I’m going to give the Bruins this, they came away with a point. In the end, that’s really the only thing that matters, right? After the first period, I would have put money on the Bruins losing 7-1 or 6-2. Instead, they battled back against a pretty good Columbus team and took a point home.

What are you going to do man?

It really was a tale of two teams.

I don’t have much to talk about really. The Bruins played bad and turned it around and showed up, but it was too late.

Brad Marchand Continues To Score

Give it to Brad Marchand. He continues to be the catalyst that drives the Boston Bruins offensive machine. He currently has 8 of the Bruins 30 goals, that accounts for 26% of Boston’s goal total. That’s pretty fucking good my friends.

He added another goal tonight – the game tying goal – and came away with one of the highest corsi ratings for the Bruins among forwards. Why is that important? Puck possession, my friends.

—

David Pastrnak, sharing is caring 

Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like David Pastrnak has been on the quiet end of hockey the past few games. Pastrnak last registered a point on October 21 against the Sabres where he had two goals. Tonight, he decided to strap on his teacher outfit and teach everyone that sharing is caring by dishing out three assists. You don’t always need to put the puck in the back of the net to be effective.

It’s good to see Pasta on the scoresheet because secondary scoring has been a huge issue for the Bruins. Outside of Pastrnak and Marchand, the Bruins are getting sporadic contributions from everyone else. A healthy David Krejci could (and should) change that because David Backes isn’t a second line center at this point in his career.

Boston’s Prince of Perfect Continues To Be Perfect

If you ever want to know how to be perfect, here’s a quick list:

1. Be Patrice Bergeron.

Bergeron’s night was masterful in all three zones. Let’s take a little trip down memory lane, shall we?

• 1 goal
• 1 assist
• 1 powerplay goal
• 2 powerplay points
• 48% percent faceoff success (9/11 [never forget] at even strength, 3/4 on the power play)
• 60.87% corsi for%

Bergeron, along with Bradley, was a catalyst in getting this Bruins train moving at Columbus station.

Bruins powerplay 

When I wrote my narrative for the weekly recap, I told you that specialty teams matter.

The silver lining here is that the Bruins have one of the best power plays in the NHL. They’re currently ranked 5th in the NHL with a 26.5% conversion rate on the power play. That’s pretty goddamn good people.

Opposition Penalty Kill percent:

Columbus: 4th overall at 89.3%
Vegas: 6th overall at 86.2%
Washington: 28th overall 75.5%

I wasn’t just blowing smoke up your ass when I said that the silver lining for the Bruins is that their powerplay is a god damn monster. Last night, the Bruins clawed back from a 0-3 hole on the back of their powerplay – which converted 50% of the chances they had. That showing, by the way, jumped them to third overall with a 28.6% powerplay on the season.

If the Bruins are going to stay in these games, they need to do it on the man advantage. That’s when they’re at their most dangerous, which is strange to say given the recent history of the Boston Bruins and their powerplay “successes”.

THE KIND OF GOOD BUT KIND OF BAD, BUT NOT BAD ENOUGH TO BE JUST ‘THE BAD’ BANNER

Yeah, we don’t really have a banner for that, but this is just a good and bad section.

Tuukka Rask

Tuukka Rask’s game was kind of like a hangover.

The first period (when you wake up with the hangover) was a mess. He seemed all out of sorts and the Blue Jackets basically had their way with him. The worst goal was probably Jenner’s goal. Rask wasn’t able to hold the post and Jenner bodied Postma out of the way like he was a Black Friday shopper trying to buy a TV.

The second period was much better. Rask wasn’t incredibly sharp, but you could see he was shaking off whatever was ailing him in the first period. Finally, Rask was masterful in the third period. This was peak Tuukka Rask, people.

Torey Krug

Torey Krug is a god damn enigma. One minute he’s scoring goals and the next he’s a defensive nightmare but on the third minute he’s laying out to block shots. I don’t know if Krug is fully healthy or not, but he doesn’t look like the same guy from last year. Last year he was more consistent on the back end. It could be the constant rotations of defensive partners (McQuaid, Postma and Carlo) or it could be that Krug is rustier than my favorite trombone.

All I know is that it’s frustrating to watch at times.

Bruce Cassidy and the No Idea Kids

Butch, come on.

To me, there was a point last night where Bruce Cassidy had no idea who to go with and just started picking line combinations out of a hat. I sat there saying “What, why?” when players were skating together. Debrusk-Shaller-Backes was a big one for me.

Then there was the shootout. The shootout made no sense to me. Here was Boston’s lineup:

• Kenny Agostino
• Brad Marchand

They didn’t attempt a third shot.

So this is why I don’t under the Agostino pick. He’s never had an NHL shootout attempt until last night. Here are some other options you can go with:

David Pastrnak: 11% career success. 25% success last year in the shootout.
Patrice Bergeron: 26.6% career success. 0% (0 for 5) success last year in the shootout.
Torey Krug: 20% career success. 0% (0 for 2) success last year in the shootout.

If you think I’m going to bag on Agostino, you’re wrong. I think Agostino will turn out to be a sneaky good signing for the Bruins, but I don’t understand putting him out first. I guess the kid needs his shot sometime. Still, if you want to use him, put him out second after you use the most elite player in the NHL.

Why do people still worry about razor blades in their children’s candy? Also, why do people think that people are going to give your children edibles? People are going to waste perfectly good edibles on your little shit machines.

Also, why do people give out anything other than Reese Peanut Butter Cups and a nut free option? Reese cups are the GOAT of all Halloween candy. You can leave a comment with your disgusting, trash candy takes like Mounds or Almond Joy, but I’m not going to listen. You and I both know that those cups are GOAT and to deny it would make you as bad as a ‘Flat Earther’.

Kyrie, I’m sorry.