Last night the Bruins beat the snot out of the Predators, winning a must-win game. At this point in the season though with just a handful of games left every game becomes must-win. A majority of the pressure for the Bruins last night came from the last few games (Islanders game not included) in which the Bruins were beaten worse and more vigorously than Bruins fans beat their meat at the thought of trading Tuukka Rask.
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Let’s talk goals because that’s always fun.
[protected-iframe id=”0624ca4dec218bc277d078c48dd34a24-114320562-49123416″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/bergeron-buries-early-goal/t-283441582/c-50886003?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]Who was that? Oh, just Patrice Bergeron doing Patrice Bergeron things. Also assisting on that goal was Zdeno Chara with his 600th career point which is pretty fab.
Also scoring for the Bruins in the first period was David Krejci who has been playing relatively okay as of late. I’m by no means the world’s biggest Krejci fan, but I’m not going to turn my nose up at him scoring some goals.
[protected-iframe id=”21e18aca68a4337a89ffdb4391ebea07-114320562-49123416″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/krejcis-five-hole-tally/t-283441582/c-50887403?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]Giving credit where it is due, that was a pretty fancy little play there. Rinne could have probably made some sort of save right there, but fuck it. Krejci did good things and I’m pleased.
Adding to the suspense of this game a little bit was the Predators scoring and turning it into a 2-1 game. Who scored the goal? Craig Smith.
[protected-iframe id=”6fff9cea3796ab35583429a337127963-114320562-49123416″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/smiths-tip-in-trims-deficit/t-283441582/c-50897103?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]For the record, I have no problems admitting that up until this goal was scored I had zero idea who Craig Smith was but research tells me that he’s played in the NHL since 2013, has scored over 20 goals per season (minus this season) and he looks like a douchier version of Reilly Smith which is really saying something because Reilly Smith has a chronic case of profound doucheface.
Instead of buckling and letting the Predators score another goal to tie the situation, the Bruins instead chose to respond with a goal of their own. Or rather, one special child did and no, it’s not the child you’re thinking of.
[protected-iframe id=”b2be6abf58ca3aed35c4405aff603793-114320562-49123416″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/acciari-nets-first-nhl-goal/t-283441582/c-50898003?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]Noel Acciari scored his first NHL goal and the timing couldn’t have been better for it. I love hockey firsts, but I love them even more when they benefit the team as much as this goal did.
To finish the game off, David Backes scored a Milan Lucic special bringing the final score to 4-1 in favor of the Bruins.
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– We need to talk about David Pastrnak.
David Pastrnak hit ‘em with the spin move and almost converted pic.twitter.com/bRpXmBaMZT
— Marina Maher (@marinakmaher) March 29, 2017
Are you goddamn kidding me right now. Even though the puck didn’t go in that little spin move was so frickin’ fancy. I’m consistently impressed with what Pastrnak can do out there. I mean, his hands can be mistaken for gold and now we know even more than we already did that his footwork can also be pretty stunning.
-Zdeno Chara. As stated above this monster reached a milestone last night with 600 career points while assisting on Bergeron’s goal.
-Patrice Bergeron. Within the first period alone Bergeron notched 4 shots and a goal because he is perfect and beautiful. He led the team in shots last night and even managed to block two shots. Adding in that goal he scored and I suppose one could say that Bergeron had a really solid game and not be wrong at all.
-Get ready boo birds, because here comes some thoughts: Tuukka Rask was FABULOUS last night. Would you like an example?
[protected-iframe id=”d75bb4281504f338173359f8f552b6bf-114320562-49123416″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/rask-denies-arvidsson-with-glove/t-283441582/c-50890003?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]BOOM. What you just witnessed was Backes turning the puck over to Arvidsson and Rask bailing him out by making a save. Now, I’m nowhere near Team Trade Tuukka and I believe that has been made very obvious by myself. I simply do not get the reasoning behind it and please spare me the “he’s soft, bails on his team and doesn’t try” train because I refuse to buy a ticket into that delusion. I think part of the problem is that we don’t seem to accept the fact that Tuukka Rask is a person with person feelings who can get injured like any other person can. If I can miss work when I’m sick or have injured myself, then why can’t a world class athlete? What’s the problem here? I’d rather have him take a game off and rest up rather than puking in the crease or aggravating a groin injury that could easily get worse with more wear and tear. Ride him like a goddamn rented mule for the majority of a season and this is what you get. Also, Rask is a good goalie you guys. Sorry, not sorry.
-The United States Women’s Hockey Team has struck a deal with USA Hockey and I couldn’t be more proud of those ladies for fighting for fair and equitable treatment for both themselves and future women hockey players within that system. I don’t know the points of the deal that was created, nor do I really care because as long as these ladies are happy, I’m happy for them.
-Kevan Miller’s head looks so soft and fuzzy since it was shaved at Cuts for a Cause and I just want to pet him like a puppy.
-This hurts me more than it hurts you, but Brad Marchand looked pretty struggly and sad out there last night for whatever reason. He did assist on Bergeron’s goal and blocked a shot, but had a couple of turn overs and didn’t get any shots on goal himself. I hope that whatever this funk is that he’s got himself in right now goes away very soon.
-This is not necessarily a bad thing but for lack of a better place to put it, it can go here. Kevan Miller got into a fight with Cody McLeod last night.
Kevan Miller fights Cody McLeod 3/28/17: https://t.co/9NM1UFuVqG via @YouTube
— dafoomie (@dafoomie) March 29, 2017
Now, as I’ve stated emphatically before I don’t mind fighting in hockey to a certain extent. I still get ridiculously nervous when Mr. Miller gets into these scraps though because I have visions of him ripping his fragile shoulder right out of it’s socket and that’s going to be zero parts good for anyone…… Oh good lord, what’s happened to me? Am I actually CARING about Kevan Miller? What is going on here?
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-In the weirdest game of musical goalies ever, Zane McIntyre was recalled from Providence yesterday because something was going on with Khudobin but shortly into the game he was returned to Providence. I hope they at least gave him a lovely parting gift for his troubles before shipping him back down.
-If the playoffs started today the Bruins would face the Capitals and that is probably not a good idea.
-With a handful of games left within the season can they hold onto their playoff spot?
-If they end up facing the Capitals would they win?
-How excited are you for Charlie McAvoy?
-Have you listened to the latest episode of The Optional Skate yet?
https://soundcloud.com/daysofyorr/the-optional-skate-ep-20-focused-thrusts-into-the-playoffs
-Why can’t my full time job just be watching RuPaul’s Drag Race and eating strawberries?
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