B’s get right at home
Deals pay dividends in OT win
Don Sweeney’s NHL trade deadline acquisitions made favorable impressions in their Garden debuts last night. Tommy Wingels had a goal and an assist while Rick Nash notched a goal and his 800th career point in the Bruins’ 4-3 overtime victory against the Carolina Hurricanes.
The win opened a six-game homestand that resumes tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“They have both been playing for the most part. Tommy has been skating, and Rick has been healthy and skating,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “They are both experienced players in the league, and I think they are good people that want to help the team win, and that is a big part of it.
“We wanted them, and they can help a good team be better, and like anybody else, when you go to a new job, you want a good first impression. That’s human nature and they have done that.”
Cassidy had to reconfigure his lines from the top down with center Patrice Bergeron out for a minimum of two weeks because of a small fracture in his right foot.
Riley Nash assumed Bergeron’s spot on the first line between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak and scored his career-best 11th goal of the season at 19:57 of the first period. He later set up defenseman Charlie McAvoy with the game-winner at 1:08 of overtime.
“You have two wingers that like to be creative and they like to take chances,” Cassidy said. “They need a backbone on that line, and that’s where Riley (helps).
“There is no replacing Bergeron, but he has some of his traits. We asked him to bring those traits out when we asked him to play on that line.”
The Bruins have struggled scoring in 3-on-3 situations, and McAvoy’s tally improved the team’s record to 3-6 in overtime. Riley Nash set the play in motion by springing McAvoy and Marchand on a 2-on-1 break into the Hurricanes zone. McAvoy finished the break with his seventh goal of the season and second in consecutive games.
“I was a great play in the corner by (Nash) to win a battle with two guys in there,” McAvoy said. “He comes out with the puck and throws it in the middle, and we kind of take off and get going, and we had a 2-on-1 if we hurry it up.
“I need to get it off quick and was fortunate enough to see it go in.”
Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask gave up three goals on nine shots in the first period but regrouped to shut out the ’Canes in the final two periods and OT. Rask stopped 15 shots in the middle period and finished with 29 saves overall.
“We need goaltending to win, and I think that is a part of our game like some of our defensive game that has slipped a little,” Cassidy said. “He found it after the first, and we defended better, and he found a few more pucks, and I thought we did a good job clearing some of those close calls around the crease.”
The Bruins tied the game 3-3 at 5:24 of the second period. McAvoy forced a turnover at the red line and led Jake DeBrusk into the Hurricanes zone. DeBrusk fed Wingels, who fired a laser wrist shot top shelf inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season.