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Welcome to the Future.
For those unaware, today is actually the day that Marty McFly goes to the Future in Back to the Future II (which is honestly the best one, if you ask me). As an aside, thank the lightning that struck the clocktower that those straight-up incorrect memes declaring that 'Today was the day Marty McFly went back to the Future!' that you've seen on Facebook for the past five years or so are finally going to go away.
We don’t have hoverboards, Michael Jackson has yet to take my order at a cafe, we have about 14 more Jaws movies to go before Jaws 19 hits the big screen and actually eats you, and sadly the Chicago Cubs probably won’t win the World Series this year.
But what we do have is a Wednesday Night Rivalry showdown at Boston’s beloved and anything-but-futuristic TD Garden between the Boston Bruins and visiting Philadelphia Flyers.
And with Philly coming to town on the heels of last night’s 2-1 loss to the Dallas Stars, and the B’s returning to the Hub after a successful two-game road swing, Boston’s Claude Julien isn’t selling the always dangerous Flyers short. Even with a new coach in Dave Hakstol behind the bench.
“There’s some parts of their game that are different but there’s some parts that are still the same. They really excel in the offensive zone from plays from behind the net to creating things,… Julien said. “But you know, their neutral zone seems a little bit different and their neutral zone forecheck. So we’ve seen those things, nothing out of the ordinary, but a new coach and a couple of things that are different.…
Noting Philadelphia’s versatile offensive zone game to their forecheck, the Bruins will have their work cut out for them, as first-line forward Matt Beleskey (upper-body) is out for tonight’s game, while three-zone center Patrice Bergeron (personal) is a game-time decision for the B’s.
“His prognosis as far as…we don’t know,… Julien said of Beleskey. “As far the timeline of how long he’ll be out. It happened between practice and this morning. So I’m not really sure - I was just told it’s an upper-body injury. I know what it is obviously but that he wouldn’t be in our game here tonight.…
An added storyline in this game, too, is Zac Rinaldo’s first game against his former club.
The agitating Rinaldo, acquired by general manager Don Sweeney and the Bruins from the Flyers in exchange for a third-round pick this past summer, spent five seasons with Philly, and recorded eight goals and 24 points along with 572 minutes in penalties in just 223 contests with the club.
“I think Zac’s been good about, you know, fine tuning his game a little bit. Our message was clear, it’s been well documented too,… Julien said of Rinaldo. “I think this guy’s got some skill. He’s got some talent: he skates well, he forechecks well. You see him in practice- he can make great plays, got a good shot. But sometimes the other part of his game would take over so all we’ve asked him to do is balance that out, okay? We don’t want him lose that edge that he has because it’s not a bad edge to have.
“He really can give your team a spark, he can give you some energy. In preseason he kind of turned the game around for us where we were able to come back and win because he got the other bench all riled up and that kind of stuff. So as long as he doesn’t cross the line for me, I’m good with that. I want him to be physical; I want him to agitate whenever he can, within the rules of course, but at the same time I want to see him play hockey. I don’t want to have a guy that just is one-dimensional and he has a skill level to be more than one-dimensional. So that’s kind of what we’re doing here with Zac [Rinaldo].…
Rinaldo has yet to record a point in five games with the Bruins, but has drawn one penalty and his only penalty was a misconduct assessed in the final moments of his first Bruins-Canadiens game played.
The Bruins have won the last five head-to-head meetings at home against the Flyers.
On the second leg of a back-to-back, the Flyers will turn to Michael Neuvirth for tonight’s tilt. Neuvirth comes into this game with shutouts in both of his starts this season, and has stopped all but three of the 83 shots thrown his way this season (a .964 save percentage). But those positives are met by the negatives, which include just one win and an .866 save percentage in six games against the B’s.
Boston counters with Tuukka Rask. Following Rask’s 20-of-23 showing last Sat. night, good for No. 40’s first win of the season, the 28-year-old hopes to see that success translate to Garden ice, which has been anything but kind to the former Vezina winner. In three home games this season, Rask has zero wins and has allowed 14 goals to slip through his pads. That’s rough sledding. But just the opposite of Neuvirth, Rask comes into tonight’s game with straight-up filthy career numbers against Philadelphia, headlined by 9-1-1 record and .937 save percentage against the Orange Crush.
- Top-line center David Krejci has five goals and 26 points in 26 career games against the Flyers. Krejci also comes into this one with seven points in his last three games, so, yeah.
- Ryan Spooner is a minus-4 and has just two shots on net in three home games this year.
- First-year pro and fourth-liner Tyler Randell has two goals in two career NHL games.
- Jakub Voracek has four goals and 11 points in 16 career games against the Bruins.
- Claude Giroux has been held without a point in three of five games this season.
Other news and notes
With Beleskey out, Brett Connolly seems like the obvious plug-in to the B’s lineup. Connolly has one assist in four games this season, and has struggled to find his offensive footing. And if Bergeron is unable to go, I’d expect Max Talbot to suit up in his place in the lineup somewhere on the Boston bottom six. Defensemen Joe Morrow and Zach Trotman appear to be the healthy scratches.
Good news: D-man Dennis Seidenberg (back surgery) was skating with the club on Monday and Tuesday. There’s still no timetable for Seidenberg’s return, though, according to Julien.
Massachusetts’ own John Tortorella was hired by the Columbus Blue Jackets today, and thus the Jackets are sending a second-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks, the team that fired Tortorella. That’s probably part of the reason why teams have been a bit apprehensive to hire some of their fired coaches in the first place. That doesn’t seem to sit well with coaches, either, just ask Julien.
“As a coach, you know, I would find it a shame that I wouldn’t be able to get a job somewhere because the compensation was too high. Yet, they thought enough of me that they would be willing to hire me but they wouldn’t be willing to for a second or third round pick,… Julien, Boston’s coach since 2007, said. “So I don’t know that the compensation…to me once you’re fired, you’re fired, okay? I’m not saying that if it’s a different situation that you’re not fired and you step down you say, “I don’t want to be here anymore,… whatever, “well we still own your rights until the end of the contract,… I agree with that. Because, they still wanted you, you’re the one that wanted to step down. But once you’re fired I think you shouldn’t be held back from working anywhere because of compensation. Whether it’s called a selfish thing on our part I think the thing that we want to do, we want to get back and work again.…
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.