Whatever Montgomery is doing, its working as the Bruins have won their fourth game in a row to start the season and second straight in California. Tonight the Bruins knocked of the Los Angeles Kings in a game that wasn't as close as the final score suggests. David Pastrnak scored his fifth goal of the season to put the Bruins up in the first period but the Kings tied it in the second on a Alex Laferriere breakway goal. The Bruins then responded as a puck ricocheted off Milan Lucic's first over to Morgan Geekie for his first Bruins goal. Captain Brad Marchand scored later in the period with the Bruins leading 3-1 going into the third. Marchand scored the dagger goal but Carl Grundstrom scored with 70 seconds left in the game to make the final score closer. The Bruins still won their fourth game in a row to start the season 4-2 over the Kings at the Staples Center.
The first period belonged to the Bruins as Charlie McAvoy walked in alone on Kings goalie Cam Talbot just 5 seconds into the game but Cam made the save. The Kings got the first powerplay of the game when Charlie Coyle interfered with Trevor Moore just two minutes into the game. Adrian Kempe had a breakaway but Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman stoned him cold then stopped Pierre-Luc Dubois on the rebound. It didn't look good for the Bruins when just a minute into the penalty, John Beecher got called for holding the stick to put Boston on a 5 on 3 PK. The Bruins were pinned down and Dubois was alone in front of Swayman but Jeremy stopped the shot. The Bruins killed off both penalties but 8 minutes into the period Swayman had to stop two more chances to keep the game tied. The Kings took their first penalty 12:57 into the first when Mikey Anderson plowed into James van Riemsdyk for interference. On the ensuing powerplay, van Riemsdyk passed it along the boards to Brad Marchand who found David Pastrnak in the slot open for the one time goal to put the Bruins on top. The Bruins looked to have gotten a break when Arthur Kaliyev nailed McAvoy with a high stick for a 4 minute double minor with 1:49 left in the period. The Bruins failed to score to end the period but were still up 1-0.
Bruins go up early
The Bruins went into the second period with 2:11 left in powerplay time but the Kings ended up dominating. Less than a minute into the first period Trevor Moore passed it to a streaking Phillip Danault who beat Swayman.....off the post and out. They were 3 inches from a shorthanded goal. The Kings killed off the penalty and Coyle went off for boarding Andreas Englund 3:16 into the period. The Bruins killed it off but McAvoy went off for hooking Kevin Fiala 10:15 into the period. Then disaster struck as Fiala passed it to Dubois who found Alex Laferriere streaking past the Bruins for a wide open breakaway goal 6:28 into the period to tie the game with his first NHL goal. The Bruins then got the lead back when Derek Forbort fired a shot on net that ricocheted off of Milan Lucic's foot over to Morgan Geekie who scored his first Bruins goal to put Boston back on top with 5:15 left in the second. 4 seconds after the puck dropped, it was go time as Andreas Englund wanted a piece of Trent Frederic. Freddy landed some bombs in an entertaining fight. Less than a minute later Pastrnak passed it to Forbort who found Marchand in traffic. Marchand snapped the shot off of Anze Kopitar's skate through the legs of Talbot and in to increase the lead with 4:27 left in the period. That's how the period ended with the Bruins up 3-1.
The Kings took the opening faceoff and skated into the Bruins zone but a Kopitar shot was blocked in front. The Bruins went on the powerplay 1:39 into the period when Dubois hooked Frederic. Unfortunately the Bruins failed to score on the powerplay because Geekie went off for hooking Drew Doughty 62 seconds later. The Bruins did kill off the penalty and action resumed. The Bruins almost scored when Matt Grzelcyk hit the post 6:23 into the period and Coyle missed seconds later. Swaymen then stoned Kempe and Quinton Byfield back to back 7:28 into the frame. The Bruins finally iced the game when Pavel Zacha passed it to Pastrnak behind the net who dished it to Marchand who buried it for the dagger with 2:12 left. The Kings didn't go quietly as Frederic went to the penalty box for cross-checking Englund. On the powerplay, Trevor Lewis dished it to Matt Roy who shot it off Carl Grundstrom and in for a goal with 1:10 left in the game. The Kings emptied the net but failed to score as the Bruins had won the game 4-2.
Goalie hug
Awards:
Morgan Geekie gets the Smokey Harris Award for first Bruins goal
James van Riemsdyk gets the Carson Cooper Award for first Bruins assist
Baby B's Bulletin:
Tonight the Providence Bruins lost 5-4 in a shootout to the Hershey Bears. Fabian Lysell got his first goal of the season, Oskar Steen got his third and John Farinacci & Jayson Megna both scored their second goals. Even though they lost in a shootout, its encouraging to see Lysell and Farinacci score because those are two of the young prospects the team could use down the road. Vincent Arseneau also got into a scrap with Dylan McIlrath.
Mariner Minute:
Tonight the Maine Mariners lost 6-4 to the Trois Rivieres Lions. Alex Kile scored twice while Reid Stefanson and Ethan Keppen both scored goals. Tim Doherty had four assists while Gabriel Chicoine had two with Stefanson & Keppen with the other assists. Austin Albrecht got thrown out of the game for spearing during a scrum with Chris Ortiz and Jakov Novak. Connor Doherty also went off for roughing in the scrum. Like mentioned in the Mariners Preview: Kile was THAT close to the NHL in 2019 so he might be their best player. Doherty had 52 assists last year and he got four in one game tonight. Keppen was one of just two players drafted by an NHL team and he had a goal and an assist. Too bad they lost.
Bruins Reaction:
As mentioned in the intro, winning this one without DeBrusk was big and it also showed that Montgomery isn't tolerating failure this season. The Bruins were an absolute wagon last year and the wheels fell off in the playoffs, Jim wants to make sure that doesn't happen again. Benching a guy early means he won't be pulling this stuff down the road....in theory. It was still a great team win with Pastrnak & Marchand doing the most damage and kudos to Geekie for his first Bruins goal. JVR got his first Bruins assist and Swayman did a hell of a job for the most part besides one breakaway and a deflection with a minute left. Essentially the Bruins are picking up where they left off last year but the word around hockey is "they haven't played anyone good yet!" Well, when the time comes to face the Florida Panthers, Toronto Maple Leafs, Las Vegas Golden Knights and Tampa Bay Lightning, we'll see how that turns out. The one lone problem with the Bruins is their lack of forward depth since they had to call up Patrick Brown for this one. No disrespect to Brown but he's not exactly some of the guys from last year that retired or moved on. The sooner Lysell down in Providence develops, the better. The Bruins have no time to rest as tomorrow night they conclude their California road trip against the 1-3 Anaheim Ducks. The game begins at 8:30 PM Eastern time at the Honda Center. Hopefully DeBrusk comes out full of fire for that one.
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