Down the Frozen River

Tag: Dan Vladar

  • Trio of Bruins record pair of goals in eventful, 6-3, win over Capitals

    Trio of Bruins record pair of goals in eventful, 6-3, win over Capitals

    Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Krejci each had a pair of goals in a, 6-3, win for the Boston Bruins over the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon at TD Garden.

    A pair of milestones were met for both the team (21,000 goals) and Marchand (700 career points) as Tuukka Rask (10-4-2, 2.36 goals-against average, .910 save percentage in 17 games played) made 30 saves on 33 shots against for Boston en route to the win.

    Washington goaltender, Vitek Vanecek (17-9-3, 2.77 goals-against average, .908 save percentage in 31 games played) stopped 22 out of 27 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 25-12-6 (56 points) and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Capitals fell to 29-12-4 (62 points) overall and in command of the division lead.

    Boston also improved to 4-1-2 against Washington this season with the win.

    The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), Kevan Miller (undisclosed), Jakub Zboril (non-COVID protocol related illness) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Sunday.

    Grzelcyk may travel with the team this week as the B’s hit the road, while Miller remains day-to-day and Halak could rejoin the group on Monday at practice.

    Head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one lineup change on defense with Zboril out due to an illness, Jarred Tinordi took Zboril’s spot on the third defensive pairing for Boston.

    Frederic, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Halak, Grzelcyk, Jack Ahcan, Zboril, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman and Miller were on the long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and/or injured players for Boston on Sunday, while Dan Vladar was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Saturday.

    Ahcan had been reassigned to Providence, but was recalled to the taxi squad on Saturday ahead of Sunday afternoon’s matinée matchup with Washington.

    The Capitals were without Zdeno Chara (lower body) after he blocked a shot in Saturday’s, 6-3, win in Philadelphia against the Flyers. The former Bruins captain received a standing ovation from the TD Garden crowd in his first game back in Boston with fans on April 11th.

    Dmitry Orlov hooked Marchand 35 seconds into the action Sunday afternoon, presenting the Bruins with the game’s first power play.

    Boston did not convert on the skater advantage, however.

    Midway through the opening frame, Connor Clifton caught Lars Eller with a high stick that resulted in a four-minute double minor infraction. Washington had an extended power play at 8:53 of the first period as a result.

    Late in the penalty kill, the Bruins worked the puck out of their own zone, whereby Capitals defender, John Carlson, went to battle along the endboards with Marchand for possession.

    Marchand got just enough of a touch on the puck as Carlson chipped it off of the Bruins winger’s stick prior to the rubber biscuit deflecting to an open space in the slot whereby Bergeron (17) scooped it up and pulled it to his backhand for a shot that beat Vanecek and gave Boston the game’s first goal.

    Marchand (30) had the only assist Bergeron’s shorthanded goal as the Bruins pulled ahead, 1-0, at 12:02 of the first period on their eighth shorthanded goal this season– tying the Montreal Canadiens for the most in 2020-21.

    Less than a couple minutes later, Krejci (4) received a pass through the low slot and one-timed a shot past Vanecek after Craig Smith and Clifton did a tremendous job working the puck low into the zone, then over to No. 46 in black and gold.

    Clifton (6) and Smith (16) tallied the assists on Krejci’s goal as the Bruins took a, 2-0, lead at 13:56.

    Late in the period, Mike Reilly got beat while pinching at the blue line, thus leaving Charlie McAvoy as the lone B’s defender in his own zone, whereby Nicklas Backstrom waltzed around the young Boston skater with a deke before getting a shot on Rask.

    T.J. Oshie (15) scored on the rebound to cut Boston’s lead in half and get the Capitals on the board, 2-1.

    Backstrom (32) had the only assist on the goal at 19:50.

    After the horn to signify the end of the first period, Garnet Hathaway delivered a late check on Jeremy Lauzon along the boards.

    The Bruins did not take kindly to Hathaway’s rejection of the unwritten “code” and a scrum ensued.

    Nic Dowd and Curtis Lazar each received roughing minors as a result, yielding penalties at 20:00 of the first period and a pair of minutes at 4-on-4 to start the middle frame.

    Entering the first intermission, the B’s led, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Capitals, 14-10, in shots on goal.

    Washington held the advantage in blocked shots (4-3) and hits (16-13), while Boston led in takeaways (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (72-28) after one period.

    Both teams had one giveaway each, while the Caps were 0/2 and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play heading into the second period.

    Clifton caught Conor Sheary with a high stick at 2:53 of the second period and presented the Capitals with an extended power play as a result of Sheary going down to the ice with an injury, resulting in a double-minor infraction for the young Bruins defender.

    Washington capitalized on the ensuing power play as Backstrom dished a pass to Evgeny Kuznetsov behind the net for the setup to Oshie (16) for a one-timer over Rask’s glove on the short side– tying the game, 2-2, in the process.

    Kuznetsov (17) and Backstrom (33) had the assists on Oshie’s second goal of the afternoon– and a power-play goal at that– at 3:48 of the second period.

    About a minute later, Anthony Mantha (15) scored on a catch and release shot past Rask’s stick side while the Caps had a net front presence to screen the Bruins goaltender.

    Orlov (8) and Eller (14) had the assists on Mantha’s power-play goal as the Capitals took the lead for the first time Sunday afternoon, 3-2, at 4:54.

    The Bruins didn’t take long to respond, however, as Marchand (22) was fed a pass from David Pastrnak and beat Vanecek with a backhand shot to tie the game, 3-3, at 6:33.

    Pastrnak (19) and Bergeron (22) had the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the game.

    Midway through the period, Hathaway was assessed a holding minor at 13:55 and the B’s went on the power play as a result. Boston did not score on the resulting power play, however.

    The Bruins caught the Capitals in the vulnerable minute after a skater advantage, though, as Krejci (5) received a pass and held the puck long enough for Orlov to dive and slide away before sending a quick shot over Vanecek’s glove side.

    Smith (17) and Taylor Hall (18) notched the assists on Krejci’s second goal of the afternoon and the Bruins led, 4-3, at 16:02 of the second period.

    About a minute later, Bergeron (18) had his second goal of the game on a one-timer from Pastrnak to give Boston another two-goal lead, 5-3, at 17:45.

    Pastrnak (20) and Marchand (31) had the assists on the Bergeron’s goal, which marked the 21,000th goal in franchise history.

    Late in the period, Rask had a broken stick and was playing with about half of a paddle and blade (goaltenders are allowed to play with a broken stick, for the record), which led to Reilly hooking Oshie to prevent Washington from establishing an attacking zone presence.

    In the process, Reilly received a hooking minor and presented the Caps with a power play at 19:47 that would carry over into the final frame of regulation.

    Through 40 minutes of play on Sunday, the Bruins led the Capitals, 5-3, on the scoreboard, despite trailing, 25-20, in shots on goal, including an, 11-10, advantage for Washington in the second period alone.

    The Caps held the advantage in hits (25-21), while the B’s led in takeaways (7-6) and faceoff win% (62-39).

    Both teams had six blocked shots and two giveaways each, while the Capitals were 2/5 and the Bruins were 0/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Tom Wilson caught Sean Kuraly while he was falling with a late hit that left Kuraly stunned and slow to get off the ice. There was no penalty on the play, similar to when Wilson knocked Carlo out of contention with a blindside hit on March 5th.

    Carlo has missed 20 games since, despite appearing in one game on April 1st against the Pittsburgh Penguins in a, 4-1, loss.

    Tinordi was the only player heading to the penalty box for roughing Wilson in response to his hit on Kuraly on Saturday. Washington went on the power play at 5:52 of the third period, but did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Shortly thereafter, Hathaway boarded Tinordi– cutting the Bruins defender open in the process as his visor smacked the boards first.

    Initially, there was no call, nor a whistle for Tinordi while he bled out on the ice.

    Divine intervention from the NHL’s office in Toronto, however, delivered a five-minute major penalty for boarding, as well as a match penalty for Hathaway– ending the Capitals forward’s afternoon early.

    Boston went on the power play at 9:21 as Daniel Sprong skated to the sin bin to serve Hathaway’s major, but the B’s couldn’t muster anything past Washington’s penalty kill and Vanecek in the extended skater advantage.

    With 2:18 remaining in the action, Capitals head coach, Peter Laviolette, pulled his netminder for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail.

    Boston worked the puck free from their own zone, whereby Pastrnak hit Marchand with a pass through the neutral zone.

    Marchand (23) looked to make a move to Bergeron for the hat trick, but settled for an empty net goal for himself at 18:16– assisted by Pastrnak (21) in the process and completing a four-point game for No. 63 in black and gold.

    The empty net goal also marked the 700th career point for Marchand– becoming the ninth player in a Bruins uniform to record at least 700 points in franchise history in the process– as the B’s led, 6-3.

    At the final horn, Boston had beaten Washington, 6-3, despite finishing the afternoon trailing in shots on goal, 33-28.

    The Bruins finished Sunday’s action leading in blocked shots (12-9) and faceoff win% (55-46), while the Capitals ended the action leading in giveaways (6-2) and hits (33-28).

    Washington finished the game 2/6 on the power play, while the B’s were 0/3 on the skater advantage.

    Despite their lack of power play success on Sunday, the Bruins extended their winning streak to four games.

    Boston also improved to 17-4-3 (9-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 14-0-2 (8-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 16-0-2 (11-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    Washington fell to 9-8-2 (4-4-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-8-1 (1-5-0 on the road) when trailing after one period and 2-9-0 (0-5-0 on the road) when losing after the second period in 2020-21.

    After going 4-1-0 in their five-game homestand, the Bruins hit the road for the next five games including three stops in Buffalo and two stops in Pittsburgh before returning home to close out the month of April on the 29th against the Sabres.

    Boston’s week ahead features stops in Buffalo on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday before heading to Pittsburgh next week.

  • Swayman earns 1st career shutout in, 3-0, B’s win

    Swayman earns 1st career shutout in, 3-0, B’s win

    Jeremy Swayman (4-1-0, 1.78 goals-against average, .939 save percentage in five games played) stopped all 25 shots that he faced en route to his first career National Hockey League shutout in Friday night’s, 3-0, win for the Boston Bruins against the New York Islanders at TD Garden.

    All three Bruins acquired ahead of Monday’s trade deadline recorded a point in the effort, while Islanders netminder, Ilya Sorokin (11-4-1, 2.16 goals-against average, .916 save percentage in 16 games played), made 25 saves on 27 shots against in the loss.

    Boston improved to 24-12-6 (54 points) overall and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while New York fell to 27-13-4 (58 points) and remained in 2nd place in the division.

    The B’s also improved to 2-3-2 against the Isles this season.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), Kevan Miller (undisclosed) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Friday.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes to his lineup, with the exception of starting Swayman and scratching Tuukka Rask after Boston recalled Dan Vladar from the Providence Bruins (AHL) to serve as Swayman’s backup on the second night of back-to-back games for the B’s.

    Rask is expected to go back into the net on Sunday.

    The long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and/or injured players included Frederic, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Grzelcyk, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Jarred Tinordi and Miller.

    Zach Senyshyn and Jack Ahcan were sent to Providence (AHL) on Friday.

    Early in the opening frame, Mathew Barzal caught David Krejci with a high stick and was assessed a minor infraction as a result at 6:59 of the first period.

    The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing power play, however.

    Late in the period, Sean Kuraly slashed Islanders defender, Noah Dobson, and cut a rut to the sin bin, but New York could not muster anything past Swayman on the resulting skater advantage at 15:28.

    In the dying seconds of the first period, Mike Reilly kept the puck in the attacking zone, whereby Patrice Bergeron worked it to Reilly as the B’s defender pinched deep along the boards to about the goal line.

    Reilly then threw a quick pass to David Pastrnak (17) for the one-timer in the slot past Sorokin to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 19:57.

    For the first time in eight games, Pastrnak scored a goal, while Reilly (21) and Bergeron (21) had the assists on the game’s first tally.

    Entering the first intermission, the B’s led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Islanders, 10-8, in shots on goal. New York also led in blocked shots (4-3), giveaways (3-2) and hits (15-9), while Boston led in takeaways (5-2) and faceoff win percentage (57-44).

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

    Taylor Hall (4) redirected a pass from Krejci through Sorokin’s five-hole 47 seconds into the second period to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

    Krejci (23) and Steven Kampfer (1) had the assists on Hall’s goal and the B’s led, 2-0.

    Midway through the middle frame, Jordan Eberle elbowed Charlie McAvoy, yielding a power play to the Bruins at 11:09.

    Shortly after making the kill, the Islanders went on the power play as Nick Ritchie cut a rut to the box at 13:24 of the second period for catching Eberle with a high stick.

    After New York couldn’t score on the power play, Boston went back on the advantage when Matt Martin tripped McAvoy at 15:45, but the Bruins couldn’t score on the ensuing power play.

    Finally, Kuraly sent the puck over the glass for an automatic delay of game penalty at 19:07, but the Islanders weren’t able to score on the power play, despite their advantage carrying over into the third period.

    Boston led New York in shots on goal, 20-16, including a, 12-6, advantage in the second period alone.

    Brad Marchand kicked things off in the final frame with a slashing minor against Oliver Wahlstrom 3:10 into the first period, but the Islanders weren’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Midway through the third period, Kuraly boarded Dobson at 9:55, but once more New York wasn’t able to capitalize on the skater advantage.

    Isles head coach, Barry Trotz, pulled Sorokin for an extra attacker with 1:46 remaining in the game, but it was to no avail as Curtis Lazar (6) pocketed an empty net goal on an individual effort at 18:48.

    At the final horn, the Bruins had beaten the Islanders, 3-o, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 28-25, despite trailing New York in shots on goal in the third period alone, 9-8.

    The Isles wrapped up Friday’s effort leading in blocked shots (11-9), giveaways (12-3), hits (32-26) and faceoff win% (51-49).

    New York went 0/5 on the power play, while Boston went 0/3 on Friday.

    The B’s improved to 16-4-3 (8-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, 13-0-2 (7-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 15-0-2 (10-0-2 at home) when leading after the second period this season.

    The Islanders fell to 9-12-2 (3-10-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-7-2 (1-7-2 on the road) when trailing after one period and 3-11-1 (3-9-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods in 2020-21.

    The Bruins close out their five-game homestand (2-1-0) against the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon before hitting the road for the next five games, including three games in Buffalo and two in Pittsburgh.

  • Rask reaches 300 in, 4-1, win over Islanders

    Rask reaches 300 in, 4-1, win over Islanders

    Tuukka Rask is the first Boston Bruins goaltender in franchise history to reach 300 wins with the franchise thanks to Brad Marchand’s pair of goals in Boston’s, 4-1, win over the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday.

    Craig Smith and Taylor Hall each had a goal for the Bruins in the action as Hall notched his first with Boston early in the third period in just his second game with the B’s since being traded by the Buffalo Sabres ahead of Monday’s trade deadline.

    Newcomer, Mike Reilly, had an assist in the 60-minute effort, as well, marking his first point with the Bruins in his second game since being acquired from the Ottawa Senators on April 11th.

    Travis Zajac had the only goal for the Islanders in what was his fourth game with the club since New York acquired him and teammate Kyle Palmieri from the New Jersey Devils on April 7th.

    Rask (9-4-2, 2.32 goals-against average, .910 save percentage in 16 games played) made 22 saves on 23 shots against for a .957 save percentage in the win for Boston.

    It was also his first start since March 25th, when he left the game after one period against New York due to an injury.

    Isles netminder, Semyon Varlamov (16-9-3, 2.24 goals-against average, .922 save percentage in 29 games played) stopped 41 out of 44 shots faced for a .932 save percentage in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 23-12-6 (52 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Islanders fell to 27-12-4 (58 points) overall and stuck in 2nd place in the division.

    The B’s also improved to 1-3-2 against New York this season.

    Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID protocol related illness), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), Kevan Miller (undisclosed) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Thursday.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made no changes among his forwards, but with Miller out to do something unrelated to his recent knee injury, Jakub Zboril and Steven Kampfer were re-inserted in the lineup, while Miller and Jarred Tinordi came out.

    Jeremy Lauzon and Charlie McAvoy retained their status on the first defensive pairing, while Reilly and Connor Clifton filled out the top-four defender roles.

    Zboril and Kampfer were given third pairing minutes.

    Jeremy Swayman served as Rask’s backup on Thursday and will get the start against the Islanders on Friday, Cassidy informed reporters after Boston’s, 4-1, win Thursday night.

    Meanwhile, Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Jack Ahcan, Callum Booth, Anton Blidh, Karson Kuhlman, Tinordi and Miller were all on the long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and/or players out due to injury for the Bruins on Thursday.

    Dan Vladar was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday with Rask returning to health.

    Boston got off to a quick start thanks to Patrice Bergeron’s shot that deflected off of Marchand’s back and appeared to hit the crossbar before play continued.

    After a quick stoppage, it was determined, in fact, that the puck had crossed the goal line, rendering Marchand (20) with a goal and the Bruins with a, 1-0, lead at 1:59 of the first period.

    Bergeron (20) and Reilly (20) tallied the assists on the goal.

    The goal marked Marchand’s eighth consecutive season with at least 20 goals and 10 out of the last 11 seasons that Marchand has reached the 20-goal plateau. He is just the fourth Bruin in franchise history to record 10 or more 20-goal seasons with the club.

    Moments later, Scott Mayfield cross checked David Pastrnak and was sent to the penalty box as a result at 5:07, presenting Boston with their first power play of the game in the process.

    The Bruins, however, were not able to convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    Almost midway through the opening frame, Josh Bailey tripped Zboril and presented the B’s with another power play at 8:59, but New York’s penalty kill stood tall and killed off Bailey’s minor.

    Shortly thereafter, Charlie Coyle tripped Brock Nelson and cut a rut to the sin bin at 13:45.

    The Islanders weren’t on the power play for long as Nelson caught Reilly with a high stick and drew blood, yielding a four-minute double minor infraction at 14:49.

    The two teams had 56 seconds of 4-on-4 action before the Bruins had an extended power play.

    Late in the power play, Boston’s second unit got to work generating shot attempt after shot attempt until Smith (10) rocketed a one-timer from the bumper past Varlamov low on the blocker side to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

    David Krejci (22) and McAvoy (19) had the assists on Smith’s power-play goal and Boston led, 2-0, at 17:55 of the first period.

    Heading into the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 23-7, in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in faceoff win percentage (55-45), while the Islanders held the advantage in blocked shots (8-2) and hits (10-9). Both teams had two takeaways and three giveaways aside after one period.

    New York was 0/1 and Boston was 1/4 on the power play entering the middle frame.

    Zajac (8) cut Boston’s lead in half when Marchand turned the puck over in his own zone, leading Zajac to score on the short side while the Islanders forward stood wide open due to a lack of defensive coverage.

    Mathew Barzal (25) and Jordan Eberle (14) notched the assists on Zajac’s goal and the Isles trailed Boston, 2-1, at 2:56 of the second period.

    Almost midway through the middle period, Krejci hooked Nick Leddy and presented the Islanders with another power play at 9:54, but New York couldn’t capitalize on the resulting skater advantage.

    Late in the period Boston got another crack at the power play thanks to Cal Clutterbuck’s high sticking minor at 15:25, but the B’s didn’t convert on the advantage.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Thursday, Boston led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 35-18, in shots on goal, including a, 12-11, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins held the advantage in takeaways (6-5), while the Islanders led in blocked shots (17-6), giveaways (9-7), hits (17-15) and faceoff win% (51-49) after two periods.

    New York was 0/2 and Boston was 1/5 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Hall (3) kicked off the third period with a breakaway goal sent through Varlamov’s five-hole to give Boston a, 3-1, lead, while Pastrnak (17) had the only assist on Hall’s first goal as a Bruin at 1:52 of the third period.

    With 2:32 remaining in regulation, Islanders head coach, Barry Trotz, pulled Varlamov for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as Pastrnak kept the rubber biscuit in the attacking zone and battled in a scrum to retain possession before working the puck to Marchand (21) for an empty net goal.

    Pastrnak (18) had the only assist on Marchand’s second goal of the game at 18:24.

    Less than a minute later, Zboril took a holding penalty at 18:41, but the Islanders couldn’t convert on the skater advantage as the power play came to an end with the sound of the final horn.

    Boston had won, 4-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 45-23, including a, 10-5, advantage in the third period alone.

    The Islanders finished the night leading in blocked shots (19-7), giveaways (13-11) and hits (34-23).

    Both teams finished even in faceoff win%, 50-50, while New York went 0/3 on the skater advantage and Boston finished the night 1/5 on the power play.

    Rask– in his 552nd career game, all with Boston– tied Pekka Rinne for the fifth fastest goaltender in NHL history to reach the 300-win plateau, behind Jacques Plante (521 games), Andy Moog (543), Marc-Andre Fleury (547) and Martin Brodeur (548).

    The Bruins improved to 15-4-3 (7-0-2) when scoring the game’s first goal, 12-0-2 (6-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 14-0-2 (9-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    The Islanders dropped to 9-11-2 (3-9-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-6-2 (1-6-2 on the road) when trailing after one period and 3-10-1 (3-8-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    Boston faces New York again on Friday before closing out their five-game homestand (2-1-0) against the Washington Capitals on Sunday afternoon.

  • Capitals rout Bruins, 8-1, B’s make trades after game

    Capitals rout Bruins, 8-1, B’s make trades after game

    The Washington Capitals handed the Boston Bruins an, 8-1, loss at TD Garden in what was Boston’s worst loss of the season on Sunday.

    Three Caps forwards each had a pair of goals in the win, while Vitek Vanecek (17-7-3, 2.60 goals-against average, .913 save percentage in 29 games played) made 34 saves on 35 shots against for Washington.

    Boston goaltender, Dan Vladar (3-2-0, 3.40 goals-against average, .886 save percentage in five games played) stopped 25 out of 33 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins fell to 21-12-6 (48 points) on the season and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Capitals improved to 27-11-4 (58 points) overall and remained in control of the division.

    The B’s are now 3-1-2 against Washington this season and were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body), Trent Frederic (non-COVID related illness), Matt Grzelcyk (upper body), Kevan Miller (precautionary reasons) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Sunday.

    Bruce Cassidy made no adjustments to his forward lines, but had to jumbled his defensive pairings out of necessity with over half of his regular blue liners out of the lineup due to injury.

    Jeremy Lauzon was paired with Connor Clifton, while Jakub Zboril and Steven Kampfer remained together on the second pairing.

    Meanwhile, Jarred Tinordi entered the lineup on the third pairing with Jack Ahcan.

    Anders Bjork, Frederic, Zach Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Grzelcyk, Callum Booth, McAvoy and Miller made up Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and players out of the lineup due to injury on Sunday.

    Four seconds after puck drop, Chris Wagner and Brenden Dillon dropped their gloves and exchanged fisticuffs, yielding fighting majors in what was Boston’s 10th fight of the season and first since Nick Ritchie fought Garnet Hathaway in the B’s, 4-2, win in Washington on April 8th.

    23 seconds later, Evgeny Kuznetsov slashed Ritchie and presented the Bruins with the game’s first power play 27 seconds into the first period.

    Those were about the only positives of the night for Boston.

    Washington’s penalty kill dismantled Kuznetsov’s minor and the Capitals got their first taste of a skater advantage at 5:49, when Sean Kuraly interfered with John Carlson away from the puck.

    Late on the ensuing power play, T.J. Oshie (13) one-timed a shot from the bumper past Vladar on the short side for his ninth power-play goal of the season.

    Nicklas Backstrom (28) and Kuznetsov (14) tallied the assists on Oshie’s goal and the Capitals jumped out to a, 1-0, lead at 7:33 of the first period.

    16 seconds later, Lars Eller (6) chased a Washington chip shot clearing attempt, blew past Boston’s defense and beat Vladar over the glove on the short side to give the Capitals a two-goal lead at 7:49.

    Carl Hagelin (7) and Hathaway (10) tallied the assists on Eller’s first goal of the game.

    Less than two minutes later, Conor Sheary (9) scored on a fast break that led to a de facto 2-on-1 in the attacking zone while Kampfer was out of position encroaching on Lauzon’s responsibilities in the defensive zone for Boston.

    Dmitry Orlov (6) and Daniel Sprong (6) were credited with the assists on Sheary’s first goal of the night and the Capitals led, 3-0, at 9:42 of the first period.

    Washington notched three goals in a span of 2:09 as the offensive onslaught was only just beginning for the rest of the night.

    Sprong slashed Lauzon at 13:34, but the Bruins could not capitalize on the resulting power play.

    Heading into the first intermission, the Caps led, 3-0, on the scoreboard and, 9-7, in shots on goal.

    Washington also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-1) and takeaways (4-0), while Boston led in giveaways (4-3), hits (7-3) and faceoff win percentage (53-47) after 20 minutes of action on Sunday.

    The Caps were 1/1 and the B’s were 0/2 on the power play entering the middle frame.

    Craig Smith held Sheary and cut a rut to the penalty box as a result to kickoff the second period with another power play for Washington at 2:57.

    Once again, late in ensuing the skater advantage, the Capitals tallied another power-play goal as Sheary (10) scored his second goal of the night on a rebound that the University of Massachusetts product buried top-shelf while the Bruins netminder outstretched his limbs in all directions.

    Tom Wilson (15) and Jakub Vrana (14) had the assists as the Capitals extended their lead, 4-0, at 4:41 of the second period.

    Less than a minute later, Justin Schultz was sent to the sin bin for hooking David Pastrnak at 5:34, but Boston’s power play was powerless.

    Midway through the middle period, Pastrnak hooked Sheary and presented the Caps with another power play at 13:26, but for the first time of the night, Boston’s penalty kill did not allow a power-play goal against.

    Washington scored in the vulnerable minute after special teams play, however, as Nic Dowd received a gift thanks to David Krejci’s attacking zone faceoff win going through the uprights as neither Bruins defender got a stick on the puck.

    Hagelin setup Dowd (8) for a floater over Vladar’s glove side on a breakout off of the B’s turnover.

    Washington led, 5-0, while Hagelin (8) had the only assist on Dowd’s goal at 16:03.

    30 seconds later, Lauzon caught Wilson with a high-stick at 16:33.

    Late in the resulting power play (stop if you’ve heard this one before), Wilson (10) redirected a shot pass behind the Bruins goaltender to give the Caps another power-play goal and a, 6-0, lead on the scoreboard.

    Alex Ovechkin (16) and Schultz (19) tallied the assists on Wilson’s goal at 18:24 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of play, Washington led, 6-0, on the scoreboard, despite Boston outshooting the Capitals, 16-14, in the second period alone. The two clubs each had 23 total shots on goal after two periods.

    The Bruins held the advantage in hits (15-9) and faceoff win% (60-40), while the Caps led in blocked shots (6-4) and takeaways (10-4).

    Both teams had four giveaways aside as Washington was 3/4 on the power play and the B’s were 0/3 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame.

    Backstrom hooked Charlie Coyle and the Bruins went on the power play at 2:01 of the third period.

    About a minute into the ensuing skater advantage, Smith (8) wrapped a rebound around Vanecek and into the net to put Boston on the scoreboard with a power-play goal.

    Jake DeBrusk (5) and Coyle (9) had the assists on Smith’s goal as the Bruins trailed, 6-1, at 3:00 of the third period.

    Moments later, Coyle slashed Eller and was sent to the box at 7:49.

    Washington did not score on the resulting power play.

    Oshie (14) added his second goal of the night on a home run that he tipped in– batting the puck out of the air– over Vladar’s glove side shoulder to make it, 7-1, Washington at 10:13.

    Backstrom (29) had the only assist on the goal.

    A few minutes later, Eller (7) pocketed his second goal of the night, while Oshie (19) recorded his third point of the game with the primary assist. Dillon (13) was credited with the secondary assist as the Caps led, 8-1, at 13:14.

    Washington’s eighth goal marked the most goals allowed by Boston this season, surpassing that of their, 7-2, loss on Long Island against the New York Islanders on Feb. 25th.

    Late in the period, Kampfer hooked Sheary, but the Capitals didn’t score on the resulting power play at 18:32.

    At the final horn, Washington had sealed the deal on an, 8-1, victory, despite finishing the night trailing in shots on goal, 35-33, including a, 12-10, advantage for Boston in the third period alone.

    The B’s finished Sunday night’s action leading in hits (25-13) and faceoff win% (54-46), while the Caps headed out of town with the advantage in blocked shots (9-5) and giveaways (9-5).

    Washington finished the night 3/6 on the power play, while Boston went 1/4 on the skater advantage.

    The Bruins fell to 7-8-3 (4-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 5-8-2 (3-3-0 at home) when trailing after the first period and 4-7-1 (3-5-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    Meanwhile, the Capitals improved to 18-5-2 (10-3-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal, 12-3-3 (7-1-2 on the road) when leading after the first period and 21-2-0 (12-1-0 on the road) when leading after two periods in 2020-21.

    Boston continues their five-game homestand (0-1-0) with a matchup against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday before taking on the New York Islanders on Thursday and Friday prior to facing Washington again next Sunday (April 18th).

    In the meantime, the 2021 trade deadline is Monday at 3 p.m. ET and the Bruins have already made a pair of moves after their, 8-1, loss to the Capitals on Sunday.

    The Bruins acquired defender, Mike Reilly, from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a 2022 3rd round pick and have reportedly traded Bjork and a 2nd round pick to the Sabres for forwards, Taylor Hall and Curtis Lazar.

    More information to come here on Down the Frozen River as trades are announced on Monday.

  • Bergeron’s hat trick in Swayman’s 40-save NHL debut lead Bruins over Flyers, 4-2

    Bergeron’s hat trick in Swayman’s 40-save NHL debut lead Bruins over Flyers, 4-2

    Jeremy Swayman (1-0-0, 2.01 goals-against average, .952 save percentage in one game played) made 40 saves on 42 shots against in his National Hockey League debut, while Patrice Bergeron surpassed 900 career points with a hat trick in a, 4-2, victory for the Boston Bruins against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday.

    Swayman went 8-1-0 in nine games played for the Providence Bruins (AHL) this season with a 1.89 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage in that span prior to being called up on Monday due to Boston’s starting and backup goaltenders being out of the lineup.

    He made his NHL debut nine games after Dan Vladar made his NHL debut in net for Boston in a, 2-1, win at Pittsburgh on March 16th.

    The last time the Bruins had two rookie goaltenders play at least one game was in 2016-17, when Malcolm Subban and Zane McIntyre suited up in one and eight games, respectively, that season.

    The last two Bruins goalies to make their NHL debut in the same season was back in 2005-06, when Hannu Toivonen and Jordan Sigalet did just that.

    Bergeron, in the meantime, became the fourth Bruin in franchise history to record at least 900 points with the club, joining Ray Bourque (1,506 points with Boston), Johnny Bucyk (1,339) and Phil Esposito (1,012) as the only players to do so in the spoked-B.

    Philadelphia goaltender, Carter Hart (8-10-4, 3.88 goals-against average, .871 save percentage in 24 games played) stopped 22 out of 25 shots faced for an .880 save percentage in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 20-10-6 (46 points) overall and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual East Division, while separating themselves a bit from the now 18-15-5 Flyers (41 points) who remain 5th in the division.

    Boston also improved to 6-0-1 against Philadelphia this season.

    The Bruins were without Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Charlie McAvoy (upper body) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Tuesday.

    Meanwhile, Kevan Miller returned after missing his 20th game this season due to a nagging lower body injury that he re-aggravated on Feb. 18th against the New Jersey Devils.

    With Miller back and McAvoy out of the lineup as a late scratch due to injury, B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, jumbled his lineup a bit.

    Karson Kuhlman moved up to the right side of the third line, while Chris Wagner rejoined the lineup in his usual role as the fourth line right wing as Zach Senyshyn served as a healthy scratch.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk suited up alongside Miller on the first pairing, while Jeremy Lauzon and Connor Clifton rounded out the top-four.

    Jakub Zboril was partnered with Steven Kampfer on the third defensive pairing.

    With Rask and Halak out, Vladar served as Swayman’s backup goaltender, while Anders Bjork, Senyshyn, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, McAvoy, Anton Blidh and Jarred Tinordi made up Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and injured players.

    Almost midway through the opening frame, Bergeron (13) corralled a rebound and wrapped the puck around Hart’s outstretched leg to give the Bruins the game’s first goal.

    Craig Smith (11) and Brad Marchand (25) tallied the assists and the B’s led, 1-0, at 7:09 of the first period.

    With his first goal of the night, Bergeron reached the 900-point plateau in his career. By the end of the night, he had 367-535–902 totals in 1,125 career games (all with Boston).

    Midway through the first period, Grzelcyk was penalized for hooking James van Riemsdyk, but Philly wasn’t able to muster anything on their first power play of the night at 10:15.

    Moments later, the Bruins went on the power play after Nicolas Aube-Kubel was called for holding against David Krejci at 16:38.

    The Bruins made quick work of their first skater advantage of the game, working the puck around the zone from Marchand to David Pastrnak to Bergeron (14) for one of his standard catch and release power-play goals from the bumper– giving Boston a two-goal lead in the process.

    Pastrnak (16) and Marchand (26) had the assists on Bergeron’s second goal of the night at 17:31 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, Boston led, 2-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Philadelphia, 13-11, in shots on goal.

    The B’s held the advantage in blocked shots (7-5) and hits (11-7), while Philly led in takeaways (2-0), giveaways (4-3) and faceoff win percentage (52-48) after one period of play.

    The Flyers were 0/1 and the Bruins were 1/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Jakub Voracek (6) redirected a shot pass from Travis Konecny past Swayman from the edge of the crease to cut Boston’s lead in half and put Philadelphia on the scoreboard, 2-1.

    Konecny (17) had the only assist in the goal at 1:33 of the second period.

    Philly tied things up, 2-2, with a pair of goals in a span of 2:30 thanks to Shayne Gostisbehere’s (6) catch and release shot over Swayman at 4:03.

    Voracek (25) and Ivan Provorov (15) tallied the assists on Gostisbehere’s goal.

    Midway through the middle frame, Trent Frederic cut a rut to the penalty box for roughing at 11:14, but the Flyers weren’t able to take advantage of the ensuing skater advantage.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Tuesday night, the Bruins and Flyers were tied, 2-2, despite Philadelphia outshooting Boston, 38-18, in shots on goal, including a, 25-7, advantage in the second period alone.

    Philly also held the advantage in giveaways (9-5) and faceoff win% (57-44), while the B’s led in hits (17-15) after two periods.

    Both teams had 14 blocked shots and four takeaways each, while Philadelphia was 0/2 and Boston was 1/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Miller tripped Nolan Patrick at 7:25 of the third period and presented the Flyers with another power play.

    This time, however, Boston’s penalty kill turned the tables on Philadelphia when Lauzon sprung out of his own zone with the puck, generated a 2-on-1 in the attacking zone and sent a pass to Marchand (18) for the extra drag before sliding the puck through Hart’s five-hole.

    It was the sixth shorthanded goal for the Bruins this season and the 29th of Marchand’s career, while Lauzon (4) and Clifton (5) tabbed the assists as Boston pulled ahead, 3-2, at 8:21.

    It was also Marchand’s 48th career shorthanded point, which broke a tie with Eddie Westfall and Bobby Orr for the most in Bruins history.

    About a minute later, Konecny slashed Miller, who delivered a swift cross check in return and the two players drew minor infractions at 9:59.

    The two teams skated 4-on-4 for two minutes before returning to regular even strength action.

    Moments later, Samuel Morin roughed Frederic along the wall and was sent to the sin bin at 13:12, but Boston’s power play unit was unable to convert on the skater advanatage.

    With 1:57 remaining in the game, Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, pulled Hart for an extra attacker and used his only timeout to draw up a strategy for Philadelphia to tie the game once more.

    Instead, Bergeron (15) scored an empty net goal– completing the hat trick with his third goal of the game in the process.

    Marchand (27) and Wagner (3) had the assists as the Bruins extended their lead, 4-2, at 19:37 on Bergeron’s sixth career hat trick and first since a, 7-4, victory at the New York Rangers on Oct. 27, 2019.

    Bergeron tied Adam Oates, Herb Cain, Dit Clapper, Wayne Cashman and Barry Pederson for the ninth most hat tricks while in a Bruins uniform in franchise history.

    At the final horn, Swayman made the most saves (40) by a B’s netminder in his first start since Bernie Parent had 44 saves in his NHL debut with Boston in 1965, as he and the Bruins downed the Flyers, 4-2.

    Boston finished the night with the advantage in blocked shots (19-16) and hits (31-19), though they trailed Philadelphia in shots on goal (42-26), giveaways (11-8) and faceoff win% (57-44).

    The Flyers finished Tuesday’s action 0/3 on the power play, while the Bruins went 1/2.

    Boston improved to 13-3-3 (7-3-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, as well as 10-0-2 (5-0-1 on the road) when leading after the first period and 5-4-3 (5-3-2 on the road) when tied after two periods in 2020-21.

    Philadelphia, in the meantime, fell to 6-11-2 (2-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, 8-2-1 (5-2-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 6-3-2 (2-2-2 at home) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Bruins continue their three-game road trip (1-0-0) with a stop in Washington, D.C. against the Capitals on Thursday prior to returning to Philadelphia for a matchup with the Flyers on Saturday afternoon. Boston returns home next Sunday to host the Capitals to kick off a five-game homestand on April 11th.

  • Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast Through 20 Games

    Boston Bruins 2020-21 Forecast Through 20 Games

    O.K., so I’m still behind on some things around here.

    Whether you’re new to DTFR or a long-time fan(?), you’re able to see the finished products around here and think “wow, that’s neat” and go about your day doing whatever the next thing on your mind happens to be.

    You don’t have to wake up everyday to all the shot charts, player and team forecasts, expected points total models, Photoshop files, running list of game notes, podcast notes (yes, that’ll be back soon) and more that’s related to the day-to-day DTFR operations around here or other seemingly useless bits of information that may or may not see the light of day.

    But that’s all the fun parts anyway. Hockey is my passion.

    The long, grueling, season is counteracted by moments like Nathan MacKinnon underhand tossing Conor Garland’s helmet back to him and being fined $5,000 in the process.

    https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

    Guess I’m going to have to start tracking how often that happens now.

    In addition to everything mentioned above, you might not know that I’m constantly applying to jobs, so sometimes little things like this forecast write up gets put on the back burner until there’s a minute or two between games, guest appearances on other podcasts and more job applications.

    Not trying to use anything as an excuse here, but please forgive me for being *checks notes* 15 games behind on the latest forecast, which will be irrelevant in another five games anyway, because it’ll be time to update Boston’s forecast through 40 games this season.

    I do this all by hand in Microsoft Excel, so you know I’m not a real mathematician or statistician.

    If you ask me to code something, I’ll ask you “what ‘R‘ you talking about? Get it? Did you see the pun I made there? Words, am I right?”

    15 games ago, I updated each individual Bruins player’s forecast after writing my recap about Zdeno Chara’s first game back in Boston as a member of the Washington Capitals then eventually got around to updating the corresponding chart that you’ll see below.

    Then I had to do that for whatever other teams I’ve been able to keep track of on time and I promise I’ll be writing about those forecasts… …eventually.

    Oh and apply to more jobs.

    Anyway, you probably don’t care about the life behind the screen, so let’s get to Boston’s forecast through 20 games, shall we?

    As always, remember that my degree is in communication and my minor was in sport management. I got a “C” in my Intro to Stats class back in my first semester of college, which was eight years ago this fall.

    Between then and now, I’ve worked in live sports production (TV and radio) and been unemployed, which explains why I’m constantly applying to jobs.

    First year players are impossible to predict until they’ve built up some time in the National Hockey League. Generally at least a game will suffice, but their numbers might look a little “inflated” (for the lack of a better term) until the season rolls on and their expectations fall back to Earth.

    In other words, Zach Senyshyn is now forecasted for 18 assists in this latest forecast, but that shouldn’t surprise you since he only had two assists in six career NHL games over the last two seasons.

    That will change in the 40-game update, since he’s played in at least seven more games between the time this report was originally intended to be done and the next one.

    Remember that forecast is different from pace.

    Finally, remember that there’s a lot of variables, like injuries, being a healthy scratch or on the taxi squad, other American Hockey League related or waiver related transactions, trades, sickness, COVID protocol, general superstitions, hot and cold streaks, etc. that can (whether scientifically proven or not) disrupt a player’s season.

    None of these can be accounted for in Microsoft Excel’s forecast function.

    In a perfect world, everyone plays a full season. Every player has a chance to live up to expectations, hit and/or exceed their mark or miss it by a little/a lot.

    Hockey is a game made up of collective actions and sheer puck luck. It’s unpredictable, which technically defeats the purpose of this (so if you’ve made it this far, give yourself a pat on the back).

    Boston Bruins Forecast Through 20 Games (36 Games Remaining)

    David Pastrnak came back from offseason surgery and looked like he hadn’t missed a step, since his scoring prowess left an immediate impact on the team and kept him forecasted as the team’s leader in goals by season’s end with 26, though Boston’s forecasted points leader has now shifted from Pastrnak to Brad Marchand.

    Marchand’s forecasted 23-31–54 totals lead Pastrnak’s 26-26–52 totals, while B’s captain, Patrice Bergeron is on track to round out the top-3 in scoring with 20-30–50 forecasted totals– good enough for the second-most assists on the roster, one behind Marchand’s 31 and three ahead of David Krejci’s forecasted 27 assists.

    It’ll be fun to see just how much things have changed in the next forecast, since Krejci’s gone off in the assist department lately and Marchand missed a couple of games due to COVID protocol, but let’s save that speculation (or hindsight) for the 40-game report, O.K.?

    On defense, Charlie McAvoy continues to lead the way with 7-29–36 forecasted totals, while Matt Grzelcyk (13 points) and Jakub Zboril (12 points) are the only other defenders expected to reach double-digit points totals.

    That’s quite an area of concern for the Bruins.

    Not so much in the “oh no, who might get taken by the Seattle Kraken in the 2021 Expansion Draft” sense, but rather, the general “oh no, this team is not as good as they were last year, but we expected that, so they still need to acquire a defender and more at the trade deadline this year” sense (especially if one of the younger blue liners like Zboril, Jeremy Lauzon or Urho Vaakanainen aren’t developing as fast or as well as Boston desires).

    Nevertheless, what might be more pressing than ever before is the question of what comes next after Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak?

    Rask (2.27-2.37 forecasted goals-against average, .914-.921 forecasted save percentage) is expected to have decent numbers this season if he can make a return to full health, while Halak (2.45-2.48 forecasted GAA, .910-.916 forecasted SV%) looks solid for a backup.

    Yet, at the time of this writing, both goaltenders are out of Boston’s lineup– Rask due to injury and Halak due to COVID protocol.

    Stay tuned for first impressions on Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman in the next forecast and what that might mean for the offseason’s plans with both Rask and Halak as pending-unrestricted free agents.

    For a look at how things might have gone for the Bruins entering the 2020-21 season, feel free to read the original forecast through zero games played.

  • Sanheim, Flyers, down Bruins, 3-2, in OT

    Sanheim, Flyers, down Bruins, 3-2, in OT

    Travis Sanheim scored the game winning goal in overtime as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins for the first time this season, 3-2, on Monday night at TD Garden.

    Brian Elliott (10-5-1, 2.92 goals-against average, .890 save percentage in 20 games played) made 27 saves on 29 shots faced in the win for Philadelphia.

    Boston goaltender, Dan Vladar (3-1-0, 2.25 goals-against average, .922 save percentage in four games played) made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the overtime loss.

    The B’s fell to 19-10-6 (44 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Philly improved to 18-14-5 (41 points)– stuck in 5th in the same division.

    The Bruins are now 5-0-1 against the Flyers this season.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip), Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Jaroslav Halak (COVID protocol) on Monday.

    Halak was placed in the league’s COVID protocol due to a positive test as revealed by Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, in a media Zoom prior to Monday night’s game against the Flyers.

    Meanwhile, Jake DeBrusk returned to the lineup for the first time since he was placed in COVID protocol on March 19th after Boston’s, 4-1, win in Buffalo on March 18th.

    He told reporters via Zoom ahead of Monday night’s action that he had some symptoms, but “nothing too major” in addition to losing his taste and smell.

    Cassidy made a few adjustments to his bottom-six forwards and defense, slotting DeBrusk in on the third line left wing with Charlie Coyle at center and Zach Senyshyn at right wing, while Sean Kuraly centered the fourth line, flanked by Trent Frederic and Karson Kuhlman.

    Matt Grzelcyk remained paired with Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Jakub Zboril suited up with Steven Kampfer and Jeremy Lauzon was partnered with Connor Clifton on the blue line.

    Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Halak, Anton Blidh, Jarred Tinordi and Miller made up Boston’s list of healthy scratches, taxi squad members and players that were already out due to injury against Philadelphia on Monday.

    Earlier that day, Jeremy Swayman was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL), while Jack Studnicka and Callum Booth were reassigned to Providence.

    Swayman suited up as Vladar’s backup goaltender Monday night while Rask and Halak were both unavailable.

    Midway through the opening frame, Travis Konecny (8) was in the right place at the right time while crashing the net to pound on a loose puck that had been deflected, taken a few wacky bounces and rebounded to Konecny for the game’s first goal.

    Claude Giroux (19) and Ivan Provorov (13) tallied the assists on Konecny’s goal and the Flyers led, 1-0, at 10:15 of the first period.

    Late in the first period, Zboril and Coyle forced a turnover in the attacking zone, whereby No. 13 in black and gold sent a quick pass across the high slot to Kuhlman (2) for the wrist shot over Elliott’s glove– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

    Coyle (6) had the only assist on Kuhlman’s goal at 17:33.

    About a couple of minutes later, Shayne Gostisbehere tripped up McAvoy and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 19:18.

    Boston’s power play would spill over into the middle frame as the Bruins weren’t able to convert on the skater advantage as the horn sounded for the first intermission.

    Though the score was tied, 1-1, the Flyers led in shots on goal, 10-7, after one period of play.

    Philadelphia also led in blocked shots (4-2), while Boston led in giveaways (4-2), hits (13-7) and faceoff win percentage (53-47). Both teams had one takeaway each after 20 minutes.

    The B’s were 0/1 on the power play, while the Flyers had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the second period.

    Patrice Bergeron (12) redirected a shot pass past Elliott from the slot to give Boston their first lead of the night, 2-1, with a power-play goal 46 seconds into the second period.

    David Pastrnak (15) and Grzelcyk (10) tallied the assists on Bergeron’s goal, which helped the Bruins captain surpass Rick Middleton for the fourth most points in franchise history.

    Bergeron has 364-535–899 totals in 1,124 career games (all with Boston), while Middleton had 402-496–898 totals with Boston from 1976-88. No. 37 in black in gold is now one point away from his 900th career point and would be the fourth Bruin in franchise history to reach at least 900 points with the club.

    Phil Esposito (1,012 points) sits third in Boston’s all time scoring list with the club ahead of Bergeron, while Ray Bourque (1,506) and Johnny Bucyk (1,339) rank first and second overall, respectively.

    Less than two minutes later, Lauzon was penalized for holding and cut a rut to the sin bin at 2:44, but Philly’s resulting power play was powerless despite Nolan Patrick’s efforts at drawing a penalty.

    The Flyers got another chance on the skater advantage when Pastrnak hooked Nicolas Aube-Kubel at 5:46 of the second period.

    Once again, however, Philadelphia failed to capitalize on the power play.

    Midway through the middle frame, Justin Braun hooked Coyle and presented the B’s with another power play at 13:20, but Boston was not successful on their second skater advantage of the night.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Monday, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing, 23-18, in shots on goal, including, 13-11, in the second period alone.

    Philadelphia held the advantage in blocked shots (7-6), while Boston led in takeaways (4-1), giveaways (7-3), hits (18-17) and faceoff win% (57-43).

    The Flyers were 0/2 on the power play, while the B’s were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Lauzon was sent to the penalty box with a holding minor at 5:21 of the third period and the Flyers went to work on the power play.

    About a minute later, Sean Couturier (11) tied the game on a shot from the faceoff dot that snuck through net front traffic and found its way over Vladar’s glove into the twine.

    Provorov (14) and Kevin Hayes (14) tallied the assists on Couturier’s power-play goal as Philadelphia evened things up, 2-2, at 6:56.

    At the horn, the Bruins and Flyers were tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard and, 28-28, in shots on goal, despite Boston outshooting Philadelphia, 10-5, in the third period alone.

    Heading into overtime, the Bruins led in blocked shots (11-9), giveaways (8-7), hits (30-25) and faceoff win% (55-45), while both teams had five takeaways aside.

    As there were no penalties called in the extra frame, Philly finished 1/3 on the skater advantage, while Boston went 1/2 on the power play on Monday.

    Flyers head coach, Alain Vigneault, started Couturier, Konecny and Provorov in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Bergeron, Brad Marchand and McAvoy.

    After a few quick line changes and end-to-end action, Sanheim blocked a shot from the point and scooped up the loose puck– generating speed and breaking past Bergeron while the B’s captain cut a rut in the ice and fell.

    Sanheim (2) walked in all alone and scored on an unassisted effort, giving Philadelphia the, 3-2, victory at 3:08 of the overtime period.

    At the final horn, the Flyers had won and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 32-29, including a, 4-1, advantage in overtime alone, despite trailing Boston in blocked shots (12-10), giveaways (8-7), hits (30-26) and faceoff win% (56-44).

    The Bruins fell to 3-4 in overtime this season (6-6 past regulation), while the Flyers improved to 5-2 in overtime and 6-7 overall after 60 minutes.

    Boston also dropped to 7-7-3 (4-5-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21, while Philadelphia improved to 12-4-3 (6-2-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

    The B’s are now 5-4-2 (2-3-2 at home) when tied after the first period and 11-0-2 (7-0-2 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    Philly, in the meantime, is now 5-3-2 (4-2-1 on the road) when tied after one period and 4-12-1 (3-6-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins wrapped up their seven-game homestand (3-2-2) and will begin a three-game road trip in Philadelphia on Tuesday before swinging through Washington, D.C. on Thursday and Philadelphia again on Saturday. Boston returns home next Sunday to host the Capitals to kick off a five-game homestand on April 11th.

  • DeSmith, Pens, down B’s, 4-1

    DeSmith, Pens, down B’s, 4-1

    Casey DeSmith backstopped the Pittsburgh Penguins to a, 4-1, victory over the Boston Bruins Thursday night at TD Garden in what was Pittsburgh’s first win in Boston since Nov. 24, 2014.

    DeSmith (9-3-0, 1.84 goals-against average, .933 save percentage in 14 games played) made 30 saves on 31 shots against in the win for the Penguins.

    Bruins goaltender, Dan Vladar (2-1-0, 2.05 goals-against average, .929 save percentage in three games played) turned aside 19 out of 22 shots faced in the loss.

    Pittsburgh improved to 24-11-2 (50 points) overall and remained in command of 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Boston dropped to 18-10-5 (41 points) on the season and remained in 4th place in the division.

    The Bruins also fell to 3-2-0 against the Pens this season.

    Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Tuukka Rask (upper body), John Moore (hip) and Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) on Thursday, while Sean Kuraly was removed from league protocol on Wednesday and took part in an optional morning skate on Thursday.

    Kase also took part in the optional morning skate, while DeBrusk skated on his own at Warrior Ice Arena on Thursday morning for the first time since entering COVID protocol on March 19th.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, left his lines intact from Tuesday night’s, 5-4, shootout victory over the New Jersey Devils, rendering Kuraly as a healthy scratch, along with Chris Wagner, Jack Studnicka, Steven Kampfer and Jarred Tinordi.

    Moore, Kase, Rask, DeBrusk and Miller remained out due to injury, while Callum Booth was part of Boston’s taxi squad.

    Greg McKegg, meanwhile, was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday with Jeremy Swayman, who was briefly called up to the taxi squad and reassigned.

    Brian Dumoulin delivered a cross check to David Pastrnak and presented the Bruins with the first power play of the night at 10:59 of the first period.

    Boston did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage and neither team was penalized further, nor scored a goal in the opening frame.

    Entering the first intermission, the Penguins led in shots on goal, 7-2, while the scoreboard was even at, 0-0.

    The B’s led in blocked shots (8-6), hits (12-6) and faceoff win percentage (55-45), while the Pens led in takeaways (3-1) and giveaways (3-1) after 20 minutes of play.

    Pittsburgh had yet to see any action on the power play, while Boston was 0/1 heading into the middle frame.

    The Bruins tweeted prior to puck drop on the second period that defender, Brandon Carlo, would not return to Thursday night’s game with an upper body injury.

    Carlo had missed 10 games this season with an upper body injury that he sustained on March 5th against the Washington Capitals prior to returning to the lineup in Tuesday night’s win against New Jersey.

    Jeremy Lauzon was also not on the bench to start the middle period, but returned shortly after the second period was underway after being cut by a skate late in the opening frame.

    Meanwhile, early in the period, Zach Aston-Reese (8) capitalized on a rush– redirecting a pass from Brandon Tanev past Vladar low on the glove side.

    Tanev (9) and Frederick Gaudreau (3) tallied the assists on Aston-Reese’s goal and the Penguins led, 1-0, at 2:01 of the second period.

    Midway through the period, Mike Matheson (3) went post-to-post on a wraparound break-in and gave Pittsburgh a two-goal lead.

    Anthony Angello (2) and Cody Ceci (6) had the assists on Matheson’s goal and the Pens led, 2-0, at 13:12.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Thursday night, Pittsburgh was in command, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 17-15, in shots on goal, despite Boston leading, 13-10, in shots in the second period alone.

    The Bruins held the advantage in blocked shots (14-9), hits (27-13) and faceoff win% (55-45), while the Penguins led in takeaways (10-3) and giveaways (5-3).

    Boston was still 0/1 on the power play, while Pittsburgh awaited their first taste of the skater advantage in the action.

    The Penguins went on the power play when Lauzon caught Bryan Rust without the puck and was assessed an interference minor 31 seconds into the third period.

    Though Brad Marchand and Kris Letang exchanged pleasantries about half-a-minute later, Marchand’s ensuing roughing infraction was matched by Letang’s holding minor, thereby leaving the Pens on the 5-on-4 advantage at 1:03 of the final frame.

    Pittsburgh did not score on the skater advantage.

    Matt Grzelcyk went down the tunnel after catching an errant puck off the helmet with 13:24 remaining in the action.

    Moments later, Marchand (14) scored a one-timer off of a pass that deflected off of Ceci’s stick from Patrice Bergeron through the slot.

    Bergeron (18) and Jakub Zboril (7) had the assists on Marchand’s goal and the Bruins trailed, 2-1, at 11:14 of the third period.

    Less than two minutes later– in a span of 1:53, to be exact– Jason Zucker (5) put the Penguins ahead by two-goals once again after Pastrnak’s self-pass in traffic in the neutral zone was botched and led to a turnover, yielding a one-timer for Zucker while Grzelcyk (back from his trip down the tunnel) pressured Evan Rodrigues and Vladar was caught a little too far out of the crease in effort to cut down on Rodrigues’ shooting angle.

    Instead, Pittsburgh led, 3-1, on Zucker’s goal with assists from Rodrigues (4) and Marcus Pettersson (3) at 13:07.

    With 3:09 remaining in the game, Cassidy pulled Vladar for an extra attacker.

    It wasn’t long before Jake Guentzel (15) used geometry to his advantage and angled the puck off of the boards and into the open twine from about the center red line.

    Letang (22) and Sidney Crosby (26) had the assists on Guentzel’s empty net goal and the Penguins led, 4-1, at 17:51/

    Mark Jankowski was penalized for holding at 18:44, yielding one final power play to Boston, but despite pulling their netminder once again with 1:16 remaining in the game, the Bruins fell flat.

    At the final horn, Pittsburgh had won, 4-1, despite trailing Boston in the final shot total, 31-23, including a, 16-6, advantage for the B’s in the third period alone.

    The Bruins wrapped up the night leading in blocked shots (15-12), hits (35-29) and faceoff win% (57-43), while the Penguins led in giveaways (7-5).

    Pittsburgh finished 0/1 and Boston finished 0/2 on the power play on Thursday.

    The Bruins dropped to 5-4-1 (2-3-1 at home) when tied after the first period and 4-6-1 (3-4-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    Pittsburgh improved to 6-2-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when tied after one period and 14-1-0 (4-0-0 on the road) when leading after the two periods this season.

    Boston fell to 6-7-2 (3-5-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Pens improved to 13-3-1 (5-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    The Bruins take on the Penguins once again on Saturday before wrapping up their seven-game homestand (2-2-1) next Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers before hitting the road for three games.

  • Smith tops Bruins comeback, 3-2, against Sabres

    Smith tops Bruins comeback, 3-2, against Sabres

    The Boston Bruins extended the Buffalo Sabres’ current losing streak to 17 games after Craig Smith capped a, 3-2, comeback with his game-winning goal in the third period Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.

    Dan Vladar (2-0-0, 1.51 goals-against average, .952 save percentage in two games played) turned aside 25 out of 27 shots against for a .926 save percentage in the win for the Bruins.

    Sabres goaltender, Linus Ullmark (5-5-2, 2.49 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 13 games played), returned from injury and made 33 saves on 36 shots faced for a .917 save percentage in the loss.

    Boston improved to 17-8-5 (39 points) on the season and remained in command of 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while Buffalo fell to 6-23-4 (16 points) and stuck in last place in the division.

    The B’s improved to 2-0-0 against the Sabres this season and 8-3-2 at home in 2020-21.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (hip), Tuukka Rask (upper body), Karson Kuhlman (undisclosed), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) and Brad Marchand (COVID protocol) on Saturday afternoon.

    Kase missed his 28th game this season due to an injury that he sustained on Jan. 16th in New Jersey. Though he is skating before practice, there is no timetable for his return.

    Miller and Carlo have been skating as well.

    Moore underwent a hip arthroscopy and labral repair on March 22nd in New York City and will miss the rest of the season as recovery time is expected to be five to six months.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, ruled Rask out for the weekend due to a lingering injury that was re-aggravated in Thursday night’s, 4-3, overtime loss to the New York Islanders.

    With Kuhlman awaiting results of an MRI after blocking a shot in the third period against the Islanders on Thursday night and Marchand entering COVID protocol, Zach Senyshyn returned to action for Boston for the first time since missing the last five games with an upper body injury.

    Trent Frederic suited up on the first line with Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, at center and David Pastrnak on right wing.

    Cassidy left his second line intact while Senyshyn was inserted on the right side of the third line with Anders Bjork at left wing and Charlie Coyle sporting an “A” at center in light of Marchand’s absence.

    Greg McKegg slid over to the left side of the fourth line while Jack Studnicka centered the line and Chris Wagner remained at right wing.

    On defense, Cassidy made one change, replacing Jarred Tinordi with Jeremy Lauzon on the third pairing alongside Steven Kampfer.

    Lauzon made his return to the lineup for the first time since being injured in the 2021 NHL Outdoors matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers at Lake Tahoe on Feb. 21st. He missed 13 games between his 34-second shift outdoors and Saturday afternoon.

    Jaroslav Halak served as Vladar’s backup on Saturday and is expected to get the start on Sunday against New Jersey.

    Boston’s long list of healthy scratches, injured players, COVID protocol and taxi squad members on Saturday afternoon included Carlo, Moore, Kase, Rask, Kuraly, Marchand, DeBrusk, Tinordi, Miller, Jack Ahcan and Kuhlman.

    Callum Booth was reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) from Boston’s taxi squad on Saturday.

    Connor Clifton opened the game’s action with an elbowing infraction against Sabres forward, Jeff Skinner, at 1:16 of the first period.

    Less than a minute into the ensuing power play, Buffalo capitalized on a giveaway when Vladar misplayed the puck and sent a pass right to Sam Reinhart’s tape from the trapezoid.

    Reinhart (12) cut to the front of the empty net while Vladar chased the play and scored a power-play goal to give the Sabres a, 1-0, lead at 2:01 of the first period.

    Reinhart’s goal was unassisted.

    About a couple minutes later, Brandon Montour tripped Senyshyn and presented the Bruins with their first power play of the afternoon.

    Boston did not convert on the resulting skater advantage, however.

    Late in the period, Casey Mittelstadt hooked Pastrnak at 14:59 and Pastrnak tripped Dylan Cozens at 18:54, but neither team was successful on the resulting special teams action.

    Entering the first intermission, the Sabres led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Boston in shots on goal, 13-10.

    The B’s led in blocked shots (4-2), takeaways (4-1), giveaways (4-2), hits (8-6) and faceoff win percentage (63-38).

    Buffalo was 1/2 and Boston was 0/2 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Coyle caught Skinner with a high stick midway through the second period and presented the Sabres with a power play at 7:15, but Buffalo couldn’t score on the resulting advantage.

    Moments later, Matt Grzelcyk (2) skated along the blue line in the attacking zone and fired a wrist shot from the high slot– beating Ullmark on the glove side, while Coyle screened the Sabres netminder in front of the crease.

    Pastrnak (13) and Bergeron (16) tallied the assists on Grzelcyk’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 1-1, at 11:41 of the second period.

    With the secondary assist on the goal, Bergeron pulled to within three points of tying Rick Middleton for the fourth most in a B’s uniform in franchise history. Bergeron currently has 895 career points with Boston, while Middleton had 898.

    The game wasn’t tied for long before Kyle Okposo (2) pocketed a rebound into the twine for his second goal of the season in as many games against the Bruins this season.

    Henri Jokiharju (2) and Rasmus Dahlin (11) had the assists on Okposo’s goal as the Sabres pulled ahead, 2-1, at 14:12.

    Less than a minute later, Jean-Sebastien Dea caught Coyle with a high stick and was sent to the penalty box with a minor infraction at 15:00 of the second period.

    Boston failed to convert on the ensuing power play opportunity.

    Through 40 minutes of action at TD Garden on Saturday afternoon, the Sabres led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and, 24-21, in shots on goal, including a, 14-8, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins led in takeaways (5-2), giveaways (8-3), hits (16-10) and faceoff win% (55-45), while both teams had seven blocked shots aside.

    Buffalo was 1/3 on the power play, while Boston was 0/3 on the skater advantage entering the second intermission.

    Early in the third period, Nick Ritchie (9) pocketed a loose puck from the doorstep behind Ullmark after Charlie McAvoy impressed the fans in attendance with an incredible display of skill– skating around the attacking zone prior to setting up Ritchie for the goal.

    McAvoy (17) and Grzelcyk (9) notched the assists on Ritchie’s goal as the Bruins tied the game, 2-2, at 5:22 of the final frame.

    Moments later, Montour hooked Smith and was sent to the sin bin at 9:38, but the B’s couldn’t muster anything on the resulting power play.

    Late in the period, Smith (6) buried a short pass from David Krejci in the low slot over Ullmark’s glove side to give Boston their first lead of the night, 3-2.

    Krejci (17) and Ritchie (8) tallied the assists on Smith’s goal at 16:10 of the third period as the Bruins completed the comeback and held onto the victory at the final horn after Rasmus Ristolainen picked up a goaltender interference minor at 19:35.

    Sabres interim head coach, Dom Granato, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker with 1:43 remaining, used his timeout after a stoppage with 40 seconds left and pulled his netminder again to even things up 5-on-5 while Ristolainen was in the box in the dying seconds, but Buffalo was no match for Boston in the end.

    The Bruins had won, 3-2, and finished the afternoon leading in shots on goal, 36-27, incluidng a, 15-3, advantage in the third period alone.

    Buffalo finished the game leading in blocked shots (11-9), while Boston wrapped up the afternoon leading in hits (23-15) and faceoff win% (57-44).

    Both teams finished with eight giveaways each, while the Sabres went 1/3 on the skater advantage and the B’s finished 0/5 on the power play.

    Vladar became the eighth goaltender in franchise history to win each of his first two career appearances with the Bruins, joining Rask (2007-08), Tim Thomas (2002-03), Blaine Lacher (1994-95), Mike Moffat (1981-82), John Adams (1972-73), Andre Gill (1967-68) and Frank Brimsek (1938-39) in doing so.

    Buffalo, meanwhile, suffered their 17th consecutive loss, which tied the second-most consecutive losses in National Hockey League history, joining the 1974-75 Washington Capitals and 1992-93 San Jose Sharks in trailing the 2003-04 Pittsburgh Penguins for the most consecutive losses in a row (18) in NHL history.

    The Sabres face the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Monday, March 29th and look to avoid tying the 2003-04 Penguins for the most consecutive losses.

    Cassidy told reporters after the game that Bruins assistant coach Kevin Dean was not behind the bench on Saturday due to coming in close contact with someone that tested positive for COVID-19.

    Dean will not be joining his colleagues behind the bench on Sunday, as well.

    Boston improved to 5-5-2 (2-3-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while Buffalo fell to 4-4-2 (3-4-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season in the process.

    The B’s also improved to 3-5-2 (1-1-0 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-4-1 (2-2-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Sabres dropped to 2-3-2 (2-3-1 on the road) when leading after one period and 4-1-2 (3-1-1 on the road) when leading after two periods in 2020-21.

    The Bruins welcome the New Jersey Devils on Sunday (5:30 p.m. ET puck drop) before closing out the month of March against the Devils on Tuesday. Boston begins April with a pair of home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

    Boston is 1-0-1 in their current seven-game homestand.

  • B’s return to action in, 4-3, overtime loss to Isles

    B’s return to action in, 4-3, overtime loss to Isles

    For the first time in a week, the Boston Bruins played a regular season game after COVID protocols postponed two games and shut down their facilities until Wednesday.

    Thursday night in front of roughly 2,100 fans in TD Garden, the Bruins lost, 4-3, to the New York Islanders in overtime.

    Anthony Beauvillier scored the game-winning goal 21 seconds into the extra frame, while Semyon Varlamov (14-6-3, 2.20 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 23 games played) made 29 saves on 32 shots against in the win for the Islanders.

    Bruins goaltender, Tuukka Rask (8-4-2, 2.41 goals-against average, .907 save percentage in 15 games played) made six saves on six shots faced before leaving the game after the first period due to an upper body injury.

    Jaroslav Halak (7-4-3, 2.25 goals-against average, .915 save percentage in 14 games played) stopped 17 out of 21 shots faced in the overtime loss in relief of Rask.

    Boston fell to 16-8-5 (37 points) overall and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while New York improved to 22-8-4 (48 points) and remained in command of the division lead.

    The B’s also dropped to 0-3-2 against the Isles this season.

    After Sean Kuraly was placed in COVID protocol prior to last Thursday’s game on March 18th in Buffalo, four more Bruins forwards joined the league’s COVID list prior to Wednesday night’s practice at Warrior Ice Arena.

    Kuraly and Jake DeBrusk remained in COVID protocol entering Thursday night’s matchup with the Islanders, while David Pastrnak, David Krejci and Craig Smith were cleared from COVID protocol and did not miss Thursday night’s action against New York.

    Rask returned after missing the last six games due to an injury, but left the game after the first period, while Jarred Tinordi also returned to Boston’s lineup after missing one game due to an upper body injury sustained on March 16th in Pittsburgh.

    Trent Frederic didn’t miss a beat, despite uncertainty entering Wednesday night’s practice.

    Meanwhile, Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee), Jeremy Lauzon (hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Zach Senyshyn (upper body) and John Moore (undisclosed) on Thursday.

    Urho Vaakanainen, Oskar Steen and Jeremy Swayman were reassigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Thursday, while Callum Booth was recalled to Boston’s taxi squad.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, rolled out Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Pastrnak as his usual first line with Nick Ritchie, Krejci and Smith rounding out his top-six forwards.

    Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Karson Kuhlman comprised of the third line, while Frederic suited up on the left side of Greg McKegg on the fourth line with Chris Wagner at right wing.

    On defense, Matt Grzelcyk was suited up with Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton rounded out the top-four defenders.

    Tinordi was back in his usual role on the left side of the third pairing with Steven Kampfer as his partner.

    Senyshyn, Jack Studnicka, Carlo, Moore, Kase, Kuraly, Jack Ahcan, Lauzon, Booth, DeBrusk, Dan Vladar and Miller were all members of Boston’s list of healthy scratches, injured and/or taxi squad members.

    Early in the first period, Mathew Barzal took a stick to the face and drew blood, leading the on-ice officials to think that Grzelcyk caught the Islanders forward with his stick.

    Boston braced for a four-minute penalty kill, but in accordance with the new rule to review whether or not a high stick was indeed a high stick or just an errant stick from a teammate, replay determined that Jordan Eberle had accidentally caught Barzal with his stick, thus rendering no penalty on the Bruins defender.

    In short, Eberle hit his own teammate in the face with his stick.

    Midway through the opening frame, Kuhlman (1) fired a shot from the faceoff dot to the right of the New York netminder over Varlamov’s glove on the far side to give Boston the first lead of the night, 1-0, at 11:42 of the first period.

    McAvoy (15) and Bjork (3) tallied the assists on Kuhlman’s goal– his first of the season, as well as his first in 397 days.

    Moments later, Casey Cizikas tripped Clifton and presented Boston with the first power play of the night at 15:37 of the opening frame.

    Just as the power play was about to expire, Kampfer (1) blasted a shot from outside the dot over Varlamov’s blocker side to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

    McAvoy (16) and Krejci (16) tallied the assists on Kampfer’s power-play goal as the B’s led, 2-0, at 17:35. It was also his first goal in 732 days.

    Less than a minute later, Boston went back on the skater advantage when Michael Dal Colle tripped McAvoy at 18:13.

    This time, however, New York’s penalty kill managed to kill Dal Colle’s minor infraction without any mishaps.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-6, in shots on goal.

    Boston also held the advantage in blocked shots (4-2) and faceoff win percentage (63-38), while the Islanders led in takeaways (3-1) and giveaways (4-3).

    Both teams had nine hits aside after 20 minutes of action.

    New York had yet to see any time on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage.

    The B’s tweeted that Rask would not return to the game with an upper body injury and Halak made his entrance to kick things off for the middle period.

    Scott Mayfield caught Bergeron with a high stick and drew blood– yielding a double minor infraction at 3:12 of the second period, but Boston was not able to convert on their extended power play opportunity.

    Instead, shortly after his release from the penalty box, Mayfield contributed the primary assist on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s (11) rebound goal to cut the Bruins’ lead in half, 2-1, at 7:21 of the second period.

    Mayfield (7) and Leo Komarov (3) notched the assists on Pageau’s sixth point in five games against Boston this season.

    Pageau finished Thursday’s game with a goal and two assists on the night, extending his totals to 5-3–8 in five games against the Bruins in 2020-21 so far.

    Through 40 minutes of play at TD Garden on Thursday, the Bruins maintained a, 2-1, lead on the scoreboard, as well as a, 23-18, advantage in shots on goal, including a, 13-12, advantage in the second period alone.

    New York led in blocked shots (7-6) and hits (21-16), while Boston led in takeaways (4-3) and faceoff win% (57-43).

    Both teams had five giveaways each through two periods.

    The Islanders had yet to see any action on the skater advantage, while the Bruins slumped to 1/4 on the power play.

    Early in the final frame, Josh Bailey (5) worked a give-and-go to his advantage for a blocker side goal while entering the slot to tie the game, 2-2, at 4:33 of the third period.

    Brock Nelson (7) and Nick Leddy (21) had the assists as the Isles took momentum and ran.

    Marchand provided the Islanders with their first power play of the night eight minutes into the final frame of regulation for holding against Adam Pelech.

    The Islanders did not convert on their only skater advantage of the night, however.

    Late in the period, Oliver Wahlstrom (9) pounced on a puck that bounced off of Halak and Krejci to an open spot on the doorstep– giving New York their first lead of the night, 3-2, at 17:04.

    Pageau (11) and Beauvillier (5) tallied the assists on Wahlstrom’s go-ahead goal, but the Bruins tied things back up less than a minute later when Bjork (2) sent a one-timer past Varlamov at 17:58.

    Coyle won a battle down low and wrapped behind the net before connecting on the pass to his Bruins teammate.

    Bjork’s goal knotted things up, 4-4, on the scoreboard, while Coyle (4) and Wagner (2) tallied the assists.

    Heading into the overtime period, the Bruins and Islanders were tied, 4-4, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding a, 32-25, advantage in shots on goal, including a, 9-7, advantage in the third period alone.

    New York led in blocked shots (13-9), takeaways (6-4) and hits (29-25), while the B’s led in faceoff win% (57-44).

    Both teams had seven giveaways each, while the Isles finished 0/1 and the Bruins went 1/4 on the night on the power play as no penalties were called in overtime.

    Islanders head coach, Barry Trotz, elected to start Pageau, Beauvillier and Leddy– his biggest performers of the night in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Coyle, Bjork and Grzelcyk– equally his brightest stars on a night featuring rare depth scoring from the bottom six for Boston.

    Just 21 seconds into overtime, however, the Bruins were no match for the Islanders’ talent.

    Leddy fired a shot, Halak made the initial save, but he surrendered a rebound in the crease and was slow to spot the loose puck before Beauvillier (5) crashed the net and cashed in on the game-winning goal.

    Leddy (22) and Pageau (12) had the assists as the Islanders won, 4-3, in overtime in front of Boston’s first home game with fans in attendance since the pandemic began last year.

    New York finished the night with the win, despite Boston finishing the night with the final advantage in shots on goal, 32-27.

    The Islanders wrapped up Thursday night leading in blocked shots (13-9) and hits (29-25), while the Bruins led in faceoff win% (56-44).

    Both teams finished the game with seven giveaways each as the B’s dropped to 3-3 in overtime this season (5-5 past regulation overall).

    New York improved to 2-3 in overtime and 4-4 past 60 minutes overall in 2020-21.

    The Bruins dropped to 12-3-3 (6-0-2 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, while the Isles improved to 8-7-2 (3-6-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston also fell to 9-0-2 (5-0-1 at home) when leading after the first period and 10-0-1 (6-0-1 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    New York, meanwhile, improved to 4-3-2 (1-3-2 on the road) when trailing after one period and 3-6-1 (3-5-1 on the road) when losing through two periods this season.

    Additionally, for the first time this season, the B’s lost a game when leading by two or more goals at any time in the action, falling to 9-0-1 in that department as a result.

    The Bruins host the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday afternoon in Boston before welcoming the New Jersey Devils on Sunday and next Tuesday to close out the month of March before hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins in a pair of games to kick off April.