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Bruins beat Flyers: three thoughts |
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Sorry for the lack of blogs this week. I got knocked out by a pretty bad cold, thankfully not COVID.
The Bruins finally returned to action Saturday night in Philadelphia, their first game since Sunday’s win over Montreal.
I don’t like to complain about things that can’t be controlled, but man, the Bruins schedule this year has been downright silly.
I’m not even talking about them being tied for the fewest games played. I’m talking about the length between games. It’s hard to get any sort of rhythm going when you have five days off between games.
Anyway, Saturday’s win over the Flyers was the Bruins third in a row. All three of those wins have come with a 5-2 final score.
Weird?
Here are three thoughts from Saturday:
Is Derek Forbort the second coming of Bobby Orr?
When the Bruins signed Derek Forbort this summer after stints in Los Angeles, Calgary and Winnipeg, the veteran had eight career goals to his name. That’s eight goals in 331 games.
With 14 games as a Bruin under his belt, he has four goals. His latest scoring efforts produced two goals in Saturday’s victory.
“He's just been up in the play. It's happened a couple of times now, he's been up in the play and his release is good,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.
“He's hit the net. He's had opportunities whereas some of our other guys have been off net.”
Forbort’s four goals has him two behind Nashville’s Roman Josi for most among defensemen in all of the National Hockey League. That’s more goals than defensemen such as Victor Hedman, Morgan Rielly, Torey Krug and Quinn Hughes. You know, to name a few.
As you may have guessed, Saturday was Forbort’s first career two-goal game.
Two of them were pretty lucky,” Forbort said. “So let’s not get carried away here.”
At times, Forbort makes plays defensively that cause you to shake your head, but his offensive production has been a pleasant surprise.
Bruins might have found something with new-look fourth line
Since his return from injury, Anton Blidh has looked sharp next to Tomas Nosek and Curtis Lazar on the Bruins fourth line.
It was Nosek on a feed from Blidh (yes, that rhymes) that opened the scoring for the Bruins. Nosek’s first as a Bruin.
“They did a nice job,” Cassidy said of the line. “It’s the right type of goal to score, too, where it elevates everybody. It’s a forecheck situation where we know against Philadelphia [you] gotta make them go 200-feet. Otherwise they can really hurt you.”
With injuries and inconstancies across their lineup, Cassidy has yet been able to find the right mix of forwards for his fourth line.
For now, that has seemed to change.
The lines efforts on the opening goal is exactly what Cassidy and the coaching staff wants to see out of their fourth line.
“We put it behind them. We get the first contact. You know, Puck stopped up, we win the race, now we got spacing where there’s a net-front or a slot guy, another guy reloading and we make a play,” said Cassidy.
“I mean, those guys have a tougher time making plays in some of the top-end guys for obvious reasons. But they made a play to the slot through a stick and then a nice move to to finish.“
Charlie McAvoy continues to do it all
Games between the Bruins and Flyers are often physical affairs. Saturday was no different.
As the temperature rose and things got more intense, McAvoy took matters into his own hands.
Following a post-whistle scrum, McAvoy found a dance partner with Joel Farabee, dropping the gloves with the Flyer.
The fight, McAvoy’s fourth career tilt.
“The shift before they kind of went after [Bergeron], which I don’t think anyone really appreciates. And then I got slashed on the back of the leg for whatever reason, I don’t really know,” McAvoy said. “Things happen so fast. I didn’t necessarily seek [Farabee] out, and for that to happen — but I think that cooler heads prevailed afterward. In the thick of it, it was just something that happened, like all of them. Hopefully, it helped the team, and we ended up winning. So I guess it all worked out.”
It worked out indeed. Forbort’s second of the night soon followed, and the Bruins didn’t look back from there.
Boston Bruins Blogger • 
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