BOSTON, MA – In day two of a four-day game-break, the Boston Bruins laced-up the skates for a 10:30am practice today at Ristuccia Arena in Wilmington, MA. Defensemen Derek Morris and Dennis Wideman were not in attendance as they were given a “maintenance day”, per head coach Claude Julien.
Coming off one of their worst performances of the 2009-10 season, Friday’s 5-1 loss against the Montreal Canadiens, the B’s bounced back and dominated the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday night, 7-2.
Marc Savard scored his third career hat trick in the 7-2 debacle for his eighth goal of the season. Savard now has 4-2-6 in his last five games, and evens out his point-per-game average with 8-6-14 in 14 games played.
Struggling 24-year-old defenseman Matt Hunwick — who had just two assists, six shots, and a minus-2 rating in his last 10 games — was a healthy scratch for Saturday’s contest against the Maple Leafs. Although recording an assist against the Canadiens on Friday night, Hunwick was a minus-2 had played a season-low 12:44 of ice time.
Head coach Julien said, ” I think Matt hasn’t played as well as he’d like to and as well as we know he can and I don’t think we’re, it’s more of one of those things that we need to continue to work with him. He’s really trying, he’s just struggling a little bit with his confidence.. .”
After being assigned back to AHL Providence, Johnny Boychuk filled-in for the scratched Hunwick, and the 25-year-old delivered. Boychuk, the 2008-09 AHL Eddie Shore winner, blasted a rocket past Leafs net-minder Vesa Toskala for his first career NHL goal. Boychuk was also called upon when Dennis Wideman missed the entire third period of Saturday’s game, by logging nearly 18 minutes of ice time.
” What a great way to come back into the line up and get some confidence from things like that. I thought he played well tonight.” Julien on Johnny Boychuk’s performance.
Bruins back-up net-minder Tuukka Rask continues to make his case for that No. 1 position over Tim Thomas with his stellar play between the pipes. Thomas, who got the 4-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night, was pulled after the second period against the Habs on Friday night after allowing all five goals on 18 shots. Rask was sent in and stopped all six shots he faced in the third and final period.
Rask got the victory on Saturday night by making 31 of 33 saves on the evening en route to a perfect 3-0-0 record against Northeast Division opponents. The 22-year-old is now 8-2-2 on the season, and ranks second overall in the NHL with his .932 goals-against average and 1.97 save-percentage.
” If you want to do that you have to be ready for anything when you are called upon. He came in late in the third period last night and the reason for that was because I planned on using him tonight. We didn’t have a morning skate so it was a good opportunity to put him in and let him get some playing action. He did a good job tonight, he played well, it is unfortunate that he lost his shutout late in the third.”
The Finland native’s last start was on Nov. 27 against the New Jersey Devils — one-week of off-time in between game play — but looked as sharp as ever.
” Mentally it’s tough because you just try to remember the good things you’ve done and try to keep it up and make those first saves and then kind of get the groove back and that’s all you can do. Because I think week, I think I had a week break now, week and a day now, so that’s okay..” Rask said after Saturday’s contest.
Boston squares-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs again this Thursday night at the TD Garden for the second time in five days; followed by a trip to New York on Saturday to face John Tavares and the Islanders. Last year, the Bruins went 5-1-0 against the Leafs, and 4-0-0 versus the Isles (1-1-0 this season).
The Bruins went 2-1-0 last week, capturing four out of six possible points, to remain atop the Northeast Division with 35 points. Now 15-9-5 on the season, the Bruins have a comfortable third-place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Nearing their end of just four games in a 14-day stretch, the Bruins may want to continue playing their hot-handed Rask and Boychuk to help remain one of the East’s best this week.
Contact mark.marino@prohockeynews.com
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