As far as baby steps go, the Bruins took a pretty good one in Joe Sacco’s first game as head coach on Thursday at the Garden.
The B’s received a second-period power-play goal from Elias Lindholm (!) and then relied on Joonas Korpisalo (along with his friend the post) to snap a three-game losing streak, with Korpisalo recording 21 saves for a 1-0 victory over the Utah Hockey Club.
Medford’s own Sacco, in his first head coaching gig since being let go by Colorado in 2013, said he changed up his routine a bit. Instead of heading home after the morning skate like he usually did for the past decade as a Bruin assistant, he stayed at Warrior Ice Arena until it was time to come to the Garden, wanting to savor and remember every moment.
After the final frantic ticks went off the clock, Sacco and his happy players went back to the dressing room, where captain Brad Marchand rewarded him with the game puck. It wasn’t just that the B’s got the win, it was how they won it, with markedly improved puck support and pursuit.
The special teams showed up as well. The 1-for-7 mark on the power play won’t help their league-worst percentage much, but they pounded 18 of their 31 shots on the PP. And the penalty kill, another bugaboo, went 4-for-4, aggressively attacking the Utahns when they were on the advantage.
Sacco had to sweat out the final seconds, but his team deserved the win.
“It feels pretty good, I’m not going to lie to you,” said Sacco. “To get our guys to get a win, too, was even more important, to feel better about themselves. And I think the way we went about the game tonight was a business-like approach. We had a couple of individuals that really brought an energy to our group tonight, to lift the bench at certain moments in the game and it was just a good all-around effort from our guys. They really dug in. We got some timely saves from Korpi, obviously, especially towards the end. But a good effort from our group. And we were looking for that. We were looking for the passion and emotion in our club and we saw some of that.”
One of those players was Mark Kastelic, who not only had jump on his shifts after missing one game with a lower body injury but also fought Robert Bortuzzo twice, the second time in the second period out of anger due to a high hit.
“He can change the tide of the game,” said Marchand. “He got us emotionally engaged and you need that throughout the course of the year. Guys like him, you never truly understand how valuable they are.”
When Lindholm scored the one and only goal, it was his first since the third game of the season and it snapped a five-game pointless streak. When he finally beat goalie Karel Vejmelka (30 saves), he looked to the heavens in obvious relief.
“It was huge,” said Lindholm, who has yet to really find his stride here after signing the big seven-year, $54.25 million contract last summer. “Obviously it’s been a tough couple of games, or stretch here for me. Obviously I haven’t played good enough. Hopefully that can help a little bit and get some confidence.”
The first period was scoreless but there were some signs of hope. Thanks to three power plays, the B’s held a 15-5 shot advantage. The first advantage drew some boos when it was slow to get going, but it gained momentum. It wasn’t so much the number of shots but it was the fact that neither unit was stagnant.
Through the first 20 minutes, 10 Bruin skaters had shots on net, with Zacha (four) leading the way. But Vejmelka was solid, keeping the B’s off the board.
The Utahns kept giving the B’s chances in the second. After some early fumbles with the puck to start the period, David Pastrnak drew another Utah penalty and again the B’s threw some rubber at Vejmelka. It appeared as though they might finally take a lead when a shot broke through the netminder and Marchand got his stick on it, but defenseman Ian Cole would not let him sweep the puck into the empty net, saving a goal for Utah.
Finally, Logan Cooley was called for holding and, at 12:41, the B’s had a breakthrough, both team-wise and a personal one.
Lindholm took a short pass from Marchand at the top of the crease, and popped it past Vejmelka for the 1-0 lead.
The building was buzzing and almost immediately after play resumed following the goal, Kastelic and Bortuzzo squared off again after Bortuzzo took a head shot at Kastelic. The Bruin pounded away at the Utah player, even after Bortuzzo went down. Kastelic received an extra two for roughing for supposedly starting it,. but the B’s again killed it off to take the one-goal lead into the third period.
“I’m not trying to let anyone push me around, so that’s why you saw that,” said Kastelic.
There was still work to be done. Early in the third, the two teams traded post shots – Lawson Crouse for Utah and Charlie McAvoy for the B’s on another unsuccessful power play. Maveric Lamoureux hit another post later in the period.
The B’s also had to kill a late Cole Koepke slashing penalty, and they did so. Utah pulled Vejmelka for the extra attacker but had to put him back in for a neutral zone draw. Marchand drew a penalty to relieve some pressure. It appeared Pastrnak had ended it with an empty-netter but, after a review, what would have been their first third period goal at home since the home opener against Montreal came off the board because Pastrnak played it with a high stick with 1:01 left in regulation.
That could have been an “Oh, no” development for a fragile team like B’s. But this time, the B’s were eventually able to kill of the final minute.
In the room after the game, Marchand was asked what he said to Lindholm after his goal, and the old imp came out.
“I said ‘I tipped it,’ ” cracked Marchand, eliciting something that has not been heard much this season in the B’s room – laughter.
It’s only one game, as Marchand stressed. And they aren’t going to win many of them scoring one goal. But they had to start somewhere.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
