As far as points in the standings go, the two the first-place Bruins didn't get Saturday weren't all that important.
Despite dropping a 5-3 decision to the second-place Tampa Bay Lightning, who pulled within seven points in the Atlantic Division, the Bruins accomplished something more important at TD Garden.
The Bruins racked up 46 penalty minutes (to the Lightning's 48), including two fighting majors, and answered a question the Lightning, the rest of the NHL, and of course the media have probably been asking since the start of the season: are they tough enough?
Yes!
A pair of shorthanded goal by the Lightning on Boston's first power play of the game gave Tampa Bay a lead that turned out to be insurmountable. Andrei Vasilevskiy made one of his 35 saves on a David Pastrnak breakaway after the Bruins had pulled to within 4-3 and Joakim Nordstrom hit the post on a shorthanded bid. Getting a second victory in five nights against the Lightning just wasn't in the cards.
It was important, though, for the Bruins to not go down lightly. They at least came back from 3-0 to make the score 3-2, and from 4-2 to make the score 4-3.
More importantly, when four Lightning players buried Brad Marchand in the corner, a melee ensued. When Pat Maroon squared off with Zdeno Chara and then Anthony Cirelli decided to chop down Chara like a tree from behind, everyone wound up tangling in the neutral zone, including Sean Kuraly taking a page from the Ultimate Warrior's book with a running leap into the thick of the action.
We have complete chaos at TD Garden. pic.twitter.com/BVsbGOOE2q
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) March 8, 2020A team that once practically stood around with its collective hands in its pockets when Tuukka Rask got nailed by an Emil Bemstrom elbow to the head in Columbus a couple months ago suddenly became the Big, Bad Bruins.
"We always put a lot of emphasis to have each other's backs and play as a unit and as a team. And you know I thought that you saw it tonight that everybody responded in the right way," Chara said.
The Lightning were trying to send a similar message to the Bruins, both to prove they're not the same team that went out meekly against Columbus in the first round of last year's playoffs, and to show they'll be a hard out if Boston and Tampa Bay meet in the second round this year.
The Lightning added Pat Maroon (6-foot-2, 236 pounds) in the offseason, and then added Barclay Goodrow (6-2, 215), Zach Bogosian (6-2, 200) and Blake Coleman, who plays bigger than his 5-11, 200 pounds would suggest, in the leadup to the NHL trade deadline. Like the Lightning, the Bruins added some beef to their lineup by bringing in Nick Ritchie (6-2, 230). Ritchie earned a 10-minute misconduct, but what was most impressive was the way Charlie Coyle, Torey Krug, Charlie McAvoy and even Patrice Bergeron were mixing it up.
It remains to be seen if the Bruins have enough depth to win the Stanley Cup or enough toughness to do what they failed to do last June. One thing's for certain, however, we know they're a lot closer in the toughness department now than they were at the start of the season.
"I think some of the stuff that we talk about was sticking together, and I think as far as team chemistry goes, we're already a really tight group, but you see guys answer the bell for each other regardless of their size or role or anything and everyone steps up to make sure we have each other's back," McAvoy said. "That's something where you look at it and you're proud of one another. You know that's the kind of hockey that you're going to run into down the road, so it's nice to know everyone has each other's back."
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