The Boston Bruins know they need to win every night. If they want to keep their eighth seed, the Black and Gold have to engage in a full sixty minute game. Tonight the B’s proved they can be a superior team in all three zones. (The Arizona Coyotes proved why people shouldn’t play hockey in the desert.) The Bruins were firing on all cylinders tonight as they handed a severe drubbing to the Coyotes. The final score was 4-1.
Bruins head coach Claude Julien knew how important this game was for the B’s. While he focuses intently on the needs of the Black and Gold, the incidentals of his opponents occasionally fall by the wayside.
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“I haven’t really – to be honest with you – I haven’t looked at their record of eight straight losses more than I’ve looked at ours, saying this is an important game, as important as was to win,” said Julien before game time. “We really have been taking a focus on our team, not just who we play, but how well we play. That’s the main thing right now.”
That focus was there as four different B’s lit the lamp tonight at the TD Garden. This win is especially important to the Bruins. It’s their third win in four games. The Bruins still have a four point lead over the Florida Panthers (who beat the NHL’s favorite whipping post, the Buffalo Sabres 5-3.) for the final wild card slot in the Eastern Conference. This marks the Arizona Coyotes’ ninth straight consecutive regulation loss.
The Bruins began the punishment early for Boston. David Pastrnak dumped the puck behind the Coyotes net, and Milan Lucic earned his thirteenth of the season by getting the puck and pushing it past Mike Smith just 2:40 in to the first period. (Mike Smith was just .800 in net for Arizona letting in four goals on twenty shots. He was replaced in the second period by Louis Domingue.) Brad Marchand(who was Second Star of the Game) earned his eighteenth goal of the season when he beat Antoine Vermette( who was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks after the game.) down the rink and then sent a lazer through Smith to up the lead to 2-0.
Patrice Bergeron (who was First Star of the Game) earned his eighteenth goal of the season by getting a backhand shot that bounced of Keith Yandle and past Smith. Zdeno Chara finished off the scoring for the Bruins in the second period scoring with the B’s only power play goal. That goal was made possible by rookie phenom David Pastrnak engaging in some serious puck wizardry to keep the B’s in the offensive zone.
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As always, Claude Julien had a lot of positive things to say about his second line center. “Patrice is always a great player,” said Julien postgame. “I mean we always talk about him, because of what he brings – he brings the same effort night in and night out,” said Julien. “He brings the same commitment to the game and the game plan night in and night out. So that’s what makes him such a good player.”
The Bruins captain looked like his old self on the ice tonight. While Chara is a tad slower from years past, he made solid patient plays that led to a scattered handful of defensive breakdowns. It was one of his better games tonight and he earned his Third Star of the Night honors. “We put a lot of emphasis on finishing really strong, despite how we started this month,” said Chara in the locker room after the game. “The way we started, I thought we battled back pretty hard to be at that .500 level. Now we have to just continue to play like we did last four or five games. Now we have something close to 20 games, and we know where we’re at. It’s going to be a fight until the end. A lot of teams are going to be fighting for those last spots and we’ve just got to continue to play like we have the last four or five games.”
Tuukka Rask had the fans howling his name from start to finish tonight. Rask finished with thirty-one saves (.969 save percentage) in the win. That gets Tuukka’s save percentage over the .920 mark and places him back in the top ten for goalies.
Rask and the Bruins get a few days off before the welcome back the Calgary Flames to the TD Garden on Thursday.