Just reward for Kuraly
For sheer entertainment value … well, our condolences to those fans who laid out big money to attend the hockey game played last night at the Garden.
We all know now that the Vegas Golden Knights, in their inaugural season, are going to try and play the tightest, most competitive and boring game possible — hoping they can pretty much eliminate all offense and maybe give themselves a chance to steal two points.
This is in no way intended as an insult — just the opposite. Gerard Gallant’s squad again played a heck of a game last night against the Bruins, spending 60 minutes contesting every puck and every square inch of ice.
It nearly worked. But in a game that was as bogged down and ugly as they get in the NHL, the Bruins produced a game-winning goal by rookie forward Sean Kuraly — a go-to-the-dirty area score which was a thing of hideous beauty for the home team, giving the B’s a 2-1 victory.
It was the first regularseason goal for Kuraly, who celebrated with a big leap into the glass.
“It was a very big goal,” said B’s goalie Tuukka Rask. “He scored that big (overtime) goal last year in the playoffs. He’s had some chances; he finally got rewarded. I think everybody was excited to see the celebration after.”
Especially because it meant a very important win against a very tough opponent.
“That’s a good hockey team over there,” said Matt Beleskey. “The way their team is made up, it’s a bunch of guys who work hard and play good defensively. So it’s going to take an ugly goal like that to beat them.”
The two points were decided at 9:53 of the third period, when Torey Krug and rookie Jake DeBrusk combined to get a puck in on Knights goalie Maxime Lagace. The puck stayed loose in the crease and Kuraly was in the perfect spot to scoop it home — an instant before getting cross-checked from behind into the right post by defenseman Brayden McNabb.
“Really all I remember was the puck behind the goalie,” said Kuraly. “I was there and I banged it in. Right place at the right time. There were a lot of good plays before that, by Torey and J.D. and Schallsie (Tim Schaller) to get that puck to the right spot. I was just the bare end of it.”
Actually, there was no diminishing the sort of goal Kuraly scored. With the B’s missing key highend forwards David Krejci, David Backes and Ryan Spooner — and the big line of Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak blanked last night — this team is going to have to scrape out ugly wins on goals just like this.
“We’ve got to play the game the right way,” said Kuraly. “Get pucks behind their (defense), play lowrisk. Keep getting pucks to the net, as many as you can. Work on the percentages. If you get 10 pucks to the net, hopefully one goes in; if you only get one or two, you’re banking on your skill to score. We want to get quantity to the net.”
Both B’s goals — including the first one, by Riley Nash — were the result of getting pucks and people to the net-front, which is where a guy like Kuraly has to operate.
“It was good to see Sean get rewarded,” said B’s coach Bruce Cassidy. “He’s certainly more than willing to go to those areas. Those are the type of goals he’s going to score.
“He’s not a guy who’s going to come down the wing, inside-out someone and blast it. (He will) track pucks down, (get) loose pucks, breakaways, second chances. So, good for him.”
Kuraly sensed that he might find a puck in just the right spot last night.
“I was lucky enough to find one on the doorstep,” he said. “But if you keep going to those spots, you’ll keep finding them.
“I kind of felt it coming. I felt the puck around the net (and that) it kept coming to me. If you keep working, doing the right things (and) treating the game with respect, it respects you.”
It’s true. It’s amazing how often guys who pay the price to go to the dirty areas find that reward waiting for them.