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Camp competition continues to heat up for Bruins

September 20, 2017, 4:35 PM ET [24 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The good times kept on coming for this year’s crop of B’s hopefuls in the second game of their seven-game preseason slate, with goals from four different scorers looking for NHL work this season, en route to a 4-2 victory over the Red Wings at TD Garden.

Up against Detroit’s JV squad, a relatively youthful (David Krejci and David Backes were the veteran presences up front while Adam McQuaid played on the backend) and creative B’s offensive lineup simply pummeled the Red Wings for seven of the game’s first eight shots on goal, and carried a 13-to-8 shot advantage through the opening 20 minutes before the floodgates opened against Petr Mrazek and Jared Coreau.

With pretty-yet-simple goals from first-year pro Ryan Fitzgerald and second-year pri Danton Heinen scored in a span of 4:09 in the middle period, the Bruins delivered their first knockout blow to the Wings when Austin Czarnik was awarded a penalty shot and connected on a brilliant move, putting the B’s up 3-0 at the 17:19 mark of the period.

“I think the forgotten man, maybe, he was thinking because we’ve talked about a lot of young guys. He’s still a young guy, wants to make his mark and push for a job on the team,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said of the undersized Czarnik. “I thought he looked real good tonight. He won a lot of pucks. He’s always going to make plays in space, that’s his game. He won a lot of pucks and did a lot of little things well.”

The Red Wings brought themselves back within one early in the third period, but were knocked back down with yet another blow from a Black and Gold hopeful, as camp invite Teddy Purcell finished off a 3-on-1 with his first goal of the preseason.

With points from nine different skaters, it was the mere continuation of the tone set in Monday’s 3-2 comeback win over the Canadiens, and proof that this camp is going to force Cassidy to make some difficult calls on his opening night roster.

“I would like to have some very difficult decisions when training camp is over because players have pushed and played well,” Cassidy admitted after the win. “That is the hope. Hopefully, you have a difficult time because guys have done what they’ve asked. You’d hate for it to be the other way where you’re looking at the waiver wire. I think guys understand that there is opportunity and they’ve really pushed hard so far.

"Who is hard on the puck? Who is winning pucks? Who can keep their pace up? I think they are all capable of making plays, the young skilled guys," Cassidy continued. "You can probably list seven or eight that have talent and could make NHL plays. Maybe not consistently, I can’t say that after two weeks, but that’s what we are looking for: who can play against the men, and compete and win the pucks."

And the magnitude of what’s on the line -- the comfort of playing on hockey’s biggest stage and in front of a packed house every night versus bus rides and weekend slates in the minors -- and what's expected for those difficult decisions to be made elsewhere on the roster and with another player is not lost on the productive nine that continue to look for ways to further impress Cassidy and separate themselves from the pack.

“You’ve just got to push even harder,” Heinen, who had a cup of coffee with the B’s last year, said of this camp. “And I got a little taste of it and I’ve just got to try to convince him that I belong and that I can contribute, so that’s what I’m going to try to do.”

He’s not alone, either, and with mounting teamwide results to back up that theory.

The Bruins will be off on Wednesday before continuing their preseason schedule with a Thursday night home contest against the visiting Flyers.
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