OK, let’s try that again, and this time no bad line changes and let’s kill some penalties when we get in the box. Oh, and let’s finally get a look at Fabian Lysell.
I’m probably underrating the possibility of Parker Wotherspoon, who is warming up for the game with his teammates as of this entry. Wotherspoon starts for Boston with Brandon Carlo.
Per pregame warmups, Lysell skated on a line with Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau.
In goal, Danill Tarasov and Jeremy Swayman.
I thought Wotherspoon would be in tonight for Mason Lohrei, but it’s Jordan Oesterle who takes a seat.
Lysell is in for Oliver Wahlstrom, while Marc McLaughlin remains in the lineup.
As dynamic as the Blue Jackets have been at home, they have been commensurately porous on the road.
FIRST PERIOD
Justin Brazeau makes yet another argument that the Boston Bruins should not be looking outside the organization to upgrade the wing position in the interest of more offense, getting to the net to push in a loose puck with the backhand. Big goal for the Bruins and big one for linemates Frederic and Lysell. 1-0 Boston.
Carryover aggression from last night, as Mathieu Olivier and Marc Kastelic drop the gloves and have at it. Olivier gets in an early shot – he fights like the legendary Dave Schultz, goes for the hold, then drives from inside out of that leverage. Tough customer, but Kastelic got in a hard shot before tumbling under.
Charlie McAvoy gets backward-crossover speed in receiving the breakout relay and makes Marchenko miss on the forecheck. The result at the other end is a scoring chance, Brad Marchand tumbles into Tarasov, and Dmitri Voronkov goes to the penalty box at 12:50 for hooking. Bruins to the powerplay.
Lysell gets PP time. Marchand stopped in tight to the right post. McAvoy big look from the center point, misses the net.
Columbus gets the kill, but Andrew Peeke with a shot from the left point. Save Tarasov.
Marchand dekes his way through the first line of defense, follows the puck to the RW corner and get picked by Marchenko with the CLB winger’s left shoulder. Marchand gets up slowly and decides rather than to the bench to skate at Marchenko, players come together, Marchand circles back and levies a truckload of words that will not appear on Behind The B. The referees did not get in the middle of this, but bad blood boils.
Old friend Sean Kuraly down LW, fires and misses.
Marchenko follows the puck at the siren and is a step behind Marchand when Peeke horse-collars Marchenko. More words.
1-0 Boston after one. Bruins are outshooting the Blue Jackets, 10-7.
SECOND PERIOD
Morgan Geekie makes it 2-0 with a snapper from the left hash at 6:29.
Damon Severson tried to relay the puck out of the defensive corner under forechecking pressure, and the Bruins winger capitalized from his new favorite spot.
Brazeau and Geekie both have scored their eighth goals of the season tonight.
The play was perpetrated by the worst play of Kastelic’s season.
Brandon Carlo struggled with the Jackets’ speed in the D zone before blocking a shot. Having recovered possession in the high slot of the D zone, Kastelic had time but took so much of it that Marchenko closed on him and then guessed right, picking off Kastelic’s panic play for a clean breakaway.
Swayman made Marchenko miss, but what ensued was a lengthy shift much like the one that ended last night in Columbus with that ill-advised, four-man line change that the Jackets stuck in Boston’s net for a backbreaking goal in the fateful second period.
The Bruins fought hard to escape harm this time, Koepke providing the decisive touch that allowed the Bruins to make their wholesale change safely.
Had Columbus capitalized on that opportunity, then this is a 1-1 game. Instead, the fresh troops sent out by Sacco generated the pressure that produced Geekie’s chance – 2-0.
Pastrnak makes it 3-0 on a clean breakaway at 8:18.
This goal, similarly, came as the culmination of a pair of Boston breakout turnovers that got the Jackets too enthused for their own good, as in every man up! A funny deflection sent Pasta on the races, and he finished beautifully over Tarasov’s glove.
Kastelic’s rough night continues with a double minor for high-sticking.
Lysell has brought a ton of energy to his game in his 2024-25 NHL debut game. He got pick-pocketed in the D zone by CLB fourth-liner Mikael Pynthia, but nothing came of it because the Bruins on the whole have mitigated most of their own collective sloppiness with second and third-effort stickwork around the puck. It’s been that kind of game.
Early on, Lysell took a stick to the face that rode up his own stick on the follow-through of a puck play, so no call was in the offing.
I neglected to note that Kastelic’s four-minute high-sticker was an occasion for the Bruins to put on a PK clinic, something they badly needed to establish. The four minutes expired practically without event.
Pasta gets another clean breakaway, hits the left post.
Period ends.
Pastrnak has rarely gotten behind defenses this season, and when he has he has been caught or hampered more often than not. Tonight he has two crystal-clear breakaways – as comfortable as shootout attempts – and is 1 for 2 with a post.
Shots after two: 20-14 Bruins.
THIRD PERIOD
Odd-man rush for Cole Koepke on the off-wing; he buries the wrist shot to make it 4-0 at 6:06 of the third.
Olivier hits McAvoy hard into the sideglass at the penalty box, looks like McAvoy went face-first into the stanchion. McAvoy stays down and needs attention. Nikita Zadorov throws down with Olivier, who needs one more bout tonight for the Paul Stewart Trophy.
Zadorov gets the requisite roughing minor that puts Columbus on the powerplay with a chance to break Swayman’s shutout.
Coyle and Marchand move on Werenski, penalty, Marchand wants a penalty shot, won’t get it. We go 4 on 4 in front of the goalie with 56 seconds, then the Bruins will be scheduled for 1:04 in PP time.
Coyle slot, misses the net.
Pasta isolated, misses the net.
[Rink Rap: The curious nature of this home-and-home vs. Columbus has been somewhat explained, as in why are the Blue Jackets so successful at home and so unsuccessful on the road? We’ve seen it in this series. A big part of it is the Bruins’ performance, especially their second and third efforts on the puck, the way they managed the tough situation in their own end after Kastelic’s turnover, pushing through for paydirt when they could not in Columbus. Is it as simple as Swayman vs. Tarasov instead of Joonas Korpisalo vs. Elvis Merzlikins? I think not, each goalie’s standing on his own team notwithstanding.]
Kuraly saves a Frederic goal with Tarasov out of the crease.
The Bruins have done a nice job tonight, discouraging the Blue Jackets and keeping the shots to areas on the perimeter.
Apropos of nothing, the Bruins are completing a third-straight game against a lineup consisting of 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
We’re down to a minute in a 4-0 game.
Any further updates from tonight @MickColageo on X.
Drive safely.
Rink Rap with Mick Colageo 