By: Ryan Bosworth | Follow me on Twitter / X @RyanJBosworth
The Boston Bruins were back at TD Garden tonight for their first of a five-game homestead, hosting the Utah Mammoth for the second, and final, time this season. The Bruins (19-14-0) were coming off a 6-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild, after what was a solid road trip, which saw them come home with four of six possible points.
The Mammoth (16-15-3) were looking to extend their win streak to three games, coming off back-to-back wins against the Seattle Kraken and Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams sit at fourth in their respective divisions, and tonight’s two points were crucial for both teams, as they both sit on the playoff bubble.
First Period
The Bruins, beginning with their top dogs of Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, David Pastrnak, Nikita Zadorov, Charlie McAvoy, and Jeremy Swayman in goal, came out with a solid three shifts, before allowing Utah to generate all the momentum and forcing Boston to play on their heels. Pavel Zacha took the first penalty of the game, with an offensive zone tripping penalty. Utah opened the scoring at 8:34 of the first period, at the tail end of the Zacha penalty, with Barrett Hayton tapping in the first goal of the game, putting Utah up 1-0.
The momentum remained in Utah’s corner, until a rush chance by Hampus Lindholm, along with Fraser Minten, forced Utah’s JJ Peterka to take a slashing penalty on Minten, leading to the Bruins’ first power play of the game. The Bruins would cash in on the power play, after a couple of failed attempts to set up offensive zone pressure.
A nice cross-ice passing sequence that originated from Geekie, to Zacha, to Elias Lindholm, then to Pastrnak, who finally fed it through 12 pairs of skates in the slot back to Geekie, who hammered it home to knot the game up at one apiece.
Second Period
The Bruins had a much better start to the second period than they did the first, only allowing the Mammoth to get three shots on goal and generating eight of their own, one of which resulted in an early goal by Morgan Geekie, tallying his 24th of the season less than a minute into the middle frame.
Things completely flipped around this period, as the Bruins held every ounce of momentum, generating chance after chance, just unable to finish those chances. Jeremy Swayman remained solid, stopping all three shots he faced.
The Mammoth saw one power play, which was Mikey Eyssimont’s two minute minor for holding. The Bruins saw two power plays, with the first coming from Nate Schmidt for tripping and the second from Barrett Hayton, who sat for two minute for interference. While the Bruins were unable to cash in on either power play, they generated a lot of solid chances, keeping Utah on their heels.
Third Period
The Bruins came out in the third period carrying the same momentum generated in the second period. Strong third periods have been a common trend for this team, and tonight was no exception. The Bruins were able to add two more goals in this period, which would help them seal the deal in a 4-1 victory over the Mammoth.
The Bruins third goal of the game came from Casey Mittelstadt at 10:16, assisted by Marat Khusnutdinov and Pavel Zacha. Khusnutdinov sent Mittelstadt up-ice, Mittelstadt sent it cross-ice to Zacha, who shot the puck and missed the net. Mittelstadt kept driving towards the goal line and was able to put home the rebound off Zacha’s shot from a funky angle.
The Bruins’ fourth, and final, goal of the game came from Mikey Eyssimont at 16:02, and it was an unassisted goal. In just his second game back from a couple of healthy scratches, Eyssimont tallies his sixth goal of the season, and second point in two games since re-entering the lineup. Darting up-ice through the neutral zone and into the Mammoth’s zone, he’s able to beat both Utah defenders and cut across the front of the net to put home the backhand goal, sealing the deal for the Bruins.
Despite the Bruins sluggish start, they were able to dominate the Mammoth for most of the game. Jeremy Swayman was excellent following a lackluster performance in Minnesota, Morgan Geekie tallied two more goals, bringing him closer to the league-lead, and the Bruins got scoring from up and down the lineup.
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