Wanna blog? Start your own hockey blog with My HockeyBuzz. Register for free today!
 

Malcolm Subban spoils road trip, defeats Bruins

October 16, 2017, 12:44 AM ET [25 Comments]
Ty Anderson
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!

The first 120 minutes of the new season was a mixed bag for the Bruins. They had dominated the defending West-winning Predators in their first game of the season and then somehow no-showed against the Avalanche in a Monday matinee.

And that was fine, really, because the Bruins were embarking on a team-building, three-game road trip that was supposed to come with three wins. The Bruins were going against the Avalanche, the rebuilding Coyotes, and then the expansion Golden Knights.The Bruins would return to Boston with a 4-1-0 record (3-1-1 at the very worst), and all would be fine in a lightly scheduled month of October.

But the road trip got started on the wrong foot, and finished with more of the same, as a 3-1 loss to Malcolm Subban and the Golden Knights on Sunday night turned this trip into an undeniable disaster for the Bruins.

Say what you will about the Avalanche; They were a nightmare last year, but they’ve already been noticeably better, and have defeated the Rangers and Ducks out of the gate this season, too. But the Golden Knights? This team just lost their best player (Marc-Andre Fleury) to a concussion and were essentially forced to start Subban for the first time this season, and against the team that knew him best.

There were no secrets with the 23-year-old Subban and the Bruins.

It’s with a heavier volume of shots that trouble arises. The Wild were able to chase him with 16 shots in just over 30 minutes in an Oct. 2016 start for the Bruins, and the Blues chased him with three goals on three shots in the second period back in 2015. Your best chances would come when you put pucks on net and were there for the rebounds. Bruce Cassidy, who coached Subban during the majority of his run with the P-Bruins, knew this, too.

This was something that the B’s did against the Coyotes’ Louis Domingue last night, and something this meat-and-potatoes kind of lineup would obviously stick to.

It also helped that in NHL terms, when you got one on Subban, the second was typically not far behind. Then came the third, and then, usually, a new goalie would come into the mix. Had the Bruins done that, AHL netminder Maxime Legace would have been the guy, and the game certainly would have been over with Legace against Tuukka Rask.

But with all that in mind, the B’s mustered just five shots in the first frame, and peppered just 15 total shots on goal through the opening 40 minutes of play, after which they were in an 0-2 hole thanks to goals by AHL callups Alex Tuch and Vadim Shipachyov.

Maybe you don’t want to destroy a team top-to-bottom on the second leg of a back-to-back, but this wasn’t even a close to an acceptable offensive effort from the B’s.

At no point in this game did the Bruins legitimately force Subban to make anything beyond a routine save, and at no point did they generate the rebound shots needed to make the 2012 first-round draft pick work for his stops in the crease. Tired legs or not, it simply made no sense. It felt as if the Bruins forgot that they were actually playing against Subban and were instead doing their part to simply warm him up.

And had it not been for a puck going off William Karlsson’s foot and into the Vegas net -- which counted for the first and only Bruins goal of the night, on their 22nd shot of the night and scored with 30 seconds left in the game -- the Bruins would have been shutout by Subban.

That should make you feel as good as losing a first-round pick to waivers after spending five years trying to develop him.

This loss, and the sting of a 2-3-0 start that should be literally anything but given the quality of their competition, will have to simmer with the Bruins for the next three days, as they do not return to the ice until Thursday night’s home head-to-head with the Canucks.

Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Join the Discussion: » 25 Comments » Post New Comment
More from Ty Anderson
» Notable lineup change headlines loss in Tampa
» Bruins' leaders answer Montgomery's challenge
» B's issued reality check; Duran turns pro
» Bruins' mistakes doom them in loss to Rangers
» Bruins refuse to make it easy for themselves