BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Senators 1 - B’s power play breaks through, lose Vaakanainen to injury taken at BSJ Headquarters (Bruins)

(Andre Ringuette/NHLI via Getty Images)

Bruins

BSJ Game Report: Bruins 4, Senators 1 - B’s power play breaks through, lose Vaakanainen to injury

By Conor Ryan

Oct 23, 2018 • 11:21 pm

0comment-bubble

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Ottawa Senators in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES:

B’s lose Vaakanainen to a concussion

The Black and Gold closed out their road trip with a convincing win over the Senators, but any momentum generated from two points was a bit stunted by the news that Boston lost yet another defenseman to injury.

Nineteen-year-old Urho Vaakanainen — playing in his second career game as an emergency call-up following injuries to Charlie McAvoy and Kevan Miller — only logged 5:46 of TOI before exiting the game due to a concussion.

Vaakanainen suffered the injury while crashing the net during Boston’s first Grade-A scoring chance in the opening frame, skating in at the crease as Patrice Bergeron tried to jam home a loose puck in the blue paint.

As he started to come to a stop, Vaakanainen took an elbow from Senators defenseman Mark Borowiecki to the face and dropped to the ice. Borowiecki was not assessed a penalty on the play, but you’d figure that he earned himself a sit down with the NHL Department of Player Safety for the hit — given the severity of Vaakanainen’s injury.

There’s a bit of irony with the parties involved, with Borowiecki telling reporters on Monday that the league should have come down with a heavier discipline on Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher after boarding Borowiecki during Ottawa’s 4-3 overtime win over the Habs on Saturday.

“I think you’ve got to make sure guys aren’t taking liberties on certain players because of who they are and because they’re strong,” Borowiecki told the Ottawa Sun. “That was a hit I don’t like and I wasn’t happy about it. I told Gallagher I thought it was a dangerous hit.”

With the status of Miller and McAvoy still up in the air, it looks like the Black and Gold will need to bring up yet another blue liner to fill in for Vaakanainen.

B’s power play heats up

After going 0-for-10 through the first three games of this Canadian road trip, Boston’s power play finally cashed in on Tuesday night, lighting the lamp just 1:11 apart during a 5-on-3 stretch that lasted through an intermission.

Just four seconds after a too many men call on the Sens put the home team down by two bodies, David Krejci broke a 1-1 deadlock and put the B’s up for good, snapping one past Craig Anderson off a great feed from David Pastrnak.

Following the second intermission, the usual suspects broke through — with Patrice Bergeron tipping a point blast from Pastrnak home to make it a 3-1 contest.

After only tallying one goal on the man advantage through 13 chances on the road, Tuesday’s performance was a step in the right direction for Boston’s power play, which should receive a boost in the next week with Torey Krug’s probable return.

FOUR UP:

David Pastrnak: Another solid day at the office for the 22-year-old winger, who had a hand in every goal for the Black and Gold with two goals and two assists. Pastrnak saved the best for last, undressing the Senators during a 2-on-1 sequence with Marchand – who opened up space for himself and his linemate with a couple of filthy dangles.




Pastrnak is now up to 10 goals through nine games, becoming just the sixth different player in Bruins franchise history to tally at least 10 goals in the team’s first nine — or fewer — games of a season.


______________


Brandon Carlo:
After having a strong showing against the Canucks marred by a few misplays in an overtime loss, Carlo was a tank in Tuesday’s matchup, logging a team-high 28:28 TOI on a depleted blue line skating with only five bodies and without two regulars in McAvoy and Miller.


Along with 5:44 of penalty-kill reps on a unit that limited Ottawa to one tally on five attempts, Carlo bailed out
Tuukka Rask
with two saves in the blue paint, using his stick to fish out pucks that slipped past the netminder in both the first and third periods.




After an up-and-down sophomore season and forced to get back up to speed following a major ankle injury last spring, Carlo has been playing some of the best hockey of his young career over the past week — a welcome sign for a Bruins club in desperate need of some stability on defense.


________________


Second Line:
The Bergeron line was as advertised, but Boston has to be happy with a more complete effort from its first three forward lines in Tuesday’s win. In particular, the Krejci line made the most of its chances — with the Czech center posting two points in the victory.


A strong forechecking sequence led to Boston’s first goal of the night, with Krejci tipping a clearing attempt from the Senators and allowing
Danton Heinen
to pick up the loose puck near the blue line and keep it in Ottawa’s zone.


Heinen immediately fed the puck to a charging Pastrnak, who wristed one past Anderson to open the scoring. Along with another strong outing from Krejci in the middle, both Heinen and
Jake DeBrusk
were tied for the team lead with three high-danger scoring chances for the Bruins when they were out on the ice, while DeBrusk fired five shots on goal. 


___________________


Third Line:
Might
Joakim Nordstrom
have a spot on Boston’s third line? It’s a bit of an unorthodox trio in Nordstrom,
Chris Wagner
and
Anders Bjork
, but those three finally gave that line a bit of life in Tuesday’s win.


Bjork had favorable numbers (53.86 CF%) despite just 13:15 of TOI, while Nordstrom and Wagner nearly teamed up on a shorthanded strike, with Nordstrom blocking a blast on the PK and feeding Wagner during a 2-1 rush down the other side of the ice.


________________


TWO DOWN


Sean Kuraly:
There was plenty of good takeaways from the Black and Gold’s showing up front, even if it wasn’t the strongest outing from a revamped fourth line with
Ryan Donato
on the left wing. In particular,
Sean Kuraly
had a few hiccups, skating out on the ice for five scoring chances for the B’s and 13 for the Senators in 12:18 of TOI.


Refs:
I’m going to try to limit throwing officials under the bus in this section, because making rulings during a fast-paced game can be a struggle — but tonight was a rough outing from the refs, especially from Boston’s perspective.


Along with the non-call on Borowiecki’s elbow to Vaakanainen,
Zdeno Chara
was called for a questionable cross-check on
Mark Stone
, who appeared to slash the B’s captain just seconds later. That call of course led to Ottawa’s lone goal of the night off a strike from
Thomas Chabot
in the high slot.


UP NEXT:
The Bruins will return home for a two-game stint at TD Garden, starting on Thursday with a matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m.

Show Comments
Loading...
Loading...
0
Show comments for this article