Noel Acciari is no stranger to pain.
With 468 hits logged over four NHL campaigns, the physical forward is never one to shrink from being the first one in on the forecheck, nor does he have qualms about putting his body on the line. He’s paid for it during his tenure with the Bruins, missing time due to a number of ailments — including a fractured finger, a fractured jaw during his AHL career and a sports hernia that lingered for most of last season.
But dental work? Now that’s uncharted territory for the 27-year-old skater — even if he often doled out similar punishment to his two brothers while growing up in Rhode Island.
“Oh yeah. Cuts. Missing teeth. Chipped teeth. It’s normal,” Acciari said of the usual damage that comes with roughhousing with siblings. "I’ve chipped my brother’s teeth a couple of times. But these are all mine. I guess it’s karma.”
Acciari said his brother had to have gotten a kick out of his misfortunes on Wednesday, as Acciari spent most of the morning and afternoon undergoing “extensive” dental work after taking a puck to the mouth during Tuesday’s win over the Sharks.
The Bruins are all too familiar with the infamous “fishbowl” helmets over the last two seasons — handed out only under special circumstances to keep a player’s face intact following a serious injury — with Acciari standing as the latest recipient of the modified bucket after his dental fiasco.
Torey Krug
after fracturing his jaw, much to his discomfort. But while Krug noted that playing with a full shield was a bit of a hindrance for him at first, Acciari’s regular linemate,
Sean Kuraly,
had a bit of the opposite reaction.
Forced to don the fishbowl after an uppercut from Ottawa defenseman
Ben Harpur
shattered a couple of bones in his nose back in December, Kuraly made the most of his month-plus stint a full facemask — tallying five goals and 10 points over a span of 19 games before finally getting cleared to take the mask off following the All-Star break.
Jake DeBrusk
Acciari didn’t seem any worse for wear from the opening puck drop on Thursday, landing two shots on goal against Louis Domingue through his first 2:29 of TOI. While Boston’s fourth line buzzed around the Lightning net, it killed two birds with one stone — as its primary assignment, Tampa star winger
Nikita Kucherov,
spent most of his shifts hounding the puck from Acciari, Kuraly and
Chris Wagner
.
Kucherov might be on pace to be the first player to notch 130 points in a season since
Mario Lemieux
and
Jaromir Jagr
accomplished the feat back in 1996, but the sniper didn’t get many chances while primarily matched up with the Acciari line.
“He wants to play in these games,”
Bruce Cassidy
said of Acciari. “He’s valuable in these types of games. We need him to be a hard guy to play against when they have that much skill, so he came through for us tonight. … He’s got the magic bubble on that seems to work for our players. All of a sudden instant offense, so we’ll see if we can find a few more of those.”
Just a few seconds after hopping over the boards for a shift, Acciari struck — preventing a clearing attempt by knocking the puck away from Kucherov at the half wall and tossing the biscuit over to Wagner. While Wagner’s initial attempt was knocked aside with a pad save by Domingue, Tampa’s netminder had no answer on the rebound, with Acciari tapping it home to make it a 2-0 game at the time.
Brad Marchand
