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Bruins Notes: This Issue Plagues Boston In Tough OT Loss To Utah

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Bruins Notes: This Issue Plagues Boston In Tough OT Loss To Utah


The Boston Bruins won’t remember their inaugural trip to face the Utah Hockey Club fondly.

The Bruins coughed up a one-goal lead in the third period and then watched as Michael Kesselring sniped a shot past Jeremy Swayman to lift Utah to a 2-1 overtime win at the Delta Center on Saturday night.

The Bruins were complicit in defeat as turnovers were by far their biggest issue — and a recurring theme in their three losses this season. Boston registered a season-high 22 giveaways, allowing Utah to steal a win away from the Bruins.

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“We never felt like we were in control of the game,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery told NESN’s Andy Brickley, as seen on the network’s postgame coverage. “We were turning the puck over too much and our puck support, really up until about five minutes before we gave up the tying goal was actually the best that we’ve played with puck support and puck possession.”

Morgan Geeke, who returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Colorado Avalanche, notched a team-high four turnovers. David Pastnrak, Matthew Poitras and Mason Lohrei weren’t far behind with three giveaways each.

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The Bruins certainly needed better puck possession, especially against a skilled team like Utah. Turning the puck over fueled Utah as the Bruins tried to play catch up to their opponent’s high-end speed.

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“It’s really about smarter puck play,” Bruins captain Marchand told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “We turned a lot of pucks over at the blue lines or in the neutral zone and they reloaded and kind of came at us with speed. I think if we made stronger plays up the wall and put it in deep and played behind them, made their skill guys play down low, it kind of limits that a little bit. But we didn’t do a good enough job with that.”

The good news is the Bruins can use the loss against Utah as a learning experience and put it to good use when they face faster teams in the future. It was a tough lesson to learn and prevented Boston from securing two points, but the Bruins aren’t going to dwell on it.

“We’ll look over some film (Sunday). We already moved on,” Swayman told reporters, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “We take the positives and move on. That’s what’s so special about our group. So, onto the next.”

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Here are more notes from Saturday’s Bruins-Utah Hockey Club game:

— How many people would have had Cole Koepke as Boston’s second-leading goal scorer through six games? Probably no one. The Bruins newcomer notched his third goal of the season in the second period when he beat Connor Ingram through the five-hole. Koepke scored just one goal in 26 games with the Tampa Bay Lightning over the last two seasons.

“Me and (Marchand got) a little bit of a break and he kind of beat out one of their guys and got like a first touch to me,” Koepke told reporters of his goal, as seen on NESN postgame coverage. “Just went into one-on-one. I knew Marchy was coming on on his down stick side, so I just tried to get his far side and either have it go in like it did or hopefully a rebound would pop out his side.”

— Nikita Zadorov is filling up the stat sheet, but not in the way the Bruins hoped. The 6-foot-6, 248-pound defenseman committed another penalty against Utah, giving him at least one penalty in each of Boston’s first six games. Zadorov did compile a team-high four hits in the loss.

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— Swayman did nearly everything he could to lead the Bruins to a win. He came through with 30 saves, including a few highlight-reel stops, and his effort didn’t go unnoticed by Montgomery.

“Jeremy Swayman was our best player tonight,” Montgomery told Brickley. “I thought he was very sharp, I thought he was reading plays and he gave us an opportunity to try to win in overtime.”

— The Bruins close out their three-game road trip Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. Puck drop from Bridgestone Arena is scheduled for 8:45 p.m. ET, and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pregame coverage, on NESN.

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Boston, MA

Why I opposed Mayor Wu’s tax proposal – The Boston Globe

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Why I opposed Mayor Wu’s tax proposal – The Boston Globe


Earlier this year, when a study produced by Tufts University’s Center for State Policy Analysis suggested Boston reevaluate how it finances government services, city officials pushed back, initially dismissing concerns and defending exponential spending increases. That defensiveness, though, quickly shifted to panicked claims of a dire economic scenario and prompted Mayor Michelle Wu to seek legislative approval to raise taxes on businesses more than state law allows. Such an abrupt and dramatic about-face was notable, to say the least.

The Wu administration then went on to suggest that residents would see a 33 percent increase in their taxes and risk losing their homes if this new tax increase did not pass the City Council and the Legislature. For months, city officials escalated their rhetoric, while refusing to share official data that would, in fact, show that Boston’s fiscal issues were not unmanageable. Even if the business tax hike passed, the city still planned to raise residential taxes by 9 percent in 2025, just as it did in 2024. Residential relief was never on the table.

The City Council and the House of Representatives passed the legislation without the city’s official valuation data, so I called for a pause in the Senate until the city disclosed the data. Upon their release, the data showed that the economic sky was not falling. They also showed that lawmakers did not have to accept the false choice of having to risk cratering the Boston economy to mitigate a spike in residential property taxes.

Ample due diligence is required to make informed public policy decisions. Matters that impact residents and businesses must be debated based on objective data and facts — not guesswork, conjecture, or political agendas.

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When this matter came before the Senate at the end of its formal session this summer, I made my concerns known. It was clear that downtown businesses were not the only entities that would have suffered disproportionately under the city’s proposed tax increase. Small businesses would have suffered just as much, if not more.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Revenue, raising commercial tax rates beyond the current state limit is “not good public policy.” Doing so raises “constitutional issues” and poses “an impediment to attracting and retaining business.”

There are other tax relief options, such as increasing exemptions for homeowners, low-income residents, and seniors. Working together with Governor Maura Healey, the Legislature did exactly that this session by passing the largest tax relief package in a generation along with sweeping housing and economic development legislation. The tax relief package includes significant increases to the Child and Family Tax Credit, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Senior Circuit Breaker Tax Credit.

We did this collaboratively while also increasing wages for state employees, improving the Commonwealth’s bond rating, and managing a 2.7 percent growth in our budget while providing record levels of local aid to Boston. Boston, on the other hand, grew its budget 8 percent year over year — a total of $350 million — and 21 percent over the past three years.

What this 10-month process has shown is that City Hall must be more transparent and demonstrate fiscal restraint — not pile more costs onto residents and businesses. To provide residential tax relief, the mayor and City Council should increase the maximum residential exemption from 35 percent to 40 percent.

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The city could pay for this by:

▪ Drawing from the surplus rainy day fund without impacting the city’s bond rating, per the recent Moody’s report;

▪ Redirecting funds generated via the Article 80 process from the Bluebikes program to residential relief;

▪ Cutting redundant external programs;

▪ Executing other prudent but targeted cuts like the governor did in mid-fiscal 2024 to balance the state budget.

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Whether taxes go up on Boston residents or by how much is strictly up to the mayor and the City Council. Like the state, the city can provide relief for taxpayers, stimulate economic growth, and balance a budget. But it requires being data driven and fiscally responsible.

There’s still time to do so. For the sake of Boston’s taxpayers and the city’s fiscal health, I hope they take the time to get it right. Because it’s clear: the numbers don’t lie.

Nick Collins is state senator for the First Suffolk District in Boston.





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Boston, MA

Snowy weather causes gridlock traffic at Logan Airport in Boston

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Snowy weather causes gridlock traffic at Logan Airport in Boston


BOSTON – Holiday travel is in full swing with Christmas just days away and travelers at Logan Airport in Boston spent the day dealing with delays from snowy weather.

Delays nationwide

There was gridlock traffic at Logan as travelers embark on their holiday excursions. Donna Ragucci just flew into New England from Florida.

“I am so excited, I get to see my sister and we are going on the trolley today and North End,” Ragucci said.

AAA said snowy weather conditions on Friday led to delays, spinouts and disruptions with flights.

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“Overall, we’ve seen a pretty strong volume, which is what we forecasted, a record number of people traveling this year,” said AAA Northeast spokesperson Mark Schieldrop. “There was a storm system that affected a good swath of the country, so Chicago and Boston are two major hub airports, so anytime you have delays or cancellations in one part of the country, we often see a little bit of a domino effect.” 

Kevin Walker said this is his first and last time traveling for the holidays.

“Well, we got here yesterday morning and our flight was canceled right when we got here,” said Walker.

AAA said more than 119 million people will travel during from now and Jan. 2. While most flights are on time at Logan there are several delays and cancellations leading to holiday angst.

“Hasn’t been great, my first flight was cancelled and now I guess I didn’t make the cut off for this flight, so now they can’t check the bag but yeah, it’s alright. I got a JetBlue flight tomorrow,” traveler Abbey Reynolds said.

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“It’s different because I’m driving this year, so we got the dog coming with us, so I just hope the flight goes OK for the two kiddos and we meet them on the other end,” said a Brookline man heading to North Carolina with his family.

Coping with travel stress

Paul Pierre is heading back to Columbus, Ohio and has his own philosophy when it comes to traveling.

“Don’t let the small stuff upset you. You just go through the airport and you do your best and be kind and you’ll get through it,” Pierre said.

“I’m a therapist, so I practice meditation, go to the gym,” said Ragucci.

“It is what it is, like, I’m not going to get that bent out of shape over it,” said Reynolds.

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Boston, MA

Next Weather: WBZ Mid-Morning Update For December 22

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Next Weather: WBZ Mid-Morning Update For December 22


Next Weather: WBZ Mid-Morning Update For December 22 – CBS Boston

Watch CBS News


Jacob Wycoff has your latest weather forecast.

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