Boston, MA
Bruins win wild one in Edmonton, 6-5, in OT
The Bruins lost another defenseman, a three-goal lead and then another one-goal third period lead in Edmonton.
But they refused to the lose the game.
After killing a penalty penalty in overtime, Charlie McAvoy beat Stuart Skinner on a terrific backhand goal to lift the B’s to an electric 6-5 win over Edmonton, snapping the Oilers’ eight-game home win streak.
“I just loved the way we kept forging ahead,” coach Jim Montgomery told reporters in Edmonton. “We didn’t worry about what happened, positively or negatively. i thought we continued to play. Obviously, they had a great push by a great team in the third period and it snowballed, but we went right back to work after that. When they made it 4-4, the next four minutes I thought we controlled the game…great for the fans.”
The B’s managed to beat one of the most explosive teams in the NHL on a night when their goalie, Jeremy Swayman (39 saves), was not at his best. But on an overtime penalty kill, Swayman came up with a huge glove save on Leon Draisaitl to give McAvoy the opportunity to win another game. This time he didn’t wait till the ninth round of the shootout like he did on Monday against Dallas, taking a Jake DeBrusk pass and going straight down the slot, toe-dragging it and beating Skinner on the backhander at 3:10 of OT.
Montgomery decided to break up his rotation and play Swayman in back-to-back games, partially to go with the hot hand. But he also did it with Linus Ullmark’s spectacular game in Calgary last season in mind. The B’s play the Flames on Thursday.
“(Swayman’s) game was kind of like our team’s game. Things are going really well, then they go not the way you want it,” said Montgomery. “His mental makeup is unreal. He just thinks he’s going to stop every puck, so he doesn’t worry about what just happened. He moves forward. That’s why he’s able to keep making saves.”
Rookie Mason Lohrei, recalled from Providence, stepped up to the occasion, recording three assists and four blocks in 23:32 of icetime.
“He was really good,” said Montgomery. “He played more direct, north, coming out the D-zone and at the offensive blue line under pressure. And then when he had time and space, I thought he was really good. Thought he was good on the power play as well.”
It was an eventful, crazy game from the first puck drop.
The first period started out very badly, then very well. Just 1:05 into the game, Ryan McLeod gave Matt Grzelcyk a two-handed chop on the top of his left foot, earning a tripping call. Grzelcyk needed help off the ice as he could not put any weight on the foot. He would surprisingly return to the bench late in the period but did not play again. That was not welcome news, considering they were already without Hampus Lindholm for the trip and possibly longer. While Lindholm is out “week-to-week,” Montgomery termed Grzelcyk as “day-to-day right now.”
On the power play, the B’s looked crisp as the first unit whipped the puck around with precision. But it was the second unit that found the back of the net. Morgan Geekie (a career-high 10 goals) scored from the outside of the right circle, thanks to a Jake DeBrusk screen.
But in the fast-paced first, the Oilers eventually got rolling and tied it up at 11:40. The struggling Derek Forbort lost the puck as he tried to break it out as Connor McDavid flicked it off his stick. It went to Warren Foegele, who took it to the net and beat Swayman through the pads.
The B’s survived an Anthony Richard trip on McDavid and then pushed back. They held a 14-12 shot advantage in the first, but could not get another by Stuart Skinner.
But Brad Marchand gave the B’s their one-goal lead back just 25 seconds into second. Danton Heinen gave Marchand a nifty little pass just outside the blue line to give the captain a little bit of room to attack. From the outside of the left circle, Marchand found the sizable hole Skinner left on his short side for his 26th goal.
The B’s made it a two-goal lead at 4:40 with another fourth (third?) line goal. From the right point, McAvoy gave a short pass to Jesper Boqvist just below him. Boqvist flipped the puck toward the net and, with Justin Brazeau screening in front, Trent Frederic (16) tipped it past Skinner.
Veteran Corey Perry tried to get his team into the game by taking a run at McAvoy and missed, but Parker Wotherspoon caught the attempt and had words with Perry. Perry started throwing hands immediately and Wotherspoon had to oblige, landing some good shots and getting the W. Perry got the extra two, but the B’s could not cash in.
But after killing off another Edmonton power play, the B’s extended the lead to 4-1. At the end of a terrific shift by the B’s first line, Jake DeBrusk backhanded home a rebound of a David Pastrnak shot at 13:57. It was his 13th and first in 10 games.
They would not run away with it, however. The Oilers got one back just 90 seconds later when Zach Hyman won a puck battle along the boards and fed a wide-open Foegele in front of the net for his second of the game on backhander.
The B’s were lucky to get out of the period with a two-goal lead. Edmonton kept them hemmed in their own end for the better part of the final four minutes of the period. Mason Lohrei, who had three assists, was on the ice for the final 3:46. But the B’s were able to survive and catch their breath.
Then after Swayman allowed a bad goal at 6:14 of the third, the Oilers were with striking distance. The netminder tried to clear the puck himself along the wall but it was stopped by Cody Ceci at the right point. Ceci fired a shot that looked like an easy save for Swayman, but it somehow squeezed through and behind him. Mattias Janmark just tapped it in for the easy one.
It was all tied up 1:10 later. A Darnell Nurse left point shot produced a fat rebound and Perry lifted it over Swayman’s pad for the equalizer.
“Our bench was really calm, even though it looked like we were in an avalanche for a while,” said Montgomery.
The B’s regained the lead but couldn’t maintain it. After a nice play by Lohrei to keep the puck in and drop it for Pastrnak, the sharpshooter whistled a shortside wrister past Skinner at 12:41.
But Swayman’s rebound control issues continued. The Oilers tied it up just 38 seconds later when he couldn’t control Mattias Ekholm’s long distance shot and Zach Hyman tucked the rebound underneath the netminder.
The B’s looked like they would be able to run out the clock to get it to overtime and they did, but not without shooting themselves in the foot. After overskating a puck at his own blue line, James van Riemsdyk took a tripping penalty with 20 seconds in regulation.
They managed to kill it in OT and then van Riemsdyk was a stopped on a breakaway coming out of the box.
But for the second time in as many games, McAvoy was the hero.
Boston, MA
Red Sox Icon David Ortiz Urges Boston To ‘Make It Rain’ For Free-Agent Slugger
The Boston Red Sox hive mind doesn’t always come to a perfect agreement on what they want the team to do. That is, of course, unless David Ortiz is asking for it.
A three-time World Series champion, Hall of Famer, and one of the most clutch players of all time, Ortiz is unquestionably on the Red Sox’s all-time Mount Rushmore. Even though he retired in 2016, he’s still closely woven into the fabric of the organization.
Ortiz sees what we all do: this Red Sox team is close to being ready to contend for the playoffs, but there’s one key ingredient missing. He made his feelings known about what he hopes the front office does between now and Opening Day to address that issue.
On Saturday, Ortiz relayed a simple message to the Red Sox: spend whatever it takes to get one more big bat.
“There’s still some guys out there that we can still go for, and I think we have a really good front office,” Ortiz said in an appearance on NESN. “To put a good lineup together nowadays is not that difficult. What you got to do is just make it rain, and you can go pick a few guys. Now pitching, on the other hand, is the toughest thing to put together.
“We got pitching. Pitching can always stop good offenses. The playoff is a playoff pitching (staff) we got right now. We line up a couple of thunders in the lineup to help (Rafael Devers) and the rest of them boys — one good bat would do.”
Ortiz and NESN host Tom Caron both strongly hinted at the end of the interview who that big bat could be: former Houston Astros All-Star Alex Bregman. Manager Alex Cora also signaled earlier in the day that Bregman would be a great fit in Boston.
Bregman isn’t quite Ortiz, but he does have one thing on him: the career record for OPS at Fenway Park. He has a wild 1.245 mark in 98 plate appearances in Boston throughout his career.
When David Ortiz asks for something, the Red Sox would usually be wise to follow through. And it seems he wants Bregman. Will that move the needle in the suites at Fenway?
More MLB: Red Sox Predicted To Land Ex-Padres $28 Million Gold Glover In Free Agency Surprise
Boston, MA
Greater Boston enjoys a light snow, travel not significantly impacted – The Boston Globe
The snow showers come from a weakening system approaching from the Great Lakes that tapped into some of the moisture from a strong storm passing south of New England.
The region was spared the worst precipitation of the storm thanks to persistent sub-freezing temperatures earlier this week, which pushed it south toward its current location off the coast of North Carolina, Nocera said. New England’s light snowfall is on the northern fringes of the storm.
Nocera added that this weekend’s “decorative snow” will not significantly impact ground travel.
The Massachusetts Port Authority issued a travel advisory for flight delays at Boston Logan International Airport. According to the flight tracking website Flight Aware, as of around 1:00 p.m. 212 flights were delayed at Boston Logan and another 15 were cancelled.
Margo Griffin, a teaching associate at the University of Cambridge in England, was initially worried about driving through the snow on her way to get coffee in Cambridge, but said the view from the Charles River was worth the trek.
“I thought it might be a problem, but I just decided to go ahead with the plan, and I’m enjoying walking through the snow,” Griffin said.
Other Boston-area residents who spoke to the Globe Saturday morning were happy to wake up to the winter scene on Saturday.
“I am feeling wonderful about the snow. I haven’t seen it in a long time,” said Barbara Delollis, a communications lead at Harvard Business School.
Delollis already made snow day plans.
“We want to go out and have some fun in the snow, and take a lot of pictures and just remember this moment, because we don’t know how much more snowfall we’re going to see in the Boston area anymore with climate change,” Delollis said.
Talia, a Cambridge resident, said that the snow had no effect on her plans to attend synagogue with her two-year-old son Saturday morning.
“It feels nice and seasonal, which is cool because climate change is terrifying,” she said.
Snowstorms can still occur, despite warming temperatures from climate change, Nocera said. Although Saturday’s snowfall cannot guarantee heavy snow this winter, there is a slightly higher chance of snow towards the end of the month as cold temperatures ease.
Materials from previous Globe stories were used in this report.
Boston, MA
Boston College drops Hockey East contest to Merrimack
The second-ranked Boston College men’s hockey team suffered its first home loss of the season, falling to Merrimack by a score of 5-2 in Hockey East action on Friday night at Kelley Rink. The Eagles jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, but the Warriors scored the next five. BC falls to 12-4-1 overall and 6-3-1 in Hockey East, while Merrimack improves to 8-10-1 overall and 4-5-1 in league play. The Eagles opened the scoring midway through the first period when Oskar Jellvik one-timed the rebound off an Aram Minnetian shot that was saved by the Merrimack goaltender. Minnetian’s shot fell right into the path of Jellvik for the quick shot into the open net to put the Eagles in front. BC added to its lead shortly into the second period when Brady Berard scored a short-handed goal. Merrimack responded 32 seconds later with a power-play goal to get on the board, before scoring the game-tying goal less than one minute after that. The Warriors took the lead nearly three minutes later when Merrimack scored its third goal of the period. The Warriors scored twice in the third period to push their lead to three. Jacob Fowler made 23 saves while Nils Wallstrom had 27 stops for Merrimack.
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