Apparently Christmas break and a meeting with the struggling Sabres was exactly what the Bruins needed.
The vibes have completely turned around for the Bruins
Boston snapped its four-game losing streak Wednesday night in Buffalo with a dominant 4-1 win. Charlie Coyle scored a pair of power-play goals, Morgan Geekie added a third power-play tally, and Mason Lohrei scored as well. Jeremy Swayman stopped 25 of the 26 shots he faced and snapped his personal three-game losing streak.
Here are three takeaways from the game:
Coyle, DeBrusk snap droughts
Charlie Coyle and Jake DeBrusk both entered the Christmas break mired in six-game pointless droughts. They both ended those droughts by the end of the first period Wednesday.
With the Bruins leading 1-0 and on the power play, DeBrusk carried the puck into the zone, dropped it to Brad Marchand, got it back on a return pass, wrapped behind the net, and set up Coyle in front for a pretty one-time finish under the bar.
Early in the second period, they did it again on the power play. This time, David Pastrnak carried into the zone before chipping the puck in deep for DeBrusk, who tracked it down and centered for Coyle again. The finish wasn’t quite as pretty, as the puck banked in off Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson, but it upped the Bruins’ lead to 3-0 nonetheless.
It was the first time in Coyle’s 12-year career that he scored two power-play goals in a game, and it was his third multi-goal game of the season, a career high. He nearly recorded his second hat trick of the season (and of his career), but had two empty-net bids blocked by Rasmus Dahlin. This was also DeBrusk’s first multi-point game of the season.
Coyle and DeBrusk were also playing together at 5-on-5 on a line with Brad Marchand, and they looked good there as well. The Bruins had a 6-3 edge in scoring chances and an expected goals share of 70.9% when they were on the ice. Marchand joined his linemates with a multi-point night of his own, picking up a pair of assists. It would be a huge boost to the Bruins’ offense if those three can build off Wednesday night, as all three had gone quiet prior to Christmas.
Marchand’s second assist came on Morgan Geekie’s goal, which pushed the Bruins’ lead to 4-0 and was their third power-play tally of the night. The man advantage finished the night going 3-for-4 and is now 8-for-18 (44.4%) over the last six games.
Lohrei looking like he belongs
The Bruins’ first goal of the night came from Mason Lohrei, and it was a great all-around play from the rookie defenseman.
After Danton Heinen poked a puck free, Lohrei stepped up in the neutral zone to win back possession. He then made a nice, short pass to Trent Frederic for the zone entry, and instead of falling back or just staying at the point, he saw an open lane to the net and drove it. Frederic set up James van Riemsdyk, whose shot produced a perfectly placed rebound that the charging Lohrei buried.
It was Lohrei’s third goal and sixth point in 18 games this season. Just as importantly, it was another sign of his growing confidence at the NHL level. This may have flown a bit under the radar during the Bruins’ losing streak, but Lohrei has been playing some better hockey of late.
In Lohrei’s first 12 NHL games, the Bruins got outscored 13-7 and outshot 114-76 (40.0%) during his 5-on-5 shifts. In his last six games, though, Lohrei has been on the ice for five Bruins goals and just one against, and the shot differential has flipped to 43-34 (55.8%) in favor of Boston.
Lohrei just looks more comfortable playing at NHL speed. On Wednesday, he started several clean breakouts under pressure, recognizing how much time and space he had and where his outlets were. A month ago, he may have gotten his pocket picked or made an errant pass to the wrong spot on a couple of those. He has also looked more decisive at the offensive blue line, where he notably got caught flat-footed a couple times early on.
Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort remained out Wednesday with injuries. It’s unclear how much more time they’ll miss, but Lohrei is making a case to remain in the lineup even when one or both return.
Zacha moves to wing
Jim Montgomery’s most interesting lineup change Wednesday came on the top line, where Zacha shifted from center to left wing and Morgan Geekie slid between him and David Pastrnak.
Like much of the rest of the team, the Bruins’ first line had definitely gone too quiet during the four-game losing streak, so some sort of shakeup was certainly understandable. And Geekie produced with Pastrnak when Zacha missed a few games due to injury earlier this month, so the thinking here made sense.
The results were a little mixed. Geekie did score on the power play. Pastrnak had an assist and was involved in the build-up on all three power-play goals. At 5-on-5, though, the trio was a little quiet.
The Bruins had just five shot attempts and two scoring chances during their 9:07 together. By comparison, the Brad Marchand-Charlie Coyle-Jake DeBrusk line had 10 attempts and six scoring chances in 10:27, and the James van Riemsdyk-Trent Frederic-Danton Heinen line had 14 attempts and eight scoring chances in 9:45 (and was on the ice for Lohrei’s goal).
The good news is that Zacha, Geekie and Pastrnak didn’t give up anything at the other end either (five attempts, one scoring chance against). We’ll see if Montgomery keeps them together – and keeps Zacha on the wing – for another game come Saturday.
We’ll also see if there’s a Georgii Merkulov call-up coming. He had two more points (a goal and an assist) in the Providence Bruins’ win over the Bridgeport Islanders on Wednesday. He now has nine goals and seven assists in his last nine games and is up to fourth in the AHL in scoring with 30 points in 31 games. The Bruins could not call him up prior to Wednesday’s game even if they wanted to because of the NHL’s holiday roster freeze, but that ended at midnight.
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