B’s bull past Coyotes
Backes’ pair keys late rout
The method the Bruins went about winning a hockey game last night was not all that important. Earning the two points from the cellar-dwelling Arizona Coyotes, no matter how much better they’ve been playing of late, was not just crucial but imperative.
The B’s could not afford to kick away two points with the Coyotes in town and, though the execution was not always attractive, they accomplished what they set out to do, capturing a 6-1 decision that was devoid of drama by the end.
But don’t let the final score fool you. The game was very much in doubt late in the second period before David Backes scored his first two goals of the season to snap the Bruins out of a funk that set in late in the first period and for much of the second.
“By no means are we perfect. We have a lot to work on,” said winger Brad Marchand, who opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the game. “We had an awful second period and really got lucky to come out of that with the lead. There’s still a lot to work. We know that. But we know we can be a good team and we showed that in spurts. If we can consistently put that together game after game, we will be a good team and be tough to play against every night. That’s one thing we all have to learn as a group, how to be consistent and play at that high tempo. We’re working on that and we’re finding it. Definitely in spurts, but it’s fun to watch when we do.”
If the Bruins had initial impressions that this was going to be easy, you could understand. Not only did they thump the Coyotes 6-2 in the first meeting in Arizona in October, their first goal came, well, rather easily — on the first shift of the game.
It took the B’s top line all of 15 seconds to score. They won the draw, gained the offensive zone and went to work. From behind the net, Patrice Bergeron dished out to David Pastrnak at the right circle and he made a terrific pass to Marchand on the left. Before goalie Scott Wedgewood could recover, Marchand beat him shortside for his 10th goal of the year.
On that line’s next shift, Pastrnak nearly put away a breakaway and for a few minutes it seemed like a knockout punch could be coming soon. But the Coyotes got their skates under them and pushed back when Christian Dvorak stole the puck from Brandon Carlo and beat Tuukka Rask with a backhander at 17:07 to even the score.
The Coyotes then dominated the first half of the second period, as even the Bergeron line, so good of late, had their struggles, failing to get the puck out several times on one shift.
“We were probably overcomplicating the game and maybe not respecting our opponent,” said defenseman Matt Grzelcyk.
Grzelcyk helped turn the game around on Backes’ first goal at 13:54. The Charlestown native did a good job keeping possession along the left boards before dishing off to Riley Nash at the blue line. Nash flipped the puck at the net, Backes got his stick on it and the game irrevocably changed in the B’s favor.
“It worked out well for me as a coach that that line scored, because they were playing the game of what was in front of them,” said B’s coach Bruce Cassidy. “If there was an opportunity to gain the zone with speed, they did, if not it was behind them and they went to work. I’m glad we scored that type of goal because we were missing that element in our game halfway through the first period and early in the second. We wanted to trade chances and that’s great if you’re executing. But our execution was off for a while. To get one that way was good. It gave us a lift.”
Then Backes gave the B’s
a 3-1 lead with 53.9 seconds left in the second when he stole the puck from Alex Goligoski and beat Wedgewood with a hard wrister.
David Krejci put the B’s in complete control with a 5-on-3 goal 45 seconds into the third, then Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork made it a rout with a couple of garbage time goals.
The Bruins will have to play better tomorrow night when the Islanders come to town. But the fact that they weren’t all that happy with themselves after a 6-1 victory suggests they have a healthy knowledge of that fact.