Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

The Bruins are officially streaking in the double digits.

On Garden ice for a Saturday matinee showdown with the New York Rangers, the Bruins made it 10 straight victories, and with a true team effort that included goals from four different scorers.

It was an attack that, while delayed with a bit of a slow start from Jim Montgomery’s squad, did ultimately overwhelm a Ranger squad that was forced to play this game with just 16 skaters due to salary cap issues.

“We got to [our game], yeah,” Montgomery, whose team is now at a staggering 103 points on the year, offered after the victory. “I thought we played really intelligently in the third. The first two periods for whatever reason our mental execution, us reading plays and making plays with or without the puck was really slow.”

With the win, the Bruins became the third team to have a double-digit winning streak this season, joining the Hurricanes (an 11-game win streak that ran through most of December and into early January) and the Devils (a 13-game win streak that started in October and ended in November).

Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub  (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from a great tilt at TD Garden

  • No. 3 Star: Tomas Nosek

    Nov 12, 2022; Buffalo, New York, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Tomas Nosek (92) during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports

    Nov 12, 2022; Buffalo, New York, USA; Boston Bruins left wing Tomas Nosek (92) during the first period against the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center. (Timothy T. Ludwig/USA TODAY Sports)

  • Fourth-line faceoff ace and penalty-killing specialist Tomas Nosek is not known for scoring. And while Saturday’s performance isn’t likely to be enough to warrant a promotion up a line or to a power-play unit, the Bruins and a sellout crowd at TD Garden got a nice look at the skill plays that are in the Czech-born center.

    With the Bruins on what could be best described as power kill, Nosek received a feed from Coyle right in front of the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin, and went backhand on the reigning Vezina as soon as he noticed that Shesterkin was going down and biting on what was looking like a forehand jam from Nosek.

  • Boston’s go-to penalty-killing duo up front, the Coyle-Nosek combo has now played over 90 minutes of shorthanded time on ice together. And during that sample, they’ve managed an on-ice goal differential of just minus-6, as the duo has been on the ice for two goals and just eight against.

    “It’s very comforting for us as a team to know that they’re out there and they’re going to get the job done,” Montgomery said. “And not only that, they read off each other really well with their pressure in zone, but also especially down ice. Charlie Coyle knew that Nosek would go to the middle of the ice and he picks that puck off, he just doesn’t throw it back behind net, he makes a poised, calm play and then he finds Nosek at the net front.”

  • No. 2 Star: Charlie McAvoy

    Mar 4, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) battles for the puck with New York Rangers defenseman Niko Mikkola (77) during the third period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports

    Mar 4, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy (73) battles for the puck with New York Rangers defenseman Niko Mikkola (77) during the third period at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

  • When the lights are bright, you know Charlie McAvoy is going to come to play.

    In a nationally-televised contest against his childhood team, Boston’s backend stallion absolutely brought it, and finished this contest with an assist and a plus-2 rating to go with his team-high 23:36 of time on ice. McAvoy also dished out the nasty, even if his two-hit stat line didn’t seem to indicate it. (Ask me and he definitely had more than two hits, but this is why I am not an official scorer, I confess.)

  • This was a game where McAvoy absolutely dominated the puck, too, with a freakish 74.07 corsi-for percentage, as the Bruins out-attempted the Rangers 20-7 during McAvoy’s 15:42 of five-on-five time on ice.

    Paired with Dmitry Orlov, it was a tandem that carried the Bruins throughout the afternoon, as they posted an on-ice corsi-for percentage of 80.1 percent by way of their 17-4 edge in attempts, while the Bruins outshot New York 8-2, outscored ’em 2-0, and held a 12-2 edge in scoring chances during their 12:13 of action together.

    The pairing saw a heavy dose the Rangers’ big guns, too, with over six minutes against Mika Zibanejad, Patrick Kane, and Artemi Panarin.

    Just pure domination.

  • No. 1 Star: Charlie Coyle

    Mar 4, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) battles for the puck with New York Rangers defenseman Ben Harpur (5) during the first period at TD Garden. Mandatory Credit: Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

    Mar 4, 2023; Boston, Massachusetts, USA; Boston Bruins center Charlie Coyle (13) battles for the puck with New York Rangers defenseman Ben Harpur (5) during the first period at TD Garden. (Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports)

  • When third-line center Charlie Coyle is on his game, which he absolutely was in this showing, the puck is basically glued to his stick and the game of hockey becomes Coyle’s own personal three-zone keepaway tourney. And the man never loses. It’s just hilarious stuff. He’s batting sticks out his way, he’s bodying guys off his back with a simple shoulder shrug, and he’s delighting all of Weymouth in the process.

    On Saturday, it was Coyle who opened things up with the first goal of the game off a terrific feed from Tyler Bertuzzi (and in Bertuzzi’s Boston debut), and it was Coyle who fed Nosek for the shorthanded tally that made it 2-0 just moments into the second period of play.

  • “Well, I mean, you know they’re going to match up their top four D-men against the Bergeron and Krejci line,” Montgomery said of what makes Coyle a matchup nightmare. “He’s a big man, he’s a load to handle, and when he’s playing like he did these last two games where he’s possessing pucks a lot, he’s finding people in the middle and then he ends up giving-and-going and gets to the net for himself like he did on his first goal.

    “He’s hard to handle, and so is [Trent] Frederic, and so is [Tyler] Bertuzzi.”

    The Bruins don’t want to commit to such a third line just yet, but if Saturday was a sneak peek of what this line can do, the B’s are in real good shape while Taylor Hall recovers from his lower-body injury.

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