As the game got underway on Thursday night between the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers, it was clear that the Bruins were focused and doing their best to keep the positive momentum going under interim head coach Bruce Cassidy. Given that it took the Rangers just over 11 minutes to get their first shot on goal, it was also evident that the Bruins were not going to make things easy for the Blueshirts. Of course, the Rangers had one of their most powerful weapons on the ice, and between the pipes, in goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist is an elite goalie in just about every game he plays, but Thursday night was also his birthday. As the Bruins continued to get scoring chances on him, it was clear that when he made his birthday wish, it was for a win. He backed up that wish with some stunning saves, denying the Bruins on some truly amazing shots. His last two starts had been losses, the most recent being a 4-1 loss to the Washington Capitals on Tuesday night. Clearly he felt he had something to prove—more than likely to himself rather than to anyone else.
Henrik Lundqvist
“All I wanted today was to win, to be honest with you. My wife asked me the other day what do you want for your birthday, I don’t know, nothing,” Lundqvist shared. “But then today, I want to win, that’s all. I want to come here and play my best and try to help the team get a win. It’s tough to lose two at home. You want to feel good about your game. You want to feel good about where we are. And so I tried to leave everything out there today and in the end we came up with some big plays, some big blocks and it wasn’t pretty at times but we found a way.”
The teams would go through forty minutes with nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. It wasn’t until 5:10 of the third that either team scored a goal, and it was Pavel Buchnevich who got the Rangers on the board first. Buchnevich, a rookie, had been recalled Thursday morning from the Hartford Wolf Pack—the Rangers’ AHL affiliate. What made his goal all the more painful for the hardworking Bruins was that it was the first shot on goal for the Rangers in that third period.
New York doubled their lead four and a half minutes later off the stick of Oscar Lindberg, who notched his fifth goal on the season. The Bruins refused to back down and continued their onslaught—though some of their passes were questionable, not connecting with any player in some cases.
Brad Marchand gets the goal.
With 7:04 remaining in regulation, David Pastrnak made a between the legs pass on Nick Holden to get the puck to Brad Marchand who managed to stuff it passed Lundqvist getting the Bruins on the board and cutting the Rangers lead in half. It was clearly a momentum shift for the Bruins who were doing everything they could from that point to get the equalizer.
Unfortunately for them, with just 2:22 remaining, David Backes got called for goaltender interference. New York’s subsequent power play ate up most of the remaining time and certainly deflated the team in black and gold. Rushing the net, it appeared on replay that Backes had done everything he could to avoid a collision with Lundqvist.
“I obviously don’t agree with it. I think we can watch the replay—I think I’m going to the net trying to avoid contact. He comes up to initiate it, and I look and the ref’s arm is in the air and I sit for the next two minutes in a game where we had tons of momentum and we’re making a push at the end,” Backes said after the game. “And instead, they get a power play and kill most of the last two and a half minutes, and even then, we get a couple chances there at the end. But frustrating way to finish a game when we played pretty well through the whole time and we are making a push there at the end.”
The Bruins had a number of scoring chances, but whether it was a birthday wish or Lundqvist just doing what he does best in the crease, in the end it wasn’t enough to get the win. Boston will now have to shake this loss off and focus on their game against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. New Jersey sits 14th in the Eastern Conference, and lost in a 1-0 game in D.C. against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The Bruins need a win on Saturday, as there is very little wiggle room between being in the playoffs and out among the Atlantic Division teams.
The Boston Bruins played their first home game since February 12. Just after their win over the Montreal Canadiens, they entered their bye week, and then headed west on a four-game road trip—taking six out of the eight points. Since the dismissal of Claude Julien and the appointment of Bruce Cassidy as Interim Head Coach, the Bruins had won six of their last seven games going into Tuesday night’s tilt against the Arizona Coyotes.
Tuukka Rask with the save…
For Boston, this could have been one of those games they lost, if they were the same team that began the season. That first home game after a road trip tends to be a bit of a struggle for most teams. Add to that the fact that the Coyotes are in 13th place in the Western Conference, and the Bruins could have played like they have so often against teams that are lower in the standings. Such was not the case, though they did have to rely somewhat on Tuukka Rask while they found their rhythm.
Of those who spoke after the game, they all recognized that it wasn’t the prettiest of wins, and that they could do better. Undoubtedly that will be addressed at practice Wednesday morning. But perhaps what was different was how the team rallied—especially when the Coyotes tied things up three and half minutes into the middle frame on a power play.
“You know, we created some confidence on the road, and it seemed like we just told ourselves to go back to what’s been successful [for] us lately, which is keeping things simple and playing a hard game,” Patrice Bergeron shared. “And we did that after, like I said, that penalty kill and that goal, and it got us going, and after that, we were more poised with the puck but also more assertive, and it made a big difference.”
Indeed it did make a difference. As the horn signaled the end of the second, Riley Nash had scored what would become the game winning goal—shorthanded—which was followed by two even strength goals: one from David Backes high in the slot that beat Arizona’s goalie Mike Smith five hole, and then with just eleven seconds left on the clock, Brad Marchand got his 28th on the season on a wrap around.
As the teams came out in the third, Arizona’s head coach, Dave Tippett, elected to make a goalie change, putting in Louis Domingue for the final twenty minutes. Domingue would stop seven shots and prevent the Bruins from getting any more goals. It was clear that Smith was fighting the puck a bit and got beat on the final two goals from Backes and Marchand—goals that he feels he should have had, and he gave himself no excuses for his performance.
“Well, no save from your goaltender is the tide turning thing. I’m in a little funk right now and need to find a way to get out of it, get to work in practice, and start playing like I’m capable of playing,” Smith stated matter-of-factly. “It all starts with me back there. Get some saves early, the first goal goes under my pad, the third goal goes under my pad. You can’t let in goals like that and chase the game all the time.”
David Backes
Chasing the game is a situation that Boston had familiarity with throughout many of their games—especially on home ice—through January. But having been able to now string some solid wins together, having only lost to the Anaheim Ducks since Cassidy took over behind the bench, it is clear that they are coming together.
“I think we’ve established a pretty good game plan, a pretty good recipe for how we’re going to have success as a whole team, picking each other up and doing the little things you do to win games. I don’t think the first two periods were pretty by any means, but you’ve got a 4-1 lead after two after you had a little sloppiness,” Backes explained. “Tuukka made some big saves. We were able to score a couple of goals there at the end of the second, and we just needed to go out there and play a solid third period. We were better in the third, but not great, and coming off of a road trip, I don’t know what it is, but that first game seems to be the toughest one. We got two points out of it. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the two points. We’ll get a good day of practice in [Wednesday], and be able to hit the ground running against a good Rangers team on Thursday.”
Home game success will be essential to the Bruins going into their final 19 games, as the majority of them are homestands. First up will be the New York Rangers on Thursday night—the first game night after the trade deadline for Boston. The Rangers played a home game Tuesday night, but were on the losing side of a 4-1 tally against the Washington Capitals, and will undoubtedly be looking to get back on the winning side.
In consecutive games this week, the two players credited with the Blackhawks’ resurgence each netted hat tricks, helping launch the team back toward first place in West.
At 38-18-5, the Hawks are closing the gap on the 39-14-6 Wild.
Chicago beat the Coyotes 5-3 Thursday with a strong start and a powerful finish that made up for some weak points along the way. The first period ended with a 3-3 tie.
Young gun Nick Schmaltz fired top-shelf (his sixth goal this season) after a dish delivered by Toews and Richard Panik just 37 seconds after puck drop.
A takeaway by Marian Hossa fed a close-up snap shot goal for Ryan Hartman to regain a 2-1 lead about halfway through the first.
Hartman passed to Tanner Kero, who set up Kane’s first goal of the game, a snap from the close edge of the left circle, making it 3-1 with just over three minutes left in the first.
The Coyotoes’ Ryan White closed the gap when Alex Goligoski recovered White’s initial shot blocked by Michal Rozsival and fed Burmistrov who set Ryan up for a backhander at the net with 2:18 left in the first.
Just under three minutes into the second, Roszival’s wrister from the slot on a pass-back from Schmaltz, fed by Toews, shelfed Mike Smith, making it 4-3 Chicago.
Brent Seabroook fed the puck down ice to Kane, who hustle-and-faked Goligoski and wristed the puck five-hole with almost seven minutes remaining in the period.
And, about half-way through the third, it was hats off for Kane’s with a snap shot fed by his usual partners, Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov.
Just two days earlier, Toews had a five-point game, including a hat trick, pushing Chicago closer to leading rival Minnesota with a 5-3 win.
After a scoreless first period, Toews gave Chicago a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the second with a net-side wrister delivered from Trevor van Riemsdyk and Brian Campbell at the blue line.
Less than two minutes later, Toews tallied his second goal with chipping a backhander dished from Schmaltz behind the net.
He then solidified the game with an unanswered empty-net goal sent from Schmaltz with just over a minute left in play.
This was Toews’ fourth career hat trick.
The Hawks are 7-1 in their last eight games. The captain has awoken the squad with 20 points in his last 12 games.
The Blackhawks wrapped up their bye week return last weekend 1-1, with Saturday’s loss to Edmonton (3-1) halting a win streak at six games and a definitive 5-1 victory in Buffalo flashing signs of the team’s depth.
Sunday, the Blackhawks take on the third-place St. Louis Blues (31-24-5), who sit 15 points behind them in standings, but are 2-2 against each other this season. St. Louis won 5-2 Oct. 12, with the Blackhawks taking wins 2-1 Nov. 9 and 6-4 Dec. 17 before the Blues’ strong 4-1 Winter Classic victory.
Chicago is expected to play their new trade pickup Tomas Jurco, who they received in exchange for a third-round draft pick. Jurco, from Detroit, didn’t see much playing time. In four seasons, he tallied 15 goals and 24 assists, playing 159 games. He comes with a $900,000 cap hit, according to CapFriendly.com, leaving the Hawks with $2,876,672 in space.
The Hawks and Blues will face off at 6:30 p.m. C.T. at the United Center and will be shown on NBCSN.
The second Monday of February donned with snow falling—but perhaps it shouldn’t be any other way. After all, it is February in Boston, and more importantly it is the second Monday and therefore the Beanpot Championship game. But first, there was the earlier consolation game.
This year’s 65th Beanpot saw the Boston College Eagles and the Northeastern Huskies battling it out in the earlier consolation game. This is a game that, sadly, isn’t well attended and yet the two teams play their hardest. After all, no one really wants to be the fourth place finisher of a four-team championship.
Most interested parties had the first game going to the Eagles, but hockey is a game of inches and seconds. Going into the third period the teams were tied at one each, when Matt Filipe of Northeastern got his team ahead at 6:47, with his second goal of the game. In hockey time though, there was still a lot of time remaining and sure enough the Eagles got the equalizer not quite seven minutes later. They would remain knotted until the clock ticked under the two-minute mark when it looked like the Eagles had taken the lead. However, a review of the play overturned the call on the ice, citing goaltender interference, and that was all the Huskies needed to take over the game. Having received the puck from Garrett Cockerill, Zach Aston-Reese made a well-timed, solid pass to Dylan Sikura who got the goal. The Eagles would pull their goalie on the next play, and he was out for just a second before the Huskies Adam Gaudette had the puck in the back of the net, making the final score 4-2.
To have a goal of this magnitude overturned is certainly a difficult experience for any team, and such was the case with the Eagles. However, if these players continue their hockey into the professional leagues, they will experience this kind of setback again, and perhaps their experience in this year’s consolation game will give them a resolve that other players may not have to shake it off and get back to their game.
It has been 24 years since the Boston College Eagles have lost in the consolation game—interestingly enough they lost to the Northeastern Huskies that time also, with a score of 4-3. And as everyone was assembled awaiting Eagles’ head coach Jerry York and then Huskies head coach Jim Madigan and two of his players—Sikura and Filipe—facts and stats were being handed out. Among those historical facts was that the last time BC lost in consolation, it was Harvard University who won the Beanpot Championship.
Would history repeat itself?
As the Harvard Crimson and the Boston University Terriers took to the ice, a ceremonial puck drop recognized the many years of service of TD Garden’s Steve Nazro—who is retiring. His involvement in bringing many events to the Garden predates the existence of the current TD Garden, but of all the events he helped book into the venue, the Beanpot was near and dear to his heart.
As the game got underway, it was evident that even if the Crimson players didn’t know about the historical fact, it was certainly their intention to raise that bean pot at the end of the game. The first period had Harvard shooting on goal 18 times compared to the minimal two of the Terriers. So it was probably no surprise that the score after the first was 1-0 in favor of Harvard. When the shot charts came around during that intermission it told an even bigger story of Crimson domination. Harvard had attempted 33 shots. The Terriers? They had attempted four.
However, as often happens in a hockey game, a power play goal in the first 90 seconds of the middle frame for the Terriers followed by an even strength goal about three minutes later had Boston University leading. The shots in the period were not quite as one-sided but the Crimson were clearly determined not to be intimidated and tied the game about half-way through the second. However, it may have been Nathan Krusko’s second of the game, with 1:06 remaining in the second period to give Harvard the lead that took all the momentum out of the Terriers.
Coming out in the third period the opening minutes were a shooting gallery on Terriers’ netminder Jake Oettinger who, by the final buzzer, would have saved 40 of 45 shots he saw—which included two separate minute-long 5-on-3 penalty kills. The Crimson would also stick a final dagger in when they got an empty net goal for a final score of 6-3, having outshot the Terriers 46-17.
As the horn sounded and the Crimson players knew they had won, sticks and gloves went everywhere as they piled on each other in a large heap of bodies. When asked after the game how heavy the Beanpot Trophy was, Harvard senior Alexander Kerfoot said it felt pretty light as he held it—undoubtedly because of the joy that was helping him hold it up.
Indeed history has been repeated and while it is always difficult for the losing teams, it’s impossible not to smile at a team that has ended a 24-year drought, hoisting the Beanpot Trophy for only their 11th time.
Well done Crimson! You brought the heart, the drive, the energy and the belief amongst your entire team. Enjoy the win–until the first Monday in February, 2018 anyway.
As most of those who could travel to Boston were awaking Tuesday morning with plans to attend the “rolling rally” celebrating the New England Patriots 5th Super Bowl win, the Boston Bruins were announcing that they had let head coach Claude Julien go. Further the team announced that General Manager Don Sweeney would be available to the press at 11:30am, which was while the Super Bowl parade was making its way along the streets of Boston.
While it certainly did nothing to draw away from the Patriots and the celebration of the city, there were many of the media who did question Sweeney on the time of not only the announcement as well as the timing of his press conference. However, perhaps the celebration in Boston did overshadow the recognition of the end of service of the winningest coach in Bruins history.
Claude Julien
Julien was hired during the offseason in the summer of 2006, after the team had failed to qualify for the playoffs the previous two seasons. During his tenure, the team was in the playoffs the next eight years, winning the Stanley Cup in 2011, after a 39-year drought. He took much of that same roster again to the Stanley Cup finals two years later. However, the Bruins have failed to qualify the past two seasons, and their current struggling record tends to suggest that they may again miss the playoffs this season.
“Claude Julien is the all-time winningest coach in Boston Bruins history, and my family and I join Bruins fans in thanking him for the many great memories that have come while he has been behind the Bruins bench,” said Bruins CEO Charlie Jacobs Tuesday morning. “As a management team, we set a high standard for ourselves, and I believe that our organization is moving in the right direction towards meeting and exceeding those standards.”
“I want to thank Claude. I want to acknowledge the level of success that he has achieved as the coach of the Boston Bruins and acknowledge he is a great coach, a tremendous person, and he’s meant a lot to our organization,” Sweeney said during the press conference. “We’re going to wish him nothing but the greatest level of success that he can achieve. He’ll be a great coach with another organization in a short time, I’m quite positive of that.”
Coaches Dean and Cassidy
Indeed, Julien will quickly find a new position as bench boss, but what of the Bruins and the remainder of the season? Assistant Coach Bruce Cassidy has been relegated as interim head coach, and Sweeney indicated that he is also on the candidate list.
“I would consider Bruce a candidate and I want to evaluate on the fly. It’s not about wins and losses. The expectation for him to get us in or not be a candidate doesn’t exist,” Sweeney shared. “I want to go through the daily process of evaluating the impact that he can have, and I have a working relationship and had a working relationship with Bruce for several years and feel comfortable in the communications level that we’ve had in the past and what’s going to happen going forward.”
Communication is one of the buzzwords that made more than one appearance during the morning’s media availability with Sweeney. In fact, it could be the true underlining issue that signaled the end of Julien’s career with the Bruins, rather than their current league standings.
“It never rested with a win or a loss. I wasn’t making a decision on how we lost tonight or we won, can we win tomorrow night. It was really a communication level that I could not get past—the fact that I wasn’t committed in my own mind to sort of go beyond where we are right now with Claude,” Sweeney elaborated. “Where we are as an organization, I don’t know if those two things lined up, but the level of success he’s had, the way we were playing, that the roster wasn’t built and necessarily complete or a finished product.”
Perhaps that sums up the real reason for the change—a miscommunication between management and the head coach. It is clear that Sweeney has spent more time with Cassidy and perhaps they both approach the building of the team from the same angle. At this point all that can happen is to see if the change shakes up the team or if changes in practice, alluded to by Sweeney, turn the struggling team around.
In the meantime, the Bruins fans were given the greatest of memories—the raising of the Stanley Cup in 2011. And for that Julien will always be held with appreciation.
Saturday night the Boston Bruins played host to the Toronto Maple Leafs—a division rival and a team that up until this season they had been able to beat most of the time, including one painful playoff memory when Toronto was up 4-1 only to see the Bruins take it in overtime. Such would not be the case on Saturday, though as Toronto did get up 4-1 and then saw that lead evaporate, it did look like perhaps history would repeat itself. Of course, neither of the teams on the ice on Saturday were exactly the same as that past game, and that was obviously a major contributing factor in the final outcome.
The Bruins came out and began to execute well, with David Pastrnak getting his 21st goal of the season, putting Boston on the board first, 2:17 into the first period. And then as the period progressed the play of those wearing the black third jerseys began to get sloppier and sloppier. It perhaps shouldn’t have been a surprise when nine minutes later the Maple Leafs made the Bruins pay for some of those mistakes by tying the game. It was rookie William Nylander’s 11th of the season, and it wouldn’t be his last of the evening. As the horn sounded to signal the end of the first period the teams were tied and the Bruins had outshot the Leafs.
Coming out in the second, it looked again like the Bruins were struggling. Miscues and miscommunication began to mount, and again the Leafs made Boston pay the ultimate penalty—James van Riemsdyk gave his team the lead 8:31 into the middle period. However it was the two additional goals off the stick of Nylander—one unassisted—in the next minute and a quarter for three goals in less than 120 seconds that would see Toronto with a 4-1 lead, Bruins head coach Claude Julien using his timeout, and Tuukka Rask being pulled as backup goaltender Zane McIntyre took his place between the pipes for the Bruins.
William Nylander between Zane McIntyre and Patrice Bergeron
For Nylander it was his first NHL career hat trick, which is always something special. Of course, scoring it on the road means no hats on the ice, but given that his team was up by three goals at that point, it’s a safe bet he was okay with the lack of chapeaus.
“It was fun,” Nylander shared after the game about his hat trick. “It was a big game and we needed this win, so it was big.”
After the timeout, and some choice words from Julien that he admitted were not suitable to be repeated and printed, the Bruins jumped back into the fray and began to work as a team. Pastrnak scored his second of the game, giving the team some life.
Nylander and Pastrnak are close friends, though not when they are playing against each other. However, having your friend there when you reach a career milestone, such as the hat trick, must have been a little icing on the cake for Nylander.
“Yeah, it’s something, uh, never thought would happen when you’re playing like little kids back home, so it was pretty cool,” he shared with a smile.
Toronto’s head coach Mike Babcock actually sees the friendly rivalry of Nylander and Pastrnak as something he could use to make Nylander even better than he already is.
“We’ve just got to bring Pastrnak on the road with us all the time, take him to every rink,” Babcock said of the friendly rivalry. “He always wants to be better than number 88, so we’ve just got to get a number 88 on every team and he’ll be unbelievable.”
Pastrnak did not get a hat trick. And despite the Bruins tying the game twice during the third period, in the end the game would go to the players in white and blue, made all the more painful because it was again a late period game-winning goal, and van Riemsdyk’s second of the game.
For both teams this was a must win game. Toronto came into Boston on a three-game losing streak. Boston was only three points ahead of the Leafs in the standings, but with Toronto having five games in hand. Toronto still has those five games in hand, but now they are breathing down the necks of the Bruins only a point behind. And with the way the Metropolitan division has been playing, the Bruins could find themselves out of playoff contention because currently teams in the other Eastern Conference division fill both wild card spots.
Despite scoring five goals on the night, the Bruins gave up six. They put themselves down by three goals, which is a deep hole to climb out of and then just couldn’t stop the sloppy plays to prevent the Leafs from getting ahead.
“Any game you give up like that, you know, but especially when you fight your way back; it’s always tough [to lose],” a subdued Patrice Bergeron said postgame. “But it’s—you have to find a way to get back at it and be even better for the next game. Now we have four days that hopefully we’re going to use to our advantage and be ready.”
They have the four days to get their focus back on not giving up goals and strengthening their defense. As more and more trades are announced, with the March 1st trade deadline less than a month away, it is possible that in the final stretch, the Bruins will look a bit different. Regardless of whether trades play a role, the reality is that the Bruins almost need to go on a multi game-winning streak if they have any hopes of remaining in playoff contention at this point.
As the puck dropped on Thursday night at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins were out of playoff contention and had managed to stop a four-game losing skid with their victory over the Detroit Red Wings two days prior. Thursday they were hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins, by whom they had been absolutely pummeled on Sunday. Stringing together two wins before going into the All-Star break was not only important to the team’s psyche, but also crucial to their playoff possibilities.
Phil Kessel
It appeared, as the game began, that the Bruins had the jump and intensity of Tuesday’s game, but it would be the Penguins to get the first goal, as Justin Schultz’s shot went off Boston defenseman Brandon Carlo’s stick. It was one of those goals that no player wants any part of, but then, as if under his own personal rain cloud, Carlo took a cross-checking penalty just about two minutes later and while on the power play Penguin Phil Kessel put his team up by two. The Bruins would go into the first intermission having marginally outshot the Penguins 13-12, not counting aborted shots by the Bs, but in a two-goal hole—a position they knew all too well.
Coming out into the second period, it looked like the Bruins were determined, but they would be immediately stymied as Adam McQuaid was whistled for a trip 36 seconds into the middle period. However, if there is one thing that Boston has done well this season, it is the penalty kill, which going into that penalty stood at an impressive 86%. A minute and two seconds into the penalty kill, Brad Marchand—who had fortunately avoided a suspension, being fined instead for his “dangerous trip” on Red Wings’ Niklas Kronwall on Tuesday, perhaps because of his upcoming All Star appearance—notched his third shorthanded goal of the season, cutting the Penguins’ lead in half.
That shorthanded goal definitely gave the Bruins a boost of emotion, something that they need to be successful. Less than six minutes later Marchand would put in his second of the game, and the second assist on that all important tying goal would belong to the first period-beleaguered Carlo, showing why head coach Claude Julien continues to play him in every game.
“This is where, again we need to be patient with some young players and the mistake he made, it goes off his stick and it spins in the net and you know, probably not a good penalty to take, but what I like about Brandon Carlo – and I said that before – he comes out in the second period and we get in a bit of a scramble there at the beginning and he blocks a big shot that probably saves a goal,” shared Julien postgame. “Like, he redeems himself. He works hard to redeem himself and so as much as we’ve got to live sometimes with some young mistakes, we like the fact that he doesn’t hang his head and he comes back and plays hard and really tries to redeem himself and he does that most of the time.”
Unfortunately the twenty-year-old Carlo would somehow get hurt during the third period—though it wasn’t known how at the time—and would not return. In fact, as he struggled to get back up and off the ice, goaltender Tuukka Rask would help by giving him a push so he could make it to the bench while play was at the other end.
Riley Nash with the deflection.
Going into the second intermission, the Bruins would be leading the game for the first time, 3-2, the result of a deflection of a Torey Krug shot by Riley Nash, just over the halfway mark of the game. It was a lead they would protect for the remaining 9:35 of that second, giving them a positive jolt to take into the locker room. They would take a bit of “old time hockey” with them as David Backes brought his physicality and “go to the dirty areas” mentality.
That mentality saw Backes finishing his hits, which helped to make some space on the ice, but also saw him sit for two after a little bit of a dust up with Trevor Daley at 8:26 of the second. He would sit for another four—the result of a double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and cross-checking, as he and Kessel got into it about seven minutes later at Kessel’s invitation. It was clear that the Bruins’ hard-hitting approach to the game and three goals they had scored were frustrating the Penguins when Scott Wilson instigated a fight with Colin Miller, who accepted and got the take down, with 48 seconds remaining before the second intermission.
Coming out in the third, before the first minute had ticked off the clock, Patrice Bergeron, who was mucking around the crease, got the Bruins their fourth goal—though it went in and out of the net so fast that at first the refs didn’t even realize it had happened. After review though, the goal was awarded giving Boston a little breathing room with a 4-2 score. Given that Patric Hornqvist would get one back for the Penguins with 9:25 remaining in regulation, that opening goal in the third for the Bruins was important.
Despite some additional penalties by the Bruins in the third, Boston refused to back down, keeping the Penguins from getting a point by tying and taking it to overtime. And as the final horn sounded, it was a satisfying win for Boston, and a sense that they were embracing that identity that makes them successful.
David Backes, Olli Maatta,Matt Murray
Backes’ physicality certainly harkens to that hard, “allow no quarter,” intensity that the Bruins used to have regularly, with players always buzzing around the opponent’s net. Perhaps the team can retain not only the feeling of the win, but more importantly that edge, without toppling over it and giving up penalties.
“Yeah, I think, you realize, like, the guys who score, they’re around the net, and that’s how you score goals in this league,” said Backes. “You can maybe make a couple highlight goals by staying on the perimeter and hitting seams, but percentagewise, you gotta get to the front of the net. And I think we’d had enough of 40 shots, 45 shots, one and two goals in losses and now we’re starting to get to the inside and bury a few more and that results in wins.”
The team will get a bit of a rest, except for Marchand and Rask who headed west to Los Angeles to participate in the NHL All Star events to represent the Bruins. Upon their return, the team will need to pick up where they left off.
“It’s about realizing what the… how it feels to play like that, but also win that way and build from that,” Bergeron summed up. “I think last game was a great character win and now you follow it up with a great game against the Stanley Cup champs from last year, so definitely feels good. You have, I guess, to keep doing more of the same going forward.”
The Boston University Terriers played host to the Merrimack College Warriors on Friday night, in their second meeting of the week. The first of this two-game series took place on Tuesday in North Andover at Lawler Rink and saw the Warriors end the Terriers eight-game winning streak, as they notched three goals to the Terriers one that night.
It was clear from the pushing, shoving, and after whistle festivities that memories of Tuesday’s tilt were still uppermost in the players’ minds. The first penalty, an interference, would be called on Terrier, and Boston Bruins prospect, Charlie McAvoy 5:50 into the period and it would cost the Terriers. Junior forward Brett Seney, would put the Warriors on the scoreboard, 35 seconds into their power play. However, the Terriers would respond with emotion and continued physicality and approximately two minutes later would get their own man advantage. Ludvig Larsson, the sophomore from Malmo, Sweden, would get whistled for tripping. Clayton Keller would take a solid pass from fellow freshman Patrick Harper, to tie it 14 seconds in. The second assist would go to McAvoy, perhaps redeeming himself for his earlier penalty.
The one thing that no one ever wants to see though is a serious injury to one of the players, which unfortunately was the case as Nikolas Olsson ended up sprawled on the ice to the left of Warrior netminder Collin Delia. As he tried to get up, it was soon vividly apparent that he was in a tremendous amount of pain. The trainer rushed out to attend to him and then two of Olsson’s teammates helped get him up and off the ice with what looked to be a serious leg injury. Post game, Terriers head coach David Quinn, while not going into specifics, corroborated that indeed it was a bad injury.
The second period picked up just where it left off in the first, with the Terriers controlling much of the play by hemming in the Warriors in their own end for significant zone time, but as the period went along, it was clear that Merrimack was beginning to gain traction and take control of the game. By the time the buzzer sounded, it would be Merrimack College leading 2-1, as Seney got his second of the game (eighth on the season) at 12:51 of the middle frame. The period would not be without its pushing and shoving and a couple of penalties. BU’s Brandon Hickey would get whistled at 9:23 for an interference call, but Warrior Mathieu Tibbet would also sit for two for an embellishment call—a penalty called much more at the collegiate level than seen in the pro leagues. Merrimack’s Johnathan Kovacevic would sit for a slash as the clock ticked under the five-minute mark when the Terriers had done a good job of getting in low in the offensive zone.
Perhaps it was the knowledge that their teammate was badly hurt. Perhaps they had let it go to their head that they were in the number one spot of the USCHO poll for the first time in a long time. Given how many players from BU who were on the gold medal-winning Team USA at the IIHF World Junior Championships, perhaps it was a hangover from the energy they had expended in that tournament, or the idea that with gold medals they were at the top of the pile. It could even have been, as Coach Quinn tried to joke after the loss, that one of the players broke up with his girlfriend. After all, they are young men. Whatever it was, the third period saw Merrimack take control and the wheels fall off the Terriers’ wagon.
In the third period, as Alex Carle sat in the box for a boarding call, the Terriers had an opportunity to possibly tie the game and give themselves a chance. Instead, 18 seconds into the man advantage, it was Michael Babcock of the Warriors who went glove side high with the shorthander to make the score 3-1 with less than 15 minutes remaining in regulation. Coach Quinn seemed to feel that was kind of the nail in the coffin with his players and their effort. Just a little more than four minutes later Babcock would net his second of the game at 9:31 of that period.
As the last second ticked off the clock and the buzzer signaled the end, the Merrimack College Warriors had achieved their first ever regular-season series sweep of the Boston University Terriers. And while the Merrimack players knew where BU was ranked, and certainly had received some confidence and some happiness after the win on Tuesday, they shelved that as they left the locker room Tuesday night and showed up at Agganis Arena Friday night ready to work and bring a strong effort. They were rewarded.
The Terriers? Well, Coach Quinn called the night disappointing, and it was clear from his post game comments that he felt the team had not brought their best effort and had returned to some bad habits. He doesn’t have much time to coach that out of them, as they return to the Agganis Arena ice on Saturday night as BU hosts UMass Lowell River Hawks (who also lost their game Friday night).
I need to be honest here, I have been hemming and hawing over the tapered sweat pant trend for awhile now. But like anything in life, it deserved a fair shot, and you know what? I LOVED it … sweat pants (aka almost pajamas) being socially acceptable, YES!
While I don’t wear the trend on the regular, it’s kind of cool to be able to dress up something so laid back. That being said, I invite you to skate on over to your local pro-shop or the NHL.com store for a pair of tapered sweats. While I feature the Columbus Blue Jackets here, most of the teams in the league have the style available in the women’s section. I suggest wearing the sweats with a fitted sweater and wedge booties, pair it with a cute bag and you’re ready to go. A completely effortless ensemble that looks tres chic in a matter of minutes.
When it comes to hockey in the city of Boston, there is no greater rivalry than the Boston College Eagles and the Boston University Terriers. It is perhaps on a scale of the Canada and USA rivalry or the 1972 Summit Series between Canada and Russia. To put it simply, they really don’t like each other. And that was on display throughout the entire game as the Terriers hosted the Eagles at Agganis Arena Friday night. The Eagles will return the favor on Monday evening at BC’s Conte Forum. And the memories of these hockey players are long, and some of the dust ups from Friday night’s game will undoubtedly carry over.
Perhaps the most proud moment, before the puck was dropped, was the honoring of the 12 players from the two teams who had represented their countries at the IIHF World Junior Championships, many of whom were teammates and pals a week ago, and would be back to being rivals after the ceremony.
For the BC Eagles, you had:
Casey Fitzgerald (NHL Draft – Buffalo) – Team USA
Julius Mattila – Team Finland
Jesper Mattila – Team Finland
Colin White (NHL Draft – Ottawa) – Team USA
Joseph Woll (NHL Draft – Toronto) – Team USA
For the BU Terriers, you saw:
Kieffer Bellows (NHL Draft – NY Islanders) – Team USA
Dante Fabbro (NHL Draft – Nashville) – Team Canada
Jordan Greenway (NHL Draft – Minnesota) – Team USA
Patrick Harper (NHL Draft – Nashville) – Team USA
Clayton Keller (NHL Draft – Arizona) – Team USA
Charlie McAvoy (NHL Draft – Boston) – Team USA
Jake Oettinger – Team USA
Not only do they represent some Gold Medal winners, but this line up also shows a lot of up and coming talent proving that the NHL will continue to have some of the greatest skilled players in the sport.
BU and BC battling (Photo: Matt Dresens)
Of course, once the ceremony was complete and the puck had dropped, those friendships were put aside and the business at hand was trying to get two important points in the Hockey East conference, as well as beating their biggest rival.
It was clear that both teams not only knew what was at stake, but based on the sounds of the solid and frequent checks into the boards throughout the game, they understood the rivalry.
Sometimes rivalries of this kind can overshadow the teams and cause them to lose focus at what is most important—the win. And if you happen to be a local guy, it can be all the easier to be distracted. Sometimes it’s your inner emotions getting the better of you, but more often it is the outside attention you receive from friends, family and others when the Battle of Comm Ave is on the horizon.
This year’s captain of the Terriers, Doyle Sommerby, is one of those local players who was no stranger to this immense rivalry. Now as a senior and the leader of the team, he has experienced three previous years of this throwdown.
“You’ve really just got to enjoy the moment as best you can. Being a local guy I was probably a little too excited playing my first time against BC,” Sommerby shared after the game. “Every time, obviously, when you play BC it’s a really big game. You get a lot of people you haven’t talked to in awhile texting you, calling you, wishing you luck, and stuff. So, just kind of put aside the outside distractions and just focus and kind of get that first shift under your belt and get back to your game.”
For the first 40 minutes it did appear that the Terriers were not only focused, but motivated. They scored the first goal 3:47 into the second period, as sophomore and Boston Bruins prospect Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson got his ninth of the season, and his sixth of the past three games. He now has a four-game point streak with six goals and two assists.
Less than two minutes later, and just 12 seconds into a power play—the result of a tripping penalty called on Patrick Curry—the Eagles would knot things up. Colin White put it in, for his 11th of the season, while his teammate and fellow WJC alum, Casey Fitzgerald would earn his 10th assist and Matt Gaudreau would get his first.
It was good to see that the quick response by the Eagles did not alter the motivation of the Terriers. They continued to dominate in many ways, making strong plays, though Eagles tender Joseph Woll was clearly up to the challenge. However, as a result of the immense effort of sophomore Jordan Greenway on the forecheck, who is no small player at 6’5”, that caused an Eagles’ defensemen to make a hurried pass, he was then able to battle for the puck behind the BC net and get to Clayton Keller. Keller put it home for the go ahead goal. His eighth of the season, it would end up being the game winner, as both goalies shut the doors on the twine behind them for the remainder of the game.
The Terriers do owe a lot to their freshman goal tender Jake Oettinger, who had to make a number of big saves in the third period to keep his team in the lead. And perhaps in the end it is no surprise that of the eight point earners on the night and the two goalies, seven of them had been standing in that pre-game ceremony.
Hockey is not only alive and well in Boston, but it is largely wrapped up in either a scarlet and white Terriers jersey or a maroon and gold Eagles one.
Post game Terriers Clayton Keller and Doyle Sommerby:
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