Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

Boston Bruins

Jan 9, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; The Arizona Coyotesa celebrate after beating the Boston Bruins in overtime at Mullett Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Through two games it’s been a road trip to forget for the Bruins.

And while the scoreboard came with more bad news for the B’s as the club suffered yet another extra-session loss (this time in overtime) with the B’s on the wrong end of a 4-3 final to the Coyotes at Mullett Arena, it was in the in-game personnel losses that are cause for concern for Jim Montgomery’s club.

Already playing without Brandon Carlo, Boston’s injury issues continued Tuesday night in Arizona with an apparent upper-body injury to Matt Poitras after a collision with the Coyotes’ Sean Durzi.

  • Poitras immediately grabbed at his shoulder and glided towards the Boston bench, and immediately went down the tunnel and did not return for the remainder of the game.

    It got worse for the Bruins, too, as the overtime frame saw Linus Ullmark collapse in pain after going into the butterfly on an attempted glove save with 2:20 left in the overtime frame.

  • Ullmark, who was not putting any weight on either one of his legs as the Bruins’ trainers and defensemen helped him off the ice, exited the game with 32 saves on 35 shots faced. The 6-foot-5 Ullmark was nails for the Bruins in the overtime frame prior to his injury, too, and had an excellent glove save on Clayton Keller.

    With Ullmark injured, Jeremy Swayman was thrown into an almost impossible spot (NHL rules do not allow goaltenders to take any ‘warmup shots’ prior to the game resuming), and took the loss after he allowed a goal on the first and only shot he faced in the overtime.

  • Before this game went to hell for the Bruins, the B’s opened up their scoring by way of David Pastrnak’s power-play strike in the first period, which was good for his 25th goal of the season.

    For Pastrnak, who will be one of the B’s reps at the 2024 All-Star Game, it was his third season of at least 25 goals through his first 40 games of a season. Pastrnak is now one of just three players in Bruins history to achieve the feat three times, joining a group including Phil Esposito and Cam Neely. Esposito accomplished the feat five times during his B’s career, while Neely did it on four separate occasions.

  • In addition to the Pastrnak strike, the Bruins also got goals from Jesper Boqvist and Jake DeBrusk.

    Boqvist’s marker was his first in a Bruins uniform, while DeBrusk’s tally was his ninth of the season, and his fifth goal in his last seven games overall.

  • Jan 9, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram (39) and defenseman Matt Dumba (24) defend against Boston Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) in the first period at Mullett Arena. Mandatory Credit: Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

    Jan 9, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram (39) and defenseman Matt Dumba (24) defend against Bruins center Pavel Zacha (18) in the first period at Mullett Arena. (Matt Kartozian/USA TODAY Sports)

    Up front, winger James van Riemsdyk made his return to the Boston lineup after missing the previous two games with an undisclosed injury. With ‘JVR’ back in action, Oskar Steen joined Jakub Lauko as the Black and Gold’s healthy scratches.

    And though the B’s got van Riemsdyk back in action, they did play this game without the services of defenseman Brandon Carlo, as previously noted. Injured in the second period of Monday’s showdown with the Avalanche, Carlo is considered ‘day to day’ per Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery.

    With Carlo out, the Bruins threw Mason Lohrei back into action and slotted Parker Wotherspoon on his off side to the right of Hampus Lindholm.

    The Bruins will return to action Thursday night against Bruce Cassidy’s Golden Knights.

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