Don't look now but the Boston Bruins have won three games in a row to start the season. Just like in the opener against the Washington Capitals, the Bruins won tonight's game with Jeremy Swayman improving to 2-0 on the season by stopping 21 of 22 shots. Pavel Zacha and Mark Kastelic scored their first goals of the season to put the Bruins up 2-0 on the Buffalo Sabres. Jason Zucker broke up the shutout halfway through the third period but the Bruins defense held steady. The returning Sean Kuraly supplied the empty net goal as the Bruins made it three wins in a row with a 3-1 victory over the Sabres at TD Garden.
The Bruins got the first big chance when David Pastrnak had a partial breakaway but was denied by Buffalo goalie Alex Lyon. Then Viktor Arvidsson was wide open in the slot but fanned on the shot five minutes into the period. The Bruins got the first power play when Connor Timmins was called for hooking with 9:19 left into the period. Unfortunately the Bruins couldn't cash in on it. The Bruins did strike first with 4:12 left in the first period. Andrew Peeke sent the puck around the boards where Jordan Harris saw Pavel Zacha wide open in the slot. Zacha took the one timer and BANG! With 3:38 left, Jiri Kulich was sent to the penalty box for hooking. Unfortunately the Bruins did nothing on the power play but led 1-0 at the end of the first period.
The Bruins wasted no time getting sent to the penalty box in the second period as Morgan Geekie was tagged for hooking 43 seconds into it. The stout Bruins defense killed it off but just 5:38 into the period, Fraser Minten tripped Jack Quinn to put Buffalo on a delayed power play. With the extra attacker, Swayman made a huge glove save on a wide open Ryan McLeod to keep the lead.
That was close!
With 6 seconds left on the power play, Mark Kastelic tipped the puck away for a breakaway. The only reason he didn't score was he was hooked by Owen Power to put the Sabres on the penalty kill. The Bruins failed to score on the power play but less than a minute later, they struck. Charlie McAvoy just threw the puck on net and it deflected off the stick of Kastelic and in for an unlikely goal. With 2:10 remaining in the period, Tage Thompson was whistled for interference to put the Bruins on another powerplay. Unfortunately one minute later, Pastrnak also got called for interference to make it 4 on 4 for the remainder of the period. The period ended with the Bruins up 2-0.
The Sabres had a shortened power play to begin the third period but the Bruins killed it off. The Sabres finally struck nearly halfway through the third period. Mattias Samuelsson tipped the puck over to Jason Zucker. Zucker fired on net and it went off the stick of Samuelsson and in to cut the lead in half. To make matters worse, Charlie McAvoy got busted for tripping just 21 seconds later to put the Sabres on the power play. Once again the Bruins defense killed it off then played keep-away the rest of the game. The Sabres pulled Lyon for the extra attacker but with 10 seconds left in the game, Kastelic tipped the puck away from Tage Thompson over to Elias Lindholm. Lindholm sent it over to Kuraly for his first goal back as a Bruin to ice it. The Bruins had won the game 3-1.
Reaction:
Three games and three wins for new head coach Marco Sturm's squad. Maybe they don't have the talent that they've had just three years ago but when Swayman and the defense play to their potential, they can beat anyone. Having a healthy McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm back (when Hampus comes back) is going to pay dividends since the season flushed down the toilet last year when Mac got hurt in the Four Nations disaster. The Bruins going 4 for 4 on the penalty kill and Swayman stopping 21 of 22 shots was the difference in the game. The key to the game was with 10 minutes left. Buffalo had just scored and McAvoy gets a penalty, they have all the momentum yet couldn't score. The Bruins grinded this one out and its amazing what happens when Nikita Zadorov stays out of the damn box. The Bruins look to make it four wins in a row on Monday night when they face the big bad Tampa Bay Lightning. The game begins at 7:10 at TD Garden.
No comments:
Post a Comment