By: Tom Calautti | @TCalauttis
Jeremy Swayman notched his first shutout of the season, and the Boston Bruins blanked the Detroit Red Wings 3-0 at TD Garden. The victory marked Boston’s fourth win in a row and sixth in its last seven games. Here’s how it all went down:
Bruins Dominate Even Strength
Much of this season, the Black and Gold’s five-on-five offense has left something to be desired. Last night was a different story, as Boston controlled the play for most of the game and dismantled a tired Red Wings team.
The Bruins were the more dominant team last night, and they have almost every advanced metric to back that up. Not only did they shut out Detroit, but they also out-attempted them 52-40, outshot them 30-19, out-chanced them 26-19, and high-danger chances were 10-9.
“I think this was one of the most complete games that we’ve played this season, 5-on-5,” said Marco Sturm following the victory. “We had pretty good juice tonight, and we had really good systems work tonight too.”
The scoring didn’t get started until midway through the second period when Mason Lohrei made a smart blue line pinch to poke a loose puck to Pavel Zacha. The soon-to-be Olympian carried the puck into the high slot and ripped a snap shot over the shoulder of goaltender Cam Talbot to give Boston the lead.
Boston would add to its lead a little under four minutes into the final frame. Charlie McAvoy took a David Pastrnak drop pass high in the offensive zone and released a wrister from the middle of the ice. The assistant captain followed his rebound and found a wide-open Fraser Minten for a tap-in goal.
“Everyone was committed to playing a hard game, and it got us started from the beginning,” noted Zacha of the team’s effort on the night. “And we just kept rolling, had a lot of shots, created a lot of stops in the neutral zone, and played our game.”
Mark Kastelic added the empty-netter, and the Bruins eventually skated to the 3-0 shutout.
Swayman Notches First Shutout of Season
Jeremy Swayman had a lot to live up to following Joonas Korpisalo’s 27-save shutout in Sunday’s matchup against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The American netminder was up to the challenge, stopping all 24 shots he faced en route to his first shutout of the season.
The Bruins have allowed just three goals over the course of their last four home games, a stat that elicited quite the response from Boston’s top goalie.
“Best stat ever,” exclaimed Swayman following the victory. “Obviously (Korpisalo) got it done yesterday, and it’s just the best. So we got the monkey off our back, and I’ve got to keep up with him. It’s awesome that we have that high competitiveness and again, shutouts aren’t done without the boys in front of us, so huge credit goes to them.”
Swayman made several key saves early in the contest while Boston was still trying to break the ice. One sequence in particular that stands out was around the 12-minute mark of the first, when Detroit had the extra skater on for a delayed penalty. Swayman flashed the leather to grab a whistle and then made another glove save at the start of the power play to keep the score knotted at one.
According to Bleacher Report, this is only the third time in Bruins history that a goalie tandem has had shutouts in back-to-back games in the last 45 years. Swayman made sure to credit Korpisalo after the game, but also had some high praise for the locker room as a whole.
“I think that the guys that we have in this room, to a man, we have a pretty elite group,” remarked Swayman. “And that’s something that we can build on… It’s a long season, you’re gonna have ups and downs, but I’m just really proud of the group, the way that we do bounce back. We do know that every game is a chance to get two points.”
Pastrnak Passes Orr
Lost in the hullabaloo of the back-to-back shutouts and the five-game win streak was David Pastrnak reaching a major career milestone in last night’s contest. With his secondary assist on Fraser Minten’s third-period goal, the Czech forward notched his 889th career point, passing Bobby Orr for seventh-most in Bruins history.
It’s no secret how massive a figure David Pastrnak already is in Bruins history, and it can’t be understated how much he means to the current team. Sturm tried to put into words what this accomplishment means and talked about how exciting it is for the future.
“It was just probably a matter of time. But catching a guy like (Orr), it’s pretty cool,” said the head coach. “And the nice part about David, he’s not done yet here in Boston. So we’re gonna talk about him for a while.
Sturm continued, “He’s definitely a treat sometimes, the stuff he does, so it’s pretty cool to watch every day.”
The Black and Gold have one game remaining on their current homestand, set for Thursday night against the Seattle Kraken. It will also be the night when the organization recognizes Zdeno Chara for his enshrinement into the Hall of Fame. Fans are asked to be in their seats by 6:15 so the pregame festivities can get started around 6:20.
Game Notes
- My favorite stat of the night: Viktor Arvidsson registered a career-high ten shots on goal in last night’s game. He couldn’t find the back of the net but was rewarded with a secondary assist on Zacha’s goal.
- With a goal in tonight’s contest, Fraser Minten now has 5-3-8 in his last seven games.
- Over the last four games, the Bruins have taken three or fewer minor penalties (not including penalty shots, majors, or matching penalties). During that span, they have four straight wins…funny how that works.
- Kastelic’s empty-netter was his seventh of the season, tied for his career high.
- Charlie McAvoy has seven points in his last seven games and is playing some of the best offensive hockey of his career.
- The Bruins have not allowed a goal since the 14th minute of the second period against the Rangers. To make the math easy, they’ve gone seven periods without allowing a goal.
Leave a Reply