Boston Bruins newcomer Tyler Bertuzzi had an assist in the Bruins’ 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon. Thanks to this gain, Boston signs a 10th consecutive victory.
Acquired from the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, Bertuzzi made a brilliant pass to Charlie Coyle in the first period to allow his new team to open the scoring.
Coyle returned to the charge from the 30th second of play in the middle period. Shorthanded, he allowed Tomas Nosek to come alone in front of Igor Shesterkin and Nosek served a nice fake to the Russian goalkeeper to double the Bruins lead.
Rangers responded to the massive attack, but it was not the big guns that managed to outsmart Linus Ullmark. Alexis Lafrenière skillfully deflected the shot from the point of his captain Jacob Trouba to score his 12th of the season.
Trailing 23-15 in shots on goal to start the third period, the Bruins took control of the game. Patrice Bergeron hit the target for the 23rd time this season thanks to a nice pass from Brad Marchand. Dmitry Orlov continued his dream debut in his new uniform while also being instrumental in Bergeron’s goal. Orlov now has nine points in five games with the Bruins.
Less than four minutes later, David Pastrnak joined the party by scoring his 44th goal of the season. Alexis Lafrenière added a second goal with 1:26 left in the third, but Rangers ran out of time.
Ullmark continued his dominance over other NHL goaltenders with a 32nd win in 38 starts. He made 24 saves, while Shesterkin yielded four times to the Bruins’ 24 shots.
Patrick Kane was knocked off the scoresheet for the second time in as many games with the Blueshirts, in addition to posting a minus 4 differential.
The Bruins will try to win their 11th straight game Thursday in a duel against the Edmonton Oilers. The Rangers will be the visitors at the Bell Center on Thursday.
The Lightning surprised by the Sabers
Inspired by Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner, the Buffalo Sabers upset the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon in a 5-3 win.
Buffalo therefore finds the way to victory after a short series of two losses, so a bitter 7-1 loss Thursday night against the Boston Bruins. It’s the second time in less than 10 days that the Sabers have beaten the Atlantic Division rival Lightning.
With a performance of one goal and one assist, Skinner now has 26 goals and 36 assists for 62 points this season, in just 58 games. He came within a single point of his career-high 63 points, which he achieved four times in his career.
Lightning newcomer Tanner Jeannot picked up an assist in a second straight game, in addition to serving a correction to Riley Stillman in a fight.
The game started well for the Lightning who took control in the middle of the first period. Positioned at the top of the enclave, Brayden Point fired a one-timer to approach a single goal from the 40 mark this season.
But Buffalo took control of the game afterwards and the Sabers scored five unanswered goals to take a comfortable 5-1 lead. Thompson, Vinnie Hinostroza, Tyson Jost, Jack Quinn and Skinner all hit the mark.
With the Lightning trailing 4-1 after two periods, head coach Jon Cooper decided to send a message to his team. He benched Point, captain Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov for all of the third period.
“As a coach you have to put your team in the best position to win and 99.9% of the time those guys are going to give us the best to win,” Cooper said. Today, I think they weren’t giving us the best chance of winning. ”
Lightning forward Pat Maroon said he’s confident the three star forwards will redeem themselves.
“They’re angry, but they got the message,” Maroon said. They are leaders who have been benched, but they have the same status as everyone else. They know it and they will bounce back in the next game. ”
Alex Killorn hit the target twice in the third period to make it 5-3, but Tampa Bay was unable to complete the comeback.
In front of the Sabers net, Eric Comrie stopped 33 of 36 shots aimed at him to sign the victory, while his vis-à-vis Brian Elliott allowed five goals on 34 shots.
A victory for the Stars in the 1000th game of Jamie Benn
As their captain Jamie Benn played his 1000th NHL game on Saturday, the Dallas Stars outscored the Colorado Avalanche by easily winning 7-3.
The Stars organization paid tribute to Benn before the game, as he became only the second player in franchise history to reach that milestone after Mike Modano.
The big guns of the Stars responded present for this meeting. Jason Robertson had two goals and an assist, Joe Pavelski had his first goal in 19 games and added an assist, and Roope Hintz aided two of his linemates.
Benn also celebrated his 1,000th game by collecting an assist on Miro Heiskanen’s goal in the first period, a net that made it 2-0 for the Stars. Mason Marchment, with his first in 33 games, Radek Faksa and Wyatt Johnston were the other scorers for the Stars.
Alexandrar Georgiev was kicked out of the game after allowing five goals in front of 19 shots. Called in relief, Keith Kinkaid yielded once in front of nine shots. Samuel Girard, Andrew Cogliano and Evan Rodrigues beat Jake Oettinger, who made 32 saves. Girard also had two assists.
Colorado could count on the return to play of Cale Makar in this game. The Norris Trophy winner in 2022 had missed his last five games with a concussion. He was the Avalanche’s most-used defenseman with 22:27 of ice time.
A double from Lee allows the Islanders to defeat the Wings
Anders Lee scored two of the team’s four goals in the third period as the New York Islanders defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1.
The Islanders have improved to 5-2-1 in their last eight outings and remain in position to claim one of two spots reserved for clubs drafted into the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Zach Parise and Noah Dobson also found the back of the net for the Islanders. Goaltender Ilya Sorokin blocked 22 pucks.
Dylan Larkin, on a power play late in the second period, scored the lone goal for the Red Wings, who suffered a fifth straight loss. Goalkeeper Magnus Hellberg completed his day with 31 saves.
The Islanders took the lead for good when Parise and Lee hit the target early in the third period. Parise scored his 16th of the season at 2:11 of the engagement, then Lee made it 2-1 at 4:39.
Dobson added to the Islanders lead with a powerful slapshot at 15:41 and Lee completed his double at 17:21.
