Three games ago, Marat Khusnutdinov was a healthy scratch for the fifth time in six games. On Thursday, he was linemates with David Pastrnak on the Bruins’ top line and wound up playing the role of overtime hero in Boston’s 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres.
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“A player has to be ready when your opportunity comes up,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of Khusnutdinov. “And he was just, every time he was scratched, he worked. He worked really hard in practice, and he just waited for his opportunity, and then he took advantage.”
He sure did. Sturm first moved Khusnutdinov to the top line late in Monday’s blowout loss to Ottawa. Then he went back to that look after the Bruins fell down 2-0 to the Islanders on Tuesday, shifting usual first-liner Morgan Geekie to the third line. The move helped spark the Bruins, with Khusnutdinov helping to set up Pastrnak’s tying goal as the Bruins went on to win 5-2.
So, Sturm kept Khusnutdinov, Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm together on Thursday, and they got off to a great start. In their 5:55 together, the Bruins out-attempted the Sabres 9-2 and scored on a Pastrnak tally that made it 2-0 Boston. Unfortunately, the reason they only played 5:55 together was because Lindholm left the game with a lower-body injury midway through the second period (more on that in a minute).
Khusnutdinov wound up playing a season-high 15:20 and took some shifts at center with the Bruins down a body there. When overtime came, Sturm trusted Khusnutdinov enough to throw him out there. Once again, the 23-year-old Russian took advantage of his opportunity, leading a 2-on-1 after a steal from Fraser Minten and ripping a shot past Sabres goalie Alex Lyon to give the Bruins their second straight win.
Here are four more takeaways from Thursday’s game:
Elias Lindholm injured
Just as the Bruins get one Lindholm back in Hampus, they lose the other. Elias Lindholm left Thursday’s game with 12:40 left in the second period after colliding with Sabres winger Jordan Greenway in the neutral zone. Boston's first-line center was ruled out for the remainder of the night with a lower-body injury.
It looked like Lindholm’s left knee banged into Greenway’s right knee, and then Lindholm’s right leg may have locked up as he tried to steady himself. Lindholm did not appear to see Greenway coming, leaving him in a more vulnerable position.
Sturm did not have an update after the game, saying Lindholm would undergo further testing on Friday.
“We have to reassess tomorrow,” he said. “I didn't even see the replay yet, but just, you know, any time you have to help him off the ice, it’s usually not a good sign.”
Multiple Bruins tried to get Greenway to answer the bell for the hit as the game went on, but Greenway declined to drop the gloves. Bruins defenseman Nikita Zadorov acknowledged after the game that he didn’t think Greenway was trying to hurt Lindholm, but that he still thought Greenway should have fought, noting that he did so himself in a similar situation last season against the Sabres.
“I just thought if I have to fight after clean hits - you know, when I hit their top player, I give the guy a fight last year,” Zadorov said. “I think that would be fair to give me a fight back. I know it’s not intentional to hit him, but that’s one of our best players. That’s my brother. So, I felt like that would be a fair trade-off. But I guess he didn’t want it.”
If Lindholm misses time, the Bruins have some center options in both Boston and Providence. Sturm could shift any of Khusnutdinov, Geekie or Casey Mittelstadt to center. He could insert Johnny Beecher, a healthy scratch of late, into the lineup. In Providence, the Bruins have youngsters Matt Poitras and Georgii Merkulov off to good starts, as well as a more veteran option in Patrick Brown.
UPDATE: Sturm told reporters on Friday that Lindholm was undergoing an MRI and will miss "at least a few weeks." The team did not immediately make any recalls from Providence. Khusnutdinov centered Pastrnak and Geekie at Friday's practice.
Korpisalo shines again
For the first time as a Bruin, Joonas Korpisalo got a second straight start. And he was really good for a second straight game. After stopping 33 of 35 shots in Tuesday’s win over the Islanders, Korpisalo turned aside 37 of 40 Thursday night. According to Moneypuck, Korpisalo stopped five of the six high-danger shots he faced and saved 1.21 goals above expected.
It was certainly interesting that Korpisalo even got a second straight start in the first place. Jeremy Swayman really struggled in his most recent outing, giving up seven goals on just 23 shots in Monday’s loss to the Senators. Prior to that, though, Swayman had been off to a better start than Korpisalo this season.
So, the decision for Sturm and goalie coach Bob Essensa was: Do you go with the goalie who was better in his last start, or do you go right back to your No. 1 and give him a chance to bounce back? Sturm went with the hot hand and it paid off Thursday.
Now the question is whether he’ll continue to ride the hot hand and give Korpisalo a third straight start Saturday afternoon against the Carolina Hurricanes. Sturm was not ready to answer that postgame, although it sounds like Swayman will get back in sooner rather than later.
“I don't know. I really don't know,” Sturm said when asked if he might ride Korpisalo for three, four or five straight starts. “I can't answer that right now. I don't know. I gotta sleep and make my decision tomorrow, but start of the season, I would say no, just because we have so many games coming up and we have actually the luxury to have two really, really good goaltenders. So, I'm not sure yet.”
For the season, Swayman and Korpisalo’s numbers are now nearly identical. Swayman is 3-4-0 with an .886 save percentage, 3.45 goals-against average, and 0.9 goals saved above expected. Korpisalo is 3-3-0 with an .882 save percentage, 3.49 GAA, and minus-1.9 goals saved above expected.
Geekie scores again
Make it six straight games with a goal for Morgan Geekie. He opened the scoring Thursday night with a power-play goal 13:07 into the first, taking a great pass from Pastrnak and snapping it blocker-side past Alex Lyon from the slot.
Geekie is now tied with six others for the NHL lead in goals with nine. He could have had another one or two Thursday, as he actually had two great chances even before he scored. But he couldn’t handle the puck cleanly on one, and got denied by Lyon on the other.
“When you're hot, you're hot, right?” Sturm said of Geekie. “This kid, he just needs to shoot the puck and it's going to go in. So, I'm happy with him. Again, he's a really big threat for us on the power play. A lot of times the focus will be on Pasta, especially on the PK, or on our power play. And it's nice to have another weapon, especially like him. I always said his release, it’s impressive. Now I know why he scored so many goals last year. So, he just has to use it.”
Speaking of the power play, don’t look now but it’s 7-for-24 (29.2%) over the last seven games. The Bruins are up to 22.2% on the season, good for 13th in the NHL. Maybe that still doesn’t quite jump off the page, but it’s a massive improvement over last year’s 29th-ranked, 15.2% disaster. Pastrnak’s eight power-play points are tied for second in the NHL, as are Elias Lindholm’s four power-play goals. Obviously, this would be an area the Bruins could miss Lindholm if he’s out for any period of time.
Zadorov-McAvoy pair finding a groove
The Bruins may have found their new top defense pair. Charlie McAvoy and Nikita Zadorov have been paired together in three of the last four games, and the Bruins have won all three. That’s not a coincidence.
McAvoy and Zadorov have been very good together while getting matched up against opponents’ top lines. In the 56 minutes they’ve played together at 5-on-5, the Bruins have out-attempted opponents 53-41 (56.4% Corsi) and outscored them 3-1.
The last two games have almost certainly been McAvoy’s two best of the season, as he has looked more confident and poised, and has been making more plays with the puck on his stick. The upgrade in partner from the struggling (and now healthy-scratched) Mason Lohrei to Zadorov, who has been rock solid all season, certainly helps.
“They're very big,” Sturm said of the Zadorov-McAvoy pair. “Now we have Hampus [Lindholm] coming back too, so we have another good pair. But those are our guys. Those are our guys who have to play big minutes, big situations, against big players, big-time players, and the last two games was exactly what I wanted to see from those two guys.”
The Bruins will look to make it three wins a row Saturday afternoon when they host the Hurricanes, who look like one of the top teams in the East with a 7-3-0 record out of the gate.