The ever-evolving nature of the NHL might have made the “Big Bad Bruins” a relic of the past, but this 2018-19 B’s club is doing it’s best to keep up the franchise reputation as a squad ready to drop the gloves at a moment’s notice.
Even with a few bruisers in Noel Acciari and Chris Wagner earning regular minutes in the bottom-six, Boston actually only ranks 19th in the league in hits per game at 19.7 — trailing teams with plenty of speed and skill in Pittsburgh (26.8 H/G), Tampa Bay (22.9) and *shudders* Montreal (26.9).
And while Boston may not be the usual culprit in some major collisions in the corner or in the neutral zone, the Black and Gold have more than answered the call when it comes to getting involved in fisticuffs.
Through 11 games, Boston ranks fourth in the league in penalty minutes (129), including a league-leading five fighting majors (two from Brad Marchand and five minutes apiece for Sean Kuraly, Kevan Miller and Acciari.)
Thursday’s tilt against the Flyers was the latest example of the B’s willingness to throw down, with both clubs finishing with a combined 36 penalty minutes in Boston’s 3-0 win — including 29 PIM in the final 20 minutes of regulation alone.
Along with a double minor enforced against Steven Kampfer after the B’s defensemen landed a few hooks in against Scott Laughton, a number of players not used to getting into scrums, including younger skaters in Ryan Donato and Jake DeBrusk, found themselves wrapped up with Philly players throughout the night.
While the roles of enforcers and the intimidation aspect of the game that comes from bone-crushing hits are getting phased out of today’s NHL, Bruce Cassidy noted postgame that dropping the gloves — especially when it comes to sticking up for teammates — is still a valuable component of team building.
“I think our guys have always stuck up for one another,” Cassidy said. “They get helps. Last year that was a big part of our growth as a team. I saw Jake] do it. I saw (David) Pastrnak do it. You know, two guys you don’t think – (Tim Schaller) did it, but I guess he has a little more of that in him, so it’s great.”
“Marchy did it the other day against bigger guys. More having each other’s back, but more that guys are getting mixed up in it. It’s been part of the Bruins lore forever, as well as the Flyers, so probably see a little more with those types of teams. Yes, I think there’s always going to be room until it’s taken out of the game. And as long as it’s part of it then if it’s necessary we’ll have at it.”
Now, is running roughshod over a team a la the Hanson Brothers the key equation to a tight-knit locker room?
Nope, nor do the Bruins need to rely on heavy checks and beatdowns to string together points on a consistent basis — especially when you have weapons like David Pastrnak, Brad Marchand and others in tow.
Still, it's a good facet of the game to draw from when needed.
The days of penalty minutes eclipsing the triple digits from a single matchup are long gone.
“Not quite Shultz and O’Reilly,” Cassidy said with a smirk following Thursday’s chippy game against Philly.
But as evidenced by Marchand dropping the gloves with Ottawa’s Zack Smith following a scary hit on Matt Grzelcyk, this B’s team isn’t a complete departure from the tenacious B’s clubs of years past — especially when the wellbeing of teammates are involved.
Brad Marchand objects to Smith's hit on Grzelcyk, and then drops the gloves.
While most of the Bruins’ blue line has spent past couple of weeks licking their wounds,
Brandon Carlo
has honestly never felt better.
Alright, he might be a bit gassed from time to time — with the 21-year-old defenseman averaging over 23 minutes of time on ice (TOI) over the past five games as Boston looks to overcome injuries to dependable D-men in
Charlie McAvoy
,
Kevan Miller
and
Torey Krug.
But so far, Carlo has more than lived up the challenge, anchoring a PK unit with
Zdeno Chara
that has only relinquished one power-play strike in its last 12 opportunities.
Carlo is without a doubt playing the best hockey of his career over the last couple of weeks, with last year’s season-ending ankle fracture squarely set in the rearview at this point.
“I feel pretty good with it overall,” Carlo said. “I feel like I’m skating well, transitioning and definitely keeping up up there. Didn't really miss too much of a beat coming back. But there’s times in the morning when, after a long night’s sleep, that I feel it a little bit in morning skate. But after I work out those kinks, it feels pretty good. Overall, pretty good coming back from injury.”
Since the injuries to McAvoy and Miller, Carlo has primarily skated on Boston’s top D pairing with his old partner in Chara, with the duo holding the Canadiens and Flyers to just six total shots through 30:27 of even-strength TOI in the last two games when out on the ice together.
“I think his last few (games) have been really good,” Cassidy said of Carlo. “The whole body of work, I think he played almost 28 minutes the other night, some of that a little extended time in the kill because Z got called a few times there. He seems to be more comfortable with Z, skating more, getting up the ice, being involved in the offense. Maybe there’s just a comfort level with Z that’s got him going.
Or he recognizes, ‘Hey, Charlie’s out, Kevan’s out. I’m basically the No. 1 guy on the right side. I’ve got to bring more. Whatever it is, we like it, hopefully he keeps it up. His urgency, his assertiveness with the puck, he’s always defended well. We’re trying to build him a little more aggressive mentality to his game or a little edgier around the bottom of the circles. All positives for us and we need him.”
Sizing up the Atlantic
Surprise, surprise.
As expected, the Maple Leafs and Lightning sit atop the Atlantic Division through close to a month of regular-season play, with Toronto pacing all clubs in the Eastern Conference with 16 points (8-3-0) through 11 games.
In a season already filled with a few surprises and disappointments (looking at you, Carolina and L.A.), the Canadiens have been better than advertised, with
Claude Julien
’s squad maintaining that trademark Habs speed but rolling out a physical, heavy forecheck that makes them awfully hard to play against.
Still, the two top dogs in the Atlantic have also been hit with the injury bug over the past couple of days, with Lightning defenseman — and reigning Norris Trophy winner —
Victor Hedman
ruled out at least a week after taking a heavy check from Vegas’
Ryan Reaves
on Friday.
Even if Hedman is sidelined for a bit, I think Tampa’s blue line is in position to weather the storm, especially with guys like
Ryan McDonagh
and
Anton Stralman
more than willing to handle extra minutes.
The bigger concern is up north, as Maple Leafs forward
Auston Matthews
injured his shoulder in what was a 3-2 win over Winnipeg Saturday night. A timetable has yet to be announced for Matthews, although Toronto head coach
Mike Babcock
noting that the 21-year-old will miss at least one game.
Matthews missed 20 games due to injury last season, including a Grade 2 shoulder separation that he suffered while taking a hit during a February bout against the Islanders.
Even though Toronto has another guy in the middle in
John Tavares,
Matthews has been on fire this year (10 goals, 16 points) and will be a key loss if he has to miss extended time.
NHL going ‘all in’ on sports betting
Something to keep tabs on this week: The NHL seems poised to cash in on the booming sports betting sector.
The league is reportedly “going all in” with the growing sports business, joining a trend that has seen various sports organizations align themselves with the newly-legalized sports market.
The NHL has decided to dive head-first into the sports betting business. Official partnership(s) to be announced at a Monday morning press conference in New York. Word I'm hearing is "we're going all in."
Back in May, the U.S. Supreme Court opened the floodgates for the industry, eliminating a federal ruling that effectively banned sports wagering in most states. Since then, the NBA signed off on a deal with MGM in September to make the entertainment company stand alone as the league’s “official gaming partner.”
It will be interesting to see just how involved the NHL gets in a market that can become profitable in a hurry.
Jan Kovar scores again for Providence
The Providence Bruins fell to the Springfield Thunderbirds, 4-2, on Saturday night, but the loss saw KHL product
Jan Kovar
score his second goal in as many games with the P-Bruins.
Kovar, a playmaking center that tallied 2
86 points over 285 games in the KHL over the past five seasons, is an intriguing player for the Bruins’ organization, with the 28-year-old Czech skater inking a PTO with Boston on Oct. 18 after getting waived by the Islanders.
After signing a deal with the Islanders this offseason, Kovar was cut during the preseason, but then refused to join the team’s AHL affiliate in Bridgeport. An odd move, especially with Kovar essentially now playing in a similar role with Boston’s AHL affiliate.
While Boston does have some depth up the middle in its prospect pool with players like
Trent Frederic
and
Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson
, Kovar could make a name for himself in the coming weeks.
Given Boston’s struggles to find a consistent third-line center, might Kovar be an option? It certainly seems like it’s on the table.
