Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 1-0 loss to the Dallas Stars in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:
BOX SCORE
HEADLINES
Rask, young D corps impress: If I was to tell you ahead of Friday’s game that it would be scoreless through regulation, would you believe me? After all, Boston rolled out a patchwork D corps with a pair of players making their NHL debuts in Jakub Zboril and Connor Clifton, along with a fellow rookie playing in his seventh career game in Jeremy Lauzon. And yet, despite skating with a decimated blue line, Boston gritted its way through Friday’s matchup to earn a point, with Tuukka Rask leading the way with 36 saves on the night.
Regulars in Torey Krug (22:37) and Matt Grzelcyk (25:27) assumed heavier workloads to offset the loss of Zdeno Chara, John Moore, Brandon Carlo, Kevan Miller, Charlie McAvoy, etc. — but the younger skaters on the blue line also more than held their own, with Lauzon ranking second among all B’s skaters with 24:52 TOI. Sure, a loss is a loss, but it’s easy to find the silver lining in a game like this.
Bergeron gives Bruins fans another injury scare: Exhale, Bruins fans. Just a game removed from losing Zdeno Chara for an indefinite amount of time due to an apparent knee injury, the other cornerstone on the Bruins’ roster — Patrice Bergeron — also headed down the tunnel after a scary sequence. In the opening minutes of the second period, Bergeron was rammed into the boards by Radek Faksa, with the B’s center slamming his left shoulder and head and immediately dropping down to the ice.
Bergeron headed right down the tunnel following the play, but did return later in the second period, much to the relief of the Black and Gold.
However, the Bruins are definitely not out of the woods when it comes to Bergeron, who was clearly in plenty of pain in the third period, at times clutching that left shoulder while playing most of the third on the wing. With a game set for Saturday night against Arizona, it wouldn’t surprise me if Bergeron is out of commission for the second leg of the back-to-back.
TWO UP
Tuukka Rask:
Making his first appearance in net since Nov. 8, Rask answered the call for the Black and Gold on Friday, keeping his team in the contest with an unproven defense in front of him.
Whether it be six saves in 3-on-3 overtime or six saves during Stars’ power plays, Rask put together his best start of the season on a night when the Bruins were in desperate need of a rock between the pipes.
Penalty kill:
A PK unit missing its leaders on the backend in Chara, Carlo and Miller fared extremely well against a Stats power play with some big weapons in front with
Tyler Seguin
and
Jamie Benn
. In total, 13 different players logged time on the B’s PK, with Lauzon and Grzelcyk each leading the way with 5:49 TOI.
A strong showing from Rask played a key role in the final result, but Boston’s PK finished the night with a perfect 4-for-4 showing against Dallas’ man advantage.
TWO DOWN
NHL Officiating:
Hate to once again drag NHL refereeing, but what on earth was this?
In the closing minutes of the second period,
Brad Marchand
was whistled for a slash on Stars goalie
Ben Bishop
. Yep, a slash - on this play.
Brutal.
Given his reputation around the league, you know that Marchand is not going to get the benefit of the doubt when it comes to calls on the ice. But that’s a brutal call against the Bruins and it set Marchand on the way to his second 10-minute misconduct in less than two weeks.
Brad Marchand:
Sure, the call that sent him back to the penalty box is tough to ignore, but Marchand still needs to be better in terms of composing himself — even if the call on the ice is a major oversight by the refs.
Much like how he handled himself against the Predators on Nov. 3, Marchand let a questionable call that went against him spiral into something worse, as Marchand was handed a misconduct after waving a towel like a white flag while sitting in the sin bin.
Due to the 10-minute misconduct, the Bruins’ first-line winger was removed from the game until around six minutes into the third period. Marchand has every right to be ticked off, but he can’t put himself out of a game like that considering how valuable he is — especially on a night in which Boston’s forwards were going to need to do some heavy lifting. As a whole, it wasn't a very good night from the top line, with Dallas holding a 10-0 edge in attempts during the six minutes of five-on-five TOI that Marchand and Pastrnak were out on the ice together.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Connor Clifton is far from subtle on the ice, highlighted by this tussle with
Jason Spezza
in the third period. It’s yet to be determined if Clifton has an established future up in the NHL, but the Quinnipiac product lived up to his reputation Friday as a competitive blue liner that’s not afraid to drop the gloves.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Bruins won’t have much time to recover following Friday’s tilt, as the team will travel to Arizona and take on the Coyotes Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 8 p.m.
