Boston Bruins: B’s make the Arizona Coyotes Howl in a 5-2 win.
The Boston Bruins came into Phoenix knowing that they had to right the ship. Three straight losses, capped by a 7-4 blowout courtesy of the San Jose Sharks made that clear. The team had to go back to the fundamentals and play technically clean hockey. While it wasn’t a perfect performance by the Black and Gold, the Bruins fired on all cylinders offensively and were able to cover most of their lapses on defense. The Bruins broke their losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
“We had lost three in a row, so I thought that there were two desperate teams here, and somebody had to be hungrier than the other,” said Coach Claude Julien postgame. “And it was nice to see that it was us. We didn’t want to go back home having not won a game here, and I thought we played well enough on this trip that somewhere along the way, we should come out with a win.”
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The Bruins put one in the net in the first minute of the match, courtesy of an Arizona turnover. Dougie Hamilton stole the puck and sent it to Reilly Smith who got a great pass to Brad Marchand. Marchand earned his first of two goals on the night, and the Bruins didn’t look back. They even chased Devan Dubnyk out of his crease.
“Pride was definitely a word that was thrown around. I don’t think it was such a horrible road trip. The first two games, the process was good we just didn’t get the results that we needed, and the third game against San Jose we came out hard but couldn’t put a full 60 minutes together so we were able to put both of those together, and it’s a good stepping stone for our next game because it’s going to be a tough one against Chicago.”- Bruins forward Reilly Smith
The Bruins got several monkeys off their back last night. Not only did they break the losing streak, they finally broke the streak of having goals overturned on the ice. Simon Gagne‘s goal was initially ruled dead by the refs on the ice, but video review showed that the puck had bounced off Gagne (his third of the season) and went in the net. The Bruins connected for a power play goal as well. (The Bruins had missed a chance to score on their last seventeen opportunities.) That goal came off the stick of Loui Eriksson who has been having his own scoring troubles.
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Brad Marchand shined in last night’s performance. His First Star of the Night honors were earned by doing it all for Boston. He put in two goals, finished with a +2, had four shots, led the team with five hits, and played outstanding three zone, two way hockey. He had mentioned that the team was using the word ‘desperate’ to describe their playing style. There was no desperation in his performance, just solid all-around hockey.
Tuukka Rask had a solid night in net for the B’s. He stopped twenty-four of twenty-six(.923) in last night’s performance. He was able to counter the mistakes made by the Bruins last night, and his performance was worthy of Second Star of the Night honors.
Reilly Smith earned two solid assists on the Marchand goals. It was a toss-up between Smith and Dougie Hamilton over Third Star of the Night honors (Both were a +2 with two assists.). The Bruins earned all three stars of the night for their performance.
It was a good chance for a lot of players to clear the rust out in the desert. Loui Eriksson hadn’t scored in thirteen games. Kevan Miller hadn’t scored in fifty-five games. The Bruins saw chances come for all four lines and the defensemen last night, and they made the most of those chances.
The Bruins were solid tonight in the face-off circle. Gregory Campbell, Carl Soderberg, and Chris Kelly were all over fifty percent. The Bruins were winning their face-offs far more cleanly against the Coyotes, and that led to the B’s having far more control of the puck then they had in previous games out west.
The Bruins won’t play again until Thursday. They head home to take on the always dangerous Chicago Blackhawks.