BOSTON – Here’s What We Learned from the B’s 4-2 win over the New York Rangers at TD Garden Saturday afternoon that snapped a six-game losing streak for the Black and Gold.
1) There’s still hope this season for some of the players that haven’t always been “going” every night this season. A number of them finally stepped up in a must-win against the New York Rangers: Milan Lucic potted the first two goals of the game and led the way by playing his modern day Big Bad Bruins style of hockey. Carl Soderberg was one of Boston’s best players at attacking the net with confidence, power and precision to give Boston an important goal to give the B’s a commanding 3-0 lead early. Reilly Smith showed on one excellent shift why he can still be a difference maker if the confidence returns. He created a successful break out from the B’s zone with a self-pass off the boards, and then hopped on the rebound to snap a 14-game goalless drought. When all 12 forwards are playing with that kind of intensity and determination, the Bruins are a much more difficult team for anybody to handle. “It’s never too late for guys to step up,” said Claude Julien. “It’s nice to see some of those guys come up big for us.”
2) The odd incidents around Tuukka Rask continued on Saturday. First it was “general soreness” that required Jeremy Smith to be recalled from Providence on a day the Bruins absolutely wanted to give their No. 1 goaltender off, and this time it was sudden “dehydration” just 10 seconds into the second period that caused the Finnish net minder to rush off the ice to the Bruins dressing room. Clearly, people had some fun with bathroom humor thinking it was simple gastrointestinal distress for the Bruins goalie, but that wouldn’t seem likely to sideline him for 40 minutes of a hockey game. Rask wasn’t seen again for the rest of the game, but is likely to be the starter for the Bs again just 24 hours later against the Carolina Hurricanes. A skeptic would say somebody was trying to give Rask some rest after being up 3-0 so early in the game, and prepare him for another important tilt today in Carolina. But there are no skeptics around here, right? Whatever the Bruins need to do to keep Rask playing at his current level, they should absolutely do to their fullest. That includes keeping him well hydrated.
3) The Bruins D-corps without Dougie Hamilton can be pretty effective if they’re not afraid to snarl it up a little bit. A lot of hard-hitting, physical plays from the B’s defensemen against the Rangers is the perfect way to slow a speed-skating team down, and that’s what the Bruins did throughout the game. Adam McQuaid drilled Keith Yandle with a strong hit against the side boards, Dennis Seidenberg and Dominic Moore had an epic battle on one shift that turned into matching penalties and Matt Bartkowski lowered the boom on Tanner Glass in the corner. The Bartkowski hit sparked a fight between himself and James Sheppard, and also prompted Glass to butt-end McQuaid in the forehead at the end of the game. That little action earned Glass a nearly $4,000 fine from the NHL, and a place on their radar screen for his next transgression. Those are just a few examples as the entire B’s D-man group was playing with some surliness, and that’s what they’ll need to do if they’re missing a slick puck-mover like Dougie Hamilton.
Plus
*Two goals and five hits from Milan Lucic, who showed once again that he can be a game-changing force for the Bruins when everything comes together for him. That will need to happen early and often over the next seven games.
*Carl Soderberg scored an important first-period goal to give the Bruins a comfy 3-0 lead, and potted his second goal in 29 games on a strong play stripping Matt Hunwick of the puck before swooping in for the score.
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*On one shift Reilly Smith showed what makes him a highly effective hockey player when his confidence is going, throwing a pass to himself off the boards to break a puck out of the zone and then finishing off the play with a rebound goal to snap a 14-game goalless stretch.
Minus
*Keith Yandle was on the ice for three goals against, was a minus-2 for the game, had very little impact offensively and nearly caused another Bruins goal when his blind outlet pass landed on the stick of Max Talbot in the slot.
*Tanner Glass didn’t like a hit from Matt Bartkowski, and had James Sheppard stand up and defend him by scrapping with the Bruins D-man. But Glass couldn’t drop it, and decided to butt-end Adam McQuaid in the head at the end of the game. It’s just a cheap, cheap move, and I’m sure he’ll have to answer to McQuaid in a future meeting between these two gritty players.
*No shots on net and a minus-2 for Mats Zuccarello in nearly 18 minutes of ice time. He didn’t have much of a presence in the game once things got a little rough out on the ice.