
Here are some talking points from the Bruins' 2-1 win over the Coyotes on Saturday night. . .
GOLD STAR: Jake DeBrusk ended up getting the game-winning goal in the first period when he and Brad Marchand played the two-man game on a rush up the ice. Marchand was able to crash the net and get the first shot on Darcy Kuemper. The Arizona goalie made the initial save, but then DeBrusk crashed the net and fired home the rebound for his eighth goal of the season. DeBrusk has been red hot recently with five goals and seven points in his last seven games, and most of that offense has been generated by being active around the front of the net. DeBrusk finished with five shot attempts and two hits in 15:20 of ice time and has really taken it up another notch when the B’s needed him to over the last few weeks.
BLACK EYE: On the good side, Oliver Ekman-Larsson played 26:20 of ice time and generated some offensive chances for the Coyotes. On the bad side, Ekman-Larsson was on the ice for both of the goals that the Bruins scored in a 2-1 game and he took a really bad interference penalty on Jake DeBrusk at one point during the game. While it’s clear that Ekman-Larsson has talent and he’s now the captain of the Desert Dogs, he just has too many wrinkles and flaws in his game that take away from the puck-moving abilities and offensive things he brings to the ice. It’s probably why he’s a career minus-71 despite his talent level at the NHL level.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins looked like they were shot out of a cannon early in the game as they scored a pair of goals in the first three minutes of the game, and did exactly what you’d hope to do with a depleted roster playing the third game in four days on the road. Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson scored the game’s first goal and then 90 seconds later Jake DeBrusk chipped in with his own goal to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. The Bruins simply hung on for dear life after that and managed to survive a second period where they put together just three shots on net, and packed things in defensively with a roster missing so many of their best players. It was a great blueprint to win a road hockey game and that’s exactly what the Bruins did.
HONORABLE MENTION: Jaroslav Halak didn’t play very well in the 6-3 loss to Colorado at the start of the road trip, and that was a second subpar outing in the last few weeks after he was pulled in the blowout home loss to Vancouver as well. So it was important for the veteran netminder to step up and play well, and that’s exactly what he did in a one-goal win over the Arizona Coyotes where there was really no margin for error. Halak stopped 31-of-32 shots including 11 saves in the third period with the B’s closely guarding a 2-1 lead and didn’t buckle even as a hungry Coyotes bunch tried to at least push things to overtime with a lively third-period effort. The Bruins are going to need near flawless goaltending from Halak and Tuukka Rask as they navigate through the schedule with an undermanned roster, and that’s what they got in Arizona.
BY THE NUMBERS: 1 – the number of goals for Jakob Forsbacka Karlsson in his NHL career after picking up a rebound score in front just a couple of minutes into an eventual win in Arizona. Given the high hopes for JFK within the Bruins organization, they hope it’s the first of many.
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QUOTE TO NOTE: “I thought we persevered. The second period got away from us, and we had a conversation about Colorado and not letting things get away from us. I thought we didn’t do that.” –Bruce Cassidy, to NESN on the gritty 2-1 win over the Coyotes.
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