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The Boston Bruins have hung their hat on their ‘effort’ as of late, perhaps to a fault. But in the second leg of a back-to-back, something that’s been incredibly unkind to the Bruins this season, they had it. From the drop of the puck in their 3-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, too.
Rather than finding themselves stuck in the mud of a slow start (like they were in both Carolina and Pittsburgh), the Bruins’ 18-shot first period was a sight for sore eyes. It was a period that saw the Bruins nearly
match their 60-minute effort in shots against the Pittsburgh Penguins (they finished regulation with 19 shots), get rewarded for their efforts with
Milan Lucic’s power-play goal (his seventh goal of the season), and set the tone against a reeling Devils squad.
“I think we seemed like a real focused and energized team tonight,” B’s coach
Claude Julien said. “I think the biggest thing we did was we executed the way we were asked to execute and I thought coming in late last night - the first period it was so important to get our legs under us and put pucks in behind him in and get our feet moving and get a good forecheck. But what impressed me the most tonight was how hard the guys worked to get back and the layers were there, so we didn’t give them much room or too many opportunities.”
The Bruins continued their assault on
Cory Schneider’s crease, and struck with their second goal of the night 8:31 into the second, with
Carl Soderberg beating Schneider for his ninth of the year.
“I think their forward cheated a little bit on the wall so I could take a step into the slot and fire it,” Soderberg said of his tally, his third in the last six games, and his ninth of the season.
And though the goal went unassisted, it was a marker that developed with Chris Kelly’s ability to force Mark Fraser to turn the puck over right over to Soderberg along the wall.
“[Chris Kelly] is always going to be Kells. He’s not flashy and sometimes underrated by a lot of people, but we know how important he is and some of the things he does,” Julien said of Kelly, who also drew the penalty that got the B’s their first goal. “The team needs a little bit of everything, and he’s not in the goal department, but he’s certainly in the other department that gives us a real good identity defensively.
Despite a seven-shot third from the Devils, the Bruins put the nail in their coffin by way of
Milan Lucic’s empty-net dagger with 11.7 to play, while
Niklas Svedberg stopped all 14 shots faced.
This was a straight-up clinic for the Black and Gold.
Like the fans that arrived into the building, the Bruins layered up. It was certainly a mix of the Bruins being aggressive on their end while steady defensively and the Devils simply struggling to be much of anything formidable without Schneider standing on his head (he was stellar tonight, so even then, this team struggles). And for the second time in a little more than a week’s time, the Bruins put 40-plus shots on net.
“I thought we controlled the play and made some solid, strong plays. We got a lead like we wanted and put a lot of shots on the net and created a lot of offensive zone-time for us,” Boston captain
Zdeno Chara said after the win. “Even in the second we were doing well and at the end of the second we kind of felt that they were pushing, They were playing a little more aggressive. Again, we regained that in the third.”
Random thoughts
- 2014 first-rounder David Pastrnak found himself back on NHL ice tonight, skating on a line with Brad Marchand and David Krejci, and finished tonight’s game with four shots on net in 15:04 of time on ice. It was also the first time that the 18-year-old’s mother got to see play in an NHL game. And it was the first time that he went head-to-head with his country’s most legendary player, Jaromir Jagr. But the Czech winger has remained focused on the task at hand-- contributing to the Black and Gold (with Krejci) in the now.
“He’s a great player and I could play with him, I just try to do my best,” Pastrnak noted after the win. “I enjoyed every shift I’ve been with the guy.”
As for how he would evaluate his own play through six NHL games now…
“I don’t know that word,” Pastrnak admitted.
- It’s night and day when you’re talking about Pittsburgh and New Jersey, but one area of considerable improvement for the Bruins in this one came on their back end. It didn’t seem as if the Bruins were chasing skaters around their own end, nor did they appear to lose their guys with the frequency they did against the Penguins. Again, a lot of that comes back to the speed and skill of the opposition, but still, this was as solid as they come. From one through six, the Bruins had strong contributions. They’ll need plenty of those nights from here on out given their schedule (tons of meetings against Tampa, New York, and countless others.)
- A notable figure out of the lineup tonight?
Loui Eriksson. The 29-year-old winger appeared to injure his wrist on a slash in Wednesday’s victory over the Penguins, and was a no-go after arriving at the rink before tonight’s contest. The good news is that Bruins do not expect Eriksson, who has nine goals and 25 points in 41 games this year, to be out for another more than a couple of days with the ailment.
“Not at the moment, I don’t think so,” Julien said when asked if it’d be a long-term injury. “Those things sometimes change day to day if it doesn’t heal right. Right now it just seems to be a short-term injury.”
With Eriksson’s absence, the list of B’s skaters that have suited up for every game this year dropped down to five. They are Reilly Smith, Dan Paille, Dougie Hamilton, Carl Soderberg, and Dennis Seidenberg. It’s like a horror movie at this point.
- It was the 700th NHL game for three players tonight-- New Jersey’s
Michael Cammalleri, and the Bruins’
Chris Kelly and
Patrice Bergeron. All 700 of Bergeron’s games have come with the Bruins, too, making him the 17th player to skate in at least 700 games in a Spoked-B sweater.
P.J Axelsson forever, man.
- Adam Oates was probably having some serious deja vu tonight. This game went basically the same way that
his last visit to Boston as a coach did (March 6, 2014 as the then-head coach of the Washington Capitals).
- I'm gonna cry if the Olympics come to Boston in 2024. They will not be happy tears.
Up next
The Bruins head to Philly for a Saturday matinee with the Flyers. It will be the second meeting between the two in 2014-15, and the first in Philadelphia. The Bruins won the earlier meeting between the two, defeating the Flyers by a 2-1 final back on opening night.
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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