Might we have seen a preview of the Eastern Conference Final on Saturday night at TD Garden?
Certainly, the actual game lived up to the hype even if the Boston Bruins were missing some key cogs with Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy injured, and David Pastrnak getting bounced from the game late in the second period on a controversial major boarding call.
David Pastrnak received a five minute major and a game misconduct for this hit on Ryan Lindgren.
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) December 17, 2023
Lindgren went to the Rangers' locker room after the hit. pic.twitter.com/1PCDrKuWDs
At the end of it all, the B’s fell by a 2-1 overtime score on a Vinny Trocheck snipe that was aided by some influential penalty calls and a Bruins group missing their best players when the game transitioned to firewagon 3-on-3 hockey in overtime. Nevertheless, it was undeniable that both Eastern Conference titans were looking to make a statement and pretty much everyone came away thinking these two teams are currently the class of the Eastern Conference with all apologies due to the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes and New Jersey Devils.
It certainly felt like an old-school rivalry kind-of-meeting when Trent Frederic dropped the gloves with Rangers captain Jacob Trouba to gain vengeance for the baseball whack Trouba took to the side of Frederic’s head a few weeks ago when the two teams met at Madison Square Garden.
Headed into Sunday, the Bruins and Rangers are both tied with an Eastern Conference-best 43 points on the season having played 29 games thus far. It couldn’t be more even at this point aside from New York having the edge in the season series between the two teams, but there’s a sneaking suspicion from the members of both hockey clubs that there will be more Original Six battles between the Boston/New York rivals down the road.
“Of course, they’re a good team over and they’ve got a lot of firepower,” said Charlie Coyle. “They battle us every good every time we play them. It’s not hard to get up for those games against them and we know what they’re going to bring. They played well.
“They got a big power play goal to force overtime. Those games are an inch here and an inch there. You want to win every game and get as many points as you can, but we’ll see them again and we’ll be more ready. We’ll work on a few things, and we’ll carry a lot of the good things that we did in that game. There were a lot of good things that we’ll carry with us as well.”
It seems pretty clear that Jim Montgomery feels like he’s found something with this Black and Gold group over the last handful of games.
Their defense has stiffened, the compete level has risen and full 60-minute plus efforts are becoming the norm after the energy, defensive acumen and attention to detail could be inconsistent over the first few months. it looked like the Bruins were going to come away with a 1-0 defensive gem as they headed into the third period on Saturday night, but a borderline interference penalty call on Brandon Carlo, clearing bodies in front of the Bruins net, turned into just the opening the Blueshirts needed.
Trocheck scored on a power play strike from the slot after Charlie Coyle blew a tire on the penalty kill, and that became too much for the Bruins to overcome missing key players down the stretch against a full, rested Rangers group. That led into Montgomery’s postgame reaction that was much more pride in the effort that the Bruins put forth in three straight games while taking four of six points against the Devils, Islanders and Rangers during a hectic stretch of challenging hockey.
“If you look at the adversity within the game that we faced, I’m really proud of our group for the desperation that we played with, the togetherness,” said Montgomery. “I thought two nights in a row, and we are shorthanded with some of the injuries that we have, but a lot of guys are just playing with great compete. Their resiliency…it shows. We’re building some good things here.
“A lot of people are getting minutes that they normally wouldn’t if we were healthy. There are a lot of positives to draw on it, but in the end, we’d like to get the two points.”
Expectations will be tempered ever so slightly as the Bruins currently experience the kind of adversity that will make them a better team come playoff time. But injuries or no injuries, it felt like a sneak preview of a playoff match five months from now when the Bruins and Rangers battled into overtime on Saturday night in Boston.
ONE-TIMERS
1. Really surprised that Newburyport native Cole Eiserman is not going to be on Team USA for the World Junior tournament later this month. He is in the running to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NHL Draft and is committed to play for Boston University a couple of years down the road as a late August 2006 birth date that will still be just 17 years old when he’s an NHL top-5 pick this summer. I’ve heard a lot about a deep, talented group that Team USA will be bringing to the tournament and no doubt all those kids have paid their dues to be on this year’s team. But it should always be about sending the country’s best hockey talent to the premiere international tournament and Eiserman most certainly is that at this point in his young career. If this were Team Canada, I have little doubt they would have found room for Eiserman on their roster as they did with an underage Connor Bedard last winter.
2. Speaking of the World Junior, I would love to see Matt Poitras leave the Boston Bruins for a stint with Team Canada at World Juniors as they reportedly hold a roster spot open for either him, or the talented Zach Benson in Buffalo. The 19-year-old has clearly earned the honor based on the way he’s played this entire season cracking the B’s NHL roster, and it would be a nice little breather for the kid away from the NHL grind for the next month or so. It could be an excellent developmental experience for the talented teenage center, and it would almost assuredly allow him to refill his gas tank for an even stronger second half of the year after breaking up his NHL season a little bit. It remains to be seen if Bruins management will opt for it or not, but why not when they are already periodically resting him while in the middle of the dog days of the 82-game NHL grind?
3. What a moment seeing Normand Leveille with the ceremonial puck drop on Saturday night as the Bruins organization honored the Lunch Pail AC era of the Black and Gold. It’s been awesome to see the way his former Boston Bruins teammates have made sure he’s remained a beloved member of the B’s family for the last 40 plus years.
Not a dry eye in the house as Normand Léveillé stands to deliver tonight's ceremonial puck drop with the help of his teammates. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/iSv6HqDjxA
— NESN (@NESN) December 17, 2023
4. Morgan Geekie went through a quiet opening few months as a Boston Bruins forward, but he’s beginning to show what he can do in the month of December. Geekie has two goals and five points in seven games and his willingness to make plays with second and third effort gusto has been a difference-maker for Boston with Pavel Zacha’s injuries creating opportunity for him. It will be interesting to see how he’s deployed when everybody gets healthy after showing he can be a real asset in the middle when given a bigger role amongst the forward group.
5. The voices are getting louder among Bruins fans wondering why they get a steady diet of Patrick Brown and Jesper Boqvist as forward callups from Providence as Georgii Merkulov continues to produce for the P-Bruins. After a recent offensive binge, Merkulov leads Providence with 10 goals and 23 points in 27 games and is closely followed by former Harvard standout John Farinacci with six goals and 19 points in 27 games. The reason behind Merkulov staying behind for more tutorial work in Providence? The minus-3 plus/minus mark as Merkulov seems to still have some work to do as a two-way center before Jim Montgomery is going to be able to trust him in all zones at the NHL level.