Randoms:
- Bruins won the special teams battle. Great to see the PP find some life. Mostly off the rush and a lucky bounce or two rather than cycling the puck and opening up the opposition through their passing game, but still, good to see. PK was very solid and showed desperation in blocking shots, winning pucks and clearing the zone.
- Coyle needed a game like that. Not only been quiet on the scoreboard in the last couple of weeks but also had little impact on games in general. Hopefully this will give him some confidence. Couple of good apples for DeBrusk too. He needs goals more than anything, but still, some smart proactive play was positive.
- When McAvoy was on the ice, 5v5 the Bruins had 7 shot attempts to 23, 3 shots on target to 9, 0 high danger chances to 4. Yuck. Charlie made a fantastic save on that puck behind Swayman's back, otherwise this was one to forget for him. At least Lindholm had a good night.
- 4th line battled, showed a little bit of spite, but even for a bottom line, a 17% CF in just 6 mins TOI, plus the goal against, is not a great return. Brown gets picked over a prospect because coaches will mostly prefer predictability over higher risk/reward in their bottom 6, and he's inoffensive enough, but still, would prefer to see someone else. Not really sure why Steen was scratched.
- Boston had a bit more urgency and zip in this game compared to the last couple, but they didn't really impress much 5v5. Buffalo was Tage-less and pretty sloppy, and yet still probably split the general play about 50/50 with the Bs. One goal each at even strength was probably a fair reflection. Can argue of course that the Bruins didn't need to press things too hard given they led throughout, and they're coming off a break with little practice, but at the same time I don't think this told us too much about where they're really at coming off their patchy last few weeks. NJ on Saturday will perhaps give a truer picture, even though they'll be playing on a b2b plus travel. Regardless, nice to get a solid win here.