Pasta Heats Up, McAvoy Returns, and the Bruins Start Rolling | Snap Shot 66

0:00 Speaker 1: My, my, my. The Boston Bruins have started to assert themselves and show us just how good they have the potential to be as long as they stay out of the penalty box. They did have us worried there a few times this past week. A slow start in Saint Louis and an undisciplined first two periods in Winnipeg nearly cost them their games, but they were able to quickly regroup, play five on five hockey and absolutely dominate the Blues and Jets in their final frames. But can they stay out of the box when up against a much stronger opponent in Minnesota.

0:34 Speaker 1: This is a Bruins tape to tape snapshot.

0:40 Speaker 2: The Boston Bruins defeated the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night by a score of six to three. This game marked the return of Charlie McAvoy to the lineup after missing a significant amount of time with a horrendous injury to his jaw, and Charlie McAvoy logged in a mirror twenty four minutes of ice time. Nothing like being thrown back into the fire. Charlie looked pretty smooth throughout the course of the game for someone who had missed a ton of game time, but the story for this game was David Pastronach.

1:19 Speaker 2: He had himself a four point night, two goals and two assists. The Bruins were perfect on the power play, going two for two with goals from David Pastronach and Casey Middelstat. Sean Caray also netted himself a beautiful dangle goal with assists from his line mates Tanner Janno and Mark Castelik. And that line, folks, has been impressive.

1:46 Speaker 1: You also had.

1:47 Speaker 2: Goals from both Lindholmes against the Jets, both Hampus and Elias, and David Pastronach finished off the Jets with an empty net goal to make the final six to three. In addition to that, Jonas Corposalo saved the Bruins collective asses in the second period of that game because Winnipeg was coming at the Bruins hard and the Bruins were just scrambling in their own end. Mason Louri had himself a pretty rough night defensively. He was a minus two and was exposed on a couple of occasions by the Winnipeg Jets, but all in all, it was a solid team victory up and down the lineup for the Boston Bruins, giving them a four game winning streak heading into the game against the Minnesota Wild.

2:42 Speaker 2: However, this game came at a bit of a cost for the Bruins in that both Victor Arvidson and Jonathan Aspero left the game in the first period and did not return. Hopefully, these are not going to be long term injuries, as Ardvinson just recently came back into the lineup and we know that the Bruins do need their full complement of players in order to be successful and competitive.

3:11 Speaker 1: In addition to David Pasternak taking sole possession of fourth all time in Bruins history for goals, Morgan Geeky had a career night, grabbing his one hundredth career point. It's, of course wild to think that he only just hit that mark, but remember up until this past January, he was hardly getting the minutes to get those points, let alone be in a position to be earning multiple points per night. Another fun fact for you all. Thanks to Ty Anderson for putting this together. The Bruins are now ten to two and zero this season when they have Linholm, McAvoy and Zadorov in the lineup.

3:44 Speaker 1: They are nine to eleven and zero when one of them is out, and let's just keep going here because there is so much to be pleased about right now. Since coming back from his injury, Pasta is two five and seven. That's two goals, five assists for seven points in just two games. This team has the ability to steamroll opponents just so long as they stay out of the box. So why were these last two games important points to grab? Because they're going to play Minnesota on Sunday and the Wild have surprised a lot of people by turning around a rough starting season into one that is an absolute wagon.

4:22 Speaker 1: And if they weren't in the same division as Colorado and Dallas, they'd surely be a top in their divisional standings. But all three of these teams are making it pretty hard, fairly early in the season for any other Central Division team to have any kind of a chance. The Wild have gone into overtime eleven times this season, which sounds like a lot because a it kind of is, although Vegas and LA both have thirteen overtime games and b Boston has only gone into ot six times. To Boston's benefit, the Wild play the Senators in between now and Sunday, And even better, they have Boston in the second game of a back to back, so the Bruins will be rested, ready and waiting for the Wild.

5:03 Speaker 1: Besides needing to be a strong team, Boston is going to have to take advantage of some of Minnesota's current issues, namely their lengthy list of injuries. Matt Sucuarella was put on IR on December eighth, along with Jake Middleton, both for upper body injuries, and tough guy Marcus Felino has been week to week since November twenty seventh, and the Wild have been without Marco Rossi since November fourteenth, although he did take a morning skate on December eleventh, but he was deemed still not ready.

5:33 Speaker 1: So why are the Wild in such a good spot right now? Well, they're goalie for one. Philip Gustafson has done a tremendous job taking over the starting goalie role in recent years and seems to finally have hit his stride. Twenty games in and he has a nine GSAX and a nine oh seven safe percentage and holds a very nice two point sixty four goals against average. Swayman has been just a touch better with a safe percentage at nine thirteen and roughly the same with his goals against at two point sixty seven.

6:02 Speaker 1: Where Swayman has been blowing him out of the water along with nearly everyone else, has been his GSAX, which is second in the league at nineteen point four. Only Sorokan has exceeded sway in this regard with a twenty point three GSAX. And if you were wondering who has the best safe percentage and goals against right now, both stats are held by Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals. He's got a nine to twenty six safe percentage and a mind blowing one point nine to six goals against. But back to the Wild, So what's their deal?

6:34 Speaker 1: Another team with a boring brand of hockey? So be extra caffeinated for this. And in terms of on ice threats, you need to keep an eye on Carill Caprizov, Matt Boldi, and Marcus Johansson. Boston is going to have to actually try to shut these guys down. They also lead their team and goals scored the season with eighteen, sixteen and nine goals respectively. At this point in the season, I'm gonna come out here and say when the Bruins stay out of the box, it's almost a guaranteed win, So Boston don't make me eat my words.

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