As February has turned to March, a big week across the NHL is underway.
The trade deadline is now just days away, but the Boston Bruins look to keep controlling their own destiny in a heated playoff race. Thus, a Tuesday night win against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins is next on the agenda.
Despite taking a 3-1 Saturday loss at the Philadelphia Flyers in their last game, the Bruins entered Monday with a two-point lead with three games in hand on the Washington Capitals for the final Eastern Conference wild-card playoff spot.
While general manager Don Sweeney will be “not necessarily as aggressive” in his approach this year, last season’s transactions — headlined by then-captain Brad Marchand being traded to the Florida Panthers — offers a lesson in the proper mindset surrounding this time of year. Keeping focused on the task at hand is all David Pastrnak and his teammates can do.
“It’s something we can’t control and it’s not in our hands. Anything can happen. Control what you can, and focus on staying in the moment,” said Pastrnak, who entered the week as the NHL’s seventh-leading scorer with 72 points. “Last year it was more in everyone’s head.”
Boston had an eight-game point streak (5-0-3) end with the loss in Philadelphia, though Charlie McAvoy scored and fellow U.S. Olympian Jeremy Swayman made 14 saves in his first game since capturing gold.
“It was very unfortunate (because) we did a lot of good things,” Bruins coach Marco Sturm said of Saturday’s game. “I thought Sway was outstanding, but at the end of the day, we couldn’t find another way to score and we didn’t have that mentality to go to the net hard, to the tough areas.”
McAvoy is on a nine-game point streak (two goals, 10 assists).
Morgan Geekie, who had numerous Grade-A chances saved by the Flyers’ Dan Vladar, had his nine-game run snapped.
“Just one of those nights,” said Geekie, who leads the Bruins with 33 goals.
Though captain Sidney Crosby suffered a lower-body injury at the Olympics and will miss at least four weeks, Pittsburgh has maintained its place as one of the NHL’s hottest teams.
The Penguins continued their momentum with a 5-0 Sunday win over the Vegas Golden Knights, moving to 2-0-1 since returning from the Olympic break and 16-3-4 in 23 games since Christmas.
“Just all year, we’ve had different guys out at different times,” Pittsburgh center Ben Kindel said. “And obviously, Sid is our best player and the biggest part of our team. But with that, guys will still step up, and that’s what we’ve done throughout the year. It’s just a testament to the group we have in here.”
Five different Penguins scored and four had multiple points against Vegas, while Arthur Silovs made 22 saves en route to his second shutout of the season and fifth victory in six games.
Kindel netted the opening, eventual game-winning goal before adding an assist against Vegas.
Egor Chinakhov continued his hot streak, scoring his team-leading 10th goal since joining the Penguins from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 1.
“The release is crazy. It’s kind of unique,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “I kind of find myself laughing some days at practice when he’s shooting pucks. I just thought his work away from the puck has been pretty consistent with that since he’s gotten here.”
Former Bruin Justin Brazeau (career-high 16 goals) had a goal and an assist as well.
The two teams will meet again in Pittsburgh on Sunday.
–Field Level Media
