Boston Bruins Friday Feature: Eriksson Scores Game Winner
For the past week, there haven’t been many plays by the Boston Bruins that stand out. Their lackluster play has caused them to drop three of the last four games. However, even when it appears all hope is lost, one play stands out as the feature of the week.
“I think I got a shot first, and it was lying under my feet and I was able to throw it in. So it was nice.” – Louis Eriksson
On Saturday night in their game against the New York Islanders, Loui Eriksson landed a beautiful goal that led to the Bruins’ sole win of the week. The B’s fell behind early in the first thanks to a power play goal by Islanders’ captain, Tavares. However, the Isle’s lead didn’t last long as Bergeron countered with a power play goal of his own just five minutes later. They went on to play a scoreless second and at 12:26 of the third, Eriksson landed his 12th goal of the season – a backhanded shot that passed Johnson for the game-winner.
Parked directly in front of the Islanders’ net, Eriksson picked the puck out from his skates, fought off Islanders’ defensemen Boychuk and Martin and slipped the puck passed Johnson for the point. However, he was not the only deciding factor in the play. Kelly was able to move the puck seamlessly through the neutral zone and make a vital pass through traffic to Soderberg, who then tipped it over to Eriksson.
When asked about the play, Eriksson said, “It was just a good play by [Kelly]. He put it on the net there and we were able to, I think I got a shot first, and it was lying under my feet and I was able to throw it in. So it was nice.”
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Eriksson has been having some great games and making some crucial plays throughout the season – as have his linemates, Soderberg and Kelly. The effort in the third period of the game from this line, as well as all the other lines, was not lost on coach Claude Julien who stated, “I thought in the third period, we kind of got our game going in a better direction there and finished strong, but sometimes that’s what you got to do on certain nights when not everything is clicking. At the same time you appreciate the character and resiliency of your team by fighting it through and winning this tough hockey game.”
After winning this game, the Boston Bruins went on to lose the next two in a pathetic fashion. They looked sloppy on the ice, made some disappointing plays and were just plain bad – even the players thought so. With a match-up tonight against the Vancouver Canucks, let’s hope the B’s can turn around their game and start notching some points.