Taking a page out of Peter Townshend’s songbook, “The Kids Are Alright,” while not even born when The Who recorded this song (1965), both Johnny Beecher and Mason Lohrei fit the song title, each scoring their first NHL goal versus the Dallas Stars. The pair proved ‘the kids are alright’ by scoring less than four minutes apart, to give the Bruins’ a 2-0 lead while on their way to earning their tenth win in a dozen games. Captain, Brad Marchand iced the game with his goal (career goal 378), and an eventual 3-2 victory on Monday night. Not to be lost in the win was the outstanding play of goalie Jeremy Swayman who notched his sixth win to keep his record at an even 6-0-0. The final number of shots showed the Stars blasting 37 shots at Swayman while the locals only managed 29, and Dallas holding the edge in top scoring chances. Speaking of goaltending, Swayman’s stats shine with 6 wins in 6 games, with a goals-against-average of 1.49 and a save-percentage of .952. Linus Ullmark’s stats are not as impressive as Swayman’s, with 4 wins in 6 games, including one loss in regulation, and one loss in overtime. But Ullmark’s stats are currently solid with a goals-against-average of 2.30 and a save percentage of .926. Bruins point leaders are currently: David Pastrnak 9 goals/8 assists – 17 points, trailed by Marchand 6/5 – 11 points; with both James van Riemsdyk and Pavel Zacha even at 4/4 – 8 points.
Boston’s fourth line with the recent signing of Danton Heinen is quickly gaining the confidence of coach Jim Montgomery, who has used Heinen with Beecher and Oskar Steen. Montgomery gushed about how the trio pushes the puck in the offensive zone, their ability to hang on to pucks, and just the overall play together. Boston was able to hang in the game defensively versus Dallas, despite still lacking in the lineup, the suspended Charlie McAvoy and the injured Matt Grzelcyk and Derek Forbort on the blueline. At press time, McAvoy was still awaiting response to his appeal of the four-game suspension he was assessed for his illegal hit to the head of the Florida Panthers’ Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Should his appeal succeed, having sat out three games to date, he would be in tonight’s (Thursday 7:00pm) lineup versus the New York Islanders, if not successful, he would be back on the ice on Saturday 7:00pm when the team is hosted by the Montreal Canadiens. Following tonight’s (Thursday) matchup with the Islanders, the brief Bruins two-game road trip will have stops in Montreal on Saturday, and Buffalo on Tuesday 7:00pm to take on the Sabres. A rare four-day break in the schedule will have the locals off until returning to TD Garden ice on Saturday 7:00pm, to host Montreal. Boston will need to be aware of complacency, and continue to press as their next three games are against three teams playing under .600 hockey…two teams (Montreal and Buffalo) playing .500 hockey, and the third team (New York Islanders) performing at .591.