Here are your daily news and notes from the Bruins’ morning skate at Warrior Ice Arena Monday. The Black and Gold will face off against the Calgary Flames Wednesday at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Puck drop is set for 9:30 p.m.
B’s look to carry momentum on road:
After getting trucked by the defending Stanley Cup champion Capitals in their season opener, the Bruins managed to right the ship by rattling off four straight wins — bolstered by a strong showing on the team’s first homestand of the 2018-19 season.
During its three matchups on home ice against the Senators, Oilers and Red Wings, Boston outscored its opposition, 18-6, while its top line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak accounted for a pair of hat tricks.
Every facet of the B’s game seems to be trending in the right direction after a discombobulated training camp and a brutal season opener, but Bruce Cassidy noted that the team still has plenty of questions — some which might be answered based on how this team fares on its four-game road trip, which features a trek out to Western Canada to face the Flames, Oilers and Canucks.
“We needed to take care of business at home this week after our start and I think we did a good job with that, we got progressively better away from the puck which led us to be a lot better with the puck,” Cassidy said. “We’re finishing well, top line is scoring, power play is contributing. But now, you take it on the road and Calgary has played well, started out on the road a lot. It’s always a tough swing.
“I know people talk about the schedule a lot. I remember last year, the first five games — we lost to Colorado twice and Vegas and we thought, ‘Wow.’ That’s why I never like to get ahead of myself on what teams we’re playing. You play the schedule in front of you and they both ended up being playoff teams. You just don’t know how it’s all going to shake out. We’ve just got take care of business and now we’ve got to do it on the road.”
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Bergeron earns First Star honors
Despite missing most of the preseason while recovering from offseason groin surgery and back spasms, Patrice Bergeron hasn’t lost a step in his 15th NHL season — tallying 11 points in just five games to open the new campaign.
After leading the NHL in scoring with nine points over his past three games, Bergeron was named the NHL First Star of the Week for the week ending October 14.
Bergeron opened the week by tallying his fourth career hat trick during Boston’s home opener win over the Senators, marking the sixth time in Bruins franchise history that a player has scored a hat trick in a home opener, joining Carson Cooper (1926-27), Phil Esposito (1973-74), Rick Middleton (1976-77) and Cam Neely (1994-95 and 1995-96).
Bergeron then added a goal and an assist in Thursday’s win over the Oilers before adding three helpers in Saturday’s 8-2 trouncing of the Red Wings.
While Bergeron has been the man in the middle of the top forward trio in hockey, a certain amount of his production can be attributed to the play of his linemates, right?
“Not at all,” Brad Marchand said. “I’ve said it for years — just riding his coattails. He deserves the credit. He had a phenomenal week. It’s crazy to think of how well he’s playing right now based on the summer he’s had and the training camp he’s had. He didn’t play a whole lot, didn’t practice a whole lot, so for him to come out the way he did and how hot he’s been, it’s awesome to see.”
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Lineup updates:
Not too much to report in terms of lineup shuffling on Monday, with the same group largely intact from what we saw Saturday against Detroit. (After an 8-2 win, can you blame Cassidy for keeping things as is?)
Still, Danton Heinen saw some reps on the third line, slotting in and out of the left wing spot with Ryan Donato. It will be interesting to see how Cassidy gets a player like Heinen back in the lineup. He’s been very quiet to open the year, but Heinen is not a player to keep watching games from press level for extended stretches.
#NHLBruins practice lines:
Marchand - Bergeron - Pastrnak
Nordstrom - Krejci - DeBrusk
Donato/Heinen - Backes - Bjork
Wagner - Kuraly - Acciari
Chara - McAvoy
Grzelcyk - Miller
Moore - Carlo
Rask
Halak
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) October 15, 2018