Even without two of their most important players, the Boston Bruins were able to snag a win and show some heart.
What a wild game for the Boston Bruins. Even though they seemed destined to lose they were able to get in the win column.
Boston got a lot of bad news before the game. Patrice Bergeron and John Moore went back to Boston to do further tests on their injuries, and it was announced that Zdeno Chara will be out 4-6 weeks with a left knee injury.
Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara are the foundation of the team. They are the guys that everyone looks up to. Even though the Bruins were able to win on Saturday night, it will be hard for the team to succeed if both Bergeron and Chara are out for a while.
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It was also a night that a rookie will never forget. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson scored his first career goal to start the game.
JFK has looked great so far since joining Boston. After a disappointing preseason, it appears Forsbacka Karlsson worked on his game. The hard work is clearly paying off on the ice. No matter what happens with Bergeron, I think the Bruins should keep JFK up in the NHL.
Overall the Bruins lines were much more even. We saw David Pastrnak and David Krejci back together on the 2nd line and Brad Marchand and Jake DeBrusk playing on the wings together.
With a much more balanced lineup winning on Saturday I wonder if Bruce Cassidy considers making some changes if and when Bergeron comes back?
But let’s focus on the Bruins great win on Saturday night.
1. Jake DeBrusk is on fire
Jake DeBrusk may have started the season slow, but he has more than made up for it. DeBrusk has been a scoring machine as of late.
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DeBrusk can score flashy goals, but also isn’t afraid to go to the dirty areas. DeBrusk showed off his great hockey I.Q. on Saturday night.
Brad Marchand entered the zone and got a shot on net. DeBrusk did the smart thing and drove to the net behind Marchy and was able to put the rebound away.
DeBrusk now 8 goals and 2 assists on the season. The scary thing is that in his last 6 games, DeBrusk has 5 goals and an assist. Imagine the points he will be able to put up if he is able to keep this hot streak going?
The 2nd year winger is absolutely on fire. A duo of Marchand and DeBrusk sounds like a lot of goals to me.
2. Jaroslav Halak continues to impress
Boston Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak has impressed all of us this season. We were expecting to get a backup goalie and we got a top goaltender in the entire NHL. Halak may go down as the steal of NHL free agency this year.
Halak was a major part of the Bruins win on Saturday night. Boston’s defense struggled in the 2nd period. The Arizona Coyotes were able to gain plenty of zone time and peppered Halak with shots.
Halak stopped 32 shots on Saturday night and improved his record to 7-2-2. He definitely didn’t make things easy on Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy.
Tuukka Rask played great in his return from his leave of absence so it will be interesting to see who Cassidy trots out there on Wednesday night. I guess it doesn’t really matter who is in between the pipes because both goaltenders looked great in their most recent appearances.
3. Penalty kill saves the game
If it wasn’t for the Boston Bruins PK unit, they probably would have gone home losers. The Bruins made mistakes but didn’t let them end up being goals.
Connor Clifton got called for a delay of game penalty midway through the 1st. This could have changed the course of the game if Boston allowed a goal, but they stood strong and kept the puck out of the net.
The most important penalty kill came in the last two minutes of the game. Matt Grzelcyk got called for hooking with 1:46 left in the game. The Coyotes were down 2-1 so they pulled their goalie. A 6 on 4 situation usually ends up in a goal. In fact, it almost did.
Late in the game, Jaroslav Halak made a save during a scrum in front of the net, but the puck laid in the crease with the net wide open. Rookie defenseman Jeremy Lauzon made a heads up play and got the puck to safety. If it wasn’t for Lauzon and Halak the game goes to OT where anything can happen.
Overall the Bruins had to kill 4 penalties and were succesful in doing so.
Now Boston gets a well-deserved break before their next game. Hopefully, they will be rested and have reinforcements in the form of Kevan Miller, Charlie McAvoy, Patrice Bergeron, and John Moore.