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The Boston Bruins hated Zac Rinaldo as an opponent.
But as a teammate, and a pivotal momentum-driver in a comeback win over the New York Rangers at the TD Garden on Thursday, the Bruins are growing to appreciate the relentless approach of No. 36.
“There’s a lot more to Zac than what you saw,… Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “He’s a great skater, and you watch him in practice, he shoots the puck well, and there’s no doubt he’ll give us some energy.
“We talked about that. So as long as, same with March [Brad Marchand], what we’ve talked about in the past, you want to keep it within the rules, and in an area where it doesn’t affect your team. Right there, it seemed to distract them [New York] more, and it seemed like our guys were focused on trying to win a hockey game. He stayed out of trouble. It was a clean hit, and we’ll leave it at that.…
With the Bruins in pursuit of a game-tying goal late in the third period, the 5-foot-10 Rinaldo was zooming all over the ice, pasting a Blueshirt at every turn and getting in the face of New York tough guy, Tanner Glass. It all culminated with yet another penalty drawn by Rinaldo, and although it didn’t provide the Bruins the game-tying power-play strike, it undoubtedly shifted the ice the B’s way.
“Typical hockey. That’s just textbook hockey,… Rinaldo said. “I think I hit a couple guys before that shift and he came at me that shift too. I told him I’m gonna keep running around. That’s just my game and I did. They took a penalty on it. That’s just another part of my game that I can bring to the table.…
The call against the Rangers was Rinaldo’s fourth drawn penalty of the preseason (he’s only played in just two contests, mind you), and has come with a willingness to shy away from ‘stupid’.
“I’m staying out of the stupid stuff and I’m using my speed and I’m just being a hard-nosed player and guys aren’t liking it and they’re taking penalties,… noted Rinaldo. “I’m loving it, the more the merrier.…
It’s a style that’s helping the Bruins and not going lost on fellow agitator, Brad Marchand.
“Rinaldo did a great job at the end drawing that penalty and keeping his cool and, you know, that’s what we’re going to need out of him,… Marchand, who scored the shootout winner in the sixth round of tonight’s game, said. “He did a phenomenal job running around and getting the fans into it, and he’s known for that. It’s a lot better for us to have him on our team than against him, so he did a great job.…
From Rinaldo on throughout the lineup, this was a win propelled by the B’s willingness to grind.
Behind a heavy start on Henrik Lundqvist, the Bruins scored first on a tip-in tally from Tyler Randell. The goal, Randell’s first of the preseason, came off a great Joe Morrow shot in a play that was initially set up by Rinaldo, who picked the secondary assist.
“Well he’s going to give you that any time he gets a chance. That’s the way Tyler is, and he’s been good about that,… Julien said of Randell (who also picked up a fighting major in the win). “He wants to play the game, and when the going gets tough, and he’s being challenged, he’ll take the challenge.…
From there, though, the Rangers capitalized on their opportunities when they inevitably came.
Brady Skjei scored the first Ranger goal of the night with an assist from Boston netminder Jeremy Smith, who accidentally poked the puck into his own net. Four minutes and change later, it was Mats Zuccarello that scored New York’s second of the evening, that one coming on the man advantage, while it would be Kevin Hayes that checked in with a power-play goal of his own late in the second-period to give the Blueshirts a 3-1 lead through 40 minutes of play.
But the Bruins responded with strikes before and after the Rinaldo incidents, as Brandon Carlo struck 5:50 into the third period, while Ryan Spooner, with the B’s net empty, put the tying marker through Jeff Malcolm with just 53 seconds remaining in the third.
For a preseason contest, the pace to this one felt like anything but, and took on some weird preseason-but-not-preseason feel behind the aforementioned six-round shootout that followed.
“[The Rangers] had a lot of guys in their lineup and they were playing pretty quick. It was a pretty quick game and I thought we adapted pretty well,… Marchand said. “We came out really hard and we kind of, we kind of set the pace, so you’ve got to give the young guys a lot of credit. They were playing hard and they were able to keep up, so it’s good when we can play games like this early in the preseason, you know, get the legs under us and conditioning up and hopefully that’ll improve as we go on.…
With the victory, the Bruins improved to 3-0-0 in preseason play.
Chara leaves with upper-body injury
B’s captain Zdeno Chara’s preseason debut lasted just three shifts and 1:57 before an apparent injury pulled the 6-foot-9 defender from the contest. Taking an awkward looking tumble backwards on a first-period check from New York forward Ryan Bourque, there was little info revealed from Boston coach Claude Julien when it came to Chara’s status.
“No,… Julien said when pressed for an update on the status of Big Z. “Just the same as what you guys got here, so, he’s going to get evaluated I guess, closely, and we’ll see. Upper-body.…
Chara, 38, missed 19 games for the Black and Gold last season with a knee injury.
Of course, this could have just been Julien and the Bruins exercising caution with their captain in an exhibition contest. But if the Bruins are going to be without Chara for any extended amount of time, it spells trouble for a Boston blue line that’s already without Dennis Seidenberg for the next eight weeks.
Bruins cut 10 from Training Camp
Before tonight’s contest, the Bruins made 10 cuts from their pro camp, assigning Colby Cave and Colton Hargrove to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League. They will be joined on a ride to Providence by Andrew Cherniwchan, Max Everson, goaltender Matt Ginn, Max Iafrate, Eric Neiley and Frankie Simonelli as they were released from B’s camp and sent to P-Bruins camp.
The Bruins also sent 2015 draft picks Zachary Senyshyn and Jeremy Lauzon back to their respective junior clubs. Senyshyn will report to the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League while Lauzon reports to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
This cuts the Bruins’ camp roster down to 48 skaters (four goaltenders) with another week-plus to go.
Up next
The Bruins head to Detroit for a Saturday night preseason tilt with the Red Wings.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com