Boston Bruins Week 21: It’s About To Get Nashty Edition

Already with one R. Nash on the roster, the Boston Bruins doubled down and got another one for the Cup run.  That was just one of the many happenings in Boston this week.

In case you somehow missed the big news on Sunday, the Boston Bruins made a huge deal to acquire on of the top rental forwards on the market in Rick Nash.  In exchange for Nash, the Bruins sent Ryan Spooner, Ryan Lindgren, Matt Belsekey and a 2018 1st round pick and a 2019 7th round pick to the Rangers.

I believe that the deal is a good one for the B’s as is proves that the Bruins are truly going for the Stanley Cup and rewarding this team for its excellent performance this season.  Nash is an upgrade over Spooner and with an already incredibly deep prospect pool, the Bruins could afford to move their 1st rounder this year along with Ryan Lindgren, who is a stay at home, left shot defenseman.  He could make for a nice pro in the future but was deemed expendable by the Bruins front office.

On the ice, this week could have gone better for the B’s, who went 2-2-0 in 4 road games in these past 7 days.  The week started well, with two impressive wins in Western Canada before falling in Toronto in a great game with a very controversial ending, then an absolute stinker in Buffalo to cap off the week.

Game 1: Calgary Flames

After the terrible game in Vancouver, the Bruins traveled to Calgary for a late afternoon start on President’s Day.  The Bruins played a much more defensively structured game and it showed early on.  After turnover after turnover in Vancouver the Bruins had stronger zone coverage and limited the Flames’ scoring chances.

Boston would get on the board first as David Pastrnak scored his 22nd goal of the season to give the B’s and early 1-0.  The Bruins would hold the lead until early in the 2nd period when Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk would score on the powerplay to tie the game at 1.

In the third period, the Bruins and Flames traded chances looking for the winner.  As the period went on, the Calgary would get the better of the chances, but Tuukka Rask stood tall and kept the Bruins in the game.  The game would still be tied after 60 minutes and we would head to OT.

In the extra period, the Bruins would find the winner as a slick feed sent away Brad Marchand who slipped the puck 5 hole and past the Flames goalie to seal the Bruins win 2-1 in OT.

Full recap here.

Game 2: Edmonton Oilers

The Bruins would finish off the back to back in Alberta with a game against Connor McDavid and the struggling Oilers.  After a dominating 1st period by the Bruins, they would unfortunately come away down after 20 minutes.  Cam Talbot stopped a couple of great chances from the Bruins and kept the Oilers in  the game.  Late in the period after a terrible Bruins pinch, the Oilers came down on a 2 on 1 and Ryan Strome sniped one past Anton Khudobin to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead after the first period.

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Early in the second period, the Oilers would double their lead, again due to bad Bruins defensive zone coverage.  This time the Oilers came in the zone on a 3 on 2 rush and Jujhar Khaira would hit both posts and into the net for a 2-0 Edmonton lead.  Things were looking bleak for the Bruins as they were down 2-0 after 40 minutes.  But this team never quits.

In final frame, the Bruins finally got some puck luck as Noel Acciari banked the puck off of Ryan Strome and got the Bruins on the board.  Later in the period, the Bruins would equalize as a great pass by Riley Nash lead to an open net goal by Matt Grzelcyk to tie the game at 2.  Before the game ended however, the Bruins would find the winner as David Krejci would beat Talbot and after killing off a late penalty, and the Bruins would win 3-2 in an great comeback.

Full recap here.

Game 3: Toronto Maple Leafs

After a few days off, the Bruins traveled to Toronto to take on possible playoff opponents the Maple Leafs.  In a crazy 1st period, both teams would score twice, as Brad Marchand would score first in the period.  The Maple Leafs would score the next two goals as Mitch Marner would score about 1 minute after Marchand’s goal to tie the game at 1.  Nazem Kadri would later score on the PP to give the hosts an early 2-1 lead.  But, before the period ended Marchand would score his second of the game to tie the game at 2 after 20 minutes.

Very early in the second period, Jake DeBrusk would keep the goal scoring going and his goal gave the Bruins a 3-2 for most of the period.  With 1 minute to go in the period, the Leafs were on the man advantage again, and it was Nazem Kadri again scoring on the PP to tie the game at 3 after 2 periods.

As we entered the third period, we had a late winner marred in goalie center controversy.  Ron Hainsey took a point shot the beat Rask as Charlie McAvoy was shoved into Rask by Zach Hyman.  Th goal was ultimately allowed to stand and the Bruins would fall 4-3.

Full recap here.

Game 4: Buffalo Sabres

Thank God the Bruins won’t see the Sabres in the playoffs. The Bruins simply play awful against them.  After being acquired by the Bruins earlier on Sunday, Rick Nash played his first game in a Bruins uniform.  In a terrible 1st period, the Bruins would go down 2-0 as Benoit Pouliot would score first, then Kyle Okposo would snipe one on the PP to give Buffalo a 2-0 lead after 1 period.

The Bruins had a small glimmer of hope as Charlie McAvoy would score early in the period to cut the lead in half.  Buffalo would regain their 2 goal lead soon after as Evan Rodrigues would score a few minutes after McAvoy’s tally.  After 40 minutes, the Bruins were down by 2 and no comeback was found.

Buffalo would score once more as a Marco Scandella shot slipped through Anton Khudobin to give the hosts a 4-1 lead in the 3rd period.  The Bruins couldn’t muster much offense and would lose 4-1 to end the road trip.

Full recap here.

Next: The Bruins gauntlet begins

The Road Ahead

• Tuesday vs Carolina
• Thursday vs Pittsburgh
• Saturday vs Montreal

Predictions

After a disappointing 2-2-0 road swing, the Bruins return home for a 6 day home stand and play three times this week.  The team has been able to rebound pretty well this season, and I think the trend will continue.  The Bruins will go 2-0-1 only dropping points on Thursday to the Penguins.