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Bruins refuse to make it easy for themselves

March 17, 2024, 3:24 AM ET [1 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery generally considers himself a glass half-full guy. But even he knows the Bruins’ struggles when it comes to putting teams away, which crept back to the surface in a 6-5 win over the Flyers at TD Garden on Saturday night, is a problem that isn’t going away on its own.

Knotted up at 2-2 through 40 minutes of play, and by all means unable to generate any sort of separation between themselves and John Tortorella’s squad, the Bruins blitzed the Flyers for three goals in 2:56 to begin the third period, and seemingly put Philly to bed in the process.

But the Flyers responded with a three-goal push of their own late in the third period, and it’s a push that would’ve tied this game at 5-5 and sent it to overtime had it not been for a Danton Heinen marker in the midst of that push.

“We gotta learn [that] you gotta close out games,” Montgomery said after the victory. “You can’t just think it’s over. The other teams are desperate and it’s like a playoff game. There’s gonna be those momentum and emotional swings.

“We gotta be a little better and a little bit more mature to close out those games.”

For Montgomery and the Bruins, the problems began with the Flyers beating the Bruins to pucks at the Boston goal line. That led to loose puck victories for the Flyers, and ended up in the back of the Boston net. Montgomery said he talked to the team after the first such occurrence, but noted that it “didn’t improve.”

And, again, these problems are nothing new to the Bruins.

In fact, Jeremy Swayman and Linus Ullmark share the league lead for the most goals allowed against an empty net, with six. (That’s not a stat you ever want to lead.)

The good news, of course, is that the Bruins survived this one. Much like they did against the Golden Knights back when they came to town last month.

But the Flyers aren’t the only desperate, never-say-die team that Montgomery’s B’s are going to face between now and Game 1, as the B’s will end their regular-season run with eight of their final 13 games against teams currently inside the playoff structure in both the Eastern and Western Conference.

Everything else

- Another strong night at the office for deadline addition Andrew Peeke. Deployed for 19:31 of time on ice, Peeke finished with an assist, as well as a team-leading five hits and four blocked shots. An extremely small sample, of course, but Bruins may have found something here with this guy.

- Hey speaking of the deadline, Jake DeBrusk has been on fire since the Bruins opted not to deal him at the 2024 trade deadline. With a goal and an assist in Saturday’s victory, No. 74 is up to three goals and five points in four games since the deadline officially passed.

- A nice little pregame ceremony for Bruins winger James van Riemsdyk hitting 1,000 NHL games earlier this season. The Bruins presented ‘JVR’ with a silver stick and a portrait honoring his career and different stops, while the NHL presented him with a Tiffany crystal. The Flyers also joined in on the fun and gave van Riemsdyk a memento documenting the lineup card from his first NHL game, as well as one from his 1,000th NHL game. The N.J. native had almost 80 people — friends, family, former teammates and coaches — in attendance for this contest.

Up next: The Bruins will return to action Tuesday night when they play host to the Senators at TD Garden. Boston downed Ottawa by a 3-2 overtime final when these teams met up in Ottawa’s barn back on Jan. 25.
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