Bruins’ weekly 3 Stars: Unlikely saviors keeping playoff hopes alive
COMMENTARY
Desperately looking for a win on Saturday night against the Islanders, the Bruins put an end to their four-game losing streak with their 2-1 victory in Brooklyn.
A week that started off with three setbacks against the Maple Leafs, Senators and Lightning ended with a pair of unlikely players keeping the Bruins in the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference.
With seven games left, the Bruins will need to string together a few more wins. Every team on the playoff bubble — Leafs, Islanders, Bolts and the recently resurgent Hurricanes — has at least one game in hand on the Black and Gold with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season.
In the meantime, here is a look at this week’s Bruins three stars:
Riley Nash
In one of their toughest weeks of the season, goal-scoring was hard to come by for the Black and Gold. Thankfully, goals weren’t hard to come by for a consistent presence on the fourth line.
Entering Thursday’s game with the Lightning, Riley Nash only had four goals on the season. He nearly doubled his goal total after scoring three in two games, including a pair of tallies against the Islanders. Those two goals were all the Bruins needed in Brooklyn to take over the second wild card spot.
“It’s quite the output compared to my season so far, so I’ll take it,” Nash said following Saturday’s performance. “I’m glad they finally came.”
His recent offensive output is quite surprising. But make no mistake: Nash’s importance as a bottom six forward and solid penalty killer is appreciated throughout the Bruins’ locker room.
Anton Khudobin
Be it a poor performance versus the Lightning or being hung out to dry against the Maple Leafs and Senators, the Tuukka Rask detractors were out in full force this week. Rask missing Saturday’s game due to a lower body injury only added fuel to the fire for those doubters.
So did Anton Khudobin’s performance against the Islanders.
The Bruins’ backup may have only made 18 saves, but came up with some timely and unorthodox stops in his fifth start since being recalled from Providence prior to the beginning of the Bruce Cassidy era.
“He’s a battler,” Cassidy said about Khudobin on Saturday night. “He got swimming a couple of times, but that’s Dobby and he keeps it interesting for you. He’s a battler and he always has been, but that’s what we needed tonight.”
Even with Rask returning to practice on Monday, one can argue that Khudobin should get the nod when the Bruins return to action on Tuesday night. Unlike earlier in the year when Rask was overworked due to the lack of backup goaltending, Khudobin’s performances of late can only help the Finnish netminder get another breather or two late in the regular season.
Bruins’ penalty kill
Like the rest of the team, the Bruins’ reliable penalty kill suffered some setbacks during their four-game losing streak. Against the Islanders, they got back on track.
The B’s spent exactly one-fifth of Saturday’s game on the penalty kill. Six times the Islanders went on the power play and six times the Bruins shorthanded unit killed New York’s man advantage. Against talented forwards like John Tavares and Josh Ho-Sang, the Bruins forced the Isles to settle for chances on the perimeter and made them settle for one-and-done attacks for the most part.
“We talked about doing a better job defensively as a whole, not just 5-on-5 but also on the penalty kill. We got away from that the last few games and it hurt us in the game,” Patrice Bergeron said about the penalty kill.
“Tonight was a perfect example of us staying poised. We took some penalties, and they have some skill over there, but I thought we denied them for the most part.”
