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NHL, Nick's Net

Washington capitalizes on, 3-2, shootout win in Boston

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Braden Holtby and the Washington Capitals came back to beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2, in a shootout on Saturday at TD Garden.

Holtby (10-1-3 record, 2.98 goals against average, .904 save percentage in 15 games played) is now 13-1-0 in his last 14 starts against Boston and made 21 saves on 23 shots against (.913 SV%) in the win for the Caps.

Jaroslav Halak (4-1-3, 2.57 GAA, .924 SV% in eight games played) stopped 42 out of 44 shots faced for a .955 SV% in the shootout loss.

Prior to puck drop, the Bruins held a moment of remembrance for Worcester firefighter, Jason Menard, who was killed while battling a fire on Wednesday.

Menard rescued a probationary firefighter and another member of his crew before a mayday was called around 1:32 in the morning after conditions worsened on the third floor of the three-decker building.

The Bruins fell to 12-3-5 (29 points) on the season, but remain 1st in the Atlantic Division after the loss.

Meanwhile, Washington is still in command of 1st place in the Metropolitan Division with a 15-3-4 record and 34 points on the season so far.

Boston fell to 7-0-4 at home as a result of Saturday’s loss.

Steven Kampfer served as Boston’s only healthy scratch with Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper body), Torey Krug (upper body) and Zach Senyshyn (lower body) out of the lineup due to injury.

Joining them in the press box Saturday night was Patrice Bergeron (lower body), who sustained some discomfort during Friday night’s matchup in Toronto.

As a result, Paul Carey was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL).

The 31-year-old center has 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 17 games with Providence this season and skated in his 100th career NHL game as a result of being recalled on Saturday.

Krug, in the meantime, was placed on the injured reserve on Saturday, despite skating earlier in the morning with Ritchie, DeBrusk and Moore.

Of the injured Bruins, Ritchie is the closest to returning to the lineup, according to B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy.

Cassidy juggled his lines from Friday night to Saturday night thanks to Bergeron’s day-to-day status, moving David Krejci up to center the first line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak as his wings, while reuniting Anders Bjork, Charlie Coyle and Danton Heinen as a trio on the second line.

Boston’s usual fourth liners– Joakim Nordstrom, Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner– were promoted to third line duties, while Trent Frederic, Par Lindholm and Carey comprised of the new fourth line for Saturday night’s action.

The defensive pairings remained the same from Friday night against the Maple Leafs to Saturday night against the Capitals.

Midway through the opening period, Pastrnak hooked Jakub Vrana and was sent to the penalty box. The Caps didn’t convert on the ensuing power play at 8:03 of the first period.

In the vulnerable minute after special teams play, Heinen worked the puck deep into Boston’s attacking zone, then sent a pass to Coyle (4) as Coyle crashed the net and redirected the puck through Holtby’s five-hole– giving the Bruins a, 1-0, lead at 11:32 of the first period.

Heinen (5) and Charlie McAvoy (5) notched the assists on the goal.

The goal extended Coyle’s current point streak to four games (a career-high).

Moments later, Travis Boyd (1) tipped in a shot from the point while standing in front of Halak, tying the game, 1-1, in the process.

John Carlson (24) and Brendan Leipsic (5) tallied the assists on Boyd’s goal at 14:27.

With less than a minute remaining in the opening frame, Radko Gudas hooked Marchand and was sent to the sin bin, leaving Washington shorthanded into the second period as Boston couldn’t score on the skater advantage before time expired in the first period.

After one period in Boston, the score was tied, 1-1, while the Capitals led in shots on goal, 18-9. It was the most shots allowed by the Bruins in the first period at any point this season, but the B’s led in blocked shots (4-0) and takeaways (4-3) to make up for it.

Washington also managed the advantage in giveaways (9-3), hits (13-11) and faceoff win percentage (72-28) entering the first intermission.

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

The Capitals killed off the remainder of Gudas’ penalty early in the second period as things resumed at TD Garden.

Early in the period, McAvoy missed an empty net, sending the puck wide and off the endboards, whereby Pastrnak (17) gathered the carom and banked the puck into the twine to give Boston the lead, 2-1, at 3:30 of the second period.

McAvoy (6) and Krejci (9) picked up the assists on the goal as the Bruins surged out of the gate for the middle frame before falling back on a heavy defensive presence in their own zone for the remainder of the period.

About a minute later, Heinen hooked Leipsic and was sent to the box at 4:42.

Washington did not convert on the resulting skater advantage and responded with a penalty of their own midway through the period.

Holtby tripped up Carey as the Bruins forward skated by the crease, yielding a minor infraction for the Capitals goaltender that was served by Leipsic at 10:05.

With 16 seconds left in the period, Evgeny Kuznetsov cross checked McAvoy and was charged with a minor penalty at 19:44, meaning the B’s would still be on the power play into the third period if they couldn’t score by the end of the second period.

Boston didn’t score and carried their advantage into the third period as the Bruins led, 2-1, through 40 minutes of action Saturday night.

The Caps led in shots on goal, 30-15, after two periods– including a, 12-6, advantage in the second period alone– and held the advantage in takeaways (9-8), giveaways (11-9), hits (21-16) and faceoff win% (72-28), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (10-0).

Washington was 0/2 on the power play through two periods and Boston was 0/3 on the skater advantage in that same span.

Midway through the final frame of regulation, Tom Wilson tried to mix things up with McAvoy after each player had big hits in the third period.

Wilson grabbed hold of McAvoy’s stick– but was not penalized for holding the stick– and exchanged words with the young defender until Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara, skated over to offer his opinion on the subject matter– at which point, Wilson fell over and the two (Chara and Wilson) were assessed roughing minors at 13:59 of the third period.

The two teams survived 4-on-4 action unscathed for two minutes before returning to full strength.

With 1:22 left in the third period, Capitals head coach, Todd Reirden, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker and it was very effective.

T.J. Oshie (10) blasted a one-timer from the low slot over Halak’s glove side to tie the game, 2-2, at 19:01 of the third period.

Kuznetsov (11) and Nicklas Backstrom (13) had the assists on Oshie’s goal as Washington force overtime.

After regulation, the score was tied, 2-2, and the Caps led the B’s in shots on goal, 41-21– including an, 11-6, advantage for Washington in the third period alone.

Boston led in blocked shots (11-5), while Washington led in takeaways (14-12), giveaways (20-13), hits (28-23) and faceoff win% (66-34).

The Capitals finished the night 0/2 on the power play and the Bruins finished 0/3 on the skater advantage as there were no more penalties called after 60 minutes of play.

Kuznetsov, Carlson, Wilson, Coyle, Marchand and McAvoy were the starters in overtime for both teams as the two squads couldn’t get the job done in the five-minute allotted extra frame of 3-on-3 action.

Washington led in shots on goal, 3-2, in overtime alone, bringing their shot total advantage to, 44-23.

Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (11-5), but trailing the Capitals in giveaways (20-15), hits (28-23) and faceoff win% (67-33).

In the shootout, the B’s elected to shoot second, yielding Oshie as the shootout’s first shooter for Washington.

Oshie skated his way in toward Halak and tried to fire one past the Bruins netminder’s glove, but Halak made the save.

Coyle followed up with Boston’s first attempt of the shootout and slid one through Holtby’s five-hole to give the Bruins a, 1-0, advantage after one shootout round.

Kuznetsov hit the post to the right of Halak and couldn’t muster the puck into the twine, leaving Pastrnak with the chance to win it as Boston’s second shooter.

Instead, Pastrnak went for the gaping five-hole that Holtby quickly squeezed his pads together to close after poking the puck off of Pastrnak’s stick and letting the rubber biscuit slide through his legs with just enough time to cover it comfortably.

Next up, Backstrom wired a shot into the back of the net on Halak’s glove side– keeping Washington’s shootout hopes alive.

With the game on his stick, Marchand tried to do exactly what every Bruin has done in just about every shootout attempt this season– aim for the five-hole.

Marchand was unsuccessful.

In the fourth round of the shootout, the Caps sent in their best shot– Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin tried to sneak it past Halak, low on his glove side, but the Boston goaltender dove in desperation and robbed the Washington captain– barely getting his glove around the puck before Ovechkin could sneak it over the goal line.

In response, Cassidy sent Krejci out to try to win the game with the last shot in the fourth round of the shootout.

But Krejci also opted for the predictable five-hole and did not score, leaving the fate of the game undecided.

Vrana opened the fifth round of the shootout with a toe-drag that left Halak doing the splits, which was just enough to let Vrana elevate the puck over Halak’s leg pads and into the net.

Boston had to score on their next shot or else the shootout (and the game) would be over.

As such, Wagner was presented the opportunity to extend the shootout, but he too, tried to go five-hole on Holtby, who didn’t face much pressure on the shot as the puck trickled through the crease and wide of the goalframe.

The Capitals had won.

Washington improved to 3-1 in shootouts this season, while Boston fell to 0-4 in such instances.

Holtby improved to 25-14 overall in shootouts in his career as Halak stumbled to 32-33 in shootouts.

The Bruins fell to 7-0-2 when leading after two periods this season and 9-2-3 when scoring the game’s first goal.

Boston travels to New Jersey to take on the Devils next Tuesday (Nov. 19th) before a two-game homestand against Buffalo (Nov. 21st) and Minnesota (Nov. 23rd).

The B’s close out November with back to back nights in Montreal (Nov. 26th) and Ottawa (Nov. 27th) before finishing the month at home against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee on Nov. 29th.

NHL, Nick's Net

Marchand’s two-goal game lifts Bruins over Leafs, 4-2

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After blowing a four-goal lead heading into the third period against the Florida Panthers before losing, 5-4, in a shootout on Tuesday, the Boston Bruins entered Scotiabank Arena on a four-game losing streak.

The B’s snapped their four-game losing streak with a, 4-2, victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday.

Brad Marchand had a pair of goals in his 700th career National Hockey League game en route to the win, while Tuukka Rask (8-2-2 record, 2.14 goals against average, .927 save percentage in 12 games played) made 29 saves on 31 shots against for a .935 SV% in the win for the Bruins.

Maple Leafs goaltender, Frederik Andersen (9-4-3, 2.74 GAA, .912 SV% in 16 GP) stopped 30 out of 33 shots faced for a .912 SV% in the loss.

Boston maintained 1st place in the Atlantic Division, while improving to 12-3-4 (28 points) on the season.

Toronto fell to 9-8-4 (22 points) and remained 4th in the Atlantic as a result of the loss.

The Bruins improved to 5-3-1 on the road this season and snapped their first four-game losing streak since Nov. 2017 in the process.

Once more the Bruins were without the services of Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), Karson Kuhlman (fractured tibia), David Backes (upper body), Jake DeBrusk (lower body), Brett Ritchie (upper body) and Torey Krug (upper body) due to various injuries.

Zach Senyshyn (lower body) joined them on the long list of players out of the lineup against Toronto on Friday after being injured in Tuesday night’s matchup against the Panthers. He will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks.

As a result, Trent Frederic was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and inserted on the third line left wing alongside Par Lindholm and Danton Heinen.

Frederic has five assists in 15 games with Providence this season and skated in 15 games with Boston last season.

Boston head coach, Bruce Cassidy, left his lines the same as Tuesday night with the exception of Frederic’s addition in place of Senyshyn.

Urho Vaakanainen was paired with Connor Clifton on the third defensive pairing while Matt Grzelcyk was bumped up to the second pairing with Brandon Carlo, as well as the first power play unit.

Zdeno Chara and Charlie McAvoy remained together on the first pairing, while Steven Kampfer was the only healthy scratch for the Bruins against the Maple Leafs.

Midway through the first period, Bjork sent Grzelcyk behind the goal whereby the Bruins defender then flipped a pass from the trapezoid to Coyle (3) as No. 13 in black-and-gold ripped a shot high past Andersen’s glove on the short side to give Boston a, 1-0, lead.

The goal was Coyle’s first in seven games and was assisted by Grzelcyk (4) and Bjork (1) at 13:48 of the first period.

Less than a minute later, David Pastrnak was assessed an interference minor after bumping John Tavares while the Leafs captain did not have possession of the puck at 14:09.

Toronto did not convert on the ensuing power play.

Shortly after exiting the penalty box, Pastrnak was held by Nicholas Shore, resulting in a minor infraction for Shore at 16:37 and a power play for Boston.

The Bruins weren’t able to capitalize on the skater advantage.

After one period of play at Scotiabank Arena Friday night, Boston led Toronto, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing in shots on goal, 9-8.

The B’s led in blocked shots (9-2) and hits (16-9), while the Maple Leafs held the advantage in giveaways (7-2) and faceoff win percentage (74-26) entering the first intermission.

Both teams had two takeaways each and were 0/1 on the power play entering the second period.

Toronto announced that forward, Trevor Moore (shoulder), would not return to the night’s action prior to the end of the first period and was short a skater for the remainder of the game.

Jake Muzzin let go of a shot from the point that was redirected by Auston Matthews (14) and found its way past Rask to tie the game, 1-1, at 9:20 of the second period.

The ref closest to the goal ruled it a goal, while the ref farthest away from the action deemed it “no goal” thinking Matthews altered the direction of the puck with a high stick, but after an official review, the call on the ice (the one made by the ref at the goalframe) stood.

Muzzin (8) and William Nylander (9) tabbed the assists on Matthews’ goal as the Leafs tied the game midway through the middle frame.

Moments later, Andreas Johnsson tripped up McAvoy– yielding a power play for Boston at 11:11.

The Bruins did not capitalize on their second power play opportunity of the night and instead took a penalty of their own late in the period.

Patrice Bergeron took a skate to the sin bin for slashing Tavares at 16:52 and the Maple Leafs went on the power play.

Toronto did not score on the ensuing skater advantage, despite heavy pressure in the attacking zone.

Through 40 minutes of play, the game was tied, 1-1.

The Leafs led in shots on goal, 24-19, after two periods– including a, 15-11, advantage in the second period alone. Toronto also led in giveaways (9-5) and faceoff win% (63-37) entering the second intermission.

Boston led in blocked shots (20-6) and hits (24-18) after two periods, while both teams had three takeaways each and were 0/2 on the power play heading into the third period.

Marchand (12) pocketed his own rebound on a quick break off the opening faceoff to begin the final frame of regulation with a goal 11 seconds into the third period.

Carlo (5) and Bergeron (11) had the assists as the Bruins took a, 2-1, lead.

Less than four minutes later, Kasperi Kapanen (6) tied the game with a catch-and-release shot from point blank while Rask performed a split from one side of the crease to the other.

Tavares (8) and Zach Hyman (1) notched the assists on Kapanen’s goal at 3:56 of the third period and the two teams swapped a pair of goals in a 3:45 span.

Marchand (13) tallied his 2nd goal of the game after once again gathering his own rebound and finding the back of the twine– this time after a quick shot that was stopped by Anderson’s glove initially, but rebounded to the Bruins forward as Marchand crashed the slot, picked up his own rebound and slid the rubber biscuit under Andersen’s leg pad for the eventual game-winning goal at 5:08.

Coyle (6) and David Krejci (8) collected the assists on Marchand’s 2nd goal as Boston pulled ahead with a, 3-2, lead just 1:12 after Toronto tied the game.

The two teams combined for three goals in a 4:57 span.

With 1:51 remaining in regulation, Maple Leafs head coach, Mike Babcock, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker in a last ditch effort to tie the game.

It did not go as planned, however, as Sean Kuraly sent the puck deep into the offensive zone, fished it out from along the wall and forced the play back to Chara as the seconds ticked down.

The Bruins captain then blasted a shot from the point for his 4th goal of the season as Chara (4) notched the empty net goal at 18:27 of the third period on an unassisted effort.

Boston sealed the deal on a, 4-2, victory that was ensured at the sound of the final horn.

The B’s finished the night leading in shots on goal, 34-31, and led in shots on net in the third period alone, 15-7.

Boston also wrapped up the action with the advantage in blocked shots (22-10) and hits (35-24), while Toronto finished the game leading in giveaways (13-8) and faceoff win% (63-37).

The two teams finished 0/2 on the power play Friday night as no penalties were called in the third period.

The Bruins are now 10-2-2 when scoring the game’s first goal this season and 9-1-0 when leading after the first period.

Boston returns home to take on the Washington Capitals on the second day of back to back games on Saturday. The Bruins then travel to New Jersey to take on the Devils next Tuesday (Nov. 19th) before a two-game homestand against Buffalo (Nov. 21st) and Minnesota (Nov. 23rd).

The B’s close out November with back to back nights in Montreal (Nov. 26th) and Ottawa (Nov. 27th) before finishing the month at home against the New York Rangers in a Black Friday matinee on Nov. 29th.

Of note, per the NHL’s PR team, Chara is now the fourth defender in NHL history to record a point streak of three or more games at the age of 42 or older, joining Chris Chelios (four games in 2003-04 with the Detroit Red Wings, and again over three games with Detroit in 2006-07), Tim Horton (three games in 1972-73 with the Buffalo Sabres) and Doug Harvey (three games in 1968-69 with the St. Louis Blues).

Meanwhile, Marchand is the first player in NHL history to score a goal in the opening 15 seconds of a period on seven occasions (including OT).

Podcasts

DTFR Podcast #179- Short and Sweet Power Rankings

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This week’s DTFR Power Rankings are here! A quick look at the standings and a few tidbits of news from the week.

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

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DTFR Podcast #178- Another Day, Another Dollar

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Zdeno Chara surpassed 1,500 career games, Claude Julien reached 1,200 games behind the bench, the Toronto Maple Leafs are facing injuries and backup goaltender struggles, Taylor Hall reportedly won’t sign an extension with the New Jersey Devils, the 2019 NHL Global Series happened and the 2020 NHL Global Series was announced.

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

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DTFR Podcast #177- And A Dollar Short

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2020 Winter Classic sweater reviews, a standings update and Top-10 NHL power rankings.

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

NHL, Nick's Net, Numbers Game

2019-20 League Forecast Entering November

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For the first time this season, the calendar is flipped to a new month– and with a new month comes new expectations.

All 31 National Hockey League teams are starting to find a rhythm– for better or worse– and it’s time to acknowledge the general trends of what to expect based on what’s already happened for the first 1/8th of the season (approximately).

American Thanksgiving is still around the corner, which means that any team in a playoff position by Nov. 28th is more likely to qualify for the playoffs by April 4th.

There’s enough time between now and then for a lot to change.

As always, that means it’s time for a new forecast based on what we’ve seen so far and what we may see in the future.

In other words, here’s an educated guess based on a formulaic approach thanks to the wonderful world of spreadsheets.

This isn’t an exact science. It takes into account everything from the last few seasons, as well as every little detail through the end of Oct. 31, 2019.

Anything can happen. It’s a long road to April.

Projected Standings After One Month

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

  1. p-Boston Bruins, 110 points (12 games played entering November 1st)
  2. x-Tampa Bay Lightning, 106 points (12 GP)
  3. x-Montreal Canadiens, 92 points (13 GP)
  4. Florida Panthers, 91 points (13 GP)
  5. Toronto Maple Leafs, 91 points (14 GP)
  6. Buffalo Sabres, 82 points (13 GP)
  7. Detroit Red Wings, 79 points (13 GP)
  8. Ottawa Senators, 74 points (11 GP)

The Boston Bruins are off to a hot start thanks to Tuukka Rask’s stellar goaltending (6-0-1 record, 1.42 goals against average, .951 save percentage in seven games played) and David Pastrnak’s hot stick (12-12–24 totals in 12 games played).

Bruce Cassidy’s leadership behind the bench has steered the B’s away from a Stanley Cup Final appearance hangover and towards another playoff berth for what would be the fourth year in-a-row.

Meanwhile, after a slow start to their season, Jon Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning casually waltz into home ice advantage in at least the First Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs and Claude Julien re-enters the postseason frame with the Montreal Canadiens as if it’s 2004 again (granted, Julien and the Habs made it in 2017, but only after Julien replaced Michel Therrien as head coach for the second time).

Joel Quenneville’s first season as head coach of the Florida Panthers led to an improvement, but not quite enough to get them back into the postseason, while another Stanely Cup winning coach took his team in a different direction.

That coach is Mike Babcock and that team is the Toronto Maple Leafs, who trudged through the middle of the road all season and ended up just outside of a wild card spot in the Eastern Conference (unless Kyle Dubas and Brendan Shanahan decide to stray from the “Shanaplan”).

Though the Buffalo Sabres are hot right now, it seems history repeats itself. Buffalo’s great October, November and/or December wasn’t enough to sustain themselves through the winer months of January, February and March, but overall the team improved and should be a playoff contender next season.

At least the Sabres aren’t the Detroit Red Wings (still a few years away from being a contender) or the Ottawa Senators (they say they’ll spend money in 2021, but…).

Metropolitan Division

  1. y-Washington Capitals, 110 points (14 GP)
  2. x-Pittsburgh Penguins, 102 points (13 GP)
  3. x-New York Islanders, 95 points (11 GP)
  4. wc1-Carolina Hurricanes, 92 points (12 GP)
  5. wc2-Columbus Blue Jackets, 91 points (12 GP)
  6. Philadelphia Flyers, 89 points (11 GP)
  7. New York Rangers, 87 points (10 GP)
  8. New Jersey Devils, 81 points (10 GP)

Alex Ovechkin continues his annual quest for the Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy and likely succeeds unless Pastrnak has anything to say about it.

In the meantime, the Washington Capitals continue to take home the regular season crown in the Metropolitan Division because somehow they always seem to do that no matter the postseason outcome.

The Pittsburgh Penguins avoid major missteps without Evgeni Malkin in the lineup for most of October due to injury and turned things on for the duration of the second half of the season as they always do, yielding 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division.

Barry Trotz’s leadership with the New York Islanders has keep things tight-knit and playoff bound, but unless every 2020 Stanley Cup Playoff home game for the Isles is played at NYCB Live/Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, then it’s not worth it.

Rod Brind’Amour is the best coach for the Carolina Hurricanes and he continues to climb the ranks of “best head coaches in franchise history” with another wild card appearance, at least, and what should be yet another thrilling playoff run for the Canes.

Meanwhile, somehow the Columbus Blue Jackets pieced together enough wins to snag the last wild card spot in the Eastern Conference before bowing out in the First Round due to a lack of depth.

Finally, the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils are all near the bottom of the division, but only with a few points spread between them– meaning that anything after 1st or 2nd place in the division is realistically up for grabs as long as a team goes on a perfectly timed run.

Western Conference

Central Division

  1. z-Nashville Predators, 104 points (13 GP)
  2. x-St. Louis Blues, 101 points (13 GP)
  3. x-Winnipeg Jets, 93 points (13 GP)
  4. wc1-Colorado Avalanche, 92 points (12 GP)
  5. Chicago Blackhawks, 87 points (11 GP)
  6. Dallas Stars, 86 points (14 GP)
  7. Minnesota Wild, 85 points (13 GP)

In the Western Conference, the Nashville Predators are going to pounce on the competition as the leaders of the West in the regular season. The only trouble is, they still might blow it in the last second of overtime or something.

The defending champion St. Louis Blues are content to finish 2nd in the Central Division, but remain hungry in their quest for another Cup.

After a slow start to the season, Paul Maurice and the Winnipeg Jets somehow right the ship and earned themselves the last divisional spot in the Central Division.

But the Colorado Avalanche hold a wild card spot in the latest forecast as the real wild card of the entire Western Conference. Injuries could hold them back in the regular season, but they’ve shown they can make noise in the playoffs last spring.

Otherwise, if the Avs can stay healthy for longer periods of time, then Colorado could climb in the standings.

Finally, the Chicago Blackhawks are still trending in the wrong direction– facing the existential crisis of holding onto the old guard or continuing to dismantle their Cup-winning core– while the Dallas Stars and Minnesota Wild compete for the worst of the former and/or current Minnesota franchises this season.

Spoiler alert, it’s the Wild.

Pacific Division

  1. y-Vegas Golden Knights, 101 points (14 GP)
  2. x-Anaheim Ducks, 96 points (14 GP)
  3. x-San Jose Sharks, 92 points (13 GP)
  4. wc2-Calgary Flames, 91 points (15 GP)
  5. Vancouver Canucks, 89 points (12 GP)
  6. Edmonton Oilers, 84 points (14 GP)
  7. Arizona Coyotes, 82 points (12 GP)
  8. Los Angeles Kings, 82 points (13 GP)

Nothing is going how things were expected to go in the Pacific Division and as a result, there’s still no conclusive results.

The Vegas Golden Knights are good and could likely win the Pacific Division regular season title, but the Anaheim Ducks aren’t bowing out of playoff contention just yet.

Meanwhile, the San Jose Sharks are as bad as the Los Angeles Kings, so this forecast will be further fine-tuned next month as the Sharks continue to slip from dominant to dormant in the standings.

The Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks and Edmonton Oilers all might take a stab at playoff contention, yet the Arizona Coyotes are on the rise.

At the very least, this is the most unpredictable division in the league that not even our current forecast can make any definitive claims.

Check back next month for further separation in the spread, as well as a more realistic view of where each team should likely land within the range of standings.

NHL, Nick's Net

Bergeron’s hat trick, Marchand and Pastrnak’s five-point games, lead Bruins over Rangers, 7-4

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Patrice Bergeron (3-0–3 totals) scored a hat trick and his linemates, Brad Marchand (2-3–5) and David Pastrnak (0-5–5) each had five-point nights as the Boston Bruins beat the New York Rangers, 7-4, Saturday night at Madison Square Garden.

Bruins goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (3-1-1 record, 2.59 goals against average, .919 save percentage in five games played) made 25 saves on 29 shots against (.862 SV%) in the win for the B’s.

Henrik Lundqvist (2-3-0, 3.58 GAA, .906 SV% in six games played) stopped 27 out of 31 shots faced (.871 SV%) in 40 minutes played prior to being replaced before the third period by Alexandar Georgiev (1-2-1, 2.70 GAA, .923 SV% in four games played) for the final frame.

Georgiev turned aside nine out of the 11 shots he faced for an .818 SV% in the loss.

Boston improved to 8-1-2 (18 points) on the season and remained in command of 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, meanwhile, New York remained stagnant in 7th place in the Metropolitan Division with a 3-5-1 record (seven points).

For the 11th time this season, Kevan Miller (knee) and John Moore (shoulder) were out of commission due to injuries. Miller should return to full practice later this week, however, while Moore is still on track for a return in mid-November.

David Krejci (upper body) missed his 4th consecutive game, but is hopeful to return Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks.

Karson Kuhlman (fractured right tibia) is still out and was placed on the injured reserve as he’ll be sidelined for at least four weeks.

Meanwhile, Joakim Nordstrom (infection) and Chris Wagner (foot) were new additions to Boston’s injury list Sunday night as both players took part in Saturday night’s, 3-0, shutout win over the St. Louis Blues, but were not well enough to go in New York on Sunday.

Nordstrom’s been battling some lingering issues, while Wagner blocked a shot against the Blues and went down the tunnel briefly before returning moments later on Saturday.

As a result of the mountain of injuries for the Bruins, Peter Cehlarik was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) on emergency basis and made his 2019-20 season debut for Boston against the Rangers.

B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, inserted Cehlarik on the fourth line left wing and reintroduced David Backes on the right wing of the fourth line, leaving Steven Kampfer as the only healthy scratch for Boston.

Jesper Fast (personal reasons) was a healthy scratch for New York on Sunday.

Nearly 30 seconds into the game, Rangers defender, Brady Skjei tripped up Bruins alternate captain, Patrice Bergeron, and was sent to the penalty box for a minor infraction.

Boston went to the power play 35 seconds into the first period, but couldn’t muster much of anything on the skater advantage and instead took a penalty of their own shortly after New York killed off Skjei’s minor.

Cehlarik was called for hooking Libor Hajek at 2:55 of the first period and the Rangers went on their first power play of the night.

It didn’t work.

Midway through the opening frame, however, Brendan Smith let go of a shot from just past the blue line that deflected off of Torey Krug in front of his own goaltender.

Micheal Haley (1) pounced on the rebound to give the Rangers the, 1-0, lead with his first goal of the season at 10:19.

Smith (3) and Lias Andersson (1) notched the assists as New York was the first to get on the scoreboard and carried their one-goal lead into the first intermission– even after botching another power play at 12:17, after Marchand cut a rut to the sin bin for high sticking Rangers blue liner, Jacob Trouba.

After one period, New York led, 1-0, on the scoreboard, despite being outshot, 10-7, by Boston.

Both teams were pretty even in the statistical categories unrelated to shots on net and goals as the Blue Shirts led in blocked shots (9-6), giveaways (12-4) and hits (12-6) and the B’s led in takeaways (1-0) and faceoff win percentage (60-40).

The Rangers were 0/2 on the skater advantage and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play entering the second period.

It didn’t take long for Boston to tie things up in the middle frame as Bergeron (3) scored his first goal of the night 11 seconds into the second period.

Pastrnak crashed the net and was tripped by a New York defender into Lundqvist– knocking the Rangers netminder to the ice and allowing for Bergeron to swoop in and bury the rebound.

Officials reviewed the play and determined that the call on the ice stood– it was indeed a good goal, as the play was deemed a “continuous motion” cause by New York’s own volition.

Pastrnak (8) and Marchand (11) tabbed the assists and the game was tied, 1-1.

Less than a minute later– 57 seconds, to be exact– Marchand (6) received a pass from Pastrnak, held onto the puck as he entered the low slot, deked Lundqvist off his rocker and scored to make it, 2-1, Boston at 1:08 of the second period.

Pastrnak (9) picked up his second assist of the night on the goal and Brandon Carlo (2) recorded the secondary assist– his first of two in the game on Sunday night.

About 30 seconds later, Kaapo Kakko caught Charlie McAvoy with a high stick and was sent to the box at 1:36.

Boston didn’t convert on the resulting power play.

Midway through the period, Charlie Coyle (1) scored his first goal of the season after receiving a tape-to-tape pass from McAvoy after the Bruins defender wrapped around the net.

McAvoy (3) and Zdeno Chara (1) tallied the assists on Coyle’s goal and the B’s led, 3-1, at 9:27 of the second period.

Less than a minute later, feeling as though he had been wronged on the non-call against Pastrnak (even though it was his own defender’s doing that caused No. 88 in black-and-gold to crash into the New York goaltender), Lundqvist lunged at Pastrnak while the Bruin was attempting to make a play of the puck in the trapezoid.

Marchand and Lundqvist got into a shoving match immediately thereafter and each were disciplined with roughing minors at 10:01.

Pavel Buchnevich served Lundqvist’s penalty in the box for the Rangers as both teams skated 4-on-4 for two minutes before resuming full strength action.

After serving his time in the box, Marchand (7) sniped a shot past Lundqvist to give the Bruins four unanswered goals in the second period.

Whereas on the previous goal, Coyle received a pass on a wraparound from McAvoy, this time around Coyle received a drop pass from Jake DeBrusk, wrapped around the Rangers net and sent a pass to Marchand for the goal.

Coyle (3) and DeBrusk (3) tallied the assists on Marchand’s second goal of the night at 12:09.

After allowing a fourth goal against, Rangers head coach, David Quinn, used his team’s only timeout to refocus his team.

Seconds later, Chara tripped Brendan Lemieux and was sent to the box at 12:36, but New York couldn’t convert on the resulting skater advantage.

Through 40 minutes in “The Big Apple”, the Bruins led the Rangers, 4-1, on the scoreboard and outshot New York, 31-12, entering the second intermission– including a, 21-5, advantage in the middle frame alone for Boston.

The Rangers, however, had taken advantage of nearly everything else, leading in blocked shots (14-7), takeaways (4-3), giveaways (19-8) and hits (18-10), while the Bruins led in faceoff win% (55-46).

New York was 0/3 and the B’s were 0/2 on the skater advantage to begin the final frame of regulation.

Quinn replaced Lundqvist with Georgiev prior to the start of the third period and the young Rangers goaltender was immediately put to the test less than a minute after coming into the game.

Chara (2) blasted a one-timer rocket from the point over Georgiev’s glove and the Bruins extended their lead to four-goals.

Pastrnak (10) and Carlo (3) had the assists on Chara’s goal 43 seconds into the third period and the Bruins led, 5-1.

Moments later, Pastrnak tripped up Buchnevich and presented the Rangers with yet another power play opportunity at 4:18 of the third period.

New York didn’t score and Boston successfully made the kill.

The B’s announced that forward, Par Lindholm, suffered an upper body injury at some point in the action and would not return for the night– this, after New York did the same with Mika Zibanejad back in the first period after Zibanejad got laid out on the ice along the boards on a clean hit from Bergeron.

Almost midway through the third, Buchnevich (2) cut Boston’s lead to three-goals as Artemi Panarin sent a saucer pass across the ice to Tony DeAngelo, whereby DeAngelo spotted Buchnevich in the low slot acting as a bumper for the goal.

DeAngelo (3) and Panarin (3) had the assists and the Rangers trailed, 5-2, at 8:15 of the third period.

Moments later, Bergeron (4) sent a shot from the high slot into the corner of the twine behind Georgiev for his second goal of the game and re-extended Boston’s lead back to four at 11:39.

Marchand (12) and Pastrnak (11) had the assists on Bergeron’s goal and the B’s led, 6-2.

Late in the third, Chara received a delay of game penalty for closing his hand on the puck at 17:52.

Nine seconds later, New York scored on the power play as Chris Kreider (2) snuck around Halak to pocket a rebound off the post and just across the goal line to make it, 6-3.

DeAngelo (4) and Buchnevich (6) were credited with the assists on Kreider’s goal at 18:01.

Just 21 seconds later, Skjei (1) notched his first of the season while following up on another rebound as the Bruins completely broke down in their own zone.

Panarin (4) and Ryan Strome (5) gathered the assists on Skjei’s goal and the Rangers trailed by two, 6-4, in favor of Boston at 18:22.

But with about 90 seconds left on the clock, Quinn pulled Georgiev for an extra attacker, leaving Bergeron (5) with the hat trick goal on an empty net at 19:15 to seal the deal on the win for the B’s, 7-4.

Marchand (13) and Pastrnak (12) each collected their 5th point of the night on Bergeron’s 5th career hat trick.

The Bruins finished the night with the win and with the advantage in shots on goal, 43-29, while the Rangers bounced back to a, 17-12, advantage in shots on net in the third period alone.

New York wrapped up Sunday night’s action leading in blocked shots (16-12), giveaways (25-13), hits (21-15).

The Rangers went 1/5 on the skater advantage in the game.

Boston finished the night with the advantage in faceoff win% (52-49) and 0/2 on the power play.

Bergeron’s hat trick marked Boston’s second hat trick this season as Pastrnak previously scored a hat trick (and a fourth goal for good measure) in the Bruins’, 4-2, victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 14th.

With five assists on the night– despite not scoring a goal– Pastrnak now has 11-12–23 totals through 11 games played this season.

Boston finishes the month of October at home Tuesday night versus the San Jose Sharks. They begin the month of November at home against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (Nov. 2nd).

The Bruins went 8-3-2 in back-to-back days with games last season and improved to 4-1-1 on the road this season.

Sunday night’s matchup was the 2,000th regular season game at “The World’s Most Famous Arena”, Madison Square Garden.

NHL, Nick's Net

Bruins win, 3-0, in Stanley Cup Final rematch

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Tuukka Rask backstopped the Boston Bruins to their, 3-0, shutout victory over the St. Louis Blues at TD Garden Saturday night, while David Pastrnak added yet another goal to his league-leading goal scoring totals in the win.

Rask (5-0-1, 1.48 goals against average, .952 save percentage in six games played) turned aside all 26 shots that he faced for his 2nd shutout of the season (and 47th of his career).

The Bruins have three shutouts in 10 games this season.

Meanwhile, Blues goaltender, Jordan Binnington (4-2-3, 2.53 GAA, .916 SV% in nine games played) made 21 saves on 23 shots against (.913 SV%) in the loss.

Boston improved to 4-0-1 at home this season and 7-1-2 (16 points) overall– good enough to remain in 2nd place of the Atlantic Division. St. Louis fell to 5-3-3 (13 points), but stayed in 3rd place in the Central Division standings.

Bruins defenders, Kevan Miller (knee) and John Moore (shoulder) have yet to make their season debuts, but are progressing according to plan with Miller expected to begin practicing with the rest of the team next week and Moore still sidelined until mid-November.

David Krejci (upper body) missed his 3rd consecutive game and was ruled out for the weekend by Boston’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy. Krejci is hopeful to return on Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks.

Meanwhile, Joakim Nordstrom returned to the lineup after missing the last two games with an upper body injury and Karson Kuhlman (hairline nondisplaced fracture of the right tibia) is out for at least four weeks.

Kuhlman sustained his fractured tibia in Boston’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, Oct. 19th while blocking a shot. He missed his 2nd consecutive game this season Saturday against the Blues.

As a result of all the injuries plaguing the B’s, Cassidy switched things up among his bottom-six forwards with Nordstrom’s return to action.

Anders Bjork joined Par Lindholm on the left side, while Danton Heinen was shifted to right wing on the third line.

Meanwhile, Nordstrom was reunited with Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner in their usual spots on the fourth line.

David Backes and Steven Kampfer were Boston’s only healthy scratches against St. Louis.

Vladimir Tarasenko (upper body) was out for the Blues in their first matchup against the Bruins in Boston since winning their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history on June 12th at TD Garden in Game 7 of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

Less than a minute into the action, Bruins captain, Zdeno Chara leveled Oskar Sundqvist with a big hit near St. Louis’ bench.

Blues forward, Brayden Schenn, responded to Chara’s hit and the two players were escorted to the penalty box with roughing minors 38 seconds into the first period.

Both teams skated 4-on-4 as a result for two minutes, then resumed full strength afterwards with no issues until about five minutes later when Torey Krug and David Perron got into a bit of a shoving match.

Krug was penalized for holding the stick and Perron received a roughing infraction as a result. Both penalties were called at 6:13 of the first period and once again– the two teams skated 4-on-4 for a couple minutes.

Late in the opening frame, Perron was guilty of holding Charlie Coyle and sent to the sin bin as a result at 14:08.

Boston capitalized on their first power play opportunity of the night as Pastrnak (11) blasted a one-timer through Binnington’s seven-hole to give the B’s the game’s first goal at 14:59.

Krug (7) and Brad Marchand (10) had the assists on Pastrnak’s power play goal and the Bruins led, 1-0.

Less than a minute later, Kuraly was penalized for cross checking Vince Dunn and the Blues went on the power play at 15:49.

St. Louis wasn’t able to convert on the skater advantage– what would become a trend for the Notes all evening.

Finally, to wrap up the first frame, Sundqvist got his stick caught in Connor Clifton’s skate and tripped the Bruins defender at 18:12.

Boston’s ensuing power play would carryover into the second period.

Through 20 minutes of action Saturday night, the Bruins led St. Louis, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-9, in shots on goal.

The B’s also held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2) and giveaways (5-1) entering the first intermission, while the Blues led in takeaways (6-3), hits (10-9) and faceoff win percentage (57-44).

St. Louis was 0/1 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/2 on the skater advantage heading into the second period.

Despite starting the middle frame with 12 seconds left on the power play, Boston’s skater advantage went powerless for the rest of the night after Pastrnak’s first period power play goal.

But midway through the middle frame, Bjork (1) ripped a one-timer over Binnington’s glove on a pass from Matt Grzelcyk to put Boston ahead, 2-0.

Grzelcyk (2) and Heinen (1) tallied the assists at 9:31 of the second period as Bjork snapped a 17-game goal drought.

Just 11 seconds later, Krug hooked Perron and presented St. Louis with their second power play of the night at 9:42. The Blues did not convert on the advantage.

In the vulnerable minute after a special teams effort, Sundqvist didn’t use his better judgment and boarded Charlie McAvoy at 12:06, resulting in a power play for the Bruins.

At least Boston didn’t score on the ensuing skater advantage.

With less than a minute left in the second period, Grzelcyk interfered with Alexander Steen at 19:17 and was sent to the penalty box accordingly, yielding 1:17 of time carried over on the power play for St. Louis to start the third period.

After two periods in Boston, the Bruins led, 2-0. The B’s held a, 19-16, advantage in shots on goal– including a, 9-7, advantage in the second period alone– and led in giveaways (7-3), while the Notes led in takeaways (10-6), hits (21-16) and faceoff win% (68-33).

Both teams had five blocked shots aside entering the second intermission.

Boston was 1/3 on the power play, while St. Louis was 0/3 on the skater advantage.

St. Louis began the third period with 1:17 left on their power play, but couldn’t muster anything on the fresh sheet of ice, leaving the Bruins unharmed.

Early in the final frame of regulation, Colton Parayko hooked Bjork and was sent to the box at 4:02 of the third period.

Boston didn’t score on the resulting power play.

Midway through the third, Krug was penalized for holding 2019 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Ryan O’Reilly, and sent to the box at 8:22, but once again the Blues were powerless and let another skater advantage slip by.

With 2:35 remaining in the game, Blue head coach, Craig Berube pulled Binnington for an extra attacker.

At 19:11 of the third, Brandon Carlo (1) cleared the puck out of his own zone and into the empty twine to make it, 3-0, Boston with an unassisted goal.

The Bruins won, 3-0, at the final horn, despite being outshot, 26-24, in the action.

Boston finished the night leading in blocked shots (11-8), while St. Louis finished leading in hits (27-22) and faceoff win% (60-40).

Both teams ended up with nine giveaways each.

Boston travels to Madison Square Garden for their second game in back-to-back days for a Sunday night matchup with the New York Rangers before finishing the month of October at home Tuesday night versus San Jose.

NHL, Nick's Net

Rask wins in 500th game, B’s depth carries Boston over Toronto, 4-2

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Brett Ritchie had the game-winning goal and Par Lindholm added the insurance goal against his former team late in the third period, as the Boston Bruins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-2, at TD Garden on Tuesday night.

Tuukka Rask (4-0-1, 1.78 goals against average, .944 save percentage in five games played) stopped 28 out of 30 shots faced for a .933 SV% in the win for Boston.

Rask played in his 500th career game and became the 28th goaltender in league history to play all 500 games with one franchise, as well as the 72nd goaltender all time to reach 500 games in his career (10th active).

Meanwhile, Maple Leafs goaltender, Michael Hutchinson (0-2-1, 4.02 GAA, .890 SV% in four games played) made 35 saves on 39 shots against for an .897 SV% in the loss.

The Bruins improved to 6-1-2 (14 points) and remained 2nd in the Atlantic Divison, while the Maple Leafs fell to 5-4-2 (12 points)– stuck in 3rd place in the Atlantic.

Bruce Cassidy coached his 200th game as Boston’s head coach and is 123-53-24 in that span.

Kevan Miller (knee), John Moore (shoulder), David Krejci (upper body), Joakim Nordstrom (upper body) and Karson Kuhlman (tibia) made up Boston’s long list of players out due to injury on Tuesday night, while Steven Kampfer remained the only healthy scratch for the Bruins.

Krejci was placed on the injured reserve (retroactive to last week when his injury occurred), while Nordstrom returned to practice without the need for a no-contact sweater since the B’s returned from their trip up to Toronto last Saturday.

Kuhlman suffered a hairline nondisplaced fracture of his right tibia in Boston’s game against Toronto on Saturday (Oct. 19th) and will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks, as reported by the team moments after their win against the Maple Leafs Tuesday night.

As a result of Boston’s many injuries, Anders Bjork was recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) on emergency basis and took on Nordstrom’s usual role as the fourth line left wing alongside Sean Kuraly and Chris Wagner.

Bjork has 3-5–8 totals in seven games with Providence this season and has a plus-five rating in that span.

Ritchie was bumped up from the third line right wing to the second line right wing with Jake DeBrusk and Charlie Coyle in place of Kuhlman, while Cassidy also moved David Backes up to the right side of the third line with Danton Heinen and Lindholm as a result.

Torey Krug interfered with Frederik Gauthier after the Leafs skater bumped David Pastrnak along the boards and left the league leading goal scorer hunched over on his way back to the bench.

Krug was assessed a minor penalty at 4:03 of the first period, yielding a power play for Toronto.

The Maple Leafs didn’t convert on the skater advantage.

Just past the midpoint of the opening frame, Pastrnak thought he scored the game’s first goal, but Maple Leafs head coach, Mike Babcock, used a coach’s challenge to review how the Bruins entered the attacking zone.

After review, it was determined that the play was offside leading up to Pastrnak’s would-be goal and thus, the score remained tied, 0-0 at 10:48.

Moments later, Andreas Johnsson hooked Kuraly at 16:26 and the Bruins went on the power play for their first time of the night.

It didn’t take long for Boston to capitalize on the skater advantage as Pastrnak (10) received the puck on his backhand, skated backwards in front of the crease and scored a between-the-legs goal through Hutchinson’s five-hole to give the B’s a power play goal and the, 1-0, lead at 17:15.

The goal was Pastrnak’s 300th career NHL point in his 329th career game– becoming the 4th fastest to reach 300 points in Bruins franchise history– and was assisted by Brad Marchand (9) and Krug (6).

Only Leon Draisaitl (328) has more points than Pastrnak among members from the same 2014 NHL Draft class and only Barry Pederson (235 games), Bobby Orr (279) and Ray Bourque (316) got to 300 points in their career for Boston faster than Pastrnak.

Just three seconds after the Bruins scored on the power play, Johnsson was sent back to the sin bin for roughing Wagner at 17:18.

Boston did not convert on the ensuing power play.

At the end of the first period, the B’s held a, 1-0, lead entering the first intermission, while holding an advantage in shots on goal, 12-10, as well.

Toronto led in blocked shots (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (71-29), while the Bruins led in takeaways (4-2) and hits (11-8). Both teams had four giveaways each heading into the second period.

Meanwhile, the Maple Leafs power play was 0/1 and the B’s were 1/2.

Less than 90 seconds into the middle frame, Jake Muzzin tripped up DeBrusk and presented Boston with another power play at 1:18 of the second period.

The Bruins were not able to capitalize on their early skater advantage in the second frame and the Leafs killed off Muzzin’s minor without any harm.

In the vulnerable minute thereafter, Kasperi Kapanen (3) blasted a one-timer past Rask off a backhand drop pass from Alexander Kerfoot to tie the game, 1-1, at 4:23 of the second period.

Kerfoot (3) and Justin Holl (3) tallied the assists on Kapanen’s goal as Toronto pounced on Boston’s lackluster effort defending against Toronto’s rush.

But Marchand (5) responded with a quick goal of his own on a wrist shot from the slot that he sent high into the twine over Hutchinson’s glove side after receiving a pass from Pastrnak in the attacking zone.

Pastrnak (7) and Charlie McAvoy (2) had the assists on Marchand’s goal as the Bruins regained the lead, 2-1, at 6:09.

The two teams swapped goals in a 1:05 span of the middle period.

Midway through the middle frame, Zdeno Chara was called for tripping Gauthier even though Chara had actually interfered with the Leaf– catching the Toronto skater with a one-arm shove from about shoulder height instead of a trip and knocking him over.

Nonetheless, a minor penalty was indeed the right call and the Maple Leafs went on the power play at 11:40.

Toronto converted on a tic-tac-goal as Kerfoot (4) notched a power play goal from dead center in the slot while Rask was caught out of position– seconds behind the play.

William Nylander had sent a cross-ice pass to Kapanen, who tossed the puck back to Kerfoot in the slot for the goal at 12:54, tying the game, 2-2.

Kapanen (5) and Nylander (4) had the assists on Toronto’s power play goal as the Maple Leafs took full advantage of catching the Bruins off of their game in the middle frame.

Late in the period, Morgan Rielly tripped Kuraly and was assessed a minor penalty, but the B’s didn’t score on the resulting skater advantage at 15:54.

Heading into the second intermission, the two teams were tied on the scoreboard, 2-2, despite the Bruins leading in shots on goal, 25-22– even though Toronto actually held a, 13-12, advantage in shots on net in the second period alone.

Boston led in every other major statistical category, however, entering the third period, leading the Leafs in blocked shots (7-4), takeaways (11-4), giveaways (7-6), hits (17-14) and faceoff win% (51-49).

Toronto was 1/2 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1/4 to begin the final frame of regulation.

After Coyle dumped the puck around the glass for DeBrusk to dig out of the corner on the other side of Hutchinson, Ritchie (2) followed up on a loose puck after DeBrusk’s initial shot attempt was blocked by a Maple Leafs defender and buried a shot behind the Toronto netminder for what would be the eventual game-winning goal at 6:35 of the third period.

DeBrusk (2) had the only assist on Ritchie’s goal as Boston retook the lead, 3-2.

Though Kuraly caught Johnsson with a high stick late in the final period at 15:48, Toronto’s power play was no match for Boston’s penalty killing unit– even after Babcock used his team’s timeout with 3:27 remaining in the game to try to draw up a game-tying play.

Seconds after being released from the box, Kuraly entered the offensive zone with the puck on his stick and sent a shot right in and out of Hutchinson’s glove.

Lindholm (1), the former Maple Leaf, scored on the rebound with a backhand tap-in goal to provide the Bruins with an insurance goal, giving Boston the two-goal lead, 4-2, at 17:57 of the third period.

Kuraly (3) had the only assist on Lindholm’s first goal as a Bruin.

Eight seconds after Boston extended their lead, Marchand picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction, leaving his teammates shorthanded at 18:05, but the Leafs couldn’t score on the power play– even with their goaltender pulled for an extra attacker.

The Bruins secured another “W” in the win column with their, 4-2, victory over Toronto at the sound of the final horn.

Boston had defeated the Leafs for the 300th time in franchise history– the most wins vs. any opponent since the Bruins joined the NHL as the first American expansion team in 1924.

The B’s finished Tuesday night leading in shots on goal, 39-30, including a, 14-8, advantage in the third period alone, as well as giveaways (10-8), hits (32-16) and faceoff win% (60-40), while Toronto finished the night leading in blocked shots (9-8).

Both teams went 1/4 on the power play as the Bruins improved to 300-265-111 all-time against Toronto in the regular season.

Boston has a few days off before they face the defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues in a 2019 Stanley Cup Final rematch for the first time this season at home on Oct. 26th.

St. Louis will actually be the first back-to-back days with games for the Bruins, as Boston will travel to New York to face the Rangers on Oct. 27th before finishing the month at home against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 29th.

The Bruins improved to 3-0-1 at home this season and 5-1-0 when leading after the first period. The B’s are also 5-1-1 when scoring the game’s first goal this season.

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DTFR Podcast #174- Coaching Conundrums

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Some firsts, 100s, broken fingers and pointing fingers– who should be concerned about their job security behind the bench? Plus Cap’n and Pete are back.

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