The State Fair Road Trip is over and the first game back is a doozy.
It feels like every season there’s one team that wasn’t expected to accomplish much that far surpasses expectations to be dangerous out of nowhere. This season so far, that team is the Boston Bruins.
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You dismiss their 19 point start at your own peril. In looking at the games they’ve won, there’s a lot of western teams that have struggled, but in a lot of ways it’s how they’ve won those games that would raise the alarm as fans. They haven’t just won, they’ve dominated. 6-1 versus Utah, 6-0 against Nashville, 6-4 against San Jose, 4-1 against the Kings, 5-1 against Philly—they are scoring goals, and they are getting great goaltending from Jeremy Swayman who looks like he’s settled into the season a lot better than he did at the start of last when he was holding out.
Swayman currently holds a 7-1 record with a .920 save percentage and 2.20 GAA. Funnily enough the only shutout he’s had so far was on Opening Night against the Rangers, but his only losses this season were in Overtime to Dallas on the road and a head-scratcher to Ottawa. He’s 5-0-1 in his last six, though he started to show some cracks with the four goals given up in his last start against San Jose.
He’ll be in the crease tonight in this showdown that for once, has the Bruins see if they can measure up to the Hurricanes. How odd of a feeling that is considering how this run started for Carolina eight nine years ago.
One thing that hasn’t changed much is the player you have to keep your eye on, David Pastranak. The newly-minted Captain of the Bruins has taken the C and run with it, leading the team in—well everything. Seven goals, ten assists for seventeen points, and three power play goals. The next closest players in points are Elias Lindholm and Fraser Minten. Everyone that skates for Boston, though is a plus player, so while the Captain certainly has the spotlight, Boston has been doing it with a balanced attack—and it’s one the Canes will have to battle with missing the usual strength of Jordan Staal centering the shutdown line.
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That said the Canes should be getting some players back tonight. Mark Jankowski skated before the team practice on Monday and then skated with everyone in a full contact jersey during the morning skate. Taylor Hall also skated, though he left the ice five minutes into the session. Jankowski skated as an extra, however once Hall exited he got time centering the Power Play second unit, so we’ll see after warmups just how Rod Brind’Amour chooses to deploy everyone. After the session Jankowski said he was good to go, and Brind’Amour reacted with “if he says he’s good, he’s good.”
One thing that isn’t a mystery is the starter in net as Pyotr Kochetkov manned the starter’s crease while Brandon Bussi recovered from his State Fair trip on Sunday. Kochetkov has helped alleviate a lot of concerns about the Hurricanes missing on Connor Hellebuyck with his start to the season. As much attention as Swayman is getting for his start, Kochetkov has been better—7-0 with a 1.70 GAA, though the save percentage is a tick lower at .916. He’s coming off his first shutout of the season in Saint Louis, where his play kept the the Blues off the scoreboard in a scoreless first and let the Canes open up the floodgates in the second. Brind’Amour has already shown he’ll go with the hot goalie when he has space to do so, and there’s little doubt that Kochetkov has earned the start against one of the best teams in the East.
A person you won’t see on the ice tonight is Alexander Nikishin, but at least now he is now with the team. After the announcement on Sunday that he had come to an agreement with the team and missing practice on Monday, he skated with the team in a full contact sweater for the morning skate. Afterwards he stayed out on the ice to work with the coaches as part of his mini-training camp. He spoke with the media after that session was completed, and if anyone wants to interpret body language between him and team, there really aren’t any worries about his late start.
