Boston Bruins are able to muscle their way passed the Golden Knights

On June 21, 2017 the much anticipated NHL expansion draft took place.  The Las Vegas Golden Knights took advantage, and were able to pickup Boston Bruins defenseman Colin Miller in the expansion draft.  Miller and the rest of the Golden Knights came to Boston last night, and left defeated.  

The beginning of the 2017-2018 season has been a coin toss for the injury plagued Boston Bruins.  Almost half of the Bruins roster consist of new young players that are in their 1st to 3rd year of NHL hockey.

The Bruins ended up grabbing 7 out of a possible 10 points in their last 5 games.  That’s trending towards the right direction.  October was a very slow month for the Bruins in the games played department, since they have 2 or 3 games in hand on most teams in the league.

1st Period

As usual for home games, the puck dropped around 7:00 pm Thursday night, as Colin Miller and the Golden Knights came to town.  The Bruins came out of the gate challenging the Golden Knights.  In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Bruins were winning the physical 5-on-5 battles. While they had some shots on goal in the early minutes of the period they still only managed to get 5 shots.

Within the late stages of the period the Bruins were guilty of taking some questionable penalties. The Bruins are one of the best teams when it comes to 5-on-5 play.  Taking penalties and going on the penalty kill usually zaps any momentum the team gains in the even strength game.  That’s exactly what happened here.  However, the Bruins were able to kill off the penalties, and the period ended up being scoreless.

2nd Period

After a mental mistake made by the Golden Knights on a deliberate offsides, the Bruins were able to get an offensive zone face-off.  The Bruins won the face-off, which ultimately ended with Riley Nash getting on the scoreboard 4 minutes into the period with his 1st goal of the season.  Torey Krug, who had been struggling on both ends of the ice recently, collected an assist on the play.

More from Causeway Crowd

• Harrison, Toporowski shine in Prospects Challenge
• Obscure former Boston Bruins: Steven Kampfer
• Bruins release Prospects Challenge roster, schedule Tuesday
• Bruins release full “Historic 100” list ahead of season
• McAvoy, Lucic named to “Historic 100” list over the weekend

While the Bruins continued to work and pick up momentum, about 5 minutes later, a one-timer by Cody Eakin got past Tuukka Rask.  Jake Debrusk had his pocket picked, which ended up with the puck in the Boston net.

With 2:00 minutes remaining in the period, the Bruins started challenging the Knights defense and managed to get multiple scoring chances before the period came to an end, still tied 1-1.  The Bruins ended the 2nd period with 15 shots, 10 more shots than the 1st.

3rd Period

At the 10 minute mark, Sean Kuraly was able to score his first regular season NHL goal.  Krug went down the wall and took a shot on net.  Debrusk attempted the 1st rebound and was unable to connect.  Kuraly was on the next rebound and was able to get past Maxime Lagace.  Krug and Debrusk were each credited with the assists.

With just about 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd period, Charlie McAvoy was called with a holding penalty.  The Bruins were able to kill off the penalty, and hold strong against the end push by the Knights to come away with win and the 2 points.  

Tuukka Rask was on his game tonight with 28 saves.  He was able to keep track of the puck throughout the entire 60 minutes, as well as being able to make timely stops in big situations.  The Boston Bruins have now taken 9 out of a possible 12 points in their last six games.

Bruins Game Takeaways

• Tuukka Rask was on his game tonight.  Complete rebound control and an overall strong performance.
• The Bruins were putting the pressure on the Knights defenseman all night.  Great work by the Bruins forwards.
• The Bruins blue liners were able to keep the Golden Knights to the outside edges of the zone, which allowed Rask to see the puck clearly.
• The Bruins applied the KISS method:  Keep it Simple Stupid.  Get the pucks deep in the zone, chase the puck, and forecheck.  Textbook hockey.

Next: David Backes out 8 weeks

Tuukka Rask…so good he’s worth mentioning again

Anyone who is a Boston Bruins sports fan is well aware that our #1 goalie is Tuukka Rask.  Back in 2013, Rask signed a 8 year deal; worth $56 million which averages just over $7 million a year.

During the last 3 seasons Rask’s workload has been that around 80% of the games.  In the 2014-2015 season, Rask played 70 games.  In the 2015-2016 (which was the lockout year so there wasn’t the 82 games that there normally is) Rask played 65 games.  In the 2016-2017 season Rask played 65 games.  Tuukka Rask is the unquestionable number one goalie in Boston, and for good reason.