We live in a divisive world, but if there is one thing we as a collective can agree on it’s how much can happen over the course of a week. Opinions from the blue checkmarks and various “subject matter experts” go for a dime a dozen and range from quirky to downright obscene. It’s tempting to put the phone down and live in the moment, and you should.
So if you haven’t been keeping up with all things Boston Bruins consider what’s to follow your weekly wrap up.
- The siblings trip: You’ve heard of the Mom and Dad trips in the NHL but this was a first for the Boston Bruins. Player’s siblings were invited to accompany the team on their road trip to Dallas and Nashville. While it produced a truckload of content, there were two moments in particular worth pointing out. The first of which came from, shockingly, Brad Marchand’s brother Jeff who revealed Marchand’s secret admiration for poetry, tongue in cheek of course. Secondly, on Pavel Zacha’s crucial goal against the Dallas Stars which tied things up, NESN’s camera panned to the luxury box which was occupied by the players siblings where this moment was captured. While not a lipreading expert, Zacha’s sister Leona shouts “that’s my brother!” before embracing the remainder of the siblings. Boston went 2-0 on their siblings trip, so expect this to remain a tradition for years to come.
- Winning the hard way: Against Dallas Tuesday night Boston experienced an uncharacteristically bad performance on the face off dot. Despite losing 50 of 62 draws collectively they managed to mount a 3rd period comeback eventually winning the game in overtime.
- Is Taylor Hall “him”?: Taylor Hall opened the scoring for Boston against Dallas. While not the caliber of player who won league MVP in 2018 Hall remains a key offensive driver for the Bruins 35 points in 54 games.
- Second Period Woes: Figuratively Boston fell asleep at the wheel in the second period against a very strong Dallas squad after driving play through the first 20 minutes and it almost cost them. So when Boston played perhaps their most complete game Thursday night against the Nashville Predators it was a sign perhaps the trend is bucked.
- 37 + 63 = 100: Patrice Bergeron found Brad Marchand off an odd man rush to open the scoring against Nashville just 2:54 into the game. Nobody was concerned but it marked the first points Marchand and Bergeron had tallied in 5 and 6 games respectably.
- Needs improvement: Despite a 5-0 victory over Nashville, Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery was less than pleased with his team’s overall performance. “Our defense-to-offense [transition game] was really good. Our offense-to-defense was not. We gave up a lot of odd-man rushes. Thank god Swayman was terrific tonight.” Total shots on goal were 30-29 in favor of Boston, so he’s got a point.
- 4-on-4? No problem: Boston leads the league at +6 during 4-on-4 play
- Sellers remorse: Hampus Lindholm has been worth every penny spent to acquire during last trade deadline. A point proven by his play over the last two games. But it was Craig Smith who was by far Boston’s most noticeable player against his former Nashville Predator teammates. Scored the games second goal and had an excellent scoring chance in the first period. Never looked out of place on Boston’s first line.
- Diamond in the rough: By and large Jakub Lauko has been stellar for Boston in short minute situations. His speed and willingness to retrieve loose pucks warrants an expanded role.
- Helpful contributions: Derek Forbort’s second period goal Thursday night was his fifth on the season, setting a career high. Just one game after logging a nearly 2 minute penalty kill shift in overtime and 5:03 total shorthanded time against Dallas.
- The day the music ‘city’ died: Nashville exploded onto the hockey scene during their run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final, their biggest advantage? Their home crowd who from the jump was engaged and ear piercingly loud to the final buzzer. Last night there were significant portions of play where you could have mistaken Bridgestone Arena for a place of holy worship. Perhaps a byproduct of the on ice performance. But sad nonetheless.
- Collegiate preview: Bruins prospect Mason Lohrei is a defenseman currently playing college hockey at Ohio State. Thursday night against arch-rival the Michigan Wolverines, Lohrei’s slick backhand pass found Tate Singleton for the game tying goal.
- Hockey downunder: Boston is reportedly scheduled to take on the Los Angeles Kings in a preseason game in Melbourne, Australia next season.
- Too much of a good thing? The NHL trade deadline is March 3rd. Boston reportedly is keen to bolster their blue line to better prepare for a deep playoff run. A few names to keep an eye on Luke Schenn, Carson Soucy, Jakob Chychrun, and Vladislav Gavrikov but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported in his 32 Thoughts blog “It’s an all-in year for the Bruins, but how much do you want to toy with such a special mix?”
- Hey I know that guy: Former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh was recently appointed the Executive Director of the NHLPA.
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