Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook! In these desperate times, and after Anton Khudobin’s 27-of-28 performance helped end a four-game losing skid with 2-1 victory over the Kings on Thursday night, maybe it’s time that Bruce Cassidy and the Bruins finally decide give into the idea of a ‘goalie controversy’ to ride the hot hand. In Los Angeles on the second leg of a back-to-back that began with yet another hard luck loss in Anaheim, the Bruins jumped out to a 1-0 edge behind Charlie McAvoy’s second goal of the season, while Khudobin managed to stop all five of the Kings’ shots thrown his way. As has become the case for a Bruins team that lives and dies by the heavy ebb and flow of every single contest, the second period came with a flip of the script, and with Khudobin completely peppered for 20 minutes straight. With the Bruins penalized on three different occasions in the second period, the Kings threw a heavy 18 shots on Khudobin. But somehow, it was only Drew Doughty’s power-play strike that found a way to sneak through, scored at the 4:33 mark in what finished as a 17-save period from No. 35. (The power-play goal against also came with Boston's top penalty-killing forward Patrice Bergeron in the box, so it basically doesn't count, according to the NHL rulebook.) And bolstered by monstrous defensive efforts from the Bruins -- led by top-pairing duo Zdeno Chara and McAvoy eating any and every hard minute, and with some of the team’s best team defense coming with under two minutes left in the game -- Khudobin ‘rebounded’ with stops on all five L.A. shots fired on goal in the third period. Helped by two five-shot periods, there’s no denying that this was a manageable workload for Khudobin. But it was yet another night that saw Khudobin’s puck-tracking sound and his aggressiveness tempered properly throughout most of the game, and without the sometimes wild goalie making flurries more difficult than they needed to be. The victory also improved Khudobin’s record to an impressive 4-0-2 out of the gate. The obvious plus with that is that he’s found a way to secure at least one point in all six of his starts, and his .928 save percentage sits as the sixth-best mark in the NHL. Khudobin’s even-strength save percentage has been especially impressive, which at .941 after a 25-of-25 night at even-strength (he’s now stopped all but 10 of 169 even-strength shots against) is the second-best figure among goaltenders with at least seven appearances. That .941 is also a staggering .047 better than Rask’s .894 save percentage at even-strength this season. Listen, Rask is still an all-world goaltender when he’s on his game. It’s also no secret that the 30-year-old Rask has found himself the victim of an unfortunate ‘run support’ game that makes Red Sox ace Chris Sale’s first month in town look winnable. The numbers stare you in the face, too. With just 25 goals scored through Rask’s first 12 starts, Rask has averaged 2.08 goals of support per start. And actually, the Bruins scored just one goal in Rask’s lone early hook of the season, which came with a 18-of-22, 40-minute showing against the Avs in October, so that 25 goals is really 23 goals scored in Rask's 12 games in the crease, which dips them under two goals of support per night. That's an awfully thin margin for error if you're Rask, especially when you're talking about a roster that's regularly featured about five to six NHL newbies on a nightly basis. The Bruins also failed to score at least five goals in a game until Rask’s ninth appearance of the season. And though it’s easy (and lazy) to blame him for where the Bruins are right now, I would be lying if I avoided saying that Rask has seemingly done little to help his own cause. That's ignoring the obvious expectations that come with a $7 million salary, too. On seven different occasions, Rask has allowed at least three goals in a game that saw him face less than 30 shots. Wednesday in Anaheim was one of the rougher nights in that regard, with four goals surrendered on just 27 shots faced (and with some obvious bad luck goals put by him in the losing effort). But with an .897 all-situation save percentage, Rask boasts the third-worst save percentage among goalies with at least 10 appearances this year, and sits just .020 from dead last. But before you get yourself wrapped up in that stat, consider that Carey Price, a player widely regarded as the best masked man in the league, currently sits in that aforementioned dead last spot. So, without stating the obvious, it’s worth mentioning that slow starts do happen. It just so happens that Rask’s slow start is happening at the same time as Khudobin’s heater. That should make Cassidy’s decision for Saturday's starter in San Jose, and with the chance for the Bruins to escape this road trip with four of a possible six points on the table, easier than imagined.
This and that
- David Krejci returned to the lineup tonight, and it showed. The Bruins have outscored their opponents 7-2 in five periods with both Patrice Bergeron and Krejci in the lineup this season. Naturally, Krejci’s return came with a subtraction (it’s always one in, one out with these guys), as Torey Krug was a scratch due to an upper-body injury. That meant that the B’s first power-play unit featured four right-shots. You had Krejci and McAvoy at the points, Bergeron in the bumper, David Pastrnak in his usual spot for one-time bombs, and Peter Cehlarik as the lone lefty. Small sample to judge, but I do firmly believe that the unit is more effective with another lefty at the point there.
- Holy smokes, what a big boy night from Charlie McAvoy. The 19-year-old McAvoy led all B’s skaters with 27:53 of time on ice, contributed a goal, and had four hits and four blocked shots. Has there been a player more important to the Bruins than McAvoy this season? Between his all-situation usage and impact for what’s been a relatively weak and inconsistent right side, I think not.
- Brad Marchand and Anders Bjork were placed on the injured reserve hours before puckdrop tonight, which rules them out for at least one more game. This should not be a shock, as the Black and Gold were never seriously going to rush two guys back out to California for a single game. It just didn’t seem worth it. It’ll be interesting to see if either is ready to go by next Wednesday night.
Up next
The Bruins will conclude their California road trip with a Saturday night game in San Jose. The Bruins are 3-0-0 against the Sharks since Bruce Cassidy took over behind the bench. Not that it means a whole lot, either, but they were 5-7-0 against the Sharks during Claude Julien’s time in town.
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.