Last night, the Boston Bruins took on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The B’s totally blasted the Rags out of the building, right?
It’s not like the Bruins weren’t trying, it’s just that they got caught up in the neutral zone which the Rags controlled. And the youthful Bruins defense looked overwhelmed. As Bruce Cassidy would say after the game, the defense looked really young.
Cassidy: “I think it was probably the toughest night our D corps had. … Looked our age.”
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021
Good thing Tuukka was pretty good for most of the night.
Tuukka Rask with his best save of the year: pic.twitter.com/lDm9xB0gx0
— Evan Marinofsky (@emarinofsky) February 11, 2021
One thing is for sure, Tuukka Rask is the goalie you want to face if you want to score your first NHL goal. I don’t know if he reviews stats prior to the game and just selects the lucky player or if the young gun goes up to him before the game and tells him that he’s a never scored before. Then Tuukka grants him one. This time it was 23 year-old right wing Julien Gauthier who was playing in just his 25th NHL game.
1st @NHL goal for former @SJSeaDogs and @ForeursVD Julien Gauthier @NYRangers pic.twitter.com/yqejoGNaEh
— Craig Eagles (@Eags37) February 11, 2021
That’s okay, because in the next period on the penalty kill, Chris Wagner lit the lamp with a shorty. One all.
Gotta love this shorty from the Mayor of Walpole, Massachusetts. himself, Chris Wagner (@chriswags23). #WNH
🇺🇸: https://t.co/OAlgpCIX84 @NHLonNBCSports pic.twitter.com/3KOexjCRRQ
— NHL (@NHL) February 11, 2021
At least the NHL got it right after calling him the Mayor of Wellesley this past summer.
No Goal made a return, this time to bite the Bruins in the ass. Jake DeBrusk, who led all Boston skaters with 7 shots on goal, seemingly scored a good one bar down but the refs waved it off. The puck didn’t cross the line.
Been that kind of night for Jake DeBrusk. pic.twitter.com/rqmlAprWE2
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021
The overhead camera shows the puck did not cross the goal line. #NHLBruins | #NYR pic.twitter.com/5HwpsEmSds
— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) February 11, 2021
In the next period, Anders Bjork scores netfront to take the lead.
Anders Bjork gives the Bruins the lead. DeBrusk with the primary helper.
2-1 game. pic.twitter.com/6zK6hOUXEn
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021
Some 17 seconds later, Wags gets under defenseman Anthony Bitetto’s skin. Combat ensues.
Chris Wagner dumps Anthony Bitetto and the two drop the gloves: pic.twitter.com/UCJOJJcHVk
— Evan Marinofsky (@emarinofsky) February 11, 2021
This sort of energized the Rags as they would tie the game up on a double deflection from Ryan Lindgren -> Brendan Lemieux (Claude’s son) ->Kevin Rooney. It hurts because we traded Lindgren for Rick Nash in 2018.
Lindgren shoots, Rooney scores. The goal is reviewed to determine whether it went in with a high stick, but it’s ruled a good goal. Tie game #NYR pic.twitter.com/2CMZhdaocY
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 11, 2021
The game was tied and would stay that way for the remainder of the period. Except that Tuukka thought he needed to come off the ice because he thought they were down a goal.
The Bruins’ bench reacting to Tuukka Rask skating back: pic.twitter.com/Ri8cszcf6D
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021
Tuukka Rask: “I honestly thought we were down, 2-1.” https://t.co/f2rvuMNGsE
— Evan Marinofsky (@emarinofsky) February 11, 2021
Tuukka Rask on coming off the ice: “I just had to tell something to Jaro real quick.”
Just kidding.
He thought they were down, 2-1.
— Amalie Benjamin (@AmalieBenjamin) February 11, 2021
Luckily, nothing happened.
In overtime, it only took 36 seconds for the B’s to win. Brad Marchand from Charlie McAvoy and Patrice Bergeron. Done.
Brad Marchand with the OT winner. pic.twitter.com/fAUH4I5yy4
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 11, 2021
Charlie McAvoy set up the game-winner with some excellent defense to shutdown an #NYR 2-on-1. 👀#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/zpf4a8fFjE
— NHL on NBC Sports (@NHLonNBCSports) February 11, 2021
These two teams will meet up again on Friday night.
That second period was brutal. The Rags were regularly sending a guy ahead of play into the neutral zone, and doing that thing where you change out a player by sending a man forward out the bench door at your opponent’s blue line while another player skates for the door near the red line.
Between that and the fact that Kreider & Chytyl really turn on the jets, the Bruins D was constantly getting punked by Rangers just showing up behind them.
And I swear that at one point Marchand wasn’t just trolling but actually goading Panarin into a fight – and Panarin was going for it – ripped Marchy’s helmet off & everything and the linesman just broke it up and sent them on their way. I was expecting matching minors but nope.
That always looks to be bending the rules to the extreme. Couldn’t they switch benches for the second period, so there’s no “long change”. Maybe not in Covid times, but after?
In some rinks the door at the 2nd period offensive zone side of the bench is off side. in others that door is just outside the blue line. It’s something that i think should be standardized. i like the offside door. As a linesman, the just out of the zone door creates traffic that is hell to deal with. the “liberal change” can still be attempted, but now that player has to get back onside…. often negating the advantage.
The “over the boards” change can negate doors, though tougher to time.
I seem to remember a Bruins goal being called back for offside because someone was coming off the ice in the second period (with the door in an offside position, obv).
I didn;t realise it wasn’t standardised. Hmm.
Morning folks.
Had to settle for the highlights. Would’ve liked to catch a full replay – especially as the next game is a blackout for me – but got a busy day today.
Looked like Debrusk and Bjork had strong nights.
I think that’s the best play I’ve seen from Wagner.
Bs must lead the league in allowing rookies to score their first NHL goal!
Hi Pals!
That was a fun one! I laughed my ass off after Tuukka was safely back in his net. I’ve seen goalies do that when I was signaling icing and a goalie thought it was a delayed penalty. Ditto for a high stick call. The NCAA uses a Slightly different signal for icing versus off side or delayed penalty. When signaling icing, the arm is tipped forward about 15 degrees. It’s not really enough for the players to see it, but it is done anyway.
I’m in awe of how goalies can keep track of the game for the full 60. Must take incredible concentration.
Extra concentration required when you play on a very good team. a goalie can go through long stretches of play without much action. one team i played on would pass back to our goalie often – to keep him in the game! The team was that good (despite my presence in the lineup).
Good idea!
Clever! I’ve definitely noticed that Tuukka’s ability to make stops in the 1st period is reduced if there hasn’t been much traffic for him to deal with prior to that point.