BSJ Game Report: Devils 5, Bruins 2 - Reinforced B’s still fall to cellar-dwelling Devils taken at TD Garden (Bruins)

(Adam Richins for BSJ)

Bruins

BSJ Game Report: Devils 5, Bruins 2 - Reinforced B’s still fall to cellar-dwelling Devils

By Conor Ryan

Dec 27, 2018 • 11:27 pm

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Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 5-2 loss against the Devils  in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

B’s squander quality chance to pick up points: You thought that road loss to Carolina ahead of the holiday break was ugly? Yeeeeesh. There were few positives to take away from Boston’s effort on Thursday, with the Devils — a club without Taylor Hall and currently in last place in the Eastern Conference — bullying the B’s en route to a 5-2 victory.

It was the usual narrative for the B’s when they come up short on the scoreboard. Despite firing 42 shots on goal, few were in high-danger areas for Mackenzie Blackwood to worry about, while defensive breakdowns along the blue line and in the neutral zone allowed the speedy Devils club to hand Jaroslav Halak his first loss on home ice this season. After beating the Canadiens, Ducks and Predators in impressive fashion this week, the Bruins have stumbled once again against two clubs (Carolina and New Jersey) that should be dismantling, especially on Thursday within the friendly confines of TD Garden.

Regulars return: Thursday marked the return of three regulars to the B’s lineup — Zdeno Chara, Jake DeBrusk and Kevan Miller — after missing a combined 40 games due to various ailments. While there wasn’t a whole lot to be happy with from the B’s on Thursday, Bruce Cassidy did take it as a net positive to see all three back out on the ice.

Chara logged 19:13 of ice time in his return, while Miller recorded a hit while registering 16:50 TOI on Boston’s third D pairing. DeBrusk landed three shots on goal and recorded an assist — although all three skaters did have some rust while playing the puck with six total giveaways. Cassidy will have to wait a bit longer to roll out a full roster, as Charlie McAvoy sat out of Thursday’s contest will recovering from a minor lower-body injury. That ailment shouldn’t keep him out for long, forcing Cassidy to likely sit a viable NHL defenseman on Saturday if McAvoy is cleared for game action.

TWO UP

Chris Wagner: This is just about everything you’d want in a shift from Chris Wagner. In the sequence leading up to his fourth goal of the season in the second period, the physical winger:


  • Recovered a puck along the boards;

  • Deflected a check from Ben Lovejoy and dropped him on the ice;

  • Drove to the net and buried a great feed from John Moore;

  • Still found time to hit Brett Seney in the crease.


Not too shabby from Wagner, who has really started to turn a corner over the last couple of weeks on Boston’s fourth line.


Jake DeBrusk
: There weren’t a whole ton of positives to take away from Thursday night, but at least
Jake DeBrusk
provided a bit of a spark in his return to the lineup following a nine-game absence.
Along with recording the assist on
Patrice Bergeron’s
third-period goal, DeBrusk seemed to be his usual self with the puck on his stick, using his legs to separate himself from skaters down low and proving to be a thorn in the side of the opponents.


FOUR DOWN


That entire first period:
Wooooooof. That’s not the way you want to return from the holiday break. A bit of puck luck went against the Bruins when a bouncing biscuit went over
Jaroslav Halak
’s head and into the netting to make it a 2-0 game at 15:25 — but things were already trending in the Devils' favor way ahead of
Kyle Palmieri
’s easy tally on the power play. 
Starting when
Damon Severson
beat Halak just 25 seconds into regulation after
Danton Heinen
failed to pick up the pinching defenseman, Boston just seemed off for the entire stanza — failing to generate a single high-danger scoring chance at 5v5 play during the period.




Danton Heinen:
While he earned a secondary assist on Wagner’s goal, Thursday saw Heinen drop from the second line all the way to the fourth line after a slow start. After failing to pick up Severson during the Devils’ opening tally and being largely quiet in the offensive zone, Heinen switched spots with
Joakim Nordstrom
during the second period. While he was solid down on the checking line, it’s certainly not where the winger wants to be, especially after starting the last week on a line with
Patrice Bergeron
and
Brad Marchand
.


Torey Krug:
Not a good showing on the blue line for Krug, who made a few miscues that allowed the Devils to pounce with a number of quick strikes against Halak. Whether it be failing to catch up to
Blake Coleman
following his initial block on the way to breakaway goal at 4:15 in the third or failing to jam the puck away from
Miles Wood
during a sequence that led to
Nico Hischier
’s 10th goal of the year eight minutes later, it was a rough outing from Krug and most of Boston’s roster.


Jaroslav Halak:
For the first time all season, Halak was handed a loss at TD Garden, dropping to 8-1-0 on home ice. Cassidy noted Halak made a few questionable plays on the night, including failing to challenge Coleman on his breakaway tally.


PLAY OF THE GAME:




LOOKING AHEAD


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