By Andrew Taverna | Follow me on Twitter: @andrewtaverna
The week of March 7th, 2021, will be one to forget for Boston Bruins fans as the team had a tough week that ended with a record of 1-2-1. In addition to the challenging week win/loss-wise, the Bruins also had several key players dinged up. Let’s dive right in.
Game Recaps
This week the Bruins played a total of four games. The first game was on March 7th at 5:00 PM against the New Jersey Devils. The Bruins struggled mightily to score in this game, which has recently been an issue for the team. They ended up losing the game with just 4:37 remaining on the clock with a final score of 1-0.
The second game of the week took place on March 9th, at 7:00 PM, and ended in a 2-1 loss in a shootout against the New York Islanders. The Islanders have been kryptonite for the Bruins this season. That said, the Islanders came into the game with an eight-game point streak and are currently sitting atop the division.
It’s unusual for any week in this pandemic year not to include a two-game series against the same team. In the latter half of the week, the Bruins finally had that two-game matchup against the New York Rangers on Thursday at 7:00 PM. In the first game, the Bruins beat the Rangers in a decisive 4-0 victory, with several key players, including David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk, breaking out of scoring slumps.
The glory, however, did not last. The Bruins lost their final game of the week yesterday, March 13th at 1:00 PM, 4-0 to the Rangers. Halak was the highlight for a Bruins team who seemingly forgot that they were playing a matinee game on a Saturday afternoon. To top off the underwhelming performance, the Bruins had zero high-percentage scoring chances.
Bruins News Recap
Several high-profile stories surrounded the Bruins organization this week, including Don Sweeney’s press conference addressing secondary scoring and the injury to Tuukka Rask. Here are the quick hits:
- Tuukka Rask appears injured at the end of the New Jersey Devil’s game and has not traveled with the team.
- Jake DeBrusk is a ‘healthy scratch’ against the Islanders, then is inserted back into the lineup and scores against the Rangers to be then derailed into the COVID-19 protocol for the second game against the Rangers.
- Don Sweeney meets with media to let his team and the media know that if the secondary scoring doesn’t improve, a “shake up” could be on the way. Neeley also indicates that the Bruins will be “active” at the trade deadline.
- The injury bug continues to bite as Rask, Kase, Miller, Lauzon, and Carlo remain out of the lineup.
- Senyshyn finally gets the call, then gets injured. It appears he will be out an undefined amount of time.
Weekly Highlights and Lowlights
Best Goal of the Week
There aren’t many “best goals” when your team is seemingly not capable of scoring and enjoys drawing more penalties than shots sometimes, but this week, the clear winner was the Bergeron shorthanded goal in the March 11th, game against the New York Rangers. The dangle and pass from Marchand to Bergeron was something of a dream for Bruins fans and a nightmare for any other team who watched that shorthanded goal.
Best Save of the Week
Less than one minute into the Saturday Matinee against the Rangers, wearing their beautiful reverse retro jerseys, the Bruins sleepy-looking game would start with a tremendous save from Halak. The left-to-right push to stop an odd-man rush set a tone for what was a great game for Halak regardless of the outcome.
Worst Play of the Week
There are too many candidates for this award this week, so the final decision was easy. I simply am not going to select one for the week. The most concerning “play of the week” was the entire Saturday 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers, where the whole team, except Halak, appeared to forget a hockey game was being played.
Upcoming Week
The Bruins are facing a four-game week against two beatable opponents. The first two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins should be good matchups. Assuming the Bruins can start to solve their scoring woes, these games should be very manageable. In the latter half of next week, the Bruins will face the last-place Buffalo Sabers for the first time this season. While it would seem this should be a great place in the schedule to pick up points, we’ll have to see how the battered and scoring inept Bruins handle this part of the shortened year where points are at a premium.
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