Boston Bruins: He Can Be a Special Player

When Boston Bruins general manager Don Sweeney acquired Taylor Hall at the trade deadline from the Buffalo Sabres, he was hoping that the former Hart Trophy winner would be able to come in add some offense.

That has happened in the regular season, but can it continue in the playoffs? The Black and Gold surely hope so.

There is no doubting Hall’s offensive ability and that was on full display Monday night against the New York Islanders at the TD Garden in the Bruins final regular-season home game.

In Boston’s 3-2 overtime victory over that clinched the third-seed in the East Division playoffs that begin Saturday night against the Washington Capitals, Hall scored two of the three goals for the Bruins.

The first goal came in the final minute of the first period with the Bruins on a 5-on-3 power play when David Krejci sent a pass in front of the Isles net to Hall, who one-timed the puck past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov from almost along the goal line for a 1-0 lead.

That was nothing. His game-winner with two minutes left in overtime was one that has to be watched again. He brought the puck into the Islanders zone and made a move and dragged the puck around a defenseman and backhanded the game-winning goal inside the far post past a sliding Ilya Sorokin for the win.

Since arriving in Boston with Curtis Lazar on April 11, Hall has been everything the Bruins have hoped he would be. In 16 games, he has eight goals and six assists on the second line with Krejci and Craig Smith, with an incredible plus/minus of plus-15.

This is what Sweeney and the front office were hoping to get out of Hall. Now that he has produced in the regular season, now is the time for the free agent this summer to do his thing and carry over his play to the postseason.

A few more highlight goals like last night would be a good thing.