When you have the start that the Boston Bruins have had with a six-game losing streak after winning their first three games, there are going to be rumors about trades, no matter how early into the season it is. It began late last week and continued over the weekend.
Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period mentioned last week that the Vancouver Canucks were interested in Pavel Zacha and Casey Mittlestadt again. It's not the first time that they were linked to the two Black and Gold's centers, as that was the case over the summer too.
“Boston is interesting. Casey Mittelstadt is out there out there again. Pavel Zacha was a player that they explored and took calls on last season,” Pagnotta said. “From the Canucks perspective, those are two players that would appeal.
“There are players they are exploring on and I would imagine that Boston would be a club that Allvin and (President Jim) Rutherford are going to at least poke on to see what the price tag would be for either of those players.”
On Saturday night, after the Bruins' 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche in the afternoon, Elliotte Friedman reported that the Canucks had interest in Zacha. This is certainly something that feels like it won't go away anytime soon.
Viktor Arvidsson finally scores
Through the first nine games, one player who had some scoring opportunities but failed to cash in was Viktor Arvidsson. Acquired from the Edmonton Oilers over the summer, he was stopped on a breakaway on Opening Night against the Washington Capitals. He finally broke through against Colorado.
Trailing 1-0 in the first period against the Avalanche on Saturday, Arvidsson collected a loose puck behind the Avs net and banked it into the goal from behind the net off Colorado netminder Scott Wedgewood. It was the first of two Bruins goals 39 seconds apart.
Just relief. I think I’ve been all over it and shooting a lot. It was nice to see it finally go in,” Arvidsson said. “I thought our line was playing the last three or four games, and had been creating and scoring. It just hadn’t been me who had the last touch. It was nice to have it today.”
Marco Sturm had confidence against Colorado that his team would close out the game
During the six-game losing streak, the Bruins were finding ways to lose games late and in gut-wrenching fashion. They gave up third period goals late, they have defensive zone breakdowns, and no puck-luck whatsoever. Despite holding a two-goal lead against Colorado on Saturday, Sturm had no concerns that his team would close it out and snap the losing streak.
“I actually felt like the bench was really calm, even in the third period. There was absolutely no panic,” the head coach said. “I thought the guys handled it really well the second half of the game.”
Given how their recent stretch was, it would have been understandable if there was panic, especially after the Avs closed to within 3-2 with 19.2 seconds left. However, Boston bent, but never broke, to hold on for th victory.