Bruins Stifle Seguin & Benn (1 Assist) In 7-3 Rout Of Stars; 4-2 Road Trip Has Team In Second Place
The Bruins last game of their lengthy six-game trip in Dallas had all the signs of a disaster written all over it early. The Stars were coming off an ugly 6-3 loss in Arizona and were sure to respond. Their speed and talent gave the Bs fits in a November beating. The porous Boston D has been adventure all trip (and season). And the Bruins were down 3-1 after one due to a pair of ref-aided goals (allowing one of them was bad, both was outrageous).
But 3:12 into the second, Adam McQuaid got his Bill Bixby on and throttled perennial thorn and French weasel Antoine Roussel, who just happened to hit the deck once McQuaid got his bucket off.
That would be the last we’d hear from Dallas. The Bruins scored the game’s final six goals of the game on the goalie who still, after all these years, takes his last name literally—Kari Lehtonen.
Whatever spunk or fire that Dallas played with in the first was seemingly pummeled out of them when McQuaid, perhaps the league’s fiercest fighter, rag-dolled Roussel. Because it sure fired up the Bs, who just never stopped coming and poured 42 shots on net. More importantly, many of them were from the high-traffic areas they need to go to more to get results.
As noted by seemingly everybody on Twitter, it was the first ‘currently in the playoffs team’ they beat since the Mesozoic Era. But whatever nits one wants to pick, it was still a pisser ending to a roadie that they needed to keep pace on and did their job at the end of the day. The win gives them 70 points in 59 games played to keep them five points behind first place Florida. (Not many pundits thought I’d be writing that sentence in October.)
A few more buds for your Sunday AM wake-and-bake bowl…
*All-world LW Brad Marchand continued his absolutely torrid scoring pace by notching his 29th and 30th goals for a career high (and still 23 games left). He also can’t quit Patrick Eaves.
*In addition to his offense, Marchand’s pest game was on point and had the Stars flustered throughout the game. Whether it was a just-after-the-whistle bump on Jamie Benn or a gimme-your-attention hook, Dallas appeared to take the bait on his mental games.
*The Bs D did settle down after a bumpy first and contributed a monster night on offense. Kevan Miller’s 4th of the year was the unit’s lone tally to go along with seven assists (two each for Zdeno Chara, Joe Morrow, and Dennis Seidenberg, one for Torey Krug). Ironically, the one D-man to not make the scoresheet may have had the biggest impact on the game with his scrap.
*Here’s hoping Krug is alright after taking a cheap, dirty roughing penalty from Jason Demers late in the game. While Krug was looking up in the air for the puck, Demers buried the Bs defenseman who had no reasonable expectation of being hit like that. He appeared to land on his shoulder and was in obvious pain when he left the ice.
*Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin, the two-headed monster of Dallas, was held to just one secondary assist and combined -4. Seguin was almost invisible last night and managed just one shot on net, a far cry from his Garden appearance earlier this season. After some struggles on this trip, Chara had a big game last night and helped stifle Seguin.
*Another shit night for the refs/replay. Tuukka was interfered with on the second Dallas goal, however mildly, but it was allowed to stand. But by the book (and as we’ve seen called plenty), Roussel affected his ability to make a clean save and it should’ve been disallowed. On their third goal, Patrick Sharp’s shot was cleared from the goal line, hit Adam McQuaid, then crossed the line after a sprawling McQuaid inadvertently knocked the net off the pegs. The NHL was quick to email media that knocking the net off can be accidental and the goal should count if the shot would still continue across the line. Even though their ref said on the mic that McQuaid “knocked the net off on purpose as the puck was going into the net” which is a horrible interpretation of both what actually happened AND the rule. But does the puck cease being a ‘shot’ once Rask saved/cleared it? Either way, it’s another thing we’ve seen called the other way enough over the years to still be as confused as the refs they pay to know the rules.
*Congrats to Bergy on his 600th career point. He got it on his second helper of the night when he unselfishly passed a likely ENG off to Brett Connolly. His 22-28–50 in 57 GP leads the team and he doesn’t look like a guy who was out hurt last week. Keep on keeping on, brother.
*And a huge congrats to the legend, Jaromir Jagr, who passed Brett Hull to become the THIRD leading goal-scorer in NHL history. Only Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky have more. That’s quite the fucking feat. Here’s a great oral history on Jagr.
*ICYMI Here’s Episode 3 of Spittin’ Chiclets…
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