Stars at Bruins

An 80-something, year-old golf coach offered me two tips that I’ve never forgotten, and they apply to multiple sports.

The first one was mechanical. By placing his club on the ground at the exact spot in the grass where my head cast its shadow, he left the club head there and instructed me upon my follow-through not to move but to look at the club head so I could see that I had swayed forward approximately 5 inches rather than staying behind the shot.

The second tip was a short poem: “When you think, you stink” (also known as paralysis by analysis).

Some members of the Boston Bruins could sure put that second tip to work because, right now, the Bruins on average are doing too much thinking and not enough with their feet.

The grand irony of the early 2024-25 season is that the new members of the team are playing well (we’ll get to Nikita Zadorov momentarily), and it’s the core members of the team that are looking distracted and disjointed.

One thought on Zadorov: The big, left-shot defenseman has to play a proactive game and avoid becoming like the three-year-old that tests his parents, always looking over his shoulder. Penalties are going to happen – and more have happened than anyone in the Bruins organization ought to be happy about – but the aggressive players who succeed in sustaining their style accept that fate and press on without making fundamental changes to their style of play. They make adjustments and tweaks, but insist on playing their game and not one they might imagine the league prefers.

It’s a little like pass defense in football. Before coming to New England, Bill Belichick had the Jets’ defensive backs playing so aggressively that pass-interference calls were inevitable. But they never doubted the plan, and the Patriots followed suit.

Becoming one of the more physically aggressive teams in the NHL does not come easily or without potholes. The key is to work at it and not give into the doubt that leads to abandonment of the more-playoff-applicable style of game.

Trent Frederic, same thing. Less thinking, more moving.

Everyone’s got an opinion on the Marchand-Montgomery “incident” in Utah, where Marchand tried to stickhandle the puck around three opponents and was lucky to escape a goal-against when video replay supported the Bruins’ offsides challenge.

True to form, Marchand supported his coach’s public berating on the bench and only after attempts to downplay the incident failed. Many projected Marchand to continue to be a great player for the Bruins but questioned his leadership abilities and his 2023 choice as captain. In our upside-down world, it’s not the leader who has become the question but the player. It’s been a few rocky seasons for hard-miles Marchand, and three minor surgeries this past offseason continue asking the question as to his ability to remain impactful deep into his 30s.

From left, Gary Nylund, Gord Kluzak and Brian Bellows after going 3, 1, 2 in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft. The Bruins made a trade with the Minnesota North Stars, agreeing not to draft Bellows first overall in exchange for wingers Brad Palmer and Dave Donnelly.

WARMUP

1’s are wild in net tonight as Casey DeSmith and Jeremy Swayman lead the Stars and Bruins onto TD Garden ice for the pregame warmup.

Seeing the struggles of his captain, Bruins coach Jim Montgomery is putting Marchand (who played a solid if unlucky game in Nashville) together with David Pastrnak and center Elias Lindholm. Cole Koepke has been promoted into the solution role, as he’ll try to inject some of that reckless abandon into the dormant games of Charlie Coyle and Trent Frederic. Matt Poitras has been kicked back to wing and now has Pavel Zacha as his center with Morgan Geekie on the opposite wing. Replacing Koepke on the Mark Kastelic line with Johnny Beecher is Justin Brazeau.

On defense, Mason Lohrei is a healthy scratch in favor of Parker Wotherspoon, paired with Andrew Peake. Hampus Lindholm will try to restore order to Charlie McAvoy’s game, which has been off (like the top half of the entire roster). Nikita Zadorov is paired with Brandon Carlo.

Looks like Tyler Seguin is in the Stars’ lineup. There had been doubt among Dallas beatwriters.

FIRST PERIOD

The Stars bring the pressure and Swayman is equal, all too famiiliar a refrain in opening periods this season. But the Bruins get a great O-zone shift from David Pastrnak and Ilya Lyubushkin takes a penalty. Bruins to the powerplay scoreless 7:11 into the game.

Marchand made a relay early in the powerplay intended for the left point man who was not there, but McAvoy did a nice job defending the 2-on-1, giving Swayman the shooter. The puck went wide.

Marchand’s bad luck continued with a high-sticking penalty at 10:29, putting Dallas on the powerplay.

Bruins are outshooting the Stars, 10-3, to this point.

Scrum at the Boston net off the first faceoff of the Stars’ powerplay involving Brandon Carlo. The Bruins change out defensemen. Elias Lindholm draws a slashing penalty on Jamie Benn (broke Lindholm’s stick as the Boston center broke up a blue-line play and had a potential breakaway). Benn gets an extra two and the Bruins score on the 4-on-4 as Matt Poitras centered to Pastrnak. 1-0 Boston.

The Bruins are about to get Marchand back and have a double powerplay (44 seconds remaining on Benn’s first minor).McAvoy’s drop pass goes awry, and Swayman has to turn away Wyatt Johnston on a clean breakaway.

This part of the Boston powerplay has been about as reliable as the Green Line during rush hour.

Toward the end of the man advantage, Trent Frederic got outnumbered on the left halfwall, and Justin Brazeau saved his bacon with an excellent backcheck in the open ice, preventing a 2-on-1 the other way. Pavel Zacha also made a hard backcheck to break up a Dallas counterattack.

The Bruins (cliche alert), to a man, are a better second and third-effort team tonight. These are solid signs they’re on their way back from the lethargic play that has defined their season to date.

Matt Duchene ties it for Dallas by cutting across the slot from right to left, shaking off defenders and catches Swayman too low in the crouch and beats him inside the post, 1-1, with 3:40 remaining in the first. Superior hockey play by a superior if enigmatic talent.

Zadorov with a big hit in front of the Boston bench.

Swayman makes another save on rangy defenseman Thomas Harley, a going concern (ode to the late, great Fred Cusick).

Marchand engages in conversation with members of the Stars as the period ends.

Shots 12-12 after one (the Bruins were way up midway through).

SECOND PERIOD

Roope Hintz wins a puck at the Bruins line, and Pastrnak has to hook him just 11 seconds into the second period. Stars to the powerplay… 20 seconds into the man advantage, Jason Robertson is free in the slot and it’s 2-1 Dallas.

Parker Wotherspoon to the box for interference, and Duchene makes another great play, this time feeding across to Logan Stankoven, 3-1 Dallas.

RINK RAP: This is obviously a crucial juncture, and the fans are beginning to chant. Whether or not this Dallas team, still mad about losing in Buffalo, is catchable tonight, the Bruins need to use this game to get themselves into a better frame. They cannot relent. If anything, the effort has to increase.

TV timeout, but Dallas goes back to the man advantage upon return after Pastrnak takes an O-zone penalty (tripping on the puck hunt).

The Stars, officially 12-11 ahead on shots entering the second period, have the first 7 shots of the second period but nothing on net over the first minute of this powerplay. Tyler Seguin, isolated in the right circle, beats Swayman cleanly and it’s 4-1.

Make that 8-0 shots in the second period.

Swayman skating the big loops to the corners waiting for the faceoff.

Sam Steel to the penalty box, Bruins to the powerplay.

A flicker of hope, as Brazeau converts on Boston’s second shot of the period, and it’s 4-2 Dallas. It’s Brazeau’s first of the season at 10:41 of the second.

Now the crowd is coming alive … somewhat.

Evgenii Dadonov (unless it was Johnston) runs at – and misses – Wotherspoon.

Pastrnak absolutely plasters Miro Heiskanen against the halfwall – no call – Heiskanen, Dallas’ star defenseman, slowly to the bench.

Zadorov turns the puck over, the Stars extend the possession and, thanks to Swayman, avoid taking another penalty.

RINK RAP: Perfect example of the difference between these two teams. Dallas makes a smart dump and make proactive hits on Boston’s second defender back to establish an outnumbered situation on the forecheck. AT THE OTHER END, Boston makes a smart dump and the F1 ties up the Stars’ retriever, but the F2 gets hampered by a Dallas backchecker, ensuring the F1 has no puck support. The Stars exit the D zone stress free.

Zadorov laid a big hit on Dadonov, lighting a fire in the crowd, but he skated the rest of the period as if injured or as if he knocked the wind out of himself on the hit.

Shots after two: Dallas 25-17. Stars lead 4-2. Bruins have been leading the faceoff game, but that’s not helping them stop turning over the puck.

THIRD PERIOD

Marchand with a retaliatory crosscheck to Lyubushkin, and his complaints go ignored. Dallas to the powerplay with an early chance to salt this one away. On the PK, Coyle and Zacha force DeSmith to make a good stop off the rush.

Brazeau has a doorstep shot at a second goal snuffed out by DeSmith, who has been solid when needed.

8:39 remaining, and the Stars have from back from a substantial faceoff deficit to dominate in the second half of the game. Draws are now 50-50.

RINK RAP; The Stars lead this one more than midway through the third period on the strength of three PPG’s. Discipline will once again haunt the Bruins pending a comeback. The Bruins ARE playing the third period with more poise, holding onto pucks and getting timely support in the battle zones and, as a result, generating scoring chances. Granted, the Stars are protecting a two-goal lead on the road and are likely to spend more time in their own zone. That acknowledged, the Bruins are playing a better brand of hockey here in the crunch. Even if it’s too little, too late, it’s an important step in getting back their game.

Marchand from the slot misses the left post. There was traffic.

Benn gets Dallas going in the offensive zone, and it’s a little adventurous until Wotherspoon’s clearing pass caroms over the glass (no penalty for that).

Abused on the prior shift, Poitras gets picked off on his next shift, but Colin Blackwell (the puck stealer) missed Oskar Back on his cross-ice feed on the 2-on-1. Bruins still in this one as a result.

Swayman to the bench for a sixth attacker with 4:00 remaining in regulation. Stars almost hit the empty net. Fans scurrying the exits with 2:47 left and a faceoff in Dallas’ end.

Robertson misses by a mile, icing, so his unit stays out and the Bruins change up. The Stars have the luxury of going for it, but the Bruins are playing their best hockey of the night. Hintz dekes McAvoy at center and seals the outcome with 2:02 left. 5-2, Swayman back in net, fans empty out of the Garden.

Drive safely everyone.