Boston Bruins

  • Through 11 games, Jim Montgomery’s Bruins have been more than a wagon. They’re a damn juggernaut.

    In New York for an ESPN+ showdown with the Rangers on Thursday, the Bruins turned what was a close game for 44 minutes into a blowout by the night’s end, with four goals in the final 20 minutes of action. It was about as dominant as the B’s have been at any point this year, as the Black and Gold outshot the Blueshirts by a 17-4 mark in the final frame, and refused to give ’em anything after Adam Fox’s short-lived game-tying goal.

    It was another true team effort for the B’s, too, as nine different skaters found the scoresheet in the winning effort, while Linus Ullmark held down the fort with 18 saves on 20 shots faced.

    Here are the 98.5 The Sports Hub (dot com) 3 Stars of the game from the team’s seventh straight dub

  • No. 3 Star: Nick Foligno

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 03: Igor Shesterkin #31 and Jacob Trouba #8 of the New York Rangers defend against Nick Foligno #17 of the Boston Bruins during the third period at Madison Square Garden on November 03, 2022 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 03: Igor Shesterkin #31 and Jacob Trouba #8 of the New York Rangers defend against Nick Foligno #17 of the Boston Bruins at Madison Square Garden on November 03, 2022. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

  • Through 11 games, Bruins winger Nick Foligno has walked the walk and talked the talk. The former, of course, is infinitely more important than the latter, and has made the 35-year-old one of the most compelling stories around the team through the first month of the season.

    And Thursday night at MSG was perhaps his best performance to date.

    Deployed for 14:31 of time on ice (his second-highest single-game total of the season), Foligno was a menace every time he was out there, racked up three hits and recorded two apples in the winning effort.

    Montgomery even promoted Foligno up to the right of Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron at one point. I mean, that’s when you know you’re doing something beyond right.

  • No. 2 Star: Taylor Hall

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 03: Taylor Hall #71 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 03, 2022 in New York City. The Bruins defeated the Rangers 5-2. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

    NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 03: Taylor Hall #71 of the Boston Bruins skates against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on November 03, 2022 in New York City. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

  • This was one extremely efficient game from Bruins winger Taylor Hall. And in all three zones.

    A block from Hall in the defensive zone helped spark the rush that led to David Pastrnak’s game-opening goal on the Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin, and Hall’s vision to dish the puck through traffic and to Pavel Zacha on the Jake DeBrusk goal that made it 4-2 was out of this world.

    Hall even drew a tripping penalty on Mika Zibanejad with 3:38 left in regulation to help the B’s bleed some more clock and effectively kill the Rangers’ chances of erasing a two-goal deficit.

  • No. 1 Star: Hampus Lindholm

    Nov 3, 2022; New York, New York, USA; New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) controls the puck against Boston Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm (27) during the first period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports

    Nov 3, 2022; New York, New York, USA; Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) controls the puck against Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm (27) during the first period at Madison Square Garden. (Brad Penner/USA TODAY Sports)

  • Where would the Bruins be without Hampus Lindholm?

    Still without Charlie McAvoy, and with puck-eating defender Derek Forbort added to the shelf with a broken finger ahead of Thursday’s contest, the 6-foot-4 Lindholm remained Boston’s rock on the backend in what was a spectacular showing from the team’s defense.

    Out there for 23 minutes on the nose Thursday night, Lindholm’s activation and net-front bid led to Charlie Coyle’s third-period goal, and it was Lindholm who iced this game with a from-downtown empty-net finish.

    In addition to his two-point effort, Lindholm also finished this contest with a plus-3 rating, two shots, two hits, and two blocked shots, and was the only B’s defenseman to play at least one minute of power-play time and one minute of shorthanded action.

    Lindholm was also a beast in the fancy stat category, with a defense-leading 71.43 corsi-for percentage (meaning the Bruins controlled attempts by a 25-10 mark with Lindholm out there), and a 15-6 shot advantage favoring the Bruins during Lindholm’s 19:09 of five-on-five ice time.

    “He’s a horse out there,” Montgomery said of Lindholm. “Every time he’s out there, it’s like, ‘Oh, we’re getting the puck out. And good things are happening at the other end.”

    Lindholm is now up to 13 points on the year, which is third behind San Jose’s Erik Karlsson (18) and the Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin (14) for points among defensemen, while Lindholm’s plus-12 is tied with Shea Theodore of the Golden Knights for tops among all NHL skaters.

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