Boston Bruins: Talking Points On B’s 2-1 win over Winnipeg.

Nov 28, 2014; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman

(27) reacts with defenseman

(43) after scoring the winning goal in OT against the Winnipeg Jets at TD Banknorth Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

Dougie Hamilton. Dougie Hamilton earned his First Star Honors with tonight’s performance. Hamilton won the game in overtime in Boston, firing a bullet past the Jet’s Michael Hutchinson(a former Providence Bruin). He earned an assist on the Lucic goal, and was the only person outside the Soderberg line to finish with a +2 for Boston. He had four shots on goal, two hits, and two takeaways for the B’s. He put up twenty four minutes on the ice tonight and was important in both the power play (3:17) and the penalty kill (3:39) for Boston.

The New Matt Bartkowski. When Claude Julien chose to bench ‘Bad Luck Bart’ for his string of penalty and goal causing miscues, he did it in the hopes that the old Bartkowski would return. So far, it looks like Bad Luck Bart is still hanging out on the ninth level with the injured Bruins and Matt Bartkowski has returned to the ice. Bartkowski was one of the key players for Boston tonight. He made intelligent plays, skated well, had one shot on goal and three hits. He proved to be dynamic on the Bruins extended penalty kill late in the third period. In my opinion he was more deserving of the Third Star of the Night Honors.

Move over Buffy and the Jets. Say hello to Lucic and the Swedes. This new Soderberg line with Milan Lucic is doing well for Boston. It’s almost a shame that it’ll get broken up when David Krejci gets healthy. Lucic is playing his best non-Krejci hockey of the season, and he’s playing mad. Almost ‘Looch the Gooch’ mad, and it’s working for him. The Soderberg line had eleven shots on goal, and all three of them were a +2 for the evening. All three players had at least one block shot credit to them. They were outstanding in the face off circle. Milan Lucic won his faceoffs and Soderberg won 62% of his. They’re turning into the complete package for Boston and may end up as the B’s new top line if they keep playing like this.

Soderberg has once again taken over the leader board for points this season with seventeen(five goals) for the Black and Gold.

Two Us, Two Ks, Two Points. The benching of Matt Bartkowski seemed to have be the turning point in his career this year, and the battering by the Toronto Maple Leafs turned out to be Tuukka Rask‘s. Tonight Tuukka Rask was solid in the net. He stopped thirty-five of thirty six shots (.972) and was the strongest player on the ice for Boston in the third period. (Matt Bartkowski was a very close second.) Tuukka Rask is now 11-6-1, with a slowly swindling 2.31 goals against average, and a respectable .919 save percentage.

The Bruins giving David Pastrnak a shot. The Bruins wasted Pastrnak in the Penguins game. The Bruins made up for the error tonight. Pastrnak led all Bruins with seven shots on goal tonight. Julien was even tempted to try out the young Czech on the power play (3:44). He played well on the Bergeron line, and if Chiarelli is planning on keeping him here, that might end up as his assignment.

The B’s in November. The Bruins went 8-3-1 in the month of November. They shook a lot of the rust from the veterans and green mistakes made by the new players. They’ve played much better hockey (save that disastrous Canadian road trip) than they did in October.

The B’s fourth line. The current incarnation of the Merlot Line is just not what it used to be a year ago. Shawn Thornton was a lot more than the team’s preferred pugilist. He got the fans into the game, and he knew how to use his skill set to his advantage. Now, the Big Bad Bruins are a shadow of their former selves. While this will be an unpopular call, it’s time to sit Gagne for a couple of games and call up Bobby Robins. That’s a man who knows how to bring energy (and his own brand of cursing and violence) to a hockey game.