by Bob Morello
Bruins seek power boost
Time to look into purchasing a generator to aid the Boston Bruins’ powerless attack? Failing to ride the momentum of their last win, an overtime decision over Atlantic division rival Toronto Maple Leafs, the locals lacked energy, not only on 5-on-5, but also on the four power play opportunities – posting a total of two shots on net. So little energy that they weren’t able to penetrate Flyers net minder Samuel Ersson the entire game as he posted a 24-save, 2-0 shutout.
The loss, Boston’s fourth in their last five games, dropped them to 4-5-1, as they squandered a solid performance from goaltender Joonas Korpisalo who had 17 saves, including a handful of game-savers to give his team a chance to win. For Korpisalo, it was his first start in almost two weeks, and he performed admirably. The Flyers were able to adhere to coach John Tortorella’s game plan the entire 60-minutes – by blocking 28 shots on their way to the shutout win. Following a scoreless first period, Philadelphia’s Tyson Foerster found Korpisalo’s five-hole at 5:32 of the second period, with the goal that proved to be the eventual game-winner…and Joel Farabee got the empty-net goal to seal the win.
Coach Montgomery and the team were frustrated by their lack of being able to cash in on their 1:37 of five-on-three power play time, with Monty stating: “If you move the puck quick enough and you’re thinking shot first, they’re not going to be in shot lanes, there’s one less player, especially five-on-three, and then there’s two less players.” Frustration carried through in the third period, with Boston trailing by a single goal, the locals were only able to manufacture three shots on goal. Speaking of goals, or the lack of them by the Bruins is magnified, when looking at the team’s leaders – David Pastrnak is on top with eight points, followed by Cole Koepke (seven), three players with six – Mark Kastelic, Johnny Beecher and Brad Marchand, with recent acquisition (seven years/$54.25 million) Elias Lindholm with five points, and no player on the remaining roster has more than three points to date. The scary numbers continue to surface with the mention of Marchand, Charlie Coyle, Pavel Zacha and Trent Frederic, as neither one of them has scored more that a single goal in ten games.
Tonight (Thursday 7:00pm) – the Carolina Hurricanes, currently riding a four-game win streak, will host Boston to start a brief two-game road trip. On Saturday 1:00pm, the Bruins take on the Flyers, with a chance to get some revenge for Tuesday’s shutout loss to Philadelphia as they wrap up their road trip. The Bruins return to TD Garden ice on Saturday 5:00pm to host the Seattle Kraken, and back on the road again Tuesday 7:00pm, with the Toronto Maple Leafs providing the opposition, and return to TD Garden on Thursday 7:00pm, with a chance to snuff out the Calgary Flames. The craziness of the 2024-2025 NHL schedule continues!