Down the Frozen River

Tag: Nick Ritchie

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

    Smith tops Bruins comeback, 3-2, against Sabres

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Miller and Carlo have been skating as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Reinhart’s goal was unassisted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Boston failed to convert on the ensuing power play opportunity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Both teams had five giveaways each through two periods.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • Preview: Game No. 29– Islanders @ Bruins

    Preview: Game No. 29– Islanders @ Bruins

    For the first time in a week, the Boston Bruins are set to play another game. This time, the B’s will be kicking off the second-half of their 2020-21 56-game regular season schedule against the New York Islanders at TD Garden on Thursday night.

    Boston defeated the Buffalo Sabres, 4-1, at KeyBank Center last Thursday (March 18th) without forward, Sean Kuraly, in the lineup as he had been placed in the league’s COVID protocol earlier that afternoon– jeopardizing that night’s action, when combined with the fact that the Sabres also had a positive test among their coaching staff– but nevertheless, the game went on as scheduled.

    Until after the game.

    Four more Bruins skaters were placed in COVID protocol, including Jake DeBrusk, David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Craig Smith, which forced the postponement of last Saturday’s scheduled matchup with the Sabres in Buffalo and Tuesday’s scheduled home game against the Islanders.

    Boston’s facilities were shutdown until Wednesday, when the team held practice for the first time since March 18th’s game action at 7 o’clock in the evening at Warrior Ice Arena in Brighton.

    Everyone except for DeBrusk and Kuraly came off of the National Hockey League’s COVID protocol list prior to practice on Wednesday night.

    Meanwhile, back in Buffalo last Thursday, Greg McKegg scored his first goal as a Bruin, DeBrusk added his third goal of the season, Smith notched his fifth and Pastrnak tallied his 14th goal of the year.

    Krejci had three assists, surpassing 700 career points (all with Boston) in the process– becoming just the eighth player to do so in a Bruins uniform.

    In 935 career NHL games, Krejci has 208-494–702 totals and trails Wayne Cashman (793 points) for the seventh-most points in a B’s jersey.

    Jaroslav Halak made 23 saves on 24 shots against for a .958 save percentage in the win for Boston last Thursday, while Carter Hutton stopped 33 out of 37 shots faced for an .892 save percentage in Buffalo’s loss.

    Now back to the present.

    Entering Thursday night, the Bruins are 0-3-1 against the Islanders this season, with the most recent loss coming in a shootout, 2-1, on March 9th at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

    New York is riding back-to-back wins against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 20th at home and March 22nd in Philadelphia as they enter Boston for the first time this season.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, provided a pregame update to reporters via Zoom and informed them that he expects Tuukka Rask to return to the lineup and get the start against the Isles on Thursday, while Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic will be game-time decisions.

    Boston will be without Ondrej Kase, Kevan Miller, Jeremy Lauzon, Brandon Carlo, John Moore and Zach Senyshyn, though Carlo, Lauzon, Miller and Senyshyn are skating.

    Moore underwent surgery on an undisclosed injury and is out longer-term, while Kase has no set timetable for when he’ll be back since sustaining an upper body injury in the second game of the season back on Jan. 16th in New Jersey.

    Cassidy, meanwhile, is coaching in his 400th NHL game on Thursday night (177-74-38 overall in 289 games with Boston).

    The Bruins (16-8-4, 36 points) are 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division as they embark on the second-half of their season, while New York leads the division with a 21-8-4 record (46 points).

    The B’s are 7-3-1 on home ice this season and 5-3-2 in their last ten games, while the Isles enter TD Garden 8-7-2 on the road in 2020-21, as well as 8-2-0 in their last ten games.

    Boston is 92-57-21-6 in 176 regular season meetings against the Islanders all time with 590 goals for and 501 goals against in that span.

    New York is 18-20-2-4 in 44 games at TD Garden since the building was opened in 1995, outscoring the Bruins in that span, 134-113.

    Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 12-22–34 totals in 28 games played, while Pastrnak leads the team in goals scored (14), but trails Marchand for the second-most points with 14-12–26 totals in 21 games played this season.

    Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, rounds out the top-three scorers with 25 points in 28 games and is four points away from tying Rick Middleton for the fourth most points with Boston in franchise history.

    Bergeron has 362-532–894 totals in 1,117 career games with the Bruins, while Middleton had 898 points in 881 games with Boston from 1976-88.

    Mathew Barzal leads the Islanders in scoring with 9-16–25 totals in 33 games this season, while Anders Lee and Brock Nelson are tied for the team lead in goals with 12.

    Lee’s recent injury has limited him to 27 games and ruled him out for the rest of the season, while Nelson has attained 12-6-18 totals in 33 games.

    Isles defender, Nick Leddy, is second on the team in scoring with 1-20–21 totals in 33 games, while Jordan Eberle and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each have 20 points for the third-most points on New York’s roster.

    Eberle’s recorded 20 points in 33 games, while Pageau has 20 points in 32 games, including 4-1–5 totals in four games against Boston this season.

    Rask (8-4-2, 2.46 goals-against average, .906 save percentage in 14 games played) is expected to get his first start since missing the last six games for Boston due to an undisclosed injury.

    He is one win away from reaching the 300-win plateau and would be the first Bruins goaltender in franchise history to reach that mark.

    Semyon Varlamov (13-6-3, 2.17 goals-against average, .923 save percentage in 22 games played) is likely to get the start in net for the Islanders on Thursday.

    The Bruins kick off a seven-game homestand on Thursday, which is tied for the longest home stretch in team history (Jan. 2-16, 2006).

    For the first time since the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began last year, fans will be in attendance at TD Garden as the building is limited to 12% seating capacity.

    Roughly 2,100 fans will be at a Bruins home game for the first time since March 7, 2020, instead of the usual sellout crowd of 17,850 since the building’s most recent renovations and development of The Hub on Causeway.

    Expected lineups

    Boston Bruins

    63 Brad Marchand (A) 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak

    21 Nick Ritchie 46 David Krejci (A) 12 Craig Smith

    10 Anders Bjork 13 Charlie Coyle 83 Karson Kuhlman

    11 Trent Frederic 18 Greg McKegg 14 Chris Wagner

    48 Matt Grzlecyk 73 Charlie McAvoy

    67 Jakub Zboril 75 Connor Clifton

    84 Jarred Tinordi 44 Steven Kampfer

    40 Tuukka Rask

    41 Jaroslav Halak

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

    Zach Senyshyn (upper body), Jack Studnicka, Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (undisclosed), Ondrej Kase (upper body), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jack Ahcan, Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Callum Booth, Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol), Dan Vladar, Kevan Miller (right knee)

    New York Islanders

    7 Jordan Eberle 47 Leo Komarov 13 Mathew Barzal

    28 Michael Dal Colle 29 Brock Nelson (A) 12 Josh Bailey (A)

    18 Anthony Beauvillier 44 Jean-Gabriel Pageau 26 Oliver Wahlstrom

    17 Matt Martin 53 Casey Cizikas 15 Cal Clutterbuck (A)

    3 Adam Pelech 6 Ryan Pulock

    2 Nick Leddy 4 Andy Greene

    34 Thomas Hickey 24 Scott Mayfield

    40 Semyon Varlamov

    30 Ilya Sorokin

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

    Anders Lee (knee), TBA

    Goaltending stats entering Thursday

    Boston Bruins

    40 Tuukka Rask 8-4-2 in 14 GP, 2.46 GAA, .906 SV%, 0 SO

    41 Jaroslav Halak 7-4-2 in 13 GP, 2.06 GAA, .921 SV%, 2 SO

    70 Callum Booth 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

    80 Dan Vladar 1-0-0 in 1 GP, 1.00 GAA, .971 SV%, 0 SO

    New York Islanders

    30 Ilya Sorokin 8-2-1 in 11 GP, 1.97 GAA, .922 SV%, 2 SO

    35 Cory Schneider 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

    40 Semyon Varlamov 13-6-3 in 22 GP, 2.17 GAA, .923 SV%, 3 SO

  • Preview: Game No. 28– Bruins @ Sabres

    Preview: Game No. 28– Bruins @ Sabres

    For the first time this season, the Boston Bruins pay a visit to KeyBank Center to take on the Buffalo Sabres for Hockey Fights Cancer Night in Buffalo.

    Last season, Boston went 3-0-0 against Buffalo in the pandemic shortened 2019-20 regular season, winning all three of their matchups, 3-2, on Nov. 21st in Boston, 3-0, on Dec. 27th in Buffalo and, 3-2, on Dec. 29th in Boston.

    After Thursday night’s matchup, the two clubs will meet seven more times in 2020-21, including their next meeting on Saturday.

    A couple of previous matchups against the Sabres were postponed to later dates in the season due to a plethora of Buffalo players in COVID protocol last month.

    A coaching staff member for Buffalo and a Boston skater (Sean Kuraly) were placed in COVID protocol Thursday morning, resulting in both pregame skates being cancelled, but the game remains on schedule through contact tracing, etc.

    The Sabres return home after a, 3-2, loss to the Devils in New Jersey and without their now former head coach, Ralph Krueger, who was fired on Wednesday.

    Interim head coach Dom Granato was promoted from his position as an assistant coach in Buffalo, where he was hired in that role in 2019. He will be making his National Hockey League head coaching debut on Thursday.

    Granato previously served as the head coach of the Columbus Chill (ECHL, 1997-99), head coach of the Peoria Rivermen (ECHL, 1999-2000), head coach of the Worcester IceCats (AHL, 2000-05), an assistant coach with the St. Louis Blues (2005-06), head coach of the Chicago Wolves (AHL, parts of two seasons, 2008-09 and 2009-10), head coach of the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (2013-16), assistant coach with the Wisconsin Badgers (NCAA, 2016), assistant coach with the Chicago Blackhawks (2016-19).

    Buffalo, of course, is without their captain, Jack Eichel, due to injury.

    Boston, meanwhile, is suffering from a plethora of injuries, rendering Tuukka Rask unavailable for the last five games, which meant that Dan Vladar got his first career NHL start on Tuesday after Jaroslav Halak was handed a, 4-1, loss in Pittsburgh on Monday.

    Vladar made 34 saves on 35 shots to backstop the Bruins to a, 2-1, victory against the Penguins in his regular season debut in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, is likely to tweak his lineup depending on player availability, as well as whether or not Rask will be good to go after missing six games this season due to an undisclosed injury.

    Rask did travel with the team as part of their four-game road trip (1-1-0).

    Boston will be without Ondrej Kase, Kevan Miller and Jeremy Lauzon, at least, as Kase has no timetable for a return, Miller is skating back in Boston and Lauzon is approaching one month since sustaining a fractured left hand, which takes four-to-six weeks recovery time.

    Brandon Carlo, John Moore and Zach Senyshyn will also be out of the lineup for Boston, while Jarred Tinordi is likely to miss Thursday night’s game in Buffalo as well after sustaining an upper body injury on a hit from Pittsburgh’s Brandon Tanev that resulted in a boarding major, as well as a game misconduct and a five-minute power play for Boston.

    Thursday marks the halfway point for the Bruins, who are 15-8-4 overall (34 points) and currently 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Sabres begin the second half of their season with a 6-18-4 record (16 points, last in the division).

    Boston is 3-2 in overtime and 2-2 in shootouts (5-4 past regulation) this season, while Buffalo is 0-2 in overtime and 2-2 in shootouts (2-4 past regulation) thus far in 2020-21.

    Boston is also 8-5-3 in 16 games on the road this season, including a 4-4-2 record in their last ten games, while Buffalo is 2-10-2 on home ice and 0-9-1 in their last ten games.

    The B’s are 142-113-29-12 in 296 all-time regular season matchups against Buffalo with 949 goals for and 926 goals against in that span.

    The Bruins are also 29-25-1-7 in 62 regular season games at KeyBank Center, though the Sabres have outscored Boston, 175-157, in that span.

    Brad Marchand leads the Bruins in scoring with 12-21–33 totals in 27 games, while Patrice Bergeron is second with 25 points in 27 games and David Pastrnak is third with 24 points in 20 games, while leading his teammates in goals scored (13).

    Marchand has a team-leading plus-nine rating in 27 games, while Chris Wagner is a minus-eight in 23 games this season.

    Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson lead the Sabres in scoring with 19 points in 26 and 28 games, repsectively. Eichel (18 in 21 games) ranks third in scoring, while Reinhart leads the roster in goals scored with 11.

    Jake McCabe is a plus-two in 13 games, while Rasmus Dahlin is a minus-27 in 28 games thus far.

    If Rask gets the start for Boston, he is one win away from his 300th career NHL win, which would also make him the first goaltender in a Bruins uniform to reach the 300-win plateau.

    David Krejci is one point away from his 700th career point and currently eighth all-time in scoring in a Bruins uniform with 699 career points.

    Wayne Cashman (793 points) is seventh in all-time scoring with Boston.

    Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron (894 points) is four points away from tying Rick Middleton (898) for the fourth most points in a Boston uniform in franchise history.

    The Bruins wrap up their four-game road trip with a Saturday matinee (1 p.m. ET puck drop) in Buffalo before returning home on March 23rd against the New York Islanders in what will be Boston’s first game at TD Garden to feature fans since the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic began last year.

    TD Garden will be limited to a 12% seating capacity.

    Expected lineups

    Boston Bruins

    63 Brad Marchand (A) 37 Patrice Bergeron (C) 88 David Pastrnak

    74 Jake DeBrusk 46 David Krejci (A) 12 Craig Smith

    21 Nick Ritchie 13 Charlie Coyle 62 Oskar Steen

    11 Trent Frederic 18 Greg McKegg 83 Karson Kuhlman

    48 Matt Grzelcyk 73 Charlie McAvoy

    67 Jakub Zboril 75 Connor Clifton

    54 Jack Ahcan 44 Steven Kampfer

    41 Jaroslav Halak

    80 Dan Vladar

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

    Jeremy Swayman, Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner, Greg McKegg, Zach Senyshyn (upper body), Brandon Carlo (upper body), John Moore (lower body), Ondrej Kase (upper body), Tuukka Rask (lower body), Sean Kuraly (COVID protocol), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Urho Vaakanainen, Jarred Tinordi (upper body), Kevan Miller (right knee)

    Buffalo Sabres

    13 Tobias Rieder 12 Eric Staal 23 Sam Reinhart

    4 Taylor Hall 15 Riley Sheahan 72 Tage Thompson

    53 Jeff Skinner 27 Curtis Lazar 37 Casey Mittelstadt

    68 Victor Olofsson 20 Cody Eakin 21 Kyle Okposo

    78 Jacob Bryson 55 Rasmus Ristolainen

    44 Matt Irwin 62 Brandon Montour

    26 Rasmus Dahlin 33 Colin Miller

    40 Carter Hutton

    34 Jonas Johansson

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

    Jack Eichel, Henri Jokiharju, Dylan Cozens

    Goaltending stats entering Thursday

    Boston Bruins

    1 Jeremy Swayman 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

    40 Tuukka Rask 8-4-2 in 14 GP, 2.46 GAA, .906 SV%, 0 SO

    41 Jaroslav Halak 6-4-2 in 12 GP, 2.15 GAA, .918 SV%, 2 SO

    80 Dan Vladar 1-0-0 in 1 GP, 1.00 GAA, .971 SV%, 0 SO

    Buffalo Sabres

    31 Dustin Tokarski 0-0-0 in 0 GP, 0.00 GAA, .000 SV%, 0 SO

    34 Jonas Johansson 0-5-1 in 7 GP, 3.79 GAA, .884 SV%, 0 SO

    35 Linus Ullmark 5-4-2 in 12 GP, 2.43 GAA, .919 SV%, 0 SO

    40 Carter Hutton 1-9-1 in 11 GP, 3.43 GAA, .884 SV%, 0 SO

  • Crosby, Jarry and Pens takedown Bruins, 4-1

    Crosby, Jarry and Pens takedown Bruins, 4-1

    A late first period comeback with Sidney Crosby’s eventual game-winning goal on top of Tristan Jarry’s 42-save performance led the Pittsburgh Penguins to a, 4-1, victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena.

    Jarry (12-7-1, 2.90 goals-against average, .906 save percentage in 20 games played) turned aside 42 out of 43 shots faced for a .977 save percentage in the win for Pittsburgh.

    Boston goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (6-4-2, 2.15 goals-against average, .918 save percentage in 12 games played) made 22 saves on 25 shots against for an .880 save percentage in the loss.

    The Bruins fell to 14-8-4 (32 points) and remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Penguins improved to 18-9-1 (37 points) and in control of 3rd place in the division.

    The B’s also dropped to 2-1-0 against the Pens this season.

    Jake DeBrusk returned to the lineup for Boston after missing last Saturday’s, 4-0, loss to the New York Rangers due to COVID protocol in what turned out to be a false positive test.

    Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, re-inserted DeBrusk in his usual role on the second line left wing and made a few other adjustments to his forward lines.

    Craig Smith joined DeBrusk as David Krejci’s wings on the second line, while Nick Ritchie and Anders Bjork suited up on the left and right side of Charlie Coyle, respectively.

    Sean Kuraly centered the fourth line with Trent Frederic at left wing and Karson Kuhlman at right wing.

    On defense, Cassidy replaced Urho Vaakanainen on the third pairing with Steven Kampfer for a night alongside Jarred Tinordi.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (right knee), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Tuukka Rask (lower body) and Zach Senyshyn (upper body) on Monday night.

    Rask traveled with the team and skated with the taxi squad members, but won’t be ready for Tuesday night’s rematch with the Penguins, which means Dan Vladar or Jeremy Swayman will make their National Hockey League regular season debut in Pittsburgh.

    Vladar made his postseason debut in relief of Halak in Game 3 of Boston’s 2020 Second Round matchup with the Tampa Bay Lightning, but has yet to start an NHL game in the regular season.

    He has a 2-2-1 record in five games with the Providence Bruins (AHL) so far this season with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage in that span, as well as one shutout.

    Swayman, meanwhile, is in his first professional season since leaving the University of Maine (2017-20) and has a 7-0-0 record in seven games with Providence this season, as well as a 1.57 goals-against average, a .942 save percentage and one shutout so far.

    Jack Ahcan, Kuhlman and Oskar Steen were recalled from the P-Bruins to Boston’s taxi squad ahead of the game on Monday.

    Chris Wagner, Senyshyn, Carlo, John Moore, Kase, Rask, Lauzon, Vaakanainen, Miller, Ahcan, Steen, Swayman and Greg McKegg were all out of the lineup due to being listed as a healthy scratch, injured or a taxi squad member for Boston.

    Anton Blidh was sent to Providence on Sunday.

    Bryan Rust slashed Brad Marchand and presented Boston with their first power play of the night at 6:17 of the first period.

    Matt Grzelcyk (1) sent a wrist shot from the point past Jarry while Ritchie screened the Penguins netminder and gave the B’s a, 1-0, lead.

    Marchand (20) and David Pastrnak (11) had the assists on Grzelcyk’s power-play goal at 6:47 of the opening frame.

    Late in the period, Pittsburgh’s Evan Rodrigues (2) fired a wrist shot off of Halak’s glove before the puck bounced through the Boston goaltender’s five-hole, tying the game, 1-1, in the process at 16:51.

    Kasperi Kapanen (12) and Evgeni Malkin (16) tallied the assists on Rodrigues’ first goal since Jan. 17th (he played in nine games between then).

    Less than two minutes later, Crosby (11) sent the rubber biscuit to Jake Guentzel as the pair of Penguins forwards entered the zone prior to Guentzel giving it back to the Pens captain for a one-timer off of Halak’s pad– between the Bruins goaltender’s pad and the post– and into the twine.

    Pittsburgh took their first lead of the night, 2-1, while Guentzel (15) and Brian Dumoulin (4) picked up the assists on Crosby’s goal at 18:34.

    Entering the first intermission, the Penguins led, 2-1, on the scoreboard despite trailing the Bruins, 20-10, in shots on goal.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (6-5), takeaways (3-2), hits (19-8) and faceoff win percentage (64-36), while Pittsburgh led in giveaways (4-1) after 20 minutes.

    The Penguins had yet to see any action on the skater advantage, while the Bruins were 1/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Pastrnak opened up the second period with an interference infraction 28 seconds into the middle frame. Pittsburgh did not score on the ensuing power play.

    Moments later, Marcus Pettersson sent the puck over the glass and out of play, yielding an automatic delay of game minor at 6:59 of the second period.

    Boston did not convert on the resulting skater advantage.

    Past the midpoint in the action, Connor Clifton tripped Rodrigues and was sent to the penalty box at 10:31.

    A little more than a minute later, Malkin (8) flipped a shot over Halak’s glove side from the slot to yield his 1,100th career NHL point in his 935th career game.

    Crosby (17) and Kris Letang (15) had the assists on Malkin’s power-play goal and the Pens led, 3-1, at 11:40 of the second period.

    Clifton cut another rut to the sin bin at 12:13 on a roughing minor after getting tangled up with Colton Sceviour after a whistle. The Penguins did not score on the resulting power play.

    Through 40 minutes of action in Pittsburgh, the Pens led, 3-1, on the scoreboard, despite trailing the Bruins, 33-18, in shots on goal, including a, 13-8, advantage for Boston in the second period alone.

    The B’s held an advantage in blocked shots (10-5), hits (30-18) and faceoff win% (54-46), while the Penguins led in giveaways (6-4).

    Both teams had five takeaways aside, while Pittsburgh was 1/3 and Boston was 1/2 on the power play heading into the second intermission.

    Early in the final frame of the game, Crosby tripped Patrice Bergeron and cut a rut to the sin bin at 2:40 of the third period, but Boston did not score on the resulting 5-on-4 advantage.

    Midway through the third, Teddy Blueger hooked Pastrnak and presented the Bruins with another power play at 13:12, but the B’s were powerless on the power play once more.

    Jakub Zboril tripped Crosby at 16:24, but Pittsburgh’s power play was no match for Boston’s penalty kill.

    With one minute left in the game, Cassidy pulled his netminder for an extra attacker, but at 19:44, Guentzel (11) pocketed the puck in the empty twine to give the Penguins a three-goal advantage.

    Rust (11) and Crosby (18) notched the assists on Guentzel’s empty net goal as Pittsburgh won, 4-1, at the final horn.

    Boston finished the night leading in shots on goal, 43-26, including a, 10-8, advantage in the third period alone.

    The Bruins also wrapped up Monday night’s action leading in blocked shots (15-11), hits (38-26) and faceoff win% (57-43), while both teams finished the action with seven giveaways aside and were 1/4 on the power play.

    Pittsburgh extended their winning streak to six games, while Boston fell to 6-5-2 in their last 13 games.

    The B’s also fell to 10-3-2 (4-3-1 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while the Pens improved to 10-6-1 (8-1-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    The Penguins also improved to 8-2-0 (6-1-0 at home) when leading after one period and 8-1-0 (6-1-0 at home) when leading after two periods this season, while the Bruins dropped to 2-5-2 (2-4-2 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 2-4-1 (1-2-1 on the road) when trailing through 40 minutes in 2020-21.

    The last time Boston won in Pittsburgh was in a, 6-2, victory back on Dec. 18, 2015.

    The Bruins continue their four-game road trip (0-1-0) with another game against the Penguins on Tuesday before venturing north to take on the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday and Saturday.

    Boston’s next home game on March 23rd against the New York Islanders will be their first to feature fans at TD Garden since the pandemic began last year.

  • Kinkaid’s first shutout with Rangers tops Bruins, 4-0

    Kinkaid’s first shutout with Rangers tops Bruins, 4-0

    The Boston Bruins may have worn their Reverse Retro jerseys on Saturday, but it was a “reverse retro” scoreboard as the New York Rangers shutout the Bruins, 4-0, Saturday afternoon at TD Garden after having been shutout by Boston, 4-0, on Thursday night.

    New York netminder, Keith Kinkaid (2-0-1, 1.53 goals-against average, .933 save percentage in four games played), stopped all 18 shots that he faced en route to his first shutout of the season (the eighth overall shutout of his National Hockey League career).

    B’s goaltender, Jaroslav Halak (6-3-2, 2.07 GAA, .922 SV% in 11 games played) turned aside 29 out of 33 shots against for an .879 SV% in the loss.

    The Bruins dropped to 14-7-4 (32 points) on the season, but remained in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Rangers improved to 11-12-3 (25 points) and remain in command of 6th place in the division.

    Boston also fell to 4-2-0 against New York this season as a result of the loss.

    The Bruins were without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (right knee), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body), Tuukka Rask (lower body), Zach Senyshyn (upper body) and Jake DeBrusk (COVID protocol) on Saturday.

    Miller began skating this week and is likely to travel with the club on their upcoming four-game road trip, while Carlo is “coming around” according to B’s head coach, Bruce Cassidy, but unsure if he’ll travel.

    Senyshyn made his season debut with Boston on Thursday, sustained an injury against the Rangers and is expected to miss some time.

    Meanwhile, DeBrusk became just the third Bruin to enter COVID protocol this season on Saturday and missed the afternoon’s action as a result. He may travel on the team’s road trip.

    Jeremy Swayman, Greg McKegg and Anton Blidh were recalled from the Providence Bruins (AHL) and assigned to the taxi squad in the meantime.

    As a result of Boston’s long list of injuries, Cassidy made a few adjustments to his lineup, notably returning Nick Ritchie to the left side of David Krejci on the second line with DeBrusk out of the lineup, while moving Charlie Coyle to Krejci’s right wing.

    Jack Studnicka took over Coyle’s role as the third line center with Anders Bjork rejoining the lineup as the left wing and Craig Smith as the third line right wing.

    Meanwhile, Trent Frederic centered the fourth line with Sean Kuraly at his left and Chris Wagner at his right side.

    Cassidy made no changes to his defensive pairings, while Senyshyn, Carlo, John Moore, Kase, Rask, Lauzon, Miller, Swayman, McKegg, Steven Kampfer and Blidh were all out of the lineup due to being injured and/or being a healthy scratch/taxi squad member.

    Artemi Panarin returned to the lineup for New York for the first time since his personal leave of absence.

    Early in the action, K’Andre Miller (2) wired a wrist shot from the point after a faceoff in the attacking zone over Halak’s blocker side, off the post and into the twine to give the Rangers a, 1-0, lead at 3:06 of the first period.

    Pavel Buchnevich (14) and Mika Zibanejad (7) had the assists on Miller’s goal.

    Moments later, Brendan Smith was penalized for holding and presented Boston with their first power play opportunity of the afternoon at 7:41.

    The Bruins did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Shortly after making the kill, New York went on the power play thanks to Bjork catching Kevin Rooney with a high stick at 11:16, but the Blue Shirts failed to convert on the resulting advantage.

    Late in the period, Jakub Zboril tripped Chris Kreider at 14:09 and the Rangers went back on the power play, but it was short lived since Alexis Lafrenière hooked Urho Vaakanainen at 15:24.

    The two clubs went at it 4-on-4 for 46 seconds before Boston had an abbreviated 5-on-4 power play, but neither team could muster anything on the special teams play.

    Entering the first intermission, New York led, 1-0, on the scoreboard and, 10-6, in shots on goal.

    The Rangers also held the advantage in takeaways (3-0) and giveaways (6-2), while the Bruins led in blocked shots (4-3) and hits (8-7).

    Both teams were 50-50 in faceoff win percentage and 0/2 on the power play.

    Less than a minute into the middle frame, Brendan Lemieux checked Frederic from behind by the bench, whereby Boston’s bench door swung open and Frederic went awkwardly into the boards in the open doorway.

    Lemieux received a minor for boarding 53 seconds into the second period, but the Bruins weren’t able to capitalize on their early skater advantage on a fresh sheet of ice.

    About five minutes later, Kreider (14) was unguarded as he recevied a pass from Zibanejad through the low slot and riffled a one-timer past Halak’s blocker on the short side to give New York a two-goal lead.

    Zibanejad (8) and Jacob Trouba (5) recorded the assists on Kreider’s goal as the Rangers led, 2-0, at 5:42 of the second period– snapping Boston’s streak of allowing one goal or fewer in their previous six games in the process.

    About a minute later, Brad Marchand caught Lafrenière with a high-stick and received a minor infraction as a result at 6:47.

    The Blue Shirts were not able to capitalize on the scoreboard while one of Boston’s best penalty killers was in the box.

    Midway through the period, Rangers defender, Adam Fox, hooked Bruins forward, David Pastrnak and was sent to the sin bin at 10:19.

    Boston did not score on the resulting power play.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Saturday afternoon, the Rangers led, 2-0, on the scoreboard and, 21-11, in shots on goal, including an, 11-5, advantage in the second period alone.

    New York held the advantage in takeaways (5-3) and giveaways (8-3), while Boston led in blocked shots (10-6), hits (20-14) and faceoff win% (56-44).

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

    Shortly after puck drop on the third period, Ryan Lindgren was penalized for holding after he tried to clothesline Marchand with an outstretched arm nine seconds into the third period.

    Once again, however, the Bruins did not muster anything on the resulting power play.

    Patrice Bergeron tangled up with Zibanejad behind Boston’s own net and was assessed an interference minor at 4:25, but the Rangers couldn’t get anything going on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Almost midway through the final frame, Ryan Strome (10) received a tape-to-tape pass from Panarin through the low slot for a one-timer goal while bending on one knee.

    Panarin (14) and Colin Blackwell (4) notched the assists as New York took a, 3-0, lead at 8:03 of the third period.

    Moments later, while frustrated with a lack of effort all afternoon, Marchand slashed Miller and was sent to the box at 12:30.

    Though the Rangers didn’t score on the ensuing advantage, New York capitalized on their utter dominance of the Bruins moments later as Buchnevich (8) flipped a shot under Halak’s glove on a loose puck sent forth into the slot by Kreider to his Rangers teammate.

    Kreider (5) tallied the only assist on Buchnevich’s goal as the Blue Shirts took a commanding, 4-0, lead over the B’s at 16:12.

    Frederic and Lemieux had one more exchange at 18:47, after the two players originally exchanged words during the warmup prior to any action on Saturday. Both skaters were sent off to the showers with an early exit and misconducts.

    At the final horn, the Rangers completed their, 4-0, shutout over Boston and finished the game leading in shots on goal, 33-18, including a, 12-7, advantage in the third period alone.

    Saturday’s effort marked the fewest shots on goal for the Bruins this season, while New York finished the afternoon leading in giveaways (10-5) and Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (15-13), hits (24-23) and faceoff win% (58-42).

    Both teams finished 0/5 on the power play.

    The B’s fell to 4-5-2 (1-3-0 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season, while the Rangers improved to 8-4-1 (4-4-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    Boston also fell to 2-4-2 (0-1-0 at home) when trailing after one period and 2-3-1 (1-2-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season, while New York improved to 7-2-1 (3-2-0 on the road) when leading after the first period and 9-1-2 (5-1-1 on the road) when leading after 40 minutes this season.

    The Bruins begin a four-game road trip with a pair of matchups against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 15th and 16th before venturing north to face the Buffalo Sabres on March 18th and 20th. 

    Boston’s next home game will be on March 23rd against the New York Islanders and will be the first time this season that TD Garden will host fans (12% capacity), as well as the first men’s North American professional sport in Massachusetts to feature fans during the ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Halak picks up 2nd shutout this season as Bruins top Rangers, 4-0

    Halak picks up 2nd shutout this season as Bruins top Rangers, 4-0

    Jaroslav Halak moved into 26th all-time in shutouts as four different goal scorers for the Boston Bruins helped keep the New York Rangers off the scoreboard, 4-0, Thursday night at TD Garden.

    Halak (6-2-2, 1.88 goals-against average, .927 save percentage in 10 games played) made 27 saves on 27 shots against en route to his 52nd career shutout and his second shutout this season for Boston.

    Rangers goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev (4-4-2, 3.33 GAA, .887 SV% in 12 games played) made 10 saves on 14 shots (.714 SV%) before he was replaced by Keith Kinkaid (1-0-1, 2.21 GAA, .912 SV% in three games played) during the second period.

    Kinkaid turned aside all 13 shots that he faced in relief of Georgiev in 34:44 time on ice.

    The Bruins improved to 14-6-4 (32 points) on the season, but stagnant in 4th place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Rangers fell to 10-12-3 (23 points), but comfortably in 6th place in the division.

    Boston is now 4-1-0 against the Rangers this season.

    The B’s were once again without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (right knee), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand), Brandon Carlo (upper body) and Tuukka Rask (lower body) on Thursday night against the Rangers.

    Bruce Cassidy adjusted his lines as Jake DeBrusk returned to his usual role as the second line left wing after being a healthy scratch in Tuesday night’s, 2-1, shootout loss at the New York Islanders.

    As a result, Nick Ritchie was shifted to the second line right wing, while Jack Studnicka was bumped down to center the fourth line with Sean Kuraly and Zach Senyshyn on his wings.

    Senyshyn made his season debut for the Bruins, which also marked the first time that Senyshyn, DeBrusk and Jakub Zboril were all in the lineup for Boston since being drafted together in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft (Zboril was selected 13th, DeBrusk 14th and Senyshyn 15th by the Bruins).

    Cassidy made no changes to his defensive pairings and Dan Vladar served as Halak’s backup while Rask remained out of the action due to a lingering injury.

    Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner and John Moore were healthy scratches for Boston, while Carlo, Kase, Rask, Lauzon and Miller were out of the lineup due to injury.

    Greg McKegg and Steven Kampfer were left on the taxi squad for the B’s as Callum Booth was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Wednesday.

    David Pastrnak (12) kicked things off early in the opening frame with a one-timer blast from the point to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 4:14 of the first period.

    Brad Marchand (17) and Patrice Bergeron (14) tallied the assists on Pastrnak’s goal.

    With the primary assist on the goal, Marchand passed Ken Hodge for sole possession of 9th place in all-time scoring in Bruins franchise history. Marchand finished the night with three assists and 677 points to Hodge’s 674 points with Boston.

    David Krejci is 8th on the list with 699 points with the B’s– having notched a goal and an assist in Thursday night’s effort.

    Late in the first period, Ritchie tripped Rangers defender, K’Andre Miller, and was assessed a minor infraction at 17:07– yielding the game’s first power play to New York as a result.

    But Boston penalty kill was better than the Rangers’ power play unit as Marchand forced the puck into the attacking zone before sending a backhand pass through the low slot to Bergeron (10) for a one-timer shorthanded goal to give the Bruins a two-goal lead.

    Marchand (18) had the only assist on Bergeron’s 19th career shorthanded goal and the Bruins led, 2-0, at 17:34.

    After one period of play, Boston led, 2-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing New York, 14-9, in shots on goal entering the first intermission.

    The Rangers held the advantage in blocked shots (3-2), giveaways (6-2) and hits (14-8), while the Bruins led in faceoff win percentage (59-41).

    Both teams had two takeaways aside, while New York was 0/1 on the power play. The B’s had yet to see any action on the skater advantage entering the middle frame.

    Libor Hajek was assessed a holding minor at 2:14 of the second period, presenting the Bruins with their first power play opportunity of the night as a result.

    Boston took full advantage of their skater advantage as Krejci (1) blasted a one-timer from above the faceoff circle to Georgiev’s right side over the New York netminder’s glove.

    Matt Grzelcyk (6) and Marchand (19) tabbed the assists as the Bruins extended their lead, 3-0, thanks to Krejci’s power-play goal at 3:31 of the second period.

    Krejci, meanwhile, ended his second-longest streak without a goal in his 20th game this season.

    A little over a minute later, DeBrusk (2) fired a one-timer from the dot to Georgiev’s left side past the Rangers goaltender and gave the Bruins a four-goal lead at 4:52.

    Krejci (12) had the only assist on DeBrusk’s goal as Boston notched a pair of goals in a span of 1:21.

    Meanwhile, New York head coach, David Quinn, pulled Georgiev and replaced him with Kinkaid after Boston took a, 4-0, lead thanks to DeBrusk’s goal.

    Midway through the middle period, Ryan Lindgren slashed Trent Frederic and cut a rut to the sin bin at 12:12 as a result. Boston’s power play did not convert on the resulting advantage.

    Late in the period, Marchand hooked Miller and was sent to the box at 18:54, where he would remain as the B’s began the final frame shorthanded.

    Through 40 minutes of action on Thursday, Boston led, 4-0, on the scoreboard, despite trailing New York in shots on goal, 17-16, after two periods. The Bruins did, however, outshoot the Rangers, 7-3, in the second period alone.

    The B’s also led in blocked shots (7-5) and faceoff win% (53-47), while the Blue Shirts held the advantage in takeaways (5-4), giveaways (7-4) and hits (18-13).

    New York was 0/2 on the skater advantage, while Boston was 1/2 on the power play entering the second intermission.

    Midway through the third period, Pastrnak was sent to the box for holding at 10:47, but the Rangers weren’t able to get anything going on the ensuing power play.

    The same rang true when Ritchie tripped Brendan Lemieux at 17:15. New York did not score on the resulting skater advantage.

    At the final horn, the Bruins secured the, 4-0, shutout and finished the night tied in shots on goal, 27-27, despite holding an, 11-10, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston wrapped up Thursday night’s action leading in blocked shots (14-6) and faceoff win% (55-45), while New York finished the night leading in giveaways (12-6) and hits (20-17).

    The Rangers finished the night 0/4 on the power play while the Bruins went 1/2.

    Boston improved to 10-2-2 (6-0-1 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while New York fell to 3-8-2 (2-2-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    The B’s also improved to 8-0-1 (5-0-0 at home) when leading after the first period and 9-0-0 (6-0-0 at home) when leading after two periods this season.

    Meanwhile, the Rangers fell to 1-5-0 (1-2-0 on the road) when trailing after one period and 0-9-0 (0-5-0 on the road) when losing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins go at it again with the Rangers on Saturday afternoon before venturing on a four-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres next week.

  • Bruins rout Caps, 5-1, lose Carlo to head injury

    Bruins rout Caps, 5-1, lose Carlo to head injury

    The Boston Bruins beat the Washington Capitals, 5-1, Friday night at TD Garden after Capitals forward, Tom Wilson, delivered an unpenalized hit to the head of Bruins defender, Brandon Carlo, sparking an electric response on the scoreboard for Boston.

    Jarred Tinordi and Trent Frederic each had a scrap with Wilson in a bout of “vigilante justice” because of one player that showed a lack of respect for “the code” and has once again threatened the career of another player with what is likely a head injury.

    Bruins forward, Brad Marchand, had some strong words regarding Wilson’s hit during the first intermission, leading the New England Sports Network (NESN) to have to utilize a couple of drops to avoid facing scrutiny from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

    NESN aired Marchand’s interview in full after coming back from a break in the second period after the production truck had enough time to mute a pair of expletives.

    Meanwhile, Jarsolav Halak (5-2-1, 2.24 goals against average, .913 save percentage in eight games played) made 31 saves on 32 shots against for a .969 SV% in the win for the B’s.

    Capitals goaltender, Vitek Vanecek (10-5-3, 2.83 GAA, .906 SV% in 19 games played) stopped 14 out of 18 shots faced for a .778 SV% in 35:43 time on ice before being replaced by Ilya Samsonov (2-0-1, 2.87 GAA, .877 SV% in four games played) made six saves on seven shots against (.857 SV%) for no decision in relief of Vanecek.

    The Bruins improved to 13-5-3 (29 points) and moved into 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Caps fell to 13-6-4 (30 points) and 2nd place in the division.

    Boston was without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (lower body) and Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) on Friday.

    Charlie Coyle, however, made his return from COVID protocol and as a result was reunited on the third line with Frederic on his left wing and Craig Smith on his right wing.

    Jake DeBrusk was promoted to the right side of the second line, while Anders Bjork, Jack Studnicka and Chris Wagner made up the fourth line.

    Sean Kuraly joined John Moore as a healthy scratch, while Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer, Urho Vaakanainen and Callum Booth were listed on the taxi squad.

    Bruce Cassidy made no changes to his defense.

    Early in the opening frame, Charlie McAvoy tried to hit Garnet Hathaway, but bounced off the Washington forward as Hathaway anticipated and met McAvoy with an equal and opposing force.

    McAvoy slammed against he boards by the bench and smacked the ice, yielding a quick trip down the tunnel for a cut above his right eye likely caused by his visor.

    Late in the period, Marchand (11) snuck into the low slot and received a pass from Patrice Bergeron before sending a backhand shot over Vanecek’s glove to give Boston the game’s first goal.

    Bergeron (13) and McAvoy (13) had the assists as the Bruins took a, 1-0, lead at 14:21 of the first period.

    Less than a minute later, Coyle yielded the first power play of the game to the Capitals after he caught Dmitry Orlov with a slash at 14:42.

    Washington was not able to convert on their first skater advantage of the night.

    Moments later, Wilson made a couple of runs at Frederic, catching the ire of the young Bruins forward.

    Then Wilson caught Carlo up high in the corner to Rask’s right side behind the goal line with enough force to bash Carlo’s head off the glass before Jakub Vrana delivered a shift cross check above the shoulders while Carlo immediately clutched the sides of his head and collapsed in a heap.

    Wagner grabbed Wilson as every remaining skater one the ice paired up.

    There was no penalty on the call, which left Cassidy visibly irate on the bench and others on Boston’s bench audibly displeased.

    Wilson was a free man and the threshold– as well as potential for more chaos– was established. In simple terms, it was the most glaring example of what not to do as an on-ice official.

    It might not have been charging, but it could’ve been boarding.

    It might not have been immediately clear that there was head contact or that Carlo was in a vulnerable position– let alone that Wilson had plenty of time and space to deliver and proper body check, but instead the refs made no call and implied that, in return, Wilson was free game.

    Not only was player safety compromised for Carlo, but it would be compromised for Wilson too in the eyes of retribution if it had reared its head.

    Let alone the next player Wilson might go on to hit.

    Regardless, the Bruins entered the first intermission taking not only a hit to their defense, but a dent in their momentum, despite leading, 1-0, on the scoreboard.

    Washington led, 12-8, in shots on goal, as well as in giveaways (5-2) and hits (12-6), while Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (4-3).

    Both teams had three takeaways. The two clubs were 50-50 in faceoff win percentage.

    The Capitals were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle frame.

    Boston tweeted that Carlo (upper body) would not return to Friday night’s action before the second period began.

    Brenden Dillon was penalized for roughing 20 seconds into the second period after a stoppage in play and presented the Bruins with their first power play opportunity of the night.

    Boston did not score on the resulting skater advantage.

    Moments later, Tinordi squared off in an exchange of fisticuffs with Wilson– marking the first of two fights of the night featuring No. 43 in a Capitals road uniform.

    Each player received five-minute fighting majors at 6:12 of the second period.

    It was the eighth fight this season for Boston and the first since Nick Ritchie fought Brendan Lemieux at 20:00 of the third period at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers on Feb. 28th.

    While Wilson was in the box, Frederic (3) redirected a shot pass from McAvoy into the open twine as Vanecek was screened by net front traffic.

    McAvoy (14) and Smith (5) tallied the assists as the Bruins extended their lead to two-goals, 2-0, at 6:43 of the second period.

    Wilson was still in the box as Boston’s first line worked its magic on a “tic-toc-goal” at 9:01, extending their lead to three-goals thanks to Bergeron (9).

    David Pastrnak (10) and Marchand (15) notched the assists on Bergeron’s goal as the B’s took a, 3-0, lead.

    Late in the period, Marchand (12) added his second goal of the game while on the doorstep of the crease behind the Washington netminder as Vanecek wasn’t able to track another close range shot pass that made it, 4-0, Boston.

    Matt Grzelcyk (4) had the only assist on Marchand’s second of the night at 14:58.

    Caps head coach, Peter Laviolette, made the decision to replace Vanecek with Samsonov thereafter.

    The Bruins went into the second intermission with a four-goal lead and a, 10-8, advantage in shots in the second period alone, despite trailing the Capitals, 20-18, in total shots on goal through 40 minutes.

    Boston led in blocked shots (8-6) and faceoff win% (62-38), while Washington held the advantage in takeaways (8-7), giveaways (11-6) and hits (25-18).

    Both teams were 0/1 on the power play entering the final frame.

    David Krejci found Ritchie (8) for a one-timer goal past Samsonov’s glove to kick things off at 1:05 of the third period, extending Boston’s lead to five-goals.

    Krejci (11) and DeBrusk (4) tabbed the assists as the Bruins led, 5-0.

    Seconds later, Frederic and Wilson dropped the gloves with the first-year Boston forward wracking up an instigator minor and an automatic 10-minute misconduct to go along with his five-minute fighting major.

    Wilson managed to accrue fewer penalty minutes for knocking someone out of the game with a high hit to the head (zero) than he did in his second fight of the night (five).

    Smith served Frederic’s instigating minor at 1:12 of the third period and the Capitals did not convert on the ensuing power play.

    Wilson and Frederic’s fight marked the ninth fighting major of the season for Boston.

    Moments later, T.J. Oshie caught Pastrnak with a high stick at 3:27, but the B’s did not score on the resulting 5-on-4 advantage.

    A little past the midpoint of the third period, Vrana (8) sniped a shot from the faceoff dot on a catch and release play past Halak’s blocker side disrupting the shutout in the process.

    Nicklas Backstrom (16) and Oshie (10) nabbed the assists as the Capitals trailed, 5-1, at 13:36 of the third period.

    Backstrom, meanwhile, earned his 700th career assist with the primary assist on the goal and became the first player in Washington’s franchise history to reach the 700-assist plateau.

    No. 19 for the Caps was a first-year player back in 2007-08, and has spent his entire 979-game career with Washington– the team that drafted him 4th overall in the 2006 NHL Draft.

    After another scrum that featured current Capitals defender, Zdeno Chara, being restrained by current Bruins captain, Patrice Bergeron, Wagner caught No. 33 for the Caps with a slash at 18:40 in the dying minutes of Friday night’s action.

    Wagner cut a rut to the penalty box, while Washington couldn’t muster anything on the ensuing skater advantage to close out the game.

    At the final horn, Boston had won, 5-1, despite finishing the night trailing in shots on goal, 32-25, including a, 12-7, advantage in the third period alone for Washington.

    The Bruins also wrapped up the night’s action leading in blocked shots (9-7) and faceoff win% (53-47).

    The Capitals ended the 60-minute effort leading in giveaways (15-8) and hits (34-22).

    Washington went 0/3 and Boston went 0/2 on the power play on Friday as the Bruins handed the Caps their most lopsided loss of the season– snapping the Capitals’ four-game winning streak in the process.

    Carlo was taken to a local hospital by ambulance after being hit by Wilson.

    After the game, Cassidy offered his thoughts on Wilson’s hit.

    “You can see it,” he told reporters via Zoom, “He hits him in the head. [It was a] [p]redatory hit from a player who’s done that before.”

    Cassidy continued, “We felt it was completely unnecessary, dirty,” and added that he didn’t know whether Carlo was going to stay overnight in the hospital or even if he had been concussed at that point.

    “You can probably make your own call on that one, considering the hit was directly to his head.”

    Laviolette offered a different point of view, explaining (neither in defense, nor in terms of throwing his own player under the bus),

    “I saw the hit. His feet were on the ice, he stayed down with everything. Just looked like a hard hit in the corner. Not exactly sure what happened, but to me, it looked like just a hit.”

    Laviolette also mentioned after the game that he hadn’t received any indication that the league would be wanting to talk to Wilson about the hit on Carlo.

    Bruins newcoming defender in just his second game with the club since being claimed off waivers on Sunday, Tinordi called the hit “risky” and added, “You’ve got to hold up there.”

    “That’s what I noticed about this team as soon as I got here. The boys are playing for each other night in and night out,” Tinordi observed of his new teammates, remarking on Bergeron’s tap of the glass in front of him after scoring a goal while Tinordi sat in the penalty box having just fought Wilson.

    “We did the job and took care of business on the ice,” Marchand told reporters after the game.

    “If the refs are able to look at [Wilson’s hit on Carlo on video review], that’s a suspension and he’s gone from the game,” Marchand continued, “We can review if a guy’s foot is half an inch offside, but we can’t review a headshot.”

    “I’ve been guilty of it in the past. But it is something you don’t wanna see happen. But he was in a bad spot and Wilson took advantage.”

    Marchand, Bergeron and Pastrnak, meanwhile, have 437-563–1,003 combined totals in the last five years– becoming just one of two trios in the league in that span to collect over 1,000 combined points, joining Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers in doing so.

    The Bruins improved to 9-2-1 (5-0-1 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while the Capitals fell to 5-3-2 (2-2-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal in 2020-21.

    The B’s also improved to 7-0-0 (4-0-0 at home) when leading after the first period and 8-0-0 (5-0-0 at home) when leading after the second period this season.

    Washington, meanwhile, fell to 2-4-1 (0-3-0 on the road) when trailing after the first period and 1-4-0 (0-3-0 on the road) when trailing after the second period this season.

    Boston finishes up their three-game homestand (1-0-1) on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils before hitting the road for one game on Long Island next Tuesday against the New York Islanders.

  • Capitals down Bruins, 2-1, in shootout in Chara’s return

    Capitals down Bruins, 2-1, in shootout in Chara’s return

    Things got a little crispy in Zdeno Chara’s first game back at TD Garden as a visitor on Wednesday night as the Washington Capitals emerged with a, 2-1, shootout win over the Boston Bruins.

    Vitek Vanecek (10-4-3, 2.69 goals against average, .910 save percentage in 18 games played) made 18 saves on 19 shots against for a .947 SV% in the shootout win for Washington.

    Boston goaltender, Tuukka Rask (8-3-2, 2.57 GAA, .902 SV% in 13 games played) stopped 27 out of 28 shots faced for a .964 SV% in the shootout loss.

    The Bruins fell to 12-5-3 (27 points) on the season and remain in 3rd place in the MassMutual NHL East Division, while the Capitals improved to 13-5-4 (30 points) overall and widened their division standings lead by two points over the New York Islanders.

    Matt Grzelcyk returned to the lineup for the first time since being injured at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers on Feb. 10th.

    David Krejci was back in the lineup for Boston too for the first time since sustaining a lower body injury on Feb. 18th against the New Jersey Devils.

    As a result, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup, including Grzelcyk and Krejci to their usual roles, as well as shuffling other forwards and defenders.

    Cassidy left the first line intact, but slotted Craig Smith on Krejci’s right wing on the second line with Nick Ritchie in his usual role on the left side.

    Jack Studnicka remained in the lineup– centering the third line with Trent Frederic and Jake DeBrusk on his wings, while Anders Bjork returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Sunday’s, 4-1, win at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.

    Bjork was back in his left wing role on the fourth line with Sean Kuraly returning to center and Chris Wagner on the right wing.

    On defense, Jakub Zboril was paired with Charlie McAvoy on the top pairing, while Grzelcyk was reunited in his return to game action with Brandon Carlo to round out the top-four defenders.

    Jarred Tinordi made his Boston debut on the third defensive pairing with Connor Clifton on the right side.

    The Bruins claimed Tinordi off waivers from the Nashville Predators on Saturday and he avoided a long time on the league’s COVID protocol list by driving from Nashville to Boston.

    He’s also the first player in Bruins history to wear No. 84 and has 11 points (one goal, ten assists) in 88 career National Hockey League games for the Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes and Predators since making his league debut as a 20-year-old in the 48-game lockout shortened 2012-13 season.

    The 6-foot-6, 205-pound Burnsville, Minnesota native will provide added depth to Boston’s blue line– already depleted by injuries throughout the 2020-21 season thus far.

    Charlie Coyle was added to the league’s COVID protocol list prior to Wednesday night’s action and missed his first game this season as a result.

    Coyle was the first Bruin to miss a game due to COVID protocol since Karson Kuhlman missed the first game of the season in New Jersey on Jan. 14th, due to a testing issue dating back to Jan. 5th, when Cassidy revealed why Kuhlman was “unfit to participate” in the club’s training camp activities.

    The B’s were also without the services of Ondrej Kase (upper body), Kevan Miller (knee) and Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) on Wednesday against Washington.

    Coyle, John Moore, Greg McKegg, Steven Kampfer, Urho Vaakanainen and Callum Booth were all either in COVID protocol, a healthy scratch and/or taxi squad members for the B’s on Wednesday.

    Kuhlman was assigned to the Providence Bruins (AHL) on Tuesday.

    Wednesday night’s meeting with the Capitals also marked the first time that Chara returned to Boston as a member of the visiting team since March 16, 2006, when Chara was then a member of the Ottawa Senators defense.

    Chara had one shot, two blocked shots and three hits in Ottawa’s, 3-2, shootout loss to the Bruins that night.

    Brad Boyes and Patrice Bergeron each had a goal for Boston, while Jason Spezza and Antoine Vermette added goals for the Senators in the third period before Bergeron scored the only goal in the shootout.

    The Bruins honored Chara with a tribute video that included well wishes from fans via Zoom.

    Boston will not have fans at TD Garden until it is opened to about 12% capacity on March 22nd (with the first game featuring fans being a Bruins vs. Islanders matchup on March 23rd).

    Fans will be able to give Chara an in-person standing ovation if everything goes according to plan on April 18th, when Washington returns to Boston after Friday’s game.

    Early in the action, McAvoy was penalized for interference and presented the first power play of the night to the Capitals at 2:23 of the first period.

    Washington did not convert on the ensuing skater advantage.

    Moments later, David Pastrnak rang the post (twice on the same shot attempt) on a breakaway after the Bruins killed off McAvoy’s minor infraction.

    Midway through the opening frame, the Caps thought they scored when T.J. Oshie received a pass through the low slot and banked a shot off of Tinordi’s stick past Rask, but the B’s challenged the call on the ice on the basis that they believed Oshie had entered the attacking zone offside.

    Video review confirmed that the puck was airborne and not yet over the blue line while Oshie was well past breaking the plane and therefore offside.

    The call on the ice was reversed as the Bruins were successful on the coach’s challenge.

    The score remained, 0-0.

    Moments later, Krejci tripped Alex Ovechkin, but Washington’s power play was powerless on the ensuing advantage at 14:19 of the first period– in part because of Ovechkin’s interference minor at 14:36 that resulted in abbreviated 4-on-4 action before Boston saw a short power play thereafter.

    Ovechkin, meanwhile, collided with McAvoy in the neutral zone away from the puck resulting in his trip to the penalty box, but not before catching his breath a moment in light of the awkward collision.

    Less than a minute after Ovechkin was in the box, the Bruins recorded their first shot on goal in the game at 15:28.

    Late in the period, Richard Panik caught Wagner away from the play and received an interference penalty at 19:49.

    Boston’s resulting power play would extend into the second period as both teams entered the first intermission tied, 0-0, on the scoreboard, despite Washington holding a, 7-2, advantage in shots on goal.

    The Caps also led in blocked shots (3-2), takeaways (2-1) and faceoff win percentage (61-39), while the B’s held the advantage in giveaways (5-1) and hits (13-12).

    Both teams were 0/2 on the power play and would remain as such, despite Ovechkin and Frederic each receiving a minor penalty in the third period (they were matching).

    There were no goals and no penalties called in the second period as the two teams remained locked in a, 0-0, tie through 40 minutes of action, despite the Capitals holding an, 11-9, advantage in shots on goal.

    Boston actually held a, 7-4, advantage in shots on goal in the second period alone, but Washington dominated in blocked shots (10-4), takeaways (4-3), hits (25-21) and faceoff win% (64-36).

    The Bruins, meanwhile, led in giveaways (6-4) heading into the final frame of regulation.

    Brad Marchand fed Pastrnak (10) a pass that No. 88 in black and gold redirected through Vanecek’s five-hole to give the Bruins the game’s first goal and lead, 1-0, at 1:19 of the third period.

    Marchand (14) had the only assist on Pastrnak’s goal.

    Less than five minutes later, the Capitals tied the game, 1-1, after Kuraly turned the puck over in his own zone, whereby Oshie broke up the play and sent a pass to Nick Jensen.

    Jensen threw the puck on goal for a rebound that Panik scooped up and flipped to Lars Eller (5) for the surefire odd-angle shot from the side of the net that sneaked between Rask’s leg pad and the post over the goal line.

    Panik (5) and Jensen (7) tallied the assists on Eller’s goal at 6:14 of the third period.

    Late in the action, after Frederic checked Ovechkin and the two exchanged pleasantries behind Boston’s net– leaving Frederic with his gloves on the ice and ready to fight, Ovechkin and Frederic got tangled up once again near the boards in Boston’s attacking zone.

    This time, Frederic delivered a few quick cross checks in rapid succession followed by a swift spear below the belt from Ovechkin to the first-year Bruins forward.

    Ovechkin received a roughing minor, while Frederic picked up a cross checking minor infraction at 14:30.

    The two teams resumed full even strength after two minutes of 4-on-4 action unscathed.

    Three periods was not enough to decide Wednesday night’s action as the Bruins and Capitals were tied, 1-1, heading into overtime.

    After 60 minutes of play, the Caps led in shots on goal, 23-18, including a, 12-9, advantage in the third period alone.

    Washington also held the advantage in blocked shots (12-9), takeaways (7-3) and hits (28-25), while Boston led in giveaways (7-6). Both teams were 50-50 in faceoff win% and finished the night 0/2 on the power play as no penalties were called in the overtime period.

    Caps head coach, Peter Laviolette, started Nicklas Backstrom, Tom Wilson and John Carlson in overtime, while Cassidy countered with Bergeron, Marchand and McAvoy.

    Washington dominated play in overtime, while Rask made a pair of great saves that quite literally saved the game for Boston (at least holding the team over until the shootout).

    After the five-minute extra frame wasn’t enough with the game still tied, 1-1, and the Capitals leading in shots on goal, 28-19, including a, 5-1, advantage in shots on goal in the overtime period alone– a shootout was required.

    Washington finished the night leading in blocked shots (12-9) and hits (28-26), while Boston wrapped up Wednesday night’s action leading in faceoff win% (53-48). Both teams had seven giveaways aside.

    DeBrusk kicked off the shootout for Boston, but was denied by Vanecek with a glove save.

    Jakub Vrana countered with a deke for the Capitals before pulling the puck around Rask’s right pad and slipping the rubber biscuit between the post and the Bruins netminder’s skate to give Washington the, 1-0, edge after one round of the shootout.

    Pastrnak made a nifty move to send a backhanded attempt off of Vanecek’s pad while trying to go five-hole.

    Oshie responded with a shot that Rask gloved.

    The Capitals held a, 1-0, advantage in the shootout entering the third round. All Marchand had to do when he stepped up for his shot was score to force Rask to make another save and extend the shootout.

    Instead, Vanecek denied Marchand with a glove save and the Caps didn’t even need to take their third shot– winning the shootout in three rounds and sealing the deal on a, 2-1, shootout win in Boston.

    Washington improved to 2-2 in shootouts this season, while Boston fell to 2-1.

    The Bruins are now 5-3 past regulation this season, while the Capitals are 3-4 overall after 60 minutes.

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

    Meanwhile, Washington improved to 6-0-0 (4-0-0 on the road) when tied after the first period and 3-1-4 (1-0-2 on the road) when tied after two periods this season.

    Boston also fell to 8-2-1 (4-0-1 at home) when scoring the game’s first goal, while the Caps improved to 5-2-2 (2-1-1 on the road) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    The Bruins and Capitals go at it again on Friday before Boston finishes up their three-game homestand on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils.

  • Coyle nets two in Bruins’, 4-1, win at Rangers

    Coyle nets two in Bruins’, 4-1, win at Rangers

    Charlie Coyle scored a pair of goals, while Trent Frederic recorded the eventual game-winning goal as the Boston Bruins defeated the New York Rangers, 4-1, Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.

    Tuukka Rask (8-3-1, 2.71 goals against average, .896 save percentage in 12 games played) stopped 20 out of 21 shots faced for a .952 SV% in the win– the 299th of his National Hockey League career.

    No Bruins goaltender has ever won 300 games in franchise history.

    Rangers goaltender, Alexandar Georgiev (3-2-2, 2.80 GAA, .907 SV% in eight games played) made 31 saves on 33 shots against for a .939 SV% in 45:25 time on ice as he was briefly pulled from the game by a concussion spotter after allowing the game’s first goal after Bruins forward, Nick Ritchie, fell on top of the New York netminder’s head minutes earlier.

    Igor Shesterkin (4-7-1, 2.44 GAA, .917 SV% in 13 games played) made one save on two shots against (.500 SV%) and was charged with the loss in 13:19 TOI as Frederic’s eventual game-winner got by Shesterkin while he was in net for Georgiev.

    The Bruins improved to 12-5-2 (26 points) on the season and retook command of 1st place in the MassMutual NHL East Division from the Washington Capitals (11-5-4, 26 points) who were in action later in the afternoon on Sunday.

    The Rangers fell to 7-9-3 (17 points) overall and remained in 6th place in the division– at least before later games on Sunday.

    Boston also picked up their 50th win in 107 games at Madison Square Garden (the fourth edition of New York City’s world famous arena), despite being outscored by New York, 333-325, in that span. The Bruins are 50-46-7-4 all time at the fourth iteration of MSG.

    The B’s are now 3-1-0 against the Blue Shirts this season.

    After Friday night’s, 6-2, loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, Bruins head coach, Bruce Cassidy, made several changes to his lineup utilizing members of the club’s taxi squad.

    Cassidy slid Sean Kuraly to the left wing of the fourth line while inserting Greg McKegg and Karson Kuhlman back into the lineup at center and on the right wing, respectively.

    McKegg, in the process, made his Boston debut on Sunday.

    On defense, Cassidy jumbled his pairings, placing Jakub Zboril alongside Charlie McAvoy on the first pairing, while uniting Connor Clifton with Brandon Carlo to round out the top-four defenders.

    Urho Vaakanainen was partnered with Steven Kampfer, who made his season debut on Sunday, on the bottom defensive pairing.

    Anders Bjork, Chris Wagner and John Moore were healthy scratches for the B’s, while Ondrej Kase (upper body), David Krejci (lower body), Matt Grzelcyk (lower body), Jeremy Lauzon (fractured left hand) and Kevan Miller (knee) remained out of the lineup due to injury.

    Callum Booth was the only taxi squad member not listed as a healthy scratch or out due to injury Sunday afternoon in New York.

    Early in the opening frame, Ryan Strome cross checked Kuhlman and was sent to the sin bin with a minor infraction at 5:35 of the first period.

    Boston’s ensuing power play did not last long, however, as Ritchie and Ryan Lindgren went at it shortly after Ritchie fell on top of Georgiev, resulting in two roughing penalties to Ritchie and one roughing minor for Lindgren at 5:48.

    Craig Smith served one of Ritchie’s minors as the two clubs had a little 4-on-4 before the Rangers had an abbreviated power play.

    Meanwhile, less than a minute later, Coyle (4) roofed a shot on the far side past the New York netminder to give Boston a, 1-0, lead at 6:41 of the first period.

    David Pastrnak (8) and McAvoy (12) tallied the assists on Coyle’s first goal of the afternoon, which led to Shesterkin’s brief relief appearance in the crease.

    Six seconds after the B’s went up on the scoreboard, 1-0, Pastrnak caught Alexis Lafrenière with a high stick, yielding a 5-on-3 skater advantage to the Rangers at 6:47.

    New York, however, could not muster anything on the power play.

    Late in the period, Clifton wristed a shot from the point that Frederic (2) deflected past Shesterkin from the slot to give Boston a two-goal lead.

    Clifton (3) and Jack Studnicka (2) notched the assists as the Bruins led, 2-0, at 18:14 of the first period.

    Entering the first intermission, the B’s had a, 2-0, lead on the scoreboard despite trailing the Rangers in shots on goal, 9-7.

    Boston held the advantage in blocked shots (9-4) and takeaways (2-0), while New York led in giveaways (3-0), hits (21-18) and faceoff win percentage (53-47).

    The Rangers were 0/2 and the Bruins were 0/1 on the power play heading into the middle period.

    Georgiev was back in net for New York to start the second period.

    Midway through the middle frame, after winning an attacking zone faceoff, the B’s worked the puck around the offensive zone, whereby McAvoy ended up sending a pass to Pastrnak across the ice before receiving the rubber biscuit back on the blade of his stick.

    McAvoy (3) rocketed a slap shot from the point past Georgiev to make it, 3-0, Boston at 10:20 of the second period.

    Pastrnak (9) and Marchand (13) had the assists as the Bruins extended their lead to three goals.

    No penalties were called in the second period as the two teams entered the second intermission with the B’s leading, 3-0, on the scoreboard and, 19-15, in shots on goal, including a, 12-6, advantage in the middle period alone.

    Boston also held the advantage in takeaways (2-0), hits (32-29) and faceoff win% (56-44), while New York led in giveaways (5-2).

    Both teams had 10 blocked shots aside, while the Rangers remained 0/2 and the Bruins remained 0/1 on the power play heading into the final frame.

    Colin Blackwell (5) parted the seas, skated into the slot and fired a shot past Rask’s blocker side to pull the Rangers to within two goals at 10:47 of the third period.

    He then delivered a quick check– whether it was an accident on a follow through or not, he caught the ire of McKegg, the recipient of Blackwell’s blow– and a scrum ensued while New York was celebrating their goal.

    The Rangers trailed, 3-1, as Blackwell went to the box for roughing and McKegg went to the sin bin for slashing at 10:47.

    Neither team scored a goal on the resulting 4-on-4 even strength action.

    Meanwhile, Lafrenière (2) and K’Andre Miller (4) had the assists on Blackwell’s goal.

    Late in the period, Smith received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at 16:09, but the New York wasn’t able to convert on the resulting power play.

    With about two minutes left in regulation, Rangers head coach, David Quinn, pulled his goaltender for an extra attacker to try to even up the score.

    Seconds after Georgiev vacated his crease, Coyle (5) flipped the puck just about the length of the rink from his own zone past the faceoff circles into the open twine.

    Kuraly (2) had the only assist on Coyle’s empty net goal and the Bruins sealed the deal on their, 4-1, win at 18:05 of the third period.

    After a stoppage in play with about two seconds left in the game, the final faceoff commenced, but not before Brendan Lemieux and Ritchie had a little chat that resulted in a fight officially as time expired at 20:00 of the third period.

    Lemieux also received a misconduct in the matter as the both players picked up fighting majors to finish the afternoon.

    It was the seventh scrap this season for Boston and the first since Lauzon fought Pavel Buchnevich back on Feb. 12th in a, 1-0, win at the Rangers.

    At the final horn, the Bruins had won, 4-1, and finished Sunday afternoon leading in shots on goal, 36-21, including a, 17-6, advantage in the third period alone.

    Boston also finished the game leading in blocked shots (16-12), hits (43-37) and faceoff win% (55-45), while New York wrapped up the afternoon’s action leading in giveaways (9-4).

    The Rangers finished 0/3 and the B’s went 0/1 on the power play on Sunday.

    The Bruins improved to 8-2-0 (4-2-0 on the road) when scoring the game’s first goal this season, while the Rangers fell to 2-7-2 (1-6-1 at home) when allowing the game’s first goal this season.

    Boston also improved to 6-0-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when leading after the first period and 7-0-0 (3-0-0 on the road) when leading after the second period this season.

    New York dropped to 2-4-2 (1-3-1 at home) when trailing after one period and 0-6-0 (0-4-0 at home) when trailing after two periods this season.

    The Bruins went 1-2-0 on their three-game road trip and 7-4-0 in the month of February. The B’s return home to face the Washington Capitals on Wednesday and Friday before squaring off with the New Jersey Devils next Sunday on March 7th.