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Bruins lack energy in Nick Ritchie's debut

February 26, 2020, 1:38 PM ET [18 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Making his Bruins debut Tuesday night after Monday’s trade with the Ducks sent the 24-year old to Boston, Nick Ritchie wasn’t all too impressive.

But in his defense, neither were his new teammates.

"I thought some guys came to play and some guys didn’t. Didn’t break a sweat, some of them it looked like” head coach Bruce Cassidy said following his team’s 5-2 loss to the Calgary Flames on Tuesday. “I’m sure there was effort, they were trying, they were just in between, couldn’t execute or whatever. But at the end of the day, it wasn’t good enough.”

It was a hectic 24-hours for Ritchie who on Monday flew cross-country, joined the Bruins at morning skate Tuesday and skated later that night to the left of Charlie Coyle and Anders Bjork in his first game as a Bruin.

“I don’t think it was a great game by the team. Obviously my first game, some getting used to a different team and different players. It’s tricky, hopefully, it will come sooner than later,” said Ritchie. “Anytime you play with new guys in a new locker room, new city and new building, it’s going to take a little bit to shore things up.”

It’s one game and a game where not many Bruins had their game going, so let’s not write Ritchie off after one rough night.

Ritchie and his two new linemates got the start for the Bruins, an indication that Ritchie's welcome to Boston moment was going to come right off the bat. His visible chirping with Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk before the drop of the puck raised some excitement, but nothing came from it.

“You give him a chance to start. He’s going to get on the ice eventually anyway. That was, they just had Tkachuk and [Milan] Lucic, so you put him out there in case if they want — I think Luch is more about being a body, playing here than anything,” a visibly frustrated Cassidy said about starting Ritchie. “But if they want to play that type of game early, then we want to be prepared for it.”

Neither Ritchie nor the rest of his teammates were ready for whatever type of game the Flames wanted to play.

“I thought he was fine. I’m not going to judge him on a — he flew in here yesterday. He’s trying to get acclimated. There has to be a decent amount of period before we see what we got, and then go from there,” Cassidy added.

“I’d rather watch some tape and see if, did he finish checks, did he get inside? Some of the details he’s going to bring to us. Rather look at the whole group, and we just did not have our — the guys we rely on to play, play well, had a tougher time tonight. And it kind of showed up in the end.”

In 14:16 of ice time Tuesday, Ritchie did not register a single shot attempt, but did manage a team-high seven hits.

With the Bruins struggling to generate any sort of offense, Cassidy juggled his second and third lines, swapping DeBrusk and Ritchie on the left sides of his middle two lines.

"The Coyle line had a rare off night. They were just fighting it, so you try to kind of mix it up a little bit. [David] Krejci and [Jake] DeBrusk haven’t produced a whole lot lately, so it’s just get a guy away from a guy for a while, see if it loosens them up. Sometimes it works; tonight, it did not,” Cassidy said.

In 4:57 of five-on-five time ice time together, Ritchie, Coyle and Bjork had a Corsi For Percentage of 16.67% (1-6), zero shots on goal and were on the ice for a goal allowed.

Once Cassidy flipped Ritchie and DeBrusk, Ritchie, Krejci and Kuhlman finished with a Corsi For Percentage of 75% (3-1), three shots on goal and three scoring chances for in 5:42 of five-on-five ice time together.

The Bruins are off Wednesday before returning Thursday to host the Dallas Stars. Ritchie hopes with a little film work, Thursday will be a better night for both he and the rest of the Bruins.

“The game is the time to improve and get to know everybody,” he said. “Obviously watch film Thursday morning and get right back at it, Thursday night.”
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