 0-0, with both teams amassing seven shots on goal. Boston had the advantage in takeaways (7-4), giveaways (2-1) and hits (6-5) entering the first intermission, while both teams were 0/1 on the power play.

The pace of play picked up in the second period, as both Elliott and Halak found themselves locked into a goaltending battle– in which the Bruins netminder made several impressive saves on 2-on-1 opportunities for the Flyers.

Halak’s strong performance (and eventual shutout) serves as a reminder that while there is no goalie controversy in the Hub (Tuukka Rask is the long-term starter), Cassidy’s decision making in determining which goaltender to play any given night (for now) continues to get tougher. It’s generally advisable to go with the hotter hand until one can’t any longer.

That said, Cassidy remained firm on his plans to start Rask Saturday night against the Canadiens after Thursday’s win.

Time (and stats) will tell after that. A little competition is a healthy thing– especially if the team is still able to put up “W’s” in the “win” column.

A little past midway in the second period, Danton Heinen worked the puck back to the point to Chara. The Bruins captain fired a slap shot– from just about the blue line in Boston’s attacking zone– high glove side past Elliott to give the B’s a 1-0 lead while David Krejci tried to screen the Philadelphia goalie from the slot.

The goal was Chara’s 2nd of the season and assisted by Heinen (3) at 13:00 of the second period.

Shortly thereafter, Philadelphia’s bench bungled a line change and was handed a two-minute minor penalty for too many men at 15:32. Travis Konecny served the penalty.

Late into the ensuing power play, the Bruins extended their lead on the scoreboard as Krejci threw a saucer pass to Jake DeBrusk (3) for the redirection from point blank and a 2-0 lead.

Krejci (7) and Kampfer (1) were credited with the assists on DeBrusk’s goal at 17:28. Kampfer’s assist was his first point for Boston since being re-acquired by the Bruins in September and his first point in a black-and-gold sweater in over six years (he had two assists in 10 games for the Bruins in the 2011-12 season prior to being traded).

Through two periods, Boston led Philadelphia, 2-0. Shots on goal were even, 18-18, while the Flyers led in blocked shots (12-9) and face-off win percentage (65-35). The Bruins held onto the advantage in takeaways (11-8) and hits (12-9) after 40 minutes of play.

Both teams had five giveaways each entering the second intermission, while the Flyers were 0/1 on the power play and the Bruins were 1/2.

Early in the third period, tempers started to flare as they usually do when the Big Bad Bruins square off with the Broad Street Bullies as Steven Kampfer and Scott Laughton got into a kerfuffle. Wayne Simmonds even jumped in as a third-man in and penalties soon followed.

Despite clearly attempting to fight with his gloves off, Kampfer was handed a four-minute double minor penalty for roughing, while Laughton received a two-minute roughing penalty.

Simmonds also received a roughing minor at 6:38 of the third period, resulting in a power play for the Flyers, thanks to Kampfer’s four-minute double minor.

Ryan Donato served one of Kampfer’s penalties in the box.

Late in the penalty kill for Boston, Chara tripped up Konecny and was sent to the box on a minor penalty for tripping (of course) at 8:34. The Flyers would have four seconds on a two-skater advantage before resuming play under a normal 5-on-4 power play scenario.

Philadelphia did not convert on either power play opportunity.

At 14:30 of the third period, Konecny himself was summoned to the sin bin for tripping Bruins forward, David Pastrnak.

Just under two minutes later, while on the power play, DeBrusk got into a shoving match with Flyers defender, Andrew MacDonald.

DeBrusk was going to be penalized for interference, while MacDonald received a slashing minor after a quick conference held by the refs once things settled down after the whistle.

Why did it take so long in comparison to the other penalties? Well, a scrum ensued and a slew of penalties followed in the same stoppage as the original DeBrusk retaliation call based on MacDonald’s infraction.

Laughton received another roughing minor– this time against DeBrusk– and was sent to the locker room early on a ten-minute misconduct. This additional two-minute penalty against the Flyers resulted in an abbreviated 5-on-3 power play for Boston for about 27 seconds, while Oskar Lindblom served Laughton’s penalty at 16:03 of the third period.

As time expired on Lindblom’s time in the box, the door opened and the puck rolled right by as a Bruins player was chasing it down.

Lindblom tried to play the puck while still in the penalty box. His feet had not set foot on the ice, thereby resulting in an automatic interference penalty and Boston went back on the power play at 18:06.

With less than a minute remaining in regulation, Flyers head coach, Dave Hakstol pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker. Things didn’t go as planned.

Halak sent the puck from the trapezoid to his captain along the boards behind the goal line, where Chara (3) then flung the puck through the air and into the empty net at the other end of the ice for the empty net power play goal at 19:37.

That’s right, Chara scored from the endboards in his own zone for what’s undoubtedly the longest empty net power play goal in NHL history. For all intents and purposes, he could’ve been having a cannoli at Mike’s Pastry in the North End and hit the net.

Halak (1) picked up his first point as a Bruin in the form of an assist on Chara’s goal and Boston secured the 3-0 victory at the final horn.

The Bruins finished the night ahead on the scoreboard, but trailed the Flyers in shots on goal (26-25), blocked shots (14-13), giveaways (9-7), hits (17-16), penalty minutes (26-12) and face-off win% (60-40). Philadelphia went 0/3 on the power play, while the B’s went 2/5 on Thursday.

Among other stats…

Chara (41 years, 221 days) became the third defender in the NHL to score multiple goals in a game at 41 years of age or older, joining Tim Horton (41 years, 277 days) and Nicklas Lidstrom (41 years, 191 days).

Despite winning, 3-0, no Bruins skater was more than a plus-one in plus/minus Thursday night. Heinen, Krejci, DeBrusk, Chara and John Moore were all plus-one, while Chara led the way for Boston in shots on goal with five.

Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak and DeBrusk were the next highest with three shots on net.

Noel Acciari led the B’s in the physical department with three hits and Brandon Carlo led his team in blocked shots with four.

Nolan Patrick, Laughton, Jakub Voracek, MacDonald and Shayne Gostisbehere were all minus-ones for the Flyers, while Claude Giroux led his teammates with five shots on goal. Travis Sanheim was the next closest with four.

Gostisbehere, Hadd and Corban Knight each recorded two hits for Philadelphia and Gostisbehere led his teammates in blocked shots with four.

The Bruins take on the Canadiens Saturday night on home ice for their next matchup before venturing out on the road to visit the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 30th and the Nashville Predators on Nov. 3rd as part of a quick, two-game, road trip.

October 26, 2018
Carolina Hurricanes 2018-19 Season Projections

It’s October whateverth, I know, and the regular season is already underway, but transferring data into a new system and (in some cases) building new rosters entirely can take its time in the midst of catching every game on TV, living life, etc.

So without further ado let’s pretend the 5-3-1 (11 points)– 1st place in the Metropolitan Division– Carolina Hurricanes didn’t actually start the season yet and let’s turn back the clocks to before puck drop on the regular season.

Back then, Andrei Svechnikov had yet to play an NHL game as an 18-year-old rookie. The 2nd overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft’s forecasted stats couldn’t be calculated until he stepped foot on the ice. Though his 2-2–4 totals in his first nine games have him forecasted for 18 goals and 18 assists (36 points) over his first 82 games, we’ll pretend we don’t actually know what we know now.

Anyway, the fact of the matter remains the same– prior to the start of any regular season, these forecasted stats are merely educated expectations. A player who performs better than their expected outcome exceeded expectations (makes sense). A player who doesn’t live up to the numbers was either injured, a healthy scratch or on a chronic cold streak (or whatever).

Last season’s Carolina Hurricanes finished 6th in the Metropolitan Division with a 36-35-11 record and 83 points on the season. Bill Peters was fired as head coach and former Hurricanes superstar Rod Brind’Amour was hired behind the bench. Don Waddell took over as General Manager in the offseason, going from interim to full-time as owner Tom Dundon embraced a new direction to go along with his new reign.

The annual doldrums in Raleigh, North Carolina might be over sooner rather than later with a stockpile of youth in Sebastian Aho, Warren Foegele, Svechnikov and others, in addition to the quietly shutdown defensive pairings that include Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce and newcomers Dougie Hamilton, as well as Calvin de Haan.

Carolina holds the longest playoff drought in the league currently, dating back to their 2009 Eastern Conference Finals appearance against the Pittsburgh Penguins– just three years removed from their 2006 Stanley Cup championship. The Hurricanes haven’t been part of any postseason activity in the 2010s.

Not that this season can necessarily change that, but the end of the drought is soon and the oasis of playoff hockey draws near.

It’s at this point in every forecast where I’d like to remind everyone my degree is in communication– not math– therefore all mistakes are strictly Microsoft Excels fault and for sure not an error of my own. Well, that, and there’s sometimes a little gut-feeling mixed in for players who’ve only played in less than ten games and therefore are projected to score, like, 100 goals or something.

My area of expertise resides in the written, spoken and nonverbal language of communicating– not numbers.

Forecasted stats are to be looked at as an utopian perspective– as though everything were to fall into line and nothing bad could ever happen. Some players will pan out and others will fall flat. These are only suggested (expected) outcomes for a sport that’s highly unpredictable due to its collective nature and sheer puck luck.

Carolina Hurricanes Forecast Through 0 Games (82 Games Remaining)

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The good news for Carolina heading into 2018-19 is the realistic expectations are low. There’s only three players that are expected to crack the 50-point plateau, but that doesn’t mean any meteoric rise can’t creep up on any member of the Hurricanes and propel this roster into the postseason for the first time in– by the time April rolls around– a decade.

Brind’Amour is behind the bench now and having no prior NHL experience as a head coach, there’s nothing to point to and say “they’re destined to fail”. The Canes might come out of this with one of the best rookie coaches this season if they make the playofs and given all the expectations of the other rookie coaches around the league.

Washington’s Todd Reirden is behind the defending-Cup champions (so there’s high expectations with room only to fail), David Quinn is coaching a rebuilding New York Rangers bunch (so anything goes), Jim Montgomery is in charge of the borderline Dallas Stars (things could go either way) and Brind’Amour, well, he can only go up what with the roster he was given.

As always, we’ll get into goalies and rookies after the first quarter of the season passes, however, he’s a quick look at the expected top-points scorers for the Hurricanes this season.

Valentin Zykov has shown potential before and if Brind’Amour can finally be the one to light a fire under his playing style, perhaps Zykov just might amass 24-35–59 totals and be like William Karlsson was for the Vegas Golden Knights last season– except this time around, Zykov isn’t a new face in town for a new team.

Aho (27-31–58 expected totals) should easily reach, if not exceed, expectations for Carolina as he enters the world of first line minutes in the post-Jeff Skinner on the Hurricanes era.

We’ll neglect the holes in the Skinner trade where Waddell should’ve gotten more, but at least Aho is a positive in the “next man up” category of “players who should live up to being rushed into the spotlight, since there’s nobody else to turn to and have already been part of the organization prior to a rather one-sided trade”.

“Mr. Game 7” himself (Justin Williams) is bound for one last “breakout” year with 22-33–55 expected totals on a rejuvenated Hurricanes roster.

Meanwhile, Micheal Ferland, Warren Foegele and Jordan Staal make themselves as prime candidates for dark horse work horses in Carolina.

On defense, Dougie Hamilton (44 expected points) supersedes Justin Faulk (39 expected points) as Carolina’s top blue liner after being acquired in the Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm trade for Hamilton, Ferland and Adam Fox. In addition, Slavin and Pesce continue to fill-out one of the best kept secrets in NHL defense as pieces of the most underrated top-six blue liners with de Haan now part of the fold.

In goal, well, Brind’Amour has a lot of decisions to make on an almost nightly basis. Neither Scott Darling nor Petr Mrazek look to have goals against averages or save percentages in the starting goaltender range.

In fact, both are in the sub-par backup goaltender range– closer to 3.00 than 2.00– so as long as the Hurricane’s defense limits shots against and lessens the workload, then perhaps the season’s collapse won’t be because of bad goaltending.

Time will tell.

Until then, feel free to look around at how the Golden Knights and Boston Bruins should do this season.

October 24, 2018
Pastrnak’s 4th career 4-point night lifts B’s, 4-1, over Sens

For the fourth time in his young career, David Pastrnak (2-2–4 totals) had a four-point night to snap a three-game losing streak and help the Boston Bruins beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-1, at Canadian Tire Centre Tuesday night.

David Krejci (1-1–2) and Patrice Bergeron (1-2–3) each had a goal in the Bruins victory, while Tuukka Rask (3-2-0, 3.38 goals against average, .901 save percentage) made 38 saves on 39 shots against for a .974 SV% en route to picking up his third win of the season.

Rask bounced back with an impressive showing since his last game (Oct. 17th’s 5-2 loss, 24 saves, in Calgary against the Flames) as Boston’s first line of Bergeron, Brad Marchand and Pastrnak combined for eight points in Tuesday’s win.

Ottawa netminder, Craig Anderson (4-2-1, 3.14 GAA, .915 SV%), stopped 28 out of 32 shots faced for an .875 SV% in the loss.

The Senators are now 0-2-0 against their division rival– the Bruins– this season after Tuesday’s loss and Oct. 8th’s 6-3 loss at TD Garden. Boston swept Ottawa last season in the season series, while the Sens swept the B’s in 2016-17.

Coincidentally, Rask was 3-0-0 with a 1.00 GAA against Ottawa last season.

Boston was 18-8-2 against Atlantic Division teams last season. They are 4-0-0 against division opponents thus far in 2018-19 (4-0 at Buffalo on Oct. 4th, 6-3 vs. Ottawa on Oct. 8th, 8-2 vs. Detroit on Oct. 13th and Tuesday’s 4-1 win in Ottawa).

Bruce Cassidy adjusted his lines without David Backes in the lineup for the second straight game, leaving what worked against the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 20th together on the third line with Anders Bjork sliding in on the left side of Joakim Nordstrom and Chris Wagner playing right wing.

Ryan Donato, Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari were again the left wing-center-right wing combo for the fourth line.

Zdeno Chara was paired with Brandon Carlo, while Matt Grzelcyk played with John Moore and Urho Vaakanainen started the game alongside Steven Kampfer.

In the opening minutes of the first period, Senators defender, Mark Borowiecki looked over his shoulder at an approaching Vaakanainen and promptly delivered an elbow to the 19-year-old blue liner’s face after a whistle.

No penalty was called on the play and Vaakanainen would not return for the second period. In fact, the rookie defender in just his 2nd career National Hockey League game was diagnosed with a concussion by the Bruins medical staff and shutdown for the rest of the night.

Cassidy juggled his remaining defenders for the rest of the night, with Carlo seeing some impressive play in his own end, including blocking shots and bailing out his team from errant pucks in the crease approaching the goal line.

Of note, injured defender Torey Krug started skating the other day and may return to the lineup next week. Kevan Miller and Charlie McAvoy remain out, however, in addition to the now uncertain timetable for Vaakanainen.

Chara was penalized for hooking Ottawa’s Matt Duchene at 3:59 of the first period, but Ottawa wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing power play. This, despite Bobby Ryan firing a shot through Rask that nearly crossed the goal line before Carlo squibbed it free from the blue paint.

Fresh off the bench in the midst of a line change, Danton Heinen sent the puck up to Pastrnak (9) who managed to break into the attacking zone and snipe a shot past Anderson to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead at 11:17 of the first period.

Heinen (2) and Krejci (6) were tabbed with the assists on Pastrnak’s goal.

After one period, Boston held onto a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard and a 15-10 advantage in shots on goal. The B’s also led in takeaways (2-0), hits (10-7) and face-off win percentage (57-43), while Ottawa had an advantage in blocked shots (7-6) and giveaways (5-1). The Sens were 0/1 on the power play entering the first intermission, while the Bruins had yet to see time on the skater advantage.

Noel Acciari was guilty of tripping Senators defender, Thomas Chabot, at 5:30 of the second period, but Ottawa wasn’t able to convert on their second skater advantage of the night.

Late in the period Brad Marchand and Zack Smith exchanged fisticuffs after Smith hit Grzelcyk hard in the corner. The hit was clean, but given the heightened tempers, Marchand wasn’t taking any chances with seeing another defender, let alone teammate, get roughed up without some kind of response (right or wrong).

A minute later on yet another questionable call by the refs, Chara was handed a cross checking minor for Mark Stone having grabbed Chara’s stick at 16:19.

In a test of Boston’s will to bounce back from murky calls, the Senators struck on the power play on a one-timer from the point thanks to Chabot (3) firing a shot past the screened Bruins netminder on the blocker side.

Ryan (4) and Stone (3) had the assists on Chabot’s power play goal at 17:51.

Nevertheless, Ottawa’s first minor penalty of the night came less than a moment later when Alex Formenton was guilty of a two-minute violation for holding the stick as Carlo drew a power play for the Bruins.

Almost 30 seconds later, the Senators bench bungled a line change and was guilty of too many men on the ice at 19:05, yielding a 5-on-3 power play opportunity for Boston for just over 80 seconds of a two-skater advantage.

That 5-on-3 power play would’ve carried into the third period, if it weren’t for Krejci (2) pocketing a one-timer from Pastrnak past Anderson while the Senators goalie dove in desperation across the crease four seconds into the two-skater advantage.

Krejci’s goal at 19:09 of the second period gave Boston the lead, 2-1, and was assisted by Pastrnak (4) and Bergeron (8) after Anderson bought Pastrnak’s head fake and left a gapping hole in the net for No. 46 in black-and-gold to complete the one-timer.

Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins held onto a 2-1 lead, but were being outshot, 24-22. Ottawa managed to outshoot Boston, 2:1, in the second period with a 14-7 advantage in the middle frame alone.

Boston led in blocked shots (15-11), takeaways (3-1), hits (20-12) and face-off win% (57-43) entering the second intermission. Ottawa had an advantage in giveaways (7-1) and was 1/3 on the power play while the B’s were 1/2 after two.

Just 21 seconds into the third period, while still on the 5-on-4 advantage, Bergeron (7) buried a redirection past Anderson on a purposeful shot from Pastrnak to give the Bruins a 3-1 lead in the third period.

Pastrnak (5) and Grzelcyk (5) notched the assists on Bergeron’s insurance goal.

Moments later, Pastrnak received a transition pass and sent the puck further along to Marchand for a 2-on-1 opportunity. Marchand dangled, snuck the puck through his own legs and completely undressed Ottawa’s defense before sending a pass back to Pastrnak (10) for an elevated one-timer shot through the roof of the twine behind Anderson.

His second goal of the night, Pastrnak, gave Boston a 4-1 lead, while Marchand (11) and Bergeron (9) picked up their first and second assists, respectively in the game at 5:31.

Seconds later, Chara was called for tripping Ryan at 5:47 and the Bruins were forced to kill off another penalty. They did so successfully, until Marchand was guilty of slashing Duchene one second after Chara was freed from the box– then they had yet another minor infraction to kill off (they did).

At the final horn, the Bruins had won 4-1, despite trailing in shots on goal, 39-32 (and 15-10 in the third period) to Ottawa. Boston finished Tuesday with an advantage in blocked shots (22-15), hits (24-21) and face-off win% (55-45), while the Senators held onto an advantage in giveaways (10-3).

The B’s went 2/2 on the skater advantage, while the Sens finished 1/5 on the power play.

Pastrnak carried the weight of the first line’s eight-point production with four points (two goals, two assists) of his own, while Bergeron (one goal, two assists) and Marchand (one assist) completed the effort.

The Bruins finished their four-game road trip with a 1-1-2 record earning four out of a possible eight points, while improving their overall record to 5-2-2 (12 points) on the season. Boston is currently tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs in points for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, however the Maple Leafs hold the tiebreaker by virtue of having one more regulation-plus-overtime win (Toronto has six, Boston has five, so far).

Ottawa fell to 4-3-1 (9 points) as a result of Tuesday’s loss, good enough for 6th in the division.

Boston heads home for a Thursday night matchup with the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden before hosting the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Next Tuesday (Oct. 30th), the B’s begin a quick, two-game, road trip at PNC Arena against the Carolina Hurricanes, before swinging through Bridgestone Arena on Nov. 3rd for a visit against the Nashville Predators.

Among other stats from Tuesday night’s win in Ottawa…

David Pastrnak and Zdeno Chara led Boston in plus/minus as each were a plus-two, while Pastrnak and Jake DeBrusk led their team in shots on goal with five apiece.

Brandon Carlo led the Bruins in the hits department with four, while Chris Wagner, Noel Acciari and Chara each recorded three.

In addition to his plus/minus and hitting efforts, Chara led Boston in blocked shots with five. The next closest among his teammates was three (Joakim Nordstrom, John Moore and Matt Grzelcyk).

Matt Duchene and Dylan DeMelo were each a minus-two for the Senators in the loss, while Mark Stone led Ottawa in shots on goal with six. Mark Borowiecki and Ryan Dzingel each recorded four hits for Ottawa, while Christian Jaros and Chris Wideman each had four blocked shots.

Oh, and one more thing… David Pastrnak is the sixth different player in Bruins franchise history to record at least 10 goals in the team’s first nine (or fewer) games of a season.

The most goals in the month of October by any Boston player?

14 — Phil Esposito (1973-74)

12 — Charlie Simmer (1985-86)

10 — David Pastrnak (2018-19)

10 — Dimitri Kvartalnov (1992-93)

10 — Phil Esposito (1974-75)

October 24, 2018
Canucks slip past Bruins, 2-1, in OT

Saturday night at Rogers Arena, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Boston Bruins, 2-1, in overtime thanks to a little puck luck all night.

Brandon Sutter snuck the puck past Jaroslav Halak early in the first period to give Vancouver a 1-0 lead. Joakim Nordstrom tied the game in the third period and Bo Horvat worked a little magic to ding the post and trickle the biscuit past Halak in overtime for the game-winning goal.

Halak (2-0-2, 1.74 goals against average, .933 save percentage) stopped 20 out 22 shots faced for a .909 SV% Saturday night in the loss, while Jacob Markstrom (2-2-0, 3.22 GAA, .903 SV%) made 30 saves on 31 shots against for a .968 SV% in the win.

The Bruins (4-2-2, 10 points) were looking to end a two-game losing streak and instead came out of Vancouver with a three-game skid. They are now 0-1-2 on their current four-game road trip which ends Tuesday night in Kanata, Ontario against the Ottawa Senators (4-2-1, 9 points).

Vancouver improved to 5-3-0 (10 points) on the season, good enough for 2nd place in the Pacific Division behind the Anaheim Ducks by one point in the division standings.

Urho Vaakanainen made his National Hockey League debut for Boston after being recalled on emergency basis when the Bruins announced that they had sent defenders Kevan Miller and Charlie McAvoy back to Boston for further evaluation pertaining to Miller’s hand injury sustained while blocking a shot against the Oilers on Thursday and McAvoy (undisclosed, though likely upper body).

The 19-year-old, Vaakanainen was drafted by the Bruins in the 1st round of the 2017 NHL Draft (18th overall) and played for the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Friday before hopping on a flight to Vancouver prior to Saturday’s action. He wore No. 58 for the black-and-gold and played 12:26 time on ice, recording one shot on goal while being paired with Steven Kampfer and Matt Grzelcyk at times.

Kampfer returned to the Bruins lineup for the first time since being re-acquired in the Adam McQuaid preseason trade with the New York Rangers. Kampfer last played for Boston in 2012 and had three hits in Saturday’s action.

David Backes wasn’t feeling well and became a late scratch, having not participated in warmups, so Bruce Cassidy planned on having Nordstrom center the third line with Ryan Donato to his left side and Anders Bjork at right wing.

Danton Heinen remained on the left side of David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, while Chris Wagner was moved to the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Noel Acciari to begin the action.

Wagner, Nordstrom and Bjork would later become an effective matchup of their own in the game– leading to Nordstrom’s game-tying goal in the third period– while Cassidy juggled the lines.

With Miller and McAvoy out on the blue line, Zdeno Chara laced up alongside Brandon Carlo, with John Moore starting the game with Kampfer on the second defensive pair. Vaakanainen and Grzelcyk filled out the remainder of the top-six.

Of note, only Patrice Bergeron, Chara, Krejci, Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask remain on the Bruins roster from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final against the Canucks. Alex Edler is the only connection to that series against Boston for Vancouver.

Brandon Sutter (3) kicked off scoring early in the first period when he snuck the puck underneath Halak for a soft opening goal to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead. Jake Virtanen (2) and Troy Stecher (2) had the assists at 3:40.

Erik Gudbranson was penalized for tripping Kuraly at 11:13 of the first period, but the Bruins brass was unable to convert on the ensuing power play.

Chara went to the box to serve a tripping minor of his own for pulling down Brock Boeser at 13:37 and the Canucks failed to convert on their only power play of the night.

After one period, Vancouver held on to a 1-0 lead, while also leading in shots on goal, 8-5. The Canucks also led in giveaways (3-2) and hits (9-4), while the B’s led in face-off win percentage (54-46). Blocked shots were even (3-3), as well as takeaways (2-2) after 20 minutes of play and both teams were 0/1 on the skater advantage.

Noel Acciari took exception to a clean hit by Bo Horvat delivered on Joakim Nordstrom as Nordstrom was attempting to play the puck out of mid-air and the two exchanged fisticuffs at 2:14 of the second period.

Acciari and Horvat were handed fighting majors, while Acciari received some slight medical attention for a cut on the left side of his face.

It was the second career fight for Horvat and fourth fight of the season for the Bruins.

Markstrom made a spectacular save without his stick moments later, while sprawling in the crease to recover the puck from going past the goal line, then rolling away on his back to keep it out.

Despite Canucks head coach, Travis Green‘s best intentions, Vancouver was called for too many men on the ice at 5:19 of the second period and Virtanen served the bench minor while the Bruins went on the power play.

Boston did not convert on the advantage.

Markus Granlund committed the final penalty of the game by slashing Bruins forward, Jake DeBrusk at 16:07. Once again, Boston’s power play was power-less.

Through 40 minutes of game action, the Canucks held onto a 1-0 lead, while Boston was outshooting Vancouver, 20-13 (and 15-5 in the second period alone). The Canucks had an advantage in blocked shots (9-6), takeaways (8-2), giveaways (7-2) and hits (18-7), while the Bruins maintained dominance on the face-off dot, winning 54% of the face-offs entering the second intermission.

Vancouver was 0/1 on the power play and Boston was 0/3 entering the third period.

The quest for the Canucks first regular season home shutout against the Bruins in franchise history continues as Joakim Nordstrom (2) sniped a snap shot past Markstrom at 7:45 of the third period to tie the game, 1-1.

John Moore (1) collected the primary assist– and his 100th career NHL point– on the goal, while Matt Grzelcyk (4) notched the secondary helper.

Nordstrom’s goal was high-glove side off of a solid breakout through the neutral zone and matched his total goal-scoring output from last season (two goals in 75 games for the Carolina Hurricanes) in just his seventh game this season.

With the score tied, 1-1, at the end of regulation, 3-on-3 overtime was to commence at Rogers Arena late Saturday night.

The Bruins were outshooting Vancouver, 30-19, after 60 minutes of play– including a 10-6 shots on goal advantage in the third period alone.

But the Canucks got the last laugh as Boston was unable to generate any sustainable pressure in the offensive zone in overtime, especially after Brandon Carlo bungled a play to stay onside and lost the puck to Brock Boeser in the neutral zone.

Boeser moved in with Horvat on a two-on-one with Carlo in desperation to get back, while Patrice Bergeron attempted to make a last-ditch effort.

The Vancouver forwards toyed with the puck long enough for Carlo to stumble to the ice in front of his own net and let Horvat (5) deke and send one off the iron and bouncing past Halak for the game-winning goal in overtime.

Boeser (3) had the only assist on the goal at 3:12.

The Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 31-22, though the Canucks led in shots, 3-1, in overtime. Vancouver also ended the night leading in blocked shots (14-9), giveaways (8-4) and hits (26-11), while Boston led in face-off win% (56-44).

Among other stats…

Krejci, Acciari, Marchand, Carlo and Vaakanainen were all minus-one for Boston in the loss, while Bjork (plus-one) and Moore (plus-one) were the only positive plus/minus skaters for the Bruins.

Kampfer led the B’s in the physicality department without Backes, McAvoy and Miller in the lineup, with three hits on the night, while Nordstrom and Kuraly were the next closest (each with two).

Wagner and David Pastrnak led Boston in shots on goal with five each.

Chara and Nordstrom each had two blocked shots as Nordstrom was the most complete all-around skater for Boston Saturday night.

Boeser, Horvat, Virtanen and Chris Tanev were all plus-one for the Canucks. Edler and Gudbranson recorded a team-high four hits apiece for Vancouver in the victory, while Edler also led in blocked shots with three.

Sven Baertschi led the Canucks in shots on goal with three on Saturday.

The Bruins fell to 0-1-2 on their current four-game road trip, swinging through Ottawa on Oct. 23rd before returning to TD Garden in Boston for a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers on Oct. 25th.

October 21, 2018
DTFR Podcast #128- Celebration Hardcore Brother (a.k.a. Celly Hard Bro)

Nick and Connor rant about retired numbers, anniversary patches, showing emotion in hockey, the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander, coaches that might get fired, “the code” and Mike Matheson’s antics.

Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts (iTunes), Stitcher and/or on Spotify. Support the show on Patreon.

October 17, 2018
Pastrnak’s hat trick helps B’s pummel Red Wings, 8-2

The Detroit Red Wings have not won in Boston in five years. Even worse, the Red Wings are 0-9-0 at TD Garden in their last nine visits as a result of Saturday afternoon’s 8-2 loss to the Bruins.

Detroit’s last win in the Hub came on October 14, 2013.

David Pastrnak (3-0–3 totals) recorded his second career hat trick (third if you include his postseason hat trick against the Toronto Maple Leafs last April) as Boston won their fourth game in-a-row since losing 7-0 to the Washington Capitals on the road to start the season.

Patrice Bergeron had three assists, Brad Marchand had two assists and David Krejci had a pair of assists to reach 400 career assists since entering the league with the Bruins in the 2006-07 season.

Meanwhile Charlie McAvoy (1-0–1), Jake DeBrusk (2-0–2), Anders Bjork (1-1–2) and Sean Kuraly (1-0–1) had the other goals for the B’s in the 8-2 victory.

Tuukka Rask made 32 saves on 34 shots against for a .941 save percentage in the win, while Detroit netminder, Jonathan Bernier, stopped 31 out of 39 shots faced for a .795 SV% in the loss.

The Bruins improved to 4-1-0 (8 points) on the season, while the Red Wings fell to 0-3-2 (2 points) in their first five games.

Boston has a plus-13 goal differential through the first five games of the regular season and has outscored their opponents 22-6 in the last four games since being shutout by Washington on the road to start the 2018-19 regular season.

The Bruins are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs for 1st place in the Atlantic Division, at least until the Leafs take on the Capitals Saturday night.

Detroit has a minus-12 goal differential through their first five games this season and is one point ahead of the Florida Panthers (0-0-1, 1 point) from the basement of the Atlantic Division. Florida is in action Saturday night against the Vancouver Canucks.

Rask got the start Saturday afternoon for Boston after Jaroslav Halak backstopped the B’s to a 4-1 victory Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers.

Bruce Cassidy inserted Ryan Donato back into his lineup in place of Danton Heinen (scratched Saturday after no points in four games) on the third line and kept Joakim Nordstrom on the second line with Krejci and DeBrusk.

Steven Kampfer remained a healthy scratch on the blue line, while Torey Krug remained out of the lineup due to injury.

Late in the first period, Pastrnak (5) went end-to-end with the puck on his stick and fired a snap shot, high-glove side, past Bernier to open Saturday’s scoring for the Bruins, 1-0. Brandon Carlo (1) and Chris Wagner (1) picked up their first assists of the season on Pastrnak’s goal at 19:09.

After attempting to check Noel Acciari and instead reverberating off of Acciari’s solid frame, Dylan Larkin kept pressuring Acciari to crack. Instead, after the third attempt at a hit that included a quick left handed shove, Acciari dropped the gloves expecting Larkin to do the same.

He did not.

So both Larkin and Acciari received roughing minor penalties, with Larkin earning an extra one for good measure, giving Boston their first power play of the night at 19:44 of the first period.

The skater advantage would carry over into the second period, but the Bruins failed to convert on the advantage.

Through 20 minutes of play, Boston held onto a 1-0 lead on the scoreboard, despite the Red Wings leading in shots on goal, 12-8.

Detroit also led in blocked shots (5-2), hits (13-8) and face-off win percentage (64-36) after one period, while the Bruins led in takeaways (7-5) and giveaways (4-3). The Red Wings had yet to see time on the skater advantage, while Boston was 0/1 on the power play entering the first intermission.

Early in the second period on a face-off in the offensive zone, Bergeron won the draw back to McAvoy (1) who fired a shot from the face-off circle that deflected off an opponent in front of the goal past Bernier to make it 2-0 Bruins.

Bergeron (4) had the only assist on McAvoy’s first goal of the season at 4:44 of the second period. Boston did not let off the gas pedal the rest of the way.

DeBrusk (1) was sent into the attacking zone on a breakaway and slid the puck underneath Bernier’s pad– just squeaking the rubber biscuit past the goal line, but enough for the nearest ref to see the whole thing– to make it 3-0 Bruins.

Krejci (3) had the only assist on the DeBrusk’s first of the year at 11:26.

Moments later, Christoffer Ehn caught McAvoy with a high-stick and gave the Bruins their second power play of the afternoon 16 minutes into the second period.

Boston’s first power play unit only needed 20 seconds to convert on the ensuing skater advantage as Pastrnak (6) scored his second goal of the game on a one-timed slap shot. Bergeron (5) and Marchand (8) had the assists on Pastrnak’s goal– the 100th of his career– at 16:20 and the B’s led, 4-0.

Late in the second frame, the Bruins were guilty of minor penalties less than a minute apart. First, DeBrusk was sent to the box for tripping Detroit’s Andreas Athanasiou at 18:17. Then Marchand took a trip to the sin bin for sending the puck over the glass on a delay of game minor at 19:00.

The Red Wings would have 1:17 on the 5-on-3 advantage that would spillover into the third period.

After 40 minutes of play, No. 40 in the home goal (Rask) and the Bruins led 4-0. Boston recovered from trailing in shots on goal in the first period, 12-8, to leading in shots on goal, 23-20 after two periods. The Bruins outshot the Red Wings, 15-8, in the second frame.

Detroit led in blocked shots (10-4) and hits (18-14), while Boston held an advantage in takeaways (13-12), giveaways (7-6) and face-off win% (60-40) entering the second intermission. The Red Wings were 0/2 on the power play (but not for long) and the Bruins were 1/2 entering the final frame.

Filip Hronek (1) fired a clapper from the point 21 seconds into the third period as the first penalty expired for Boston, yielding a 5-on-4 power play goal and his first career NHL goal to put Detroit on the scoreboard, 4-1.

Tyler Bertuzzi (2) and Gustav Nyquist (4) had the assists on Hronek’s goal.

Just 1:44 after the Red Wings scored, David Pastrnak (7) completed his hat trick on a 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand in the offensive zone.

Pastrnak rushed in on a pass from Patrice Bergeron, giving the puck to Marchand, before No. 63 returned the vulcanized rubber to its sender for the snipe past Bernier. Marchand (9) and Bergeron (6) had the assists on Pastrnak’s third goal of the game and the Bruins led, 5-1.

It was Pastrnak’s first regular season hat trick since recording his first career hat trick in Raleigh, North Carolina against the Carolina Hurricanes on March 13, 2018 (he had 3-1–4 totals that night) and it was his first hat trick since his 6-point effort against Toronto in Game 2 of the First Round of the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Anthony Mantha tripped up Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, at 6:24 of the third period, but Boston would not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

Dylan Larkin (3) fired a wrist shot past Rask for his third goal of the season at 8:23 and brough the Red Wings to within three, making it a 5-2 game with plenty of time left in the final period of regulation.

Frans Nielsen (2) and Joe Hicketts (1) had primary and secondary assists on Larkin’s goal.

Less than a couple minutes later, the Bruins responded.

Anders Bjork (1) scored his first goal of the season– and the first of his sophomore campaign since his rookie season ended prematurely due to left-shoulder injury.

Bjork’s goal was unassisted at 10:12 of the third period after No. 10 in black-and-gold was credited with a takeaway in the neutral zone and burst into the attacking zone with Donato on a 2-on-1. Instead of passing, Bjork sniped a wrist shot past Bernier to make it, 6-2, Boston.

A little over a minute later, John Moore was guilty of hooking Darren Helm and Detroit went back on the power play at 11:36. The Red Wings were unable to score this time around on the advantage.

Mantha and McAvoy received roughing minors for some extracurricular activity after the whistle at 13:57 of the third period and two minutes of 4-on-4 action resulted.

That’s about the time when DeBrusk sent a pass to Krejci on the left side, before the Czech center lobbed a pass to Brandon Carlo pinching in from the point, whereby Carlo found DeBrusk (2) in the low slot for the redirection past Bernier to make it 7-2 Boston at 15:15.

In the final minute of regulation, Detroit defender, Nick Jensen caught Ryan Donato with a shoulder to the head and Bruins fourth liner, Chris Wagner, immediately responded.

Though Wagner and Jensen had the gloves off and exchanged fisticuffs, both received unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalties, with Wagner serving two and Jensen picking up one unsportsmanlike conduct call and an illegal check to the head minor penalty at 19:35 of the third period.

In the closing seconds of the game, Sean Kuraly (1) added his first goal of the season and the Bruins sealed an 8-2 victory with 1.3 seconds remaining on the game clock. Kevan Miller (1) and Bjork (1) were tabbed with the assists on Kuraly’s goal at 19:58 (officially) of the third period.

The Bruins finished the night with the 8-2 win and leading in shots on goal (39-34), as well as, face-off win% (52-49), while going 1/3 on the power play. Detroit ended the game leading in blocked shots (12-9) and was 1/3 on the skater advantage, as well. Both teams finished Saturday’s matinee matchup with 21 hits.

Among other stats…

Miller was a plus-four for the Bruins, as only Wagner (even) and Acciari (minus-one) finished the game without a positive plus/minus for Boston.

Moore led the B’s in shots on goal with five, while Chara, DeBrusk, Nordstrom and Pastrnak all recorded four shots on net.

Acciari led the Bruins in hits with four. Carlo, Miller and Nordstrom each had three.

David Pastrnak is the third fastest to reach 100 career goals in franchise history for Boston, doing so in his 259th career game– trailing only Barry Pederson (100 goals in 187 games) and Dit Clapper (100 goals in 247 games). He also became the third fastest Czech-born player to score 100 goals, behind Petr Klima (231) and Jaromir Jagr (245).

Meanwhile, Gustav Nyquist and Frans Nielsen were minus-three on Saturday for Detroit. Filip Hronek not only scored his first career goal, but led the Red Wings in shots on goal with six from the blue line (Nyquist was second on the team with five). Joe Hicketts led the Red Wings in hits with five and Nick Jensen led Detroit in blocked shots with four.

The Bruins take on the Calgary Flames on the road on Wednesday, before facing the Oilers on Thursday and rounding out their Western Canada portion of the upcoming four-game road trip on October 20th against the Vancouver Canucks.

Boston travels to Ottawa for a matchup with the Senators on the 23rd before returning home to face the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden on the 25th.

October 13, 2018