Bruins Rally Past Flyers in Overtime (12/7/24)

For two periods it appeared the Boston Bruins were sleepwalking through today's Saturday matinee tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers came out swinging in the first period, scoring two goals with b both scored by Matvei Michkov. Trent Frederic scored a power play goal in the second period to cut the lead but Cam York scored to put the Flyers up 3-1 going into the third period. Then the Bruins rallied with goals from Frederic again and Brad Marchand to send the game to sudden death overtime. There, Pavel Zacha did the honors with the goal to win the game. The Bruins rallied down 2-0 and 3-1 to win 4-3 in overtime at TD Garden.

                                                               Happy Bruins

The Flyers made the first mistake taking a too many men on the ice penalty just 1:41 into the game. Charlie McAvoy passed to David Pastrnak but his shot was saved by Philly goalie Aleksei Kolosov. Both Nikita Zadorov and Charlie Coyle were stopped by Kolosov as well. Pastrnak set up another shot by McAvoy but Kolosov saved that tpo. Brad Marchand tried to whack the rebound in but the puck hit the post to end the power play. Andrew Peeke got a shot off but it was denied with 15:27 left in the period. Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman kicked out a couple of shots on the ensuing rush the other way. With 14:06 left in the period, Ryan Poehling passed to a wide open Garnet Hathaway but Swayman made a big save. Disaster struck when Mark Kastelic got bagged for tripping with 12:47 left in the period. Just 10 seconds later, Emil Andrae blasted a shot off Swayman from the point. Sean Couturier poked the puck to Matvei Michkov who scored the power play goal to put Philly on top. 18 seconds later, Cameron York was sent to the box for slashing. Pastrnak set up a streaking Marchand but Kolosov blocked the shot on the power play. Marc McLaughlin was also robbed by Kolosov and with 6 minutes left in the period, Justin Brazeau set up Pavel Zacha. Kolosov made the save and disaster struck again with just under two minutes remaining. Travis Sanheim threw the puck across the ice to a wide open Michkov who scored again to put the Flyers up by two going into intermission, 2-0.

                                                          Flyers take the lead

The Bruins began their comeback when York was sent to the box 3:32 into the second period for tripping. About a minute later, Andrae and McAvoy were sent to the box with matching roughing minors. 5:15 into the period, Brazeau set up Morgan Geekie but Kolosov made the save. Geekie dug the puck out of a scrum who passed it back to Mason Lohrei. Lohrei's shot on net was tipped home by Trent Frederic for the goal 5:26 into the period. Halfway through the period, Swayman was knocked on his ass and still made a glove save on a Sanheim slapshot. With 4:31 left in the period, Travis Konecny dug the puck out for Sanheim to take it. Sanheim dished to an open York who scored to put the Flyers back up by two goals. With 3:29 left, McAvoy tripped up Owen Tippett and Tippett didn't take kindly to it. McAvoy and Tippett got matching roughing penalties but the Flyers were on the power play. The Bruins managed to kill it off but still trailed 3-1 going into the third.

                                               "Want a piece of me??"

The Bruins suddenly came to life in the third period with 14:34 left in the game. Kastelic's puck was deflected to Charlie Coyle. Coyle left the puck for Frederic, who scored his second goal of the game to pull the Bruins within one. Forty-seven seconds later, Konecny was sent off for interference to put the Bruins on the power play. Zacha passed it to Elias Lindholm who left the puck to Marchand. Marchand's shot was denied by Kolosov. The Flyers killed it off, but with 9:27 left, old friend Hathaway was sent to the box for tripping. Once again the Bruins failed to score and things looked bleak. Suddenly, with 5:22 left, Brazeau took the puck and flipped it up the ice. Marchand broke away from Tyler Foerster, shot and scored to tie the game. The Bruins had a chance to win the game when Couturier was whistled for tripping with 1:57 left. The Bruins failed to score and we headed to overtime.

                                                            Bruins tie it up

The Bruins had just 3 seconds of power play time before things went back to normal. Things looked bad when Joel Farabee bum rushed Lindholm off the puck for a breakaway. Somehow Swayman saved the shot to keep the game going with just under 3 minutes left in overtime. With 2:11 left, Pastrnak drew two defenders from behind the net and passed to a wide open Zacha in the slot. Zacha buried it and the Bruins had rallied to win in overtime 4-3.

                                                             Bruins win!

Reaction:

How about Pavel "Sudden Death" Zacha? That's two game winning overtime goals in the Joe Sacco era and they desperately needed the second point to keep pace with the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Bruins needed a win like that too after falling behind by two goals twice. You don't want to see them step on their collective dicks like that but it shows serious balls not to give up and still pull the game out. Swayman stepped up after the third goal and held Philly scoreless the rest of the way. Swayman's save in overtime was just as big as Zacha's goal. The Bruins were 1 for 6 on the power play and Sacco needs to make some changes because this is reaching 2011 Bruins against Montreal bad. A lot of fans are grumbling that the Bruins are beating bad teams to win seven of nine but better to win than lose. They still got the god awful west coast trip coming up as well, getting some wins there should settle the restless natives. The win improved the Bruins to 15-11-3, good for 33 points, 3 points behind the Panthers for first place in the Atlantic. The Bruins look to make it five wins in a row this Tuesday night when they travel all the way to Winnipeg to play the Jets. The game begins at 8:00 PM Eastern time at Canada Life Centre.

Bruins Hold Off Blackhawks (12/4/24)

The Chicago Blackhawks have a bright future ahead with Connor Bedard but until they got more talent, they'll fall victim to teams like the Boston Bruins. Under Joe Sacco, the Bruins have turned it up defensively and don't rely on just David Pastrnak for offense. Tonight's game it was the Brad Marchand and Morgan Geekie show. Geekie and Marchand scored two goals apiece to pace the offense although Pastrnak assisted on both Marchand goals. The Bruins defense held the Blackhawks to just 22 shots and Jeremy Swayman was able to stop 20 of them. The Hawks scored first just 83 seconds into the game but Geekie scored to tie the game heading to the second period. Marchand scored twice to increase the lead but Jason Dickinson scored with 97 seconds left to end the period. Geekie scored five minutes into the third period and the defense held up. The Bruins had won both games of the back-to-back including this one 4-2 over the Blackhawks at TD Garden.

                                                            The Captain leads the way

The Blackhawks got the first chance in the first period as Lukas Reichel skated right past Pavel Zacha and Jordan Oesterle, but Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman blocked the shot. The Hawks struck first when Connor Murphy passed to old buddy Nick Foligno. Foligno skated around the net and passed to Alex Vlasic in the slot. Vlasic scored and the Hawks were up 1-0 just 1:23 into the game. The Bruins first shot didn't come until 2:40 into the game when Cole Koepke passed back to Oesterle for a one timer, stopped by Hawks goalie Peter Mrazek. The Bruins got the first power play when Murphy flipped the puck out of the arena for a delay of game penalty 4:50 into the period. Elias Lindholm jammed it on net but Marchand and Zacha couldn't get it in. Charlie McAvoy's slapshot was also stopped by Mrazek. With 7:43 left in the period, Oesterle passed down low to Justin Brazeau. He passed back to Geekie who fired it off Mrazek. Mrazek never saw the puck squirt behind him and Geekie jammed it in to tie the game. Just over a minute later, John Beecher was sent to the box for tripping. On the power play, Vlasic passed down low to Teuvo Teravainen but Swayman stopped the shot attempt. Old friend Ryan Donato was also denied by Swayman to end the power play threat. With 4:18 left in the first, Charlie Coyle walked in alone but was stopped by Mrazek. The Bruins missed a goal by inches with 14 seconds left when Lindholm passed it to Marchand who fired it past Mrazek....off the post. The puck squirted under Mrazek but bounced an inch too far to the right. The Bruins did get a power play out of it because Wyatt Kaiser swept the puck out of the way and crashed into the net for a delay of game penalty. The Bruins went into the break tied at 1-1.

                                                        Geekie fires it home

The Bruins started the second period on the power play and Mrazek came up big for Chicago. Pastrnak fired it on net and Lindholm had a shot at the rebound but Peter stopped him cold. Pastrnak had another shot at it but Mrazek made the save to kill off the penalty. Another old friend Tyler Bertuzzi fired a slapshot but Swayman saved it using his head. With just under three minutes gone in the second period, Mason Lohrei passed low to Pastrnak. Pastrnak saw Marchand open in his usual slot and Brad scored his ninth goal of the season to put the Bruins ahead. Just three minutes later, Oesterle passed the puck to Pastrnak shot the puck off Mrazek and Marchand backhanded the rebound in for his second goal of the game. With 8:37 left in the period, Geekie fired on net and Zacha just missed putting the rebound in. With 4:52 left, Nikita Zadorov was called for holding and the Blackhawks went on the power play. The Bruins killed it off but disaster struck with 1:37 left in the period. Murphy passed it to Ilya Mikheyev who then passed to Jason Dickinson. Dickinson fired on net....goal! The Bruins had to settle for going into the third period up 3-2.

                                                          Bruins still had the lead

The game essentially was on five minutes into the third period. Lohrei blocked a shot by Reichel and Brazeau corralled the puck. He fired it up the ice to Geekie on a breakaway. Geekie moved in, shot and scored to put the Bruins up by two with just under 15 minutes to go. Ninety seconds later Swayman made a huge stop on a Bedard partial breakaway that had Connor so mad that he broke his own stick on the bench. With 11 minutes left in the game, Mikheyev was called for tripping to put the Bruins on the power play. McAvoy's slapshot beat Mrazek clean but it hit off the crossbar. Other than that, the Bruins failed to score. Coyle and Brazeau both were robbed by Mrazek as well. With 5:44 left it looked like Bedard high sticked Marchand and the slow motion replay showed that Brad might have embellished a little but the stick still made contact. The Bruins basically kept the puck away for two minutes to fail on the power play but maintain the two goal lead. The Blackhawks circled the net but made a fatal mistake when they had too many men on the ice with 1:45 left. They couldn't use the man advantage for the rest of the period and the Bruins had won the game 4-2.

                                                                      Bruins win

Reaction:

The Blackhawks are a bad team and the Bruins have definitely taken advantage of their currently soft schedule, but these are the teams you need to beat. The Joe Sacco Bruins have won 5 of their last 7 games since Jim Montgomery shuffled off to St. Louis and 10 points is 10 points no matter who its against. The Bruins are still behind the Florida Panthers but the gap is closing as they're suffering from a small Stanley Cup hangover. Once the Bruins get Hampus Lindholm back, their defense should be bolstered without having to rely on the Jordan Oesterle's of the world, although he did get a big assist tonight. The Bruins are still a couple of forwards away from competing for the Stanley Cup but isn't that always the case? The win improved the Bruins to 14-11-3, good for 31 points and just 3 points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins return to action this Saturday afternoon for a matinee tilt against the Philadelphia Flyers. The game begins at 1:00 PM at TD Garden.

Bruins Rally To Beat Detroit In OT (12/3/24)

The Joe Sacco era is off to a great start as the Boston Bruins rallied to beat the Detroit Red Wings tonight in overtime to improve Joe to 5-2 as Bruins coach. The Red Wings struck first in tonight's game when Lucas Raymond beat Joonas Korpisalo in the first period but the Bruins tied it when Nikita Zadorov's blast from the blue line slipped past Detroit goalie Ville Husso. It looked like Detroit took the lead in the second period when Raymond scored again but the alert Sacco challenged the goal. Sure enough, the goal didn't count and the game remained tied until the third period. Raymond scored his official second goal just a minute into the third period and it looked like Boston was headed to a bitter defeat. Instead, Justin Brazeau scored on the power play to tie up the game. The game plunged into overtime and David Pastrnak set up Pavel Zacha's blast to end the game. The Bruins had won it 3-2 in overtime at the TD Garden.

                                                           Zacha wins it for Boston

Alex DeBrincat got the first scoring chance of the game one minute into the game but Joonas Korpisalo made the save. Simon Edvinsson also fired on net but it was stopped by Joonas. Just over three minutes into the game, Cole Koepke passed to Marc McLaughlin who's shot was saved by Detroit goalie Ville Husso. A minute later, Mark Kastelic nearly tipped one in but Husso made the save. Then disaster struck when Edvinsson threw the puck off Charlie McAvoy's skate right to Lucas Raymond who fired the puck past Korpisalo to give Detroit the lead 7:31 into the period. Less than two minutes later, Brad Marchand back handed a pass to Nikita Zadorov who's one time blast went through Husso to tie the game. With 2 minutes left in the period, Jeff Petry was called for holding to put the Bruins on the power play. The Bruins failed to score and they headed to intermission tied 1-1.

                                                A slapshot goal from a defender named Z

The second period was a stalemate although Kastelic had a rebound go right to him in front of the net, but he failed to score eight minutes into the period. Charlie Coyle got called for tripping with 8:52 left in the period and it looked like Marco Kasper scored a power play goal on a tip in. Bruins coach Joe Sacco challenged that the Red Wings were offsides. The refs looked at the replay and sure enough, the goal was overturned. Things got a little chippy when Zadorov got sent to the box for slashing with 5:51 left and almost as soon as he got out of the box, Ben Chiarot told him "its go time." They both got matching double minors and Zadorov managed to get six penalty minutes in just over two minutes. Korpisalo robbed JT Compher and then Petry also was stopped. We then had four on four action to end the period as Brandon Carlo went off for interference while Compher went off for holding. Pastrnak had a breakaway with 45 seconds left but Hossa stopped the attempt. That was it for the second period with the score remaining tied 1-1.

                                                     "No goal for you!" - Sacco

The Red Wings wasted no time scoring to open the third period. Just 1:19 into the period, Edvinsson passed to Michael Rasmussen who found Raymond open in the slot. Raymond's shot went through Korpisalo to put the Red Wings up 2-1. Worse yet, Charlie McAvoy went off for hooking 6:31 into the period to put the Red Wings on the power play. Dylan Larkin fired on net to draw Korpisalo out of the crease and the rebound went right to Rasmussen. Korpisalo BARELY got the blocker on it to keep the game tied. Momentum shifted as Ben Chiarot took an interference penalty 9:28 into the period. Frederic won the faceoff and passed it back to Lohrei. Lohrei fired on net, off the stick of Brazeau and in to tie the game! With 4:45 left Erik Gustafsson was sent to the box for tripping. The Bruins failed to score on the power play and we headed to overtime.

                                                       Bruins tie it up

Pavel Zacha got the first chance 15 seconds into overtime but Husso made the save. Alex DeBrincat tried to dive for a penalty on Pastrnak but the ref let them play. Pastrnak passed the puck back to Zacha who's slapshot went in to win the game 2:15 into OT. The Red Wings complained but they took their eye off the ball long enough for the Bruins to win.

                                                          Bruins win

Reaction:

Detroit is missing some guys for sure but that was a balsy win by the Bruins. They fell behind twice in the game and rallied back to win it. The challenge by Sacco pretty much saved the game considering that goal would have been the difference in the game. Kudos to Andrew Peeke who played the third period with cotton up his nose after taking a puck to the face in the second period. Pastrnak and Zacha have been called out in the media when the Bruins were getting their teeth kicked in the dying days of Jim Montgomery, I'd say they stepped up big time. Winning five of seven is nothing to sneeze at, considering the lopsided scores leading up to the Montgomery firing. Korpisalo made some BIG stops and finally looked like the goalie that got the superstar contract from Ottawa. The win improved the Bruins to 13-11-3, just three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins have no time to celebrate because the Bruins are back in action tomorrow night in Chicago to face Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks. The game begins at 7:30 PM at the United Center.

Bruins Beat Habs in Centennial Game (12/1/24)

The Boston Bruins played their first game on December 1, 1924 beating the Montreal Maroons. One hundred years later the Boston Bruins repeated history after a very long pregame ceremony to beat the Montreal Canadiens. The much maligned Bruins offense came out swinging scoring three goals in the span of just 70 seconds in the first period. Charlie McAvoy, David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle all found the back of the net against Cayden Primeau halfway through the period. In the second period, McAvoy broke away for a shorthanded goal to make it 4-0 but Cole Caulfield scored to make it 4-1 going into the third. Coyle scored just 21 seconds into the third period although Montreal rallied with goals from Caufield and Emil Heineman to pull within two with just under 14 minutes to go. The Bruins defense held fast under Jeremy Swayman and Cole Koepke provided the empty net goal to end it. The Bruins had beaten Montreal in their Centennial Game 6-3 at TD Garden.

                                                                100 Years of Fun

The Bruins came out with a fire in the first period with Cayden Primeau having to stop a Charlie McAvoy blast less than a minute into the game. Three minutes later Trent Frederic dished to Nikita Zadorov but Primeau made the stop. Swayman then held fast eight minutes into the period when Arber Xhekaj slapshot went right into his pads. The Bruins got lucky nine minutes into the period when Mike Matheson beat Swayman clean on a shot from the point....off the post! Emil Heineman got the rebound but couldn't put it in. Down the other end, Mark Kastelic dished it to Frederic but Primeau stopped him. The puck went to Jordan Oesterle who dished it to McAvoy who scored a wraparound goal to put the Bruins up 1-0.

                                                           That's one

Just fifty-five seconds later David Pastrnak sent it to Pavel Zacha who's blast dropped Primeau. In the confusion, Morgan Geekie ended up with the puck behind the net. He sent it to Pastrnak in the shot who scored his 9th goal of the season to increase the lead.

                                                        That's two

Just fifteen seconds later Kastelic fired it on net and Primeau left a rebound. Coyle backhanded the rebound into the net for yet another goal to complete the trifecta. The Bruins sat on the lead the remainder of the period and went into intermission up 3-0.

                                                           That's three

Things got even worse for the Canadiens in the second period although things looked to go their way when Nikita Zadorov sent the puck out of the arena for a delay of game just 25 seconds into the period. Then McAvoy fell to the ice, sweeping the puck over in the direction of Elias Lindholm and Matheson. Matheson kicked the puck away only for McAvoy to take it and go. McAvoy skated in and scored the breakway goal to put the Bruins up by four.

                                                      Kiss the crest Charlie Mac

Finally the Canadiens did something five minutes later ironically as guest commentator Ray Bourque said "its a game of mistakes". Nick Suzuki passed it to Xhekaj who literally skated all the way in and shot the puck on a wraparound attempt. The puck went off Cole Caufield's skate and in to break up the shutout with Caulfield getting the credit. Then things went old school as Lane Hutson was called for tripping 10:32 into the period. In the ensuing scrum, Kastelic and Xhekaj had a chinwag that would have made Georges Laraque and Zdeno Chara proud. Both Kastelic and Xhekaj took a ten minute game misconduct and matching roughing penalties into the dressing room. The Bruins failed to cash in on the power play although both Geekie and John Beecher had good chances. With 6:36 left in the period, Koepke beat Primeau clean but it went off the post and out. No other shenanigans happened and the Bruins went into the third period up 4-1.

                                                          Old time hockey!

The Bruins wasted no time essentially putting the game away to begin the third period. Koepke intercepted a pass at the blue line and passed to a streaking Coyle, potting another goal past Primeau to put the Bruins back up by four. The Canadiens struck back two minutes later as Hutson passed ahead to Jake Evans. Evans passed to Emil Heineman who's one timer beat Swayman to inch the Canadiens closer. The Bruins had a big chance for another goal when Coyle passed down low to Kastelic but he couldn't bury the one timer with 13:33 to go. Down the other end, Suzuki took the puck, passed to Caufield who scored to put Montreal back in the game. Justin Brazeau had a wide open chance but couldn't score on Primeau. Worse yet, the Bruins took their first real penalty of the game when Marchand got called for slashing with 10:14 left. The Canadiens came THIS close to scoring when Matheson's shot rang off the post and behind Swayman. Brandon Carlo and Swayman pounced on it just in time. The Bruins killed off the penalty and Montreal took one when Hutson was sent to the box for holding with 7:13 left. Marchand dished it to Pastrnak on the power play but Primeau made the save. The Bruins failed to score but the defense stepped up. With 2:30 left Montreal pulled the goalie for the extra attacker. Kastelic got control of the puck and passed it to Beecher. Beecher sent it over the line to Koepke who scored the empty net goal to seal it. Back in net, Primeau had to stop a slapper from Geekie to make sure the final score wasn't even worse. The Bruins had won the game 6-3.

                                Joe Sacco doing his best Detective Daniel Reagan impression

Reaction:

Great win by the Bruins over their century old rivals and it was nice to see Pastrnak score for the first time in eight games. Ironically it was the Boston boys who did the most damage. Ex-Boston University alum McAvoy and Weymouth's own Coyle. The only drawback to the game was allowing that third goal to make the game close. If Swayman wants to put himself in the Vezina hunt, he's got to make those stops. Especially when the Bruins are in tight games with their schizophrenic offense. Still, they got it done today with all the ghosts in the building. Sad how the Bruins have been around for 100 years with only 6 Stanley Cups to show for it. Montreal won 6 in the 1970's alone. Still, Montreal hasn't won since 1993 and 2011 is still fresh on the minds of Bruins fans. As for this year's team, they're perfectly mediocre but today was fun. The win improved the Bruins to 12-11-3, four points behind the Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division and they have a game in hand. The Bruins look for another win against the Detroit Red Wings this Tuesday night at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.