Bruins Post-Game Recap: Boston vs. Calgary: 2/25/20

Photo Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty

Home: Boston Bruins

Away: Calgary Flames

Boston’s Lineup

Forwards

Marchand – Bergeron – Pastrnak

DeBrusk – Krejci – Kuhlman

Ritchie – Coyle – Bjork

Kuraly – Lindholm – Wagner

Defense

Chara – McAvoy

Krug – Carlo

Grzelcyk – Lauzon

Goalies

Rask

Halak

Calgary’s Lineup

Forwards

Gaudreau – Monahan – Lindholm

Mangiapane – Backlund – Tkachuk

Lucic – Ryan – Dube

Bennett – Jankowski – Rieder

Defense

Brodie – Stone

Hanifin – Andersson

Forbort – Gustafsson

Goalies

Rittich

Talbot

Last time the Bruins and Flames played, it was a wild one in Calgary. The Bruins came out on top by a score of 4-3. This time around, it’s Rask vs. Rittich, as opposed to Halak vs. Talbot in net. The Flames added Derek Forbort from the Los Angeles Kings, as well as Erik Gustafsson from the Chicago Blackhawks, both for a conditional draft pick each in trade deadline moves.

The Bruins added Ondrej Kase and Nick Ritchie in separate deals with the Anaheim Ducks. Ritchie was made his Bruins debut, Kase did not, as he continues to get acclimated. Flames captain, Mark Giordano was a game-time decision and didn’t end up playing due to a hamstring injury.

The celebration for Jaroslav Halak hitting the 500-game milestone was held before puck drop. The ceremony featuring a tribute video and a series of gifts took place on the ice. Congratulations to Jaro on this remarkable milestone. Additionally, Par Lindholm suited up for his 100th career game. Congratulations to him as well.

First Period

Brad Marchand forced the first power play of the game in the form of a hooking penalty on T.J. Brodie. Despite a few great looks, two of which were blocked by Flames defensemen, Michael Stone and Derek Forbort, the Bruins couldn’t convert on the man advantage.

A turnover at the offensive blue line by Charlie McAvoy springboarded a sequence that eventually led to Matthew Tkachuk sending a backhand chance past Tuukka Rask. Despite being outshot early, Calgary got on the board first with 8:25 remaining in the opening period.

To make things worse, Marchand took an interference penalty just over three minutes later with 5:10 remaining. The Bruins killed it off and the lead stayed at one for the Flames into the first intermission. The Bruins held a 9-7 edge in shots on goal, but trailed on the score sheet.

Score: 1-0 Calgary

Second Period

Zdeno Chara took a stinger late in the first period off of a shot from Tkachuk and went off limping, but returned to the ice to start the second period – a huge sigh of relief for the Bruins. Things got off to an eventful start for Rask to begin the second period.

Karson Kuhlman took a slashing penalty with 11:14 remaining. Marchand scored on a partial break, picking up his 27th career shorthanded goal and 25th goal of the season. After the fact, he decided to talk some smack to Mikael Backlund. McAvoy had the lone assist on the goal, his 23rd of the season. The game was tied with 9:52 remaining.

Calgary responded with a goal of their own just three minutes and 17 seconds later. This time it was Sean Monahan putting the Flames ahead. It was 2-1 Flames with 6:35 remaining.

Not too long after, Matt Grzelcyk retaliated in response to a hit from Dillon Dube on McAvoy and sat for roughing. Monahan added his second of the game just a minute and 12 seconds after his first, putting the Bruins behind by two with 5:23 remaining. The goal came just five seconds into the power play. The coaching staff decided it was time for a change after falling behind quickly.

Things got out of hand and the Bruins trailed by two after 40 minutes. They were outshot 13-12 in the second period, but held the advantage at 21-20. The Flames weren’t shaken by Marchand’s shorthanded goal and didn’t waste much time when it came to turning the game around.

Score: 3-1 Calgary

Third Period

The third period was a weird one. Through the first eight minutes, the Bruins had the only shot on goal between both teams. That’s definitely problematic when you’re down by two goals. In what was a frustrating period for the Bruins for quite some time, Chris Wagner broke through and found the back of the net amongst a scrum out in front of it. Wagner’s seventh goal of the season and second in as many games was assisted by Sean Kuraly (17) and Par Lindholm (3). The fourth line was rewarded in what had been a great game for them.

Rask made a huge save on Johnny Gaudreau with just around two minutes remaining to keep the deficit at one. Shortly after, Backlund decided to do it all himself and ended up sending one past Rask. Backlund also added the empty netter.

It was 5-2 Flames with 49 seconds to go, and that ended up being the final. Rough way to lose the undefeated regulation home record for Rask. The Bruins just didn’t have it. Although the Wagner goal really seemed to give the team a spark late in the third, they couldn’t complete the comeback.

The Flames converted some prime chances and didn’t give up a ton of high danger chances. Shots on goal in the third period were 11-7 in favor of the Flames, giving them a 31-28 advantage overall. Next up are the Dallas Stars on Thursday at TD Garden at 7:30 PM ET. The Bruins are 39-13-12.

Final Score: 5-2 Calgary

Check out the new Black N’ Gold Hockey Podcast episode 167 that we recorded below! You can find our show on many worldwide platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, iHeart Radio, Spotify, SoundCloud, and Stitcher.

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