The Boston Bruins 6-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs definitely spiked your heart rate. It was a true Orginal 6 battle.
If you spent your Saturday night watching the Boston Bruins play the Toronto Maple Leafs it was a night well spent.
Boston’s 6-3 victory over the Leafs was amazing. It brought you back to the glory days of hockey.
It’s definitely nice to see the Bruins have a scoring outburst. Lately, the team has struggled to score. 6 goals in one game certainly makes up for that.
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After such a disappointing performance down in the sunshine state against the Panthers and the Lightning, Bruins fans are glad to get back into the winning column. The team that all of Boston knows and loves returned on Saturday night.
Bruins fans also got to see the team’s latest acquisition. Winger Gemel Smith played in his first game as a member of the Boston Bruins and looked decent on the ice. He will be a bottom 6 guy who should add some muscle to Boston’s bottom lines.
Entering the game we also found out that Jake DeBrusk is nursing an injury. There isn’t a whole ton of information out there, which is usually the case in the hockey world, but it seems as though all the big hits DeBrusk has taken are starting to add up.
But let’s not wait any longer. Here are 5 takeaways from the Boston Bruins most exciting game of the season so far.
1. The big bad Bruins are back
There was a lot of talk recently about the state of the Boston Bruins roster. With Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller off the ice, it seemed like Boston was without an enforcer. Saturday night showed that wasn’t the case.
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This matchup was filled with intensity and heavy hits. You could feel the hate through whatever screen you were watching the game on.
You could get a sense that this game would be chippy early on. Just 13 seconds into the game there was a scrum after Charlie McAvoy threw Mitch Marner into the boards.
All of the post-whistle festivities culminated in a bout between Brandon Carlo and Nazem Kadri in the 2nd period. It was a pretty good fight that started as the two had some words for each other after a stop by Jaroslav Halak.
The 3rd period was when things really picked up.
Zach Hyman delivered an awful hit to Charlie McAvoy. The type of hits that need to get out of Hockey. It was a late hit that ended up in McAvoy being down on the ice for a decent amount of time.
There seemed to be some malicious intentions behind the hit. You know that Hyman knows McAvoy is returning from a concussion injury.
So what did Boston do? Matt Grzelcyk dropped the gloves and even though he was pummeled by Hyman he proved a point, don’t go after our star defenseman.
That was a powderkeg and the next sequence we would see more fireworks. Chris Wagner lit up Morgan Rielly. There was definitely a message behind the hit, but it was nowhere near as dirty as Hyman’s hit. Ron Hainsey wasn’t pleased and he and Wagner chucked knucks.
So it’s clear the Bruins have enforcer-like players in their lineup.
2.Charlie McAvoy
Besides being forced to leave the game, Charlie McAvoy looked great on the ice. It seemed as though McAvoy returned to the player that impressed Bruins fans early on.
McAvoy was a +4 on the night and looked like himself on the ice. He was delivering some great hits and was saucing the puck around the ice.
The Bruins need McAvoy. He is such a talented defenseman. McAvoy is the Bruins top defenseman. They can’t afford for him to miss any more time.
It was a promising sign to see McAvoy return to the bench before the end of the game, but he isn’t out of the clear. McAvoy won’t be in the clear until tomorrow.
So now we have to sit and wait. Hopefully, we won’t be hearing any news about McAvoy and a concussion on Sunday.
Charlie McAvoy looked great and hopefully he will be able to continue to progress this season.
3. Torey Krug gets his first
After missing a bunch of time due to injury, Torey Krug was finally able to get his first goal of the season.
Now it’s not like Krug wasn’t producing. In 17 games he had 12 assists. Krug just couldn’t get the puck in the net.
After an intense sequence full of goal scoring opportunities, Krug launched a shot from the point and it found its way to the back of the net. He also had 2 assists on the night.
Krug is going to have to get a few more goals. He needs to take some of the pressure off of the other defenseman. These guys aren’t exactly known for their scoring, Krug is.
I’m glad to see Krug finally get the goal scoring monkey off of his back. Now he will hopefully start to light the lamp more frequently. If it is revealed Charlie McAvoy has another head injury the Bruins will definitely need some extra production.
4. Danton Heinen knows how to score
I was starting to think that I would never see Danton Heinen score again. The winger has been struggling as of late. Prior to Saturday’s game, Heinen hadn’t scored in more than 10 games.
Thankfully Heinen was able to get on the board. It was a pretty nice goal as well. It’s not like Heinen got a lucky bounce.
Ryan Donato made a great pass to Heinen and then the winger did the rest. He snuck the shot by Frederik Andersen. Heinen now has 3 goals and 4 assists this season. After an impressive rookie season, it seems like Heinen has taken a step back.
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Heinen will be an important piece for the Bruins. If he is able to start scoring in bunches he will help even out the Bruins bottom lines. Something that is necessary if the Bruins want to make a run for the Stanley Cup in the Spring.
5. Jaroslav Halak dominates once again
Jaroslav Halak hasn’t looked great recently, but he looked amazing on Saturday night. Halak made some amazing saves early on in the game that ensured Boston wouldn’t go down early.
Halak stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced on Saturday night.
Obviously, when you have a backup goaltender performing as well as Halak did on Saturday night you are in a great position. You don’t have to stress giving Tuukka Rask days off and fearing the backup is going to allow 5 goals.
Hopefully, this will be the norm for Halak. There’s not a lot more you can ask from the goaltender. Halak may be the best free agent signing in the entire NHL this year.
Overall this was a great game for the Boston Bruins. Hopefully, they will be able to carry the momentum into Sunday night’s battle with the Ottawa Senators, and hopefully, Charlie McAvoy will be on the ice at 5:00 PM.