Boston Bruins: Tyler Randell and Matt Irwin Continue to Impress
While he’ll never be confused with Tyler Seguin, Boston Bruins forward Tyler Randell certainly made people take notice of him on Thursday night as the Bruins beat the New York Rangers, 4.3, in a shootout. Randell scored the first goal of the game in the first period. Then in the second period endeared himself to the fans by easily handling Brett Bellemore in a one sided scrap.
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While Randell fell just short of a Gordie Howe hat-trick, he certainly was in the game. Playing 11:42 over 14 shifts, he had a couple of hits and a pair of shots. What wasn’t on the stats sheet was the energy he brought to the squad, not to mention his size.
It’s no secret that fighting is down in recent years in the NHL. That being said, Boston Bruins General Manager Don Sweeney made it clear he wants his team to be tougher to play against. Randell brings a mean 6’1″, 195 pounds of combustible energy to the ice. His head shot from last year is one that Don Cherry would have appreciated. There’s a little bit of crazy in those eyes! He had 120 minutes in penalties in Providence last year, by far the team leader in that category. He also had 11 goals, though, and that was good enough to be tied for 6th on the team.
Whether of not Randell will be starting the season in Boston or Providence still remains to be seen, but once player who appears to be getting ready to start in Boston in defenseman Matt Irwin.
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He had another solid performance in the win on Thursday, leading all players with 28:04 of total ice time. Part of that is due to the fact Zdeno Chara left the game after just three shifts with what is described as an upper body injury. Irwin also played well in his Bruins debut on Sunday against the New Jersey Devils, scoring two power plays goals, and earning the praise of NESN analyst Billy Jaffe in the post-game show. Jaffe stated that he felt Irwin had already made the squad.
That, of course, was a couple of days before it was learned that Dennis Seidenberg would be out for eight weeks following surgery to repair a disc herniation. Depending on the severity of Chara’s injury, Irwin might find himself being thrown into a role that just a week ago would have seemed unimaginable.