Down the Frozen River

Tag: Detroit Red Wings

  • Why the Bruins probably shouldn’t pursue Dylan Larkin

    First of all, Dylan Larkin is good, not great.

    Now, that’s not to say he isn’t a top-six forward in the National Hockey League, but rather that he’s a first line center on the Detroit Red Wings and a very good second line center on any Stanley Cup-contending roster. 

    He’s the type of player that the Colorado Avalanche, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, Edmonton Oilers, Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights would be after on their way to their recent Stanley Cup Final appearances. 

    But there’s a clear difference between guys like Nathan MacKinnon, Nikita Kucherov, Aleksander Barkov, Connor McDavid and Larkin.

    There’s “generational talent” and then there’s “very high-skilled.”

    Larkin is more akin to Taylor Hall on the Hurricanes, for example. Both are great in their own right.

    Hall won the Hart Memorial Trophy in the 2017-18 season with the New Jersey Devils and was the 1st overall pick by the Oilers in the 2010 NHL Draft. He’s now in his first career Stanley Cup Final appearance in his 16th season in the league.

    Larkin has played 11 seasons, was drafted 15th overall by Detroit in 2014, and won gold with the U.S. men’s team in the 2026 Winter Games. He’s actually appeared in more Olympic games (six) than Stanley Cup Playoff games (five) since his NHL debut with the Red Wings in the 2015-16 season.

    Sure, Larkin would easily slide in as a first line center for the Boston Bruins, but are the Bruins that competitive of a team regardless of whether or not they were to acquire Larkin?

    Boston is not Colorado, Tampa, Florida, Edmonton, Carolina or Vegas.

    Trying to acquire Larkin means giving up components of the current roster and immediate future. It’s not as steep of an asking price as some might be touting, though others hold fast to the claim that Larkin is a franchise center.

    Larkin is a “franchise center” much in the sense that Shane Doan was the franchise player for the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes.

    Both players fall into a category of players that were loyal to a fault and played well enough to earn their rightful recognition, but never really broke out with all-time clutch performances that yielded Cup rings (in part because the teams they played for were never that competitive).

    Some might even look at David Pastrňák as being in the same position on the Bruins as Larkin is in Detroit the longer that Boston waivers in what Jeff Marek refers to as “the mushy middle.”

    Larkin is a six-time 30-goal scorer and recorded career-highs in assists (47) and points (79) in the 2022-23 season while notching a career-high 34 goals in 2025-26. He’s had 30 or more goals in the last five seasons and is pretty consistent in his offensive output with seven seasons of 63 or more points in his 11-year NHL career thus far.

    With the Bruins, there’s a chance Larkin could be viewed as a slightly more glorified David Krejčí. What Krejčí may have lacked in regular season performance from year-to-year, however, he made up for in the postseason— elevating his game to the next level.

    Acquiring Larkin runs the risk of becoming another Elias Lindholm on a roster that already has Elias Lindholm. He’s also signed for five more years through the 2030-31 season, which is the same length of time remaining on Lindholm’s contract.

    Larkin, of course, hasn’t seen action in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2016.

    There are no guarantees that Boston is prime for another playoff run in 2027.

    I’m a Red Wings fan, should I be mad about a player exercising their right that was previously negotiated in their contract?

    This isn’t the first time a player has appeared as though they’d like to play for one franchise their entire career and later altered their plans as dreams and desires ebb and flow in life.

    Dylan Larkin earned the right to negotiate a no-trade clause in his contract in accordance with what the players’ union and league itself collaborated on in the creation of the collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

    Had he pivoted after the first season of his current contract or sooner, I’d understand the annoyance of his perceived “bad faith” towards the Red Wings organization– the franchise itself, his teammates and the fans.

    But he spent the first three years of his current eight-year deal wearing Detroit’s crest with enough pride to be patient, if not begrudged, while Steve Yzerman worked to make the roster more aligned with playoff contenders.

    Ultimately, Yzerman’s best intentions in acquiring guys like Justin Faulk and David Perron approaching this year’s trade deadline weren’t enough to the satisfaction of Larkin.

    Despite spending most of the season in playoff position and having an ascribed leadership role as captain, Larkin and the Red Wings collapsed and missed the postseason yet again.

    Who is in the running in the Larkin sweepstakes?

    Helene St. James was first to report that Larkin submitted a list of a few teams he’d be willing to waive his no-movement clause for in the Detroit Free Press.

    St. James alluded to the usual candidates like the Florida Panthers, Minnesota Wild and Vegas Golden Knights, while The Athletic‘s, Pierre LeBrun, simply confirmed that Yzerman received a “short list” of teams Larkin is willing to be traded to.

    LeBrun has since noted that there may be more than a few teams at play after Yzerman asked Larkin’s agent, Pat Brisson, to expand their original list.

    This means teams like the Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning and Utah Mammoth could try to make an effort to persuade Larkin by presenting Yzerman with an offer he (Yzerman in this case) can’t refuse.

    Larkin holds leverage over where he may ultimately end up before the 2027-28 season, since he has a full no-movement clause in the first five seasons of his current contract.

    By the 2028-29 season, however, Larkin will have to submit a list of 10 teams he would be willing to be traded to as the final three years of his current contract carries a modified no-trade clause.

    Steve Yzerman’s been through this before, right?

    Correct. He was general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning when Martin St. Louis asked to be traded for a chance at a second Cup ring as a player in 2014.

    Yzerman swapped captains with the New York Rangers, acquiring Ryan Callahan as part of a package in the St. Louis-Callahan trade.

    There were conditions attached to the draft picks involved, but the Bolts ultimately sent St. Louis to the Rangers with a 2015 2nd round pick in exchange for Callahan, a 2014 1st round pick, a 2015 1st round pick and a 2015 7th round pick.

    It’s fun to note that all of the draft picks involved in the St. Louis-Callahan trade were later flipped in other trades.

    Both the 2014 and 2015 1st round picks ended up being 28th overall in each draft and property of the New York Islanders, who drafted Joshua Ho-Sang and Anthony Beauvillier in 2014 and 2015, respectively.

    The 2015 2nd round pick was later traded to the Calgary Flames, who selected Oliver Kylington 60th overall. Meanwhile, the 2015 7th round pick ultimately ended up in Edmonton, where the Oilers drafted Ziyat Paigin 209th overall.

    St. Louis and the Rangers ended up losing in the 2014 Stanley Cup Final in five games against the Los Angeles Kings, while Callahan and the Lightning later eliminated the Rangers with a, 2-0, win on the road in Game 7 of the 2015 Eastern Conference Final.

    Though Tampa didn’t win the Cup while Yzerman was general manager, things worked out pretty well shortly afterwards in 2020 and 2021.

    Anyway, Yzerman is destined to trade yet another captain as a result of Larkin’s trade request.

    Yzerman’s main goal is maximizing the return on the deal and has no prerogative to rush things similar to how Joe Sakic handled the Matt Duchene trade almost a decade ago with the Colorado Avalanche after Duchene asked out.

    O.K., but do the Bruins have a shot?

    There’s no doubt that Don Sweeney will be one of 31 general managers who will do their “due diligence” in exploring the market for Dylan Larkin.

    But let’s keep in mind what some other teams have to offer.

    The Minnesota Wild could help Detroit’s goaltending woes by including Jesper Wallstedt in a potential Larkin trade. The Dallas Stars– should negotiations sour with Jason Robertson– could trade Robertson to the Red Wings as part of a Larkin trade.

    Both of those teams are Cup-contenders for the foreseeable future and can risk moving a young player in their burgeoning prime for Larkin to address a need down the middle and increase their depth for a Cup run.

    The Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning have a decent stockpile of current and emerging surefire NHL talent to attract Yzerman.

    The Boston Bruins, meanwhile, do not.

    It’d be unwise to trade guys like James Hagens or Dean Letourneau for Larkin when the whole point of the retool is to get younger, faster and more skilled.

    How did it work for the last guy?

    Dylan Larkin is just the latest on the list of players that spent a decent amount of time with one organization only to be left burning bridges on their way out as a result of organizational ineptitude, lack of playoff success or lack of support for the player on or off the ice.

    Jack Eichel was drafted 2nd overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2015, and amassed 139-216–355 totals in 375 career games with Buffalo from 2015-21. Then the Sabres wouldn’t allow him to get surgery that had never been performed on an NHL player before.

    He was stripped of his captaincy, failed his physical and was placed on long-term injured reserve before the saga culminated in a trade with the Vegas Golden Knights on November 4, 2021.

    Buffalo sent Eichel to Vegas in a package that included Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch going to the Sabres, while Eichel was able to finally get the surgery he desired and later made his Golden Knights debut on February 16, 2022.

    Vegas acquired Eichel at a point where “average” NHL players are just starting to reach their prime. He was 25 when he made his Golden Knights debut in 2021-22, and won the Cup with Vegas the following season at 26.

    Elite players can tap into their prime anytime from when they’re drafted at 18 through 20-years-old and make it last into their mid-to-late 30s (think Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Macklin Celebrini or Patrice Bergeron, for example), while the average NHL player typically reaches their prime from about 25 through 32 or 33-years-old.

    Goaltenders are usually an outlier regardless, if you’re wondering.

    The Detroit Red Wings were around the playoff bubble— even on the right side of making the postseason early in Larkin’s NHL career— far more than the Buffalo Sabres had ever been during Eichel’s tenure with the team.

    When Buffalo drafted Eichel, they hadn’t made the playoffs since 2011.

    Detroit lost Nick Lidström to retirement in 2012, but still made the playoffs through Larkin’s first NHL season— dropping a First Round matchup in five games against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016.

    The Bolts had just made an appearance in the Stanley Cup Final in 2015, so Detroit losing to a team that had much of the core in place that led Tampa to Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2015, 2020, 2021 and 2022, isn’t that surprising in hindsight. 

    Especially as the Red Wings veteran players were in the twilight years of their prime after Detroit won the Cup in 2008, before losing their rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Final in 2009.

    More recently, Mitch Marner did a sign and trade on June 30, 2025, in order to get the maximum length of a contract and end up in a more desirable place than the Toronto Maple Leafs who were his hometown team growing up and drafted him 4th overall in 2015.

    Marner had 741 points (221 goals, 520 assists) in 657 games in Toronto after making his league debut in the 2016-17 season. He had a career-high 102 points in 81 games with the Maple Leafs in 2024-25, but at 27-years-old he had only advanced as far as the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice.

    Enter the Golden Knights, who, for Nicolas Roy, acquired Marner in the midst of his prime– similar to Eichel– and are now in the Stanley Cup Final in Marner’s first season with the organization.

    Oh, and it helps that Marner is a big part of why Vegas is in the Final against Carolina currently, since Marner has set a franchise record for the most points in a postseason for the Golden Knights with 10-19–29 totals in 20 games played at the time of this writing.

    Eichel, Marner and Larkin were all 1st round picks and in their prime at the time of their trades/upcoming trade, but Larkin is turning 30 on July 30th.

    He may only have two, three or four years tops in his prime remaining.

    How is this relevant to the Bruins?

    After being reverse-swept by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinal, the Boston Bruins needed a little bit of a shakeup.

    Everyone in the organization wanted to not just avenge the series loss to the Flyers, but exceed external expectations and win the whole damn thing.

    So then-general manager, Peter Chiarelli, faced a situation not entirely dissimilar to Don Sweeney’s current Mason Lohrei problem.

    Dennis Wideman wore No. 6 in a Bruins sweater long before Lohrei donned it for the first time in the 2023-24 season. Wideman wore it with pride from the 2006-07 season through the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

    Wideman was an offensive defender with 36 points (13 goals, 23 assists) in 81 games for Boston in his first full season with the club in 2007-08. He improved to a career-high 50 points (13 goals, 37 assists) in 79 games the following year as the Bruins finished one point shy in the entire league standings of the Presidents’ Trophy-winning San Jose Sharks in 2008-09.

    Then Wideman dropped to 6-24–30 totals in 76 games with Boston in 2009-10.

    Despite an impressive 12 points (one goal, 11 assists) in 13 playoff games that spring, Wideman’s plus/minus rating had gone from a plus-32 in the regular season in 2008-09, to a minus-14 in 2009-10.

    Now, plus/minus isn’t everything, but a drop like that is pretty significant.

    His mistakes became glaringly obvious. He shot the puck wide, man. It was in his name all along!

    He was also 26-years-old by the end of the 2009-10 season. Coincidentally, Lohrei will be 26 by the end of the 2026-27 season.

    Chiarelli needed to boost Boston’s offense while the defense would take care of itself as a young Johnny Boychuk had emerged during the 2009-10 season— complimenting the rest of the blue line in Zdeno Chára, Andrew Ference, Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid pretty well.

    The Bruins had a style that Wideman just… …didn’t fit.

    So Chiarelli traded Wideman, a 2010 1st round pick and a 2011 3rd round pick to the Florida Panthers for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell.

    Horton was the 3rd overall pick in the 2003 NHL Draft. In his first season with the Panthers, he had 14-8–22 totals in 55 games played in 2003-04.

    He doubled his scoring output after the 2004-05 lockout canceled season with 28 goals and 19 assists (47 points) in 71 games with Florida in 2005-06.

    Horton continued to be a consistent scorer for the Panthers at a time where the team never made the playoffs in his Florida tenure.

    Though he only reached the 30-goal plateau once in his career (31 in 2006-07), he had the knack for scoring clutch goals when the Panthers needed it most.

    He was also only 25-years-old when the Bruins acquired him on June 22, 2010. That’s five years younger than what Dylan Larkin is going to be by the time Larkin hits the ice this fall.

    Of course, if you’re a Bruins fan reading this, you already know that Horton and Co. won the Cup in 2011, and appeared in the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

    Boston acquired Horton in the midst of his prime and got the most out of him before he left in free agency while injuries ultimately ended his career prematurely.

    But the Bruins aren’t a Cup-contender currently?

    Yes, exactly! You’re catching on. Good for you.

    Boston can’t make the jump next season like they did from 2009-10 to 2010-11.

    The Bruins signed Elias Lindholm to a seven-year contract at the age of 29, on July 1, 2024– two years after he amassed career-highs in goals (42), assists (40) and points (82) with the Calgary Flames in 82 games in 2021-22.

    In 13 NHL seasons since making his league debut with the Carolina Hurricanes in 2013-14, Lindholm has only reached the 70-point plateau twice.

    His production with the Flames reached a pinnacle in 2021-22, and fell to 64 points the following season before splitting time between Calgary and the Vancouver Canucks after being traded during the 2023-24 season. That year, Lindholm had 15-29–44 totals in 75 games with the Flames and Canucks.

    He registered 47 points in 82 games with Boston in his first season, but injuries kept reappearing in his sophomore season as a Bruin– limiting him to 69 games in the regular season in 2025-26, though he managed to record 48 points in the process.

    If he had been completely healthy, Lindholm probably would’ve finished with just shy of 60 points.

    There’s just one problem– that’s not good enough for a first or second line center. Especially if you’re looking at adding Dylan Larkin to the equation to answer the question “who will replace Patrice Bergeron and David Krejčí as the No. 1 and No. 2 centers in Boston?”

    It gets even worse if you clog up the opportunities that should otherwise go to someone like Fraser Minten or James Hagens to grow into if you have any hope for either or both to become the long-term plan down the middle.

    Remember how Charlie Coyle was deadweight in the middle of the lineup by the end of his Boston tenure? Lindholm and Larkin could expedite that– especially if they can’t keep up with the wingers around them at a time where you’re looking to capitalize on speed and skill by the midpoint of their current contracts.

    Lindholm was signed via free agency in the twilight of the average NHLers’ prime.

    It’s not worth overpaying for a step above Lindholm for the sake of saying “well, at least he’s better than him and gives us a little more depth down the middle.” Especially if the cost outweighs the reward.

    O.K., but I’m still reading this and my team isn’t the Bruins, so what if you’re trying to win the Cup as soon as possible?

    Well, buyer beware.

    Dylan Larkin would be a great addition to a Cup-contending team that needs a second line center.

    If you’re trying to recreate what the St. Louis Blues did when they acquired Ryan O’Reilly from the Buffalo Sabres ahead of the 2018-19 season, you should note that O’Reilly was turning 27 at the time and had more prime left in the tank than Larkin currently has in his.

    O’Reilly could play up in the lineup because he was a force and not just a nice complimentary asset to have in the arsenal.

    Speaking of St. Louis, it’d be great if you could simply pry Robert Thomas from the Blues. But Andy Strickland has already reported that Thomas isn’t going anywhere and will be on the St. Louis roster when training camp begins in September.

    Jordan Kyrou, on the other hand….

    That’s who you should want to target if you’re the Bruins or any team, for that matter.

    Kyrou is only 28-years-old and has 67 or more points in four out of the last five seasons. That’s some pretty good consistency that will lend itself to being the type of player that still amasses about 50 points a year even after he turns 33 or 34.

    Maybe he’ll do that even up to about the time he’s 37. He could pull a Joe Pavelski and just go off on a scoring tangent.

    Winning trades isn’t always immediate

    Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but if you’re the Boston Bruins in a retool looking to get better long-term, you want to acquire someone that is already on the cusp of or in the midst of their prime between the ages of, say, 20 and 26.

    The Montréal Canadiens acquired Nick Suzuki and Tomáš Tatar as part of the package from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for Max Pacioretty on Sept. 9, 2018.

    Suzuki had just been drafted 13th overall by Vegas in 2017, and was a promising young center that wouldn’t make his NHL debut with Montréal until the 2019-20 season at 20-years-old.

    He put up 41 points in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season and another 41 points in the 56-game 2020-21 season before amassing 61 points in 2021-22, 66 points in 2022-23, 77 in 2023-24, 89 in 2024-25 and breaking the 100-point plateau with 29-72–101 totals in 2025-26.

    He’s a 26-year-old that’s really just getting started in the early part of his prime and now has won the Frank J. Selke Trophy– living up to the comparisons to Patrice Bergeron when he was drafted by the Golden Knights and later introduced to the Canadiens’ prospect pipeline.

    Boston would benefit significantly in any trade where they identify the type of player like Suzuki that’s ready-now or growing into their prime and will become certified top-talent on their roster.

    So you need another Fraser Minten, right? And a little patience. You know, like how the Canadiens did with Suzuki.

    The Bruins swindled the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Brandon Carlo trade that yielded Boston Minten and draft picks in return.

    There are contenders willing to part with decent prospects or young players all around– just look at how the Colorado Avalanche jettisoned Cal Ritchie to the New York Islanders for Brock Nelson or how the Dallas Stars parted with Logan Stankoven in the Mikko Rantanen trade (part II) with the Carolina Hurricanes.

    This is where offer sheets get interesting this summer and Mason McTavish becomes somewhat of a desirable solution on the trade market with the Anaheim Ducks.

    Anaheim is looking to take the next step up in their game and postseason plans, while McTavish could use a little bit of a reset and probably a ceiling adjustment.

    You could likely convince the Ducks to take someone like Mason Lohrei or Pavel Zacha as a starting point for the frameworks of a trade.

    At 23-years-old, McTavish is still entering his prime, though if he were to be an annual 50-point scorer for the next decade, that’s probably better than what you’d get out of Dylan Larkin by the end of Larkin’s current contract.

    If anything, McTavish gives you a certified middle-six forward while your top prospects in James Hagens, Dean Letourneau, Will Zellers and young players like Minten and Marat Khusnutdinov sort themselves out among the first and second lines with David Pastrňák leading the way as your most important player, if not captain, of the franchise long-term.

    But we already have Nick Suzuki at home

    Look, I love Matthew Poitras dearly and I’m not opposed to saying “just give him a little more time,” but if Boston won’t give him a chance on the NHL roster full-time in 2026-27, well, we have a major philosophical development problem to address.

    Missing out on Larkin would be fine

    I would’ve loved to have signed Marián Hossa when he hit free agency after losing back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances with Pittsburgh and Detroit in 2008 and 2009, but he was never coming to Boston with the way the roster looked at the time.

    Sometimes the seemingly right player just isn’t available at the right time.

    Yeah, the Bruins could’ve signed Hossa, but what kind of butterfly effect would that have had on the Dennis Wideman trade for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell?

    And, you know, quite literally everything else given the salary cap space that Hossa’s contract would’ve eaten up.

    It’s a lot like when John Tavares hit free agency and left the Islanders for the Leafs.

    Sure, the Bruins could have made an attractive offer, but how would their hands have been tied in the process thereafter?

    That, and David Krejčí already existed in the presumptive role for Tavares.

    In any case, this is going to be quite an offseason, isn’t it?

    Yeah.

    It’s fair to ask “what, exactly, is the current core of the Boston Bruins?” when another year has come and gone for guys like David Pastrňák, Charlie McAvoy and Jeremy Swayman, while Morgan Geekie, Elias Lindholm, Hampus Lindholm and others sort themselves out as they’re pressured by younger talent in Fraser Minten, Marat Khusnutdinov, James Hagens and the next prospect up.

    That’s the part that’s going to be quite a balancing act for Don Sweeney.

    It wouldn’t hurt the Bruins to have a guy like Viktor Arvidsson around as a stable, veteran presence in the dressing room, but at what cost for the pending-unrestricted free agent and with how many other guys already like him on the roster?

    Many of whom are expendable by the 2027 trade deadline if the playoffs aren’t looking likely.

    How much of the forward progress that occurred for Boston from 2024-25 to 2025-26, was a direct result of trading everyone they did and adding to their prospect pool and draft pick capital leading up to the 2025 trade deadline?

    There’s a difference between “draft capital” and “draft capital surplus” when making a big move to acquire a player in their prime that can make an immediate impact on your roster.

    The former implies that your organization has a stockpile of prospects that you’ve hit on or are developing in a timely manner and can move on from early enough into their professional careers to maximize value and meet your trading partner where they’re at in acquiring certified high-end talent.

    But you can’t make too many of those moves without running the risk of stunting your own organizational growth and development in the depth charts.

    You also don’t have tremendous draft capital if your prospects are four years out or more from their draft year, like Fabian Lysell.

    The latter implies that you have three first round picks in the next draft or two— or something like that— where you can create mobility in the upcoming first round to land a core piece. That, or you can flip anyone with one of those first round picks and still be able to incorporate whoever else you draft and develop within the usual timeframe from draft day to NHL regular.

    Right now, the Bruins would be better off continuing to build the foundation of prospects and picks— especially since they haven’t had a lot of hits in recent years.

    Taking the best available is a good strategy, though ensuring that the best prospects truly live up to their potential is a whole other story.

    Boston is going to need to have a difficult conversation with many coaches, scouts and development staff members outside of goaltending coaches this summer.

    It’s time to start producing results or someone else will do it for you while you update your LinkedIn profile.

  • 2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1 Recap

    Round 1 of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft was held Thursday night at Bell Centre in Montréal, Québec marking the first time since the 2019 NHL Entry Draft in Vancouver that the selections were made in person in front of a live audience as the 2020 and 2021 editions of the draft were held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Coverage of this year’s first round began Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN and streaming on ESPN+ in the United States, as well as on SN and TVAS in Canada.

    Rounds 2-7 will be televised on NHL Network and ESPN+ in the U.S., while viewers in Canada can tune to SN or TVAS starting at 11 a.m. ET Friday morning.

    Here’s a quick recap of the First Round in case you had other things going on Thursday night.

    2022 NHL Entry Draft Round 1

    1. Montréal Canadiens – LW Juraj Slafkovsky, TPS (Liiga)
    2. New Jersey Devils – D Simon Nemec, Nitra (Slovakia)
    3. Arizona Coyotes – C Logan Cooley, USA U-18 (USHL)
    4. Seattle Kraken – C Shane Wright, Kingston (OHL)
    5. Philadelphia Flyers – C/LW Cutter Gauthier, USA U-18 (USHL)
    6. Columbus Blue Jackets (from Chicago) – D David Jiricek, Plzen (Extraliga)
    7. Chicago (from Ottawa Senators) – D Kevin Korchinski, Seattle (WHL)
    8. Detroit Red Wings – C Marco Kasper, Rögle BK (SHL)
    9. Buffalo Sabres – C Matthew Savoie, Winnipeg (WHL)
    10. Anaheim Ducks – D Pavel Mintyukov, Saginaw (OHL)
    11. Arizona Coyotes (from San Jose Sharks) – C Conor Geekie, Winnipeg (WHL)
    12. Columbus Blue Jackets – D Denton Mateychuk, Moose Jaw (WHL)
    13. Chicago (from New York Islanders via Montréal Canadiens) – C Frank Nazar, USA-U18 (USHL)
    14. Winnipeg Jets – RW Rutger McGroarty, USA U-18 (USHL)
    15. Vancouver Canucks – RW Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    16. Buffalo Sabres (from Vegas Golden Knights) – C Noah Ostlund, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    17. Nashville Predators – RW Joakim Kemell, JYP (Liiga)
    18. Dallas Stars – D Lian Bichsel, Leksands IF (SHL)
    19. Minnesota Wild (from Los Angeles Kings) – LW Liam Ohgren, Djurgårdens IF (SHL)
    20. Washington Capitals – RW Ivan Miroshnichenko, Omsk Krylia (Russia)
    21. Pittsburgh Penguins – D Owen Pickering, Swift Current (WHL)
    22. Anaheim Ducks (from Boston Bruins) – C Nathan Gaucher, Québec (QMJHL)
    23. St. Louis Blues – RW Jimmy Snuggerud, USA U-18 (USHL)
    24. Minnesota Wild – RW Danila Yurov, Magnitogorsk (Russia)
    25. Chicago (from Toronto Maple Leafs) – D Sam Rinzel, Chaska (High School- Minnesota)
    26. Montréal Canadiens (from Calgary Flames) – RW Filip Mesar, Poprad (Slovakia)
    27. San Jose Sharks (from Carolina Hurricanes via Montréal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes) – C Filip Bystedt, Linköping HC (SHL)
    28. Buffalo Sabres (from Florida Panthers) – C Jiri Kulich, Karlovy Vary (Extraliga)
    29. Arizona Coyotes (from Edmonton Oilers) – D Maveric Lamoureux, Drummondville (QMJHL)
    30. Winnipeg Jets (from New York Rangers) – C Brad Lambert, Pelicans (Liiga)
    31. Tampa Bay Lightning – LW Isaac Howard, USA U-18 (USHL)
    32. Edmonton Oilers (from Colorado Avalanche via Arizona Coyotes) – LW Reid Schaefer, Seattle (WHL)

    Trades made during the first round of the draft:

    • The Montréal Canadiens trade D Alexander Romanov and the 98th overall pick to the New York Islanders for a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall).
    • Montréal traded a 2022 1st round pick (13th overall, originally belonging to the New York Islanders) and a 2022 3rd round pick (66th overall) Chicago for D Kirby Dach.
    • The San Jose Sharks traded a 2022 1st round pick (11th overall) to the Arizona Coyotes for a 2022 1st round pick (27th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (34th overall) and a 2022 2nd round pick (45th overall).
    • Chicago acquired G Petr Mrázek and a 2022 1st round pick (25th overall) from the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2022 2nd round pick (38th overall).
    • The Arizona Coyotes acquired F Zack Kassian, a 2022 1st round pick (29th overall), a 2024 3rd round pick and a 2025 2nd round pick from the Edmonton Oilers for a 2022 1st round pick (32nd overall).

    Trades made earlier in the day prior to the first round of the draft:

    • The Colorado Avalanche acquired G Alexandar Georgiev from the New York Rangers in exchange for a 2022 3rd round pick, a 2022 5th round pick and a 2023 3rd round pick.
    • The Ottawa Senators traded a 2022 1st round pick (7th overall), a 2022 2nd round pick (39th overall) and a 2024 3rd round pick to Chicago for F Alex DeBrincat.
  • DTFR Podcast #245- Higher Power (Not A Coldplay Cover)

    DTFR Podcast #245- Higher Power (Not A Coldplay Cover)

    Checking in with our resident Buffalo Sabres fan, Colby Kephart, about his expectations (or lack thereof) for Owen Power, what other undrafted college players might go pro, what’s considered good goaltending these days, as well as an Eastern Conference rundown and Colby’s “Off the Cuff” debut.

    Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Amazon Music and/or Audible.

  • Nedeljkovic makes a career-high 47 saves in, 5-3, victory for Detroit

    Nedeljkovic makes a career-high 47 saves in, 5-3, victory for Detroit

    Alex Nedeljkovic had an assist on the empty net insurance goal and made a career-high 47 saves on 50 shots against, while Jakub Vrana’s third period power-play goal proved to be the eventual game-winner in the Detroit Red Wings’, 5-3, win against the Boston Bruins Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena.

    Nedeljkovic improved to 18-21-8 on the season with a 3.31 goals-against average and a .901 save percentage in 52 games played after his 47-save performance on Tuesday.

    Bruins goaltender, Jeremy Swayman (20-10-3, 2.29 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 34 games played), stopped 24 out of 28 shots faced in the loss.

    Boston fell to 44-21-5 (93 points) on the season and dropped to 4th place in the Atlantic Division by virtue of having played one more game than the Tampa Bay Lightning (93 points in 69 games to Boston’s 93 points in 70 games played).

    Detroit, meanwhile, improved to 27-34-9 (63 points) overall, but remained in 5th place in the Atlantic– 30 points outside of a divisional playoff spot and 21 points shy of the Washington Capitals for the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.

    The B’s fell to 3-4-1 in eight games at Little Caesars Arena all-time, while also splitting their 2021-22 regular season series with the Red Wings (2-2-0).

    The Bruins went 1-2-0 against Detroit in 2019-20, and did not meet the Red Wings in the condensed 56-game regular season in 2020-21.

    Boston was without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Trent Frederic (upper body) and David Pastrnak (undisclosed) on Tuesday.

    Frederic skated before Tuesday night’s matchup on the road, though there is no timetable for his return.

    Meanwhile, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, was forced to shake up his lines– promoting Tomáš Nosek to the second line right wing in Pastrnak’s normal spot, while forming a fourth line consisting of Jack Studnicka at center– flanked by Anton Blidh and Marc McLaughlin on his wings.

    Nick Foligno took Frederic’s spot on the third line as a result, while Curtis Lazar joined Josh Brown and Connor Clifton on Boston’s list of healthy scratches in Detroit.

    On defense, Mike Reilly slid over into Brown’s spot on the third defensive pairing with Derek Forbort re-entering the lineup.

    Early in the opening frame, Taylor Hall drove a rush into the attacking zone before sending the puck through the high slot to the opposite wing where Erik Haula (13) caught the pass and unloaded a wrist shot on Nedeljkovic’s far blocker side into the twine– giving Boston a, 1-0, lead as a result.

    Hall (37) and Nosek (13) tallied the assists as the Bruins jumped out to the first lead of the night at 4:43 of the first period.

    Midway through the first period, McLaughlin caught Adam Erne with an inadvertent high stick and was assessed a minor infraction as a result at 13:44.

    The Red Wings did not convert on the ensuing power play and, while Boston’s penalty kill proved to be very successful– scoring a shorthanded goal in the process, in fact.

    Detroit made a turnover in the neutral zone leading to a 2-on-1 for the Bruins featuring Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand before the B’s yielded a couple of chances prior to Forbort setting up Brandon Carlo (6) for a shot past Nedeljkovic’s stick side and a two-goal lead as a result.

    Forbort (8) and Bergeron (35) had the assists on Carlo’s second career shorthanded goal (his first since Jan. 2017 in Detroit)– tying the young defender’s career-high in goals scored in a season (six in 2016-17) in the process as well at 14:17.

    The Bruins led, 2-0, but they’d go on to give up four unanswered goals before hitting the back of the twine once more for the rest of the night.

    Charlie McAvoy was assessed a roughing minor at 17:18 and the Red Wings almost capitalized on the ensuing power play.

    McAvoy was released from the box without issue at 19:18, but the Bruins were caught in the vulnerable minute after special teams action and gave up yet another last-minute goal in any period as Moritz Seider setup Dylan Larkin (30) for a quick release from the right circle past Swayman.

    Seider (40) and Lucas Raymond (31) notched the assists on Larkin’s goal and Detroit cut Boston’s lead in half, 2-1, at 19:20 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard and held an, 18-12, advantage in shots on goal.

    The Red Wings led in blocked shots (5-2), giveaways (4-3) and hits (11-8), while the B’s led in takeaways (3-1) and faceoff win percentage (52-48).

    Detroit was 0/2 on the power play, while Boston had yet to see any time on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    The Bruins would have an early power play at 1:22 of the second period, however, as Pius Suter tripped McAvoy and yielded a skater advantage to Boston as a result.

    The B’s failed to conver on the power play, however.

    Shortly thereafter, the Bruins failed to clear their own zone and the Red Wings kept the puck in by the blue line before working a shot that deflected off of a body in front of the net into the back of the twine courtesy of Michael Rasmussen (11) being in the right place at the right time on Swayman’s doorstep.

    Erne (12) and Danny DeKeyser (8) tallied the assists on Rasmussen’s goal as Detroit tied things up, 2-2, at 5:46 of the second period.

    A couple minutes later, Jake Walman cut a rut to the sin bin for holding at 7:48, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the ensuing power play.

    Midway through the middle frame, Nedeljkovic gave up a rebound that worked to the advantage of the Red Wings as they were quick to recover the loose puck in the slot and go end-to-end as Suter sent it up to Vrana before Vrana setup Filip Zadina (9) on a one-timer goal with Forbort taking the bait and Reilly out of position by default as a result.

    Vrana (4) and Suter (17) had the assists on Zadina’s goal as the Red Wings went ahead, 3-2, at 11:32 of the second period.

    Late in the period, Foligno hooked Seider and was sent to the box at 19:07, but Detroit wasn’t able to convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    Through 40 minutes of action, the Red Wings led, 3-2, on the scoreboard, despite trailing Boston, 33-24, in shots on goal– including a, 15-12, advantage for the Bruins in shots on goal in the second period alone.

    The B’s also led in takeaways (3-2) and faceoff win% (59-41), while Detroit held the advantage in blocked shots (6-4), giveaways (11-5) and hits (21-17).

    The Red Wings were 0/3 and the Bruins were 0/2 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    McAvoy caught Raymond with a high stick at 3:27 of the third period and Detroit made sure to capitalize on the ensuing power play.

    It didn’t take the Red Wings long before Filip Hronek passed the puck to Vrana (8) as he was charing through the neutral zone with a burst of speed into the attacking zone before sending a shot past Swayman– high on the blocker side.

    Hronek (31) and Walman (5) had the assists on Vrana’s power-play goal and Detroit took a two-goal lead, 4-2, at 4:08 of the third period.

    Moments later, DeKeyser cut a rut to the sin bin for interference at 8:46, but the Bruins couldn’t convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    Shortly thereafter, Boston tweeted that Hampus Lindholm would not return to the night’s action with a lower body injury.

    The recently acquired defender did not make an appearance in the third period and Cassidy told reporters after the game that he didn’t think Lindholm would be out for long-term.

    Moments later, DeKeyser was heading back into the box for hooking at 11:58, but Boston’s ensuing power play was cut short as Hall hooked Walman at 12:46.

    The Bruins withstood Detroit’s abbreviated power play after 1:12 of 4-on-4 action.

    With 3:36 remaining in the game, Cassidy pulled Swayman for an extra attacker.

    Marchand and Larkin received slashing minors shortly thereafter at 16:45 and yielded 4-on-4 action once again.

    While at even strength at 4-on-4, the Bruins went to work in the attacking zone with Swayman pulled for a de facto 5-on-4 advantage.

    McAvoy riffled a shot from the point that Bergeron (19) redirected in the slot past Nedeljkovic on the lower left pad to bring the Bruins to within one.

    McAvoy (42) and Hall (38) notched the assists on Bergeron’s goal and the B’s trailed, 4-3, at 17:24.

    As a result of his goal in Tuesday night’s loss, Bergeron (394) is now one goal away from tying Ray Bourque (395) for the fourth-most goals in Bruins franchise history.

    With 1:29 remaining in regulation, Swayman vacated the crease once more for an extra attacker, but it was ultimately to no avail as a deflected shot led to a slow roller in front of Nedeljkovic whereby the Detroit goaltender was able to corral the rubber biscuit without issue.

    Nedeljkovic sent a pass up to Sam Gagner in the neutral zone before Gagner (9) buried the puck into the empty net in Boston’s own end to give the Red Wings a, 5-3, advantage on the scoreboard as Nedeljkovic (2) recorded the only assist on Gagner’s empty net goal at 19:13.

    At the final horn, Detroit had won, 5-3, despite finishing the night trailing, 50-29, in shots on goal.

    A scrum after the game also resulted in a few punches thrown and some wrestling matches resulting in a plethora of penalties at 20:00 of the third period.

    Blidh picked up a slashing minor and a misconduct as Forbort was assessed a misconduct for Boston, while Rasmussen earned a slashing minor and a misconduct for Detroit officially at the 60-minute mark of the game.

    Boston left Little Caesars Arena leading in faceoff win% (60-40), while the Red Wings exited their own ice with the advantage in blocked shots (9-7), giveaways (15-5) and hits (31-28).

    Detroit finished the night 1/5 on the power play, while the Bruins went 0/4 on the skater advantage on Tuesday.

    Boston fell to 32-8-2 (17-4-1 on the road) when scoring first, 25-3-1 (13-2-1 on the road) when leading after one period and 4-16-2 (1-7-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Red Wings improved to 9-25-6 (7-9-4 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 5-23-3 (3-9-1 at home) when trailing after one period and 20-2-3 (14-1-2 at home) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins visit the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday before concluding their four-game road trip (1-1-0) at Capital One Arena against the Washington Capitals Sunday afternoon.

    Boston returns to TD Garden for a three-game homestand beginning on April 12th against St. Louis.

  • DeBrusk scores pair in overtime victory on the road for Boston

    DeBrusk scores pair in overtime victory on the road for Boston

    Jake DeBrusk continued his hot streak Monday night at Nationwide Arena as the Boston Bruins beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 3-2, in overtime thanks to a game-winner from No. 74 in black and gold himself– which also happened to be his second goal of the game.

    DeBrusk has six goals in his last five games as the Bruins are now 7-1-0 in their last eight games, while Linus Ullmark (22-9-2, 2.63 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 35 games played) made 20 saves on 22 shots against in the win for Boston.

    Columbus goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins (22-18-6, 3.40 goals-against average, .903 save percentage in 48 games played), stopped 34 out of 37 shots faced in the overtime loss.

    The B’s improved to 44-20-5 (93 points) overall and moved into 3rd place in the Atlantic Division as the Bruins hold the regulation wins tiebreaker with the Tampa Bay Lightning (Boston has 35 regulation wins to Tampa’s 33).

    The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, fell to 32-32-6 (70 points) on the season and remain in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division.

    Boston swept Columbus in their regular season series 3-0-0 for the first time since the 2013-14 season.

    Jakub Zboril (right ACL) was the only Bruin out due to injury on Monday, while head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made one change to his lineup– scratching Derek Forbort and replacing him with Josh Brown (while switching Mike Reilly back to his regular role as a left shot defender to Brown’s right shot on the third pairing, O.K. so technically two changes).

    Forbort joined Jack Studnicka, Marc McLaughlin, Connor Clifton and Anton Blidh on Boston’s list of healthy scratches in Columbus.

    Blue Jackets head coach, Brad Larsen, was back from the league’s COVID-19 protocol and returned to his regular job behind the bench after assistant coach, Pascal Vincent, filled in for Larsen.

    Emil Bemström (5) sped through the neutral zone on a breakout, got around Brandon Carlo and shot the puck past Ullmark high on the short side– giving Columbus the first lead of the night, 1-0, at 4:31 of the first period.

    Jakub Voracek (45) had the only assist on Bemström’s goal.

    A minute later, Carson Meyer tripped up Charlie McAvoy for his first career minor penalty in his first career National Hockey League game at 5:32.

    Boston did not convert on the ensuing power play, however, and cut their time on the advantage short as a result of McAvoy’s ensuing holding infraction at 6:13.

    After 1:19 of 4-on-4 action, the Blue Jackets had an abbreviated power play go by the wayside.

    Late in the period, Voracek and Trent Frederic received roughing minors at 14:45 and yielded some more 4-on-4 action that only lasted for a couple of seconds on the ensuing faceoff as Bruins forward, Brad Marchand, interfered with Justin Danforth at 14:47.

    Columbus had a rare 4-on-3 power play as a result for 1:58.

    The Blue Jackets did not score on the skater advantage with all that extra open ice.

    Shortly after he was freed from the penalty box, Marchand made a big hit along the wall as he checked Andrew Peeke hard into the boards– leading with his shoulder first, despite a violent end result in which Peeke was left visibly dazed after laying face down on the ice.

    Meanwhile, instead of stopping the play (as Columbus did not have possession, nor did the on-ice officials determine that there was the potential for a severe enough or significant injury to have just occurred), McAvoy retrieved a loose puck and setup DeBrusk on a breakaway before DeBrusk (20) shot the puck off of Merzlikins’ blocker and into the twine– tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

    McAvoy (40) had the only assist on DeBrusk’s goal at 18:32 of the first period while the ensuing celebration was subdued while the Blue Jackets’ athletic trainer tended to Peeke at the other end of the rink.

    DeBrusk, meanwhile, reached the 20-goal plateau for the second time in his career (five seasons) and first time since he had 27 goals in 68 games in 2018-19.

    The 25-year-old forward also extended his goal scoring streak to five games as a result and would finish the night with six goals in the last five games (another first for DeBrusk since Feb. 2019– a five-game goal scoring streak, that is).

    Voracek had a few choice words for the on-ice officials after allowing play to continue while Peeke laid face down on the ice and ended up receiving a misconduct as a result at 18:32.

    Less than a minute later, Nick Foligno tripped Oliver Bjorkstrand and cut a rut to the sin bin at 19:24 as a result.

    Columbus didn’t convert on the ensuing power play, however.

    As the first period came to a close, Bjorkstrand and Patrice Bergeron exchanged pleasantries– rendering roughing infractions for each of them at 20:00 of the opening frame.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins and Blue Jackets were tied, 1-1, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 10-9.

    The B’s also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (70-30), while Columbus led in giveaways (2-1) and hits (9-8).

    The Blue Jackets went 0/3 on the power play, while Boston was 0/1 on the skater advantage heading into the middle frame.

    Vladislav Gavrikov caught Taylor Hall with a high stick and drew blood at 2:25 of the second period– resulting in a four-minute double minor infraction as a result.

    Boston’s extended power play was cut short, however, as Hampus Lindholm was penalized for interference at 4:00 of the second period.

    After 2:00 of 4-on-4 action, the Bruins would go back on the power play for 25 seconds, but couldn’t convert on the abbreviated skater advantage.

    Shortly thereafter, Frederic kept the puck in the attacking zone as the Blue Jackets failed to clear it and Boston worked the rubber biscuit around the horn before Charlie Coyle spun away from his opponent and sent a pass to Craig Smith (16) for a wrist shot goal from the high slot under Merzlikins’ blocker.

    Coyle (25) and McAvoy (41) tallied the assists on Smith’s goal as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead at 7:52 of the second period.

    After a stoppage midway through the middle frame, Peeke tried getting a few extra jabs at Marchand while DeBrusk stepped in as a scrum encircled the two initial skaters exchanging pleasantries.

    While DeBrusk should have gone to the box with Peeke for roughing, the on-ice officials instead assessed minors to Peeke and Marchand at 13:53– yielding more 4-on-4 action for what would be a pair of minutes until Sean Kuraly hooked David Pastrnak at 14:22.

    Boston’s abbreviated 4-on-3 power play went by without issue for Columbus’ penalty kill, however.

    Jake Christiansen then checked Frederic along the boards right around where Marchand and Peeke collided in the first period and Frederic skated off the ice and headed down the tunnel.

    The Bruins later tweeted during the final frame of regulation that Frederic would not return to the night’s action with an upper body injury.

    Boston struggled to get out of their own zone in the dying minute of the second period as Columbus miraculously kept the puck from exiting the attacking zone at the blue line with a quick reach into the sky to bat the puck back down to the ice.

    After sending it around the zone, Voracek fed Zach Werenski through the slot as Werenski (11) pinched in from the point and one-timed the puck past Ullmark’s glove side– tying the game, 2-2, in the process.

    Voracek (46) and Patrik Laine (27) had the assists while Cassidy used his coach’s challenge to review if the Blue Jackets had technically entered the zone offside as a result of their effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone seconds prior.

    The ensuing video review was inconclusive, which mean that the call on the ice would stand.

    Columbus had tied the game, 2-2, at 19:44 of the second period and the B’s were assessed a bench minor for delay of game as Smith skated over to the box to serve the infraction.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the score was tied, 2-2, despite Boston leading in shots on goal, 21-14, including an, 11-5, advantage in the second period alone.

    The Bruins also led in blocked shots (7-6), takeaways (4-2) and faceoff win% (63-37), while the Blue Jackets led in hits (18-10).

    Both teams had two giveaways each and were 0/4 on the power play heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Peeke shoved Marchand to the ice with an open palm while the Boston forward entered the attacking zone and presented the Bruins with an early power play at 3:52 of the third period.

    Boston’s time on the skater advantage was cut short again, however, as the night’s trend continued with Bergeron hooking Gustav Nyquist to prevent a shorthanded scoring opportunity at 4:39 of the third period.

    As a result, the two teams were back to 4-on-4 play, while Pastrnak shortly made an exit from the game with what might have been a core injury after he got tangled up with Gavrikov and fell awkwardly about midway through the final frame of regulation.

    After 60 minutes, the Bruins and Blue Jackets remained tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard, despite Boston holding a, 34-22, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 13-8, advantage in the third period alone.

    Columbus attained the advantage in takeaways (7-4) and hits (24-15), while the B’s led in blocked shots (12-7), giveaways (3-2) and faceoff win% (64-37).

    As no penalties were called in overtime, both teams finished the night 0/5 on the power play on Monday.

    Cassidy started Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy in overtime, while Larsen countered with Voracek, Laine and Werenski.

    It wasn’t long before the two teams made one change and Lindholm made a timely interception before giving the puck to DeBrusk (21) for a pump fake catch and release game-winning overtime goal on the blocker side at 1:03 of the extra frame.

    Lindholm (21) had the only assist on DeBrusk’s second goal of the game as a result and the Bruins won, 3-2.

    Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 37-22– including a, 3-0, advantage in overtime alone.

    The Bruins left Nationwide Arena leading in blocked shots (12-7) and faceoff win% (64-36), while the Blue Jackets exited their own building with the advantage in giveaways (4-3) and hits (24-15).

    With the win, the B’s improved to 17-3-1 in their last 21 games– including a 7-1-0 record in their last eight games.

    Boston is now 7-3 in overtime (9-5 past regulation overall) this season, while Columbus fell to 6-4 in the extra frame (10-6 past regulation overall).

    The Bruins also improved to 12-13-3 (5-6-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 14-5-2 (8-2-1 on the road) when tied after the first period and 12-4-0 (5-3-0 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    The Blue Jackets fell to 17-10-2 (11-6-2 at home) when scoring first, 17-11-3 (10-6-3 at home) when tied after one and 6-6-2 (4-2-2 at home) when tied after two periods in 2021-22.

    Boston continues their four-game road trip (1-0-0) Tuesday night in Detroit before heading to Tampa on Friday and Washington D.C. on Sunday.

    The Bruins return to TD Garden for a three-game homestand starting April 12th.

  • Haula scores twice in, 5-2, victory for Bruins over Columbus

    Haula scores twice in, 5-2, victory for Bruins over Columbus

    Erik Haula opened the night’s scoring and had the eventual game-winning goal late in the third period before the Boston Bruins added a pair of empty net goals in their, 5-2, win against the Columbus Blue Jackets Saturday night at TD Garden.

    Jeremy Swayman (20-9-3, 2.23 goals-against average, .920 save percentage in 33 games played) made 22 saves on 24 shots against in the win for Boston and became the seventh rookie netminder to amass a 20-win season in a Bruins uniform in his first full season.

    Swayman joins Tuukka Rask (22 wins in 2009-10), Andrew Raycroft (29 wins in 2003-04) and Marco Baron (22 wins in 1981-82) as the only rookie goaltenders to do so with the B’s in the NHL’s expansion era (since 1967-68).

    Columbus goaltender, Elvis Merzlikins (22-18-5, 3.42 goals-against average, .902 save percentage in 47 games played), stopped 37 out of 40 shots faced in the loss.

    The Bruins improved to 43-20-5 (91 points) on the season and remain in 4th place in the Atlantic Division– two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Tampa Bay Lightning (93 points) for 2nd and 3rd in the division, respectively, while maintaining a stronghold on the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference over the Washington Capitals (84 points).

    Meanwhile, the Blue Jackets fell to 32-32-5 (69 points) overall and remain in 6th place in the Metropolitan Division.

    The B’s are now 2-0-0 against Columbus this season with their final matchup in their 2021-22 regular season series set for Monday night (April 4th) at Nationwide Arena.

    The Bruins went 0-1-1 against the Blue Jackets in 2019-20 and did not play each other last season due to the temporarily realigned divisions in the condensed 56-game schedule as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    Craig Smith and Nick Foligno returned to action in their regular roles on the third and fourth lines, respectively, as the former missed Thursday night’s, 8-1, win against New Jersey due to a non-COVID related illness and the latter was “day-to-day” with a lower body injury.

    As a result, Anton Blidh and Marc McLaughlin joined Jack Studnicka, Josh Brown and Connor Clifton in the press box as Boston’s healthy scratches Saturday night.

    Brown, however, left Thursday’s win with an upper body injury and took part in Saturday’s morning skate without issue.

    Jakub Zboril remains out of commission for the Bruins until next season as a result of his knee injury and subsequent surgery back in December.

    In addition to the return of Smith and Foligno among his forwards, Bruce Cassidy moved Mike Reilly to the right side of the third defensive pairing in place of Brown and inserted Derek Forbort on the left side to start the night.

    Columbus, meanwhile, was short behind the bench as head coach, Brad Larsen, is in COVID-19 protocol, so assistant coach, Pascal Vincent, called the shots for the Blue Jackets on Saturday.

    B’s defender, Charlie McAvoy skated in his 300th career NHL game Saturday night after Boston and Columbus honored Foligno for having played in his 1,000th career game on March 15th.

    Foligno spent parts of nine seasons with the Blue Jackets and served as captain from 2015-21, hence the delay in his special ceremony, in which the Bruins presented him with a fancy watch, fancy wine, a fancy painting and the traditional silver stick.

    Late in the opening frame, Taylor Hall worked the puck deep into the offensive zone before sending a pass back to Hampus Lindholm.

    Lindholm wrapped around the net and proceeded to feed McAvoy with a pass as McAvoy crashed the slot and sent a shot off of Merzlikins’ pad before the puck trickled through the crease.

    Haula (11) was in the right place at the right time on the doorstep to bank the rubber biscuit off of a body and into the twine– giving the Bruins a, 1-0, lead in the process at 15:09 of the first period.

    Hall (36) and McAvoy (38) tallied the assists as Boston got on the scoreboard first.

    The B’s didn’t have the lead for long, however, as they were caught ion a lapse in the final minute of the first period.

    Swayman mishandled a puck that went in and out of his glove before Gustav Nyquist (17) scored on the rebound with 27 seconds left before the first intermission– tying the game, 1-1, as a result.

    Cole Sillinger (11) and Andrew Peeke (14) had the assists as Columbus evened things up at 19:32 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the Bruins and Blue Jackets were tied, 1-1, despite Boston holding a, 15-5, advantage in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (7-4), hits (10-9) and faceoff win percentage (56-44), while Columbus held the advantage in takeaways (4-0) and giveaways (10-5).

    Neither team had yet to appear on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Yegor Chinakhov sent a bad angle shot off the apron of the net before Justin Danforth (7) scored on the rebound while crashing the slot to give the Blue Jackets a, 2-1, lead 42 seconds into the second period.

    Chinakhov (7) and Sean Kuraly (14) notched the assists on Danforth’s goal and the Bruins trailed for the majority of the middle frame as a result.

    Hall slashed Gavin Bayreuther and presented Columbus with the first power play of the night at 3;27, but the Blue Jackets failed to convert on the skater advantage.

    Instead, late in the second period, the Bruins dominated possession in the attacking zone and worked the puck from Jake DeBrusk to Patrice Bergeron for a fake shot turned pass to Brad Marchand, whereby Marchand (31) sent the puck into the twine on a “tic-tac-goal” effort while Merzlikins dove across the crease– paddle first– in desperation.

    Bergeron (33) and DeBrusk (13) had the assists as Boston tied things up, 2-2, at 18:13 of the second period.

    Through 40 minutes of action, the two teams were tied, 2-2, on the scoreboard despite the Bruins leading in shots on goal, 27-20.

    Columbus actually held the advantage in shots on net in the second period alone, 15-12, and led in blocked shots (10-8), takeaways (11-2), giveaways (15-11) and hits (24-18).

    Boston, meanwhile, led in faceoff win% (52-48).

    The Blue Jackets were 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame and the Bruins had yet to see any action in the skater advantage.

    Not much was happening on the event sheet until after the midpoint of the third period, when, at 14:06, Peeke hooked DeBrusk and yielded a power play to Boston for the first time Saturday night.

    With 4:46 remaining in the game, Cassidy used his timeout to rally his skaters on the advantage.

    Brandon Carlo sent a wrist shot from the point that Haula (12) redirected over the right pad and under Merzlikins’ blocker to give the Bruins a, 3-2, lead at 16:06 of the third period.

    Carlo (9) and Lindholm (20) tallied the assists on Haula’s power-play goal and the B’s never looked back.

    With 2:12 remaining, Vincent pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker. It backfired.

    Boston had an easy breakout as Marchand flipped a pass to DeBrusk (19) on the opposite side of the ice for a lay-up empty net goal– his fourth goal in as many games– giving the Bruins a, 4-2, lead in the process at 18:00 of the third period.

    Marchand (39) and McAvoy (39) had the assists on DeBrusk’s goal.

    With 1:47 remaining, Merzlikins vacated the crease once more.

    Vincent used his timeout after a stoppage with 1:24 remaining, but the Blue Jackets couldn’t muster anything.

    Boston botched a couple of chances at the empty twine at the other end of the rink before Bergeron fed the rubber biscuit to Charlie Coyle (15) for an empty net goal and a three-goal lead at that at 19:54.

    Bergeron (34) and Marchand (40) notched the assists and at the final horn the Bruins had won, 5-2, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 42-24– including a, 15-4, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston left their own ice leading in blocked shots (18-12) and faceoff win% (61-39), while Columbus exited TD Garden with the advantage in giveaways (16-14) and hits (33-24).

    The Blue Jackets went 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins went 1/1 on the skater advantage on Saturday night.

    Boston improved to 16-3-1 in their last 20 games, as well as 32-7-2 (15-4-1) when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

    The B’s are now 13-5-2 (6-3-1 at home) when tied after one period and 11-4-0 (7-1-0 at home) when tied after two periods in 2021-22 as well.

    Columbus fell to 15-22-4 (8-14-2 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 17-11-2 (7-5-0 on the road) when tied after the first period and 6-6-1 (2-4-0 on the road) when tied after the second period this season.

    The Bruins hit the road next week for four games beginning on Monday in Columbus before swinging through Detroit on Tuesday, Tampa on Friday (April 8th) and Washington, D.C. next Sunday (April 10th).

    Boston returns for a three-game homestand on April 12th.

  • Bruins blowout Devils in historic, 8-1, victory

    Bruins blowout Devils in historic, 8-1, victory

    Charlie Coyle, Curtis Lazar, Anton Blidh, Tomáš Nosek, Brandon Carlo and Josh Brown failed to record a point while 12 other members of the Boston Bruins had at least one mention on the scoresheet in an, 8-1, thrashing of the New Jersey Devils Thursday night at TD Garden.

    Patrice Bergeron (1-2–3) and David Pastrnak (0-3–3) each had three points, while Linus Ullmark (21-9-2, 2.65 goals-against average, .911 save percentage in 34 games played) made 25 saves on 26 shots faced for a .962 save percentage in the win for Boston.

    New Jersey goaltender, Nico Daws (8-9-0, 3.27 goals-against average, .894 save percentage in 19 games played) made 15 saves on 20 shots against in 29:01 time on ice in the loss before he was replaced by Jon Gillies (3-10-0, 3.88 goals-against average, .882 save percentage in 17 games played) made 17 saves on 20 shots (30:59 time on ice) in relief of Daws for no decision.

    The Bruins improved to 42-20-5 (89 points) overall and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division– two points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and one point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

    The B’s also hold the first wild card spot in the Eastern Conference entering April.

    The Devils, meanwhile, fell to 24-38-5 (53 points) on the season and fell to 8th place in the Metropolitan Division, trailing the Philadelphia Flyers by virtue of a tiebreaker in which the Flyers have 17 regulation wins to New Jersey’s 16.

    Boston swept their regular season series against the Devils 3-0-0 in 2021-22 after going 3-3-2 against New Jersey in last season’s condensed 56-game schedule (the Bruins went 2-0-1 against New Jersey in 2019-20).

    The B’s outscored the Devils, 18-6, over the course of their three matchups this season.

    Bruce Cassidy was without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Craig Smith (illness) and Nick Foligno (lower body) on Thursday.

    As a result, Marc McLaughlin made his National Hockey League debut in place of Smith on the third line, while Foligno was ruled “day-to-day” and replaced by Blidh on the fourth line.

    Cassidy also switched out Derek Forbot and Connor Clifton on the third defensive pairing with Mike Reilly and Brown– the latter of which made his Bruins debut on Thursday since being acquired at the trade deadline on March 21st.

    Jack Studnicka, Forbort and Clifton served as Boston’s trio of healthy scratches against the Devils.

    Prior to puck drop, the Bruins honored recently retired goaltender, Tuukka Rask, with a video and a ceremonial puck drop at center ice with his wife and three daughters.

    Rask is the winningest goaltender in franchise history, amassing 308 wins in 564 games played (also a franchise record).

    He ranks second in shutouts (52) with the club, second in career goals-against average (2.28) and is tied for first in career save percentage (.921) all in a Bruins uniform over 15 seasons.

    Rask also appeared in 104 Stanley Cup Playoff games and won 57 of them (both franchise records)— winning the Stanley Cup as the backup in 2011, and appearing in two more Finals in 2013 and 2019.

    Less than a minute into the opening frame, Matt Grzelcyk (4) wristed a shot from the point into the back of the twine over Daws’ blocker side– giving the Bruins a, 1-0, lead at 57 seconds of the first period.

    The two teams got a few extra minutes between Grzelcyk’s unassisted goal and the next faceoff, however, as the TD Garden game clock malfunctioned and left both clubs skating around the ice in a free skate prior to resuming play.

    Less than a couple of minutes later, Brown made his first impression with the Boston crowd by squaring off with Mason Geertsen and delivering a few heavy punches back and forth before both players were escorted to their respective penalty box with five-minute majors for fighting at 2:56.

    Brown would later leave the game after the second period with an upper body injury, but didn’t look out of place in a Bruins uniform in his debut.

    Shortly thereafter, Miles Wood checked Charlie McAvoy hard behind the Boston net and elicited a response from Reilly as the two players wrestled and tumbled to the ice at 4:16 of the first period.

    Reilly received two roughing minors– four minutes in penalties in total– to Wood’s sole roughing infraction, rending the night’s first power play to New Jersey as a result.

    The Devils did not score on the ensuing skater advantage however.

    Hampus Lindholm was penalized for holding at 8:49 and New Jersey went back on the power play, but once again failed to convert on the advantage.

    Instead, however, the Devils caught Boston in the vulnerable minute after special teams action as the Bruins were trapped in their own zone.

    Nico Hischier cut behind the net, stopped on a dime and turned back the other way before one-handing it to Jack Hughes while falling to his knees after almost losing possession in the trapezoid.

    Hughes (25) promptly buried the rubber biscuit high on the short side as Ullmark was a few inches too far off the post.

    Hischier (30) and Damon Severson (28) notched the assists as New Jersey tied the game, 1-1, at 11:02 of the first period.

    Roughly five minutes later, Jake DeBrusk (18) collected a rebound, deked and pulled the puck to his forehand around Daws’ right pad and into the back of the net for his third goal in as many games after Bergeron initially sent a shot with purpose off of Daws’ blocker back into the high slot.

    Bergeron (31) and Lindholm (19) tallied the assists as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead at 16:09.

    Heading into the first intermission, Boston was ahead on the scoreboard and led, 12-7, in shots on goal.

    The B’s also held the advantage in blocked shots (5-1), takeaways (4-2), hits (9-8) and faceoff win percentage (67-33).

    The Devils led in giveaways (7-1) and were o/2 on the power play, while the Bruins had yet to see time on the skater advantage entering the middle frame.

    Pastrnak broke up a pass while Erik Haula intercepted the puck and worked it back to Pastrnak, who wrapped around the goal frame as Haula (10) pounced on the rebound and scored over the glove side to extend Boston’s lead to two-goals at 2:22 of the second period.

    Pastrnak (31) had the only assist on the goal as the Bruins led, 3-1.

    Shortly thereafter, P.K. Subban yanked Blidh to the ice and was assessed a holding infraction at 2:44, but Boston didn’t convert on the resulting power play.

    Nevertheless, the Bruins had all the momentum as they continued to pile up pucks behind Daws and his replacement in Gillies.

    First, DeBrusk retrieved his own bad angle shot that went into the far corner before working the puck around the horn back to DeBrusk, who by now had made his way back to about where he sent an initial attempt from.

    DeBrusk tried again and hit some dead wood before Brad Marchand (29) gathered the puck and wired it into the twine to give Boston a, 4-1, lead on the scoreboard at 6:33 of the second period.

    DeBrusk (12) and Grzelcyk (18) tallied the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the game.

    Jesper Boqvist then used his hand on a faceoff shortly thereafter– receiving a faceoff violation infraction in the process– and presented the Bruins with another power play at 8:30 of the middle frame.

    It only took the B’s about 30 seconds to convert on the skater advantage as Pastrnak sent a shot on goal that was inadvertently redirected by Bergeron (18) with his skate through Daws’ five-hole– giving Boston a four-goal lead at 9:01 of the second period as a result.

    Pastrnak (32) and McAvoy (37) notched the assists on Bergeron’s power-play goal as Lindy Ruff swapped his goaltenders with the Devils trailing, 5-1.

    Almost 90 seconds later, DeBrusk checked Ty Smith and left the New Jersey defender catching his breath for a few seconds while Bergeron won the loose puck back to Reilly at the point.

    Reilly forked it to Marchand (30) for a one-timer goal– giving him 30 goals on the season in the process for the fifth time in his career (13 seasons) as Boston scored a pair of goals in a span of 1:33 to lead, 6-1.

    Reilly (11) and Bergeron (32) tallied the assists on Marchand’s second goal of the game at 10:34 of the second period and the Bruins weren’t done scoring.

    Trent Frederic entered the attacking zone on a 2-on-1 with McLaughlin (1) and flipped the puck to No. 26 in black and gold for a one-timer goal on the high glove side– beating Gillies for his first career NHL goal in his first game and extending Boston’s lead to six goals at 12:04.

    Frederic (10) had the only assist as Coyle retrieved the puck for McLaughlin’s safekeeping after the game and the B’s led, 7-1, after scoring a trio of goals in a span of 3:03 in the middle frame.

    McLaughlin, meanwhile, became the fifth Massachusetts-born NHLer to score in his debut in Bruins history, joining Ryan Donato (March 19, 2018), Frank Vatrano (Nov. 7, 2015), Shawn Bates (Oct. 2, 1997) and Hago Harrington (Dec. 29, 1925) in doing so.

    Late in the period, Taylor Hall (16) added one more on a one-timed redirection after Pastrnak and Hall kept it in the attacking zone on a Devils turnover and had a brief 2-on-1 as they made their way to the slot.

    Pastrnak (33) had the only assist on Hall’s goal and the Bruins had an, 8-1, lead at 16:12 of the second period– amassing the most goals they’ve scored in a single game this season and reaching eight goals in a game for the first time since Nov. 26, 2019, when Boston beat Montréal, 8-1, at Bell Centre– in part due to a hat trick from Pastrnak that night.

    The Bruins also recorded their first instance of scoring six goals in one period since Nov. 3, 1983, when they had six goals in the second period of a, 9-5, victory against the St. Louis Blues at Boston Garden.

    Through 40 minutes, the Bruins led, 8-1, on the scoreboard and dominated shots on goal, 28-17, including a, 16-10, advantage in the second period alone.

    Boston also led in blocked shots (9-3), takeaways (7-4), hits (16-15) and faceoff win% (64-36), while New Jersey led in giveaways (10-5) after two periods.

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

    Haula hooked Hughes at 1:10 of the third period, but the Devils couldn’t get another shot past Ullmark while the Bruins did their job on the penalty kill in front of their netminder.

    Jonas Siegenthaler sent an errant puck over the glass and out of play for an automatic infraction at 7:26, but Boston wasn’t able to convert on the resulting power play.

    Late in the game, Coyle and Geertsen exchanged pleasantries and received ten-minute misconducts with a ticket to their respective showers early for the night at 17:03 of the third period.

    At the sound of the final horn, the Bruins had won, 8-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 40-26, including a, 12-9, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston also left their own ice leading in hits (23-20) and faceoff win% (60-40), while New Jersey led in blocked shots (13-6) and giveaways (15-10).

    The Devils finished 0/3 on the power play, while the B’s went 1/3 on the skater advantage in Thursday’s effort– improving to a 15-3-1 record in their last 19 games, as well as 8-0-1 in games after allowing five or more goals in the previous game.

    Boston also improved to 31-7-2 (14-4-1 at home) when scoring first, 25-2-1 (12-1-0 at home) when leading after the first period and 28-1-3 (12-1-1 at home) when leading after the second period this season.

    New Jersey fell to 9-23-2 (3-15-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 5-18-2 (1-11-0 on the road) when trailing after one period and 3-31-2 (2-20-1 on the road) when trailing after two periods in 2021-22.

    The Bruins went 10-3-1 in the month of March and begin the month of April by hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday before hitting the road for the next four games starting next Monday (April 4th) in Columbus, next Tuesday (April 5th) in Detroit, then Tampa (April 8th) and Washington, D.C. (April 10th).

  • Preview: Game 50- Avalanche @ Bruins

    Preview: Game 50- Avalanche @ Bruins

    Monday afternoon at TD Garden, the Colorado Avalanche visit the Boston Bruins in the conclusion of their regular season series– in which the Avs are in the midst of their second-longest road winning streak in club history at seven games.

    Colorado’s longest road win streak in franchise history was set during the 2019-20 season when the Avs won nine consecutive games on the road from Feb. 4-March 2, 2020.

    The last time the Avalanche won seven straight road games was back in the 1998-99 season, when Colorado won seven games away from home from Jan. 10-Feb. 7, 1999.

    Boston, on the other hand, is coming off of a, 3-2, overtime win in Ottawa on Saturday– having finished their four-game road trip with a 2-1-1 record.

    On Jan. 26th, the Bruins lost, 4-3, in overtime at Ball Arena as the Avalanche continued their franchise record 18-game home win streak in the process.

    B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters after practice on Sunday that Jeremy Swayman would likely get the start in the crease after consulting with goaltending coach, Bob Essensa, and that Derek Forbort would return to the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch in the win against the Senators.

    As a result of Forbort returning to action, Connor Clifton will likely return to the press box for Monday’s matinée matchup.

    The Bruins will be without the services of Jakub Zboril and Brad Marchand as Zboril remains out for the rest of the season due to his right ACL injury, while Marchand will serve the sixth game out of his six-game suspension on Monday for his antics against Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender, Tristan Jarry, back on Feb. 8th.

    Linus Ullmark is expected to serve as Swayman’s backup against Colorado, while Anton Blidh likely remains out of the lineup with Marchand out until Feb. 24th amidst other temporary roster adjustments.

    For instance, Cassidy remains committed to Charlie Coyle as the second line center with Trent Frederic at left wing and Craig Smith on right wing while Taylor Hall is required to fill-in for Marchand on the first line alongside Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak.

    As a result, Erik Haula was slotted on the left side of Jack Studnicka in Ottawa while Nick Foligno served as the third line right wing.

    Jake DeBrusk scored a goal in Saturday’s win and played alongside fourth line regulars, Tomáš Nosek and Curtis Lazar, leaving no room for Blidh to get back into the lineup until Marchand returns, at least.

    In summary, Boston will likely be without Zboril, Marchand, Blidh and Clifton on Monday.

    The Bruins (28-17-4, 60 points) enter Monday 4th place in the Atlantic Division and in command of the second wild card berth in the Eastern Conference, while Coloardo leads the Central Division, Western Conference as well as the entire National Hockey League standings with a 36-9-4 record (76 points).

    Both teams have played in 49 games and will take part in their 50th game of the season against one another.

    Boston is 15-10-1 at home this season and 4-4-2 in their last ten games, while the Avalanche are 15-6-2 on the road and 8-1-1 in their last ten games.

    The Bruins are 73-58-15-3 in 149 regular season games against the Avalanche/Québec Nordiques in franchise history with 557 goals for and 488 goals against in that span.

    Marchand leads the B’s in scoring this season with 21-28–49 totals in 39 games played, while Pastrnak leads the team in goals (25) and ranks second in points (46) in 49 games.

    Bergeron rounds out the top-three in team scoring with 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists) in 45 games.

    A few milestones are within reach in Monday’s matinée meeting with the Avalanche.

    Bergeron (20) is one shorthanded goal away from tying Don Marcotte (21) for the 4th-most shorthanded goals in franchise history, Coyle (198) is two assists away from his 200th career NHL assist and Haula (99) is one goal away from his 100th career NHL goal.

    At the other end of the rink, the Avalanche are 13-2-1-1 in 17 games at TD Garden– outscoring the Bruins, 45-28, in that span– and 4-0-0 in day games this season.

    Colorado is 12-2-1 in matinée games dating back to the start of the 2019-20 season.

    Nazem Kadri leads the Avs in scoring so far this season with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists) in 46 games, while Mikko Rantanen (26-32–58 totals in 46 games) and Cale Makar (18-32–50 totals in 45 games) round out the top-three on the roster.

    Makar had an assist in Colorado’s, 5-3, win at Buffalo on Saturday and reached the 50-point plateau for his second time in three seasons (he’s yet to appear in 57 or more games in a regular season thus far) and did so in his 45th game of the season.

    He trails only Brian Leetch (38 games in 1991-92, 43 games in 1990-91), Mike Green (43 games in 2008-09), Gary Suter (44 games in 1987-88) and Steve Duchesne (44 games in 1988-89) among defenders aged 23 or younger in reaching 50 points in as few games since 1986-87.

    In the crease, Swayman (10-7-3, 2.14 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 21 games played) is expected to get the start for the Bruins after making 29 saves on 31 shots faced in Saturday’s, 3-2, overtime win in Ottawa.

    Darcy Kuemper (25-5-2, 2.40 goals-against average, .920 save percentage in 35 games played) is likely to get the start for the Avalanche after making 29 saves on 32 shots faced in Saturday’s, 5-3, win against the Sabres in Buffalo.

    He made 29 saves on 32 shots against in Colorado’s, 4-3, overtime victory against Boston on Jan. 26th, while Ullmark turned aside 37 out of 41 shots faced in the overtime loss for the B’s.

    The Bruins host the Avalanche before embarking on a six-game road trip through Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Vegas and Columbus, while Colorado finishes up a four-game road trip in Detroit on Wednesday after Monday’s matinée in Boston.

    Expected lineups

    Boston Bruins

    BRUINS LINES

    71 Taylor Hall 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak (A)

    11 Trent Frederic 13 Charlie Coyle 12 Craig Smith

    56 Erik Haula 23 Jack Studnicka 17 Nick Foligno

    74 Jake DeBrusk 92 Tomáš Nosek 20 Curtis Lazar

    58 Urho Vaakanainen 73 Charlie McAvoy

    48 Matt Grzelcyk 25 Brandon Carlo (A)

    28 Derek Forbort 6 Mike Reilly

    1 Jeremy Swayman

    35 Linus Ullmark

    Healthy scratches and injured members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

    John Moore (unlisted), Brad Marchand (suspension), Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Connor Clifton, Anton Blidh

    Colorado Avalanche

    92 Gabriel Landeskog (C) 29 Nathan MacKinnon (A) 96 Mikko Rantanen (A)

    13 Valeri Nichuskin 91 Nazem Kadri 95 Andre Burakovsky

    17 Tyson Jost 37 J.T. Compher 16 Nicolas Aube-Kubel

    43 Darren Helm 18 Alex Newhook 25 Logan O’Connor

    7 Devon Toews 8 Cale Makar

    3 Jack Johnson 49 Samuel Girard

    28 Ryan Murray 6 Erik Johnson

    35 Darcy Kuemper

    39 Pavel Francouz

    Healthy scratches and injured members (officially TBA, below is only a prediction based on last game)

    Bowen Byram (upper body), Stefan Matteau (IR), Kurtis MacDermid

    Goaltending stats entering Monday

    Boston Bruins

    1 Jeremy Swayman 10-7-3 in 21 GP, 2.14 GAA .923 SV%, 2 SO

    35 Linus Ullmark 16-8-1 in 26 GP, 2.79 GAA .909 SV%, 0 SO

    Colorado Avalanche

    35 Darcy Kuemper 25-5-2 in 35 GP, 2.40 GAA, .920 SV%, 3 SO

    39 Pavel Francouz 7-2-0 in 9 GP, 2.39 GAA, .921 SV%, 2 SO

  • Hurricanes sweep season series against Boston for first time in 10 years

    Hurricanes sweep season series against Boston for first time in 10 years

    The Carolina Hurricanes shutout the Boston Bruins, 6-0, Thursday night at TD Garden to sweep their regular season series (3-0-0) against Boston for the first time since the 2011-12 season.

    Andrei Svechnikov had a three-point night (one goal, two assists), while Frederik Andersen (25-6-1, 2.01 goals-against average, .930 save percentage in 32 games played) made 34 saves on 34 shots against for his second shutout of the season.

    Bruins goaltender, Linus Ullmark (16-7-1, 2.78 goals-against average, .910 save percentage in 25 games played) stopped 37 out of 43 shots faced in the loss.

    Dating back to the 2019-20 season– as the two teams did not meet in the temporarily realigned division-based schedules in 2020-21– three out of their last four regular season games have been shutouts with the Hurricanes amassing two shutouts this season against Boston, while the B’s shutout the Canes in their only meeting in 2019-20.

    In 2021-22 alone, Carolina outscored Boston, 16-1.

    The Bruins last beat the Hurricanes, 2-0, on Dec. 3, 2019, at TD Garden as Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves en route to a shutout victory.

    Thursday night in Boston, the Bruins fell to 26-16-3 (57 points) on the season, but remain in 4th place in the Atlantic Division, as well as in command of the second wild card berth in the Eastern Conference.

    Carolina, meanwhile, improved to 32-10-3 (67 points) overall and sit perched atop the Metropolitan Division– two points behind the Florida Panthers for first overall in the entire Eastern Conference– and three points behind the Colorado Avalanche in the race for the 2021-22 Presidents’ Trophy as the Avs beat the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2, Thursday night.

    The Bruins were without the likes of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Urho Vaakanainen (upper body), Patrice Bergeron (upper body) and Brad Marchand (suspension) in the, 6-0, loss Thursday.

    34-year-old goaltender, Tuukka Rask, announced his retirement from the National Hockey League after 15 NHL seasons (all with Boston).

    Ultimately, Rask’s body was not responding well enough from offseason hip surgery to continue to play at the level of competition that the Finnish goaltender desired after signing a one-year deal with Boston on Jan. 11th and playing in four games (2-2-0, 4.29 goals-against average, .884 save percentage) this season.

    Rask leaves the game leading the franchise in wins (308), games played by a goaltender (564), saves (14,345), minutes played by a goaltender (32,404:55) and second in career goals-against average (2.28), as well as shutouts (52).

    He is tied with Tim Thomas for the lead in career save percentage as a Bruin (.921) and was a member of the 2011 Stanley Cup championship roster, serving as Thomas’ backup in the 2010-11 and 2011-12 regular seasons after briefly usurping Thomas for the role of the starter in 2009-10.

    Rask was named to the All Star Game in 2017, as well as in 2020, but chose not to go, thereby serving a mandatory one-game suspension in the following game after the All Star break.

    He won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s best goaltender in 2013-14 and shared the honor of winning the William M. Jennings Trophy with Halak in 2019-20.

    Tiny Thompson spent parts of 11 seasons with Boston, while Frank Brimsek played in nine, Gerry Cheevers played in 12 and Thomas spent eight years with the club.

    Rask made his league debut in the 2007-08 season and played in 15 seasons for Boston. All for Boston.

    Thompson was traded to the Detroit Red Wings as Brimsek forced Art Ross’ hand in the 1938-39 season. Brimsek was dealt to Chicago at the twilight of his career prior to the 1949-50 season.

    Cheevers left for a stint in the World Hockey Association in Cleveland from 1972-76, before returning to the Bruins.

    Thomas sat out the lockout shortened 2012-13 season and was subsequently traded to the New York Islanders on Feb. 7, 2013, as a result before making an NHL comeback with the Florida Panthers in 2013-14, prior to being traded to the Dallas Stars at the 2014 trade deadline, where he finished his career.

    The Bruins traded Andrew Raycroft to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Rask on June 24, 2006, after the Leafs selected Rask 21st overall in 2005.

    Rask backstopped Boston to three playoff series wins against Toronto in 2013, 2018, and 2019– leading the Bruins to a pair of Stanley Cup Final appearances in 2013, and 2019.

    The torch in the crease passes as Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman look to compete for the starting role in the years to come.

    As Bergeron and Marchand were out of the lineup on Thursday, the Bruins had no players remaining from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final in the night’s action for just the second time (previous, Dec. 16th at the Islanders in a, 3-1, loss this season while Bergeron and Marchand were in COVID-19 protocol).

    Jack Studnicka and Tyler Lewington were recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL), while Oskar Steen was reassigned ahead of Thursday night’s loss to Carolina.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, placed Studnicka on the second line with Jake DeBrusk and Craig Smith on his wings– promoting the usual second line to first line duties for the night.

    Meanwhile, Trent Frederic and Anton Blidh returned to action with Frederic at left wing on the third line and Blidh at left wing on the fourth line.

    Charlie Coyle and Nick Foligno joined Frederic on the checking line, while Tomáš Nosek and Curtis Lazar were the usual suspects with Blidh on the fourth line.

    Bergeron, Lewington, Vaakanainen, Marchand and Zboril were all out of the lineup due to injury, suspension or healthy scratch purposes on Thursday.

    Cassidy informed reporters after the game that Bergeron would not be traveling with the team to Ottawa for Saturday’s matinée on the road against the Senators and remains “day-to-day” with a head injury.

    Martin Nečas cross checked Charlie McAvoy and presented Boston with the night’s first power play at 1:29 of the first period on Thursday.

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

    A few minutes later, Ian Cole caught Lazar with a high stick at 4:21, but once again the B’s were powerless on the power play.

    Frederic cut a rut to the box for cross checking Svechnikov at 7:43 of the first period and yielded Carolina their first power play of the game as a result.

    It didn’t take the Hurricanes long before they converted on the skater advantage as Vincent Trocheck (13) stood in the right place at the right time to kick a pass to himself and score on the far side on a rebound.

    Teuvo Teräväinen (22) and Svechnikov (23) tallied the assists on Trocheck’s power-play goal as the Canes pulled ahead, 1-0, at 8:26 of the first period.

    About a minute later, McAvoy unloaded on a clean hit in the neutral zone on Sebastian Aho– drawing the ire and a response from Tony DeAngelo as the two defenders exchanged fisticuffs and received fighting majors at 9:35.

    Moments later, Connor Clifton cut a rut to the sin bin or interference at 13:17, but Teräväinen shortly followed at 14:17 for hooking.

    After one minute of 4-on-4 action and an abbreviated power play for the Bruins, neither team could muster another goal on the scoreboard, despite Carolina receiving a power play that bled into the middle frame courtesy of a high stick from David Pastrnak on Nečas at 18:07 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the Hurricanes led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 18-11, in shots on goal.

    The Canes also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-1), takeaways (3-0), giveaways (3-2) and faceoff win percentage (59-41). Meanwhile, the Bruins held the advantage in hits (22-9).

    Carolina went 1/3 and Boston went 0/3 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    The Bruins failed to clear their own zone and turned the puck over right to Svechnikov (18) for an unassisted shot that had eyes and beat Ullmark high on the blocker side.

    The Hurricanes jumped out to a, 2-0, lead as a result at 2:35 of the second period and kept pouring it on as the period continued.

    Almost midway through the second period, Nečas sent a shot towards the net that Teräväinen deflected off Ullmark and generated a fortunate rebound to Aho (20) as Aho crashed the net in open ice– extending Carolina’s lead to three goals in the process.

    Teräväinen (23) and Nečas (16) notched the assists on Aho’s goal as a result and the Hurricanes pulled ahead, 3-0, at 8:01.

    Late in the period, while dominating attacking zone possession, the Canes generated yet another rebound that Jesper Fast scooped up and dropped a pass back to the point where Brett Pesce (3) fluttered a shot past the Boston netminder to give Carolina a four-goal lead.

    Fast (8) and Jordan Staal (11) had the assists as the Hurricanes took a, 4-0, lead at 14:02 of the second period.

    Minutes later, Svechnikov and Matt Grzelcyk collided awkwardly in the corner as Grzelcyk went down in pain– clutching his right shoulder.

    After a minute on the ice, Grzelcyk skated off on his own power and went down the tunnel, but did not return to the night’s action.

    Through 40 minutes of action Thursday night, the Hurricanes led, 4-0, on the scoreboard, as well as in shots on goal, 29-22, despite both teams amassing 11 shots on net each in the second period alone.

    Carolina held the advantage in blocked shots (7-1), takeaways (4-1) and faceoff win% (52-48), while Boston led in hits (36-26).

    Both teams had eight giveaways each, while the Canes remained 1/3 and the B’s were 0/3 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Foligno thought he scored a goal and got the Bruins on the board 22 seconds into the third period– only, the on-ice officials quickly waved off the would-be goal.

    The official call on ice was no goal by rule of incidental contact with the goaltender as Foligno’s momentum brought him into touch with Andersen– up close and personal as he bowled into the Hurricanes goaltender.

    Cassidy challenged the call on the ice on the grounds that he believed his Boston forward was pushed by Brady Skjei, which caused Foligno to continue his path towards the net instead of having a last second chance to bail out.

    Video review did not agree with Cassidy’s interpretation of events and the call on the ice was confirmed– no goal.

    The Bruins were assessed a bench minor for delay of game as a result of losing the challenge and sent DeBrusk to serve the infraction in the box.

    Late on the ensuing power play, Teräväinen gathered a pass from Svechnikov, twirled and spun the rubber biscuit over to Aho (21) for Aho’s second goal of the game– giving Carolina a, 5-0, lead on the scoreboard.

    Teräväinen (24) and Svechnikov (24) tallied the assists on Aho’s power-play goal at 1:58 of the third period.

    Shortly thereafter, Steven Lorentz tripped Derek Forbort at 6:50, but Boston’s power play went by the wayside (by now you should probably realize this, since Carolina shutout the Bruins on Thursday).

    There was no change in the number of skaters on the ice when McAvoy and Aho got into a shoving match and exchanged slashing minors at 8:13.

    Things started to quiet down thereafter before Carolina made one more mark on the scoreboard courtesy of a great display of hand-eye coordination from Staal.

    Off of an attacking zone faceoff win, Skjei received a pass at the point and wound up to take a shot.

    Skjei sent the puck fluttering through the air whereby Staal (3) tipped the shot close past Smith and over Ullmark’s glove to give the Hurricanes a, 6-0, advantage on the scoreboard.

    Skjei (12) recorded the only assist on Staal’s goal at 15:24 of the third period.

    After that, there were no more goals and no more penalties for the rest of the night– just the sound of the final horn when time ticked down to zeros across the clock.

    Carolina won, 6-0, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 43-34, while also amassing a, 14-12, advantage in shots on goal in the third period alone.

    The Hurricanes left TD Garden leading in blocked shots (13-4), giveaways (10-9) and faceoff win% (51-49), while the Bruins exited their own building leading in hits (42-32).

    The Canes went 2/4 on the power play on Thursday, while the B’s finished the night 0/4 on the skater advantage.

    Andersen, meanwhile, picked up his second shutout of the season, as well as the 21st of his career in the process as Carolina finished their regular season series with Boston– outscoring the Bruins by a combined score of, 16-1, over three games.

    Both of Andersen’s shutouts so far in 2021-22, came against the Bruins as the Hurricanes swept their regular season series against the B’s.

    Boston fell to 9-10-3 (6-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal, 4-10-2 (4-6-1 at home) when trailing after the first period and 3-13-2 (3-8-1 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    Carolina, meanwhile, improved to 23-3-2 (12-2-2 on the road) when scoring first, 19-1-1 (8-1-1 on the road) when leading after one and 22-1-1 (8-0-1 on the road) when leading after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins hit the road for the next four games and will pay a visit to the Ottawa Senators on Saturday, New York Rangers next Tuesday, New York Islanders next Thursday and Senators once more next Saturday.

    Boston returns home to host the Colorado Avalanche on Feb. 21st before swinging through Seattle, San Jose and Los Angeles to close out the month of February.

  • Marchand nets hat trick in, 5-1, victory over Montréal

    Marchand nets hat trick in, 5-1, victory over Montréal

    Brad Marchand scored a hat trick, while Curtis Lazar had three points (two goals, one assist) and Linus Ullmark made 24 saves in a, 5-1, win for the Boston Bruins over the Montréal Canadiens Wednesday night at TD Garden.

    Ullmark (12-5-0, 2.48 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 17 games played) turned aside 24 out of 25 shots faced in the win for Boston.

    Montréal starter, Jake Allen (5-16-2, 3.15 goals-against average, .901 save percentage in 24 games played), made five saves on seven shots against before an injury forced him out of the game in the loss.

    Canadiens head coach, Dominique Ducharme, replaced Allen with Sam Montembeault (1-6-2, 3.99 goals-against average, .895 save percentage in 12 games played) 17:11 into the action.

    Montembeault made 31 saves on 34 shots for no decision.

    The Bruins improved to 20-11-2 (42 points) overall and remain in command of 4th place in the Atlantic Division standings, while the Habs fell to 7-24-4 (18 points) on the season and stuck in 8th place (last) in the Atlantic.

    The B’s are now 2-0-0 against the Canadiens this season in their regular season series with a pair of games left to play in Montréal.

    Tuukka Rask served as the backup goaltender for Boston on Wednesday after recovering from offseason hip surgery and signing a one-year contract with a cap hit of $1.000 million ($545,000 in actual salary given the time of the signing) on Tuesday.

    Rask went 15-5-2 in 24 games last season with a 2.28 goals-against average and a .913 save percentage in that span, as well as two shutouts.

    In 560 career National Hockey League games since making his NHL debut in the 2007-08 season, Rask has 306 wins, a career 2.27 goals-against average, a career .921 save percentage and 52 shutouts.

    He holds Bruins franchise records in games played by a goalie (560), wins (306), shots against (15,485), saves (14,269), save percentage (.922) and minutes (32,206) and ranks second in goals-against average (2.27, trailing Tiny Thompson’s 1.99 career GAA in a B’s sweater), as well as shutouts (52, trailing Thompson’s 74).

    As a result of Rask’s signing, Jeremy Swayman was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) as Swayman is not eligible for the NHL’s taxi squad designation.

    Boston Sports Journal‘s Conor Ryan noted in a tweet on Tuesday that Rask “was assigned to Providence 10 times between Sept. 2007 and Feb. 2009 before finally carving out an NHL spot. One of those assignments was two days after a 21-year-old Rask had a 35-save shutout against NYR. It’s part of the process,” in an effort to quell feelings of uneasiness watching Swaymen get sent down among Bruins fans.

    B’s General Manager, Don Sweeney, informed reporters on Tuesday that Swayman, while disappointed, understands the organization’s decision and shows the drive to get back to the NHL level if an injury or otherwise should occur and necessitate another call-up.

    The Bruins were without the services of Jakub Zboril (right ACL), Nick Foligno (lower body), Connor Clifton (COVID-19 protocol), Derek Forbort (COVID-19 protocol) and Trent Frederic (upper body) on Wednesday night.

    Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, told reporters ahead of the game against Montréal that Frederic would miss the next two games– at least– while Foligno could return to action next week.

    Meanwhile, Jake DeBrusk and Tomáš Nosek returned from the league’s COVID-19 protocol and were re-inserted in the lineup against the Canadiens.

    DeBrusk suited up on the third line in his usual spot at left wing with Charlie Coyle at center and Oskar Steen at right wing, while Nosek resumed his regular role as the fourth line center– flanked by Anton Blidh and Lazar on the wings.

    On defense, Cassidy left his pairings alone from Monday night’s, 7-3, win in Washington, D.C. despite Boston having called up Tyler Lewington on an emergency basis.

    Urho Vaakanainen, John Moore, Troy Grosenick and Steven Fogarty were reassigned to Providence on Tuesday in what was simply a paper transaction for Vaakanainen and Moore (the pair were recalled prior to facing the Canadiens), while Grosenick and Fogarty remained with the P-Bruins on Wednesday.

    Boston’s long list of players out of the lineup against Montréal included Frederic (upper body), Foligno (lower body), Forbort (COVID-19 protocol), Lewington (taxi squad), Zboril (right ACL), Clifton (COVID-19 protocol) and Karson Kuhlman (healthy scratch).

    Prior to the singing of the anthems, the Bruins held a moment of silence to honor the life of Teddy Balkind, a 16-year-old hockey player from Connecticut that was killed as a result of an injury that he sustained in a game last week.

    Midway through the opening frame, Jeff Petry had his helmet knocked off by Blidh and kept on playing as if nothing had happened. Except that’s a penalty these days.

    Petry cut a rut to the box for playing without a helmet and presented the Bruins with the night’s first power play at 9:22 of the first period, but Boston couldn’t muster anything on the skater advantage.

    Late in the period, Marchand snuck onto the ice in the midst of a line change and stood open on the left side of the net on the doorstep as Nosek sent a shot-pass to Marchand (17) for the redirection behind Allen.

    The Bruins led, 1-0, as Nosek (5) and Lazar (6) notched the assists on Marchand’s first goal of the night at 14:43 of the first period.

    A mere 15 seconds later, Marchand (18) one-timed the puck out of mid-air through Allen’s five-hole after the rubber biscuit was initially shot by Craig Smith off of a Montréal defender— high and wide before bouncing off the glass over the net to Marchand.

    Smith (8) and Patrice Bergeron (16) tallied the assists on Marchand’s second goal of the game and Boston led, 2-0, at 14:58.

    Marchand, as a result, became the first Bruin to score a pair of goals in 15 seconds since Milan Lucic notched a pair en route to scoring a hat trick against the Florida Panthers in a, 4-0, win on Nov. 18, 2010, at TD Garden.

    Coincidentally, Marchand would later complete a hat trick of his own in Wednesday night’s victory.

    After giving up two goals that were 15 seconds apart, Allen spoke with a Canadiens athletic trainer and was taken out of the game.

    Late in the period, DeBrusk sent a shot towards the net looking for an intentional deflection off of Lazar’s (4) foot and into the twine.

    DeBrusk (5) and Matt Grzelcyk (12) earned the assists as the Bruins took a, 3-0, lead at 19:10 of the first period.

    Heading into the first intermission, Boston led, 3-0, on the scoreboard and, 13-6, in shots on goal.

    The B’s also led in faceoff win percentage (59-41), while the Canadiens dominated in blocked shots (7-1), takeaways (5-1), giveaways (2-0) and hits (14-12).

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

    Bergeron slashed Jonathan Drouin to avoid giving up a quick goal in the second period, but was sent to the box at 3:19 anyway– yielding a power play to the Canadiens as a result.

    Montréal couldn’t convert on the ensuing skater advantage, but got another chance at 6:41 of the second period when Erik Haula was assessed a hooking minor for yanking on Mike Hoffman with his stick.

    The Canadiens were subsequently embarrassed on the ensuing special teams play, however, as Marchand (19) scored a shorthanded goal to complete his hat trick and give Boston a, 4-0, lead at 7:10.

    Moore (1) and Bergeron (17) had the assists as Marchand picked out a hat from the ice to give to an equipment manager on the Bruins’ bench for safekeeping until after the game.

    For the fifth time in his career, Marchand had scored a hat trick and became just the second Bruin to amass three goals in a game this season as Bergeron had previously done so in a, 5-1, win against the Detroit Red Wings on Nov. 4, 2021.

    Less than a minute later, Ben Chiarot was sent to the box for roughing at 7:50, but Boston couldn’t capitalize on the resulting power play.

    Moments later, Michael Pezzetta (2) received a pass from Brett Kulak and spun around before flinging the puck on Ullmark’s short side– scoring a goal as the Bruins failed to clear the zone and broke down in their own end.

    Kulak (7) had the only assist as the Canadiens trailed, 4-1, at 10:46 of the second period.

    A minute later, Bergeron went back to the box for roughing at 11:49 as he retaliated for a hit behind his own net that he didn’t like when a Montréal player took down Grzelcyk below the goal line.

    Montréal’s power play was cut short as Nick Suzuki was penalized for holding at 13:41, resulting in a little 4-on-4 action for nine seconds before an abbreviated power play for Boston began.

    Finally, at 19:10 of the second period, Kulak cut a rut to the sin bin for slashing, but the Bruins wouldn’t convert on the skater advantage even as it bled into the final frame of regulation.

    Through 40 minutes of play, the B’s led, 4-1, on the scoreboard and dominated in shots on goal, 28-15, including a, 15-9, advantage in the middle frame alone.

    The Habs, meanwhile, led in blocked shots (10-3), takeaways (6-2), giveaways (5-4) and hits (22-17), as Boston controlled faceoff win%, 53-47.

    Montréal was 0/3 and the Bruins were 0/4 on the power play heading into the second intermission.

    Prior to the start of the third period, the Bruins tweeted that Moore would not return to the night’s action with an upper body injury.

    Smith tripped Joel Armia 47 seconds into the third period and yielded 26 seconds of 4-on-4 action before an abbreviated power play for Montréal as a result.

    The Canadiens didn’t score on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Moments later, Marchand took down Suzuki as the Canadiens forward almost had his stick on the puck resulting in an interference minor for Marchand at 5:48 of the third period.

    It wasn’t that much longer before things started to get chippy on the ice between the two rival clubs.

    A scrum after a whistle at 6:57 of the third period quickly descended into an exchange of forceful shoves and move as Pezzetta and Carlo received roughing minors while Chris Wideman head-butted Haula– further escalating the situation.

    Haula received a minor for roughing, while Wideman was assessed two minutes for roughing as well as an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction.

    Both teams skated at 4-on-4 for a little longer before resuming full even strength, resulting in a dominant possession for the Bruins at the other end.

    Vaakanainen blasted a shot from the point that deflected off of Lazar’s (5) blade and flew under Montembeault’s blocker to give Boston another four-goal lead at 10:19 of the third period.

    Vaakanainen (3) and Blidh (6) tallied the assists on Lazar’s second goal of the game and the Bruins led, 5-1.

    Minutes later, Ullmark and Laurent Dauphin exchanged pleasantries leading a quick chop that went uncalled as Ullmark instead received an interference minor and Dauphin was handed an embellishment infraction.

    Taylor Hall served Ullmark’s penalty while Dauphin had to answer Haula in an exchange of fisticuffs as the boiling point had been reached at 15:o5 of the third period in just the ninth fighting major this season for the Bruins.

    The action simmered down afterwards and remained relatively calm as the final minutes winded down and the final horn sounded.

    Boston had won, 5-1, and finished the night leading in shots on goal, 41-25.

    Montréal left TD Garden with the advantage in blocked shots (10-4), giveaways (10-5) and hits (29-21), while the Bruins exited their own ice leading in faceoff win% (54-46).

    Both teams went 0/5 on the power play on Wednesday as the B’s earned their third three-game win streak of the season.

    Boston improved to 13-5-0 (6-3-0 at home) when scoring first, 14-0-0 (6-0-0 at home) when leading after one period and 15-1-0 (5-1-0 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    The Canadiens, meanwhile, fell to 2-20-1 (0-11-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal, 1-13-2 (0-9-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 1-20-2 (0-11-2 on the road) when trailing after the second period in 2021-22.

    The Bruins (1-0-0) continue their seven-game homestand on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m. ET on ESPN) before hosting the Nashville Predators on Saturday.

    The Carolina Hurricanes, Washington Capitals, Winnipeg Jets and Anaheim Ducks will also visit Boston before the B’s hit the road on Jan. 26th in Colorado.