Ty Anderson Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSS
• Archive
• CONTACT
On the road for almost two full weeks, the Boston Bruins’ five-game road trip finally met its end tonight in Uniondale with a date with the New York Islanders for the second time in this accelerated 48-game season. Downing New York on Boston ice in their first meeting, all the way back on Jan. 25 in what would end as a 4-2 victory for the B’s, the scene shifted towards Long Island with the Bruins in search of their fourth straight victory.
With the 25-year-old Tuukka Rask facing off against the Isles’ Evgeni Nabokov, the Bruins knew that an early goal against a home-hating Islander squad that’s won just two of nine home games in 2013 would create the doubt that could very well seal the deal on an Islander loss. And got just that when an Adam McQuaid slap-shot squeaked through Nabokov and into the back of the New York cage, giving the Black-and-Gold a 1-0 lead under seven minutes into play.
But the Islanders would strike back on a rush against a reeling Boston defense that ended with the Isles’ Casey Cizikas scoring his second goal of the season (and second on an NBC Sports Network broadcast), and knotting the Bruins and Isles up at 1-1 after one.
The knot in the middle frame, however, wouldn’t last for long as the Bruins’ Brad Marchand needed just 38 seconds to put the lead back in Boston’s possession. Potting a rebound by Nabokov, Marchand’s 10th goal of the season surprised a New York attack that simply never recovered.
Allowing the Bruins to jump out to a two-goal lead with thanks to an unbelievable triangle attack from the B’s first line, ending with a bottle-breaking David Krejci goal, a 3-1 edge proved to be enough. Even with a Gregory Campbell empty-net goal in the waning moments of the third, a season-high 36-save performance from Rask did the trick, as the Bruins left the ice as winners in Nassau County for the fifth time in seven trips to the Coliseum since start of the 2009-10 season.
Penalty-kill headlines successful road swing for Bruins
The Bruins would not have come back to Boston with eight of a possible 10 points on this road trip without the sheer domination of the opponents’ power-play by the club’s shorthanded unit. After stymieing the Sabres on all three of their attempts, the B’s shut the ‘Peg power-play down on two chances, moved on to hold Tampa Bay to nothing on three man-advantages, killed all four power-plays the Panthers were given, and capped it off with a perfect 3-for-3 night against the Islanders. Add it all up and you don’t get the facts of life, but rather a perfect penalty-kill (15-for-15) for the Bruins in their last five games.
In fact, going beyond the five-game road trip, the Bruins have successfully killed off their last 24 penalties. This, of course, is on top of a stretch of 24 straight kills to begin the year.
Sitting atop the entire National Hockey League with a 95.1 percent success rate on the penalty-kill, almost seven whole percentage points higher than the second-best shorthanded unit (the Chicago Blackhawks), a shorthanded Boston unit has without question become a source of incredible power for a Boston squad that’s been completely inept when it comes to scoring on the man-advantage.
But what’s been most impressive of all has been the focus of the Bruins’ goaltender when shorthanded. With ice water in their veins, there’s been little to panic about when it comes to the Tuukka Rask’s shorthanded crease-prowess. Sitting near the top of the league’s mountain with a .942 save-percentage when on the kill, Rask has stopped all but three of the 52 shots he’s faced when on the penalty-kill.
OK, so maybe I lied.
There’s one thing even more impressive than Rask’s ability to shut the oppoisition’s power-play down at will: It’s been the unit’s road killin’ stretch, which has now killed all but one of their 37 shorthanded trips (97.3%) in 2013. Talk about shutting a home crowd down.
TuukkaMania continues to run wild in February
I’ve talked about how I think the Buffalo Sabres’ third-period domination of the Boston Bruins back on Jan. 31 really kicked the Bruins’ Tuukka Rask in the groin. Surrendering a career-worst six goals in the loss, the 25-year-old was embarrassed as he and the Bruins were booed off the ice by (what remained of a) frustrated TD Garden crowd.
For Rask, It was a shot to his pride, and it’s certainly appeared to provide the motivation that he just might have needed in a 2013 season that’s given him to the keys to the Boston net.
Since the loss, the Finnish netminder has allowed just 10 goals in seven contests, with a 6-0-1 record, .948 save-percentage, and lethal 1.41 goals against average.
It’s been a flat out slaughter by Rask.
The crazy part? He thinks that he can be even better.
The Islander Killer: David Krejci
Hey, want to know a player that the New York Islanders would be happy to never see again? Since you don’t have a say, I’ll tell you anyways -- It’s the Bruins’ top-liner, David Krejci. Entering tonight’s game with seven goals and 19 points in just 18 career games against the Blue-and-Orange, the Czech center improved upon those figures with the prettiest goal you’ll see from No. 46 in 2013.
Striking with his fifth goal of the season, the pivot played a key factor in the club’s fourth straight victory, chiming in with an impressive 8-for-13 night at the faceoff dot in just under 18 minutes of ice-time.
Am I the only one that will miss Nassau Coliseum?
It’s unsightly as hell, and really just looks like an oversized aboveground pool from the outside, but I’ve told everyone I know that stepping into the Nassau Coliseum is like stepping into a time machine. It’s an instant throwback to the days of yore, when names like Bossy, Nystrom, and Trottier proudly raised Lord Stanley high above their heads.
In an arena sporting wooden chairs and probably the only arena in the NHL still selling tickets that say “Obstructed view” on them, it just gives off the aura that it’s a place that’s probably better suited with agitated old men smoking cigars high in the balcony yelling at the players of today, complaining of how they’ll never compare to the good ol’ days.
It’s your grandfather’s rink, and it’s going to be a shame when the Coliseum closes its doors to NHL hockey in a few years. I’m sure this is going to be an unpopular opinion, especially among Islander fans, but the Coliseum’s historical value has always appealed to me given my love for the history of this game, and I honestly encourage all fans to check this throwback of an arena out before it’s just another story we tell both love and horror stories about.
(For the record, we could of course do without the asbestos.)
Wishlist axing: Michael Ryder to Montreal
Last year, Boston fans were granted the pleasure of seeing one-time fan favorite Brian Rolston return to Boston on a reunion tour that included yet another playoff go ‘round with the Black-and-Gold. In 2013, those same fans were certainly holding out hope that another reunion could’ve been made, this time with the B’s and Bruin-turned-Star Michael Ryder.
Ryder, in the final year of a two-year contract with the Dallas Stars that came with a $3.5 million cap-hit, became a favorite during his three-year stint with the Bruins, and was one of the key cogs in the Bruins’ successful run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011.
Whether it was ‘cause of his game-winner in Game 4 or his glove-save in Game 5 against Montreal, or even his, “Yes sir!” exclamation following the club’s Game 7 win against Vancouver, Ryder’s familiarity with both Claude Julien and the B’s seemed as if it’d be a perfect fit for a Boston roster in search of yet another top-nine winger.
But when the Montreal Canadiens had their say, the thought of a Ryder reunion in Boston was axed when the Habs pulled the trigger on a trade today that brought the streaky winger back in town in exchange for the slumping Erik Cole.
And that’s something that B’s fan simply didn’t wanna see.
Beyond the obvious, the 32-year-old returns to don the ‘CH’, an unpleasant sight for B’s fans given his crushing of the Bruins during his (first) tenure with the Habs, torching the Bruins for ten goals and 19 points in 29 games.
The good news however is that with a Ryder and Montreal reunion and Simon Gagne and Philly reunion completed, a return to Boston for Marco Sturm only seems inevitable at this point.
(No, not really.)
Up next...
After 16 days on the road, the Bruins return back to Boston for their first matchup of the year against the Ottawa Senators. A miracle if there ever was one, the Sens will roll into town with five straight victories, and on the heels of sweeping their first four-game homestand since 1998. Oh, and they’ve done this all without their No. 1 defensemen Erik Karlsson, No. 1 center Jason Spezza, or No. 1 goaltender Craig Anderson.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
Join the Discussion:
»