3 Boston Bruins Takeaways Against The Calgary Flames
It was a successful road trip coming into tonight. The Boston Bruins had won the first three games on the trip. In their final game against the Calgary Flames, the Bruins had no business getting one point, let alone a victory. But they did, and they can fly home to Boston relieved. Here are Boston Bruins takeaways from their game against the Flames.
Boston Bruins Takeaways Against Flames
Tonight was one of those games that the Boston Bruins did not deserve to win. It was one of the sloppiest games they’ve played. But good teams know how to win, and a large part had to do with their goaltending. Linus Ullmark who has shined brightly all year continued to do that tonight. Without him there is no way shape or form that the Bruins emerge victorious.
Dmitry Orlov
https://twitter.com/nhlbruins/status/1630755679807115266?s=46&t=M_TmL56R_fQwg8wArxfS3A
The newcomer for the Boston Bruins this deadline has made his impact felt early on. Overall, Orlov has two goals and three assists in three games for the Bruins. Tonight against the Flames, he recorded his first two goals and assisted on the game tying goal. Both goals came in beautiful fashion. He has settled in nicely with the black and gold. Aside from the two goals, it was a bit of an ugly game like the rest of the team.
Orlov finished with the fifth best possession numbers (32.61 CF) and was part of three out of the four goals. His ability to generate chances when this game featured very few was noticeable as well. A great addition to the team paying early dividends.
Strong Goaltending
The Vezina favorite did all he could tonight. He was the sole reason the team recorded a point tonight. The Bruins got off to a slow start. Calgary outshot them 19-5 just in the first period, and faired no better in the second (outshot 20-4). Thank God for Linus Ullmark or the Bruins would have been shipped back to Boston. Ullmark was strong and made plenty of key saves. He was the backbone in net and the reason this team won the game.
https://twitter.com/nhlbruins/status/1630778803999080449?s=46&t=M_TmL56R_fQwg8wArxfS3A
Ullmark stopped 54 of 57 shots he faced. He finished with a .947 save percentage overall and in the high danger area of the ice. In addition, Ullmark finished with a 2.57 goals saved above expected. Just a tremendous performance by the elite netminder.
Lack Of Execution
You could tell the team was gassed after playing the night before. After chasing Connor McDavid around for three periods that was apparent. The Boston Bruins came out slow and sluggish. They got heavily outplayed. Here is how dominant the Calgary Flames were against them:
Corsi For (Possession): 72.92%
XGF (expected goal share: 84.31%
High Danger: 18-2 in chances and 90%
Scoring Chances: 42-13
Calgary played a strong game and took complete advantage of a Bruins team that played the night before. The Bruins capitalized early on, but their level of play for a large portion of this game was lackluster. At the end of the day, two points is two points and the Bruins sweep their west coast road trip and finish the month of February 9-1.