Be sure to 'like' Hockeybuzz on Facebook!
The Boston Bruins are not out of the woods quite yet, but a 4-1 win over the New Jersey Devils seemed like the perfect start to a five-game road swing that came with a welcomed return for Claude Julien’s group. In David Pastrnak’s first NHL game since Oct. 31, the Bruins had goals from four different scorers (none of whom being Pastrnak, but that’s alright), while Jonas Gustavsson stopped all but one of the 20 shots thrown his way for his seventh win of the year.
When you look at this win, Frank Vatrano’s game-opening goal sticks out as an obvious positive for the Bruins. For more than being the goal that got it all started on Friday night, too.
The goal was Vatrano’s first since his hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Dec. 18 (seven games ago), and that trick came after a nine-game goalless stretch for No. 72. So, in total, Vatrano had goals in just two of his previous 18 games played. Over that stretch, you’ve noticed that his shot totals have been down a bit and that he’s not surprising teams anymore. In essence, Vatrano has (or had) hit a wall. That was to be expected, though, when you look at his status as a pro.
Last night was Vatrano’s 35th game of the year. One more and it matches his career-high of 36 set last year with UMass-Amherst. Again, a wall. You see this with a lot of NCAA guys. Especially ones that make the jump from the college ranks straight to the National Hockey League (Vatrano played just 15 games with the Providence Bruins in the AHL between just five in 2014-15 and 10 to begin this season).
It’s anything but a slight to Vatrano’s game, which has been undeniably good, especially for a true first-year pro. But in a lot of ways, his game is akin to Seth Griffith’s was a year ago: He’s a raw talent that I think needs a high-end center in the middle to produce regularly. At the same time, if the Bruins can find a way to limit his competition to third-pairing defenses and bottom-six lines, the odds of Vatrano producing with someone like Joonas Kemppainen or Ryan Spooner certainly go up.
Too long, didn’t read; Seeing Vatrano back on the scoresheet seems like a bonus at this point.
Above all else, though, was the return of the 19-year-old Pastrnak to the lineup.
On a line with Loui Eriksson and Patrice Bergeron, Pastrnak put one shot on net, recorded two hits and two takeaways, and a heavy 17:52 of time on ice in the win. In a way, I was hoping that you’d see the Pastrnak-Spooner combo of a year ago reunited, but plugging him the three-zone wizardry of an Eriksson-Bergeron combo seems like the safe bet you’d take everyday.
And now it’s on to Ottawa, where the Senators are waiting for a bloody, gruesome, violent bloodbath of a Sat. night showdown with Brad Marchand, free from his three-game ban, tonight. (Notice the hyperbole in there. You’ll hear a lot of this in regards to this game, for some weird reason.) The end of the last meeting between the Bruins and Sens, a 7-3 victory for the Bruins, was pretty heinous. Marchand clipped Mark Borowiecki early into the game (that’s the play Marchand was suspended for), Chris Neil spent the final two minutes of his night chasing Adam McQuaid around for reasons we’ll never quite understand. And I think at one point Zac Rinaldo killed a guy during a line brawl.
But if you’re thinking there’ll be blood in this rematch, I regret to inform you that it ain’t happening.
I mean, has it ever? Aside from a few isolated incidents here and there -- the Pens and Islanders and Bruins and Canadiens meetings of a few years back now -- do ‘physical’ rematches ever come with the line brawl sequels fans, and media alike, expect? Almost never. And that’s ‘cause the league knows about it. They know that Player-X and Player-Y have targets on their backs heading in, and forcing the issue will only lead to a longer suspension or early exit from the game via a misconduct.
Now, do I expect somebody to challenge Marchand? Of course. And hey, maybe Marchand will answer.
But if it’s Neil, you can expect an easy no from No. 63. The easiest of no’s, actually.
And after missing the last three games, it’s become apparent that the Bruins need Marchand on the ice more than ever, so it might actually be a no all around for that matter. Not to mention that Ottawa, two points behind the Bruins and with just three wins in their last 10 games, would look awfully silly if they spend their time worrying about Marchand and not the game at hand.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.