Ritchie throwing his weight around
B’s winger is getting physical
Nick Ritchie opened plenty of eyes earlier in the year with a deceptive skill level. It led to his elevation to the first power-play unit and, for a while, he was scoring at a decent clip (1010-20).
But going into Thursday’s game against the Islanders, he hadn’t registered a point in six games. How much that colored his approach and whether he was feeling the pressure to do something to stay in the lineup is anyone’s guess, but in Tuesday’s game in which three new players were added to the lineup ( Taylor Hall, Curtis Lazar and Mike Reilly), he decided to make himself more noticeable.
While his skill level might not be easy to see at first glance, there’s no missing the fact that he’s 6foot-2, 230 pounds, and he put those measurements to good use. He was credited with three hits, one of which led to a David Krejci goal that could have been called an interference penalty, and another on Rasmus Dahlin that was called a penalty. He also dropped the gloves when called upon to answer for the hits, landing a couple of hard rights to the side of Matt Irwin’s head.
The added physicality wasn’t a specific ask of Ritchie from the coaching staff, said coach Bruce Cassidy, but his intentions were welcome — as long as he stays away on the right side of the edge.
“I think he just recognizes that there’s healthy competition. You bring in two
new forwards and they’re going to play, so it does remind some players that, ‘Hey, it’s not automatic so let’s do what we do best.’ And he does do that well. When he hits you, you feel it,” said Cassidy. “I’ve always said with Ritch, it’s puck placement for him and his linemates so he can get there and get there on time and then be within the boundaries of the rules. He got called on the Dahlin hit and I think Dahlin saw him coming late and turned. It’s the right call when you get those hits from behind. I’m glad it was nothing more than a minor and I’m glad Dahlin was OK because Ritch is big. And there was one in the corner where he was going to go finish his check and the puck got scrambled around. So at the end of the day, he’s going to be physical when he can, and hopefully it’s a little more frequently — for all our guys. It’s that time of year. You’ve got to play winning hockey if you expect to be a playoff team, that’s part of it, to be physical when the situation arises. So good for him.”
Miller out again
The B’s defense got another curveball thrown at it Thursday morning. Cassidy said that Kevan Miller, who has been very good in the games he’s been able to play, woke up with “an issue” not related to his surgically repaired knee. He had been scheduled to play Thursday and, in accordance to his load management plan, take Friday’s game off. There was no word how long he’ll be out.
Brad Marchand marveled at the season Miller, who has undergone four surgeries on his knee after initially breaking the kneecap in April 2019, has had.
“It’s actually incredible with the way he’s come back this year. With what he’s gone through and the time that’s he’s missed, he hasn’t missed a beat. He almost looks better than he ever has, with how strong he is and how he competes,” said Marchand. “He’s such a hard player to play against and he just gives us so much energy and confidence back there. He really controls the D-corps and allows them to feel comfortable back there. It calms them down when things
aren’t going great. He’s a big leader for our group. He just has such a presence about him on the ice. Guys want to stay away from him. They don’t want to go in the corner with him. He has a sneaky offensive side to his game as well where he has a confidence about him at the blue line and making plays in the O-zone. Last game he made one to (David Pastrnak) in the last couple of minutes in the game. He’s a huge player for our group and one we definitely miss when he’s out. It’s been so unfortunate for him. He’s had so many bad breaks and tough things that are happening. But he has such a great mindset and he’s so strong mentally. He’ll continue to go through it and just come out positive and continue to push. We’re lucky to have him.”
The timing of the Miller loss was not great, with the Islanders in town for a two-game set. The B’s went into Thursday’s game having lost all five contests against them — and the Isles added Bruins killer Kyle Palmieri to the mix from New Jersey.
“They’ve outplayed us in the third period. You’ve got to play winning hockey against good teams at crunch time and they’ve been better than us in that area, for whatever reason,” said Cassidy.
Rask returns
While Miller was out Thursday, the B’s did get back Tuukka Rask, who had played just one period since apparently hurting his back on March 7.
“It kind of puts us at ease,” said Marchand. “He’s been one of the top goalies in the league for the past decade and when he’s in the net, we have an opportunity to win every single night, especially in crunch time, where we need him. All of these points are important right now. We have to win our games in hand to catch teams ahead of us and Philly and New York are coming up behind us. Hopefully he allows us to feel comfortable and give us that extra chance when we might not be at our best or we need a save, he can calm us down. He’s always been so good at that in the past. We’re excited to have him back. You never know how things are going to play out with a guy when he’s hurt, but it’s great to have him back.” …
After his first healthy scratch of the year on Tuesday, Jakub Zboril was back in the lineup on Thursday.