If the Bruins can replicate Saturday’s dress rehearsal when the games start to count on Wednesday in Washington, they just might have a chance do something this season.
In the final preseason game against the New York Rangers at TD Garden, the B’s scored three times in the first two periods and then leaned on Jeremy Swayman (30 saves) to pick them up in the third to record the 4-1 victory. The B’s got goals from Nikita Zadorov (2), Pavel Zacha and Elias Lindholm.
The B’s played close to their full lineup – there are still a couple of decisions to make – while the Rangers left Artemi Panarin and J.T. Miller at home.
The B’s were outshot 31-16 — 26-9 in the last two periods — but the strong start carried them.
“(The defensive structure) was good. The first 20 minutes was probably the best I’ve seen from our group and that’s (how) we approached things from day one, structure-wise. That’s more like us,” said coach Marco Sturm. “We want to be more direct, too, having more shots on net, especially at the start of the game or periods, so that didn’t really happen. But defensively it was OK. We just get in trouble for no reason sometimes, turnovers, not playing the right way, not playing behind them, so that’s something we have to correct, for sure.”
The victory came by way of good special teams work (1-for-2 on the power play; 4-of-5 kills) when it mattered, excellent goaltending, a little truculence and contributions from players they needed to step up.
Fraser Minten appeared to have had the third line center job locked up before the game and then he gave management some more positive data points for reinforcement.
Morgan Geekie, continuing his solid camp, outworked two Rangers to win the puck in the corner and made a nice backhand pass to Minten in the right circle. Minten made a slick backhand pass of his own to a pinching Zadorov, who buried it past a helpless Igor Shesterkin at 5:55.
Minten also drew a penalty with his net-front presence.
“I like this kid,” said Sturm. “He came in ready to go, he played like a man. Didn’t complain about (going to) the rookie tournament. He just did his job on and off the ice. I like him and today he was very, very solid. That’s exactly the way I wanted him to play. I think it really helps him playing with a guy like Tanner Jeannot, he takes care of him so there’ll be no issue. He’s huge for me also on the kill.”
One player the B’s desperately need to get going is second line center Casey Mittelstadt and he showed in the first period as well. Viktor Arvidsson controlled a loose puck and dished it back to Mittelstadt behind the net. Mittelstadt showed great vision to quickly find Zacha in front for the goal at 14:39. The second line as a whole needs to take pressure off the top unit. The Zacha-Mittelstadt-Arvidsson showed some semblance of chemistry on Saturday.
“That’s why I wasn’t in a rush to change anything,” said Sturm. “These guys need some reps, too. To get to know each other a little better, they’ve got to feel comfortable and today was much better than game one the other day. I hope they’re going to continue like that if they’re going to stay together and give us some scoring threat besides the big line.”
Mittelstadt, obtained at the deadline last season in the Charlie Coyle deal, has had an up and down camp and missed a couple of days with a lower body injury. For better or worse, he will play a big role in the B’s fortunes.
“You can already tell that he has some good hands. He has skill. He can make plays, just like the goal from Pavel Zacha. He can make that play,” said Sturm. “There are stretches in the game that he has to fix a little bit, a little bit too many turnovers for me. You just have to keep it simple sometimes. That’s something we have to be better at and he has to be better at.”
The B’s had not had a fight all preseason and Mark Kastelic rectified that in the waning seconds of the first. And he didn’t take an easy opponent. Kastelic took on the 6-foot-9 Matt Rempe, who wrestled the Bruin to the ice without too many big blows landing.
Kastelic had missed significant time last season with concussion issues and he wanted to get one out of the way.
“The best way is to get right into it, so I was shaking some rust off a little bit in that department. I was just trying to stick up for myself. I was playing hard, he was playing hard and that’s what happens,” said Kastelic.
The second period featured some good special teams work. After they killed a couple of Ranger power plays, they added to their lead with a power-play goal. They moved the puck around well before Lindholm tipped home a Charlie McAvoy pass at 16:48 and the B’s were on their way.
Down three goals, the Rangers pushed in the third period but Swayman shut the door until, after Zadorov took a tripping penalty, Noah Laba scored on a tip of an Adam Fox shot on the power play with 3:37 left.
Zadorov made up for it by ending the game with an empty-netter.
Loose pucks
Jonathan Aspirot took warmups on Saturday but did not play. The burly 26-year-old defenseman had a good game in the victory in Washington and opened eyes by burying Ryan Leonard after the former Boston College star took after-the-whistle liberties with Joonas Korpisalo. Signed to a one-year deal for the league minimum $775,000, Aspirot has played six seasons in the AHL, the last two years with the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL.
“We’re very happy about him. I’ve known him for a while, he’s very impressive and he’s still in the mix,” said Sturm.
Every team can keep as many as 23 players, though not everyone goes to the full limit. Sturm did not yet know how many the B’s will keep or whether they’d keep two extra D (the B’s also have Jordan Harris as an extra defenseman) or forwards.
“There’s still a few moving parts. It could be a waiver thing, it could be anything so we’re just not there yet,” said Sturm. … Minten took a heavy hit in the neutral zone from Carson Soucy in the second period. It was a clean hit, but Mikey Eyssimont wouldn’t let it stand and he went right after the much bigger Soucy. Eyssimont has the early inside track to become a fan favorite. … Opening night rosters need to be finalized on Monday, which means that players who require waivers must be place on them by 2 p.m. Sunday. … Georgii Merkulov, Riley Tufte, Michael Callahan and Victor Soderstrom all cleared on Saturday.
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