Bruins make another recall from Providence
The Bruins are doing absolutely nothing to help the traffic on I-95. But that is indeed the cost of trying to find a spark for a flat team, as Don Sweeney and the Bruins continued their Providence-to-Boston shuffle Monday, this time with forward Jeff Viel recalled from the P-Bruins.
“He’s a guy that you know what you’re gonna get,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said of Viel. “He’s a hard player to play against. He has an offensive touch in and around the net, he’s scored over 20 goals in the American League, and he’s someone that has real good energy.
“There’s an excitement to him to play the game.”
In action for 14 games in the minors this season, the 27-year-old Viel has recorded two goals and four points. But with Viel, it’s not about the points, as he has more often than not made his presence felt with his fists, by way of his 39 minutes in penalties over that 14-game run.
Speaking after last Saturday’s overtime loss to the Blues, Montgomery seemed downright mystified as to why the Bruins had no “juice” after the first period. Montgomery even noted that the Bruins decided to stay overnight in Dallas after Thursday’s 7-2 pounding with the hopes that it would keep their sleep cycle normal and allow them to have the proper legs for that Saturday matinee at TD Garden.
And there’s no denying that making a call to a player like Viel, who has made 49 NHL appearances in his NHL career and is known for the nasty more than anything else, is a move to spark that kind of jump.
“We’re hopeful that that’s gonna happen: That it’s gonna bring more energy on our bench,” Montgomery admitted. “Like the energy from someone that comes in and has a smile on their face and it’s like Christmas morning, that’s infectious. If you come back to the bench and you’re slumped over like that, what do you think it does to you? What does it do to you?”
Viel may also have a definite opponent to help bring the TD Garden crowd to life in this one, too, with Mathieu Olivier on the Columbus bench. Olivier had a fantastic bout with the Canadiens’ Arber Xhekaj on Saturday night and has had two fights in his last five games overall.
With Viel up and Mark Kastelic (lower-body injury) unavailable, Cole Koepke will sit as the healthy scratch for the Bruins in this contest.
