Acciari a hit before first goal
Well before he scored the first NHL goal of his career, a significant insurance tally with 4:13 remaining last night, Noel Acciari had already made his mark in the Bruins’ 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators.
The former Providence College star doled out eight hits, perhaps the best a neutral zone take-down of Filip Forsberg just seconds after Ryan Johansen blew up Acciari from behind.
Most of Acciari’s hits could be felt at press box level and, by the end, he seemed to be winning puck battles by forfeit, with Preds looking for other ways to get the puck without going shoulder to shoulder with him.
“I would hate to be playing against him. He’s like a bull out there,” said linemate Riley Nash. “He’s not the tallest guy, but he’s thick. He’s strong. When guys try to knock him off the puck, it’s really hard. As a winger, it’s great. He wins a lot of battles on that wall and he catches me with a little bit of speed.”
On Acciari’s goal, the B’s took advantage of the Preds pushing hard in the offensive zone and they broke out on a 3-on-1. Nash, the hero of the B’s big win in Brooklyn on Saturday, showed tremendous patience to hold on to the puck before sliding it over to Acciari for the chip-in.
Acciari had played 42 NHL games without a goal, making last night that much sweeter.
“It just shows you how special it is,” said Acciari, who got the celebratory shaving cream face-mush from David Pastrnak. “It’s not going to come the first game you play. It could come 10, 20 or for me probably over 40 games in, but it still feels the same.”
Rehashing Rask
Bruce Cassidy’s critical words about Tuukka Rask after last Thursday’s loss to Tampa Bay have been analyzed and dissected ever since. The coach was again asked about them yesterday.
“I try not to go back in time too often,” Cassidy said, “but as I recall it, that game I summarized it as, the coach’s job is to get the team ready to play and I didn’t like our first period, so that one falls on me. Come out with a certain level of energy. It doesn’t mean you’re going to be ahead on the scoreboard all the time, it just means you’ve got to be on time with your energy and your focus. I didn’t think we were great in front of him at times, and when we weren’t great in front of him, I thought he could have done a better job on a few of those goals with his part, making saves.
“Was I critical of Tuukka? Clearly, on a couple of goals I thought he needed to back us up, and we weren’t good in front of him. I thought as a group we weren’t good enough, Player 1 to 20. I put myself in that category, too. I pride myself on our starts, so it was a letdown for everybody.”
The B’s have six games left with one back-to-back scenario this weekend. Asked if he expected Rask to play all but one, Cassidy said no, initially, but added that could be re-evaluated as things play out. Cassidy re-iterated that the team has to be careful not to overplay Rask.
The Rask-bashers went into overdrive before the game when it was announced that Zane McIntyre had again been recalled on an emergency basis. It was actually Anton Khudobin who wasn’t feeling well, but he was able to serve as backup Rask and McIntyre was returned to Providence.
Pasta gets message
Rask isn’t the only player Cassidy has criticized in the past week. After the B’s 2-1 win over the Islanders on Saturday, the coach took exception to Pastrnak’s punch to the head of Islander Stephen Gionta after Gionta belted Pastrnak along the boards, saying Pastrnak should have taken a number, given the situation. The message was received by the young sniper.
“There are still areas where I’m learning, which is normal. I’m still young and it was a bad penalty by me. I was thankful for the guys killing it. Now I know I shouldn’t be doing that,” said Pastrnak.
Last night, Pastrnak was flying around all night and picked up an assist on David Krejci’s game-winning goal.
“It’s a good bounce back game for me after the last couple and I feel good again,” Pastrnak said. . . .
Cassidy switched out Colin Miller for John-Michael Liles, who hadn’t played since Feb. 26. Liles played very well, at one point saving a goal on a wraparound attempt. . . .
Things got testy at the end, with Kevan Miller squaring off against Nashville’s Cody McLeod with 1:25 left.