Bruins
The Kings rallied late to beat the Bruins 3-2 in overtime.
Bruins goalkeeper Linus Ulmark walks out of the crease after scoring the winning goal to Los Angeles Kings center Andreas Athanasiou during overtime. Associated Press
It was déj vu, with varying results.
The Boston Bruins returned to TD Garden on Monday after a spectacular 5-1 road trip. He was dropped from the Columbus Blue Jackets for two days, forcing overtime and with 3.8 seconds remaining in regulation. About a week before that, they could not extend playing overtime at Anaheim after coming back from two separate losses.
The troubled streak with the Los Angeles Kings in the city continued on Monday. The same two teams met exactly a week ago, with the Bruins kicking the Kings out of the newly renamed Crypto.com Arena.
Unlike Saturday’s shootout win against the Blue Jackets, the Bruins couldn’t pull off late in regulation this latest fall. The prospect of this end leaves a handful of loyal Bruin supporters begging for crypto refunds.
The Bruins took a 2-1 lead on the heels of another productive outing from the third row, highlighted by Trent Frederick’s first-period tally and Craig Smith’s second-period marker, with Charlie Coyle both nifty assists. paid attention to. He established good habits and made changes during the first 59 minutes and positioned himself for two more points.
But the Kings got a lucky pounce on Trevor Moore’s equalizer, with 25 seconds left in regulation.
Linus Ullmark did everything he could to keep the Bruins’ hopes alive after he saved his second flashy glove of the night on Enz Kopitar at the start of 3-on-3 overtime. However, this hope was short-lived.
After delivering a pair of assists in the first 60, Coyle made the most expensive trade of the night on Boston’s attacking end. Andreas Athanasio capitalized on his attempt to send the Kings home with a 3-2 win.
“You have to value the puck,” said Boston coach Bruce Cassidy. “It is not a very good hockey game to play in the end. We got what we deserved for that drama.”
Here’s what we learned as things went away from the Bruins for the third time in four games.
The tendency to collapse of late has “peeed” the Bruins.
Somehow, the Bruins got three points after things turned late against the Ducks, Blue Jackets and Kings. Heck, they’d have points in nine games in a row if a penalty kill extended the game to overtime on Tuesday in Anaheim.
Unlike his fling with the Ducks and Blue Jackets, Cassidy didn’t need to rely on his penalty kills in the final moments of Monday’s fling with the Kings. But unlike Saturday’s shootout win in Columbus, the Bruins couldn’t pull off their latest miss with less than a minute to go in regulation.
“If you look at the segment for the last two weeks, [the collapses] Happened too many times,” Smith said after scoring his fifth goal in his last three games. “There are two things you can do. You may be angry about it, which is what we are at now, but we have to take the next step… improve and make sure we tighten up. It’s all about We can fix that, and we have the people to do it.”
The Bruins’ effort was not lacking in their first game back from a long road trip. But he let his guard down again and got the ending he deserved.
Ulmark is playing his role behind Jeremy Swaman.
Swayman may have cemented the No. 1 spot in the nets after his stellar run since Tukka Rask’s retirement from Boston. Judging by Swayman’s recent run, the Bruins have placed Ullmark in a real 1B role.
With Rask’s uncertain future and Swayman off to a brief but stellar start to his NHL career, the Bruins signed Ullmark last season in a four-year deal worth $5 million per year. He has provided mixed results in his first year at Boston, but fared better in the second half of the 2021–22 campaign. However, the ascension of Swiemann has limited Ullmark’s playing time of late.
The Bruins tabbed Ullmark for Monday’s start after Swayman took over the Boston Nets for the final two games of the road trip.
Ullmark couldn’t close much of the gap at Blake Lizzotte’s first-period marker – just 1:09 after Trent Frederick gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead. He compensated for this with a pair of flashy gloves on Adrian Kempe in the second period and then on Kopitar’s overtime bid.
The Ullmark–Swayman tandem provided a solid transition from the Tuukka Rask era. The two have provided heartwarming moments of each other’s company by embracing their postgame wins.
Ullmark still has opportunities to enter the domestic stretch. But he could not be happier for the success of Swayman.
“I am very happy for Self,” Ulmark said of Swemann. “He’s done a tremendous job winning games back and forth for us, especially on this road trip we were on; he was out of the lights. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
“For me, nothing changes. I still come to work with a smile on my face, and I’m trying to improve myself and make people better too. I inspire them to be better.” And they inspire me to be a better goaltender, and I’m going to do the same tomorrow.
Jack Ahnken was “a little too steady” in an attempt to fill the void of Matt Grzelczyk.
Grzeli’s late exit from Morning Skate on Monday changed Boston’s defensive lineup slightly.
Mike Reilly and Charlie McAvoy served as their top pair, and Derek Forbort and Conor Clifton strengthened the third pair. He asked Ahnken, a recent callup from Providence, to fill in Grazelsik next to Brandon Carlow on Boston’s second D pair.
Ahakan’s inexperience got him into trouble. Even as teams traded scoring chances, the 24-year-old could not display his offensive skills in a tight-checking swoop. The Savage, Minnesota native tallied a shot over the net 14:17 on the ice.
Cassidy said of Ahcan, “He didn’t move his feet quickly and got into trouble against a good forechecking team.” “Once he got into the game and his rhythm, I thought he was better. He’s a puck handler, and with snow like this tonight, it won’t be his best friend when you’re trying to make tight field plays. That’s what I quickly saw. His ability to change is one of his assets, and he was a bit too stable.
Ahkan’s stint in the lineup could be brief again. Cassidy does not envision Grzellczyk’s upper-body disease to have a long-term effect. The Bruins coach, a sixth-year-old, labeled Grizzleczyk as a day-to-day during his postgame press conference.
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