Frank Vatrano Impresses In His Boston Bruins Debut
Sure, the Boston Bruins did it again. The B’s put forth a decent effort, found themselves in penalty trouble, and lost the game due to a Montreal power play. (It’s a little late to judge how much a dive that penalty was.) While the Boston Bruins are now on their second three-game skid of the season, it’s not a total loss.
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The Boston Bruins knew they needed to make some kind of change on offense with the loss of Chris Kelly for the season. The B’s tried to see if the young Russian Alexander Khokhlachev would fit the bill. They put him on the ice for the game against the Washington Capitals, but Koko was relatively invisible. So the Bruins looked down the Providence roster to find someone who could fit the bill.
The Bruins decided to call up Frank Vatrano. In my opinion, Vatrano would have made the roster if the B’s hadn’t surprised us by hiring Zac Rinaldo to play in Boston. (Some of us are still shaking our heads on that one.) Vatrano went out there and took on the B’s mortal enemy in his first NHL game. The Massachusetts native was totally thrilled to get to play in the NHL, let alone a preview game to the 2016 Winter Classic.
“It’s honestly a dream come true. The Bruins/Canadiens rivalry is something I’d always been watching growing up. I’d just been putting pucks on net [in Providence] and they were going in for me. I was just trying to keep my game simple, put pucks on net and not try to overthink things.
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“I didn’t really know when the call was going to come. I was just worried about playing my game down there. I just wanted to keep things simple, and hopefully catch their attention down there…it looks like I did that. I’m excited to be here.”
Vatrano was one of the leading scorers for Providence, and he had a fantastic training camp. It made sense for the B’s to call him up.
Vatrano wanted to make a good impression in Boston. In his first game in the spoked ‘B’, he didn’t disappoint the fans of the Black and Gold. He netted a goal against Montreal and for a while the Bruins had a 2-1 lead.
Vatrano brings solid speed and looked good with David Krejci tonight. If Frank Vatrano can continue this type of play, he may end up being the winner of the Chris Kelly sweepstakes in Boston.