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Despite a late lapse in the second period, a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks had exactly the effort that
Claude Julien and the Boston Bruins, an undeniable work in progress, have been waiting for.
“I really liked our game, even the second period was probably our best second period of the season. We just had that little lapse again that allowed them to score a couple goals,” Julien noted of his club’s performance, pushing them to 4-4-0 on the year. “Coming out for the third, I thought we were playing well enough that we could give ourselves a chance if we just stayed with it. And our guys did exactly that. We found a way to get some goals. Same old, same old, getting your nose dirty around the net, jumping on those loose pucks.”
In their first meeting of the season (and with Boston sweeping the season series last year), the Black and Gold picked up where they left off, striking with the game’s first goal, a power-play snipe from
Brad Marchand. The goal was Marchand’s first of the year, and just his second power-play goal since the start of last season, and came by way of mere fortunate timing.
With
Zdeno Chara logging a long shift just seconds before the San Jose penalty, Julien gave the shift to No. 63 (with
Milan Lucic taking Chara’s place as the rock in front of the opposition’s net), and Marchand delivered.
“At first, the first power play we had they really pressured us a lot early on. I thought we did a great job of moving the puck around so that they would settle their box down,” admitted Julien, whose team came into play just 3-for-22 on the power play this year. “Once they did we started making some good plays and opening up some space for some great shots. I thought [Marchand]’s goal was indicative of that.”
The Sharks would counter with a power-play marker of their own just two minutes later, with
Logan Couture taking advantage of a penalized Marchand, answering with his second goal of the season.
And after a tied first frame with the Sharks and Bruins squared up across the board, this one went nuts.
Boston regained the lead seven seconds into their second power play of the night, with
Torey Krug ripping a shot through traffic and by
Antti Niemi with help from a
David Krejci screen.
The goal was Krug’s second in as many games, and a sign of what the Bruins need more this year.
“You watch it all across the league; a power play will win a team a hockey game. For us, it definitely helped tonight; we got those two early ones,” the Michigan-born puck-mover noted after the win.
“But I thought we played a solid hockey game and we were happy with our effort and the way we skated. They’re a fast team, so I thought we skated with them and took it to them”
But in a sight seldom seen around these parts, it was the high-end talent of the Sharks that really took it to the Bergeron line late in the second period, allowing San Jose to jump ahead. First came another Couture snipe, knotting things up, and then a beautiful
Joe Thornton tip to put San Jose up 4-3 just 37 seconds later. The tallies could’ve frustrated a B’s team still looking for their perfect 60 against a quality opponent, but for a team looking to generate consistency, the challenge was welcomed.
Answering back with a physical third period, the Bruins returned to their roots of trying to win the one-on-one battles to keep possession of the puck, and ultimately found the back of the net with
Seth Griffith broke through and struck with the first goal of his NHL career.
“It was one of those things where I wasn’t expecting it to come out,” Griffith, a former London Knight (OHL) and fifth-round pick by the Bruins back in 2012 (131st overall), said of his game-tying goal. “Looch and Krech were doing a good job battling in front, I just tried hanging out high there and fortunately the puck came to me and I don’t know if Niemi saw it or not, I’m just happy it went in.”
With a focus on generating traffic and getting to the so-called-grimey areas of the rink, the Bruins would break through with the go-ahead goal on a
Gregory Campbell deflection into the back of Niemi’s cage, good for his first of the season, and giving the Bruins the lead with just over nine minutes left to play.
San Jose rushed, and rushed, and they even had one last chance.
Patrice Bergeron, on a night where he was far from perfect, took a rare high-sticking penalty with 4:09 to go. A double minor, no less. Forcing the Bruins to by all means finish the game without their best penalty killing forward, the Bruins hung on for dear life, as
Zdeno Chara finished the entire game on the ice, while Krejci iced the victory with an empty-net dagger.
Everything about the win was ugly, but beautiful at the same time. The Bruins had contributions from just about everybody across the board, their power play finished a solid 2-for-3, and Julien stuck with his lines. He let Griffith earn his minutes on the first line (and was rewarded). He kept
Simon Gagne on the fourth line (and was rewarded). Krug and
Dennis Seidenberg provided that second pairing with an interesting dynamic of speed and grit and was solid, excluding their mental lapse late in the second.
But most of all, the Bruins responded to adversity, and strung together their first winning streak of the year.
“I think we have a style of hockey we want to play,” B’s goaltender
Tuukka Rask, who stopped 31-of-34 shots, said. “We kind of went up and down the first few games there. We felt like we played a good game in Detroit and a pretty good game in Montreal and we lost that game. And then Buffalo, a good game again and today a solid game. We just try and put up a couple wins and keep the trend going the right way.”
Lucic quietly posts three-assist night
Don’t look now, but Milan Lucic may be set to break through.
And despite a sluggish start to the night, the 6-foot-4 winger finished the game with three assists (all primary helpers no less) in 14:58 of time on ice. This was a game that really benefitted Lucic’s style given San Jose’s plethora of big bodied defensemen, too, and one where the 26-year-old made his presence felt in the attacking zone. Something that allowed his linemates to do their thing in the attacking zone.
“You saw we were hungry in the O-zone and hungry getting pucks to the net,” Lucic said. We made some smart decisions in some important areas and it seems like things are starting to head in the right direction.”
The bruising forward has posted five assists in his last three games, good for ninth in the entire league, and while he’s feeling good about his game, he knows there’s one area that needs to drop the zero.
“[I’m] feeling a lot better, a lot more confident on the ice. Hope to get a few more shots on net, that’s probably the one area where I need to work at more on my game,” Lucic admitted after the win, the club’s third in their last four contests. “Probably [gotta be] a little bit more selfish and getting those shots on net. If I do that, the goals will come. I think as far as moving my feet and getting into those areas and being strong and hard on the puck and all that type of stuff has gotten a lot better.”
Up next
The Bruins will return to action on Thursday night when they play host to the New York Islanders. The big story: the return of
Johnny Boychuk. Traded out of town by the Bruins late into camp, the 30-year-old defender has jumped out to a great start on Long Island for the upstart Islanders. Boychuk’s six points tie him for third among NHL d-men in scoring, and his five power-play points are tops in the league. A fixture on the Bruins’ top-four for half a decade, you can expect a standing ovation for Johnny Rocket.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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