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The Boston Bruins overcame two different road deficits -- one two-goal and a one-goal hole later in the night -- and scored the go-ahead goal by way of a Brad Marchand penalty shot with just over a minute to play in the third period. But a last-second goal from Calgary forward Jiri Hudler with 1.2 seconds left in the third period and an overtime dagger from top-liner Johnny Gaudreau extended the Bruins’ recent skid to two straight defeats past the 60-minute marker.
With the loss, the B’s dropped to 8-2-2 on the road this season and 0-0-2 on their three-game road swing of Western Canada, but extended their overall point streak to seven games (5-0-2).
Here are some leftover thoughts and notes from a frustrating night in Calgary…
Hamilton goes from goat to hero in otherwise quiet night vs. former club
Talk to any player and they will tell you that the first game against your former club -- especially the team that drafted and developed you into the player you are today -- is among the weirdest of your career. If not thee weirdest, actually. That physically looked to be the case for Calgary defenseman Dougie Hamilton in his first head-to-head against the Bruins since essentially demanding his way out of Boston this past summer. While Hamilton has never exactly been known as the exuberant character that lights up a shift with each stride, No. 27 looked more like a supporting cast member on the Calgary second pairing with fellow ex-Bruin Dennis Wideman than anything close to the No. 2 -- borderline No. 1, even -- defenseman the B’s groomed him into a year ago.
In 33 shifts and 20:16 of time on ice, the 22-year-old Hamilton was by and large a non-factor (though he did finish the night with the best Corsi-For% among Calgary defenders, at 59.3%) when it came to tangible plays aside from an early breakup of a potential two-on-one chance for Landon Ferraro and Joonas Kemppainen for the then-shorthanded Bruins.
That was until the game hit the 58-minute mark and beyond.
First, Hamilton slashed Marchand, giving Boston’s No. 63 a shorthanded penalty shot on which he scored. And then, when the Flames found life by way of a late-game tally, No. 27 shifted from goat to hero with the primary helper on Gaudreau’s game-winning dagger through Tuukka Rask in overtime.
Hamilton giveth. Hamilton taketh.
Nothin’ new for a Bruins club that’s been continuously burned by former teammates this season.
(Bet the house on Matt Bartkowski scoring a goal against the Black and Gold on Saturday night.)
Turnovers once again rearing ugly head for Boston defense
The game began with a Zdeno Chara giveaway that ended up in the back of the Boston net. And then the game ended with a Chara giveaway that ended up in the back of the Boston net. That is completely uncharacteristic of the B’s leader and, historically speaking, their entire defensive unit.
But this was something that actually plagued the Bruins at the start of the season. (Remember audibly hearing Matt Irwin exclaim ‘[expletive] off’ to Winnipeg’s Andrew Ladd on Opening Night?) And if you look at the Bruins’ games of late, like Tusken Raiders, they’re back, and in greater numbers.
It could be as simple as tightening up. Or maybe it’s time for Julien to take a look at tinkering with his d-pairings, even for just a night (a road game against a struggling Canucks group screams ‘experiment’).
I believe that the Torey Krug-Adam McQuaid is a solid one as the club’s third pairing (and I think both have taken massive strides forward in terms of handling stiffer competition in 2015). But Krug has played some pretty fantastic hockey with Colin Miller, and Julien’s go-to when it comes to tinkering with his first pairing has often involved putting McQuaid to Chara’s right. Dennis Seidenberg isn’t coming out of the lineup. So that leaves Zach Trotman as the potential odd-man out.
You know, there’s not much to hate when it comes to Trotman’s game. But like any young defenseman, he’s prone to mistakes in his own zone, and while the Bruins have (for the most part) lived with it, a rotation (like the one the club went with early) shouldn’t necessarily be out of the question. And maybe that’s a tough pill for the Bruins -- who seemed to project Trotman as the perfect complement to Chara’s game on the top pairing -- to swallow, but it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. I mean, there’s no real reason why Joe Morrow hasn’t played in an NHL game in a month. None whatsoever.
No matter who it is in the lineup, from Trotman to Morrow or the recently activated Kevan Miller, Julien and the B’s will have to roll with both the good and the bad when it comes to the play of their young defensemen. But with a wide-open, end-to-end game clearly hurting the team’s own-zone performances of late, seeing if a little plug-and-play straighten things out shouldn’t be out of the question.
Bruins make in-game goaltending change for first time all season
Want to watch me turn a negative into a positive? Check this out: the Bruins made an in-game goaltending change for the first time this season in last night’s loss to Calgary. For a team 24 games into the season, that’s not bad at all. Take a look at last season, as much as it will hurt your eyes, for just a moment. Over the course of their 82-game schedule in 2014-15, the Bruins made seven in-game goaltending substitutions. Or, once every 12 games. Cutting that number in half is huge for Rask.
There were moments a year ago (see: the St. Louis Blues game in St. Louis) where Rask looked straight-up murderous that he had to come in relief of either Niklas Svedberg or Malcolm Subban. The strain, both mental and physical, was painfully apparent by the end of the regular season, and Rask, an all-world goaltender, looked just plain toasted. You didn’t see that strain on No. 40 on Friday night.
And before it all went to hell for the Bruins in the C of Red, Rask was pretty damn good in relief.
You’re going to have nights like Jonas Gustavsson had last night. They’re legitimately unavoidable over the course of a seven-month season. (But then again, I’d make the case that Gustavsson was due and a matchup against the Flames -- a team he came into play with one win and an .857 save percentage in six career games against -- was the perfect date to circle as the Monster’s off night.) But when you have them few and far between, it’s better for everybody. But especially so for your No. 1 netminder.
Stop complaining about the Bruins ‘passing’ on Flames’ Gaudreau
Whenever the Bruins square off with Johnny Gaudreau, all three times to date, it seems as if Gaudreau’s ability to slip under the radar of the Bruins becomes a topic of discussion. An angry one, too. But the 5-foot-9, 150-pound winger from New Jersey didn’t exactly do that.
Drafted by the Flames with the 104th overall pick in 2011, Calgary took a chance on Gaudreau before he even played a game for the Boston College Eagles. So, no, he wasn’t in Boston’s backyard just yet. And if you want to operate under that logic, the other 28 teams not called the Flames passed on Gaudreau, too. Including Gaudreau’s hometown Devils -- a franchise with a penchant for American talents -- and even the Rangers (another American skater heavy franchise). That looks, uh, way worse.
And when the Flames reportedly offered Gaudreau as the centerpiece of a trade for Tyler Seguin trade at the 2013 NHL Draft, then-GM Peter Chiarelli was probably right on passing on him. Think about it: At the time, the Bruins were moving a former No. 2 overall pick with franchise center capabilities and a 29-goal NHL season under his belt. Gaudreau, at the time, was a stud in the NCAA ranks on Boston College’s top line, but that only goes so far in a trade package. Compare a package based around Gaudreau and picks versus what the Bruins got from Dallas (a top-six forward in Loui Eriksson, former NCAA standout and budding NHLer Reilly Smith, former first-round pick Joe Morrow, and capable AHL scorer Matt Fraser) and it’s easy to see why Chiarelli went the route he did.
I’ll admit that the Bruins’ alleged ‘passing’ on Gaudreau is all made worse by his success against the Black and Gold (Gaudreau now has four goals and six points in just three career games against the Bruins after last night’s career-high four-point night), but it’s still revisionist history.
After all, 29 other teams also passed on Chicago’s Andrew Shaw, taken 35 picks after Gaudreau, too.
There's no doubt that the Flames found themselves a late-draft steal in Gaudreau. Just like the Bruins did with Patrice Bergeron or Brad Marchand. Or the Habs with Brendan Gallagher. The list goes on and on. The truth is that you can play this game with any player from any team from any draft year ever. But that doesn’t mean it should be taken as an open-and-close discussion of garbage front office decisions.
Bruins still in control of solid road trip Believe it or not, the Bruins -- off to a frustrating 0-0-2 start on their three-game tour of Western Canada -- are still in control of making this a solid road swing with a win in Vancouver on Saturday night. If you’re being honest when you look at the club’s performance through two games, you can make the case that the Bruins deserve -- at the very best -- one more than they currently have (two).
The Bruins played down to Edmonton’s level on Wednesday night, and ultimately left with the fate they earned. But on Friday night, Rask and the Bruins need to find a way to survive that late Calgary push.
And even though they didn’t, a win against a Canucks squad that’s won just three of 11 at home this season (and just two of their last ten overall) would give the B’s a solid four of six possible points. By road trip standards, though you’d prefer it to be of the 2-1-0 variety, is an acceptable return to the Hub.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Boston Chapter of the Pro Hockey Writers Association since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.