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A 2-1 victory over the third-worst team in the Eastern Conference won’t wash away the stink of a two-game nightmare in Canada that saw the Boston Bruins outscored and outplayed 11-to-2 by two division rivals, but it’ll sure help, as the B’s downed the Carolina Hurricanes in a weekend matinee affair at TD Garden.
“It’s better. Obviously a step in the right direction,… Boston head coach Claude Julien said after the win that puts the Bruins at 11-8-0 on the year. “I thought we were overall better, the second period was better. Certainly not where we want to be yet. But when you’ve gone through what you’ve gone through the last two games, I don’t think you’re just going to turn the page and all of a sudden be what you were. So it’s, you know, we’ve got to build ourselves back up there, and today was a good start.…
The afternoon did not start out well for the Bruins, however, as the club was hemmed in their own end for far too long following a Danny Paille turnover before Jiri Tlusty struck with his seventh goal of the season. Just 12 seconds after the Hurricanes’ tally, the Bruins were put to another test, this time with a penalty against by way of a Reilly Smith goaltender interference call, and an Adam McQuaid hook 17 seconds after that gave Carolina a heavy 1:43 of a 5-on-3 advantage.
Goaltender Tuukka Rask and the club survived, though, even with the ‘Canes outshooting the Bruins by a staggering 12-to-2 margin midway through the opening 20 minutes.
“It’s a tough situation when we were kind of sleeping in the beginning, gave up the goal then nothing happens and we get a couple penalties,… Rask, who stopped 33-of-34 in the win, said of the club’s slow start. “Those are the times that you need to step up as a goalie. I made a couple saves but I thought we battled hard as a unit there and killed those penalties and that kind of got the nerves out of the way for our team.…
Boston’s successful kills were not a product of luck, but their first goal of the afternoon sure was.
With Seth Griffith pouring the pressure on Carolina with a hard forecheck, the ‘Canes broke, and put the puck in the back of their own net with an awkward exchange between Andrej Sekera, the other defenseman, and Cam Ward that let Griffith collect another Garden goal with a simply chip at the puck. The goal, good for Griffith’s fifth of the year (an unassisted marker), brought the Bruins back to life and turned the pressure up on a Hurricane squad that’s had undeniable struggles on the road.
“You just want to forecheck hard, right, and the puck was hopping all over the place, so it’s just one of those things where you just try and get a stick on it and a couple lucky bounces and it’s a tie game, so it worked out,… Griffith said of his goal, his first since Monday night’s goal-of-the-year candidate against New Jersey.
“We obviously didn’t start too great,… admitted Griffith. “We’ve got to stop letting other teams get those early leads on us because some games it kills us, and tonight luckily enough just working hard on the forecheck. Anything can happen in those situations and just hit off a couple skates and luckily enough it went in.…
And just five minutes later, the Bruins pulled ahead by way of Patrice Bergeron’s fourth goal of the season, beating Ward through the wickets and giving the B’s a 2-1 edge with just 50 seconds to go in the first.
With two goals in five minutes, and closing out a period that began so terribly for the Black and Gold on a strong note, the Bruins were off. Skating with confidence (and the puck) on their stick, the Bruins peppered Ward and company in the middle frame, outshooting the ‘Canes by an impressive 14-to-3 margin, and set the tone with some big hits (and a roughing penalty) from the 6-foot-4 Milan Lucic.
“That was better too,… Julien said of his team’s physicality. “You know it’s about getting involved, you know, and sometimes you’ve got to finish your checks and sometimes you’ve got to get yourself back into play. And you know we were physical, we set the tone early on for our team, and it carried through the whole game.…
For Lucic, a hit does more than just pad his hit totals. It sets the tone for his line and entire team, in fact.
“It’s pretty obvious right that a guy like that can give us some good energy. He’s skating, he’s hitting, he’s making plays, he’s going in front of the net, he did all the things he had to do tonight,… Julien said of his top-line left winger’s afternoon. “So these are things that I guess as a coach you want to see those things from your players night in and night out. And we hadn’t been getting that. So this is what we’re going to work on here moving forward to get our team to be a little bit more committed on a nightly basis from start to finish. And if we do that I think we can be the team we’re hoping to be.…
Lucic even play a large portion of the third period skating on a line with Carl Soderberg and Loui Eriksson. That almost led to a goal, too, with Lucic feeding Soderberg for a great open ice look in alone that was denied by a sprawling Ward. The line presented the Bruins with an interesting look that allowed Lucic to play with some different linemates. Ones that could get him the puck a bit more, no less.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Bruins go back to that.
At the end of the day, the Bruins won a game they're supposed to win, and that's really all you can ask for. It wasn't pretty (in fact, it was still pretty ugly), but this is the team taking care of business. And lord knows they need it with a couple of weeks ahead that include tilts against the Blues, Blue Jackets, Canadiens, and even those damned Pittsburgh Penguins.
Paille robbed of first goal of the year
The Bruins thought they had their insurance marker in the third period by way of what-would-have-been Danny Paille’s first goal of the season, but the goal was quickly waved off, as the referees determined that Gregory Campbell’s skates were in the crease, denying Ward an opportunity to make the save.
Shockingly (as if any team is going to be against a goal for their club), the Black and Gold did not agree.
“They did,… Julien said when asked if he got an explanation for the no-goal. “The explanation doesn’t – I’ve seen the replay – the explanation to me, I don’t know, I don’t agree with it. I’ll leave it at that.…
And thus, the search for goal No. 1 continues for the speedy fourth liner, but not to him.
“Even though that doesn’t count on the score sheet, that doesn’t bother me. In my mind that puck went past the goalie and I’ll take that positive any day and continue to work through that,… Paille noted. “Like I said even though it’s not on the score sheet it’s out of my mind now and I’m just glad that I got that opportunity that it crossed the goal line. It’s too bad that it didn’t count, but I’m counting it.…
Notes
- Brad Marchand picked up the 100th assist of his NHL career on Bergeron’s first period goal. He also didn’t finish the game. Leaving the game in the third period, Julien noted that Marchand was not ‘injured per se’, and confirmed that No. 63 was lifted so that they could play it safe.
- Defenseman Matt Bartkowski drew back into the lineup for the first time since Oct. 28's loss against the Minnesota Wild. Logging 17:37, the Pennsylvania-born defender finished the night with a plus-1 rating along with four shots and two hits. He was efficient, and certainly made his case for at least another game in the defensive mix over Zach Trotman.
- The Bruins are now 2-1-0 in 2014-15 when wearing their third jerseys, They have 12 more games in black. (A useless note: I don’t hate this jersey, but I don’t love it either. I’d love to see the Bruins go back to something involving more gold. Not like, late ‘90s gold, but something similar to their Winter Classic jerseys.)
- Boston allowed the first goal of the first for the fifth time in their last six games overall. That’s not good, and something that’ll surely bite them against stiffer competition.
Up next
Rask and the Bruins will be off ‘til Tuesday night, when the St. Louis Blues come to town. It will be the Bruins’ first look at Vladimir Tarasenko and the rest of the 2014-15 Blues. The Bruins lost both games against St. Louis last year in the overtime frame, once in the shootout and once in actual overtime.
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