GOLD STAR: Lars Eller buried the Bruins when he scored his first two goals of the season in the second period, and teamed with Alex Galchenyuk and Alex Semin to dominate the Bruins most of the shifts they were on the ice. The first goal was a pretty give-and-go play between Eller and Semin off a neutral zone turnover by David Pastrnak, and the second goal was a bullet one-timer off a sweet dish from Galchenyuk, who looks good manning the center position. Eller finished with four shots on goal, a hit, and 5-of-8 from the face-off circle in a killer performance against the Black and Gold.
BLACK EYE: Brett Connolly, Jimmy Hayes and Ryan Spooner combined for zero shots on net and a minus-5 rating in Saturday night’s loss. The trio didn’t factor into anything on the ice, aside from the major boarding penalty Spooner took in the third period. Three of the four goals scored by the Bruins through two games have been powered by the Matt Beleskey-David Krejci-David Pastrnak line, and then Patrice Bergeron finally got on the board with the PP goal at the end of the game. But the third line had a no-show in Game No. 2 after failing to capitalize on their chances opening night against the Winnipeg Jets. They need more out of those three players if the Bruins are going to win some hockey games.
TURNING POINT: The Bruins looked like they were going to make it a 2-1 game in the second period when Loui Eriksson redirected a Torey Krug shot by Carey Price, but it was waved off on the ice because of incidental contact between Patrice Bergeron and the Montreal goaltender. Claude Julien correctly made his first coach’s challenge of the season, and the NHL situation room along with Dan O’Rourke waved the goal off a second time despite clear evidence that Alexei Emelin shoved Bergeron into the crease. There was also little-to-no contact between Price and Bergeron as the puck arrived at the net. But the “no goal” call was upheld anyway, and the Bruins proceeded to allow another goal to create a 3-0 deficit. It was all over at that point.
HONORABLE MENTION: David Pastrnak had two assists and has literally factored into every goal the Bruins have scored this season. He finished with six generated shot attempts in 13:50 of ice time and was a good source of offense for a Bruins team that needs every little bit they can get. But he also had a rough neutral zone turnover that led to Montreal’s second goal. Even worse, he engaged in some casual defensive zone work that freed up Lars Eller for a shot after making the turnover. Those are the kind of shifts where Pastrnak looks like a 19-year-old kid that still has a lot of work to do in the NHL to be a reliable forward. But you can’t deny the offensive numbers that he posts.
BY THE NUMBERS: 1-9-2 – the Bruins record against the Montreal Canadiens in their last 12 matchups in the storied Atlantic Division rivalry.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “We’ve got to get better in certain areas, we’ve got to keep working and those young guys are going to get better if they keep playing and getting some experience. We’re going through some growing pain. The thing I liked is no matter what we stayed with it.” –Claude Julien, on his 0-2 hockey club that’s struggling majorly right now.