Patrick Marleau Breaks All-Time Record Amidst Longest Losing Steak of the Season

The last time the Sharks matched up against the Minnesota Wild, the Sharks had a two-game sweep against them, and coming into the action Friday night, April 17th, the Sharks were hoping for a similar result. The puck drops, and Tomas Hertl gets the Sharks off to the quick start, only 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the contest when he skates through the Minnesota defense and puts a slap shot on Cam Talbot for the early 1-0 Sharks advantage. The Wild answer back about six minutes later and end up scoring the next three unanswered goals. Evander Kane makes it a game with the 3-2 score with about 7:20 left in regulation with a short-handed goal, but too little too late as the wild hold off a late surge and edge out the Sharks. San Jose loses its fourth in a row.

Coming into the second game of the series,  Patrick Marleau was set to tie Gordie Howe's NHL all-time games played record with 1,767. It's really quite impressive once you think about it, a record that has stood for 59 years longer than any games played record of the other four major sports. After the puck is dropped and with 8 minutes left in the first period, Brent Burns snaps a shot on the net from the blueline that comes out of the net as fast as it goes in for the 1-0 Sharks lead. After that, the Wild seem to find their leggings and rattles off three straight goals in a minute 12 seconds. The Wild add insult to the injury by scoring two more goals in the second period. Joel Kellman adds a garbage-time too-little-too-late goal for San Jose, spoiling the night's festivities. The Sharks are eviscerated, in an embarrassing 5-2 score.

Monday night in Vegas against the Golden Knights was a night of celebration. A celebration of all things that are #12, Patrick Marleau. Come his first shift of the game, Patrick moved into sole possession of the all-time leader in NHL games played record, passing the immortal Gordie Howe. A record we could very well never see broken in our lifetimes. For the majority of the game, the Sharks played over their heads, putting forth a grade-A effort in front of Patrick's accomplishment, scoring the first goal of the game on an unassisted play by Knyzhov, his second of the season. All the whole holding Vegas scoreless through the first period. The second period starts, and more of the same, Noah Gregor with his own unassisted play to make it 2-0 Sharks. Shortly after that, about a minute later, Mark Stone scores the first of his two successive power play goals on the night, 2-1 Sharks. Then again, in the third, Stone ties the game 2-2 to force the eventual overtime in a point well earned by San Jose, but do eventually fall to Vegas on the shootout 3-2, but it was all eyes on Patty Marleau all night. 

If setting the NHL record for all-time games played wasn't enough, Patrick Marleau came into the second game of the series, playing in his 900th consecutive game, a streak dating back to the 2008/2009 season. For the first half of the game, the Sharks got what looked like a stellar goaltending performance from young prospect Josef Korenar. The second half of the game told a completely different story, one where the Sharks looked overmatched by Vegas, Mark Stone in particular. San Jose extended their season-long, six-game losing streak in a 5-2 loss to The Golden Knights. I want to start having positive takeaways from each loss from either club, even when there aren't many. So my positive takeaways from this game was Brent Burns laying a hit and upending Max Pactrociety, such a sight to see!

Tuukka Returns and Winners of Season Best, Six-In-A-Row

The Bruins aimed to continue their winning ways against the New York Islanders in the second game of the two-game series Friday night, March 16th. Jeremy Swayman gets the start, making it his fifth of the season. The first period seems to be a bit of a seesaw affair as both teams strive for the aggressive play that we saw in the first game of the series, but we are reminded that both these teams played the previous night, with chances on either end of the ice. Pastrnak stuns the Islanders with 2.4 seconds left in the first period when he buries it down low on a chance from Mike Reilly for the 1-0 Bruins lead. In the first minute of the second period, after being denied moments before, Taylor Hall, on a tape-to-tape pass from David Krecji, makes it 2-0, matching his output total in 38 games with Buffalo in just three with the Bruins. Just over a minute remained in regulation with the goalie pulled when Chris Wagner forces a puck out of the Bruins' zone, which finds Curtis Lazar for the empty net tuck to seal Jeremy Swayman's first career NHL shutout, who was the real story of the game. Bruins win 3-0!

Reading high on the waves of their first three game-winning Street since early February, the Boston Bruins welcome in the divisional leading Washington Capitals with last weeks 8-1 thumping still fresh in the backs of their minds; the Bruins expect much different results with a retooled and much healthier team taking the ice. Bruins jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the first with scores by Bergeron, a short-handed effort, and then Krecji about two minutes later with a tip-in. TJ Oshie of the Washington Capitals makes it 2-1 on a backhand shot with less than ten seconds left in the period. Lack of mental awareness and execution proves costly in the second period when Connor Clifton commits two 4 minutes high-sticking major penalties that lead to the next two Capital goals, a 3-2 Washington lead. Play continues, and about 2 minutes pass, Charlie McAvoy chips his own pass into the corner where along the boards, he feeds it out front to Pastrnak, who finds Marchand, who buries it in close to tie the game three aside. The Bruins scorers each tack on an additional goal each, including the 700th point of Marchand's career, an empty-netter to seal the 6-3 victory.

The Western New York basement-dwelling Buffalo sabers welcome the Bruins to KeyBank Center to start a three-game set on Tuesday, April 20th. Matt Grezclyk returns to the lineup after missing five games with an upper-body injury. With just less than twelve minutes remaining in the first and after a fury of relentless play in the attacking zone, Marchand backhands in, his team-leading 24th goal on the season. Sometime later, with 6:36 left in the first period, Tukkaa Rask absolutely robs Dylan Couzens on a wide-open net chance, a spectacular save! Three minutes into the second period, there's a pile-up in the crease with a turbulence of activity, Clifton puts a puck on net that slowly squeaks and dribbles through Buffalo goaltender Dustin Tokarski's five holes that he ultimately pushes into the net with his own skate blade, 2-0 Bruins. After a plethora of penalties, rain down on Boston, including a 5-on-3 Buffalo advantage in the waning minutes of the game, the Bruins maintain composure and pull this one out. The Bruins did not bring their A-game, but they did bring their good enough to win against Buffalo game. The Bruins are capable of beating the wheels off this club, and I hate seeing them playing down to competition. Bruins win 2-0

The Bruins continued their trudge through Western New York and the second game of the series against the sabers in the second game of the series. Brad Marchand breaks the scoreless tie eight and a half minutes into the first when Bergeron finds him out front and promptly potts the rebound for the 1-0 Bruins score. Buffalo makes it a game with a little more than 5 minutes gone in the second when former bruin Andrews Bjork finds Rasmus Ristolinen, who beats Swayman to tie the game at 1. Fresh off the faceoff and in only his second game back, Matt Grezclyk scores a bomb from the blueline for the 2-1 Bruins lead. And the Bruins just put it on cruise control for the remainder of the game, scoring the next three unanswered goals with tallies by Pastrnak, Ritchie, and Krecji. The Bruins deliver a 5-1 knockout punch to Buffalo!

Sharks Trade Dubnyk and Lose Momentum and Playoff Position

After a dud against the Ducks that put a skid to their four-game winning streak, the Sharks were eager to put that in the rearview and get to work against the LA Kings, who they found great success against thus far this season who were in town for another two-game set. The Kings get to quick work when Alex Iafallo puts a feed to the front of the next into the back of the net for the early 1-0 Kings lead. The sharks can quickly rectify that, putting in the next three goals before the end of the first period. With strikes by LeBanc, Marleau, and Balcers, the Sharks found themselves the beneficiaries of a 3-1 advantage heading into the second period. In the second period, there's not much happening for either side, except for maybe Jeffery Viel answering a bell in a mismatched fight against Curtis MacDermid, when it should have been Brendan Lemieux in there for his play along the boards. The Kings finally solve the Martin Jones puzzle again to start the third, in a bad angle shot, that's tipped in from in front of the net, 3-2 Sharks. The Sharks tie a ribbon on it with a short-handed goal by Dylan Gambrell and then an empty-netter by Hertl to seal the 5-2 victory. Marcus Sorensen features a new skill set to his game with two separate fights with Andreas Athanasiou

The trade deadline isn't until Monday afternoon, but it didn't stop the Sharks from trading goaltender Devan Dubnyk to the Colorado Avalanche for defenseman Greg Pateryn and 2021 fifth-round pick. A good move for San Jose, in my opinion, since Dubnyk hadn't been playing much with the Sharks riding Martin Jones' hot hand. Come game time, and the Sharks looked to sweep the Kings for the third time this season in the second game of the series Saturday night, April 10th. The two teams go back and forth defensively for the first half of the period before Jeff Carter puts one in from behind Martin Jones for the 1-0 Kings score. Five minutes later, the Sharks strike back when Dylan Gambrel cleans up a John Leonard deflected shot to tie the game 1-1. Kings dominate the second period scoring the next three unanswered goals, including a Dustin Brown powerplay goal as time expires in the period. To start the third, Sharks trying to ignite a spark, replace goaltender Martin Jones with Josef Korenar, who is making his NHL debut. Sharks munster up a powerplay goal of their halfway through the third by Timo Meier, but the Kings' lead proves to be too costly to overcome, and the Sharks fall 4-2.

Hot to get back to their winning ways they've become accustomed to as of late, the Sharks welcome the pacific basement-dwelling Anaheim Ducks into the Shark Tank for two games. Right off the bat, San Jose looks sluggish, with no legs under them, failing to clear pucks, defensive inadequacies. The Sharks put forth a real lackluster effort, giving up three goals in the first period, and are ultimately shutout 4-0 by a Ducks rookie netminder, Anthony Stolarz, who has 46 saves.

While I am sure the Sharks came into the second game against Anaheim in the series to put forth a much better effort than what we saw in the previous game, the Sharks again have no answer to solve the puzzle knows as rookie goaltender Anthony Stolarz. While Stolarz did not have the 46 save effort in this game as he did previously, he still shut out the Sharks until 2:20 left in regulation when the Sharks finally managed to get a puck past Stolarz on an Erik Karlsson slapshot, but too little too late, sharks cough up another one to the lowly Anaheim Ducks, 4-1. My positive takeaways from the game are  Dylan Gambrel hanging in there in a tilt with heavyweight Josh Manson. Something I would like to see more out of players up and down the line up beside the usual suspects.

Back-to-back Wins and a Capital Pummeling + Taylor Hall

For the sake of consistency purpose, the Bruins aimed to win two games in a row for the first time in almost a month, coming into a highly contested match with the Washington Capitals. The Bruins once again turned to Jeremy Swayman. They were again without top-pairing defenseman Charlie MacAvoy for the second consecutive games as he deals with the effects of an upper-body injury. Bruins get off to the quick start, 33 seconds in, right off the face-off, after a Jeremy Lauzon shot bounces around and dribbles past the Washington netminder for the early 1-0 Bruins advantage. Shortly after that, with four minutes left in the first, Anton Blidh sneaks one in for his first goal in five seasons to make it 2-0 Bruins. Four minutes into the second period, Brad Marchand extends to Bruins lead to 3-0 with a filthy, highlight-reel worthy short-handed shot. The Washington Capitals come roaring back with two quick goals, 19 seconds of one another after a double-minor penalty on Blidh is called along with a Jakub Zorbil interference call, which led to the 5-on-3 advantage for Washington. Craig Smith scores a power play goal to put a cap on it with 4 minutes left in regulation, and the Bruins win it 4-2 to win consecutive games for the first time since March 16-18th.

The last time the Boston Bruins had a three-game win streak was back on February 1st-5th when they took down Washington and Philadelphia, two games in a row. With three games in a row was on the horizon, the Bruins just needed to execute. The Bruins were winners of two in a row when they came into the Wells Fargo Center for a matinee matchup against the Flyers. Bruins get on the board 5 minutes into the first, when Patrice Bergeron buries a Craig Smith feed from out in front of the net, 1-0 Bruins. The Flyers scored the following two goals, including a power play goal from Gostisbehere with less than three minutes remaining in the period. Jake DeBrusk ties the affair almost halfway through the second period, on a Smith feed in the slot, but the Flyers kill any dreams the Bruins have of winning three in a row when a  Sean Couturier wrist shot in the this is the eventual game-winner, Flyers come back and upset the Bruins 3-2, who fail to win 3-in-a-row

The very next night, the Washington Capitals were back at the Garden to take on the Bruins in a game that most Bruins fans with a heartbeat would be looking for forget in a millisecond. Chris Wagner loses a fight with Brendan Dillon right off the face-off to start the game, and then from there, their lack of blueline depth was exposed like a molvtok cocktail through the front window of your worst enemy, an 8-1 bludgeoning. Craig Smith, scoring the lone Bruins goal during third period garbage time. Bruins needs to make moves come the trade deadline to remain competitive in this division.

With Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar, and Mike Reily, the Bruins brand new trade deadline acquisitions in the lineup. The Bruins hope to turn the page on the 8-1 thumping two nights before and hopefully inject some exuberance into the lineup and finally solidify that second line. Hall's now-former team, the Buffalo Sabres, arrived at the garden with old friend Anders Bjork on their lineup. Less than 2 minutes into the affair, former Bruin Colin Miller scores a bomb from the blueline, beating netminder swayman cleanly, 1-0 Buffalo. Almost six and half minutes left in the first, Lauzon chips the puck in that deflects off the goaltender, and David Krecji puts home for the tie score. Five minutes into the second, new Bruin Taylor Hall brings the puck up-ice and drops it back to Craig Smith for the goal to put the Bruins up 2-1. Eight minutes left in regulation,  Jokijarju gets a puck to Rasmus Dahlin, who blasts a rocket past Swayman from the blueline to tie 2-2. Time winds down, and after an uneventful overtime period, both teams find themselves in the shootout. The Bruins score on both their first two chances with goals by Coyle and Debrusk, who roofs one over the goaltender's right shoulder for the game-winner. Bruins win 3-2!

No team has given the Boston Bruins fits much like the New York Islanders have in 2021. There's nothing the Bruins needed more with the Isles coming into the garden for a two games series than for the Bruins to get Tuukka Rask back in net and for the team to get out to a quick start. That's exactly what they got with a newly revamped aggressive checking fourth line that came out of the gates, ruining opposing players' nights. At almost two minutes gone in the game, Brad Marchand rings a puck in and out off the net camera, so quick no one was sure it went in, but after review, the goal was confirmed, 1-0 Bruins. Around seventeen minutes later, with three minutes remaining on the period, David Krecji dishes a pass from the boards to Craig Smith, who rockets it along the ice past Islanders goaltender, Varlamov for the 2-0 Bruins score. The second period starts, and the Islanders get themselves on the board on a Travis Zajac wrist shot, 2-1 Bruins. After a back and forth rest of the second, shiny new toy, Taylor Hall scores his first as a remember of the Black & Gold on a breakaway self pass from Pastrnak for the 3-1 advantage with almost two minutes gone In the period. Brad Marchand scores his second of the game on a bad angle shot for the empty-net goal. Bruins heat the Islanders 4-2 for their first victory against New York this season!

Kings Sweep and Winners of Four in a Row but Fall to the Ducks

The San Jose Sharks traveled down to the Staple Center for a two-game tilt against the LA Kings. An affair in which the Sharks' second line came alive and dictated the pace of play for a vast majority, scoring a goal in every period for the eventually 3-0 Shutout, where Matin Jones had 30 saves against his former team. In the first, at 3 minutes in, we saw a Balcers feed to the front of the net, Where Tomas Hertl tips the pass in for the 1-0 score. At 11 minutes into the second period, Hertl again, this time sending a pass from behind the net way out to Timo Mierer, who roofs it home, making it 2-0. After a Dylan Gambrel goal is called back five minutes into the third, Sharks find the empty-net goal with 37 seconds left in regulation when Brent Burns breaks his stick. Balcers immediately recognizes this and hands Burns his left-handed stick and immediately skips to the bench to reclaim a new one. Burns them passes Balcers a pass from to the boards into the empty, an incredible scene to see be played out. Sharks win 3-0.

In game two, the Sharks went right back to Jones, hot the heels of his stellar shutout performance. Sharks get to quick work on Jonathan Quick; four and a half minutes into the first, Kevin LeBanc dumps a puck in deep, only to be fed it by Couture, slapping in like a pinball, bouncing and hitting off everything on sight before finally finding the back of the net for the early 1-0 advantage. 2 minutes later, Kings come roaring back, tipping a puck past Jones to tie the tilt 1-1. Five minutes into the second period, Couture goes in deep behind the net to retrieve a puck that he swings out front to the tape of Evander Kane's stick, which puts it past the pads of a sprawled out Jonathan Quick to go ahead 2-1. Later on in the period, with four seconds left, while on a San Jose power play with, the Kings tie it at two pieces with a short-handed goal. There was a lot of speculation on how the Sharks would respond after giving up such a deflating goal going into intermission. Dylan Gambrel answers the skeptics when goaltender Jonathan Quick turns the puck over behind the net, which John Leonard instantly sends Gambrell's way for the easy score. The eventual game-winner, Sharks win 3-2 for the series sweep and, for the first time all season, win four games in a row!

Riding high on their longest win streak of the season, the Sharks welcomed the Anaheim Ducks into the SAP Center Tuesday, April 6th, in a game that the Sharks really couldn't muster up much of anything outside of Patty Marleau's powerplay goal in the second. A game in which Boughner tried implemented unconventional tactics to spark his team, such as pulling goaltender Martin Jones with 7:13 left in the third, which immediately backfired. Despite matching Anaheim for the most part with 34 to 35 shots on goal, the Sharks fall 5-1, ending their four-game win streak.

Win One, Lose One Mentally Continues and Another Rookie Goalie Shines

April 1st, Sidney Crosby and Company arrive at the TD Garden for a couple game set. What started as a seemingly defensive effort by either squad turned into a game where the lack of blueline depth was really exposed and a real bad April Fool's joke all around. Penguins go up 2-0 in the second before the Bruins finally manage to chip away in the third when Brad Marchand's slapshot finds the net making it 2-1. Penguins answer right back two minutes later and then again for the empty net. Bruins lose 4-1 for the Penguins' first win in Boston since 2014. 

The Saturday matinee affair was the kind of bounce-back effort we've come to expect and need to see out of this team. The win-one-lose-one mentality is wearing thin, and changes may be made if that is not quickly remedied. In the first period, we saw the Bruins come up with sluggish legs that took the better part of the period to get them going. Case and point being, 4 minutes in, a ping pong goal over Halak's head results in the early 1-0 Pittsburgh lead. Whatever was said in the Bruins locker room during the first intermission, the message was heard with two quick goals to start the second. 11 seconds into the period, Bergeron cleans up a rebound off the pipes to get the Bruins on the board  1-1. Thirty-three seconds later, Nick Ritchie sends a saucer pass out to the blue line, which Charlie McAvoy distributes David Krecji's way before David Pastrnak cleans up the loose change and pots it home for the 2-1 Bruins lead. Pittsburg manages two more goals of their own, but then 6 minutes into the period, a Matt Grezclyk pass across the middle is launched by Brad Marchand over the Pittsburgh netminder's shoulder to tie the game 3-3. Bruins add-on with a Krecji tip-in pass and the second goal of the period for Marchand to make it 5-3 Bruins before going down the tunnel in anticipation of the third. In the third period, we see both squads trade two goals apiece, with Bruins tallies by David Pastrnak on his own rebound assisted by Krecji's and Brad Marchand completing his hat trick with the empty-net goal for a resounding 7-5 Bruins win!

If there's been anything this season about as good as a sure thing, it's been the Boston Bruins' dominance over the Philadelphia Flyers. Coming into Monday, April 5th's action, the Bruins were 5-0 against the Flyers. Prior to the game, it was revealed that Jaroslav Halak had entered the NHL's covid-protocol program. With Tuukka Rask already on the shelf, that leaves it up to the young, unproven goalie tandem of Dan Vladar and Jeremy Swayman to take the reins for the foreseeable future. In the first period's action, we saw an unbalanced game-flow due to Philadelphia's tenacity for icing the puck, nine total on the first period, but who's counting, but while still managing to score the game's first goal on a Travis Konecny rebound, 1-0 Flyers. The Bruins had a tally of their own, with a little over 3 minutes left in the period when Karson Kuhlman buries it top shelf off a Craig Smith feed. Bruins get to quick work 46 seconds into the second when Pastrnak feeds Bergeron in front of the net for the power play goal to put the Bruins up 2-1. At almost 7 minutes into the period, the Flyers tie the game at 2, a powerplay goal on a Jeremy Lauzon holding call to force the eventual overtime. With less than 2 minutes remain in the overtime, Philadelphia's Aube-Kubel, who should have been called for interference, takes down Marchand just shy of the neutral zone. At the same time, Bergeron simultaneously stumbles backtracking, leading to the breakaway chance and game-winning goal, 3-2 Flyers. Philadelphia's first win against Boston of the season. 

In the second game of the home-and-home series, the Bruins found themselves at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia for a rematch after the crushing overtime defeat in Boston the night before. In the first, it was immediately evident that this was a different Bruins team, a team that came out with a relentless pace and aggressive play. And almost 7 minutes gone in the second period, Brad Marchand throws the puck in on net from just beyond the blueline, which rebounds off Philadelphia's netminder Carter Hart that Bergeron cleans up for the 1-0 Bruins score. The Bruins continue to maintain their balanced attack, and with a bit more than three remaining in the period, the captain again finds the back of the net on the powerplay to put the score at 2-0 Bruins going into the second. As good as the Bruins looked in the first, they look just that bad in the second, giving up two goals tying the game in a matter of 3 minutes. Jeremy Swayman, making his first career NHL start, continued to be peppered with shots Until the two teams retreat to the tunnels until the third, tied 2-2. In the third, we see more of the same, yet better effort but still concerned with some uninspired, lackluster play until the Bruins become the beneficiaries of a Marchand shorthanded goal to put the Bruins up 3-3 in the contest. Bruins turn it up from there and stamp on it later in the period with Captain Bergeron's third goal of the game to complete the hat trick, Bruins win 4-2, and Swayman shines with 42 saves.

Flat Response to Kings Sweep, but Dominate the Wild

Coming into Arizona for a 2-game, back-to-back series against the Arizona Coyotes, inquiring minds wanted to know precisely how the San Jose Sharks would follow up their series sweep of the LA Kings, and the answer couldn't be any more than what one expected, flat.  In game one, we saw the Sharks come away with a 5-2 loss, Arizona, who had their third-string netminder in, and were quick to score early and often, extinguished any confidence Martin Jones had built up with the past couple wins.  Kurtis Gabriel, who still seems to remain in Coach Boughner's doghouse, presence was noticeably lost as the Sharks struggled to establish themselves in the game flow, particularly with regards to Nick Schmaltz's hit on Radim Simek

In game two of the series, we saw more of the same with an uninspired, lackluster 4-0 loss to the Arizona Coyotes where Arizona was the benefactor of six power plays with Phil Kessel scoring a hat trick. The sharks yet again for the second night in as many chances fall to Arizona's third-string goaltender Aiden Hill, this time with a shutout performance. I'll go out on a limb and say the highlight of the game was Kurtis Gabriel being assessed a major penalty with an interference and game misconduct call in his first game back in action since being reprimanded for his pregame antics last week against the LA Kings. 

One of the most surprising stories of the NHL season, the Minnesota Wild, come into the Shark Tank for a two-game series. Jeffery Viel, making his NHL debut, quickly introduces himself to the league with a dust-up with Minnesota's Luke Johnson, throwing both hands; if he's not careful, Kurtis Gabriel might soon find himself back on the Barracuda. Marcus Johansson makes with 1-0 Wild with a strike with 7 minutes left in the first. Sharks then add a goal of their own with Radim Simek one-timer from the blue line with 3 minutes left, but not before the Wild go up 2-1 with a minute left in the period. Come the second period, Erik Karlsson ties the game five minutes in when he finds the back of the net on a beautiful feed from Kane. With 4 minutes left in the second, Ryan Donato from behind the net finds Karlsson at the blueline for a one-timer into the back of the net for the 3-2 lead. The wild tie the game at three apiece in the 3rd to force the extra frame and shootout where Erk Karlsson wins the game on the 8th round of the shoot out where Logan Couture also added a goal for the 4-3 win where Jones had 25 saves.

In the second game of the series, the Sharks dictated the pace of play from the onset. After an uneventful first period for either teal, the Sharks kick off the scoring 5 minutes into the second with a beautiful cross-seam pass from Hertl to Balcers, who roofs it for the 1-0 lead. Halfway through the period, on the power play, Brent Burns feeds a blue line pass to Ryan Donato in front of the net, who fights a blue-collar puck into the back of the net for the 2-0 score. In the third, the Wild finally get on the board almost halfway through the third from way out off the bar and into the net. A little over 2 minutes later, Karlsson finds Kynzhov at the face-off circle who scores his first career NHL goal, 3-1 Sharks. Wild score a garbage-time goal with 12 seconds left in regulation but not before Evander Kane finds the puck for the empty-net goal to seal the deal for a 4-2 Sharks win.

Bruins Return from Covid, Vladar Shines Again but Mediocre Play Continues

If there has been anything that has been a constant thorn in the Boston Bruins' side this season, it has been the New York Islanders. Thursday, March 25th, their first game in a week, fresh off their league-mandated covid-quarantine. The Bruins welcomed those very Islanders to the TD Bank Garden with Tuukka Rask back in net for the Black & Gold. The Bruins found themselves quickly up 2-0 with strikes by Kuhlman and Kampfer but soon found themselves looking at a tie game with 2 goals by the Islanders, one in the second and again another in the third after Halak Replaces Rask on goal after the first. The Islanders go ahead late in the third only to give up the game-tying goal to Bjork to give the game into overtime. The Islanders make quick work of the Bruins in the extra period by a score of 4-3, a frustrating loss, to say the least.

In a Saturday matinee affair, the Bruins welcomed Jeremy Lauzon back into the lineup for the first time since Lake Tahoe. The Bruins also welcomed the lowly Buffalo Sabres to the garden, where rookie netminder Dan Vladar made his second start of the season. Early on, we learn that Brad Marchand would not be available for the contest, for he had joined Jake Debrusk and Sean Kuraly, who have remained on the covid protocol list. Buffalo takes advantage of a powerplay late in the first before Matt Gryzclyk ties it in the second, his 2nd goal of the season. Shortly after that, Buffalo makes it 2-1 on a backhand shot by Kyle Okposo. That's before, in the third, a beautiful feed from McAvoy's stick finds the tape of Nick Ritchie's, who puts it home for his 9th goal of the season. Craig Smith adds his 6th goal of the season to seal the win, 3-2 Bruins!

Sometimes the inexplicable is exactly just that, inexplicable. Which sums up my feelings about the Bruins' season-long struggles with the New Jersey Devils, and no disrespect to them but a team Boston should handle every single time. Sunday afternoon, March 28th, Jersey rolls into town for a 2-game affair. A goaltender's duel and defensive effort with neither side giving up many chances besides a Kyle Palmieri tip in the first. That was until 1:10 left in regulation with the goalie pulled; David Krecji jars a puck lose from under goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood's glove, which Patrice Bergeron promptly puts home for the game-tying goal. Upon further review, it was determined Krecji's stick pushed blackwood's glove to free the puck, no goal for goaltender interference, a tough break Boston Bruins. Blackwood then solidifies the 1-0 Devils win and shuts the door with an unreal kick save as time expired.

Those pesky Devils returned to the garden for the second game of the series, with Brad Marchand and Brandon Carlo making their much-needed returns to the team. Devils get on the board not even 1:30 into the match by Devils public nuisance #1 Miles Wood, with the Bruins soon thereafter scoring their first 5-on-5 goal of the season against New Jersey by Nick Ritchie tying the game. Devils go ahead on a breakaway halfway through the period to put the score 2-1 going into the second. The second kicks off with a Bruins no-goal call by Matt Gryzclyk, and then New Jersey adds to their lead not 4 minutes later, 3-1 Devils. Brad Marchand delivers a crushing hit behind the New Jersey net, which Jesper Bratty takes exception with. The two drop the gloves before Marchand judo-flips Bratty to the ice, jumping on top of him with some finishing blows. The scrum really seems to change the trajectory of the game. A minute out of the box, Marchand sets up Bergeron, who beats Blackwood for the 3-2 score. Just over a minute later, Kyle Palmieri adds to New Jerseys' lead 4-2. In the 3rd period, Charlie MacAvoy inches the Bruins closer 4-3 with a score off a Craig Smith rebound, who also provides the assist on Matt Gryzclyk's game-tying goal with 4 minutes left in regulation to force the overtime. Neither team is able to breakthrough in the extra period; David Pastrnak ends the game in the second round of the shootouts for a hard-fought 5-4 Bruins win!