GOLD STAR: Tomas Jurco had a goal and an assist and was a plus-2 with two shots on net, and scored the backbreaking goal in the second period that really pushed the Bruins sufficiently down for the rest of the game. The speedy Wings forward pushed down on the accelerator and forced a miscommunication between Linus Arnesson and Joe Morrow, and then wheeled around Arnesson, drew a slashing penalty as the young D-man tried to get back into the play and scored anyway on Tuukka Rask for a nice individual play. The young Bruins defenders were having an awful time trying to contain the talented NHL forward in the neutral zone and defensive zone, and Jurco took full advantage of that clear inexperience.
BLACK EYE: Linus Arnesson showed some inexperience in a game where the quality lineups and the rising intensity really brought it closer to the NHL level, and he was in the middle of some tough plays defensively. It appeared Arnesson screened Tuukka Rask on Detroit’s first goal was moving across the net and allowing a clear shot from the slot, and he definitely botched the coverage on the second one where Tomas Jurco blew past him for a pure speed play. Arnesson tried to recover, but instead took a slashing call while watching the Detroit forward shoot one past Rask. Arnesson finished a minus-2, and played the fewest minutes (14:10) of any of the six D-men while understandably looking like he still needs some AHL development time.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins had three power plays and fired off 18 shots on net in the third period while frantically trying to come back, but it was to no avail as they couldn’t cash in on enough opportunities. Loui Eriksson finally scored on a rebound in front on a last minute power play to get the Bruins on the board, but they showed little offensive oomph missing a couple of their important lineup regulars in David Krejci and Brett Connolly. It was a far cry from the sleepy first period where they only managed five shots on net, and seemed very out-of-sorts with some new line combinations working on chemistry.
BY THE NUMBERS: 23:40 – Torey Krug led the Bruins in ice time, and 11 generated shot attempts in an active night as the de facto No. 1 defenseman with both Dennis Seidenberg and Zdeno Chara out of the lineup with injuries.
Boston Bruins
QUOTE TO NOTE: “All the players that are on the team right now, and the groups that we have, are very high [talent], so everybody is pushing each other to make that next step, to make the team that much better. So it’s been a really successful camp in that aspect of developing people, and getting ready for the season.” –Joe Morrow, on the end of training camp as players are pushing each other at the end of the preseason.