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.
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