Down the Frozen River

Tag: Columbus Blue Jackets

  • Boston surpasses Tampa in the Atlantic with Pastrnak’s hat trick

    Boston surpasses Tampa in the Atlantic with Pastrnak’s hat trick

    For the first time this season, the Boston Bruins are in a divisional playoff spot after David Pastrnak recorded his 12th career hat trick in a, 3-2, victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning Thursday night at TD Garden.

    Pastrnak tied John Bucyk for the third-most hat tricks in a Bruins uniform in the process, trailing only Phil Esposito (26) and Cam Neely (14), while Jeremy Swayman (19-8-3, 2.09 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in 31 games played) made 22 saves on 24 shots against in the win for Boston.

    Tampa netminder, Andrei Vasilevskiy (32-14-4, 2.39 goals-against average, .920 save percentage in 50 games played) stopped 36 out of 39 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 40-19-5 (85 points) overall and moved ahead of the Lightning in the standings– taking over 3rd place in the Atlantic Division, despite being tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs in points for 2nd (Toronto has played in one game fewer than Boston, however).

    The Bolts fell to 39-18-6 (84 points) on the season and dropped to 4th place in the Atlantic, but in command of the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference– four points ahead of the Washington Capitals in the wild card race.

    The B’s were without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Patrice Bergeron (elbow) on Thursday as Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, informed reporters ahead of the game that Bergeron was not cleared and is likely to return Saturday afternoon against the New York Islanders.

    Cassidy made one change to his lineup– scratching Mike Reilly in favor of dressing Hampus Lindholm in his Boston debut alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first defensive pairing.

    Reilly joined Marc McLaughlin, Josh Brown and Anton Blidh in the press box as healthy scratches against Tampa.

    Erik Cernak caught Tomáš Nosek with a high stick and drew blood– yielding a four-minute double minor for high sticking at 1:20 of the first period.

    The Bruins did not convert on the resulting extended power play and presented the Lightning with the next opportunity on the skater advantage after Craig Smith inadvertently caught Victor Hedman with a high stick at 5:17 of the first period.

    Tampa didn’t score on the resulting power play, however.

    Late in the period, Cernak cut a rut back to the penalty box for interference at 14:19, but Boston’s power play went by the wayside unconverted.

    Through one period, the score remained tied, 0-0, despite the Bruins holding a, 12-8, advantage in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (56-44), while the Bolts held the advantage in giveaways (3-1) and hits (11-10) entering the first intermission.

    Both teams had four takeaways each, while the Lightning were 0/1 and the Bruins were 0/3 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Mikhail Sergachev caught Taylor Hall with a high stick at 6:04 of the second period, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Instead, Tampa scored a shorthanded goal– just the sixth shorthanded goal against allowed by the Bruins this season– as Brad Marchand botched a play in the neutral zone, which led to a fast breakout the other direction for the Lightning before Ondrej Palat setup Brandon Hagel (22) for a one-timer goal– beating Swayman while crashing the slot.

    Palat (21) had the only assist on the goal as the Bolts took a, 1-0, lead at 7:11 of the second period.

    It was also the second shorthanded goal allowed in as many games for Boston.

    The B’s answered back relatively quickly, however, as Lindholm setup Erik Haula for an indirect pass up ice to Pastrnak– sending Pastrnak (34) in on a breakaway before going to his backhand and elevating a shot past Vasilevskiy on the blocker side– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

    Haula (20) and Lindholm (18) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s first goal of the game at 9:55 of the second period.

    Lindholm’s secondary assist marked his first point as a Bruin, which made him the first defender to record a point in his B’s debut since McAvoy (1-1–2) did so in 2017-18 with Boston.

    Moments later, Swayman was assessed an infraction for tripping Anthony Cirelli as Cirelli skated past the Bruins goaltender and collided with Swayman’s blocker as Swayman made a save.

    Interesting.

    Nevertheless, Boston was shorthanded at 14:47, but managed to make the kill and Smith (who served the minor) was freed from the box without issue.

    Late in the period, Nick Paul and Brandon Carlo exchanged pleasantries after a stoppage in play and each took a trip to their respective penalty box with roughing minors– yielding two minutes of 4-on-4 action at 17:57 as a result.

    Tampa had a rare 4-on-3 power play less than a minute later when Pastrnak tripped Sergachev at 18:47.

    The Lightning did not capitalize on their skater advantage, however.

    After 40 minutes of action in Boston, the score remained tied, 1-1, despite the Bruins leading the Lightning in shots on goal, 29-14, including a, 17-6, advantage in the second period alone.

    The B’s led in blocked shots (11-10), takeaways (10-8), hits (18-17) and faceoff win% (55-45), while the Bolts led in giveaways (7-3).

    Tampa was 0/3 and Boston was 0/4 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Nikita Kucherov slashed Derek Forbort 48 seconds into the third period, but the Bruins failed to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Tampa caught Boston in the vulnerable minute after special teams action as Kucherov snagged a rebound and dropped a pass back to Brayden Point, who then sent the rubber biscuit to Steven Stamkos (28) as he crashed the net and scored on Swayman– giving the Lightning a, 2-1, lead at 3:51 of the third period as a result.

    Point (23) and Kucherov (23) tallied the assists on the goal.

    Almost five minutes later, Pastrnak (35) tied things up, 2-2, courtesy of some great hand-eye coordination to settle a pass from Haula while spinning and working a backhand through Vasilevskiy’s short side along the post at 8:17.

    Haula (21) and Connor Clifton (5) tabbed the assists on Pastrnak’s second goal of the game as the Bruins grabbed momentum in their favor and stayed hungry.

    Forbort and Pat Maroon were assessed roughing minors at 9:21 and after two minutes of 4-on-4 action, things settled on the ice a bit.

    Late in the third, Tampa tried to clear the zone but an errant puck bounced off of Cirelli and was kept in Boston’s attacking zone as Haula worked the puck to the front of the net on a shot with purpose to generate a rebound.

    Hall had a brief chance and made contact, but it was Pastrnak (36) who buried the rubber biscuit into the twine for the hat trick goal and a, 3-2, lead at 15:50 of the third period.

    Hall (33) and Haula (22) had the assists as Boston pulled ahead for the first time late Thursday night and never looked back.

    Pastrnak’s hat trick marked the 12th of his career and sixth this season for the Bruins, while Haula capped off his first career three-assist game in the processs.

    With 1:08 remaining in the action, Jon Cooper, pulled his netminder for an extra attacker, but the Lightning couldn’t muster anything else past Swayman– not even after the Bolts used their timeout after a stoppage with 56.4 seconds left to draw up a plan to at least force overtime.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 3-2, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 39-24, despite both teams amassing 10 shots on goal each in the third period alone.

    The Lightning left TD Garden with the advantage in blocked shots (14-12) and giveaways (9-6), while the Bruins finished the action leading in hits (29-26) and faceoff win% (57-44).

    The B’s went 0/5 on the power play while the Bolts finished Thursday night 0/3 on the skater advantage.

    Tampa has now lost six out of their last eight games, while Boston is 13-2-1 in their last 16 games and improved to 2-0-1 against the Lightning this season with one more game left in their regular season series in Tampa on April 8th.

    The Bruins improved to 12-5-2 (5-3-1 at home) when tied after one period, 11-12-3 (7-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal and 10-4-0 (6-1-0 at home) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Bolts dropped to 11-6-1 (5-4-0 on the road) when tied after the first period, 23-3-4 (12-1-2 on the road) when scoring first and 10-4-1 (5-3-0 on the road) when tied after the second period in 2021-22.

    The B’s continue their five-game homestand (1-0-0) Saturday afternoon against the New York Islanders.

    Boston hosts the Toronto Maple Leafs and New Jersey Devils next Tuesday and Thursday to finish the month of March before the Columbus Blue Jackets make a trip to TD Garden on April 2nd.

  • Marchand nets game-winner in, 3-2, overtime victory in Montréal

    Marchand nets game-winner in, 3-2, overtime victory in Montréal

    Brad Marchand opened the night’s scoring at Bell Centre almost midway into the first period and closed the night’s scoring less than a minute into overtime as the Boston Bruins beat the Montréal Canadiens, 3-2, Monday night.

    Jeremy Swayman (18-8-3, 2.09 goals-against average, .925 save percentage in 30 games played) made 26 saves on 28 shots against in the overtime win for Boston.

    Montréal goaltender, Jake Allen (6-16-4, 3.09 goals-against average, .905 save percentage in 27 games played) turned aside 43 out of 46 shots faced in the overtime loss.

    The Bruins improved to 39-19-5 (83 points) on the season and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    Though the B’s are tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs in points (83) overall, the Maple Leafs have 33 regulation wins to Boston’s 31– let alone the fact that Toronto has played in one fewer game, thereby currently holding the tiebreaker in standings.

    The Canadiens, meanwhile, fell to 17-36-10 (44 points) overall and remain stuck in 8th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as 32nd in the entire league standings as Montréal’s 12 regulation wins trails the Seattle Kraken’s 16 regulation wins in the overall league table.

    Boston won in their return to Bell Centre for the first time since the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began, having last made a trip up to Montréal on Nov. 26, 2019, in an, 8-1, victory for the Bruins.

    David Pastrnak recorded a hat trick on the road that night.

    Monday night’s win also gave the Bruins the decisive advantage in their regular season series with the Canadiens, having gone 3-0-0 in their three matchups so far in 2021-22, with one game remaining against one another on April 24th in Montréal.

    On Saturday, Bruins General Manager, Don Sweeney, traded Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, a 2022 1st round pick, a 2023 2nd round pick and a 2024 2nd round pick to the Anaheim Ducks for Hampus Lindholm and Kodie Curran.

    Sweeney then signed Lindholm to an eight-year extension worth $6.500 million per season that’ll go into effect starting next season– locking up the 28-year-old top-four defender, who will likely see action with either Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing or Brandon Carlo on the second pairing in Thursday night’s matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

    The Ducks, meanwhile, retained 50% ($2,602, 778) of Lindholm’s current salary on his remaining contract.

    Prior to Monday night’s game in Montréal, Sweeney signed Jake DeBrusk to a two-year extension worth $4.000 million per season, which will make it easier and more attractive for potential suitors in a future DeBrusk trade as the 2022 NHL Entry Draft approaches in July, since the Bruins weren’t able to fulfill DeBrusk’s trade request prior to the 2022 trade deadline.

    Sweeney told reporters in his post trade deadline press conference that Boston had received offers on DeBrusk, but none were to his liking (and probably offered less than what he was willing to move DeBrusk for in return for other players that ended up being traded to other teams by the deadline).

    Prior to Monday’s trade deadline, the Bruins acquired Josh Brown from the Ottawa Senators and a conditional 2022 7th round pick in exchange for Zach Senyshyn and a 2022 5th round pick.

    Senyshyn’s trade request from earlier in the season (around the time DeBrusk’s agent made his desires known) was fulfilled as Boston added a depth defender with a 6-foot-5 frame in Brown to their blue line.

    If Senyshyn plays in five games with Ottawa before the end of the 2021-22 regular season, the 2022 7th round pick upgrades to a 2022 6th round pick for Boston.

    Meanwhile, Lindholm and Brown had not yet joined the team in Montréal, of course, due to logistics and will join the team back in Boston later this week.

    Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Patrice Bergeron (upper body) missed the night’s action against the Canadiens due to injury, while Marc McLaughlin joined Anton Blidh as the only healthy scratches for the Bruins at Bell Centre Monday night.

    McLaughlin was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) on an emergency basis and took part in warmup in case Jack Studnicka was not ready to go at game-time, given Studnicka’s “day-to-day” status Monday morning.

    Studnicka centered the first line with Marchand and DeBrusk on his wings without issue, while Jack Ahcan was reassigned to Providence with the additions of Lindholm and Brown against Boston’s salary cap.

    Less than a minute into the game, Alexander Romanov cross checked Marchand and presented the Bruins with the night’s first power play at 55 seconds of the first period.

    Boston’s power play was powerless, however, as the Canadiens made the kill.

    Moments later, Marchand tripped Cole Caufield and cut a rut to the penalty box at 7:08 of the first period, presenting the Habs with their first power play of the night.

    Montréal could not sold the B’s penalty kill, however.

    Shortly after he was freed from the box, Marchand led a rush into the attacking zone and the Bruins worked to keep the puck in the zone as Connor Clifton sent a shot with purpose towards the net.

    Erik Haula dished it out and Boston tried again before Haula snagged the rebound and sauced a pass to Marchand (26) for a layup goal from close range– giving the Bruins a, 1-0, lead at 9:21 of the first period as a result.

    Haula (18) and Clifton (4) tallied the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the game.

    Late in the period, David Savard tripped Marchand to give Boston another power play that went by the wayside at 13:54 in Savard’s first game back from injury.

    The Bruins led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 14-8, in shots on goal after the first period.

    Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (5-4), takeaways (5-3), giveaways (13-8), hits (10-3) and faceoff win percentage (64-36) after 20 minutes of action.

    The Canadiens were 0/1 on the power play, while the B’s were 0/2 heading into the middle frame.

    Almost midway into the middle period, Savard (2) sent a puck that had eyes off of Swayman and into the twine– tying the game, 1-1, in the process at 8:49 of the second period as Montréal evened the score.

    Romanov (8) and Paul Byron (2) had the assists on Savard’s goal.

    Matt Grzelcyk cut a rut to the sin bin for interference at 13:59 of the second period, but the Habs were unsuccessful on the ensuing skater advantage.

    In the final minute of the period, Romanov tripped McAvoy at 19:19, which gave Boston a power play that’d extend into the final frame as the Bruins couldn’t score before the second intermission started.

    The two teams were tied, 1-1, on the scoreboard, despite Boston outshooting Montréal, 28-23, overall, despite the Canadiens amassing a, 15-14, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins continued to dominate in just about everything else, leading in blocked shots (11-9), takeaways (8-3), giveaways (23-17), hits (17-10) and faceoff win% (63-38).

    Montréal was 0/2 and Boston was 0/3 on the power play heading into the final period of regulation.

    While shorthanded, Joel Armia (4) benefitted from a turnover in the neutral zone and a breakaway into Boston’s own zone– deking and scoring on the Bruins netminder to give the Canadiens their first lead of the night, 2-1, on a shorthanded goal at 1:13 of the third period.

    Armia’s goal was unassisted.

    Midway through the third, Caufield hooked Tomáš Nosek, but Boston’s power play wasn’t able to beat Montréal’s penalty kill at 9:59.

    Late in the action, however, Clifton (2) benefitted from crashing the net and receiving a pass in the slot from Craig Smith on a catch and release goal past Allen’s glove side.

    Smith (16) and Charlie Coyle (23) notched the assists on Clifton’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2, at 17:01 of the third period.

    In the dying seconds of regulation, McAvoy and Jake Evans exchanged pleasantries and received roughing minors at 19:42.

    The B’s outshot the Habs, 45-28, including a, 17-5, advantage in the third period alone, but overtime would be required to determine a winner Monday night.

    It didn’t take long for Haula to find Marchand (27) as No. 63 in black and gold weaved his way to the net and faked a forehand shot before deking to his backhand wrapped around Allen and putting away the game with a game-winning overtime goal 43 seconds into the extra frame.

    Haula (19) had the only assist on Marchand’s second goal of the night and the Bruins emerged victorious at Bell Centre, 3-2.

    Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 46-28, including a, 1-0, advantage in overtime alone.

    Montréal left their own ice leading in blocked shots (22-12), while the Bruins exited the arena with the lead in giveaways (35-27), hits (26-19) and faceoff win% (62-39).

    The Canadiens went 0/2 on the power play on Monday, while the B’s went an astounding 0/4 on the skater advantage.

    Boston did, however, improve to 6-3 in overtime (8-5 past regulation) this season, while Montréal dropped to 3-9 in the extra frame (5-14 past regulation) in 2021-22.

    The B’s also improved to 29-7-2 (17-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 23-2-1 (13-1-1 on the road) when leading after one and 9-4-0 (4-3-0 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Habs fell to 4-29-7 (2-16-3 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 2-24-7 (1-12-3 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-4-4 (2-1-2 at home) when tied after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins went 3-1-0 on their four-game road trip and return home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday– beginning a five-game homestand in the process to conclude March and start the month of April. 

    The New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets will visit TD Garden Saturday afternoon, next Tuesday, next Thursday and on April 2nd, respectively.

  • Bruins bulk up with Lindholm on defense in trade with Anaheim

    Bruins bulk up with Lindholm on defense in trade with Anaheim

    The Boston Bruins acquired defenders, Hampus Lindholm and Kodie Curran, from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for defenders, Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, a 2022 1st round pick, a 2023 2nd round pick and a 2024 2nd round pick on Saturday afternoon.

    The Ducks retained 50% of Lindholm’s salary ($2,602,778) in the transaction.

    Lindholm and the B’s are reportedly working on an eight-year extension that could be finalized Sunday, according to TSN and RDS Hockey Insider and The Athletic writer, Pierre LeBrun.

    TSN’s Chris Johnston tweeted that the average annual value of Lindholm’s extension may be around $6.500 million late Saturday night.

    Prior to the trade, Lindholm’s cap hit with Anaheim was $5,205,556, so the otherwise pending-unrestricted free agent is due for a little bit of a pay raise given his age, status and longevity in the league as a top-four defender.

    The 6-foot-4, 216-pound native of Helsingborg, Sweden was originally drafted by Anaheim in the 1st round (6th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft and has 57-165–222 totals in 582 career NHL games since making his league debut with the Ducks in the 2013-14 season.

    Lindholm, 28, has five goals and 17 assists (22 points) in 61 games this season and set a career-high 34 points (seven goals, 27 assists) in 78 games in 2014-15, before recording a career-high 13 goals in 69 games in 2017-18.

    He suffered a fractured wrist last season and was limited to 18 games as a result– recording two goals and four assists (six points) in that span.

    He also leaves Anaheim with 743 blocked shots– ranking third in franchise history– and was one of three defenders to reach 200 points in Ducks history, alongside Scott Niedermayer and Cam Fowler.

    In 55 career Stanley Cup playoff games, Lindholm has 4-17–21 totals, including 10 points (two goals, eight assists) in 16 games in Anaheim’s run to the 2015 Western Conference Final, as well as four points in 17 games in the Ducks’ 2017 Western Conference Final appearance.

    He’ll likely land a role alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first defensive pairing and on Boston’s penalty kill as a more traditional shutdown defender to McAvoy’s two-way style.

    Lindholm arrives at a time when the Bruins could use a little more insurance on the blue line in the event of injuries down the stretch and in the long run, despite producing solid numbers as one of the league’s more effective defenses and having a more pressing need for a second line center in another transaction.

    Curran, 32, had 1-15–16 totals in 37 games for the San Diego Gulls (AHL) this season and is destined to become the oldest defender in Providence upon his arrival to the Bruins organization.

    The 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Calgary, Alberta, joined the Ducks as an undrafted free agent on June 3, 2020, after parts of five college seasons at the University of Calgary from 2010-15, a stint with the Hartford Wolf Pack and Greenville Swamp Rabbits from 2015-16, and four seasons in Europe from 2016-20, before spending parts of the last two seasons in San Diego.

    He had 7-27–34 totals in 81 career games for the Wolf Pack and Gulls before the trade.

    Curran carries a $1.000 million cap hit and is a pending-unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

    The Bruins have about $1.230 million in cap space by the end of the season as a result of the trade and will have about $6.152 million to work with at the trade deadline itself on Monday as General Manager, Don Sweeney, seeks to find a second line center and/or more.

    Vaakanainen, 23, has four assists in 15 games this season while with Boston and has been sidelined for at least 17 games due to injury/illness having most recently suffered an upper body injury on Feb. 1st against Seattle and exiting warmup on Feb. 21st prior to a matchup against Colorado.

    The 6-foot-2, 200-pound native of Joenssu, Finland has six assissts in 31 career NHL games– all with the Bruins– since he was drafted in the 1st round (18th overall) by Boston in 2017.

    In 23 games with the Providence Bruins (AHL), he had 1-7–8 totals this season– bringing his American Hockey League career totals to 11-28–39 in 118 games in Providence.

    Vaakanainen has yet to appear in a Stanley Cup playoff game and is a pending-restricted free agent at season’s end with a cap hit of $894, 167.

    Moore, 31, meanwhile, appeared in seven games for Boston this season and has been out of the lineup with an upper body injury since Jan. 28th.

    The 6-foot-3, 207-pound native of Winnetka, Illinois has 38-80–118 totals in 544 career NHL games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, Arizona Coyotes, New Jersey Devils and Bruins, including 19 points (six goals, 13 assists) in 97 games over parts of the last four seasons with Boston.

    In 11 games with Providence this season, Moore had six points (one goal, five assists) prior to the trade.

    He was originally drafted in the 1st round (21st overall) by Columbus at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft and has four assists in 49 career Stanley Cup playoff games.

    Moore is signed through the end of the 2022-23 season with a $2.750 million cap hit.

    Anaheim will undoubtedly benefit from Vaakanainen’s development– provided he can stay healthy and avoid further career derailment due to traumatic brain injuries– as well as from the acquisition of three draft picks from the Bruins in as many years in the first two rounds (2022 1st round, 2023 2nd round and 2024 2nd round).

    Retaining half of Lindholm’s salary is a small price to pay for the Ducks with the added benefit of attaining about $11.631 million in cap space by the end of the season.

    As a result, Anaheim will have about $58.154 million in deadline cap space to work with to facilitate trades or broker any potential three-team deals as the Ducks sit on the outside of the cutoff line looking in for the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Anaheim’s General Manager, Pat Verbeek, is ready to sell assets and commit to a rebuild with a plethora of picks at his disposal.

  • Hall flys Bruins over Jets on the road, 4-2

    Hall flys Bruins over Jets on the road, 4-2

    Taylor Hall’s power-play goal late in the third period went on to become the game-winning goal after Charlie McAvoy added a shorthanded empty net insurance goal in a, 4-2, victory for the Boston Bruins over the Winnipeg Jets Friday night at Canada Life Centre.

    Linus Ullmark (19-9-2, 2.72 goals-against average, .909 save percentage in 31 games played) made 27 saves on 29 shots against in the win for Boston.

    Winnipeg goaltender, Connor Hellebuyck (21-22-9, 2.99 goals-against average, .907 save percentage in 52 games played), turned aside 41 out of 44 shots against in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 38-19-5 (81 points) overall and remained in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division standings, as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The Jets, meanwhile, fell to 28-24-10 (66 points) on the season and stuck in 6th place in the Central Division.

    With the win on Friday, the B’s swept their regular season series against Winnipeg 2-0-0– just as they had done in 2019-20, when the two clubs last met in the regular season prior to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    Boston was without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) and Patrice Bergeron (upper body) on Friday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made a couple minor changes to his lineup prior to puck drop.

    Jack Studnicka centered the first line with Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk on his wings, while Tomáš Nosek was returned to his usual role as the fourth line center with Curtis Lazar returning to Nosek’s right side and Anton Blidh joining Jack Ahcan in the press box as a healthy scratch.

    During the game, however, Cassidy swapped Nosek with Erik Haula– promoting the former to the second line between Hall and David Pastrnak, while relegating Haula to the fourth line with Nick Foligno and Lazar.

    Pastrnak, meanwhile, suited up for his 500th career National Hockey League game on Friday.

    The 25-year-old failed to record a point against the Jets, but has 233-255–488 totals in 500 career games nevertheless and was Boston’s first round pick (25th overall) in 2014.

    Prior to Friday night’s, 4-2, win, the Bruins’ last seven games against Winnipeg were all decided by one goal– with the B’s going 4-2-1 in that span.

    Nikolaj Ehlers had a breakaway early in the action that came to an abrupt end thanks to a stick in the way from Mike Reilly, yielding a penalty shot for Ehlers after he was tripped by Reilly at 4:44 of the first period.

    The Winnipeg sniper strolled into the attacking zone down the left-center before firing a shot into Ullmark’s pads.

    Midway through the period, Matt Grzelcyk caught Paul Stastny with a high stick and presented the Jets with the night’s first power play at 10:13.

    Winnipeg failed to convert on the ensuing skater advantage and subsequently presented Boston with their first power play of the night at 14:59 of the first period after Blake Wheeler slashed DeBrusk.

    The Bruins did not convert on their first chance on the power play.

    Pastrnak shortly made an early exit for the first intermission after appearing to step on the puck while retrieving it in his own zone and awkwardly falling while clutching at his core.

    No. 88 in black and gold would return for the middle frame, however.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins and Jets remained tied, 0-0, despite Boston attainting a, 14-11, advantage in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (8-6), while Winnipeg led in takeaways (6-2), giveaways (2-1), hits (17-6) and faceoff win percentage (58-42).

    Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Marchand and DeBrusk entered the attacking zone early in the second period and played a little pitch and catch on a give-and-go back to Marchand (25) for a layup goal to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 4:42.

    DeBrusk (11) and Studnicka (3) tallied the assists on Marchand’s 344th career goal– tying Cam Neely for the sixth-most goals in Bruins franchise history (Bergeron is fifth with 392 goals and counting thus far).

    Marchand also joined Rick Middleton and Johnny Bucyk as the only Bruins in franchise history to record nine 25-goal seasons on the effort.

    Less than a few minutes later, Boston’s third line mustered their way to the net as Charlie Coyle drove the puck to the slot before slipping the rubber biscuit over to Trent Frederic for a two-goal lead as Frederic (5) worked the puck around Hellebuyck.

    Coyle (20) and Craig Smith (15) had the assists on Frederic’s goal and the B’s took a, 2-0, lead at 7:12 of the second period.

    Moments later, Haula didn’t make an effort to stop before colliding with Hellebuyck and cutting a rut to the penalty box with a goaltender interference infraction as a result at 9:37.

    Winnipeg failed to convert on the ensuing power play and had another chance on the skater advantage at 13:36 when McAvoy tripped Neal Pionk.

    This time, however, the Jets wouldn’t last long on the power play before Pierre-Luc Dubois cross checked Derek Forbort and took a trip to the sin bin at 14:05– resulting in 4-on-4 action for a span of 1:31 before the Bruins had an abbreviated power play that ultimately went by the wayside.

    Through 40 minutes of action, however, Boston led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and dominated shots on goal, 36-15, including a, 22-4, advantage for the B’s in the second period alone– their most shots on goal in any second period this season.

    Winnipeg led in giveaways (6-4), hits (26-14) and faceoff win% (52-49), while both teams had 11 blocked shots and eight takeaways each.

    The Jets were 0/3 on the power play, while the Bruins were 0/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

    Ullmark was no match for Adam Lowry’s (10) deflection on Evgeny Svechnikov’s toe-drag snap shot that cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1, at 2:29 of the third period and Winnipeg surged with momentum as the Jets came to life to begin the final frame.

    Not even two minutes later, Ehlers (17) received a give-and-go from Kyle Connor and blew past Grzelcyk before beating Ullmark and hitting the twine while Brandon Carlo was left helpless as the only defender back.

    Connor (35) had the only assist on Ehlers’ goal and the Jets tied the game, 2-2, at 3:54 of the third period as a result.

    About a few minutes later, Pastrnak hooked Dubois and was assessed a minor infraction at 6:59, but the Bruins managed to make the kill.

    Logan Stanley made a brief appearance in the penalty box for interference at 11:57, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the resulting power play.

    Finally, Brenden Dillon sent the puck over the glass and out of play in his own zone for an automatic delay of game minor at 14:31.

    This time the Bruins made quick and easy work of the ensuing skater advantage as Hall (13) followed up on a rebound with a backhand shot past Hellebuyck to give Boston a, 3-2, lead at 15:13 of the third period.

    Coyle (21) and McAvoy (32) had the assists on Hall’s power-play goal.

    With 1:37 remaining in the action, Jets interim head coach, Dave Lowry, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker.

    What’s more, Haula tripped Andrew Copp at 18:34 of the third period and gave Winnipeg a de facto 6-on-4 advantage once Hellebuyck made another trip out of the crease after the Jets ensured themselves of not losing a faceoff and giving up an easy goal to the Bruins who could not ice the puck given their shorthanded status.

    Winnipeg used their timeout to make sure their skaters were all on the same page in their last-ditch effort.

    About 30 seconds after Hellebuyck raced to the bench for the second time, McAvoy (8) sealed the deal on a shorthanded empty net goal to give the Bruins a, 4-2, victory at 19:29 of the third period.

    Nosek (11) and Coyle (22) had the assists on the goal as all three Boston skaters selflessly tried to do everything they could to let one of their teammates score the insurance goal.

    Josh Morrissey had been tripped at the other end of the rink prior to McAvoy’s goal, but there was no penalty called– drawing the ire of both Morrissey and Dubois and resulting in ten-minute misconducts for the two players as something they had said or done in protest crossed the lines for the on-ice officials at 19:29.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 4-2, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 45-29, despite trailing Winnipeg, 14-9, in shots on net in the third period alone.

    The Bruins left Canada Life Centre leading in blocked shots (17-15), giveaways (11-10) and faceoff win% (53-47), while the Jets led in hits (33-19).

    Winnipeg finished 0/5 on the power play, while Boston went 1/4 on the skater advantage Friday night.

    The B’s improved to 11-5-2 (7-2-1 on the road) when tied after one period, 28-7-2 (16-3-1 on the road) when scoring first and 26-1-3 (16-0-2 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

    The Jets, meanwhile, fell to 13-9-4 (8-6-0 at home) when tied after the first period, 10-18-4 (5-11-2 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal and 4-18-2 (1-11-1 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins wrap up their four-game road trip (2-1-0) Monday night in Montréal, which also happens to be the same day as the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline (March 21st).

    Boston returns home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 24th and begin a five-game homestand to conclude March and start the month of April.

    The New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs, New Jersey Devils and Columbus Blue Jackets will visit TD Garden on March 26th, 28th, 31st and April 2nd, respectively.

  • Grzelcyk ensures overtime victory for Bruins on the road in Chicago

    Grzelcyk ensures overtime victory for Bruins on the road in Chicago

    Matt Grzelcyk ended a 21-game goal-scoring drought with his game-winning goal in overtime as the Boston Bruins beat Chicago, 2-1, Tuesday night at United Center.

    Linus Ullmark (18-9-2, 2.75 goals-against average, .908 save percentage in 30 games played) made 19 saves on 20 shots against in the win for the Bruins.

    Chicago netminder, Marc-Andre Fleury (19-20-5, 2.85 goals-against average, .909 save percentage in 44 games played), turned aside 46 out of 48 shots faced in the overtime loss.

    Boston improved to 37-18-5 (79 points) on the season and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The Bruins are also two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 3rd in the Atlantic.

    Chicago fell to 22-30-9 overall (53 points) and stuck in 7th place in the Central Division as a result of the overtime loss.

    With the win on Tuesday, Boston swept Chicago 2-0-0 in their 2021-22 regular season series after last meeting in 2019-20, when the Bruins went 1-0-1 against Chicago.

    The B’s were without Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) on Tuesday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Saturday night’s, 3-2, victory against the Arizona Coyotes to Tuesday night’s action in Chicago.

    Nick Foligno suited up for his 1,000th career National Hockey League game– becoming the 364th player in league history to do so and the second father-son duo, as well, since Mike Foligno’s NHL career spanned 1,018 games.

    Foligno’s younger brother, Marcus, has played in 658 games entering Tuesday split between the Buffalo Sabres and Minnesota Wild.

    Nick, meanwhile, has played in 351 games with the Ottawa Senators, 599 games with the Columbus Blue Jackets, seven games with the Toronto Maple Leafs and 43 games with the Bruins so far.

    Boston announced that they’d honor Foligno for his 1,000th career NHL game on April 2nd prior to their matchup against the Blue Jackets at TD Garden.

    Meanwhile, Tuesday night in Chicago, Jack Ahcan and Anton Blidh served as healthy scratches for the Bruins.

    Before scoring the game-winning goal Tuesday night, Grzelcyk was penalized for interference at 5:02 of the first period and presented Chicago with the first power play opportunity of the game.

    Chicago did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however, and followed up with a penalty of their own when Dylan Strome tripped Brad Marchand– giving Boston their first chance on the power play at 10:26.

    Entering the first intermission, however, the score remained tied, 0-0, despite the Bruins outshooting Chicago, 14-4.

    Chicago held the advantage in blocked shots (3-1) and giveaways (4-2), while the B’s led in takeaways (4-3), hits (15-11) and faceoff win percentage (59-41).

    Both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Patrick Kane caught Charlie McAvoy with a high stick and gave Boston another chance on the skater advantage at 3:05 of the second period, but once again the Bruins’ power play was powerless.

    Late in the period, Sam Lafferty cut a rut to the sin bin for interference at 16:22, but Boston followed their power play with a penalty kill of their own when Mike Reilly tripped Brandon Hagel at 19:15.

    Chicago failed to capitalize on their skater advantage, which extended into the final frame of regulation as the horn signaled the end of the second period and the commencement of the second intermission.

    The score was still, 0-0, despite the Bruins outshooting Chicago, 35-11, including, 21-7, in the second period alone.

    Boston held the advantage in takeaways (7-6), giveaways (6-4), hits (22-20) and faceoff win% (56-44), while Chicago led in blocked shots (10-7).

    Chicago was 0/2 on the power play, while the B’s were 0/3 on the skater advantage through 40 minutes of action.

    Calvin de Haan tripped Curtis Lazar and presented Boston with their fourth power play opportunity of the game at 2:34 of the third period, but the Bruins couldn’t muster a shot past Fleury while on the advantage.

    Instead, however, the B’s caught Chicago in the vulnerable minute after special teams play, as Marchand picked a rebound out of the air after Fleury swatted the puck away from the crease– that’s when Patrice Bergeron (17) ultimately came in and cleaned up the home run– batting the puck into the twine from mid-air after Marchand kept it free.

    Marchand (35) and Taylor Hall (31) notched the assists as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead at 4:43 of the third period.

    Hall briefly received some glue on the bench after catching a close shave by a skate in the scramble in front of the net in the lead-up to Bergeron’s goal.

    Moments later, despite scoring first, Boston couldn’t hold onto the momentum as Chicago led a charge into their attacking zone and worked the puck around until Caleb Jones sent a shot from the point to the slot where Hagel (21) tipped the rubber biscuit past Ullmark.

    Jones (8) and Jake McCabe (12) tallied the assists as Chicago tied the game, 1-1, at 9:36 of the third period.

    Late in the period, the Bruins thought they scored a beautiful goal as Charlie Coyle followed a rebound with a spin-o-rama shot past Fleury’s glove side while crashing the net, but the would-be go-ahead goal was immediately waved off for incidental goaltender intererence.

    The only problem was that– despite Craig Smith’s net front presence– there was no overt goaltender interference to be seen within reason to believe that there had, in fact, been an infraction prior to the goal.

    Thus, Cassidy used a coach’s challenge on the basis that there was not enough evidence to support the call on the ice and it should therefore be overturned as Chicago’s own defender, Riley Stillman, had knocked over his own goaltender and Smith battled someone in front of the crease– barely getting his skate into the blue paint on the opposite side from where Fleury was standing.

    No, apparently that meant nothing in the long run– or rather, perhaps that’s why the on-ice officials made the call in the first place because it was reminiscent of the controversial conclusion to the 1999 Stanley Cup Final.

    Ask any Buffalo Sabres fan if Brett Hull’s foot was in the crease and then ask any Dallas Stars fan if Hull’s foot even mattered, I’ll wait.

    Meanwhile in Chicago, Cassidy’s challenge was no good and the call on the ice stood as “no goal”.

    As a result, Boston was assessed a bench minor for delay of game at 15:13 of the third period with Smith sent across the sheet of ice to the box to serve the penalty.

    The Bruins managed to make the kill and in the closing minutes of regulation had a couple quality chances turned aside by Fleury– necessitating overtime (at the very least) to determine a winner.

    After 60 minutes of action, the two teams were tied, 1-1, despite the B’s outshooting Chicago, 46-20, overall– including an, 11-9, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston held the advantage in giveaways (8-7) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Chicago led in blocked shots (18-14) and hits (29-28).

    Both teams had nine takeaways each.

    As there were no penalties called in overtime, Chicago finished the night 0/3 on the power play, while Boston went 0/4.

    In overtime, Cassidy started Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy for Boston, while Derek King countered with Jonathan Toews, Hagel and Seth Jones for Chicago.

    The two teams skated up and down the ice a couple times before the Bruins controlled possession in the attacking zone.

    Hall faked retreating back into the neutral zone for a different play and sent a pass over to David Pastrnak at the point before Pastrnak dropped the puck back to Hall, whereby Hall pushed towards the net as Kane and Alex DeBrincat bought what Hall was originally selling and chased after Pastrnak.

    Hall then worked a pass to Grzelcyk through the slot while Chicago’s only defender tried to block the passing lane, but Grzelcyk (3) settled the puck on a catch and release blast before wiring it behind Fleury for the game-winning goal at 1:40 of the overtime period.

    Hall (32) and Pastrnak (28) had the assists on Grzelcyk’s goal– giving Hall two assists on the night and the 400th of his NHL career as a result.

    With the, 2-1, overtime win, the B’s improved to 10-1-1 in their last 12 games and left United Center leading in shots on goal, 48-20, including a, 2-0, advantage in the extra frame.

    Boston also left the ice leading in blocked shots (19-14), giveaways (9-8) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Chicago exited their own building leading in hits (30-28).

    The Bruins improved to 5-3 in overtime this season and 7-5 overall past regulation, while Chicago dropped to 4-7 in the extra frame and 6-9 past 60 minutes in 2021-22.

    Boston also improved to 10-5-2 (6-2-1 on the road) when tied after the first period, 8-3-0 (3-2-0 on the road) when tied after the second period and 27-7-2 (15-3-1 on the road) when scoring first this season.

    Chicago fell to 10-13-4 (6-10-3 at home) when tied after one, 5-3-3 (2-1-3 at home) after two and 5-24-6 (2-13-4 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2021-22.

    The Bruins continue their four-game road trip (1-0-0) Wednesday night in Minnesota before venturing to Winnipeg on Friday and Montréal next Monday, which also coincides with the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline (March 21st).

    Boston returns home to host the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 24th.

  • Bruins outlast Blue Jackets in shootout victory on the road, 5-4

    Bruins outlast Blue Jackets in shootout victory on the road, 5-4

    Four different goal scorers for each team kept things close Saturday night at Nationwide Arena, while David Pastrnak scored the only goal in the, 5-4, shootout win for the Boston Bruins against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

    Jeremy Swayman (15-7-3, 2.03 goals-against average, .927 save percentage in 26 games played) made 20 saves on 24 shots against in the win for Boston, while spoiling the night’s festivities after the Blue Jackets held a jersey retirement ceremony for Rick Nash prior to the game.

    Columbus goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins (19-14-3, 3.42 goals-against average, .903 save percentage in 36 games played), stopped 28 out of 32 shots faced in the shootout loss.

    The Bruins improved to 34-18-4 (72 points) on the season, while remaining in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The Blue Jackets fell to 28-25-2 (58 points) overall and remained 5th in the Metropolitan Division.

    Saturday night marked the first time the two teams met in the regular season since Jan. 14, 2020, before the pandemic shortened the 2019-20 regular season and led to temporary divisional realignment for a condensed 56-game regular season schedule in 2020-21.

    Columbus won, 3-0, at Nationwide Arena in their last game against Boston prior to Saturday’s, 5-4, shootout loss.

    Curtis Lazar returned to the lineup after missing the last four games with an upper body injury.

    As a result, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one change to his lineup from Thursday night’s, 5-2, victory in Las Vegas to Saturday night’s action in Columbus.

    Lazar returned to his usual role on the fourth line right wing, while Jesper Frödén joined Anton Blidh and Jack Achan in the press box as Boston’s trio of healthy scratches against the Blue Jackets.

    Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) remained out due to injury, though Vaakanainen has resumed skating back in Boston.

    Prior to the game Saturday night, the Blue Jackets retired Nash’s No. 61– marking the first time in franchise history that the club retired a players’ jersey number.

    Nash was drafted by Columbus with the 1st overall pick in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft and spent the first nine seasons of his career in a Blue Jackets uniform before he was traded to the New York Rangers on July 23, 2012.

    He left Columbus as the franchise leader in games played (674), goals (289), assists (258) and points (547).

    After parts of six seasons in New York, he was traded to Boston ahead of the 2018 trade deadline, where he finished the season and playoffs despite missing some time that March with what ultimately became a career-ending concussion and ensuing post-concussion symptoms since then.

    In 1,060 career NHL games with the Blue Jackets, Rangers and Bruins, Nash amassed 437-368–805 totals, appeared in 89 career Stanley Cup Playoff games (18-28–46 career playoff totals)– including the 2014 Stanley Cup Final– and shared Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy winning honors with Jarome Iginla and Ilya Kovalchuk in the 2003-04 season as the league’s leader in goals scored with 41.

    He formally announced his retirement on Jan. 11, 2019, and was named Director of Player Development for the Blue Jackets in June 2021.

    A franchise record 19,434 fans were in attendance for Nash’s Jersey Retirement Night at Nationwide Arena in Columbus as announced by the team on Saturday.

    Midway through the opening frame, Brad Marchand spun and threw the puck to the slot where Jake DeBrusk (15) deflected the rubber biscuit past Merzlikins to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 10:39 of the first period.

    Marchand (32) and Charlie McAvoy (28) tallied the assists as the Bruins recorded the first goal of the game.

    The B’s didn’t hold the lead for too long, however, as the Blue Jackets roared back with a goal of their own– tying the game, 1-1, at 16:57, courtesy of Gustav Nyquist’s (14), cool, calm and collected reception of a drop pass from Boone Jenner and shot over Swayman’s left shoulder while Boston’s defenders were split like the Red Sea.

    Jenner (21) and Patrik Laine (19) notched the assists on Nyquist’s goal as Columbus surged in momentum.

    A couple minutes later, Vladislav Gavrikov (3) was in the right place in the right time to bury a loose puck as Swayman couldn’t get a paddle on it in desperation– giving the Blue Jackets their first lead of the night, 2-1, in the process at 19:00 of the first period.

    Gavrikov’s goal was unassisted as Columbus recorded a pair of goals in a span of 2:03.

    Entering the first intermission, the Blue Jackets carried a, 2-1, lead into the dressing room, despite being outshot by the Bruins, 12-6, in the first period.

    Columbus held the advantage in faceoff win percentage, 64-36, while neither team had seen any action on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    Marchand took a hit in the neutral zone while Erik Haula (8) scooped up the puck and rushed into the attacking zone before wiring shot through Merzlikins’ five-hole– tying the game, 2-2, in the process at 1:51 of the second period.

    Marchand (33) had the only assist on Haula’s goal in the process.

    Less than a couple minutes later, Dean Kukan cut a rut to the penalty box for holding and presented Boston with the first power play of the night at 3:26 of the second period.

    The Bruins’ power play went by the wayside, however, as the Blue Jackets made the kill and went on their first power play shortly thereafter as Craig Smith tripped up former Bruin, Sean Kuraly, at 5:33.

    Columbus didn’t convert on their first skater advantage, but the Blue Jackets got another crack at special teams play when Charlie Coyle slashed Oliver Bjorkstrand at 13:13 of the second period.

    About a minute later, Zach Werenski (9) pinched in from the point at the top of the faceoff circle and sent a shot inadvertently off of Bruins defender, Charlie McAvoy’s knee and over Swayman’s glove side to give Columbus a, 3-2, lead at 14:28.

    Jakub Voracek (39) and Bjorkstrand (20) had the assists on Werenski’s power-play goal and the Blue Jackets took a, 3-2, lead at 14:28 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action, Columbus led, 3-2, on the scoreboard despite trailing in shots on goal, 19-14. The Blue Jackets, however, held the advantage in shots on net in the middle frame alone, 8-7, and controlled faceoff win% (58-42).

    Boston was 0/1 on the power play, while Columbus was 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Smith (10) buried a one-timer off of Merzlikins’ blocker and into the twine while crashing the net– tying the game, 3-3, at 4:40 of the third period in the process.

    Connor Clifton (2) and Nick Foligno (8) tallied the assists as the latter sent a pass to the former prior to Clifton setting up Smith for the goal– marking four goals in his last two games and nine points (four goals, five assists) in Smith’s last 10 games.

    Late in the period, Bjorkstrand caught Pastrnak with a high stick at 14:23 of the third period, yielding another power play to Boston in the process.

    It didn’t take the Bruins long to go ahead, 4-3, on the scoreboard as Patrice Bergeron (16) nudged a goal on the forehand as the puck sat in the crease after ringing the iron twice and Taylor Hall flubbed an attempt while Merzlikins was sprawled out in desperation.

    Hall (29) and Pastrnak (26) had the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal at 14:58 of the third period.

    With 1:18 remaining in the action, Brad Larsen pulled his netminder for an extra attacker.

    Foligno hooked Nyuquist at 19:29 and yielded another power play to the Blue Jackets as a result.

    Larsen used the extra few seconds before the ensuing faceoff on the skater advantage to rally his skaters with 30.7 seconds remaining in the action.

    Columbus worked the puck around the attacking zone before Voracek (3) winded up on a half speed slap shot and scored under the blocker– clipping Swayman’s jersey in the process and tying the game, 4-4, with 2.8 seconds remaining in regulation.

    Laine (20) and Kuraly (13) had the assists on Voracek’s power-play goal at 19:57 as the Blue Jackets forced overtime despite trailing Boston in shots on goal, 31-23, including a, 12-9, advantage for the Bruins in the third period alone.

    As there were no penalties called in overtime, Columbus finished the night 2/3 on the power play while Boston went 0/2 on the skater advantage.

    Neither team scored in overtime as both squads recorded one shot on goal each in the extra frame.

    The Bruins finished the night leading in shots on goal, 32-24, as well as in blocked shots (16-12), while the Blue Jackets wrapped up 65 minutes of action leading in hits (28-20) and faceoff win% (51-49).

    Both teams had two giveaways aside.

    Boston shot first in the shootout as Coyle waltzed into the zone from the right side before cutting right at Merzlikins and being denied by a left pad save.

    Laine countered for Columbus with a medium speed effort and a pump fake before pulling the puck to his backhand, but Swayman made the save.

    DeBrusk entered with speed before trying an offspeed shot that Merzlikins cast aside with his blocker.

    Larsen sent out Nyquist to try to get things going as his second shooter, but despite cutting in from wide left to the middle of the ice, Swayman made a routine save on Nyquist’s five-hole shot attempt.

    Finally, Pastrnak skated in wide left before cutting to the middle with speed and coming to a stop prior to elevating the puck into the upper-90 on Merzlikins’ glove side– giving Boston a, 1-0, advantage in the third round of the shootout.

    Voracek had to score on the following attempt or the Bruins would win the game.

    The Blue Jackets forward carried speed towards the net before Swayman made a blocker save to seal the deal on the shootout victory as the B’s were awarded the shootout goal in the final score, 5-4, Saturday night at Nationwide Arena– securing 10 out of 12 possible points in their six-game road trip in the process.

    Boston improved to 2-2 in shootouts this season, while Columbus fell to 3-2 in the best-of-three skills competition.

    The Bruins also improved to 24-7-1 (14-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 5-11-2 (1-5-1 on the road) when trailing after one and 4-14-2 (1-6-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Blue Jackets dropped to 14-17-2 (7-6-2 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 10-4-1 (4-1-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 15-4-2 (7-2-2 at home) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins went 5-1-0 on their six-game road trip through the Pacific Division and Columbus and will return home to begin a three-game homestand on Monday.

    Boston will host Los Angeles (March 7th), Chicago (March 10th)  and Arizona (March 12th) before hitting the road again on March 15th.

  • Smith’s hat trick catapults Bruins over Golden Knights in Vegas, 5-2

    Smith’s hat trick catapults Bruins over Golden Knights in Vegas, 5-2

    Craig Smith notched his third career hat trick en route to a, 5-2, victory for the Boston Bruins over the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

    Jeremy Swayman (14-7-3, 1.95 goals-against average, .930 save percentage in 25 games played) made 34 saves on 36 shots faced in the win for Boston.

    Vegas goaltender, Robin Lehner (20-14-1, 2.85 goals-against average, .907 save percentage in 36 games played), stopped 31 out of 35 shots against in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 33-18-4 (70 points) on the season and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as the first wild card berth in the Eastern Conference.

    Meanwhile, the Golden Knights fell to 30-21-4 (64 points) overall and dropped to 4th in the Pacific Division and in command of the second wild card in the Western Conference.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy made no changes to his lineup from Tuesday night’s, 4-3, loss on the road to the Anaheim Ducks, leaving Anton Blidh and Jack Ahcan as healthy scratches while the Bruins were without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) and Curtis Lazar (upper body).

    Zach Whitecloud slashed Jake DeBrusk and presented Boston with the night’s first power play at 6:40 of the first period, but the Bruins were unsuccessful in converting on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Midway through the opening frame, however, the B’s struck first as Trent Frederic entered the zone and dropped a pass back to Smith (7) for the catch and release goal to give the Bruins a, 1-0, lead.

    Frederic (4) and Derek Forbort (6) tallied the assists on Smith’s first goal of the game at 13:18 of the first period.

    Heading into the first intermission, the Golden Knights led in shots on goal, 12-10, while Boston led in faceoff win percentage, 53-47.

    Vegas had yet to see any action on the skater advantage entering the middle frame, while the Bruins were 0/1 in special teams play.

    Erik Haula tripped up Keegan Kolesar to present the Golden Knights with their first chance on the power play at 2:32 of the second period, but the skater advantage went by the wayside as Boston’s penalty kill managed to kill off Haula’s minor infraction.

    Midway through the period, Smith (8) connected on a pass from Charlie Coyle through the slot for his second goal of the game to extend Boston’s lead to two-goals.

    Coyle (15) and Frederic (5) notched the assists as the Bruins pulled ahead, 2-0, at 11:03 of the second period.

    Late in the period an errant puck that was almost an indirect pass off the boards led Jack Eichel (2) through the neutral zone and on a breakaway whereby he slipped the puck through Swayman’s five-hole on a pump fake– letting the puck glide off his stick blade and over the goal line without putting much effort into a shot.

    Eichel’s goal cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1, on an unassisted effort at 17:24 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the Bruins led on the scoreboard, 2-1, and in shots on goal, 26-25– courtesy of a, 16-13, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.

    Vegas held the advantage in faceoff win%, 51-49, while both teams were 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Tomáš Nosek tripped Brett Howden at 1:59 of the third period, but the Golden Knights weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Nearly midway into the final frame, David Pastrnak (30) riffled a shot with eyes through Lehner as the rubber biscuit just trickled over the goal line to give Boston a, 3-1, lead at 8:14 of the third period.

    Frederic (6) completed a three-point night as a result with the primary assist on the goal, while Haula (16) notched the secondary assist.

    The two teams traded goals late in the period as Smith (9) completed his first hat trick since May 1, 2021, against the Buffalo Sabres (a, 6-2, win in Boston) as the Bruins worked the puck around the horn in the attacking zone before Whitecloud bumped into his own goaltender– rendering Lehner with an attempt to draw a call, feigning interference, with his back turned as Smith buried the loose puck.

    Matt Grzelcyk (17) and Brandon Carlo (6) had the assists on Smith’s third goal of the game as Boston took a, 4-1, lead at 14:39 of the third period.

    Golden Knights head coach, Peter DeBoer, pulled Lehner for an extra attacker with 4:52 remaining on the clock and about a couple minutes later, Vegas cut the deficit from three goals to two.

    Jonathan Marchessault (22) let go of a blast from the circle with net front traffic screening Swayman as the puck hit the back of the twine.

    Alex Pietrangelo (22) had the only assist on the goal as the Golden Knights trailed, 4-2, at 16:38.

    Less than two minutes later, Pastrnak (31) waltzed into the attacking zone to put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal– giving Boston a three-goal lead once more, 5-2, at 18:20.

    Haula (17) had the only assist as Pastrnak finished the night with a pair of goals– tying Bobby Orr in the process for the seventh-most seasons with at least 30 goals in a Boston uniform.

    Both Orr and Pastrnak have had five seasons with at least 30 goals, trailing Rick Middleton (eight), Phil Esposito (eight), Johnny Bucyk (seven), Patrice Bergeron (six), Cam Neely (six) and Peter McNab (six) in the process.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 5-2, and taken two more points on the road in the midst of their six-game road trip (4-1-0 in that span).

    Both teams finished the night with 36 shots on goal each, despite Vegas leading Boston, 11-10, in shots on goal in the third period alone.

    The Bruins left T-Mobile Arena leading in blocked shots (20-18) and hits (28-25), while the Golden Knights exited their own building with the advantage in giveaways (8-6) and faceoff win% (56-44).

    Vegas went 0/2 and Boston went 0/1 on the power play on Thursday.

    The B’s improved to 23-7-1 (13-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 21-2-1 (12-1-1 on the road) when leading after one and 23-1-2 (15-0-2 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

    The Golden Knights, meanwhile, fell to 7-11-2 (4-8-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-9-0 (3-4-0 at home) when trailing after the first period and 4-13-2 (2-6-1 at home) when trailing after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins conclude their six-game road trip (4-1-0) Saturday night in Columbus before returning home next Monday to start a three-game homestand and host the Los Angeles Kings.

    Chicago visits Boston next Thursday and the Arizona Coyotes make their trip to TD Garden next Saturday before the B’s hit the road again.

  • Ducks snap Bruins’ win streak at five in, 4-3, loss

    Ducks snap Bruins’ win streak at five in, 4-3, loss

    The Boston Bruins fell behind by a pair of goals before the end of the first period, rallied to tie the game early in the third period and lost it in the dying seconds as the Anaheim Ducks bookended power-play goals Tuesday night at Honda Center in a, 4-3, victory for the home team.

    John Gibson (17-14-8, 2.84 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 39 games played) made 31 saves on 34 shots against in the win for Anaheim.

    Boston goaltender, Linus Ullmark (17-9-1, 2.80 goals-against average, .908 save percentage in 28 games played), turned aside 24 out of 28 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins fell to 32-18-4 (68 points) on the season and remain in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as in command of the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference as a result.

    The Ducks improved to 26-21-9 (61 points) overall, but stuck in 5th place in the Pacific Division as a result of the win.

    Anaheim also swept the regular season series against Boston 2-0-0.

    Bruce Cassidy made no changes to his lineup from Monday night’s, 7-0, shutout win in Los Angeles to Tuesday night’s action in Anaheim as the Bruins remained without Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) and Curtis Lazar (upper body).

    Jack Ahcan and Anton Blidh remained in the press box as Boston’s healthy scratches against the Ducks.

    Nick Foligno and Sam Carrick kicked the night off with a burst of energy as the two exchanged fisticuffs at 2:20 of the first period– yielding five-minute majors for fighting in the process in what was the 18th fight of the season for Boston and second in as many nights.

    A few minutes later, Brad Marchand was sent to the box with a minor infraction for cross checking as the Bruins veteran illegally used his stick on Derek Grant at 5:35 of the first period.

    It didn’t take Anaheim long to convert on the ensuing power play as Derek Forbort gave it away to Ducks defender, Jamie Drysdale, at the point in Boston’s own zone.

    Drysdale slid the rubber biscuit along the blue line as the puck found its way to Trevor Zegras before Zegras set up Ryan Getzlaf for a clear shot on goal that rebounded off Ullmark to Rickard Rakell as Rakell (15) crashed the net and buried it.

    Getzlaf (26) and Zegras (27) tallied the assists on Rakell’s power-play goal and Anaheim went ahead, 1-0, at 6:33 of the first period.

    Less than a couple of minutes later, Boston responded with a goal of their own– this time on a redirection as Foligno (2) changed the course of a shot from the point by Brandon Carlo through his own legs and that of Gibson’s five-hole– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

    Carlo (5) and Tomáš Nosek (8) had the assists on Foligno’s goal at 8:15 of the first period as the two teams swapped momentum in the first half of the opening frame.

    Towards the end of the period, however, everything came up just ducky.

    Cam Fowler fired a shot on Ullmark that Isac Lundeström (13) gathered with ease and pocketed on the rebound to put the Ducks back in front, 2-1, at 17:53.

    Fowler (21) and Jakob Silfvergberg (16) tallied the assists on the goal.

    Less than two minutes later, Adam Henrique (10) received a pass from Troy Terry and unloaded on a catch and release shot to give Anaheim a two-goal lead at 19:03.

    Terry (19) and Getzlaf (27) were credited with the assists as the Ducks took a, 3-1, lead into the first intermission.

    Anaheim led in shots on goal, 9-7, after one period and held the advantage in blocked shots (6-5), takeaways (4-2), hits (10-6) and faceoff win percentage (58-42), as well.

    Boston led in giveaways (4-2) through 20 minutes, while only the Ducks had seen any time on the power play and went 1/1 entering the middle frame.

    Grant tripped Nosek and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 2:51 of the second period, but Boston’s ensuing skater advantage was cut short at 4:03 when Taylor Hall interfered with Lundeström away from the play as the two collided in the neutral zone at 4:03.

    After 48 seconds of 4-on-4 action, the Ducks went on an abbreviated power play that the B’s managed to kill off without issue.

    Midway through the middle frame Carlo (5) sent a shot from the point that had eyes as it bounced off of Gibson and squeezed its way under his arm into the twine– pulling the Bruins to within one goal in the process.

    Nosek (9) and Foligno (7) tallied the assists as Boston trailed, 3-2, at 11:15 of the second period– giving Foligno his first career Gordie Howe hat trick in the process as No. 17 in black and gold wracked up a fight, goal and an assist in Tuesday night’s effort.

    Through 40 minutes of action, Anaheim led, 3-2, on the scoreboard despite Boston holding the advantage in shots on net, 21-16, including a, 14-7, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins also led in blocked shots (11-9) and hits (17-14) heading into the second intermission, while the Ducks led in takeaways (5-3), giveaways (6-5) and faceoff win% (54-46).

    Boston was 0/1 and Anaheim was 1/2 on the power play entering the final frame.

    David Pastrnak took a hit in the neutral zone as the puck rolled off his stick into the attacking zone while Hall raced to retrieve it.

    Hall sent a pass back to Pastrnak (29) as the B’s leading goal scorer broke into the zone and blasted a shot from the point off of Carrick and behind Gibson while Erik Haula acted as a screen amidst the net front traffic.

    Pastrnak’s goal tied the game, 3-3, as Hall (28) and Haula (15) picked up credit for the assists at 1:52 of the third period.

    The Bruins had swung momentum in their favor and dominated possession in the offensive zone for the better part of the third period until the Ducks began to surge late in the action.

    Charlie McAvoy got caught behind a play and hooked Getzlaf in front of Boston’s own net, yielding a power play to Anaheim at 19:14 of the third period.

    It didn’t take long for the Ducks to capitalize on the resulting special teams advantage after head coach, Dallas Eakins, used his team’s timeout to drum up a plan with 45.9 seconds left on the clock.

    Anaheim sent the puck around the horn while on the power play until Getzlaf sent the rubber biscuit to Drysdale, who then found Zegras (14) for the final blow on a shot from the outer edge of the circle with Sonny Milano screening Ullmark’s view as the puck rang the inside of the post and went in on the glove side.

    Drysdale (20) and Getzlaf (28) notched the assists on what would be the game-winning power-play goal from Zegras at 19:38 of the third period and the Ducks led, 4-3.

    Boston pulled their goaltender for an extra skater with about a dozen seconds left, but couldn’t establish enough of a zone presence to muster a last-ditch shot on goal as the seconds ticked down and the final horn sounded.

    Anaheim had won, 4-3, despite finishing the night trailing in shots on goal, 34-28, including a, 13-12, advantage for the Bruins in the third period alone.

    The Ducks left their own ice with two points and another victory in the regulation win column, while leading in blocked shots (16-14), giveaways (9-8), hits (24-23) and faceoff win% (51-49).

    Anaheim went 2/3 on the power play, while Boston went 0/1 on the skater advantage Tuesday night.

    The B’s fell to 10-11-3 (4-5-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-11-2 (0-5-1 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 3-14-2 (0-6-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Ducks, meanwhile, improved to 22-7-4 (13-2-2 at home) when scoring first, 17-2-2 (11-0-2 at home) when leading after one period and 18-2-1 (11-0-1 at home) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins visit the Vegas Golden Knights Thursday night (9 p.m. ET on ESPN) before wrapping up their six-game road trip (3-1-0) in Columbus on Saturday night.

    Boston returns home to host the Los Angeles Kings next Monday (March 7th).

  • DeBrusk’s natural hat trick spurs, 7-0, shutout victory on the road in Los Angeles

    DeBrusk’s natural hat trick spurs, 7-0, shutout victory on the road in Los Angeles

    Jake DeBrusk scored his first career National Hockey League hat trick to kick things off on a four-point night (three goals, one assist), while Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves en route to his third shutout of the season as the Boston Bruins beat the Los Angeles Kings, 7-0, Monday night at Crypto.com Arena.

    Swayman (13-7-3, 1.95 goals-against average, .929 save percentage in 24 games played) turned aside all 34 shots that he faced for his fifth career shutout in the win for Boston.

    Los Angeles netminder, Jonathan Quick (14-11-6, 2.67 goals-against average, .909 save percentage in 31 games played) made 14 saves on 19 shots against in 32:40 time on ice before he was replaced by Cal Petersen in the loss.

    Petersen (14-7-1, 2.68 goals-against average, .898 save percentage in 23 games played) stopped 11 out of 13 shots faced in relief of Quick for no decision.

    The Bruins improved to 32-17-4 (68 points) on the season and remain 4th in the Atlantic Division, while in control of the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The Kings fell to 29-18-7 (65 points) overall and remain 2nd in the Pacific Division.

    The B’s visited Los Angeles for the first time since the 2018-19 season (4-2 loss on Feb. 16, 2019) due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which also marked the first time Boston faced the Kings in general since the 2019-20 season (4-3 overtime loss on Dec. 17, 2019 at TD Garden).

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup from Saturday night’s, 3-1, win in San Jose to Monday night’s action in Los Angeles.

    As a result, Anton Blidh and Jack Ahcan remained healthy scratches for Boston, while Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) and Curtis Lazar (upper body) were out of the lineup due to injury.

    After a quick entry into the attacking zone for the Kings, Brad Marchand took a hit to move the puck to DeBrusk as the Bruins forward made his way through the neutral zone with speed on the first rush of the game for Boston.

    DeBrusk (12) flung a shot on net off of Quick’s glove side and into the twine to give the B’s a, 1-0, lead at 1:01 of the first period– extending his point streak to five games in the process.

    By the end of the night, No. 74 in black and gold would amass seven goals and two assists (nine points) in his last five games.

    Marchand (30) and Patrice Bergeron (25) tallied the assists on DeBrusk’s first goal of the night– giving Marchand six straight seasons with at least 30 assists in the process on Boston’s first shot of the game.

    Midway through the opening frame, DeBrusk (13) sent an indirect catch and release shot from the slot off of Quick’s glove side and into the twine (again) for an unassisted goal that gave the Bruins a, 2-0, lead at 13:37 of the first period.

    DeBrusk’s second goal of the game put him in sole possession of fourth places in goals scored this season on Boston’s roster, trailing David Pastrnak (28), Marchand (23) and Bergeron (15).

    Less than a couple minutes later, Trent Frederic expressed frustrations with Brendan Lemieux in the exchange of fisticuffs at 15:12 and the two players received five-minute majors for fighting– sending each player to the dressing room early for the first intermission in the 17th fight this season for Boston.

    A few minutes later, Blake Lizotte tripped Mike Reilly and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 18:16, but Boston failed to convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    Heading into the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 12-9, in shots on goal.

    Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (7-3) and hits (17-13), while Los Angeles led in giveaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (59-41).

    The Kings had yet to see time on the skater advantage, while the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play.

    DeBrusk (14) got things going again early in the middle frame as he deflected a shot from Bergeron just under the crossbar to give Boston a three-goal lead.

    The call on the ice stood as the goal was reviewed but could not be conclusively overturned and DeBrusk earned his first career hat trick– a natural hat trick at that– in the process, while Bergeron (26) and Charlie McAvoy (26) tallied the assists 53 seconds into the second period.

    McAvoy’s secondary assist gave him a new career-high in points in a season– surpassing his previous high (32 points) set in 2017-18 and 2019-20.

    DeBrusk’s hat trick marked the first hat trick for Boston since Pastrnak recorded a hat trick in a, 3-2, win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 13th earlier this season.

    Moments later, Jesper Frödén cut a rut to the penalty box for holding at 2:23 and Derek Forbort tripped Viktor Arvidsson at 3:02 of the second period– presenting Los Angeles with a 5-on-3 power play for 1:22 before an abbreviated 5-on-4 power play in the remainder.

    The Kings, however, couldn’t convert on the skater advantage.

    Midway through the period, Sean Durzi was assessed a holding infraction at 11:34.

    It didn’t take Boston long to convert on the ensuing power play as Bergeron won the faceoff and the puck worked its way back to the point where Pastrnak unloaded on a blast that Bergeron (15) tipped in front of the net to give the Bruins a, 4-0, lead at 11:40 of the second period.

    Pastrnak (24) and Marchand (31) had the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal as the B’s extended their lead to four goals.

    A mere 62 seconds later, Pastrnak sent Taylor Hall (12) through center ice into the attacking zone on his off-wing before riffling a shot from the faceoff dot under Quick’s blocker into the far side of the net.

    Pastrnak (25) and McAvoy (27) notched the assists on the goal as the Bruins took a, 5-0, lead at 12:42 of the second period at which point the Kings swapped goaltenders.

    Quick left the ice and Petersen strolled over into the crease to hold the fort down for the remainder of the second period, though he would give up a pair of goals in the final frame.

    Through 40 minutes of action, Boston led, 5-0, on the scoreboard and, 23-21, in shots on goal, despite trailing Los Angeles in shots on net in the second period alone, 12-11.

    The Bruins held the advantage in blocked shots (9-8) and faceoff win% (52-48), while the Kings led in giveaways (5-3).

    Both teams had one takeaway each and recorded 23 hits aside, while Los Angeles was 0/2 on the power play and Boston was 1/2 heading into the third period.

    Drew Doughty slashed Marchand at 8:12 of the third period and the Bruins cashed in on the resulting power play with one second to spare.

    Erik Haula (6) notched his 100th career NHL goal on a shot pass redirection goal from the doorstep courtesy of Charlie Coyle, who recorded his 200th career NHL assist in the process.

    Acutally, both Coyle (14) and Craig Smith (13) recorded their 200th career NHL assists on Haula’s 100th career goal in a strange aligning of the universe on one play as the B’s took a, 6-0, lead courtesy of Haula’s power-play goal at 10:11 of the third period.

    A few minutes later, Haula (7) scored his second goal of the game on yet another quick shot from the slot as DeBrusk sent the puck to Hall before Hall feigned a give-and-go opportunity for a clearer passing lane to Haula in front of the net.

    Hall (27) and DeBrusk (10) tallied the assists as the Bruins took a, 7-0, lead at 13:39 of the third period– marking DeBrusk’s first career four-point night on Haula’s first multi-goal game in a Boston uniform.

    There were no more goals and no penalties after Haula scored his second of the game as the Bruins cruised to a, 7-0, shutout in their largest margin of victory this season– scoring seven goals for just the second time this year (previous, 7-3, win on Jan. 10th in Washington, D.C.), while Swayman turned aside every shot he faced.

    Boston left Crypto.com Arena with the, 7-0, win despite finishing the night trailing in shots on goal, 34-32, as Los Angeles rallied to a, 13-9, advantage in shots on net in the third period alone.

    The Kings left their own ice leading in blocked shots (13-12) and giveaways (9-4), while the Bruins finished the night leading in hits (33-30).

    Both teams wrapped up Monday night’s action, 50-50, in faceoff win%, while Los Angeles went 0/2 and Boston went 2/3 on the power play.

    The Bruins improved to 22-7-1 (12-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 20-2-1 (11-1-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 22-1-2 (14-0-2 on the road) when leading after two periods this season.

    The Kings fell to 14-13-4 (6-9-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 6-10-2 (1-7-0 at home) when trailing after one and 4-12-2 (2-8-1 at home) when trailing through the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins visit the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday night to close out the month of February as their six-game road trip continues (3-0-0).

    Boston kicks off March Thursday night in Vegas and wraps up their road trip in Columbus Saturday before returning home to host the Kings next Monday.

  • Boston extends win streak to four games after, 3-1, victory in San Jose

    Boston extends win streak to four games after, 3-1, victory in San Jose

    Brad Marchand scored a pair of goals before Patrice Bergeron added the insurance marker as the Boston Bruins beat the San Jose Sharks, 3-1, Saturday night at SAP Center.

    Jeremy Swayman (12-7-3, 2.04 goals-against average, .926 save percentage) made 15 saves on 16 shots faced (.938 save percentage) for his fifth-straight quality start over Boston’s last seven games (Linus Ullmark tended the crease on Feb. 17th and Feb. 24th).

    Meanwhile, San Jose netminder, James Reimer (14-12-5, 2.90 goals-against average, .913 save percentage in 32 games played), stopped 34 out of 37 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 31-17-4 (66 points) on the season and remained in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, while surpassing the Washington Capitals for control of the first wild card berth in the Eastern Conference.

    The Sharks fell to 23-23-6 (52 points) overall and remain in 7th place in the Pacific Division– 15 points ahead of the Seattle Kraken from the basement of the division.

    Boston visited San Jose for the first time since their thrilling, 6-5, overtime victory on Feb. 18, 2019, as the pandemic cut the 2019-20 regular season short before their annual visit to SAP Center and the 2020-21 season featured temporarily realigned divisions with travel limited to within said divisions.

    The B’s have not lost in San Jose since March 15, 2016, when the Sharks beat Boston, 3-2– marking the longest string of games the Bruins have won at SAP Center since then (four games).

    Boston swept their 2021-22 regular season series against San Jose with a 2-0-0 record.

    Curtis Lazar (upper body) joined Jakub Zboril (right ACL) and Urho Vaakanainen (undisclosed) on the list of players that were out of the lineup due to injury for the Bruins Saturday night in San Jose.

    Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters on Friday that Lazar would be “day-to-day” and out of the lineup against the Sharks.

    As a result, Jesper Frödén suited up in Lazar’s place on the fourth line right wing.

    Cassidy made no other changes from Thursday night’s, 3-2, overtime victory in Seattle to Saturday night’s action in San Jose.

    Jack Ahcan and Anton Blidh served as Boston’s healthy scratches in the press box at SAP Center.

    Erik Haula caught Tomáš Hertl with a high stick and yielded the first power play of the game to the Sharks at 1:44 of the first period.

    San Jose wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing skater advantage, however, as the Bruins made the kill and Haula re-emerged from the penalty box.

    Late in the period, Haula sent a pass to Jake DeBrusk as DeBrusk entered the attacking zone with Marchand on a 2-on-1, setting up Marchand (22) for a one-timer goal to put the B’s ahead, 1-0, as a result.

    DeBrusk (9) and Haula (14) had the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the game at 14:24 of the first period.

    About a minute later, Boston botched a line change and was assessed a bench minor for too many skaters on the ice at 15:28.

    Craig Smith served the penalty and the Bruins were unscathed on the ensuing penalty kill.

    Entering the first intermission, Boston held a, 1-0, lead on the scoreboard and a, 9-5, advantage in shots on goal.

    The Bruins also held the advantage in blocked shots (10-4), while the Sharks led in takeaways (4-3), giveaways (6-2) and faceoff win percentage (63-38).

    Both teams had nine hits apiece, while San Jose was 0/3 on the power play heading into the middle frame. Boston had yet to see any action on the skater advantage.

    DeBrusk briefly exited the ice after a routine check along the boards left him with a bit of a stinger somewhere in his lower body, but he returned to action without missing a beat as the two teams got underway in the second period.

    Mario Ferraro presented the Bruins with their first power play of the night at 3:34 of the second period as the Sharks forward cut a rut to the sin bin for holding.

    San Jose killed off Ferraro’s minor and wouldn’t see him much more for the rest of the night as about midway through the action, Taylor Hall shoved Ferraro a little too far away from the puck to be assessed an interference minor, while Ferraro lost his footing and went awkwardly into the boards– bending his leg around the ankle in precisely the wrong direction that it is normally supposed to look like.

    Ferraro would not return to Saturday night’s game, while Hall went to the box at 12:03 of the second period.

    It didn’t take the Sharks long to convert on the power play as Brent Burns sent a pass across the slot to Timo Meier (24) for a one-timer goal from the left dot with eyes through Swayman into the twine.

    Burns (31) and Logan Couture (21) tallied the assists on Meier’s power-play goal as San Jose tied things up, 1-1, at 12:50 of the second period.

    A couple of minutes later, the Sharks were guilty of having too many skaters on the ice– sending Ryan Dzingel to serve the bench minor at 14:56 as a result.

    Boston failed to capitalize on the ensuing power play.

    Both teams went into the second intermission with a goal on the scoreboard– tied, 1-1, despite the Bruins dominating shots on goal, 24-9, including a, 15-4, advantage in the middle frame alone.

    The B’s held the lead in blocked shots (13-12), while the Sharks led in takeaways (7-5), giveaways (8-6) and hits (19-14).

    Both teams amassed a, 50-50, faceoff win% through two periods.

    San Jose was 1/4 on the power play, while Boston was 0/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

    Noah Gregor caught Bergeron with a high stick to kick things off at 1:12 of the third period, yielding a power play to the Bruins as a result.

    Boston nearly converted on the power play, but Gregor was freed from the box about six seconds prior to Marchand’s (23) second goal of the game– this time on a one-timer from the low left circle– below the dot and off of Reimer’s mask and into the twine.

    Hall (26) and Smith (12) tallied the assists as Marchand’s goal put the Bruins ahead, 2-1, at 3:18 of the third period.

    The two teams continued to swap chances as things got a little heated late in the third, resulting in a pair of minutes at 4-on-4 courtesy of Connor Clifton and Jeffrey Viel’s roughing minors at 15:38.

    In the final minutes of the game, San Jose whiffed at a couple of chances on a mostly empty net with Swayman in desperation– making save after save as the Sharks pressed.

    In one instance the Boston goaltender held his glove up in a last-ditch effort while sprawled out across the crease and snagged the puck out of mid-air.

    With less than a minute remaining in regulation, the Sharks didn’t even get a chance to pull Reimer for an extra attacker as the Bruins were in the offensive zone.

    Marchand sent a pass across the width of the ice to David Pastrnak before Pastrnak connected with Bergeron (14) in the bumper to give the B’s an insurance goal and a, 3-1, lead at 19:20 of the third period.

    Pastrnak (23) and Marchand (29) had the assists as the seconds ticked down to Boston’s fourth consecutive win since losing, 4-1, to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Feb. 17th.

    The Bruins beat the Sharks, 3-1, and finished Saturday night leading in shots on goal, 37-16, including a, 13-7, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston left SAP Center with two points in the regular season standings and the advantage in blocked shots (17-15), as well as faceoff win% (55-45), while San Jose vacated their own ice leading in giveaways (12-8) and hits (24-20).

    The Sharks finished the night 1/4 on the power play, while the B’s went 0/3.

    Boston improved to 21-7-1 (11-3-1 on the road) when scoring first, 19-2-1 (10-1-1 on the road) when leading after one period and 7-3-0 (2-2-0 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    San Jose fell to 8-19-3 (5-11-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-18-1 (3-10-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 7-3-3 (4-2-2 at home) when tied after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins continue their six-game road trip (2-0-0) next Monday (Feb. 28th) in Los Angeles before visiting Anaheim next Tuesday (March 1st) to finish up the month of February.

    Boston kicks off March next Thursday (March 3rd) in Vegas and wraps up their road trip in Columbus next Saturday (March 5th) before returning home to host the Kings on March 7th.