Calgary 4
Boston 3
Final/SO
BOSTON—What
better way for the Boston College hockey team to spend a night during spring
break than watching former teammate and now Calgary Flame Johnny Gaudreau take
on the home town Boston Bruins.
“It
is awesome to see him here,” said one former Boston College teammate of
Gaudreau. “It’s cool to see him go from BC to the NHL and now to see him play
here in the Garden.”
It
was even more special to watch him score a power play goal for the Flames.
In
the third period, the Flames had a chance to go on the attack while on the
power play when Bruins defender Matt Bartowski was called for tripping on
Gaudreau himself. With the man advantage, Gaudreau was given the puck while
teammate Jiri Hudler set the screen in front of the net. Gaudreau wristed a
shot right into the upper right corner of the net for his 16 goal on the year
and to put Calgary up 3-2 in the third period.
The
Bruins would fight back however.
Fighting
for the puck in front of Calgary’s net, Bruins’ forward Loui Erickson would
come away with the puck, flipping the puck into the top left corner of the net
on the backhand in order to time the game up at three apiece.
The
game would then go into overtime tied at three.
Unable
to settle it in overtime, the two teams went to the shootout where it took eight
rounds before the Flames’ David Schlemko fooled Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask to go
one way while he went the other, easily gliding the puck into the net for the
4-3 win.
“Our
biggest concern is our inability to finish,” said coach Claude Julien. “You saw
it in the shootout. We can’t seem to finish well and score some goals.”
The
Bruins inability to stay out of the penalty box allowed the Flames to score
twice on the power play.
“Little
mistakes here and there,” said Julien about the penalty kill’s ineffectiveness.
“There were some good screens there and the puck found its way in the net. On
the first one I saw Adam McQuaid with his back to the play falling down, if he
is facing the play he probably knocks the loose puck to the corner so it was
little details like that that are hurting us.”
The
Bruins also served consecutive penalties three times throughout the game. In
the first period, the Bruins had back-to-back-to-back penalties to end the
period.
Johnny
Gaudreau had a positive first experience playing at the Bruins’ TD Garden.
Along with his goal, Gaudreau had three shots on net while getting 22 minutes
and 17 seconds of ice time. He also had an attempt in the shootout that was
saved by Rask.
He
now has 16 goals and 30 assists on the year. His 46 points puts him second best
amongst rookies behind Nashville’s Filip Forsberg who has 52.
“There
is no doubt [Gaudreau] should be considered for the rookie of the year,” said one
of Gaudreau’s former Boston College teammate.
For the Bruins, newly
acquired forward Max Talbot played in his first game since being traded from
the Colorado Avalanche to the Bruins. Talbot played on the fourth line along
with forwards Chris Kelly and Brian Ferlin.
Talbot served a boarding
penalty in the first period along with three shots on net in 10:56 minutes of
ice time.
The Bruins look to
rebound against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, March 7. It will be the
first time the two teams meet since January 10.
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