Bruins Finish Solid 3-1 Road Trip with an Overtime Win versus the Lightning

Jimmy Hayes won the game in the tenth round of the shootout on a wrist shot that he snuck past Tampa's Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy's glove. Of course the player Jimmy Hayes; whom I wanted to bench for this game, scores the winning goal. Just goes to show why I am writing a Bruin's blog and not coaching. Now for my breakdown of this game. The shoot out was extremely long, and both goalies did a really good job. Eventually though the puck will get in the net if you give a team 10 opportunities. Normally player's score on Penalty shots about 1/3rd of the time, and during normal play they score on about 10% of their shots on net. Here though Tuuka Rask stopped 9/10 penalty shots, and Vasilevskiy stopped a ridiculous 8/10. Pretty solid save percentages for a shootout that felt like it was never going to end. The biggest problem in my estimation is the skaters were coming in too slowly, the goalies hate it when you come in full speed on a breakaway, this lollygagging nonsense made it too easy for the goalies, watch:

Bruins are now 6-0 with Rask in Net

Tuuka Rask shines in the shoot out and has another solid performance in net. Posting a .90 save percentage % against one of the best offensive teams in the NHL by stopping 27 of 30 shots. Rask improves to 6-0 on the season which is just an incredible start. Rask so far this years has a ridiculous 1.48 GAA, and a .951 Save Percentage. Of all the starting goalies in the NHL (6 Games Started or More), Tuuka is ranked #2 in both save percentage and GAA, only behind G Carey Price of the MTL Divers, who has a ridiculous .964 save % and a 1.17 GAA this year in 6 starts. This kind of production out of Tuuka is not out of the normal, but his main problem is consistency. So we shall see how long this hot streak lasts. It has allowed the Bruins young blue line to get their feet under them while also winning games.

Brandon Carlo continues to Shine & scores his second NHL Goal

Brandon Carlo is a big young rookie defenseman for the Bruins who has been paired with Zdeno Chara on the top blue line paring since the start of the season. He has emerged as one of the best blue liners on the Bruins, showing he is extremely effective in both ends of the ice, and has the snarl the Bruins need in the defensive zone. My first impression of Carlo was he couldn't stay on his feet, bad balance, but since those first few games, he has completely changed my mind. Last night I recalled many plays where I was like wow, Carlo got into the corner and won that puck battle, or that was a nice pass. He also got the Bruins early game bad angle goal, the third one in three games. Carlo just fired the puck on net after a nice Bergeron pass sent him down the right side wing boards and he snuck one past the big G Andrei, who was out of position, not standing up against the post but down on one knee leaving the upper corner open. Carlo had a nice line of 1G 0A 1P, but more importantly he was a +2 on the night, and he played 23 minutes of ice time (big time minutes for a rookie), including a whopping 3:13 on the PK. Carlo has really stepped up and filled the role vacated by Dennis Seidenberg, providing quality defensive play and some offense as well.

Tyler Johnson Star of the Game as Bruins shifted D to Cover C Stamkos

It was obvious that throughout the game the Bruins were shifting coverage to shut down Stamkos. Especially when Tampa had a power play, the Bruins would favor his side. Which opened up the ice for Tyler Johnson who took advantage, was the "Star of the Game" (even though he lost, which I always find weird, should have been Rask), but Tyler Johnson did have two nice goals. One was a sniper shot on the power-play, the other was a nice tip in shot from the point. Johnson had a nice game, but Stamkos was limited. Stamkos had 0 shots on net and was held to one assist. So the ploy sort of worked the Bruins focused on Stamkos and let Johnson do his thing.

Tampa Bay Lightning's Rink the Amalie Arena

I have not been to every NHL ice rink, but of the one's I have been to the Tampa Bay ice rink is the nicest one I have ever watched a game in. If you ever get a chance, get yourself a club level seat ticket to a game here, you will not regret it. It is an absolutely awesome venue, they have so much food and alcohol, and it is just a great atmosphere. I saw a Detroit versus Tampa game, and yeah there were more Red Wing's fans than Tampa fan's but it was still a great crowd. As a Bruin's fan I didn't care either way. Funny part of the story, the Red Wing's players stayed in the same hotel as me, and the day before the game I was at the hotel pool when a bunch of the players were there with their "local girlfriends". Quite a scene, trust me. In front of the Amalie Arena is a statue of Boston Bruin's legend Phil Esposito, who helped bring Ice Hockey to Tampa Bay.

Conclusion from this Game

The Bruins had a solid win versus a high quality team the Lightning to wrap up what was a very solid road trip. This Bruins team over the past year or so has played much better on the road than it has at home. Maybe the off ice distractions at home are too much for them, but whatever it is it needs to change. The Bruins head home for their next game against a tough New York Rangers team, and a division rival. The Bruins will need to bring the effort they brought on this road trip and then some to win this game. The Bruins did manage to get 6 out of a possible 8 points on this road trip which will help them greatly in the standings. If Tuuka Rask starts in net, we shall see if the Bruins can remain undefeated this season with their starting goalie in net.