10/20 Bruins 1 – Canucks 2 (OT)
After starting the year 4-1, the Bruins have now dropped 3 straight games, the last two games being overtime losses. They did not get off to a good start in Vancouver as the Canucks were able to slip the puck past Jaroslav Halak off the stick of Brandon Sutter only 4 minutes into the first period for the early lead.
The Bruins were able to stay in the game off some great saves from Halak. The offense never got much going on Saturday night, the lone exception being the tying goal from Joakim Nordstrom midway through the 3rd off the assists from John Moore, and Matt Grzelcyk. This is the first game since the opener in Washington, that at least one player on the B’s first line did not record a point. You can only streak for so long, until you run out of clothes.
After neither team could put one in the back of the net for the remaining 11 minutes, it went to overtime and the 2nd game in a row for the B’s to go to overtime. The Canucks young stud Bock Boeser is going to be one of the upper echelon players in the NHL and he is continuing to perform well. After battling for the first few minutes of overtime the Canucks were able to get the odd man rush led by Brock Boeser. He led the way by getting a pass across ice past a diving Brandon Carlo, where it found the stick of Bo Horvat who deked by Halak and backhanded it home for the game winner.
The Bruins look to get back to their winning ways as they head up to Ottawa on the 23rd.
10/23 Bruins 4 – Senators 1
After losing three straight games, the last two being in overtime, the Bruins went up to Ottawa to finish up a four game road trip. Now as I have said before, when you play teams such as Ottawa you need to win. Surrendering points to teams at the bottom of the table will bury you from the playoff standings. Thankfully the B’s were able to bounce back and skate past the Senators fairly easily.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, sounding as close to a broken record as possible, the top line got it done. There’s not much more you could say about these guys, they are simply the best line in hockey. David Pastrnak put in a pair of goals to lead the way for the Bruins while also tallying 2 assists. This was the 4th time in his career that he recorded 4 points in a game. This kid is phenomenal and will be for a very long time. Let’s not forget that this top line will be together for a long time as they are all signed until at least 2022-2023 when Bergeron’s contract is up. The best part about this line other than how great they are is that they all wanted to stay together and they all took less money to do so and so the team could be built around them.
Back to the game. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci rounded out the scoring netting a goal apiece while Bergy had 2 assists and Krejci, Marchand, Danton Heinen, and Matt Grzelcyk each had an assist. Marchand’s assist on Pastrnak’s 2nd goal was one of the greatest plays that you will see this season. Marchand danced around the Senators’ defenders and slid the puck across to Pasta who buried it.
Tuukka Rask was between the pipes in this one and had a tremendous game saving 38 of 39 shots faced. I know this game was against the Senators and Tuukka should have a game like this, but this is huge for himself, this is a confidence boosting game as Tuukka hasn’t had the best start. I am looking for him to build on this performance next time he’s in the net.
One last thing about this game. Urho Vaakanainen, the rookie defenseman for the B’s was playing in his 2nd career NHL game and got hit with an absolute cheap shot. In a scrum in front of the net, he went in to try and help out, when the Senators’ Mark Borowiecki turned and saw him coming and blatantly elbowed Vaakanainen directly in the head. The B’s defenseman had to be taken off the ice and did not return. Shortly after he was diagnosed with a concussion and Borowiecki received a 1 game suspension. It is undeniably mind boggling that he only received a one gamer for this when there have been far worse hits by first time offenders that received more games. I take a big issue with the NHL Player Safety Department on this one. There is no reason this guy should not be suspended for any less than 4 games. It was very obvious that Borowiecki did this premeditatedly and was trying to hurt Vaakaneinen which he consequently did. But you can’t change the ruling and what’s done is done. The Bruins will not forget about that hit and will unquestionably retaliate later in the season.
Now the B’s head back to the Garden to take on the Flyers on the 25th, an original 6 matchup that never disappoints.
10/25 Bruins 3 – Flyers 0
As I said in the end of the Senators recap, this was going to be a game that surely won’t disappoint and it did not one bit. From the opening puck drop there was a feel that this game was going to be chippy, as it always is when these two teams matchup. This game was filled with big hits, big plays, and the B’s burying their chances.
Zdeno Chara opened the scoring for the B’s off a one timed slap shot from the blue line off the pass from Danton Heinen that found its way into the back of the net.
Chara later closed the book with a power play goal on the empty net from behind his own goal. Bruins commentators Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley joked that this might be the furthest power play goal in the history of the NHL, or at least tied for it anyway.
Jake DeBrusk scored the other goal for the Bruins coming on the power play as David Krejci found the stick of DeBrusk who tipped it past the Flyers’ Jake Elliot for the 2-0 lead. It is always a great sign when the 2nd power play unit is producing points and it should scare teams around the league.
Jaroslav Halak was back in net for this game and oh boy did he have another good game. He got his 2nd shutout of the season saving all 26 shots he faced. Of the 26 saves that he made none was bigger than this one on the 2-on-1 for the Flyers:
This game lacked little. There was jawing and tussling after almost every whistle in this one and even after the final buzzer sounded. The Bruins and the Flyers do not like each other, never have, and never will, and for that, hockey fans are grateful. These two teams don’t face each other again until January 16th in Philly and you can bet the house that both teams will not forget what happened in this one and will be at each other’s throats once again.
The Week Ahead
We next see our boys on Saturday 10/27 against long time arch rival Montreal at home in TD Garden. This is the first meeting between these teams this year and this is another game that the B’s should win. The Canadiens are a very weak team trying to rebuild and not doing a very good job at that. As bad as the Canadiens are, they were definitely come out and play a hard game against longtime foe.
The Bruins will then head down to Raleigh, North Carolina to take on the Hurricanes, a team that many, including myself, would be another bottom of the table team. However, after nine games so far this season they find themselves in first place in the stacked Metropolitan Division. This should be another tough game for the B’s but with the top line, they should handle this game.
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