You should already know how I feel about this team winning every other game, and letting opponents crawl back in to games late, and all our young guys blah blah blah… I’ll get in to some more of that in a bit, but for now here are my notes from Thursday: 

• The Bruins took WAY too many penalties. They can’t keep making the same stupid mistakes and giving up 6 power plays. Sean Kuraly– you’re the main offender on this one. Kuraly was responsible for 3 of the team’s 6 penalties, and as a result he barely played in the third period. Don’t be surprised if Cassidy benches him for at least a game after that performance.
• Yet again, Anton Khudobin came up with some big saves and got the win; the team seems to skate when he’s in net and I’m no so sure the result would have been the same had Tuukka played.
• Charlie McAvoy might have had his best game to date. He moved the puck well without turning it over and his physical play was much improved. With so many penalties he also had an increased role on the PK, and did a more than acceptable job when the Bs were a man down. He may not have been on the score sheet against the Sharks, but he has 5 assists in his last five games and is currently third on the Bruins with 7 points through 8 games.
• Jake DeBrusk hasn’t recorded a point in two weeks, and is a -3 rating in that stretch. Granted, he had gotten used to playing along side David Krejci, who has been out for the last two games so that may be the cause for his mini-slump. Let’s face it, it’s only four games and he’s a 19-year-old rookie, so I can’t even really call it a slump.
• If the Bruins are going to allow a power play goal, I’m glad it was at least Joe Thornton who netted it. I will always have a place for Joe, and his beard game is absolutely on-point!

Ok, so the real story here is the continued growth of Danton Heinen. I’ve been talking up DeBrusk and Anders Bjork for the last few weeks, but here we have yet another rookie who’s coming up and making an impact. While Heinen may not have been given an automatic roster spot like the latter two, he’s been called up twice in the young season and has made the most of his opportunities. After leading the Bs to victory with 2 goals last night, he now has 5 points (2G, 3A) in four games this season. I’ve been hesistant to buy in on Heinen after seeing him as a total non-factor in 8 games last year, but if he keeps this up I’ll gladly admit I was wrong. *(more to come on Heinen and others this Tuesday… stay tuned)

Until next time, Jegs-

As Bruins fans we all have the priveledge of watching a bunch of young up-and-coming rookies zipping around all over the ice; it really is a blessing. Unfortunately, we are also stuck watching a bunch of young up-and-coming rookies make mistakes.

This game was so frustrating to watch. The first period was exactly what you want to see from this team. All four lines were putting together good shifts, skating hard and beating Buffalo to the puck. The forecheck was clicking, they were causing turnovers and cashing in on Buffalo mistakes, which all lead to a 3-0 lead early in the second period.

After that is when it started going south. The Bs were getting careless with the puck and didn’t have the same sense of urgency on the ice. I don’t really need to tell you that Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak each scored two goals, you could go to the box score and find that out for yourself. Outside of Boston’s top scorers from last year, there weren’t any contributions from anyone else, despite an exciting first period. I’ll admit, Anton Khudobin didn’t exactly look sharp, but he wasn’t really getting any help from his defense throughout much of the second and third periods.

The serious theme that’s concerning me is this team’s lack of ability to close out games. Obviously, Saturday ended as an overtime loss, but the Bruins started the game out-shooting Buffalo 13-6 in the first period. They went on to be outshot 42-31 on the night, including a 6-0 deficit in OT. Opening night Boston was up 4-1 on the Predators but put us on life support in the last three minutes as it eeked out a 4-3 victory. Even Thursday night’s 6-3 win over Vancouver wasn’t quite the blowout that the final score might suggest. Sure, the scoring ballooned to 5-1, but then the Bs let Vancouver sneak back in with two goals of its own in the second. Luckily, Patrice Bergeron iced the game in the third.

It would be nice to string some wins together during the remainder of this homestand, because the team won’t get very far dropping every other game. And, we have yet to see a fully healthy lineup in any game this season. Adam McQuaid broke his leg blocking two shots, that’s fine. Kevan Miller, where are you?! Ryan Spooner, David Krejci– if you two could plan on manning up that would be cool too. This weekend’s installment against two tough California teams will need all hands on deck if the team is going to come away with any points.

I want you all to remember this and put it in your vernacular: Bjorking. No, it is not singing 90s pop songs at karaoke, it’s when Anders Bjork dominates a game. I have so many reasons to be happy about Bjork this week. Not only did he put Tuukka Rask out of commission with a concussion, but he also showed up in a big way against the Canucks. The rookie sensation (that’s what I’m going to call him now) scored 2 goals and added an assist, while linemate Patrice Bergeron put up a goal and 3 assists in his 2018 debut. It’s amazing what can happen when our best player is on the ice huh? If Bjork can continue to skate well and play at a high level with Bergy and Marchy all season, it could be a very productive rookie campaign; he might have taken the leap over fellow rookie Jake DeBrusk after his three-point showing Thursday Night.

The second thing you need to do is say “Hi Kenny Agostino.” I’ll give you a minute to acquaint yourselves… Seriously though, I saw a jump from him on every shift, and he plays with a physical edge to his game as well. We can’t know if the lines will look the same all year, but at least last night he was beside another center whom was making his 2018 debut. David Backes still looks a little slow, but as the game progressed he started to put together some solid shifts, and I think Agostino’s style of play will compliment his nicely. Chances are he will split time with Matt Beleskey until one of them can prove to be the clearcut more productive player, as they both serve essentially the same purpose as the third line left winger.

Tim Schaller earned a Purple Heart after taking on the much bigger Erik Gudbranson early in the first period. Gudbranson was given a game misconduct after a cheap shot on Frank Vatrano, but Schaller stepped in for his teammate nicely. Not to mention, said penalty by Gudbranson lead to 3 power play goals on a 5-minute major! I don’t think I can recall a time I’ve ever seen the Bruins capitalize in such a way on a 5 minute power play.

As I mentioned, Tuukka was out, which meant backup Anton Khudobin was given another opportunity to play. Dobby improved to 2-0 on the season and while he may have let in 3 goals, he played a little better than that. The Bs penalty killing was unacceptable (the nature of the penalties the team took were equally frustrating) and the netminder couldn’t even see the puck half of the time. Vancouver’s first and third goals were the result of Khudobin being completely screened, and the Bruins defense failing to clear out traffic in front of the crease. The ability to fend off man-advantages will have to improve greatly moving forward this season; stout penalty killing has always been one of the things this Boston team could hang its hat on over the last decade plus, even when other parts of the game were lacking.

This was a great start to a lengthy home stretch for this young Bruins team, but it needs to continue over the next couple weeks. Boston faces off with an exciting Buffalo team Saturday, and while the Sabres record may not look so great, it is another young team with a fast, physical style of play. Buffalo is lead by talented BU alum Jack Eichel, and has been given a nice boost by physical forward Evander Kane, and the resurgence of the veteran Jason Pominville. Boston will need to keep all three in check if they are to have a chance to win.

I was way too busy watching football Sunday to write an installment for the Coyotes game, so I’m coupling up the weekend games here.

Saturday night was a refreshing boost of energy from the Bruins. Zdeno Chara actually stepped up with a goal and a pair of assists, and raised his game as a captain should. All the right guys got it done. Brad Marchand had a juicy top shelf goal on the backhand, and David Pastrnak netted one too (really he just took a Chara slapshot off the ribs and it found the net, but oh well).

A dozen players recorded at least a point, as the Bs put away the Coyotes 6-2. There were a lot of contributions from the entire lineup; several rookies made the score sheet. More importantly, they were making more clean, crisp passes in all three zones and played a disciplined game. Facing backup goalie Louis Domingue might have helped their cause, but nonetheless a win is a win. Good job boys.

They say take the good with the bad. Ugh, well Sunday night was the ugly. I’ll admit I saw Marchand and even Chara care again, but the Bruins made no clean plays. Both teams were slopping their way up and down the ice; it was all just dump ins to no one and turnovers in the neutral zone.

Oh yeah, remember Malcolm Subban, that guy who the Bruins cut because he couldn’t stop a beach ball from getting past him? Well, he was 30 seconds away from shutting out the team that drafted him, if not for a late goal by Pasta. Expect to see more of Subban’s development in the near future too, as the Golden Knights currently have starting goalie Marc-Andre Fluery on IR.

While the youngster Subban was easily stopping all of the Bruins harmless bids on goal, Boston allowed both Alex Tuch and Vadim Shipachyov to record each of their first ever NHL goals. That’s to be expected from an expansion team that has a patchwork lineup, but the Bs always seem to have a knack for allowing not-so-talented players to look like heroes (see Games 2 & 3 against Colorado and you’ll know what I’m talking about). Granted, Shipachyov is 30 years old and has been dominating the Russian KHL circuit for some number of years now, but it was a lazy goal that the Bruins defense should have been more alert to.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the saying “If you win faceoffs, you win hockey games.” Well, Vegas managed to double the Bruins faceoff wins, and that’s even after taking a penalty for a double violation in the first period. That might have just been a side effect of fatigue from playing two games in under 24 hours, but that needs to improve greatly. If only there was a certain Center out there who could help in that department…?

Over the next three weeks the Bruins play 7 out of 8 games at home, with several chunks of days off to get healthy and iron out some kinks. They better take care of business on home ice, because fans were left with a pretty sour taste in their mouth after last Monday’s 4-0 defeat to Colorado.

Well, leave it to the Bruins to lay an egg in what should be an easy spot. After largely outplaying a good Nashville team last Thursday and getting the win, the Bs managed to drop both games this season to the official cellar dwellers of the league in the Colorado Avalanche. They were outscored 10-3 including a shutout, and made guys like Sven Andrighetto (3 G, 1 A) and Nail Yakupov (3 G, 1 A) look like Hall of Famers.

Both in the Columbus Day matinee, and in Wednesday Night’s game the whole team looked lethargic. Tuukka Rask seemed uninterested, and it resulted in him getting yanked after two periods in Denver (I would have pulled him after the first in Boston by the way). There were too many careless turnovers and sloppy passes throughout all three zones, although I will say we looked the best (if there is a “best”) in the attacking zone.

Some of the rookie inexperience was starting to show. Charlie McAvoy was a primary contributor to the aforementioned sloppy turnovers, but he did seem to make a few physical plays along the boards that I wasn’t expecting. Up front was more of the same lackluster play. All of the rookies play with effort and speed, it just isn’t translating to quality scoring chances all the time.

The Bruins desperately need to get some veteran presence back on the forward lines. I like to scrutinize David Krejci just as much as the next guy, but he isn’t getting a whole lot of help right now. When Riley Nash is centering the second line, there’s a problem. Hopefully Patrice Bergeron will be healthy enough to play and get back in the lineup this weekend; I will definitely be playing close attention to that as all of you should as well.

I won’t beat a dead horse anymore here, but if this team can’t figure out how to take care of the puck a little better and frankly just play with more intensity, this could end up being a very long season. The Bruins are taking on two teams this weekend with less talent than them, that they should beat, but I should probably temper my expectations as both games are on the road within 24 hours of each other. Saturday night is against a winless Arizona team that’s hungry for a home win and has decent goaltending, and Sunday evening will be a bout with the upstart Vegas Golden Knights who, despite being a little thin on talent, have come out of the gate hot this year thanks to timely goal scoring and the ability to rally around their hurting city; a couple of things this 2018 Bruins club has no familiarity with.

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Overall I can’t complain about what I saw on the ice. Patrice Bergeron, David Backes and Torey Krug were all out of the game and that forced a couple young guys to have to fill in a larger role. That being said, I think most of the rookies played a really solid game. Jake DeBrusk scored a goal in his debut, and skated well. He was in the scoring area, and around the puck when he needed to be; I didn’t really see him make any noteworthy mistakes either.

Anders Bjork had a great opportunity on the first shift of the game, and he didn’t pull the trigger. It would have been encouraging to see him shoot the puck a little more but that will hopefully come in time, especially once Bergeron is playing. I’ll give him a passing grade for now.

Charlie McAvoy hasn’t missed a beat. This kid is really exciting, and we haven’t even come close to the tip of the iceberg yet. The scouting report on him was that he’s a quick puck moving defenseman, and that’s always apparent in his game. Last night he was really sound in the defensive zone as well. He had an active stick, kept good positioning, and kept Tuukka Rask out of harms way. If Thursday night was any indication, McAvoy is the complete package. He isn’t even 20 years old, and he’s certainly the best defensive prospect this team has had in the last decade, and yes that includes current teammates Torey Krug and Brandon Carlo. Hopefully, team management will do a better job with him than they have with all of his predecessors that have come and gone (Johnny Boychuk, Dougie Hamilton, Colin Miller).

Ok, enough rainbows and butterflies. Now, it’s time to rip apart the tiny little imperfections that have been bothering me for the last 24 hours. David Pastrnak got the scoring started with a nice slap shot on the power play. But then, with 10 seconds left in the first period he managed to turn the puck over right at the hash marks for an easy tying goal. Just clean it up Pasta, careless unforced mistakes like that are the reasons why people are doubting your big contract.

I’m as big of a Patrice Bergeron fan as you will find, but I really don’t feel good about this “lower body” injury. It smells funny to me. I don’t know if the team is trying to hide something, or if it’s more of a serious linegering problem from a previous injury. It feels bad. Could be a hip, or a groin, or a sports hernia, but don’t be surprised to see his production suffer and wonder why he seems off. We probably won’t hear about how serious it is until the end of the season.

I’m calling out two players in particular here: Ryan Spooner and Frank Vatrano. Spooner has been kicking around the team for more than five years now, and I’m sick of hearing about him being ready to take the next step. Do it already! I need to see something more than 12 goals and 15 assists if this team is going to waste anymore time with him. Vatrano has tapered off dramatically too. He was a call up a couple years ago and it seemed like we had another young quality goal scorer; he went on a tear for a couple months. Now, here we are wondering if he can put together a full campaign at the NHL level, and if he can actually create enough scoring opportunities to capitalize on. My patience will be running thin very soon with you too Frank.

Finally, the most aggravating piece of this Bruins team (and no, I’m not just talking about Chara, although he is the ring leader): How many times will they take a Delay of Game penalty before they learn the rule?!? Seriously, I’ve never seen any other team struggle with this as much as the Bs. Vatrano chucked one over the glass to start the game last night, and then late in the third period Kevan Miller let one get away from him. The latter almost cost us the game. It drives me nuts seeing them routinely pull off a mindless, sloppy, unnecessary play every single game. STOP IT!

Ok, that is all for now. Boston should be able to take care of business with Colorado in a home-at-home next week. The Avalanche really only have 3 players the Bruins need to be concerned with, and they have pretty rocky goaltending (pun intended).