By: Tom Calautti | @TCalauttis
The Boston Bruins finished their season series with the Calgary Flames last night, beating them 4-1 on TD Garden ice. Four different Bruins potted goals and ten others notched points en route to the victory. Here’s how it happened:
Line Juggling
The Black and Gold returned home following a frustrating 2-2-1 road trip, during which the team felt they left valuable points on the board. In response to this, head coach Marco Sturm decided to take action and shake up his lines before last night’s game.
Sturm’s most significant change came on his top trio, where he moved Marat Khusnutdinov up to left wing beside David Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm. He kept his second and fourth lines the same and dropped Morgan Geekie and Alex Steeves to the third line, flanking Fraser Minten.
The results were impressive.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Bruins fired off 70 unblocked shot attempts during this game, their second-most all season. They also registered 35 scoring chances, tied for the second-highest number of the season.
“I think we did the right thing and we balanced the lines a little bit,” said Sturm following the victory. “I really like (Khusnutdinov) with (Pastrnak) and (Lindholm), just to give them a little bit more speed. I think overall, we were just a little bit deeper and also our fourth line…they definitely played better than the last few games, so that helps.”
The fourth line got the scoring started almost halfway through the first period. Charlie McAvoy made a two-line pass to Tanner Jeannot, who banked a drop pass to Sean Kuraly. The veteran center was able to carry the puck into the slot and rifle a bar-down shot past goaltender Dustin Wolf.
The new-look first line got in on the scoring less than three minutes later when all three of Pastrnak, Khusnutdinov, and Lindholm connected for the game’s second goal. Khusnutdinov cut to the net and dropped a pass to Pastrnak, who immediately rifled it across the slot to Lindholm before the newly-selected Olympian fired it past Wolf.
The Bruins immediately put the Seattle loss behind them in the first period of this contest. Shot attempts were 26-14, shots were 13-7, and scoring chances were 12-5. The question was whether they could carry that success into the second period.
Second Line Takeover
One area where the Bruins struggled on their five-game road trip was holding onto leads. They jumped out to at least a one-goal advantage in four of those contests, two of which went to overtime and another lost in regulation. Boston had issues adding to their lead tonight, and a big part of that was the second line.
The Bruins increased their lead almost 14 minutes into the second when Mason Lohrei made a nifty toe drag around a defender before sniping a puck past Wolf for his second goal in as many games. Lohrei may have finished off the play, but it was a board battle by Viktor Arvidsson and a slick cross-ice pass from Pavel Zacha that got things started.
The second line wasn’t done scoring in the middle frame as Casey Mittlestadt decided to get in on the action for his tenth goal of the season. Zacha found Mittlestadt alone at the left dot, where he fired off a wrister that Wolf initially fought off. The former Buffalo Sabre gathered his own rebound and flipped it top shelf to increase the lead to 4-0.
Sturm was happy with the second line as a whole, but pointed to one individual in particular that made both goals happen.
“Why did (Mittlestadt) score? Why did (Lohrei) score? It was because of (Arvidsson),” remarked Sturm. “Because he was around the net the whole night.”
Boston’s offense played a significant role in last night’s victory, but it was the goaltending that took center stage.
Korpisalo Bounces Back
It hasn’t been an easy season for Joonas Korpisalo. He came into last night’s contest 6-8 with a 3.60 goals against and an .882 save percentage. In addition to that, he hadn’t seen the crease since December 27th in the team’s 4-1 loss to Buffalo. Korpisalo needed a strong performance to re-establish himself as Boston’s number two goaltender, and he did just that in the victory.
“I’m very happy, he kept us in the game,” said Sturm of his goaltender. “(Korpisalo was) pretty solid, especially in the second period, so I’m glad he had a good game.
The Finnish netminder stopped 28 of 29 shots and was lights out in the middle frame with the bruins nursing a two-goal lead. Two saves that stand out (seen below) involved an impressive left to right sprawling leg save and a gorgeous robbery of a slot shot with his glove.
Korpisalo quipped about recent usage (or lack thereof) in the postgame saying, “That was fun to get back in there. I haven’t played in a couple of weeks so that was fun, tried to make the most out of it.”
Boston gets back on the ice Saturday when they take on the new York Rangers, then turnaround and play Pittsburgh on Sunday. With a back-to-back looming, it looks like Korpisalo could see more ice time and the team will need him to be at his best to climb back into the playoff race.
Game Notes
- McAvoy’s first period assist extended his point streak to four games.
- Lohrei’s goal gives him points in three straight and five in his last seven. For those keeping track at home, he’s also fourth on the team in plus/minus (+5).
- Morgan Geekie’s goal-less streak continued but his line with Alex Steeves and Fraser Minten looked solid. If they continue playing like they did last night, he’ll break out of his slump sooner than later.
- Korpisalo’s played arguably his best game of the season and his .966 save percentage was his highest in any game he’s started this year.
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