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The Bruins magic continues

March 10, 2019, 12:58 AM ET [16 Comments]
Anthony Travalgia
Boston Bruins Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
David Krejci’s tip of a Danton Heinen wrister with 45 seconds left in regulation gave the Bruins their second consecutive victory earned in the game’s final minute, and pushed the Bruins point streak to 19 games.

With the win, the Bruins become the first team since the 2012-2013 Chicago Blackhawks to reach a point streak of at least 19 games.

You may remember the 2012-13 season ended with the Blackhawks parading the Stanley Cup around the TD Garden ice. Right around this time come June, the Bruins hope to be doing the same.

What the Bruins have been doing since the middle of January has been magical. They are 15-0-4 during their 19-game point streak, have won 10 in a row at home and have now become the first team in franchise history to score the game-winning goal in the final minute of regulation in consecutive games.

“It’s been nice to see,” Brad Marchand said of the team’s resiliency. “You need that down the stretch, especially come playoff time, and we’re seeing a lot of good things right now. Even when we’re not playing our best hockey, you got to be able to find ways to win and that’s what we’re doing. It’s great to see out of the group.”

In each of their last four wins, there were multiple points where you could see the Bruins point streak coming to an end. But just like that, the switch is flipped and they’re able to turn things in their favor, resulting in wins.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

“It just seems like every game now is close, could go either way, and we’re finding a way to win. So, give credit to the guys for doing that,” said head coach Bruce Cassidy.

“It’s not luck when you find ways to win over and over again, so obviously, we’ve got some good players in the room, stepping up at the right time. It’s a sign of a good team because we need it.”

I really felt that Saturday’s contest with the Senators embodied the Bruins point streak, and how they’re finding ways to win, even when things are not completely going in their favor.

After a not-so-exciting effort in the first period, the Bruins turned the heat up in the second, but only managed one goal, a Marchand power play strike. They did ring iron three times in the frame, all on prime scoring chances.

After a pair of Senators goals gave Ottawa a lead minutes into the third, the Bruins were once again pulling magic out of their hats, tying the game on a wacky deflection by Chris Wagner.

Tangled directly in front of Senators’ goalie Craig Anderson, Wagner was able to get his stick away from Ben Harpur just in time to tip Torey Krug’s point shot into the back of the Sens’ net.

“Yeah, I think he was over top of me for a little bit there, and then I saw Torey kind of looking at me and I kind of knew he was going to shoot it,” said Wagner. “So I was just trying to get my stick free and, you know, I was turning around to see if there was a rebound, but you know, it trickled in.”

The goal was just another example of Wagner getting to the dirty areas and doing whatever he can to help the team. Wagner’s efforts earned him a promotion for the late stages of the third period as he was bumped up to the right of Marchand and Patrice Bergeron. One of several late line changes made by Cassidy.

But according to Marchand, the move from the “fourth” line to the “first” line was actually a demotion.

“You know, their line right now is 1A, we’re 1B, so he got demoted tonight,” said a smiling Marchand. “But it was fun to play with him for a bit.”

Despite skating with Marchand and Bergeron for just 2:51 in total, Wagner was just trying to not screw things up.

“Yeah, I was trying not to screw up. Didn’t really make a couple good plays on the wall, but yeah, it’s an honor to play with them,” said Wagner. “Just shuffling things around, trying to make things work. So, yeah it’s awesome.”

The line juggling seemed to be the spark the Bruins needed. Cassidy’s reworked lines looked like:

Marchand-Bergeron-Wagner
Heinen-Krejci-David Backes
Sean Kuraly-Noel Acciari-Joakim Nordstrom
Peter Cehlarik-Charlie Coyle- Lee Stempniak

On a night where I felt like there were several occasions where Heinen passed on an opportunity to shoot the puck, and pass instead, it was nice to see him put one on net, leading to Krejci’s third goal in as many games.

“Danton’s done a good job, but maybe throw a bone to someone else. It keeps guys kind of emotionally invested in these types of games that late in the year sometimes you’re not as focused on,” added Cassidy.

The point streak has been nice, but the Bruins hope that bigger and better things are in store for them in what is sure to be a difficult path to the Stanley Cup Final.

For now, Cassidy is not thinking about the streak. He’s taking things day-by-day and game-by-game.

“No, I don’t think of the streak too much. But yes, it’s nice to look at yourself and where you are in the standings and take a deep breath and not be that team like – you know, I’d much rather be us right now than those team that are seven, eight, nine.”

The Bruins have a quick turnaround as they head to Pittsburgh Sunday night to take on the Penguins—you know, one of those seven, eight, nine teams.

“But now I’m worried about Sidney Crosby and [Evgeni] Malkin and the next challenge,” said Cassidy.

The Penguins enter play Saturday seventh in the east, and as the conference’s top wild card seed.
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