The most predictable thing about this Boston Bruins team is that you cannot predict what they’re going to do in any given game.
On Tuesday and Thursday this week, the Bruins played two of their worst games of the season in back-to-back blowout losses against the Buffalo Sabres and Winnipeg Jets. On Saturday, they turned in a very good bounce-back performance and beat the New York Rangers, a fellow playoff bubble team, 6-3.
Welcome to another upward swing in the Bruins’ roller-coaster season.
Interim head coach Joe Sacco has noted his team’s ability to respond, and he’s not wrong. The Bruins have generally answered after tough stretches. After back-to-back bad losses in Winnipeg and Seattle in December, they bounced back with a dominant win in Vancouver. Their six-game losing streak in early January was followed by a pair of wins over division rivals Florida and Tampa Bay. They responded to last week’s ugly loss in New Jersey with two good wins over Ottawa and Colorado.
The problem, of course, is how often they need to bounce back. Building on these responses and staying up has not happened. To this point in the season, there has always been another bottoming out right around the corner.
In the here and now, though, there was a lot to like Saturday. The Rangers looked like the more energized team early on, which was to be expected after their big trade for J.T. Miller Friday night. But the Bruins weathered the early storm and then opened the scoring with a big power-play goal (yes, you read that right) from Charlie McAvoy.
You need your best players to step up in situations like this. McAvoy did in his second game back from injury, and so too did David Pastrnak.
Fresh off being named the NHL’s No. 1 star for the month of January, Pastrnak stayed hot to start February with a hat trick and an assist Saturday.
After the Rangers tied the game at 1-1, Pastrnak made it 2-1 late in the first period right after a Bruins penalty kill, burying a feed from Matt Poitras, who had won a battle against Adam Fox behind the net.
Pastrnak’s second goal came less than a minute after the Rangers cut Boston’s lead to 4-2 with a power-play goal early in the third. Again skating with Poitras on the all-important first shift after being shorthanded (Poitras replaces Pavel Zacha on those shifts since Zacha is used on the PK), Pastrnak stepped into a one-time feed from Poitras and ripped a rocket past a helpless Igor Shesterkin. Pastrnak finished off the hat trick and the scoring with a late empty-netter.
Poitras was another standout with the two assists (his first points in six games), as was fellow youngster Mason Lohrei. One game after committing a costly turnover that led to a goal against, the second-year defenseman looked like a player who was not feeling down on himself at all. Instead, Lohrei was active and engaged all night, especially in the offensive zone, where he was consistently holding on to pucks and helping to create chances. He did not register a point, but he did play 22:32, the third-most minutes on the team. During his 20:37 of 5-on-5 ice time, most of which came against the Rangers’ top two lines, the Bruins out-attempted New York 35-21.
“You want to see that, right?” Sacco said of Lohrei’s response. “That’s part of the learning curve in the National Hockey League. I said this the other day: Players make mistakes. Young, old, it happens in this game. It’s a game of mistakes. But I thought he responded well today. He played on his toes.”
Another positive: Not only did McAvoy score on the power play, but so did Pavel Zacha, who collected a loose puck in front late in the second period and buried it after some nice passing from Pastrnak and Brad Marchand. Don’t look now, but the Bruins’ power play is now 4-for-8 over the last three games. They’ve scored in three straight games for just the second time this season, and Saturday marked the third time they’ve scored twice in a game.
“Yeah, that was nice,” McAvoy said when asked if the power play’s confidence is starting to grow. “It’s two things. You want to score. If you’re not going to score, you want to get momentum for the team. … It was nice tonight to go two-for-three. That really helps us in the game.”
The Bruins will look to build on Saturday – and not fall off again – when they host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, with now just three games to go before the 4 Nations Face-Off break.
“We just try to play the way we did today,” Sacco said. “I think that’s the key for us. When we stick to our game and we try to defend, we play tight, try to take advantage of our opportunities down the other end, and get some big saves like we did today … get timely goaltending, timely scoring – I just liked our energy today. I thought that we played with a lot of passion and desperation in our game today.”