Bruins stay focused one day post-Brad Marchand trade, pick up shutout victory vs. Lightning
“For today, to get the result after everything that happened yesterday, it goes to show what we have in this locker room even with the new faces.”
The Bruins’ roster looked a lot different versus the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday than it did two days ago against the Carolina Hurricanes.
With captain Brad Marchand, Brandon Carlo, and Charlie Coyle all being shipped out of Boston on trade deadline day on Friday, the team was somewhat unrecognizable on Saturday afternoon.
New faces like Marat Khusnutdinov and Casey Mittlestadt took the ice in black and gold. No Bruin donned a “C” for captain on their sweater; David Pastrnak wore his typical “A” for alternate captain.
Nevertheless, the new-look Bruins didn’t let Friday’s roster transactions affect their performance on the road. Boston snapped its three-game losing skid with a 4-0 shutout victory over the Lightning to improve to 29-28-8 on the season.
Starting goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped all 26 shots he faced in the contest, marking his fourth shutout this season.
Swayman said after the game he’s proud that the team was able to secure two points one day after the shocking Marchand trade.
“For today, to get the result after everything that happened yesterday, it goes to show what we have in this locker room even with the new faces,” he said. “They know what they’re doing here, putting on the Bruins jersey. That’s a huge testament to the guys that were here for longer than I have been in [David Pastrnak and Charlie] McAvoy. We’re gonna miss the hell out of [Brad Marchand and others who were traded this week].”
Mittelstadt logged an assist in his Bruins debut. Cole Koepke scored two goals while Mark Kastelic and Nikita Zadorov notched the other two.
Boston’s playoff chances at this point are slim, but they aren’t zero, either. As of Saturday, with 17 games remaining in the regular season, the Bruins possess 66 points. They are among a crowded group of teams hopeful to sneak into the postseason, four places behind the second and final Eastern Conference wild card spot.
Similarly to Swayman, interim head coach Joe Sacco said he was pleased with his team’s performance coming off an emotional day prior.
“I thought the guys came ready to play today, focused. There was a determination in the room,” Sacco said. “It was a solid effort all around. We got contributions from everybody that was in the lineup. It was a good team win.”
Additionally, Sacco was asked if he felt like his team had good energy following Friday’s flurry of trades. He said yes.
“I thought we had good energy, especially in the first period. We were on our toes, we were assertive in our game. To me, that’s a sign of a team that’s ready to play, which is good,” Sacco said. “I didn’t sense any hesitation, I didn’t sense that we were passive with our forechecks. We just went out there and played and we executed a pretty good game today.”
Pastrnak also spoke postgame, touching on how he feels about saying goodbye to Marchand, plus Boston’s post-trade deadline play.
“It’s been very tough, emotional, sad … a lot of stuff happened. I lost, personally, three very, very close friends,” Pastrnak said. “It’s a very tough pill to swallow and obviously not only we lost big leaders on this team, but great human beings … It was a really tough day yesterday.
“You are still a professional hockey player, you have a job to do, and you have to get the mindset ready and make sure you look forward. We got some great additions and we have a lot of hockey left, so we have to focus on this group right now and make sure we keep getting better. … We are here to fight to the end. We are not gonna go away. We are gonna keep battling until the last game and see where it takes us.”
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