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[Boston Bruins]

Bruins Trade Deadline Recap: A major sell-off during a busy week

Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

We’ve entered the rebuilding era, folks.

The 2025 NHL Trade Deadline has come and gone, and for the first time in the better part of a decade, the Bruins were sellers — and major sellers at that.

The B’s completed more than a half dozen trades prior to the deadline, acknowledging that the rebuild is on with a mix of stockpiling future assets and bringing in some guys to fill roster spots now.

Catch up on everything that happened below, with the caveat that we’re still waiting on final details for a couple of moves.

Who/what did the Bruins give up at the trade deadline?​

• Players: Trent Frederic, Justin Brazeau, Charlie Coyle, Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, Marc McLaughlin
• Picks: Fifth round pick in 2026, fourth round pick in 2025 (from Edmonton)
• Money: 50% of Frederic’s 2025 salary, 15% of Carlo’s remaining salary (contract through 26-27 season)

Who/what did the Bruins acquire at the trade deadline?​

• Players: D Max Wanner, F Jakub Lauko, F Marat Khustnidinov, F Casey Mittelstadt, F Will Zellers, F Fraser Minten, D Henri Jokiharju, D Daniil Misyu
• Picks: Second round pick in 2025 (St. Louis), second round pick in 2025 (Colorado*), fourth round pick in 2025 (Philadelphia’s, via Toronto), first round pick in 2026 (Toronto, top-five protected), sixth round pick in 2026 (their own, via Minnesota), conditional second round pick in 2027 (from Florida, potential to turn into a first round pick).

*The Avalanche have more than one second round pick in 2025. The B’s will receive whichever of the picks is lower in the draft order.

Get further details on each move below.

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Trent Frederic and Max Jones traded to the Edmonton Oilers​

In exchange, the Bruins received defense prospect Max Wanner, St. Louis’ 2025 second-round pick (which Edmonton owns), and Edmonton’s fourth-rounder in 2026.

The Bruins retained 50% of Frederic’s salary for the rest of this season.

Justin Brazeau traded to the Minnesota Wild​

The B’s sent Brazeau, a pending free agent, to Minnesota in exchange for forward Jakub Lauko (hello again), forward Marat Khustnidinov, and their own sixth-rounder in 2026, which Minnesota had by virtue of last season’s Pat Maroon trade.

Charlie Coyle traded to the Colorado Avalanche​

In the Bruins’ first big deal of deadline day itself, they shipped center Coyle to Colorado in exchange for a mix that included an NHL player, a prospect, and a pick.

The B’s received forward Casey Mittelstadt, forward prospect Will Zellers (currently in the USHL and planning to attend North Dakota), and a second-round pick in the 2025 draft.

The Bruins sent Colorado a fifth-rounder in 2026 to complete the deal.

Brad Marchand traded to the Florida Panthers​

In the most shocking trade of the day, the B’s sent their captain to the defending Stanley Cup Champion Panthers, a team that has eliminated them from the playoffs two season in row.

Marchand, a pending UFA, netted a somewhat underwhelming return: a conditional second-round pick in the 2027 draft that could become a first round pick in 2027 or 2028.

However, the conditions attached to the deal make it seem like Marchand’s injury may keep him out until the playoffs begin.

Brandon Carlo traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs​

The B’s weren’t quite done making trades with divisional rivals, as they sent Carlo to the Maple Leafs for a prospect and a pick.

That prospect, Fraser Minten, has some NHL experience this year, while the B’s also received a 2026 first-round pick from the Leafs (top-five protected) and a 2025 fourth round pick, which belongs to Philadelphia.

Marc McLaughlin traded to the New Jersey Devils​

The Massachusetts native was shipped to Jersey in exchange for Daniil Misyul, a 24-year-old defenseman.

Misyul is 6’3”, 176 pounds and has spent most of this season at the AHL level.

Bruins acquire Henri Jokiharju from the Buffalo Sabres​

The B’s sent the fourth round Edmonton pick they acquired in the Frederic trade to Buffalo in exchange for Jokiharju.

Jokiharju, 25, will be a free agent after this season.

Moves for the Providence Bruins at the deadline​

As a reminder, players who are on an NHL roster after the trade deadline are ineligible for the AHL playoffs.

With that in mind, the B’s made a number of paper transactions today, per Mark Divver:

Khusnutdinov, Lettieri, Brown, Mitchell, Tufte, Poitras on Providence roster this afternoon. Makes them eligible for AHL playoffs

— Mark Divver (@MarkDivver) March 7, 2025​

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I think that’s it, but give the chaotic nature of the day, I could be wrong. Feel free to correct me in the comments.

Anyways, have your say in the poll below!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...-who-did-the-bruins-get-at-the-trade-deadline

 

[Boston Bruins]

Public Skate: Bruins vs. Lightning

Photo by Fred Kfoury III/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Another phase of the season begins.

Believe or not, there’s actually a Bruins hockey game to be played today!

The Bruins, or what’s left of them after the trade deadline, will carry on today, facing a Tampa Bay Lightning team that added some firepower at the trade deadline.

This game should be pretty weird, what with the trade deadline chaos and the 3 PM start and all that good stuff.

Shell of the Bruins! Lightning!

LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!

Discuss.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/3/8/24380459/public-skate-bruins-vs-lightning

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins @ Lightning RECAP: Boston plays comedy game of the year, wins 4-0

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images

The Bruins decided to give their fans a break by playing an enormously entertaining and hilarious little game that ended in a shutout win!

After all that emotional turmoil from the Trade Deadline, this was just what the doctor ordered.

1st Period​

Not a whole lot of scoring, but Mark Kastelic had himself a little donnybrook with Emil Lilleberg, real heavyweight contest between the 6’3+ players.

After that? Onto the scoring!

2nd Period​

To open the scoring, Cole Koepke was able to pick Nick Perbix’s pocket and bring the puck to the net. Just about everybody on the Lightning loses Vinni Lettieri as he charges the net, and so OIiver Bjorkstrand basically passes the puck to Lettieri, who gets in a little scrum with Bjorkstrand and the confusion leads to a goal!

Koepke gets credit for this, but it could’ve been him or Bjorkstrand or even Vasilevskiy’s movement that caused it to go in. Strange sequence with a fantastic result!

Scoring concludes for the 2nd, and we head to the 3rd period!

3rd Period​

For your 200th NHL game, you probably want to make it an interesting one. Now you’re a certified vet. You need to establish that you got to these games by being one of the very best in the world and for a good long time. You need to make it clear that you deserve a certain amount of respect when you’re on the ice. So what are your options? Well, you could fight, but he’s already done that and you kind of expect that for a vet, vets have been in fights before. You could score, that’s always fun! But that’s both A) hard, and B) also expected of you. The only way you can make the scoring interesting in your 200th game is if you do a lot of it...or if you do it from distance.

Yeah, that’ll work. Mark Kastelic from downtown makes it 2-0 Bruins!

As the period wound down and Tampa got desperate, they pulled their goalie within the last five minutes, but as their shambolic performance in puck security showed, that was not an ideal situation for them to be in, and it gave Nikita Zadorov the runway he needed to add to the lead with an empty netter! 3-0 Bruins!

And that should wrap things up, just gotta kill some clock here, and oh! you know what we almost forgot? David Pastrnak nor newcomer Casey Mittelstadt have a point yet. How’s about you two go ahead and spring Cole Koepke for another tally, sound good?

Awesome work, and efficient too! Thanks boys, good luck on Tuesday.

Bruins win in a 4-0 shutout!

Game Notes​

• Your TOI Leader was Mason Lohrei, who logged 23:54!
• The Bruins were moving out there with a lot more verve and speed than we’ve seen in a good long time. Part of that I’d imagine is that a number of players here are now freed from the expectation of making the playoffs, and so can play a little more loosely and just focus on the game in front of them. The other is the new faces, some of whom would very much like to impress upon the league that they belong.
• This game was hilarious. Almost every scoring play felt like a comedy of errors for Tampa. Boston scored exclusively in ways to get you to go “wait, what!?”. Frankly, after all the nonsense this squad has seen over the last four months, it was much needed. Thank you for the belly laugh, B’s.
• Zadorov-Jokiharju actually came out of this game with the highest impact of any pairing. I know the returns are very early on this, but that’s something worth considering for the future. Let’s keep an eye on these two.
• Casey Mittelstadt sure can skate, can’t he? It’s a welcome change of pace these days for a top 6 forward who isn’t Pasta to actually be able to skate with anything resembling speed this season. He finished his night with an assist; good on him for getting his first Bruins point out of the way so he can really start to work!
• Mark Kastelic joins a very select group of NHL players who have scored from the neutral zone with the goalie in net. Guys like Nik Lidstrom, Fedor Tyutin, Ryan O’Reilly, Matt Niskanen, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Dustin Byfuglien, Barrett Jackman, Derek Morris, and John Klingberg have all that that unique honor, and now we get to add Kastelic to the “Hey, you never know” club. Happy 200th game indeed!
• Lauko and Khusnutdinov were definitely Okay! Both are definitely depth guys and that’s fine.
• Pastrnak’s on another point streak! This time on a real nifty assist on Koepke’s second tally.
• Swayman with the shutout! I feel like it should go without saying that he’s desperately needed a game like this over the last few games, and it’s nice to see him pull one together.

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The Bruins will stay on the road, as they go up against the Florida Panthers...and presumably former captain Brad Marchand up on Level Nine, on Tuesday night. That game is at 7pm EST.

We’ll see you there!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...boston-plays-comedy-game-of-the-year-wins-4-0

 

[Boston Bruins]

Friedman sheds light on reasons for Marchand’s Bruins departure

Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images

Allegedly.

While the Bruins dealing Brad Marchand on Friday came as a surprise, it wasn't necessarily a complete shock.

After all, we’d heard for a while that the Bruins and Marchand hadn't been able to reach an agreement on a new contract, and when a player is a pending UFA and hasn’t signed a new deal, a trade is always possible.

That gap in contract talks appears to be what led the Bruins to make their move at the deadline, at least according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet (Canada) — who was also the first to announce that the trade was happening on Friday.

Last night, Friedman spoke on Sportsnet’s Saturday Headlines:

On Saturday Headlines, @FriedgeHNIC provides an update on what went wrong with the Brad Marchand situation in Boston pic.twitter.com/drzasKuBrG

— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) March 9, 2025​

In case you can’t watch the video, here are the key quotes:

“I think the Bruins and the player had agreed on term — three years. But as Don Sweeney said yesterday, there was a gap, and there was a gap on AAV. I don’t think he was being asked to take a pay cut or anything like that, but I do think there was a sizable gap they obviously could not bridge.”

Friedman continued:

“Where I think things really went sideways was there was a point this week where Brad Marchand...asked for a face-to-face meeting with Bruins management. I don’t know exactly when it was, I don’t know exactly who was there, but it did happen, and in that meeting Brad Marchand asked for a compromise. He said ‘I will compromise, I will bend on some of my ask, I’m asking the Bruins to bend on some of their stance, and we’ll find a way to get this deal done,’ because he wanted to stay as a Bruin.”

And the last bit:

“It just didn’t happen. The Bruins had gone as far as far as they were willing to go...I think [Marchand] was really stunned by that...I think it really hurt Marchand that the face-to-face meeting couldn’t get a deal done.”

Friedman added that prior to the deadline when it became clearer that a deal wasn't going to get done, Marchand’s agent “made it clear” that Marchand had a destination in mind — that being Florida.

Friedman added that the Bruins “acquiesced” to that demand, which might explain why the deal came down to the wire: the Bruins may not have wanted to send Marchand to Florida, be decided at the last minute to agree to that condition to facilitate some kind of deal.

In the aftermath of Friedman’s comments, it’s no surprise that some segments of the Bruins fanbase are up in arms (again), saying the Bruins cheaped out on a franchise legend who wanted to stay — which, if Friedman’s sources are accurate, is mostly true.

However, and not to try to carry water for management, a tear-down like the one the Bruins need requires some level of ruthlessness, right?

If you’re selling off pieces and trying to start from some level of scratch, you can’t leave much room for nostalgia.

Still, it seems like the right decision would have been to accept Marchand’s compromise, bring him back, and move forward; even if he’s not the player he used to be, he still brings a lot of value and experience to the table.

Regardless, Friedman’s comments have turned up the heat on Sweeney & Co.

We’re not likely to get any kind of rebuttal from their camp but Marchand himself has yet to speak, so we might get a little more insight in the days to come.

Your thoughts on Friedman’s comments? Salt in the wound, or about what you expected when you learned of the trade?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...dman-hockey-night-in-canada-bruins-trade-news

 

[Boston Bruins]

Preview: New look Bruins begin their next chapter in Tampa

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images

This should be a weird afternoon.

Just the facts​

When: Today, 3 PM

Where: Amalie Arena - Tampa, FL

How to follow: ABC, ESPN+, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing perspective: Raw Charge

Know your enemy​

• 37-21-4, 78PTS, 3rd in the Atlantic Division
• Nikita Kucherov: 28G-64A-92PTS; Brandon Hagel: 30G-40A-70PTS; Brayden Point: 32G-33A-65PTS
• Andrei Vasilevskiy: 30-16-3, 2.24 GAA, .922 save percentage

Game notes​

• Believe it or not, the Bruins still have hockey to play this season! 18 games of hockey, in fact. Game 1 of 18 of this weird “new era” begins today, with a visit to Amalie Arena.
• The Lightning are currently third in the division, but remain firmly in shouting distance of the top spot. They’re just three points behind and have a game in hand on the Panthers; the second place Leafs are just a point ahead.
• Tampa stocked up at the trade deadline, acquiring Yanni Gourde and Oliver Bjorkstrand from Seattle. Bjorkstrand scored the game-winning goal in his Tampa debut last time out against Buffalo.
• Per Don Sweeney’s media availability on Friday night, Marat Khusnutdinov and Jakub Lauko are already in Tampa with the B’s. Casey Mittelstadt was said to be heading to Tampa on Friday evening, so there’s a decent chance all three play this afternoon.
• Fraser Minten won’t play in this game, as he was (coincidentally) in Providence with the Marlies when he was traded to the Bruins. He has immigration paperwork to sort out before he can play for the B’s, so he’s probably a question mark for Tuesday’s game against Florida.
• You have to think ABC didn’t think it was getting the hollowed-out Bruins vs. the Lightning when it selected this game for national TV back in the offseason, but that’s the way things go, I guess.
• This is the third meeting of the season between these two teams, with the other two coming within a week of each other in January. The teams split those two, with the Bruins losing 4-1 in Tampa then winning 6-2 at home.

A new era begins! If nothing else, it’ll be nice to see what some of the new guys bring.

The rest of this season is essentially a big tryout for some fresh faces, then we’ll see where things go in the offseason.

It’s a bit of a weird place to be in as a (relatively spoiled) Bruins fan, but...there are always ups and downs, right?

See ya this afternoon!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...look-bruins-begin-their-next-chapter-in-tampa

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins trade Marc McLaughlin to Devils for Defender Daniil Misyul

Photo by Andrew Mordzynski/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

From Belarus to Boston (with a stop in Newark)

The Bruins are not done yet!

The Bruins announced that they have traded Forward Marc McLaughlin to New Jersey in order to bring in defender Daniil Misyul:

The #NHLBruins have acquired defenseman Daniil Misyul from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for forward Marc McLaughlin.

: https://t.co/dorIfFWf3F pic.twitter.com/rF5fFEhVXl

— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) March 7, 2025​

A 6’3 defender from Minsk and the KHL’s Lokomotiv system, Misyul is a recent bring-over from the KHL to the AHL for New Jersey, but has otherwise been a perfectly cromulent depth guy for the Devils’ AHL squad in Utica. He currently has 8 points in 47 games played.

The Providence Bruins will be happy to have him, but one could imagine that he may see a game or two down the stretch as the Bruins attempt to navigate their post-everybody future.

Let’s all welcome Daniil to the Boston Bruins!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...iil-misyul-nhl-hockey-ahl-utica-devils-boston

 

[Boston Bruins]

Preview: Bruins set to face Atlantic-best Panthers

Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images

Marchand makes the trip back to Boston to say goodbye.

Just the facts​

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing perspective: Litter Box Cats

Know your enemy​

• 40-21-3, 83PTS, 1st in Atlantic Division
• Sam Reinhart: 32G-36A-68PTS; Aleksander Barkov: 17G-43A-60PTS; Matthew Tkachuk: 22G-35A-57PTS
• Sergei Bobrovsky: 27-13-2, 2.49 GAA, .907 save percentage; Vitek Vanecek: 4-10-3, 3.66 GAA, .886 save percentage

Game notes​

• The Boston Bruins are back for their second game since the trade deadline with a game that was circled right as the clock hit 3 p.m. last Friday — the Florida Panthers, but it would be more climactic if Brad Marchand was suiting up.
• It’s a good thing Marchand got used to the visitor’s locker room during the 4 Nations Face-Off, because when he returns tonight, that’s where he’ll be heading. He spoke to Florida media for the first time yesterday as a Panther and had this to say about heading back to Boston post-trade: “It’s bittersweet. It’ll be great to go home, and the guys were all on the road when I got traded, so I didn’t see a lot of the guys before I left. It’ll be nice to be able to see guys and kind of say goodbye. Great to see the family again and get a bunch of my stuff. It’s great to go home, it’ll be very weird to be there as an opposing team. I guess it’s nice, but it’ll be sad a bit, too.”
• “The Tampa game was a great step one,” David Pastrnak said after yesterday’s practice. The Bruins defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-0, on Saturday as Cole Koepke scored twice and Mark Kastelic and Nikita Zadorov added the others. But it will be another big, and challenging, week for the Bruins with not only the Panthers, but Ottawa Senators who have held onto the last wild card spot, and then another match against the Lightning.
• The Bruins are three points out of a playoff position, but have played two to three games more than several teams in contention.
• This is the Bruins’ fourth and final meeting of the regular season with the Panthers. They are 1-2-0 against them, with a 4-3 OT win in the two’s last game on Jan. 11. The Panthers come to Boston on a six-game winning streak.
• Barkov and Pastrnak both have six points in their last five games with their teams. Pastrnak’s six points is one goal and five assists. Barkov and Morgan Geekie both have three goals in that time.
• Yesterday, Ekblad was suspended for 20 games without pay for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, per the NHL.
• See ya tonight!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...-atlantic-best-florida-panthers-brad-marchand

 

[Boston Bruins]

Public Skate: Bruins vs. Panthers

Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

One more against Florida.

It’s Tuesday and the Boston Bruins are set to take on the Florida Panthers and welcome back Brad Marchand after only a handful of days not in a Spoked-B.

It’s a new roster for the Bruins looking to build upon their shutout win on Saturday. Let’s see where this thing takes us.

Discuss!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...ins-vs-florida-panthers-gamethread-discussion

 

[Boston Bruins]

Recap: Bruins battle back in 3-2 win over Panthers

Photo by China Wong/NHLI via Getty Images

The Bruins still have some fight left in them!

The Boston Bruins scored three goals in the third period to bounce back from a two-goal deficit and beat the Florida Panthers, 3-2, at the TD Garden on Tuesday night.

The Panthers took the lead early in the first period with a one-timer from Dmitry Kulikov, but that would be it from them until almost five minutes into the third period when Mackie Samoskevich extended the Panthers’ lead.

While the Bruins fell behind, they were competitive with the Panthers, slowing building their game as it progressed.

With 15 minutes remaining in the regulation, the Bruins broke through. David Pastrnak drew a penalty as he was tripped in the paint.

Pastrnak would score on that man-advantage, helping the Bruins begin to chip into the Panthers’ offensive pressure and shift the energy in the building.

“You’re just hoping that you can get one in the third period,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said. “(The power play) It scores a big goal for us in the third and we break their pressure and now we’re back into the game.”

The tally was the first of three as the Bruins rallied to turn the game around. Mason Lohrei netted the equalizer while Pastrnak backhanded a feed to Pavel Zacha out front for the go-ahead late in the final minutes of the game.

Jeremy Swayman earned his second straight win with 26 saves.

“We believe in here and we’re going to show up every day and go to work and just try to get two points every night,” Lohrei said.

“This is far from over for us,” Zacha said.

Here are the highlights!

First period:

Sam Bennett won a face-off back to Dmitry Kulikov who blasted a one-timer from the point past Jeremy Swayman’s glove at 4:27 of the firs t period. 1-0 Panthers.

Second period:

No goals

Third period:

With four seconds left on their 5-on-3power play, Seth Jones set up Mackie Samoskevich inside the left-wing circle where he fired a one-timer past Swayman’s blocker at 4:49 of the third period. 2-0 Panthers.

Casey Mittelstadt fed a pass to David Pastrnak goes top-shelf from the top of the paint on the power play at 8:56 of the third period. 2-1 game.

Mason Lohrei controlled the puck in the slot and fired a wrist shot past Sergei Bobrovsky at 13:51 of the third period. 2-2 game.

David Pastrnak backhanded a feed to Pavel Zacha out front where he put a shot through Bobrovsky’s five-hole to give the Bruins the lead at 16:43 of the third period. Final score: 3-2 Bruins.

Game notes​

• While there’s no crystal ball on what the remainder of the season holds, what’s encouraging if there’s still fight in this team. Postgame Nikita Zadorov talked about how there’s no quit right now. Pavel Zacha said “we need to keep winning...this is far from over for us,” and Mason Lohrei highlighted that they know the position they are in and are going to keep fighting.
• “We know where we’re at with the standing and we understand what just transpired with our group,” Sacco said postgame. “But we have new players here. It’s an opportunity for these guys, and however they want, whatever motivates them.”
• One of those guys making the most of the trade is Casey Mittelstadt. Tonight he had an assist. He’s registered two assists so far in his two games with the Bruins. After the game, he talked about playing with Pastrnak on the power play. “He makes the game pretty easy for the guys out there with him,” Mittelstadt said.
• Sacco postgame on Casey Mittelstadt and setting up the power-play goal: “He has good hands. He has good vision. He sees the ice well.”
• Zadorov dropped the gloves on Sam Bennett in the final seconds of the game, as the Bruins were fending off some quality chances from the Panthers looking to tie the game. Emotions were running high and Zadorov was one of the guys who helped give the team sone energy from his physicality.
• He was asked if it had anything to do with the two team’s history. “There’s always a game inside the game, so you try to win those,” Zadorov said. “Where we are in the standings, that’s not where we want to be. Hopefully we’re going to be higher up and we can match up against those guys in the playoffs. There’s definitely history in these two teams. I wasn’t being part of it...I’m just playing hard. I’m in front of the net and the guy cross checks me in the face... That was just a hockey moment over there.”
• Zadorov said since Friday, he’s felt everyone’s been showing up ready to work and playing for the Bruins’ crest and tonight was no different. “We’re going to keep pushing until the end,” Zadorov said. “We’re just trying to build the momentum we haven’t had all year, so I think. You get a couple of wins, you start feeling great, you feel confident inside the group. I think that’s a good thing, something brewing for sure.”
• The Bruins will hit the road for a game against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday at 7 p.m.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...-battle-back-in-3-2-win-over-florida-panthers

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins @ Sens PREVIEW: New outlooks in Kanata

Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

Against all odds, the Bruins are now kind of competing for a playoff spot. Let's see how they handle the current holder of the first wildcard spot!

Just the Facts​

• The Time: 7pm EST
• The Place: Canadian Tire Center, Kanata, Ottawa
• Place to Watch: NESN, TSN-5, RDS
• Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
• An Opposing Viewpoint: Silver Seven Sens

Know Your Enemy​

• The Sens are 34-25-5, which is good for 73 points in the standings and for the first wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference.
• Their leading goalscorer is Brady Tkachuk, who has 27 goals in 62 games played.
• Tim Stützle leads the Sens in points with 66 in 64 games.
• Linus Ullmark, oh how many of the Boston faithful miss you. He's got a .913 SV% in 32 starts.

Game Preview​

Isn't it funny how all this works?

The Bruins had to make some extremely painful but necessary moves to both supply themselves with capital for the draft and free agency, but also say goodbye to a number of players...and it seems like the response from the team has been overwhelmingly positive; currently on a two game win streak against two very good squads, and are now right back in the thick of it in the Wild Card chase.

Still on the outside looking in of course, but making a push for it in spite of their decision to sell!

Which brings us to the opponent: the Ottawa Senators.

The Sens need little introduction; they've been in and out of the 3rd spot in the Atlantic all year, and are currently sitting pretty on a 4 game win streak. Those 4 games are ones you should probably win anyway, but still; all the momentum is seemingly on their side. Jake Sanderson is seemingly taking direct control of the points distribution in Ottawa, and Brady Tkachuk appears to be just as much punk-ass as he is goalscorer. This should be a difficult test for Boston.

Just like Tampa should've.

Just like Florida should've.

Boston seems really up to the challenge recently, so who knows how much momentum the Sens really have in comparison to what these new look Bruins have?

If there's anything I'd like to see out of this game, I'd sure like to see Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov to get their first goals in a Bruins uniform, as they've played wonderfully over the past couple of games, and I'd like to see that rewarded. Other than that? Let's see the Bruins scare the hell out of Ottawa by just being a much different, much more engaged squad than they've seen so far this year.

Ought to be a good one either way, so we'll see you there!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/3/13/24384780/bruins-sens-preview-new-outlooks-in-kanata

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins @ Sens GAMETHREAD

Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images

It’s Bruins, it’s Sens, it’s the gamethread!

I gotta hand it to the Bruins, there was a moment where I felt like we’d have to really embrace pain in order to get through the last 18 games of the year, but they pulled together with who they have and they believe in whatever this version of them is.

I mean shit, they barely have a top pairing and it’s still kind of working. That’s pretty impressive.

Anyway, what’s on tap? I’ve got a leftover winter lager that’s been sitting in the back of my fridge for a distressing amount of time, so I’m eager to see what insights that can show me!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com/2025/3/13/24385275/bruins-sens-gamethread

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins @ Sens RECAP: B’s crash back to earth in 6-3 loss

Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images

The Bruins didn’t have a great night in goal as their winning streak grinds to a halt in a drubbing from Ottawa.

Well.

I got the Khusnutdinov and Mittelstadt goals I wanted.

I should probably be a little more specific about how players get their first Bruins goal if this is the effort they’re gonna face.

First Period from hell​

sigh

Alright. Let’s get through this.

Things did not start well for the Boston Bruins; the Ottawa Senators came out of the gate as though fired out of a cannon, and it was clear the Bruins were gonna need a few saves to get them out of this alive.

They didn’t get them.

Yeah. Bruins down 2-0 after 10 minutes.

Mercifully, one of the Bruins decided that they should actually respond to this, and Casey Mittelstadt was that Bruin; taking a slick feed out in front of Linus Ullmark to cut into Ottawa’s lead. 2-1 Sens.

Unfortunately, the agony of this period would not be abated, as the Sens continued to pile on after a power play that looked more like the Sens were playing with their food...

...and Ridley Grieg getting a rebound effectively unattended by anyone aside from Henri Jokiharju.

The Period ends with Boston in a 4-1 hole, and Jeremy Swayman pulled for Joonas Korpisalo.

Second Period​

Boston was still very outshot this period, but they started to claw themselves back into this game, starting with the pre-requisite David Pastrnak goal, which came off of a tip from Johnny Beecher putting a rocket on Ullmark. 4-2 Sens.

...But would ultimately be stifled by Drake Batherson, who managed to get to a loose puck before anyone else did in front of Korpisalo, and potted it home to put Ottawa up 5-2.

Undeterred, The Bruins would continue pressing the attack, and Elias Lindholm was able to get a great pass off to newcomer Marat Khusnutdinov, who hit the afterburners to put one past Ullmark! 5-3 Sens.

The period came to a close, and 20 minutes separated Boston and Ottawa from the end of regulation.

Third Period​

The Boston Bruins tried their best, but ultimately failed to tie the game, and surrendered the final goal of the game in the form of an empty-netter. 6-3 Sens.

Guess the honeymoon period’s over. Bruins lose 6-3.

Game Notes​

• Your TOI Leader was Mason Lohrei, who finished his night with 24:41 logged.
• Look. A lot of this game is going to fall at the feet of Jeremy Swayman and I won’t deny that a miserable first period from him had a lot to do with how the rest of this game played out. But he can only do so much. He didn’t rise to the challenge and they are going to need him to do that long-term if he’s gonna stick around, but he was not the only reason the Bruins got lapped. Before we talk about Swayman, we must first talk about the effort put forth by the players in front of him. To put it bluntly, the Bruins got absolutely murdered at even-strength by Ottawa. They were just not ready for the Sens’ hellacious forecheck; frequently flubbing passes, spending a good amount of time in front of their goaltender completely flummoxed by what the Sens were doing, and looking every bit as slow and out of sorts without Pastrnak on the ice as we all kind of feared they would be post-deadline. Ottawa recognizes the moment; they’re still clinging like ticks to a wildcard spot that six other teams are trying to take and Boston’s a direct division rival, and they played it accordingly. Boston sure said they recognized what was gonna happen, but if both sides showed up with that mentality...I think we got a harsh wakeup call in just how far apart Ottawa and Boston are in terms of talent right now.
• Now...let’s talk about the goaltending. Joonas Korpisalo finished the game in Jeremy Swayman’s stead after a miserable 1st, where he let in 4 goals on 15 shots, finished the night with a .773 SV%, and at least two of the goals he let up were entirely saveable chances he just whiffed on. Every goaltender is entitled to a bad game here and there, but it’s a bad trend in Swayman’s game this year that his third start in a row seems to end in disaster with regularity. He needs to be better, simple as that. That was an unacceptable performance for a player who is already under the microscope thanks to his contract and the circumstances of which he got it. I know that historically the players that have gone through his agents’ special brand of negotiation tend to rebound, so I’m willing to be patient with him...but I’m an outlier when it comes to Boston sports fandom; patience is not a virtue here and performances like these are going to define him for a lot of Boston’s most pessimistic fans, even if he manages to get his act together.
• That said, Joonas Korpisalo’s work was absolutely vital to this not being some hilariously lopsided asskicking that would’ve had me just blow through the recap. This was not an easy game for either goalie, and it is to his credit that he was able to mostly keep the Sens at bay in a .933 SV% performance. I can understand how fans are annoyed with Swayman, but I’m just gonna be real; if he was behind the effort at the start? I dunno how well he’d have faired either. Maybe Boston loses by one goal instead of two? That’d definitely be nicer than what we got, but...
• In the preview, I said I wanted a goal for Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov. I got exactly that, and it was done exactly the way i’d have hoped they would get one; Mittelstadt from a play developing quickly in front of Ullmark by catching the defense with their pants down, and Khusnutdinov using his incredible skating speed. That’s the kind of thing that has been sorely missing away from Pasta on this team, and man is it refreshing to see both of these guys finally get rewarded for it. I probably should’ve prefaced that I wanted them to score in a Bruins win, but that’s hindsight for you.
• Oh yeah, Pasta scored again. We could probably just copypaste this bit from every recap for the next few dozen games and it’d probably be true. He’s just beyond comparison right now, and the only immediate Bruin to compare him to will get people mad at me for saying it.
• The Power Play still sucks. Water is wet.
• If all results held and there was no draft lottery, Boston would be picking 9th overall. EliteProspects.com’s top 32 has Forward Lynden Lakovic at 9th overall. Here’s some highlights of him.

---

The B’s return home on Saturday to face the Tampa Bay Lightning again, and that game will be at 7pm EST.

We’ll see you there.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...wa-senators-nhl-hockey-3-13-25-jeremy-swayman

 

[Boston Bruins]

Preview: Bruins look to bounce back against Lightning trying to do the same

Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images

The Bruins hit a snag and will try to get back on track.

Just the facts​

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing perspective: Raw Charge

Know your enemy​

• 39-23-3, 79PTS, 3rd in Atlantic Division
• Nikita Kucherov: 28G-64A-92PTS; Brandon Hagel: 30G-42A-72PTS; Brayden Point: 32G-33A-65PTS
• Andrei Vasilevskiy: 30-18-3, 2.29 GAA, .920 save percentage; Jonas Johansson: 7-5-2, 3.12 GAA, .896 save percentage

Game notes​

• The Boston Bruins will look to bounce back after a rough go-at-it in net as they face the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight for the second time in a week.
• The Bruins last saw the Lightning right after the trade deadline and shut them out 4-0 to kick off a two-game winning streak against the Florida teams. But the Bruins hit a snag on Thursday losing two important points on the line against the Ottawa Senators ahead of them in the wild card race.
• The positives in the game though came from Casey Mittelstadt and Marat Khusnutdinov scoring and David Pastrnak continuing to show why he’s one of the best in the league.
• This is the last time the Bruins and Lightning will meet this season. The Bruins are 2-1-0 against them as the Bruins won the last two games against them. IN the games, the Bruins have outscored them 11-6.
• Tampa Bay has lost their two games since seeing the Bruins on March 8, to be 0-2-1 since that game — so they shall also be looking to turn things around.
• Despite two good games since the trade deadline, Jeremy Swayman was off in the last resulting in him being pulled. Since the Bruins were off yesterday, there’s no indication yet who will start in net.
• Head-to-head, the Lightning have one of the better power plays (26.1%) and penalty kills (81.8%) in the league. The Bruins’ power play is still near the bottom at 15.1%.
• For Tampa Bay, Guentzel has six points on five goals and one assist in his last five games.
• For the Bruins, Pastrnak is on a six-game point streak with two goals and five assists. Mittelstadt is on a three-game point streak since becoming a Bruin with one goal and two assists.
• The Bruins are still two points out of a wild card spot, but have played more games then those in the race with them.
• See ya tonight!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...nst-tampa-bay-lightning-trying-to-do-the-same

 

[Boston Bruins]

Recap: Bruins ‘embarrassing’ second period seals fate in 6-2 loss to Lightning

Photo by Brian Fluharty/Getty Images

The Bruins failed to register even one shot on net in the second and only 4 SOG total in 40 minutes.

The Boston Bruins failed to put up a concerted effort as the team’s struggles piled up in the second period leading to a 6-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the TD Garden on Saturday night.

They are now on a two-game losing streak in their second poor showing since the trade deadline. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves in the loss.

The Bruins escaped the first period tied after falling behind early off a Victor Hedman rebound. They recovered in the final five minutes of the period to tie the game with a tally from Elias Lindholm.

But a nightmarish second period ultimately cost the Bruins who didn’t get a shot on net in the middle frame while the Lightning pushed and scored three times on 21 shots.

“Not even having a shot on goal the whole period, you can’t play like that,” Pavel Zacha said. “It’s embarrassing.”

“They (Tampa Bay) came out pretty determined in that second period and we weren’t able to execute under pressure that period,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said postgame.

Early-period goals hindered the Bruins ability to get anything going in the first, Then, another early-period goal, this time in the second, allowed the Lightning to flip its offensive switch led by Nick Paul’s goal just over two minutes into the second period.

Tallies from Anthony Cirelli and Darren Raddysh followed, making the score 4-1 heading into the third period.

“Coming out of defensive zone coverage, we turned the puck over too much,” Sacco said. “We didn’t have proper support for each other.”

“They were all over us and we didn’t have any room,” Lindholm said about the Lightning’s offense. “We looked very slow out there.”

Marat Khusnutdinov cut into the Bruins’ deficit 23 seconds into the final frame, but that would be the extent of the team’s offense. The Bruins closed out the third period with only four shots on net.

Two empty-net goals cushioned the Lightning’s lead before the final buzzer sounded.

Here are the game’s highlights:

First period:

Victor Hedman found the rebound from Darren Raddysh’s shot from the point as the loose puck came out to him low by the right-wing circle to beat Jeremy Swayman blocker side at 2:22 of the first period. 1-0 Lightning.

After cutting in the offensive zone to the right side, Andrew Peeke found Elias Lindholm in slot for a one-timer past Andrei Vasilevskiy’s blocker at 15:58 of the first period. 1-1 tie game.

Second period:

Nick Paul picked up Emil Lilleberg’s rebound for the go-ahead with a wrist shot past Swayman’s stick at 2:130 of the second period. 2-1 Lightning. Another early-period goal given by the Bruins.

Anthony Cirelli tipped in Ryan McDonagh’s shot from the blue line past Swayman at 7:22 of the second period. 3-1 Lightning.

With traffic out front, Swayman didn’t even see Raddysh’s long shot from the blue line at 17:08 of the second period. 4-1 Lightning.

Third period:

Marat Khusnutdinov threw a wrist shot on net from the blue line which trickled low past Vasilevskiy, off the post and into the net 23 seconds into the third period. 4-2 game.

Brandon Hagel scored the Lightning’s first empty-net goal at 16:31 of the third period. 5-2 Lightning.

Cirelli added another empty-netter for his second goal of the night at 19:15 of the third period. Final score: 6-2 Lightning.

Game notes​

• The word “embarrassing” echoed throughout the Bruins locker room postgame. Lindholm, Zacha and Andrew Peeke all were frustrated with what had transpired and how the second period went down.
• Lindholm said he felt the team started pushing back in the last few minutes of the first period and “not really sure what happened” in the second, saying the effort level was unacceptable and one of the worst this year. “It’s embarrassing,” Lindholm said. “The compete level was no where to be found. It was overall unacceptable and it’s frustrating, for sure.”
• Lindholm added over the last two games, the Bruins haven’t won as many 50/50 pucks and aren’t hunting for the puck with the energy they did in the first two games after the trade deadline. “We’ve got to figure this out,” he said.
• Zacha said tonight’s start was the exact opposite from when they played Ottawa. He thought his team played good in the first, but then the breakdowns began to unravel things in the second. “You can’t play only one good period a game to win,” Zacha said.
• Defensive breakdowns and the Bruins just getting stuck in their zone in the second period was the writing on the wall in this game. Sacco said the guys couldn’t get out of their zone clean and the long change from the bench in the second didn’t help them with the pressure sustained from the Lightning.
• The Bruins didn’t have any shots on net during the second period. In the third, they only registered four shots on net. Overall, four SOG in 40 minutes.
• “It wasn’t a good game for us,” Sacco said. “Monday is an opportunity for us to be better.”
• The Bruins will face the Buffalo Sabres on Monday at 7 p.m. at the TD Garden.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...seals-fate-in-6-2-loss-to-tampa-bay-lightning

 

[Boston Bruins]

Public Skate: Bruins vs. Lightning

Photo by Mark LoMoglio/NHLI via Getty Images

Another big game.

The Boston Bruins will look to get some momentum back as they face a Tampa Bay Lightning team aiming to do the same as the two face off in their final meeting of the season tonight.

Will we see more of what we got last weekend when the two met? The Bruins sure hope so as valuable points are on the line as they continue to try to prove themselves in this last stretch.

Jeremy Swayman gets the nod in net.

Discuss!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...-vs-tampa-bay-lightning-gamethread-discussion

 

[Boston Bruins]

Preview: Bruins look for full effort against Sabres

Need some better game execution tonight.

Just the facts​

When: Tonight, 7 PM

Where: TD Garden — Boston, Mass.

How to follow: NESN, 98.5 The Sports Hub

Opposing perspective: Die By The Blade

Know your enemy​

• 26-33-6, 58PTS, last in Atlantic Division
• Tage Thompson: 34G-25A-59PTS; Rasmus Dahlin: 12G-40A-52PTS; JJ Peterka: 19G-32A-51PTS
• Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: 22-21-4, 3.19 GAA, .88 save percentage

Game notes​

• It sounds like a broken record, but the Boston Bruins will look to have a full 60-minute effort tonight as the Buffalo Sabres come to town.
• The Bruins failed to find their offensive game as they were stuck in their defensive zone for most of Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning and overall just poorly executed the game.
• This is the third meeting between the two this season. So far, the Bruins are 1-1-0 against the Sabres (3-1 win on Dec. 21 and 7-2 loss on Jan. 28). The Bruins will see them again on April 6.
• The Bruins and the Sabres sit at the bottom of the Atlantic Division. While 10 points separate them, their power plays and penalty kills are pretty even where they stand in the league. We all know where the Bruins power play is and they couldn’t get anything done on Saturday so it slipped slightly to 15%.
• After a six-game losing streak, the Sabres are 2-1-0 in their last three games and are coming off a 4-3 shootout win over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday. However the Sabres are dealing with some injuries up front.
• Peterka, Josh Norris and Jiri Kulich did not skate at practice yesterday. Head coach Lindy Ruff said Peterka is a possibility for tonight and the closest of the three to returning to the lineup.
• Elias Lindholm is on a three-game point streak with one goal and four assists. It’s his longest streak since the beginning of February. Marat Khusnutdinov is on a two-game goal streak with two goals.
• See ya tonight!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...s-look-for-full-effort-against-buffalo-sabres

 

[Boston Bruins]

Recap: Bruins drop 3-2 OT loss to Sabres

Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images

Shot volume lacking, again.

The Boston Bruins failed to produce and get pucks to the net as they fell 3-2 to the Buffalo Sabres in overtime on Monday night at the TD Garden.

Joonas Korpisalo made 27 saves in the loss.

The Bruins got off to a slow start as the Sabres spent a majority of the first half of the first period on the offensive, culminating with a power-play goal from Peyton Krebs.

But then the Bruins began to find their game as Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha and David Pastrnak led the way. Geekie connected with Zacha out front for the first of two goals from the line 13 minutes into the first period. Two minutes later, Geekie added his own.

But low shot volume was yet again the Bruins’ downfall in this one. In the middle frame, the Bruins only had four shots on net. By the end of the third, they only had nine shots in 40 minutes.

Owen Power tied the game for the Sabres in the second, as his shot snuck under the crossbar.

Late third-period saves and overtime stops from Korpisalo gave the Bruins a chance, but a tripping call against Marat Khusnutdinov for tripping in overtime gave Buffalo the advantage.

The Sabres’ second, power-play goal of the night sealed the deal as a tip from Alex Tuch with 10.7 seconds remaining in overtime handed the Bruins their third consecutive loss.

“We need to create more chances, be desperate in these games,” Zacha said.

“You can’t score if you don’t shoot,” Geekie said.

Here are the game’s highlights:

First period:

Jack Quinn fed a pass to Peyton Krebs at the inside hash marks of the left-wing circle where he let a snap shot fly past Joonas Korpisalo’s glove at 4:19 of the first period on the power play. 1-0 Sabres.

Morgan Geekie found Pavel Zacha cutting to the paint where he let go a quick shot into the net at 13:00 of the first period. 1-1 tie game.

Parker Wotherspoon sprung Morgan Geekie at the far blue line down the center lane with pressure on him. Geekie held on to beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen at 15:13 of the first period. 2-1 Bruins.

Second period:

Owen Power tucked a wrist shot under the crossbar to tie the game at 12:48 of the second period. 2-2 game.

Third period:

No goals

Overtime:

Alex Tuch tipped in Power’s shot past Korpisalo with 10.7 seconds left in overtime, and two seconds left on the Sabres’ power play. Final score: 3-2 Sabres.

Game notes​

• The Bruins sound like a broken record, but yet again, low shot totals played a role in this one’s outcome. For the second game in a row, the Bruins struggled in the middle frame and weren’t able to build on anything in the third period.
• Geekie said postgame that the team has gotten away from a shoot-first mentality. He added shot totals are not something they think about during the game, but think about after a game when not much production is generated. “We get a few chances that come off a few nice plays and then we forget that if we play off the shot, that’s where lots of things happen,” Geekie said. “Just getting back to basic. A little more meat and potatoes mindset when it comes to the o-zone will help in that category. You can’t help if you don’t shoot. Just try to get those totals up.”
• Postgame Zacha said he felt the Bruins were always “a little late” on the forecheck in the neutral zone. “When you play a lot of d-zone, you lose a lot of energy compared to o-zone,” he said.
• Interim head coach Joe Sacco said the Bruins didn’t play behind the Sabres enough and didn’t play off the shot and was likely the root why they couldn’t generate offense. If there is a silver lining, he felt the Bruins checking game in all three zones was a step in the right direction.
• Korpisalo made some great saves to keep the Bruins competitive, especially in overtime. David Pastrnak also played goalie for a bit as at one point he was on the ice making a save in OT.
• The Bruins’ top line had the most production and tried to lead the way for the team. Zacha, Geekie and Pastrnak combined for 7 of the Bruins’ 19 SOG.
• The Bruins are now three points out of the second wild card spot. The New York Rangers sit in the second spot with 72 points and a game in hand.
• The Bruins will head out west for to begin a five-game road trip on Thursday at 10 p.m. ET against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...ton-bruins-drop-3-2-ot-loss-to-buffalo-sabres

 

[Boston Bruins]

Public Skate: Bruins vs. Sabres

Photo by Joe Hrycych/Getty Images

Need some life.

The Boston Bruins look to get a boost as they host the Buffalo Sabres tonight.

Anything will be better than the effort we saw on Saturday...right??

Discuss!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...ruins-vs-buffalo-sabres-gamethread-discussion

 

[Boston Bruins]

Morning Skate: Reality

Photo by Richard T Gagnon/Getty Images

In or out?

It is Wednesday, my dudes.

The Bruins are off again today, currently soaking up the sun in Las Vegas while the rest of us deal with the fickle “not quite spring yet” weather here in New England.

After a spirited post-trade deadline burst, things have fizzled out a bit for the Bruins, who head into a season-defining “West plus Detroit” road trip riding a streak of three straight losses.

The most recent of those losses came on Monday night against Buffalo, a 3-2 OT loss where you certainly didn’t watch that game and come away thinking “yeah, this looks like a playoff team.”

I’ll put my hand up: after the rousing win against Florida, I got sucked back in.

“Maybe they can go on a run,” I told myself. “They’ve got a high-end goalscorer, Charlie McAvoy could be back, a goalie could go on a heater...stranger things have happened.”

The last three games have been a sobering dose of reality, forcing me to accept the fact that this team isn’t good enough to make the playoffs and isn’t bad enough to get a high-end draft pick.

We are in purgatory, folks.

Barring some sort of hot streak, the upcoming road trip will likely be the proverbial nail in the postseason coffin, which may be a good thing for all of our sanity.

As of Wednesday morning, the Bruins are four points out of a playoff spot, which doesn’t seem like much — until you realize there are four teams between them and eighth-place Montreal.

While I’d love to have some postseason hockey to watch, it’d probably be better for the long-term health of the team to have the B’s stumble a bit more and inch closer to a top-ten pick.

But then again, anything can happen in the playoffs! I’m not out until I’m out.

Anyways, in case you missed it yesterday, Fabian Lysell and Michael Callahan were both recalled from Providence on an emergency basis.

Could this be the start of the Lysell Era?!?!?

Probably not, but it’s fun to think about.

What’s on tap for today?

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...ng-skate-reality-bruins-news-playoff-position

 

[Boston Bruins]

Bruins @ Vegas PREVIEW: A Golden affair

Winslow Townson-Imagn Images

Last time these two teams met, the Knights pulled out a close win. Let’s see how they do now.

Just the Facts​

• The Time: 10:30pm EST
• The Place: T-Mobile Arena, Paradise, NV
• Place to Watch: NESN, SCRIPPS, SportsNet, SportsNet 360, TVAS
• Place to Listen: 98.5 The Sports Hub
• An Opposing Viewpoint: Knights on Ice

Know Your Enemy​

• The Golden Knights are 39-20-8, have 86 points in the standings, and are 1st in the Pacific Division and 3rd in the Western Conference.
• Jack Eichel may in fact have a future in this league, as he leads the Golden Knights in points with 80 in 66 points.
• Two players are racking up goals in equal measure for Vegas: Tomas Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev have 27 goals in 67 games.
• Adin Hill remains the man to go for in these troubling times for the Knights; he’s got 40 games under his belt, a 24-11-5 record, and a .907 SV%

Game Preview​

Well, after a brief honeymoon period, we’re now watching the Boston Bruins as we probably expected them to be after selling; undergoing a significant amount of struggle in the hopes that the future will be better. We’re even deep in what will likely be a trial run at the Fabian Lysell era, as he’s been recalled on emergency basis. Very cool!

The Golden Knights meanwhile are what they’ve always been; disgustingly, revoltingly successful by being the team who embodies putting up or shutting up; they pay for the best, so usually they get the best after swindling most of the rest of the league. That’s been true since day one, and it’s true now...

Or so you’d think!

Vegas didn’t do a whole lot of adding this year at the deadline, and haven’t had the best record coming out of it; spending the last week losing to LA, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Detroit. The last two losses are particularly eyebrow-raising, as the Sabres and Red Wings are teams that they really should’ve beaten and lost in agonizing fashion anyway; A shutout loss to the Red and White, the other a shootout loss in which they only had 19 shots on goal. This rough stretch isn’t heralded by secretly poor possession stats either; they’re 6th or 7th in the league at Corsi-For, Fenwick-For, and Expected Goals-For, and they don’t really juice it with a ton of low-danger chances; they get these goals and shots the old fashioned way by going to the net or to the dangerous parts of the ice. This is a good team that is going through a very rough patch. So Boston better be ready for a squad desperate for a bounce back.

We of all fanbases should know what happens to the mood in a Bruce Cassidy locker room when he starts to crack the whip. Allegedly, anyway.

The last time these teams met, Boston was able to hang on until the third period, wherein Dorofeyev and Hertl once again flexed their might and won the game for Vegas in the third. That was back in February. Now, the team faces a similar issue where they start strong like they did in that Golden Knights game, and run out of gas towards the end of the game; whether because of one of many defensive SNAFUs anywhere in the lineup from anyone, or because the offense has been successfully identified to be a Morgan Geekie/David Pastrnak production most of the time, and can be pinned down afterwards.

If there’s anything I want out of this game, a win would be lovely, but I would love to see this team actually take the lessons they took out of the trade deadline and not play like their skates are weighted with lead after a game tying or game leading goal-against, and keep the pressure on. Over the past couple of games it’s killed them in spite of strong individual performance by either a goalie or a skater, and if they want to bring some better habits with them into next year, now is the time to start setting them up.

Either way, should be an enlightening game as the Bruins face a demon of the West. It’ll be informative to see what they need to do in order to match up.

See you at the Gamethread!

Source: https://www.stanleycupofchowder.com...ights-nhl-hockey-preview-tv-times-tomas-hertl