Flames Burn Bruins in Shutout

(Photo: Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire)

The Boston Bruins had most of this past week off—five days—before going to Philadelphia on Saturday where they beat the Philadelphia Flyers with a strong game. In a back-to-back weekend, they flew back to Boston to host the Calgary Flames on Sunday night.

The game saw the return of Daniel Vladar, a goalie that the Bruins traded in the offseason to Calgary in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2022 draft. Calgary elected to start him in net. At the other end the Bruins started Jeremy Swayman who before had been a goaltender partner with Vladar in Providence and at the NHL level toward the end of the 2020-21 season. Vladar earned his first NHL career shutout last week, and by the time Sunday’s game was over he had his second.

“If you would have told me yesterday that I’d get a shutout I wouldn’t have believed you,” Vladar said after the game.

He had backstopped the Bruins and was well aware of their talented top line, which is why he was anticipating a tough night. His teammates in front of him however ensured that many of the shots on Vladar would be outside shots and when needed, Vladar came up big.

At the other end Swayman came into the game having never lost on home ice. Unfortunately, while the forwards and defenders weren’t playing their best hockey, Swayman was letting up some uncharacteristic rebounds and that hurt the Bruins.

“It’s young guys that find their way in the league that think their primary focus is making sure there is a rebound that they’re stopping the puck right and it’s controlling it so yeah, there was some that got away from home,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.

“Got a young goaltender in there so that’s another thing you want to do is force him to control rebounds, the guy’s not playing all the time. So we weren’t able to do that. Being off net, you’ve got to work to get inside. So, we know what Calgary is all about even though we’re not in their division. They’ve been through the East here twice now. So, you’re seeing them and they’ve got six or seven shut outs for a reason. They work hard to keep the puck out and so you’re gonna have to be willing to go in there. Not enough guys wanted to do that tonight and it’s been a problem against some teams that are harder—defend well—so, we have to keep working at it,” said Cassidy.

While Calgary’s defense was doing an impressive job of smothering the Bruins and denying them shooting lanes, the Bruins themselves were not putting their best skate forward. They struggled some with the puck and turning it over much more frequently than they traditionally do. The “giveaways” that were counted on the statistics showed 12 and those were just some of the turnovers.

“I think it was all execution tonight, you know, a lot of it was on us not making the plays, not executing and not sticking to … I think when it’s gonna be a game like that, I think you have to simplify. I don’t think we did that. So, obviously they took advantage and they capitalized,” said Patrice Bergeron.

At the end of the second period the Bruins were only down by a pair going into what has traditionally been their best period Instead of simplifying though, their play was anything but.

“If it’s frustrated, I think, you know, in a way when we’re starting to make plays and the game gets away from you then you start to force plays. Last thing you should do. You should probably go back to… especially when pucks are not going your way. When the plays are not there, I think you have to simplify. Going back to just making the right decision which is usually putting it on net, getting there, and neutral zone in a straight line. That was not what we did tonight obviously,” said Bergeron.

Currently Boston is having a bit of difficulty with consistency. Part of that could be some of the new arrivals to the team. Part of it also could be the strange start to their season. Boston played their 15th game on Sunday, and they have anywhere from three to five games in hand on other teams in their division. The only team currently with fewer games played is the Colorado Avalanche who have played only 14 games.

Film will be reviewed; discussions will take place. While Boston certainly wasn’t happy with the outcome of Sunday’s game, they do not see this as a time to panic. Instead, they see it as a time to get back to playing their game their way which is usually a recipe for success rather than the burning they got from the Calgary Flames.