Postgame Report: Boston Bruins vs Anaheim Ducks- October 14th, 2019

The Bruins won their first matinee game of the young season today by a final score of 4-2. David Pastrnak recorded his fifth career hat trick and first career four-goal game, while Halak stood tall in net, making 30 saves. While it was not a perfect game, there was more good than bad in it and most importantly, the team walked out of there with another two points. Here’s a period by period breakdown of the game.

First Period: The Bruins started the game strong again, as they were sharp and going after pucks hard, although not much noteworthy happened for a few minutes. The Bruins got the game’s first power play when Michael Del Zotto headed to the box for slashing at 4:10 of the first period. Just eight seconds later, Bergeron sent a nifty pass over to Pastrnak, who buried a one-timer to put the Bruins up 1-0! Not too much happened after that for a little while and there was a long stretch of continuous play. Marchand got a breakaway and had Gibson beat, but unfortunately, the puck slipped away from him at the last second. Unfortunately, things took a turn shortly thereafter, as Krejci headed down the tunnel with an apparent hand or wrist injury, and he would not return for the rest of the period. The Bruins then headed to the penalty kill at 17:16 of the first, as Bergeron was called for “slashing”, despite the fact that it was merely a one-handed tap and the Ducks player’s stick just fell out of his hand. But, they were able to kill it off, and the period ended with the Bruins leading 1-0 and holding an 11-8 shot advantage.

Second Period: Krejci returned to the bench to start the second period and played a shift or two, but then he headed back down the tunnel and did not return again. The Bruins then headed back to the PK for another phantom call, as Pastrnak apparently tripped a guy he wasn’t really even close to. Not only that, but it was initially Bergeron who was called, but then they changed it and threw Pastrnak in the box instead (which was actually better for the Bruins, as Bergeron is one of their top penalty killers). But bad call or not, the Bruins were shorthanded again at 4:40 of the period. Thankfully, the team killed it off so while it was a frustrating call, at least it didn’t hurt the team. Halak then had to make several outstanding saves, including one off of a breakaway, as the Bruins would not stop turning the puck over and generally played sloppily. The trend of having terrible second periods unfortunately continues, but this was probably the worst of the season, a sentiment echoed by Cassidy after the game. They need to fix that issue, and they need to do it soon. 

The Bruins headed back to the PK at 9:28 of the period as Kampfer was called for hooking. That’s another issue that needs to be addressed, because they have been getting a lot of penalties, especially in the second period. Thankfully, their PK has been very good, but it’s far from helpful to be shorthanded a lot. Shortly after the penalty expired, Pastrnak buried another one-timer off a bullet of a feed from Marchand at 11:38 of the period, and we officially headed to Pasta hat trick watch! The Bruins headed back to the PP at 12:50 of the second, but they were unable to get much going on it. At that point in the game, they owed the fact that they were in the lead to Halak, as he saved them numerous times. Their play was really sloppy and most of them were turnover machines, but Halak was able to hold down the fort in net. The Ducks then put one past him at 17:52 of the period, as Rickard Rakell put home his second of the season. About a minute later, McAvoy sent the puck clear over the glass and went to the box for delay of game, so the Bruins spent the last 1:07 of the period shorthanded. The period ended with the Bruins being thoroughly outplayed for most of it despite getting a goal, and with the Ducks outshooting them 16-6 in the period and 24-17 overall.

Third Period: The Bruins started the period with 53 seconds left on the penalty kill, which they killed off nicely. Then, at 2:20 of the period, Pastrnak fired in another one-timer for his fifth career hat trick and first one this season! The Ducks had it coming too, as they had just iced the puck four straight times, which is not something I’d recommend doing against that line, especially now that the offensive team can choose what side of the ice they want the faceoff on. They then headed to the PP at 3:37 of the period, as Maxime Comtois headed to the box for holding Charlie Coyle. This time, the power play was able to convert, as Marchand sent a nice pass over to Pastrnak, who buried his fourth of the game! It’s safe to say he had himself a great night! It was his first career four-goal game, and the first one by a Bruin since Bergeron did it against the Hurricanes in January 2018. Halak then gave us a bit of a scare, as his helmet got knocked off and he was down on all fours for a minute, but he turned out to be ok. Not too much noteworthy happened for a while after that, until at 16:08 of the period, Halak mishandled the puck and Adam Henrique took the gift and put it in the back of the net to bring the Ducks within two. With 2:55 remaining in the period, the Ducks pulled Gibson for the extra attacker, but to no avail, and the Bruins closed the game out nicely, winning it by a final score of 4-2!

Much like the rest of them, it was a pretty good game overall, but the second period remains a problem. That needs to be fixed soon, and it would also be nice if the secondary scoring came to life a bit more. But, other than that, the team played well and continued to improve, and most importantly of all, they walked out of the building with another two points. They’re back at it on Thursday when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning to close out their homestand, and I’ll have pre and hopefully postgame coverage for that, so be sure to keep an eye out for it!