The Boston Bruins won their second consecutive road game Saturday afternoon with a 4-2 contest in St. Paul against the Minnesota Wild. The team’s 30th win of the season earned them sole possession of second place in the Atlantic Division, just four points out of first. The B’s had to get it done today without Patrice Bergeron, who missed the game with an undisclosed injury after fighting Blake Wheeler in Winnipeg Thursday.
Brad Marchand (27), David Krejci (13), Loui Eriksson (18) and Zdeno Chara (8) all scored for the B’s, and Jonas Gustavsson had a solid game in net with 33 saves to earn his tenth W of the season. Claude Julien earned his 500th win in the NHL and moved closer to Art Ross to take over the top spot in team history- six more victories ties him at 387.
On the other end of the spectrum the Wild dismissed head coach Mike Yeo after his team’s eighth consecutive loss. Yeo, you may recall, was the toast of the Twin Cities a year ago after his club made the playoffs with a great second-half run (of which Devan Dubnyk played a huge part), but pro sports is a results oriented business, so less than a year later, Yeo is out.
The bigger issue with the Wild is all of the passengers- they’re paying boatloads of money to veterans who simply aren’t producing/giving the the team any bang for the buck. If Bruins fans think their team has problems, they ought to take a close look at Minnesota’s woes. I don’t think a coaching change (John Torchetti will take the reins on an interim basis to finish out the year) is going to make much of a difference if the guys earning the big dough don’t start holding up their end of the bargain.
After Marchand tallied his fourth shorthanded tally of the year to take a 1-0 lead, the B’s gave up a bad goal in the second period on a fumbled exchange behind the net between Gustavsson and Kevan Miller, who heeled the puck over to Thomas Vanek at the left side. He pinballed a shot that squirted through the B’s goaltender for his 15th tally.
Krejci came right back moments later with a nice 2-on-1 rush that was started with a nifty play by Matt Beleskey in the neutral zone to take a hit to make the pass that launched the Czech Mates- Krejci and David Pastrnak– up the ice. The two did a give-and-go with Krejci instantly recognizing that Nino Niederreiter was sliding towards his own net and rapidly running out of an angle to shoot into the open side, he victimized Wild backup Darcy Kuemper (and Niederreiter) by banking the puck off the crashing forward and over the goal line before he knocked the Minnesota net of its moorings.
Boston extended its lead to 3-1 when Eriksson took a pass from Ryan Spooner and broke away from the Wild defenders, sliding a backhander under Kemper. After Chara fired a 160-foot shot down the ice and into the empty net to make it 4-1, rookie Mike Reilly scored his first NHL goal and point with a late shot that beat Gustavsson but did nothing to alter Minnesota’s fate.
The B’s continue on their road swing Sunday afternoon where they take on the Detroit Red Wings in an important Atlantic Division contest. Tuukka Rask will be back in net for the B’s, and the fans will hope to get a shot in the arm from Bergeron as well.
The losses were piling up on the road trip, but the Boston Bruins stopped the bleeding with big wins in Buffalo and at home Saturday night against Toronto to salvage a tough stretch and keep teams behind them in the standings at bay.
Saturday’s 3-2 victory was especially heartening, as the B’s saw a Brad Marchand go-ahead goal with under 13 minutes remaining in the final frame get wiped out on a coach’s challenge that ruled the play offside. After contending with some pretty one-sided officiating all night that play seemed to convince the skeptics that it wasn’t Boston’s night, but the Hockey Gods smiled down on the TD Garden, and a Martin Marincin gaffe allowed for Marchand to pot the winner with under a minute remaining in regulation to break a 2-2 deadlock.
The referees- Dave Jackson and Justin St. Pierre– made me feel at times like Professor Terguson from the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield comedy Back to School. The role put comedian Sam Kinison firmly on the map with his “Oh, Ohhhhhh!” battle screech from the mid-80’s until his death in a car accident in 1992. The officials last night brought out the absolute worst that is the two referee system in hockey- two guys who just seemed to make inconsistent, subjective calls at whim while players like Nazem Kadri disgraced the game by flopping to the ice anytime a Bruin touched him without being held accountable. I guess I should not be surprised given Jackson’s reputation, but if this is the kind of effort the fans can expect- then why bother, NHL? Just put the teams out there and let them decide everything themselves- you wouldn’t get much more bang for your buck than what those two did last night. And with that, I cede the floor to Professor Terguson/Sammy K.
The win put Boston back into third place in the Atlantic Division, just one point ahead of Tampa Bay (51-50…hey- that’s an old Van Halen album!), who will play the division leader and Sunshine State rival Florida Panthers this evening. The B’s also stayed ahead of the hated Montreal Canadiens, who hurled 49 shots at Brian Elliott but lost in overtime in a game in which the Blues brought back goaltending legends- Mike Liut, Curtis Joseph, Grant Fuhr and Martin Brodeur for a pre-game recognition ceremony. Interestingly enough, Elliott’s 46 saves were the most at home by a Blues goaltender since…you guessed it…Joseph. And to top it off, Elliott was wearing a special tribute mask to Joseph with the same paint job that the former NHL great wore in St. Louis from 1990-93, before he adopted the ubiquitous CuJo rabid dog visage that decorated his headgear for the remainder of his career. But I digress…
This Bruins team is a game bunch of players who put in a good effort on most nights even if their hard work isn’t always rewarded with a win. For the past several weeks, they’ve been without center David Krejci, but Ryan Spooner rose to the occasion by playing like the 2nd-line pivot that many of us felt he had the potential to be. With Krejci close to returning, that’s good news for the B’s but the issue with this club is not the scoring as much as it is a lack of a viable championship-caliber defense. Unless Don Sweeney and his scouts can figure out a way to bring someone in, then fans can expect that this is about as good as it will get.
Tuukka Rask has shown that he has more than enough talent and experience to carry the team at times, and Jonas Gustavsson has been the serviceable backup that the team hoped Niklas Svedberg would be a year ago. However, without a balanced defense, the Bruins are a middle-of-the-pack team, and even the most optimistic of observers aren’t blocking off their calendars in May and June for an extended playoff run.
The B’s are doing about as well as they can, even playing above their heads for stretches of the season. However, the elephant in the room is the current makeup of Boston’s defense. The team knew this would be a sticking point when Sweeney traded Dougie Hamilton last June, and the 22-year-old has certainly not taken that next step that seemed a given just seven months ago, but make no mistake: the loss of Hamilton opened up a void that the GM was simply unable to fill and we’re seeing that with a 23-16-5 record and 4-5-1 in the last 10. The B’s are losing games that during the Claude Julien era they wouldn’t have in previous years, by losing leads because they depend too much on their goaltending and forwards to cover up for a group of players that works hard, but lacks the talent and ability to match up effectively against some of the NHL’s better offenses.
Zdeno Chara is the easy target for fans, frustrated by the fact that father time is catching up to him at age 39 (in a couple of months) and hoping against hope that Sweeney could make a trade for new blood using him as capital.
Here are just a few reasons why that isn’t going to happen: 1. He has a no-trade contract and a wife expecting twins in 60 days. Even if he wanted to play for a contender, it is highly doubtful Chara would even consider putting Tatiana Chara through the turmoil such a move would put his family through. That reason alone precludes serious consideration of any others, but here they are: 2. His best years are clearly behind him, and if you are a Boston fan, do you really think that another team would give the B’s the kind of value that improves the team today? If your answer to that question is yes, then I would submit your position is pretty unserious and you might want to learn a bit more about how the NHL works. I don’t say that to be arrogant, it’s just a fact. 3. There is simply no other defenseman remotely close to assuming the role Chara has on this club. It’s easy to declare he should be traded while Boston can get something for him, but with the NTC and a diminishing body of work, the return isn’t going to justify the net effect of such a move, which would be to elevate Torey Krug or Dennis Seidenberg to the top spot, a role neither player is suited for or capable of at this stage in their respective careers. Even when not producing the results that fans seem to have taken for granted in the decade Chara patrolled the Boston blue line, he’s still an integral part of the roster and Julien’s system, whether we like it or not.
Besides, assuming Chara asked out and wanted to be dealt (which he doesn’t at present) there is no shortage of teams that would want to add him, but those clubs aren’t going to give up a premium young roster player in return- that defeats the purpose of adding Chara to a contending team’s lineup in the first place. The best the Bruins could hope for is a young prospect along the lines of a Colin Miller, but more realistically, the trade partner team would give up a 1st-round pick for him, and that’s about it. If you want an improved Boston team in the present and immediate future (next year) that scenario doesn’t help. You can probably make a good trade on NHL ’16 involving Chara, but this is real life so just stop with the video game mentality, please.
But getting away from trading Chara for a second- the future Hall of Famer is worth far more to the Bruins than he is most anyone else. It would be one thing if the B’s had a legitimate young colt waiting in the wings and approaching the time to take over as the No. 1 defender on the Boston roster. Right now, Sweeney and Co. don’t have that player. They don’t even have a clear-cut No. 2, leaving Krug to take on more of that role, but with very little help around him, as the rest of the defense corps in Boston right now is at best a group of 5/6, bottom-pairing guys. That situation places enormous pressure on Chara and results in his minutes being much higher than they should be at this stage of his career.
So, to close out the thoughts on Chara- he’s clearly not the player he once was, but that doesn’t mean it’s an easy answer to just trade him and be done with it. He can still be effective in the right situations because of his size, reach and experience, but his lack of foot speed and declining skill set means that the team that employs him as a top defender cannot rely on him to perform like the dominant No. 1 he was in his prime. That’s sad, but the team and fans, at least in the short term, must come to terms with that fact and look for options that include Chara for now, because with that NTC and a lack of a viable marketplace at present, he isn’t going anywhere.
Krug has earned his way this year as a very good No. 3/4 at the NHL level. He does all the things you want from a puck-moving defenseman, making a brilliant neutral zone pass to spring Patrice Bergeron for the first of his two goals. Krug also put on an impressive display of skill during the second period when he stickhandled through the Toronto defense and deked Jonathan Bernier out of the Leafs net before losing the handle at the last second. However, he saved his best for last when Rask got caught out of his net and lost the puck to Tyler Bozak, who flipped it back to P.A. Parenteau. Krug’s instant recognition of the unfolding play allowed him to go right to the crease and cover for Rask. He dropped into the butterfly and absorbed Parenteau’s shot (that would have broken a 2-2 tie late in regulation and likely crushed Boston’s spirit).
When we talk about how Krug can’t physically outmatch the bigger, stronger forwards but that he needs to play smart defense, there is your exhibit A. He could have chased the puck and tried to make a play on it himself, but he had the hockey IQ and situational awareness to cover the cage with Rask out and made a game-saving stop while doing a pretty passable impression of the former Vezina Trophy winner in the process. Krug is Boston’s best defenseman after Chara- if he was about 4 inches taller and 20 pounds heavier, he’d be that ideal heir apparent that Boston so desperately needs. As it stands, Krug’s tremendous character, competitive drive and ability mean that he is worth getting locked up after this season and if it were up to me, I commit the expected $5 million he’ll command on the market to do so- he’s worth it, and the team can’t afford to bank on unknowns like Matt Grzelcyk, Rob O’Gara or even Brandon Carlo right now by allowing Krug to follow Hamilton out the door.
Against Toronto, we saw flashes of what Joe Morrow could be, but we also witnessed the likely effect of not playing every night, as he mishandled pucks and turned them over in several instances when a better decision to move the puck out of danger would have been smarter. The more I watch Morrow, the more evident it is to me why Pittsburgh and Dallas both decided to trade him. He’s a complementary player- not someone who is likely to develop into a top-3 NHL option. Morrow’s impressive skills are clearly evident when you watch the way he can carry the puck and will jump into the rush, but he looks like more of a specialist than a heavy lifter, and that’s a shame.
C. Miller has the best potential of all the youngsters at the pro level currently, but he’s not a player who can play unsheltered minutes and expect to instill confidence especially late in close games. There’s a valid argument to be made that Chiller should be in the lineup over Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman, especially with Adam McQuaid out, but he gives away toughness and size, even if the difference is so trivial that it seems inconceivable that the Boston coaches would not use him more. Trotman is big and mobile…he can make the crisp first pass and it showed last night with a helper on Bergeron’s second goal. He doesn’t have a big NHL upside, but he’s a serviceable player. With more physicality in his game, he might get more recognition than he does.
Dennis Seidenberg is a warrior, and I’ll always respect him for what he did for the Bruins when they traded for him in 2010 and a year later, he was one of the stalwarts that helped bring Lord Stanley back to Boston. However, he’s playing far too many minutes for what he can bring to his team on a consistent basis. He was solid against Buffalo and Toronto, but those are two clubs behind Boston in the standings- when up against the higher-end teams like Washington and St. Louis, DS44 struggles with containment and coughing up the puck under pressure from the ferocious fore check those clubs can employ. If he was contributing on the bottom pair, that would be one thing, but like Chara, too much is asked of him.
Ditto Kevan Miller- as good and hard-nosed a guy that you will find, but who is simply being asked to do too much and play too many minutes. It’s too lazy to just point to him and say he’s unworthy as an NHL defenseman- that’s simply not true. However- the issue is with the role the B’s have him in. Like Hal Gill in the early 2000s when Ray Bourque was gone and Chara was several years away from signing as a free agent, Miller is in over his head. It’s a shame, because as a bottom pairing D- he’d be a fan favorite. He was when he first showed up in the 2013-14 season with a younger, better cast around him and went out and rocked opponents nightly. He didn’t just forget how to play- but you can’t expect a role player to evolve into a top-2 or 3 option if he isn’t suited for it. And so, that’s what we get with No. 86- a nightly adventure wherein we wonder what exactly we will get when he’s out there. That’s no way to set conditions for success, but given the team’s current state of affairs, it’s what we’re left with.
So- to wrap up. This defense is a gritty, gutsy group that does the best it can with the talent it possesses. Adam McQuaid is the embodiment of this defense both as a tough, rugged, character guy who gives you every ounce of what he has, but also as a limited talent who pays the price for his physical style and is asked to do more than he is capable of. It isn’t a lack of want to for the Bruins defense, but in pro sports, heart and will can only take you so far- if the other guys are more talented and have more of them, then your ability to separate from the pack is greatly hampered.
This B’s defense deserves credit for trying, but the NHL is a cold, results-oriented business. If teams won because of effort or grittiness, then the Buffalo Sabres would have won a Stanley Cup by now.
The Bruins have some potential help coming in the form of youngsters like Grzelcyk, Carlo, O’Gara…Jakub Zboril and Jeremy Lauzon look like they could infuse the roster one day with the blend of skill and ruggedness needed, but none of those players are ready. So Sweeney’s challenge is to try and find a player who can not only help now, but be the bridge to a better future than just staying in the middle of the pack and therefore not getting as good a chance at drafting and rebuilding that the league’s doormats get.
After entering last week on a high note, the B’s were blanked by the St. Louis Blues right before the Christmas holiday and then got slapped with a pair of losses to Atlantic Division foes Buffalo and Ottawa on back-to-back nights this weekend to miss out on a chance to take a lead in the division standings.
The Buffalo loss at home, which saw a two-goal lead evaporate on the strength of five unanswered goals and Jack Eichel’s first career four-point game in his homecoming, was particularly troublesome. One night later, they traveled to Canada’s capital and played a better game, but dropped a 3-1 decision to the Senators, thwarted by a very strong game in net from Craig Anderson (38 saves), so would have posted a shutout had not video replay awarded a goal to David Krejci that was originally not called a score by the on-ice officials.
Speaking of Krejci- he took a pass in the corner from Loui Eriksson, walked to the front of the net when Sens captain Erik Karlsson failed to seal off the far post and just watched him cut between the Norris Trophy defenseman and the net, and then put the puck into the far side. It ended up underneath Anderson’s left pad and skate, but replay, which was not absolutely conclusive, appeared to show that the puck (and skate) was behind the line. A call to Toronto and review awarded Krejci his 11th goal of the season (and 33rd point in 35 games).
Much of the goodwill that had built up with the team during their strong recent stretch from late-November up until last Tuesday’s loss to the Blues, is evaporating, as the B’s can’t seem to get out of their own way. Unforced errors and mistake-prone play opened the door for the Sabres, a rising young team but still an inferior one and below Boston in the standings, to mount a spirited comeback.
Injuries to a couple of key players- namely Torey Krug (who pulled up lame in the Buffalo game on a race for an icing call and is considered day-to-day with a lower body injury) and Krejci, who appeared to hurt his arm/shoulder and left last night’s contest in the second period- aren’t going to help Boston’s cause.
B’s coach Claude Julien, who was staunchly defended on this blog last week, has opened himself up to criticism with some of his personnel moves, especially on defense. Kevan Miller had a particularly bad outing against Buffalo, but Colin Miller paid the price instead, getting scratched in Ottawa. In fairness to Julien, “Chiller” had some miscues against the Sabres in what was not one of his better outings in a pretty good season for the NHL rookie. However, with Krug ailing and out of the lineup, it was strange for the younger Miller to get taken out of the lineup in favor of Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman, who returned to action after missing the previous seven contests as a healthy scratch. Trotman looked rusty at times and even tentative at others in a game where he played a pretty robust 21:32 worth of minutes- that’s what happens when you’re rotating in and out of a lineup the way the former last pick in 2010 is doing. K. Miller, who was a -2 in the Buffalo game (he was on ice for three goals against in the third, but assisted on the Boston tally to make it 3-1), played just 17:43 against Ottawa, which could be a sign that Julien’s patience with him is wearing thin. I guess we’ll see, but the B’s sure could have used Miller’s foot speed and puck-moving ability against the Senators last night.
Tuukka Rask played well against the Sens, but was victimized on a bank shot by Mark Stone off Dennis Seidenberg’s skate on one goal, and a net-drive rebound laser from Mika Zibanejad on the winner. Stone added an empty-netter for his second of the night and 10th of the season. His performance provided a solid contrast to that of Jonas Gustavsson, who was below average against Buffalo, doing very little to stop the bleeding in the third period Saturday. The Bruins need much better play from their veteran backup in a situation like that one, even if the defense didn’t give him much help.
Zdeno Chara’s play is failing the eye test. At 38, a decline was expected, but at times- he looks like’s he’s fallen off a cliff. He’s lost several steps and continues to turn the puck over in bad situations when pressured. You figured that opponents would exploit a loss in mobility- and let’s face it- he was never an agile skater to begin with- but he’s a step behind the play and making poor decisions with the puck that lead to odd-man rushes and quality scoring chances at the other end. Simply put, his minutes should probably be scaled back, not increased. However, with Krug leaving the game Saturday, Chara topped the 26-minute mark and he played another 25+ against his old club one night later. He was a -3 in the pair of games combined and has just four assists in his last 10 contests.
With Krejci out last night for the final period and facing uncertain status heading into tomorrow’s rematch at the TD Garden, Ryan Spooner moved up to the second line. The 23-year-old has stepped up his production (though he’s gone scoreless in the last four games- shootout winner against New Jersey aside) over the past month and will need to shoulder even more of the load if Boston loses it’s veteran scoring pivot for any length of time.
Here’s a modest proposal, but instead of recalling Alex Khokhlachev, why not try rookie pro and buzzsaw Austin Czarnik? The undrafted free agent showed off terrific chemistry with Frank Vatrano in the rookie tourney, Boston preseason and then in the first seven games of the AHL campaign in Providence. With his speed and energy/ability to push the pace, he might make perfect sense on the third line, and with Vatrano back on his wing, anything is possible. Depending on the severity of Krejci’s injury, Czarnik might make sense as an emergency recall, as the modern salary cap system and associated constraints do make personnel moves a little more challenging than simply dialing up Jay Pandolfo and Bruce Cassidy in Providence.
Brett Connolly probably needs to take another seat. A healthy scratch after ineffective play early, he returned to the Boston lineup with a burr under his saddle and played well with a four-goal streak, but with just five tallies all year, he’s not getting the job done. Nothing was more egregious last night than his weak flyby of the puck at center ice that allowed the odd-man break and Bobby Ryan shot/rebound that Zibanejad converted late in the second period for the eventual winner. Seth Griffith has been outstanding in Providence over the past month and deserves a recall to see what he can do. Griffith doesn’t bring much in the way of speed, but he might bring the energy and hunger that has been so lacking in Connolly’s game of late. To see this from such a high draft pick illustrates the challenges of scouting and projecting teenage players: the explosiveness, creativity and killer instinct that Connolly showed in his WHL career with Prince George has been nowhere to be found in Boston.
B’s have a small window to get their game back on track this week before facing Montreal in the Winter Classic Friday at Gillette Stadium. It’s gut-check time.
If not for the numbers, it would not be a stretch to argue that left wing Matt Beleskey is one of the Boston Bruins’ most valuable players over the first quarter of the 2015-16 NHL season.
The two goals and 10 points in 20 games is disappointing given he scored a career-high of 22 a year ago with the Anaheim Ducks and was expected to reach the 20-goal plateau at least this season after the B’s made him their priority target in free agency last July. Signed to a five-year pact that carries an AAV/cap hit of $3.8 million per season, Beleskey is currently the eighth-highest paid Bruin on the roster. However, this blog post will argue that he’s closer the top-five in terms of impact and importance to the team’s fortunes. That may not translate when it comes to pure production, but in terms of other traditional and advanced metrics, Beleskey has been one of the more consistent forwards on a team that has had other players provide the needed scoring impetus early on. Based on his role in Anaheim a year go, Beleskey will eventually bring more in terms of production, and when he does, his overall physicality, energy and grit will be even more significant in proper context.
Background: Beleskey was the 116th overall selection (fourth round) by Anaheim in the 2006NHL Entry Draft, spending his entire OHL career with the Belleville Bulls (2004-08). His best season was a 41-goal, 90-point affair for the Bulls in his final junior campaign in 2007-08, signing with Anaheim and spending the 2008-09 season in the AHL (he did have a two-game scoreless NHL stint with the Ducks that year.) Beleskey scored 11 goals in 60 NHL games the following season and established himself as a full-time NHLer in 2011-12. The lockout and injuries have conspired to deny him more than 70 games in a single season, but he hit a career best for goals and points last season in only 65 games. The Ducks attempted to keep him out of free agency with a contract extension offer before the regular season ended, but Beleskey opted instead to go the free agency route.
Traditional statistics: With just a pair of goals in 20 games, there is no denying that Beleskey’s production is way down from a year ago. He’s scored in a loss against Montreal and an October 31 win over Tampa Bay, so both of his goals have come against division rivals. However, his assist totals put him on pace for about 40 helpers, which will far exceed his career-best 15 assists from 2013-14. His points/60 min average is a little off from what it was a year ago, but is comparable, and he is on pace to surpass his top output of 32 points.
Granted- you expect more from your $3.8M than 40-50 points, but that’s not terrible value offensively. At even strength, where the B’s have not been the greatest this season, Beleskey is among the team’s leaders in points with a 1.89 points/60 rating. Compare that to David Krejci– 2.41; Patrice Bergeron– 1.23; Loui Eriksson– 1.73 and Brad Marchand– 1.70. That Krejci leads Beleskey by .52 P/60 5v5 is not a surprise, but would you have put money on him beating everyone else- and Bergeron by .66? Beleskey’s even strength P/60 are No. 3 on the team overall- behind Krejci and Tyler Randell (2.30), who has played a paltry 78 minutes at even strength. Beleskey’s even strength 1.89 P/60 would be only seventh-best on the Montreal Canadiens (just ahead of Tomas Plekanec), but he would lead the Tampa Bay Lightning, whose best 5v5 player, Jonathan Drouin, has just a 1.88 P/60 to boast of.
Beleskey has not had an opportunity of any significance with the man advantage or on the penalty kill, with just 6:39 of power play time (compared to his 285:38 and counting at even strength) and 49 seconds on the ice while shorthanded. The lack of impact on special teams is both a ding on him in terms of how valuable he is and an example of how successful he’s been despite the opportunities that his higher-scoring teammates receive in the special teams game. When you factor in the Bruins P/60 rates in all situations- Beleskey (1.97) drops to 10th on the team, with every forward on the active roster save for Frank Vatrano, Landon Ferraro, Joonas Kemppainen and Zac Rinaldo ahead of him. Colin Miller’s (2.00) rating puts him ahead of Beleskey, the only defender in the top-nine. On the Toronto Maple Leafs, for example, Beleskey’s 1.97 P/60 puts him fourth on that team.
Where Beleskey is shining is in the hits department, where he is currently in the top-10 with 82 hits, more than 4 per game on average. By comparison, Milan Lucic, the Boston forward Beleskey was widely considered to have been brought in to address the lost production from, has 78 hits in two more games. Beleskey doesn’t have Lucic’s natural size or ability to be as physically dominant, but he’s a scrappy, physical guy for his 6-foot-and change size. He’s always willing to finish his checks and make a big hit. Just ask Derek Stepan. Ouch…too soon? Que dites-vous, Alain Vigneault?
Beleskey is shooting the puck more than he did a year ago and right now, not a whole lot is going in for him, but when he starts finding the back of the net, watch for him to get on a streak. Beleskey fired five shots on Henrik Lundqvist Friday and if he continues to get pucks to the net, he’ll raise the scoring bar. A year ago, he scored 18 even strength goals on just 124 shots, a shooting percentage of 14.5 percent- well above his typical numbers (he tallied 10.3 percent in his 11-goal season during 2009-10, but typically scored at under a 10 percent clip in his other years), but most analysts predicted (correctly) a natural regression from that 14.5 percentage this season. Admittedly, the B’s need more than his current 6.67 shooting percentage, and he’s a good bet to get that number up closer to his career average of about 9-10 percent by season’s end.
Advanced statistics: Beleskey is on the positive side of the ledger in terms of goals scored for his team when he is on the ice versus goals against (per 60 minutes), with a GF60 of 2.941 and GA60 of 2.101. good for a GF percentage of 58.3. Bergeron’s even strength offensive numbers for example aren’t as good- the B’s have scored just 2.255 GF/60 but his GA/60 average is better with a 1.845. That gives him a 55.0 GF%. Bergeron’s iCorsi (74) is higher than Beleskey’s (66) because he takes more shots, but his even strength shooting percentage is lower.
Beleskey’s PDO (shot percentage + save percentage while player is on the ice- I like this stat because it tends to be a little more predictive versus some of the others) is 101.7, which is lower than his 103.8 and 103.0 in each of the last two seasons. Bergeron’s even strength PDO is 98.8- up two percentage points from the less productive 2013-14 season, when he posted a 96.8. Even in his 30-goal campaign of two years ago, his PDO was 102.4- just .7 points higher than Beleskey’s number as of today.
Bergeron significantly overtakes Beleskey on the power play where his production is tops on the Bruins with 9.88 P/60 (he has 11 of his 21 points against Beleskey’s 0.00. Bergeron’s PDO on the power play is 120.6 (compared to his 5v5 of 98.8), which gives you an idea of just how much his production with the man advantage skews the scoring totals in his favor. The bottom line for me when I look at the two players- at even strength, where the two have similar minutes on the ice, Beleskey is the more productive (note- I said productive not better) player. I won’t peel the onion back too much more in terms of Beleskey’s zone starts or how he does when close or trailing, but he’s been one of the more consistent performers at even strength- admittedly and area that the Bruins need to improve on going forward if they want to remain in the playoff picture.
(Statistical source: Hockey Analysis.com- David Johnson)
Intangibles: Going back to July 1, when Beleskey chose the Bruins in free agency, he’s said and done all the right things. He and his wife were active on social media and quickly traveled to Boston after signing, showing their excitement to be joining the organization at a time when the team’s outlook was anything but rosy. The B’s and Don Sweeney had just traded Dougie Hamilton and more questions than answers swirled around the B’s, even though Beleskey and trade acquisition Jimmy Hayes pumped some excitement into fans who had seen their contributions while wearing other team jerseys and envisioned good things from the new additions. Thus far, the two have combined for just six goals, which is well off of expectations given that they posted a total of 41 between the two of them with the Ducks and Florida Panthers a year ago.
Beleskey is hard-nosed- he’s had a couple of fights with Minnesota’s Brett Bulmer and NY Ranger Dylan McIlrath in the past seven days, racking up an impressive 10 total hits in both contests. He’s a gritty, willing combatant, which should endear him to Bruins fans as they warm up to him in Boston and see where his consistency and ruggedness comes from.
Against McIlrath, Beleskey was out of his weight class and took some shots and jabs from the much larger former WHL pugilist and first-round pick before coming back with a right cross and then went to the ice.
Beleskey did a lot better in his scrap against Bulmer, however…
What’s more- Beleskey wants to be here. Sweeney did a good job of moving guys who didn’t feel the same way out. If you’re going to invest millions in a player- at least pay for the ones who want to be a part of the solution. These guys are only human and sometimes we forget that if someone doesn’t want it as badly, we can expect them to be professionals, but without being able to see inside a person’s heart, we don’t know if they are giving it their all. One need not do any more than simply watch the way Beleskey hurtles around the ice on every shift, looking to to make a hit or force a turnover if he’s anywhere near the puck when someone with another jersey has it, to know that the guy is giving it his maximum effort.
Beleskey was in the news this past week when he and his wife purchased $2,000 worth of pies and distributed them to homeless veteran charities in Boston for Thanksgiving. It’s a nice gesture from a player who has backed up his words of being proud to be a part of the Bruins organization with the kind of gritty play the team values, as well as taking the time to give back to the community.
Summary: The Bruins are getting the guy they coveted from the West Coast. The goals aren’t there, but he’s brought a needed effort each and every night and plays hard, providing the all-important leadership by example. His 10 points in 20 games has him on pace for his best offensive season, and he’s creating space for his line mates with his physical brand of hockey. Beleskey doesn’t have the natural size to be a classic and even feared power forward, but he’s not shy about sticking his nose in and taking one for the team.
There are some who will just point to the $3.8M cap hit and draw a direct correlation to the downturn in goals, but when you consider that some pundits were predicting him to sign for upwards of $4.5 or 5 million last July, the Bruins are getting solid value. At age 27 and with four more years on the books, he’ll probably live up to the contract and then some so long as he can stay healthy. Because of his kamikaze style of play, it takes a toll on his average frame. However, when all is said and done, no one will ever accuse Beleskey of being soft.
In short, you win with guys like that, and this is why- as we look at Boston’s record after 22 games- they sit at a solid 13-8-1 overall. There aren’t many who would have put money on them being 5 games over .500 at the quarter pole with the team they had on paper coming into the season. Beleskey’s contributions, especially at even strength when the power play has not been there to carry the club offensively, are a big reason you can make a case that he’s right up there with the big guns- Krejci, Bergeron, Marchand, Eriksson as one of the team’s most valuable players during this stretch of the season.
The Boston Bruins showed the urgency of rabid Black Friday shoppers in a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Eastern Conference power New York Rangers in a post-Thanksgiving matinee.
Ryan Spooner and David Krejci scored goals 2:03 apart in the third period to erase a 3-2 deficit and give the B’s their fifth consecutive victory, a season high. Patrice Bergeron and Brett Connolly also tallied for Boston, keeping the team in the thick of the Atlantic Division standings. Tuukka Rask made 24 stops and was good when he needed to be in getting over .500 (8-7-1) for the first time this year.
For the Bruins, they put forth a strong effort in scoring four goals against longtime nemesis Henrik Lundqvist. In contrast to other recent wins, the team played a solid 60 minutes, losing an early 1-0 lead to stay within striking distance to negate 2-1 and 3-2 scores to grab an emotional two points at the end of regulation.
For Boston, the offense has played pretty well over the course of the season, posting an NHL-best power play (two goals) but the team defense has been much improved during the five-game winning streak. A lot of it has to do with the return of Dennis Seidenberg, who has stabilized the pairings with his experience and strong defensive play after missing the first month of the regular season.
The Rangers did’t play their best game at TD Garden, but on paper, the Broadway Blueshirts are a significantly better team than the Bruins are. Where Lundqvist is concerned, there might be a psychological edge over Boston (though the 2013 playoffs went a long way towards erasing a long-term dominance he had previously enjoyed), but he looked mortal in this one.
Boston got on the board first when Bergeron converted a blocked Torey Krug drive after the veteran center won an offensive zone draw to the B’s top scoring defender. The puck hit traffic out front, but Bergeron was on the spot and zipped a shot through Lundqvist’s five-hole to get the home crowd into the game early. It was the eighth goal of the season, the 214th of his career. Bergeron is closing in on 600 career points with 571.
Rangers goals by Oscar Lindberg and Rick Nash in the first five minutes of the second period put Boston in a 2-1 hole, but Connolly got the equalizer on the power play, the first time the B’s scored with the man advantage in three games. Connolly found the back of the net after Colin Miller faked a shot from the point and then put a pass to the streaking forward’s tape.
The Rangers grabbed a lead once more in the final period when J.T. Miller got a power play goal thanks to a Brad Marchand goalie interference penalty. The call drew a cascade of boos from the TD Garden because it appeared that Lundqvist was on the edge of his crease and fell to the ice as if shot once Marchand made contact with his knee to the goaltender’s head, but the call stood, and the Rangers capitalized.
With time winding down, Jesper Fast took a hooking penalty on Miller which set the stage for Boston’s furious comeback.
With the Bruins in possession of the puck, Krug got another shot from outside through to the front of the net. Loui Eriksson got his stick on it and found Spooner who was driving towards the crease from the right circle. He took the puck and flipped it up and over Lundqvist who was down on the initial shot and unable to make the save. Spooner’s fifth goal of the season came with 3:46 left in the third period.
Krejci then tallied the winning goal with 1:43 left when he drove a hard shot from the outside that appeared to pinball off a Rangers player (Emerson Etem) in front and into the twine behind Lundqvist.
The game was not without some controversy, as Matt Beleskey drilled Derek Stepan with a hard check that drove the Rangers star into the boards, breaking several ribs as the team would report afterwards. The hit itself was not an illegal one, but delivered perhaps a tad late and with Stepan off balance as he was turning to chase the puck he had just passed. When Dylan McIlrath challenged Beleskey and was assessed an extra two minutes for instigating, Connolly scored on the ensuing power play, adding insult to injury.
Claude Julien moved rookie fan favorite Frank Vatrano to the right side on a line with Bergeron and Marchand, and showed some promise on his off-wing. He’s using his speed and hustle to win puck battles along the walls and has been so impressive given how quickly he’s emerged as an NHL option. His father recently pointed out that in one calendar year Vatrano has scored his first NCAA, professional (AHL) and NHL goals- talk about a white Christmas!
The Bruins are off until Wednesday, when they go on the road for three games in Western Canada, but with Rask enjoying his best stretch of hockey this season and the rest of the club playing with confidence and verve, the B’s are giving their fans a lot to be happy about. As expected, the season has been a series of peaks and valleys, but the brutal start to the year and winless homestead seems to be a distant memory.
The Bruins showed they can run with some of the NHL’s big dogs with this win over the Rangers, and after some poor showings at home, are giving their fans more reasons to get excited for the games again.
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Dennis Seidenberg has been ‘steady as he goes’ since returning to the lineup this month (Photo courtesy of Alison M. Foley)
David Krejci- Scored the winning goal late by doing something he hadn’t been doing enough of in recent seasons- shooting the puck on net. A core player who was signed to a big extension a year ago, one that raised eyebrows, the Czech veteran has been one of the NHL’s top offensive players since opening night and is one pace for his best scoring season at age 29.
Matt Beleskey- He didn’t have any points, but had five hits including the momentum-changing play on Stepan, five shots on net, a fight and key drawn penalty resulting in Connolly’s PPG, along with 13 minutes of ice time. As Bruins analyst Bob Beers has said- Beleskey might not be getting the points, but he shows up every night and makes a difference in other key areas. He’s not going to give you the pure physical dominance of Milan Lucic (when he was on his game) but Beleskey is giving the team every ounce of his talent right now.
Ryan Spooner- The debate on his even strength effectiveness continues, but he came through in the clutch when the B’s needed a power play goal with a key score that took full advantage of his speed and puck skills. Simply put- when Spooner has extra time and space, he’s been deadly in the season’s first quarter. As long as he continues to produce, he’ll stay firmly in the mix with the big club.
Colin Miller- With two goals and 10 points, Chiller is on pace for a superb rookie season. His skating and puck skills are so obvious whenever he’s out there, but his defensive game is progressing and the former Kings farmhand’s confidence is growing with each game. With Dougie Hamilton struggling in Calgary, Miller is giving the Bruins comparable production and has been an important factor in Boston’s current hot streak.
Loui Eriksson- His assist on the game-tying goal was typical Eriksson- a heads up play by a poised veteran. He could have just tried to drive the puck past Lundqvist, but instead recognized Spooner was attacking from an oblique angle and had a better chance of beating the Rangers goalie with it. With nine goals and 20 points in 22 games, he’s playing the best hockey of his Bruins tenure by far.
Dennis Seidenberg- He’s not fancy, but the German veteran is playing well after coming back from injury earlier this month. His overall play is up compared to his problems a season ago when he was returning from a major knee injury suffered in January of 2014 and appeared tentative and ineffective. He’s no longer in his prime, but Seidenberg’s experience and poise has helped to stabilized Boston’s defense. They’re not a top group by NHL standards, but with the team’s offense and goaltending, they’re good enough to get the job done. He’s a big-time shot blocker and leads by example, even if he’s not going to provide the pure talent and production of other defenders on this club.
Brett Connolly- Scored his first goal in 12 games. He’s got some zip and has the ability to be the scorer that the Tampa Bay Lightning felt good enough to pick sixth overall despite missing just about all of his draft season. Connolly is a low-cost player who could be a key to keeping this offensive chugging away, but consistency is the main thing.
DOWN-
Alain Vigneault- We can understand the frustration over losing a key player like Stepan to the Beleskey hit, but invoking the Aaron Rome hit from the 2011 Stanley Cup final? Come on, man. Vigneault has a good track record as an NHL coach, but he also has an earned reputation for being a whiner and this was vintage AV.
The Boston Bruins got a pair of goals from rookie Frank Vatrano, back from missing the past several contests to injury, and a monster game in net from backup Jonas Gustavsson to stun the Detroit Red Wings on the road with a 3-2 victory in sudden death.
The hometown Wings carried the edge in play for most of the night, but Gustavsson kept them in it after surrendering Pavel Datsyuk’s 300th career NHL goal and another strike from Tomas Tatar in the second period that gave Detroit a 2-1 lead until 1:44 left in regulation.
Vatrano opened the scoring at 7:11 of the first period when he took a Joonas Kemppainen pass out near the high slot and buried a low shot past Petr Mrazek. Former Red Wing Landon Ferraro drew his second assist in as many games with the Bruins after being claimed on waivers Monday.
The goal happened in part because Zdeno Chara swept a rolling puck away from danger after Gustavsson got a piece of a Niklas Kronwall drive that squirted through and was headed for the goal line.
Datsyuk rifled home the equalizer at 2:26 of the middle frame when he took an Alexey Marchenko pass and put the puck past Gustavsson for his second goal of the year. Tatar then added to the lead with his seventh marker, assisted by Riley Sheahan and Darren Helm.
Boston was unable to get much going in the way of sustained offensive pressure and when Vatrano took a poorly-timed tripping call at 14:42 of the final period, it appeared that the B’s might be out of luck on a night when their goaltending was good enough despite a lack of scoring.
However, after killing off the Vatrano penalty, the B’s found life on a deliberate play that developed slowly through the neutral zone between David Krejci and Loui Eriksson. Without pushing the pace, the two passed the puck back and forth before Eriksson gained the zone and then backhanded a pass over to his right. Defenseman Colin Miller was trailing the play and stepped into it, blasting the puck past Mrazek and into the net off the far post to make it a 2-2 game.
In 3-on-3 overtime, the B’s survived some tense moments including a sequence when Eriksson lost his stick and then failed to clear it by kicking at the puck. Tatar nearly ended the game on an odd-man rush with a wide open net, but he heeled the pass and the puck went wide, setting the stage for an improbable duo of Matt Beleskey-Vatrano-Miller combination to win the game.
Beleskey gained the Detroit zone and curled near the left boards, protecting the puck and then dishing up to Miller who had just entered the zone and was out near the middle of the circles. He then made a perfect slap-pass on net, freezing Mrazek, who no doubt expected another “Chiller Driller” to come scorching in. Instead, Vatrano was cutting to the front of the net and he put his stick on the off-speed shot, deflecting it down and into the net for the game-winning score.
The Bruins upped their record to 12-8-1, moving into third place in the Atlantic Division on the night before Thanksgiving. Given how hard this team works despite not having an abundance of high-end talent, they’ve given the fans a lot to be thankful for.
UP
Frank Vatrano- Back in the lineup, the East Longmeadow native tallied his first career two-goal game in the NHL. It’s not just his sublime release and otherworldly stick skills/killer instinct around the net, but he’s added a dimension of speed and is hustling all over the 200-foot sheet of ice. I said it on Twitter, but if you had told me back in March when the B’s signed the impressive 18-goal guy out of UMass that he would score 3 goals in his first 7 NHL *before* December 1st, I would’ve thought that was crazy talk. Vatrano, who previously attended Calgary Flames development camp before signing with Boston, is making anyone who doubted him including all 30 teams that skipped him in the draft three times, look like the ones who lost their marbles.
Jonas Gustavsson- He lived up to his nickname of the Monster tonight with another quality start. It’s obvious that the guy can play…the key to him going forward will be in maintaining his health, as injuries have been stumbling blocks for him in the past. He made some tough stops look pretty routine tonight, and as someone who subscribes to the “less is more” approach when it comes to goalies, that’s a good thing. He’s now 5-1, with a GAA of 2.15 and a save percentage of .920.
Colin Miller- Chiller posted the tying goal and an assist on the winning goal. He seems to be growing and developing by leaps and bounds with each game, as the confidence is getting larger. Sure, he’ll make the odd bad read or poor pinch, but he has the tools to make up for those missteps. He’s already contributing quite a bit at both ends as a raw rookie who saw his first NHL game back in October- just think how good he could be in another 2-3 years.
Claude Julien- Let’s give him credit on this one: is anyone going to say with a straight face that he hates young players when he rolled out a combo of Vatrano and Miller during 3-on-3 OT play along with Beleskey? For all the static he gets, he didn’t staple Vatrano to the bench after the youngster’s bad penalty late in the third period. He recognized that Vatrano and Miller, combined with Beleskey’s edge and energy might make for a good mix and the trio did not disappoint.
Pavel Datsyuk- 300 goals in a Hall of Fame career. At 37, he’s slowing down, but tonight, he showed why he’s been an NHL star for so long. Aside from the fact that the Bruins have been leading the league in allowing career milestones to be reached this season, Datsyuk found the back of the net with an understated, yet impressive strike that captured the essence of his elite hockey sense, talent and a penchant for making magic out of the mundane ever since he came over from Russia after being the 171st overall pick in 1998.
DOWN
Ryan Spooner- Did not see much action in the final 10 minutes of regulation or overtime. For a player with his speed and skills, the team wants more from the 2010 second-rounder. Regardless of the less productive and successful performance at 5-on-5, Spooner has the ability to raise his game when challenged and has rebounded when sat down in the past. Sometimes we forget that he’s still just 23, and his 11 points in 21 contests is a little off his pace from a year ago, but when he’s on his game, there aren’t many more dangerous forwards on this team than No. 51.
The Boston Bruins beat the Minnesota Wild Thursday night by a 4-2 score thanks in large part to Loui Eriksson’s hat trick (he now has 9 goals on the season) and solid play between the pipes by backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson.
The win was significant also because it was only the third victory on home ice this season for Boston, which was an important two points for the team to get on the heels of Tuesday night’s loss to San Jose at the TD Garden. Additionally, that the B’s beat the Wild, the ranking modern expansion era nemesis for Boston, was an important moral win for a team that will take positives in any form these days. It was only the third time since Minnesota joined the league for the 1999-00 season that the B’s had beaten the Wild, which is a remarkable statistic when you consider the success the Bruins have had since 2008.
With defenseman Kevan Miller on the shelf after suffering an upper body injury in the third period against the Sharks, the B’s got a boost with the return of Colin Miller who had missed the previous couple of games to injury.
The story of the night was the play of Boston’s two Swedes- Eriksson and Gustavsson- who paced the home team to a solid win on home ice. For Eriksson, it was his third career three-goal game, and Gustavsson upped his record with Boston to 4-1, a 2.20 GAA and .915 save percentage. He’s making a case to see more ice, which could let Tuukka Rask get a little time to work through his struggles right now. Not surprisingly, I’m seeing some Twitter chatter mocking Rask and elevating ‘Gus’ but still believe Rask is not only a superior goaltender to Gustavsson but he’s capable of infinitely better play than he’s demonstrated to date. This is not a goaltender controversy per se and it would be absurd to argue for Gustavsson to push Rask aside at this juncture, but Gus has played well enough to perhaps get the next game or two and see what he does with the opportunity.
Loui’s first goal of the night happened when he threw the puck at the net from the near the left wing boards and it appeared to hit Brett Connolly and bounce in past Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk. In actuality, the puck hit Wild forward Jason Pominville’s skate who was locked up with Connolly and backing in towards his net, meaning the goal belonged to Eriksson, his seventh of the year.
The second goal happened on the power play, when Torey Krug took the puck in from the blue line and near the top of the left circle put a hard pass into the slot where Patrice Bergeron was set up. Bergeron then moved the puck over to Dubnyk’s left and Eriksson buried it for his second of the game.
Eriksson completed the natural hat trick when he finished off a nice give-and-go with David Krejci to close out the scoring. It all started with a good save by Gustavsson and a heads-up pass from Matt Beleskey to spring Krejci and Eriksson on a 2-on-1 in the neutral zone.
As for Eriksson, he’s continuing a fine season in which he currently sits third on the team in scoring with nine goals (team lead) and 17 points in 18 games.
Eriksson was never going to provide the superstar potential Tyler Seguin took with him to Dallas and that was a known risk Boston was taking when they dealt the 21–year-old in 2013. However, this version of Eriksson was the guy the Bruins felt like they were getting back as part of a larger package that to date has not turned out as hoped.
Eriksson’s play this season has made GM Don Sweeney’s job a tough one, as he will have to decide whether Loui is part of a solution going forward past 2016 or if the team should trade him at or near the deadline to get what could be a pretty significant return. We’re too early in the season to figure out whether Boston will be in a position to make a trade or will be better served sticking with him, but one thing is for sure: Eriksson is doing the things we had always seen from him in Dallas. You know what you have in the guy, so if you give that up for the uncertainty of future returns in the form of prospects and/or draft picks, you might just find yourself wishing the team had stuck with Eriksson instead.
It’s no doubt a debate that will continue to be had and heat up after the Winter Classic when playoff positions will start to solidify and we will better know if Eriksson can sustain his impressive scoring pace.
Beleskey and Krejci played superb games as that line carried the night- it’s another sign that while this Bruins team might lack the talent on paper to be a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, they’re going to show up and give a top effort most nights.
But in this day and age, coming close, especially when it happens against the Montreal Canadiens, isn’t good enough.
It was a game the B’s played well enough to win and had a Cinderella story in the making when Frank Vatrano, fresh off his recall and playing in his first NHL game fired home a bullet wrist shot for his first big league goal and a 2-1 lead.
Instead, it turned into just another nightmare on Avenue des Canadiens de Montreal.
That the road team ended up with a 4-2 loss thanks to a late David Desharnais power play that should not have even happened if not for an inconceivable meltdown by another David…Krejci… is going to take a while for this B’s team to wrap their heads around.
With the game tied at 2-2 and seemingly headed to overtime when anything could happen, the Boston veteran went after Canadiens forward and fellow Czech Tomas Plekanec not once, not twice, but three times- an initial attempt to go high on Plekanec went uncalled behind the Boston net as it probably should. We don’t know yet what happened to spark Krejci’s rage, but he then followed Plekanec as the Canadien headed to the bench for a change and cross-checked him from behind. The referee’s arm went up and Krejci then hit him again behind the head as Plekanec began to rise.
The resulting man advantage ended in predictable fashion when your team is sporting a league-worst PK rating. Montreal moved the puck around effortlessly, got a shot on net that Jonas Gustavsson kicked over to Desharnais just off the right post, and he put it in. A Max Pacioretty empty-netter was fait accompli at that point to make it 4-2. It might as well have been 10-2 after so crushing the disappointment of playing so well only to give the Habs a 12th win in the last 13 regular season matchups between these rivals.
The game started well enough, with Montreal playing some undisciplined hockey and taking three first period penalties. The B’s cashed in, with Loui Eriksson tallying his fifth goal of the season to continue his tremendous power play work, as Boston still owns the best man advantage unit in the league- talk about extremes. Patrice Bergeron took a pass from Ryan Spooner and put a shot on net that Eriksson was able to redirect in past Massachusetts native Mike Condon to give the B’s a 1-0 lead less than 2 minutes in.
Montreal tied the game in the second period with a power play marker by Plekanec after he got a pass from Brendan Gallagher and snuck it into the net past Gustavsson at 1:09.
Vatrano fired up the Boston fans when he received a Colin Miller pass (who made it a six-game point streak), curled back towards the Montreal net out by the blue line, then ripped that hard, heavy shot- the one that has become a trademark so early in his pro career- to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead.
With Gustavsson playing well in the second period and nearly half of the third, even weathering a disallowed Montreal goal after it was determined that Gallagher made contact with Gus in the crease, Lars Eller got his third goal of the season out of five total markers against the Bruins to make it a 2-2 game at 8:58.
That set the stage for Krejci’s egregious penalty and another missed opportunity for the Bruins, who have gone 0-3 since beating Tampa Bay last Sunday.
Some late-game ugliness occurred when Nathan Beaulieu hit Zac Rinaldo with a cross-check up high as Rinaldo came in on him behind the net to finish the check. Rinaldo caught the stick in the side of the head and went down, Beaulieu given a match penalty for intent to injure and then chirping at Matt Beleskey as he left the ice. There was no further spillover of what had to be some significant frustration for the Bruins as the game ended.
In the end, we are left with a pretty simple premise. The chances for Boston to not only steal a critical two points on the road but to get an important moral victory for the psyche were there: Torey Krug didn’t hit an open net in the second period on a power play when it looked like the play was there for him to make. Eriksson would have another nice deflection on a Zach Trotman point shot that Condon made an even more impressive save on to keep Boston off the board. But when the B’s look back on this one, Krejci’s inexplicable loss of control will be the major takeaway.
The team will limp off to Brooklyn to face the NY Islanders tomorrow, rested and waiting for a club that doesn’t have any time to dwell on this one.
UP
Frank Vatrano- It’s hard to believe that a year ago, the Western Mass. native was playing in just his first full season at UMass after having to transfer from Boston College due to academic issues and missing all but one game in the 2013-14 campaign. Since the B’s got wise to Vatrano’s willingness to forego his remaining NCAA eligibility last March and inked him as a free agent, the young winger has undergone an astounding transformation- losing significant weight and taking maximum advantage of every opportunity to show off his high-end offensive strengths. Playing on his “off wing” over on the right side tonight, Vatrano had a ‘welcome to the NHL’ moment in the first period when he tried to get past Montreal defender Alexei Emelin along the boards and was drilled with a hard, clean hip check. He then scored his goal in the second frame, and even made a nifty pass to Krejci in the third period that very nearly resulted in a goal and Vatrano posting a helper to go a long with his first NHL goal. The contrast between what Vatrano did with his opportunity and how Alex Khokhlachev looked this week against Dallas and Washington was striking: Vatrano leveraged what he does best and looked exactly like the AHL-leading goal scorer by playing aggressively and looking confident with the puck. He’ll make mistakes out there, but because he’s a dangerous player, you can live with those errors if he’s able to compensate for them by bringing offense to the table. The fact that he got 14:20 of ice playing with Krejci and Eriksson tells you all you need to know about what the Boston coaches thought of his fit on that line. Vatrano has not yet arrived, but even if he goes back down, there is every reason to think that much bigger things are in store.
Zach Trotman- Playing his first game since opening night, Trotman brought some physicality and played with a burr under his saddle. He did make one ill-advised pass in the third period that would have banished him to Siberia had Montreal capitalized, but overall, he played a strong game in place of Joe Morrow, who wore some goat horns after the loss to the Caps Thursday. He is what he is: a role player who is at his best when keeping things simple, but he did what the B’s needed to get out of him after missing so much time while sitting on press level over the past month.
DOWN
David Krejci- It’s hard to fathom how costly a penalty it was for the veteran leader to take even as you rewind the film and watch it. He went after Plekanec once and wasn’t called for it. At that point, he could have quit while he was ahead and skated back to the bench. Maybe the B’s still lose this game on a late goal, in overtime or in a shootout. But the reality is- he made a boneheaded decision that had a significant consequence. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he took all three Boston penalties tonight, two of which ended up with goals on the scoreboard. You give Krejci the benefit of the doubt because this is so out of character for him and he’ll no doubt take it hard once the emotions come down and the reality of how costly his actions were sink in. It’s on to the Islanders, but maybe a motivated Krejci seeking redemption isn’t such a bad thing.
Jonas Gustavsson- Some observers liked his play tonight, I thought he was out of position too much and did a poor job of controlling his rebounds, leading directly to the Eller and Desharnais goals. He gave the Bruins a chance to win, making 29 saves on 32 shots, but he was unable to make a stop when Boston needed it most. He doesn’t get the blame for this loss, but he didn’t do enough to make the difference, either. Back to Tuukka Rask tomorrow.
B’s Penalty Killers- They’re in last place for a reason. The PKers do not maintain their cohesion…they pressure and force at the wrong times, allowing teams to exploit them with puck movement. There is not enough speed and quickness across the board to win more races to pucks and battles along the boards than they should. Kevan Miller is probably not the best choice to kill penalties, but he’s what the coaches are going with. Finally, the last line of defense- the guys between the pipes- just can’t seem to pull out some stops. You feel for them because teams are able to collapse and disrupt the box and diamond with their possession game, but neither Rask nor Gustavsson seem able to stop the bleeding. This is Boston’s achilles heel, especially when the team takes bad penalties.
EDIT- For his part, Krejci took responsibility as expected he would. Here are some postgame quotes from him, which appeared on the Bruins Twitter feed afterwards:
“Stuff like that shouldnt happen…especially when it’s guys that have been in league and know better. Guys battle hard and I do something like that… It was stupid and it cost us the game. I feel bad for letting my teammates and coaches down.”
Loui Eriksson is proof positive that bad things can happen to good people, but the best of them can use that adversity as an opportunity to adapt, overcome and ultimately reinvent themselves. Back before the season began, I predicted that Eriksson would be a prime candidate to be traded at some point this season given his impending unrestricted free agent status next summer and the opportunity for the Bruins to move him in exchange for asset(s) that would benefit the team going forward.
With 11 games in the books and Eriksson contributing to his team’s fortunes in all aspects of the game, it might be time to revisit that position.
Eriksson was the centerpiece of Boston’s most controversial trade since Mike O’Connell shipped a 26-year-old, in-his-prime Joe Thornton to San Jose for three “JAGs” (just another guy) in Marco Sturm, Brad Stuart and Wayne Primeau. The JAG moniker is not meant to be disrespectful to Sturm, as of the three he provided the most impact and valuable service for the Bruins from late 2005 until the team traded his rights to Los Angeles for cap relief during the 2010-11 campaign, but when you measure his contributions against those of Thornton with the Sharks, you get the idea. Like Sturm, Eriksson has been able to establish himself as a regular contributor in Boston, but as an identified key piece of the 2013 summer deal between Boston and Dallas, has not produced at anywhere near the pace of the young star Boston gave up for him.
In Eriksson’s case, he was part of a futures package that came to Boston in the exchange for Tyler Seguin– the well-away-from-his-prime wunderkind who has since proven that the fears of him not living up to expectations as the second overall pick in 2010 were unfounded. Even if Seguin’s off-ice discipline and overall maturity are still a work in progress, the hockey product is continuing to improve as he has emerged as one of the NHL’s brightest scoring stars since the start of 2013-14.
However, the point of this post is not to revisit Boston’s decision to trade a 21-year-old Seguin, or to debate the return from Big D. For Eriksson, he became a victim not only of two concussions that essentially cost him his first and arguably most important season in Boston, but also of an expectation bias that based on his track record, he had little chance of overcoming.
Eriksson first year in Boston was during the 2013-14 campaign, when the B’s offense was near the top en route to the franchise’s first President’s Trophy as top regular season club since 1989-90. On paper, his statistics reflect the time lost to head injuries and the likely effects he had to contend with after completing the NHL’s concussion protocol after both events. In missing 21 games, his 10 goals and 37 points ranked 10th on that team in scoring, with David Krejci finishing on top with 19 goals and 69 points in 80 contests. Both Patrice Bergeron and Jarome Iginla tied for the team lead in goals with 30. His two goals and five points in 12 playoff games, added fuel to the fire that Eriksson was a player in decline and a poor return for Seguin.
In 2014-15, Eriksson provided more consistent offense on a non-playoff club, finishing second on the team in goals scored with 22 to Brad Marchand’s 24.
When looking at some of the more advanced analytics out there on Eriksson, the contrast between his 2013-14 even strength numbers and those of this season are pretty striking, and not in the way you might think. His goals and points/60 minutes in 5 on 5 play are actually higher in his first season- (0.63 and 1.73) than both last year’s 22-goal campaign (0.60 G/60 and 1.54 Points/60) and this season’s hot 11 points in 11 games (0.38 GF, 1.54 P/60). Eriksson was more effective offensively in that first year that many pointed to as an abject failure given Seguin’s offensive explosion (and ability to stay healthy).
Where Eriksson has raised the game is on the power play in 2015-16 compared to past seasons. In 37:48 on the ice with the man advantage thus far, he’s on pace to shatter his totals from his two previous seasons in Boston. His three goals and five points are already half of what he produced in 188+ minutes of 5v4 play a year ago, and he had a total of 11 points in 115 man advantage minutes in 2013-14. His goals and points/60 totals on the power play are 4.76 and 7.94 respectively, impressive when compared against the 1.91 and 3.18 from a year ago (remember he finished second on the team in goals, and his 47 points were second to Bergeron’s 55). Eriksson’s 5v4 numbers in 2013-4 are closer- just 1.04 goals/60 but his assist ratio was a significantly higher 4.66 giving him a 5.70 points/60 during that “failed” season. David Krejci’s numbers look like a guy at the top of Boston’s pay scale- his 5v4 goals and points/60 are even higher than Eriksson’s- 2.92 and 10.21.
Time will tell if Boston can sustain its blistering power play pace, but you figure Eriksson and his teammates will come back down to Earth at some point. For now, however, he is making his presence felt, which is important given that the man advantage is helping to offset the disastrous last-place PK for Boston.
Eriksson’s shots per game are down from what they were in the previous two seasons, but he’s making more plays to pass the puck to teammates who are finishing them off with goals. His individual Corsi rating is down because he’s simply not shooting as much as he has in the past, but expect that to balance out as the season goes on.
So, if you look at Eriksson’s consistent production across the two full seasons and early part of a third, he’s actually been a good value for his current cap hit of $4.25M. At age 30, he’s not getting any younger but when you compare him to Pittsburgh forward Patric Hornqvist, for example, his points/60 at even strength are comparable, but on the PP, Eriksson’s 7.94 far eclipses Hornqvist’s 2.46 (Hornqvist has played about 13 fewer minutes with the man advantage as Eriksson has). Jakub Voracek and James van Riemsdyk both make the same coin and are well behind the older Eriksson in terms of their 5on5 and 5on4 production. Calgary’s Michael Frolik makes $4.3M and is well ahead at even strength P/60 with 3.00, but is a big goose egg on the PP.
So- given the loss of Chris Kelly to a fractured femur and the fact that Eriksson is not only providing production, but quiet leadership as a respected teammate, don’t be so quick to advocate for his departure. It is entirely possible that by the end of the season, assuming he can continue to perform on a similar trajectory, talk of a modest AAV increase with a reasonable term of let’s say- three years- gives Eriksson an opportunity to be part of a better solution than what we have seen to date in Boston.
I realize that for some in Boston- there is simply no getting around the fact that Eriksson is not the player Seguin is and there will be a desire to move on and invest that cash on someone else perhaps a little younger with a more intriguing upside than the ‘Steady Eddie’ (Loui) No. 21 has been for the Bruins. That’s a fair point, but be careful what you wish for. At this stage of his career, Eriksson’s value can be measured in more than the statistics, and he’s probably less interested in cashing in than being valued and a part of a team that could be putting pieces in place to get back onto the road of contention in another 1-2 years.
Even in his “worst” year as a Bruin, Eriksson was a consistent producer who doesn’t get enough credit for his defensive play and willingness to do the little things to help his team have success. Some of those things come at the price of gaudier numbers and his mediocre open-ice speed is a point that critics can effectively argue against.
When all is said and done- the Bruins will be faced with an interesting choice this season. Trade him to a contender in the spring time and likely get a seller’s price for him, or invest in him continuing to be a solid citizen and contributor and make the effort to keep him in the fold come free agency. He’s proven that his play is not a fluke- he may not be putting up the pure production he did earlier in his career, but he’s providing balance and consistency, which is important to any winning club.This isn’t a Gregory Campbell situation here- if people are honest with themselves, it’s readily apparent that Eriksson is a superior offensive player who is not too old to continue his career trends for another 3 or 4 years if he can avoid any more TBI.
The case to trade Eriksson if Boston is selling at the deadline or keep him around for the next organizational iteration is something that my surface-level analysis of just a very few statistics can’t come close to effectively arguing for or against, but you can bet that someone out there is crunching the numbers.
The Boston Bruins, facing the Arizona Coyotes for the second time in less than two weeks, got a much-needed first home win of the season, while Tuukka Rask posted his 27th career shutout, passing Hall of Famer and two-time Stanley Cup champion Gerry Cheevers on the team’s all-time list. The B’s pasted the Coyotes en route to a 6-0 game that saw the loss of Kevan Miller, who was tripped by Arizona forward Tobias Rieder and fell awkwardly into the end boards.
After a feeling-out period in the opening 20 minutes, David Krejci scored his sixth goal of the season off a brilliant rush that started with a smart clearing pass from Torey Krug deep in his own end. The puck went out to Loui Eriksson near the left boards outside the zone and he softly redirected it to Krejci who, despite having less than blazing open ice speed, managed to skate in on goaltender Mike Smith with the Coyotes in hot pursuit. With Brett Connolly also driving the net up the middle of the ice, his presence forced Arizona d-man Nicklas Grossman to shift away from Krejci to take away the pass. The B’s veteran and top scorer then deftly moved the puck from his backhand to the forehand and then roofed a shot into the net to give his club a 1-0 lead.
Jimmy Hayes added to the lead in the second frame by finishing off the rebound of a Matt Beleskey shot after Ryan Spooner gained the zone with a slick move to stay onside. Hayes put home his third goal of the year to give his team some breathing room.
Defenseman Joe Morrow added a late goal, his first of the year when he gained the zone and snapped a high wrist shot from high in the slot into the top corner. It was a classic Morrow-like goal, as the former WHL standout defender has always been known for his ability to fire pucks on net.
Boston continued the dominance in the final frame when Brett Connolly scored his third goal in as many games when Brad Marchand streaked into the offensive zone along the left wall, pulled a defender to him and then put the puck back out into the middle of the ice where Connolly was trailing. He gathered it up and then zipped a laser on the stick side to give the B’s a commanding 4-0 lead. Patrice Bergeron drew the secondary assist on the play.
Marchand’s power play goal with some six minutes and change punctuated the danger of giving the B’s an extra man after John Scott was assessed a slashing penalty and 10-minute misconduct.
Krejci took a chip pass off the boards from Hayes to score his second goal of the game in the final minute, giving Boston the decisive 6-0 whitewash to earn that first ‘W’ at the TD Garden for 2015-16 in style. It gave him a stats line of 7-7-14 in eight games to go back on top of the NHL.
UP
Tuukka Rask (Photo courtesy of Alison M. Foley)
Tuukka Rask- Boston’s embattled veteran wasn’t tested all that much, but stood tall in his crease and answered the call after a poor showing against Philadelphia last week. This is the Rask that the Bruins and their fans expect to see every night and the shutout was the cherry on top, as he moves into a tie with Eddie Johnston for fourth place on Boston’s all-time list, and just five shutouts from moving into third place ahead of Tim Thomas. He’s got a long way to go before he catches franchise leader Cecil “Tiny” Thompson, however (74).
David Krejci- 8 games, points in all (14 total including a two-goal night and the game-winner on the opening tally). Krejci had seven goals in 47 games a year ago, he has seven markers in his first eight contests this time, and has the hungry look of a guy who is committed to justifying that big contract extension. Being healthy is key- but his smarts have always been there and he’s being much more aggressive in the way he attacks the net. He and Eriksson are really clicking together.
Loui Eriksson- Another solid performance from the savvy veteran who just goes out and makes plays without a lot of flash and fanfare. He’s been a leader in ice time for Boston forwards in the past four games and it comes down to his versatility and the trust Claude Julien has in him to play in any situation.
Brad Marchand- Wicked little game from Boston’s pepper pot. His assist on Connolly’s third period goal was a thing of beauty as he sucked the Arizona defender to him before sliding the puck back to a wide-open linemate for the score. He then used a Hayes screen in front a few minutes later to score on the power play. Can you say special teams maven?
Joe Morrow- Morrow is expected to provide some offense and push the pace for any club he’s on and he did it tonight. His goal was vintage Morrow, as he attempted a lead pass in the neutral zone, but it deflected back to him on a play by Arizona and in full gallop, he took it himself into the Coyotes’ zone and wired it over Smith’s glove.
Jimmy Hayes- He’s getting it done with another multi-point effort to seal a win. That it came in front of the home crowd is all the more sweeter for the big body who not only received an assist on the Marchand goal by moving the puck to him, but then went right to the front of the net and took away Smith’s sightlines so that Marchand’s shot could get by him high to the blocker side.
Ryan Spooner- Give Spooner (and Beleskey) credit- he returned to the third line after being demoted in the previous contest and made it work, getting the 5-on-5 goal with Hayes and making some good plays. He dished a fine backhand sauce pass that Beleskey was unable to handle in the first period, but if they keep at that one, it’ll go in sooner or later.
DOWN-
Kevan Miller- Let’s hope he didn’t suffer another devastating shoulder injury for his sake- no matter how effective you think he’s played of late, he doesn’t deserve a return to the extended IR like that.
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