Maybe the Bruins should just see themselves as the first NHL team to play a 62-game schedule.
If the first disappointing 20 games of the season were tossed out, then Thursday’s 4-3 shootout victory over the Thrashers would be a fine way to hit the restart button.
Milan Lucic returned to the lineup, special teams lived up to their name and play after 60 minutes of hockey was not an effort in futility.
Even before Patrice Bergeron settled things by scoring the only goal of the shootout, the Bruins had a winning edge Thursday.
A key player was returning, not leaving the lineup. Frustration was out. Fresh start was in.
Skating in his first game since injuring his index finger on Oct. 16, Lucic didn’t have any direct effect on the scoreboard. But there was a little more jam in the Bruins' game and just enough energy to ultimately win a frozen tug-of-war with the Thrashers.
Here’s what we learned in Thursday’s win.
GET GOING EARLY
After yielding the first goal of the game in three straight losses — and collectively holding a lead for only 2 minutes, 18 seconds during that losing streak — the Bruins desperately needed a fast start against the Thrashers.
The solution was a well travelled path to the Atlanta net.
First, Marco Sturm cut hard to the cage and swiped in a Mark Recchi pass from the corner six minutes after the opening faceoff for a quick 1-0 Bruins advantage.
Michael Ryder then found similar success, setting up in front of Atlanta goalie Ondrej Pavelec and tipping in a Blake Wheeler shot from the high slot for a 2-0 lead late in the first. The goal was set up by a sharp pass from the right point by defenseman Dennis Wideman to Wheeler near the opposite circle.
Boston entered the game having scored the fewest first-period goals (9) in the league. So the quick start change of form Thursday is a nice sign, especially given some flat opening periods lately.
While squandering a final-minute lead for the second time in three games is not a good sign of the team’s defensive focus, the Bruins were able to even their shootout record (3-3) after dropping their two most recent post-overtime showdowns.
STRONG PENALTY-KILLING BEAT A STRONG POWER PLAY
Atlanta entered the game with the second best power play in the league, clicking at a 26.5 percent rate of success.
The Bruins checked in with the NHL’s third-best penalty-killing unit, shutting down 84.7 percent of opposition power plays.
Something had to give.
The early results favored the Bruins, who were able to shut down a first-period man-advantage by the Thrashers. But Atlanta was able to use a power play tally by Ilya Kovalchuk to tie the game during the middle period.
The real test came in the third period as Bruins had to kill five Atlanta power plays to maintain a 3-2 lead
The B’s finished the night shutting down 6-of-7 Atlanta power plays. They now have killed 45 of the last 47 opposition man-advantage opportunities.
STURM IS STURM, KESSEL IS KESSEL
In the immediate aftermath of Phil Kessel’s departure to Toronto, the rallying cry on Causeway Street was that Sturm could jump in and replace the 36 goals that went north of the border with Kessel.
Sturm has struggled though lengthy stretched in the early going, but now he has three goals in his last six games. At the quarter pole of the season, his five total goals would project out to 20 for the year. That’s a far cry from Kessel type of production, but not a complete wash, either. It’s also a lot more realistic.
As for Kessel, it’s worth checking out an interesting take by Damien Cox of the Toronto Star on Thursday.
In a very positive story on the former Bruin, Cox points out that Kessel has scored 47 goals in his last 88 games, a scoring rate that would put him at about 44 goals for an 82-game season.
As there were only eight NHL players who scored 40 or more goals last season, Cox queries, how much would you pay to land a 22-year-old 40-goal-scorer?
Whatever his perceived deficiencies were in Boston, Kessel seems to have received a warm initial reception in Toronto.
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