Over the last week, the news on the injury front for the Boston Bruins has not been good. First Derek Forbort ended up on Injured Reserve on Dec. 7, then on Dec. 13, the team announced that defenseman Charlie McAvoy and top center Pavel Zacha were joining Forbort on IR (from ‘Bruins place Charlie McAvoy, Pavel Zacha on IR,’ Boston Herald, Dec. 14, 2023). The news comes as the Black and Gold enter a tough stretch in their schedule, including three games against very good Metropolitan Division teams in four nights.
Wednesday night (Dec. 13), the Bruins lost their first game with their three teammates on IR, 2-1 in overtime to the New Jersey Devils. Friday night (Dec. 15), they gutted out a 5-4 shootout win over the New York Islanders, in a game where they rallied three times from a deficit to get two points in the standings. Here are three takeaways after Boston dropped to 19-5-4.
Bruins Power Play Finally Produces
The number of power play chances has been few and far between lately for the Bruins, but against the Islanders, the power play connected on both chances in the second period to tie the game after they fell into a 2-0 hole. Struggling to find any offense, the Bruins scored on their first chance after goaltender Linus Ullmark made an incredible toe save on Simon Holmstrom that led to a Morgan Geekie goal.
Geekie scored from the bumper position off a pass from James van Riemsdyk. The Islanders were then whistled for a too-many-on-the-ice penalty and David Pastrank scored off a pass from Kevin Shattenkirk to tie the game. In the third period, Shattenkirk connected with van Riemsdyk to tie the game again when the former Philadelphia Flyers forward redirected the pass home. For a team that struggles offensively at times, the power play goals are big for the Bruins.
Bruins Steal Two Points on Long Island
The Bruins never led in the run of play and thanks to their power play, they were able to rally late in regulation to tie the game on a Mason Lohrei goal when he banked in a pass from behind the net off of Islanders’ goalie Ilya Sorokin with 3:09 left. Until the second half of the third period and overtime, the Bruins struggled to create a lot of 5-on-5 chances.
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New York outshot Boston 15-9 in the first period, but the Bruins registered just one shot in the final 9:58 of the period and were lucky to be tied 0-0. They made mistakes with icings and poor decisions at the offensive blueline in the second period that led to two New York goals, but to Boston’s credit, they dug deep and rallied three times to force overtime and the shootout before getting goals from Charlie Coyle and Pastrnak in the shootout for the win.
Linus Ullmark Was Strong Again
The one person solely responsible for the Black and Gold getting two points was Ullmark. Once again, the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner did everything he could to keep his team in the game. He stopped all 15 shots by New York in the first period and the two goals he gave up in the second period he had no chance on. Same for Mathew Barzal’s and Brock Nelson’s third-period power-play goals.
He made outstanding saves in the second period. He slid side-to-side to rob Kyle Palmieri on a one-timer with a pad save, then he stopped Jean-Gabriel Pageau on a 2-on-1, then stopped Holmstrom with an incredible toe save. For the game, Ullmark made 33 saves and made saves on Mathew Barzal and Horvat in the shootout.
Bruins Quick Takeaways
- Hampus Lindholm played in his 700th career NHL game and it was a busy night for him. He logged 26:04 in time-on-ice, including 4:47 shorthanded. Brandon Carlo logged 23:10 in the game and Matt Grzelcyk played 22:36.
- No McAvoy and no Forbort means the Bruins needed to turn to the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL) and their third pairing was Parker Wortherspoon and Mason Lohrei, who tied the game in the third period with his second goal of the season. When they were together, they played well, but in the third period, Lohrei took some shifts with Lindholm.
- It was a rough night at the faceoff dot for Coyle who went just 6-for-20. Geekie, van Riemsdyk, and Pastrnak each had a goal and an assist in the game, all on the power play.
There is no time to rest for the Bruins as they have a quick turnaround at home against the New York Rangers on Saturday night (Dec. 16) for their third game in four nights. The Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers will also be playing n a back-to-back after beating the Anaheim Ducks, 5-1, at home.