Bruins Resume the Rivalry vs Habs, Fight for First Place | Snap Shot 62

0:00 Speaker 1: Charlie McAvoy might not have any teeth, but this Bruins team sure does. Boston took us back in time to the peak of their rivalry with the Hams in a game filled with fisticuffs and passion. This kind of statement win was the perfect response to their loss to the Sins earlier in the week, and they head home to play the Canes in Boston for the second time and all signs point to a great game. Even if there are new guys in the lineup. Can Boston maintain this momentum as injuries begin to pile up. This is a Bruins tape to tape snapshot.

0:36 Speaker 2: The Boston Bruins and the Montreal Canadians reintroduced themselves on Saturday night at the Bell's Center, and it didn't take long for these long standing rivals to get the party started right off the bat, with Nikita Zadorov and Tanner Jeanneau dropping the gloves with two members of the Montreal Canadians within four minutes of each other, and frankly, I am here for this rivalry to be reborn again. It's great for business and it's great for hockey. The Bruins came out ahead in this game by a score of three to two.

1:15 Speaker 2: Marret Ustadinov got the scoring started for the Bruins. Mason Lauri added a goal. Victor Arvidson added a the third goal, which was a power play goal for his two hundredth career goal. Unfortunately, the Montreal Canadians scored a shorthanded goal off the stick of Jake Evans and Cole Kawfield made the game somewhat interesting from the Canadian side of things late in the third period, but Jeremy Swayman was excellent throughout the game, but particularly in the last couple of minutes when the Canadians pulled Montemblau.

1:54 Speaker 2: The Bruins just played an excellent team game from start to finish, laying out their bodies. Mason Laurai blocked a shot. Charlie McAvoy unfortunately blocked a shot with his face. More about that later in this snapshot. The Bruins were perfect on the power play, leaving the Montreal Canadians zero for seven. While it's not ideal that you took seven penalties in a game, I will say that once again the officials allowed themselves to be duped by not only the diving of the Montreal Canadians, but also the noise that was coming from the fans and allowing them to make some of the tiki tak calls that were levied on the Bruins.

2:42 Speaker 2: Be that as it may, the Bruins came away with not only a solid two points and a bounce back victory after losing to Ottawa on Thursday night. The Boston Bruins are now as we find ourselves on Sunday morning, in first place in the Atlantic Division. The negatives from this game, unfortunately, was the loss of Charlie McAvoy too an injury and it clearly looked like he took a puck to the face. There hasn't been any more information on this injury, but we do know that according to Elliott Friedman, Charlie did fly back with the team.

3:19 Speaker 2: The other loss in this game was Victor Arbusen leaving in the third period with an injury and he is deemed to be day to day. I believe this was by far the most entertaining game that the Bruins have played this season, and no surprise that it came at the expense of the Montreal Canadians. Next up on the Bruins docket, is the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday Night.

3:47 Speaker 1: The Canes have their own troubles to worry about, as teams like Pittsburgh and the Islanders keep creeping up to catch them. They still have four players currently out with injury, including Yesperry Kokayemi, Jacob Slavin, and Jalen Chatfield. The last time the Canes and Bruins played, Boston was not only able to keep this shooting powerhouse down to under thirty shots on goal, that was Carolina's fastest game to date, lasting only two hours and fourteen minutes, which is a relief as Carolina plays a fairly boring brand of hockey.

4:19 Speaker 1: In my opinion, Carolina still leads the league by the way in shot attempts with almost a sixty percent Coursey, and it's no surprise then to see Eric Robinson with two point three nine goals per sixty minutes and Seth Jarvis with one point eight per sixty In all situations, Boston needs to continue to stay out of the box two so they can avoid the sniping aim of Andre Svechnikov's three point eight two goals per sixty on the power play. Jarvis, Ajo and svetch will continue to be a challenge for the Bruins d and goaltending as their team's leading goal scorers with ten, seven and six goals apiece, goaltending is all.

5:00 Speaker 1: It's been a bit of a revolving door for Carolina over the last few games. They've had all three goalies in net since November ninth, with Anderson playing most recently in their OT loss to Edmonton. Based on playing time, Anderson is clearly the designated starting goalie, but it is curious that Bussy and Kochekkov have also had playing time in the last two weeks. Then again, with a compressed schedule, maybe the coaching staff is being extra cautious as Anderson is known to be easily sidelined.

5:31 Speaker 1: Assuming Anderson is in net, he is in the back third of the pack for goalies with a minimum of ten games played, holding on to a three point one to zero goals againstdverage and an eight eighty six save percentage. But if you've read this weekend's check this data post on goals saved above expected, Anderson is a plus one point six GSAX rating, meaning that his goals against average and safe percentage might have more to do with the game that's happening in front of him, rather than his own performance in those games.

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