Talking Points from the Bruins’ 4-1 win on Friday night…
GOLD STAR: Two goals, a plus-3 and five shot attempts for Matt Beleskey, who might have had the hat trick at the end had Brad Marchand not scored on the empty netter in the closing seconds of the game. Beleskey is gelling on the third line with Ryan Spooner and Jimmy Hayes as they’ve become a consistent offensive force, and Beleskey has scored five goals in his last four games while upping his goal total on the season for 13 goals on the year. That’s exactly in the neighborhood of what the Bruins were expecting from Beleskey when they signed him last summer, and shows that he’s really lived up to expectations with his production and physicality this season.
BLACK EYE: Tough night for Jordan Staal, who played 20:35 of ice time, was on ice for all four of Boston’s goals and wasn’t much of a factor offensively with his two shots on net. It clearly wasn’t all Staal’s fault as Michal Jordan had a couple of costly gaffes that led directly to goals for the Bruins during the game, and in general the young Carolina defensemen corps struggled without Justin Faulk as their fearless leader on the back end. The Hurricanes were undermanned and a little fatigued against the Bruins in their third game in four nights, and that really showed at points through the game.
TURNING POINT: It was still a close 3-1 game in the third period when the Hurricanes went into desperation mode, and Tuukka Rask absolutely stood on his head against the Carolina attack. He stopped Eric Staal on a baseball swing at a puck in mid-air on one flurry, and then dropped into the butterfly to rob Kris Versteeg point blank with a leg pad save a few minutes later. That was among the 17 saves in the third period for Rask as he served as the closer for the Black and Gold, and shut things down against the Hurricanes armed with a dreaded two goal lead for most of the period.
HONORABLE MENTION: Tuukka Rask made 39 saves and stopped 17 shots in the third period while protecting the lead for the Bruins, and was against playing at an extremely high level when the team needs him most. Rask has stopped 80-of-82 shots over the last two games for a .976 save percentage, and has really stood on his head while the Bruins have been outshot in games against the Penguins and the Hurricanes. The Bruins will continue to need this out of their Finnish goaltender, and will have to hope they can do it without his dad, a dead ringer for Lars Ulrich, present in the arena watching him do his thing.
BY THE NUMBERS: 388 – the number of wins for Claude Julien as head coach of the Bruins, which leaves him just two wins shy of tying Art Ross for the most in B’s franchise history.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "Nice when they start coming like that. You just keep working hard, keep doing the same things and hopefully it’s going to pay off.” –Matt Beleskey, to reporters in Carolina about his recent offensive explosion.