Photo Credit: Brian Fluharty (USA TODAY Sports)
By: KG Follow me on Twitter: @kgbngblog
PREGAME NOTES
Danton Heinen is playing in his 9th NHL game with the Bruins with David Backes still out with due to illness. Bergeron is still day-to-day, and Riley Nash replaces him. The lineup will look a lot like the one on Monday, which may not be the best thing for the Bruins coming off of a 4-0 against the same team (Av’s) that they play tonight. We may see the emergence of the DeBrusk-Krejci-Bjork line as the #1 line, while Marchand-Nash-Pastrnak takes on the #2 role. This could help the Bruins since this will be a more balanced lineup.
What I Am Looking Forward To
The 4th line of Schaller-Kuraly-Heinen could be a sparkplug for the B’s with some younger players looking to make it hard for Cassidy to take them out of the lineup in the future.
PERIOD ONE
The first ten minutes of the game weren’t the best. Heinen took a penalty early, the Bruins got away with a disallowed goal that looked pretty suspicious and McQuaid then put one in his own net. Not how you draw it up in the pregame. But after that, the Bruins picked it back up and started to get things done. They actually had a few shots compared to the two that were recorded in the first 12:30 of the game. Then the powerplay unit got out there. They were BUZZING (For the first minute). Krug was out there throwing passes like he was Tom Brady and Pastrnak was putting the Av’s D in a game of Twister with his cycle game. Shortly after time expired, Brad Marchand popped his second of the year on a great snapshot while flying down the wing. Overall, my feeling was that this period wasn’t the worst one yet, so I guess that’s a positive.
Scoring
BOS – Marchand (Spooner)
NSH – Kerfoot (Barrie, Duchene)
PERIOD TWO
It is with a heavy heart I say that there isn’t really any hope for the Bruins for the rest of the game. The shots are 26-9 at the end of two for Colorado. The Bruins just haven’t been able to set up and get chances what so ever. Credit to Colorado. They have been playing really well. Getting shots off quick, keeping offensive attacks to the outside, you know, all the stuff that the Bruins usually do well. Scary moment for all watching in the 2nd when Tyson Jost was pushed into the boards’ feet first by McQuaid. It didn’t look as if McQuaid had the intent to injure, but it was enough to cause Nikita Zadorov to demand a fight. Decent scrap, mutual draw. Hopefully, Bruce Cassidy gets some sense into the B’s during the break.
Scoring
BOS – N/A
NSH – Yakupov (MacKinnon), PPG Andrighetto (MacKinnon, Landeskog), Duchene (Yakupov)
PERIOD THREE
Khudobin started the third. Not a huge surprise considering how Rask had given up eight goals in his past five periods. But in the third, the Bruins actually started to look normal again. They were getting some more chances than usual and actually started to get momentum on their side. Then they converted. Twice. Scrappy goals, but it doesn’t matter how pretty they are, as long as they go in. But it was too little too late as the B’s gave up two empty-netters while trying to score the tying goal. Not a great effort and fans/players shouldn’t let the two-goal burst late in the third change their view of the game as a whole. The Bruins played flat out bad. Nine shots in 40 minutes. Against Colorado, who was dead last in the standings last year and really didn’t make many offseason moves. It was a bad game, but there are positives to take from it. Krug looked good. McAvoy made some plays and was physical. Bjork/Debrusk got another game of experience. As long as the Bruins learn from games like these, they will have less and less of them. And let’s not forget that Patrice Bergeron was out and has been out for the past two games. He is an impact player and his presence is missed. Hopefully, they can still salvage this Western road trip from the Rockies to the desert.
Scoring
BOS – Schaller (Heinen, Kuraly), PPG Krug (Marchand, Nash)
NSH – ENG Andrighetto (Rantanen, Nemeth), ENG Jost (N/A)
POSTGAME
I thought this was an issue as well. We know the offense will be weird with two top-six guys out. But no excuse for the defense.
KG’s Three Stars Of The Game
1st: Brad Marchand – He was the Boston player with the best stats, and no one else really had as big an impact as him out there. He scored the first goal on a wicked shot and assisted on the third. He was also a great asset on the power play, as per usual. A decent game for him
2nd: Torey Krug – Krug played an ok two periods, but really brought it in the third. He scored a goal on a rebound which was weird for a defenceman who usually stays at the point to run the operation.
3rd: Anton Khudobin – Khudobin made nine saves in the third period when he was on the ice, including some sort of flailing and flopping that kept the puck out of the net in one series. He was the one who kept the Bruins in the game and bailed them out. He played a really solid 18 minutes-ish.
MUP (Most Under-Appreciated Player): Zdeno Chara – Chara wasn’t great. He really wasn’t. I saw him turn the puck over multiple times. But somehow he scrapped out a plus two +/- rating, so I have to give him credit for that.
BIRDHOUSE – Round-up of the best Tweets during the game
NEXT GAME
Saturday, October 14th, 2017 at Arizona Coyotes
Sources: Tsn.ca, Twitter.com, NHL.com, Hockey-db.com
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