Joe Sacco notches first win as interim head coach.
There’s still a long road ahead, but the Boston Bruins took a step in the right direction with a 1-0 win over the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday at the TD Garden which earned Joe Sacco his first win as interim head coach.
The win ended a three-game losing streak for the Bruins.
Elias Lindholm broke through on the power play to give special teams, and himself, a much-need confidence boost and the eventual game-winner.
Joonas Korpisalo made 21 saves in his second shutout of the season.
“We really dug in,” he added. “We got obviously some big time saves from Korpisalo when we needed them, especially towards the end here, but a good effort from our group tonight, and we were looking for that. We were looking for the passion and the emotion in our club.”
The Bruins had three power plays in the first, but came up short. Calls continued to be in their favor and on their fifth power play of the game, a weight was lifted.
E. Lindholm’s power play-goal was a turning point, as well as Mark Kastelic bringing physicality with two fights that raised the energy on the bench and in the stands at crucial moments in the first and second periods.
“He changed the tide of the game,” Brad Marchand said about Kastelic. “He got us feeling emotionally engaged.”
The Bruins held onto the lead as Korpisalo also made some timely saves in the third period.
Sacco’s first win at the helm “felt pretty good, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said postgame. But he added, “To get our guys to get a win too was even more important…I think how we went about the game tonight, it was a businesslike approach.”
Here is the highlight.
First period:
Scoreless
Shots 15-5 Bruins
Second period:
David Pastrnak took the initial shot from the left-wing circle. Brad Marchand tried his hand at the rebound before the loose puck found Elias Lindholm at the top of the paint. Lindholm then put a quick wrist shot past Karel Vejmelka at 12:41 of the second period on the power play. 1-0 Bruins.
Third period:
A would-be David Pastrnak, power-play, empty-netter was ruled no goal as it was determined he had a high stick on the play. Final score: 1-0 Bruins.
Game notes
- The Bruins’ power play progressed as the game went on. Despite a few mishaps, it overall looked good and generated 18 shots during six opportunities. The B’s even looked at Georgii Merkulov on first unit during the first power play. The chances were there and early on, the second unit was the one moving the puck around and getting shots to the net. “They were executing and they were creating some chances and so it doesn’t take away the juices from you,” Sacco said about the game’s early power plays. “It actually creates some.”
- Morgan Geekie and Justin Brazeau looked good on the second unit and had two scoring opportunities on two separate power plays. While it took five power plays to finally capitalize, there was more hope and less wasted opportunity feels out there.
- SCOC asked Elias Lindholm about if the goal was as much a relief from him as it was important to a struggling power play. Lindholm said: “Yeah, I think, you know, our power play can win games for us and obviously we let the team down a lot this year. It’s frustrating, but tonight obviously we got one there, but a lot of chances. It’s always nice to score, help the team that way and that’s why I’m brought here for and hopefully more will come.”
- The look of relief on E. Lindholm’s face said it all after the goal. The forward hadn’t scored since Oct. 12 and this was just his third goal of the season after a five-game pointless streak on top of that. Postgame, Lindholm said he knows when he plays good and when he plays bad. He’s recognized there’s “been too many bad games for me this year,” and sees now as an opportunity to reset and build confidence back up.
- Sacco postgame: “We had a couple of individuals that really brought some energy to our group tonight to lift the bench at certain moments during the game, just a good effort all around for our guys.”
- One of those guys was Mark Kastelic who had two fighting majors against Robert Bortuzzo. Besides the physical element that elevated the energy in the building, he was blocking shots and passes. Postgame he said he was just trying to make an impact with something that is a part of how he plays the game.
- Another one of those players was Korpisalo who has strung together some really solid games. Marchand had this to say about Korpisalo: “When your confidence is there, you can play at such a high level and he did that…When you need him, he made some massive saves. You can just see again…he’s been building in practice. You could see his confidence and the saves he’s making his compete levels up.”
- Sacco said he felt the team played a better defensive game, both protecting the net and on the rush through the neutral zone. He added there were layers of puck support. Korpisalo also agreed that the defense kept pucks out of shooting lanes and away from the front of the net. “I saw every shot throughout the whole game,” he said.
- Marchand talked about needing to create momentum from the game. He said too often this season, they have had a good game, but then let off the gas. “It was a good game, but it was one game,” Marchand said. “We have to continue to build and understand the importance of having the same effort every day.”
- The Bruins will travel to Detroit to face the Red Wings on Saturday, Nov. 23, at 7 p.m.