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B's win late vs. Flames; Hamilton doesn't regret leaving |
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Ty Anderson
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It was the Boston Bruins debut for three new faces on the Boston bench on Tuesday night, but it was a familiar face, Patrice Bergeron, in a familiar spot, between the circles on Boston’s lethal man advantage, that came through as the difference-maker in Boston’s 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames.
Deadlocked at 1-1 with less than five minutes to go in the third, it was a beautiful cycling sequence from the B’s top power play unit that moved the puck around the Calgary zone with ease, from David Krejci to Ryan Spooner and to a Bergeron that would not miss.
It was perhaps the lone pretty play of a game that was short on style for either squad.
“It doesn’t matter at this point of the year obviously we’re trying to work on things in our game and improve but tonight we played a team [Calgary] on the second night of a back-to-back,” Torey Krug said of the win. “We were thinking there as long as we keep playing our way we’ll eventually get one in the third period and our power play came through for us. That was definitely a bonus.”
It’s March, and the idea of ‘style points’ and ‘moral victories’ being enough for the Black and Gold are long gone, as last year’s group would have liked to tell you, so it was only the end result that mattered.
“Every game is very important from here on in,” Boston netminder Tuukka Rask, who stopped 24-of-25 in the win, said. “And obviously we want to play well and keep improving and get the wins because it’s definitely not going to get any easier. So it was a good win today. And you know real tough games coming up this week and hopefully we can keep things tight and get some points.”
In the Bruins debut for deadline-pickups John-Michael Liles (on Boston’s third-pairing with Adam McQuaid) and Lee Stempniak (on the right wing of the Bergeron line), along with the NHL debut of Rhode Island native Noel Acciari (centering a completely new-look fourth line with Brett Connolly and Landon Ferraro), B’s head coach Claude Julien thought his team could have better, but noted the positive play of Acciari in his big league debut.
“They were good,” Julien said of the three new faces. “You’ve seen the guys that we got in the trade but I thought [Acciari], I thought he handled himself real well, very responsible and gritty and seemed to be in the right place for the most part. I thought he handled himself well for a guy in his first game.”
Landon Ferraro picked up his fifth goal of the season (his second in the last four games) in the victory, while Calgary d-man Jakub Nakladal picked up the first NHL goal of his career.
The Boston penalty kill finished the night a perfect 4-for-4.
The victory pushed the B’s point streak over Calgary to nine games (6-0-3).
Random thoughts and notes
- Following their second-round elimination at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens in 2014, the Bruins admitted to themselves that maybe it was time to move on from a grit-based fourth line. But it wasn’t until Game No. 64 of the 2015-16 season, with a fourth line look that featured a Ferraro-Acciari-Connolly trio, that the Black and Gold finally followed through on this idea.
The results? A goal early on into the night and a complementary role that shined.
“I thought we made some plays, like I said with the minutes that we had. So wherever I do slot in, you just want to try and do your best and help the team win, and I thought we were good,” Connolly said of his line. “And you know if we do stay together, we need to be good on both ends of the rink, obviously. You know you want to be put out there a little bit more, so you’ve got to show Claude [Julien] obviously that you can show through a little more and you know we’ll see what happens.”
One of the things that stuck out to me with this line was the deployment and how it varied from what Julien would do when the line had its Kemppainens, Rinaldos, and Talbots. At least in terms of what happened. It’s been a staple of Julien Hockey to put the fourth line out immediately after a power play in an attempt to further the momentum that comes with a power play opportunity. And this has often led to the crash-and-bang styled lines getting hemmed in their own end and stalling any momentum. Tonight, the line pushed pace the other way, and was stronger in the neutral zone. It’s such a small sample size, in both games (one) and minutes (Connolly logged a game-low 5:50), but it’s a start.
“Well it didn’t take them long to get that first goal right?” Julien remarked. “They stepped on the ice and it was in the net. So I think we got two guys there with some experience, you know Landon [Ferraro] has been here now for a while and Cons [Brett Connolly] and like I said Noels [Noel Acciari] was very reliable so I thought that line handled themselves well tonight.”
- It was the dreaded first return to Boston for ex-Bruin Dougie Hamilton. A player that forced his way out of town this past summer after expressing a not-so-subtle unwillingness to negotiate with the Bruins -- who offered him a deal that would have paid him more than what Calgary ended up signing him for -- Hamilton was greeted exactly how you would have expected. With thunderous boos.
On the ice, Hamilton was a non-factor for the Flames on their second pairing opposite Deryk Engelland, with two shots and one blocked shot along with a minus-1 in 19:16 of time on ice.
“He’s just another player on another team,” Krug said of Hamilton. “Obviously I have a past friendship with him, but you don’t think about it at all.”
Asked if he has any regrets about leaving Boston for Calgary, Hamilton replied, “No.”
Up next
Here’s where things get real, real rough for the Bruins. It begins with the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night, and continues with the Washington Capitals on Saturday night. In fact, all but one of the B’s next 11 opponents are playoff teams. Ready or not, here they come.
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