The NHL season is a grind, especially in this year’s shortened 56-game slate. Although it is not as long as usual, the NHL is packing in more games per week for each team. With as many as four games a week, with many on back-to-back nights, players have little opportunity to rest. This makes it more difficult to sustain high levels of play for an extended period of time. Some can do it better than others. Each week, we will take a look at players on the Boston Bruins who are on a hot or cold streak. This week we look at Brad Marchand and Tuukka Rask.
Boston Bruins Hot and Cold Streaks
Hot Streak: Brad Marchand
How hot does one have to be to take the top spot when the team was on a six-game winning streak? Just ask Brad Marchand as he takes the cake in this edition. He tallied four goals this week. His point total rises to seven with the assists added in. Shooting at a 33% clip for the week is good for just about anyone, and it’s clearly up to the standards Marchand has set for himself.
Brad Marchand stepped up big this week. While three of their games came against the Buffalo Sabres, they also had a matchup with the Washington Capitals. The two teams have been developing a rivalry this year and Marchand stepped up. He had a four-point night against the Caps. His first goal of the night tied the game at three. His last goal took away any hope Washington had at making a comeback with a third-period dagger. It’s also worth noting that he assisted on Patrice Bergeron’s shorthanded goal to open the scoring for the game. The two of them are tremendous penalty killers. So good that the team has an even goal differential this year when Bergeron and Marchand take the ice on a penalty kill. It’s safe to say that Marchand has had a good week.
Cold Streak: Tuukka Rask
Now to be clear, pretty much everyone on the team had a good week. The team came into the end of the week on a six-game winning streak just before it came to an end against the Buffalo Sabres. In this case, Tuukka Rask earned the cold streak spot only because he had a fairly pedestrian week. By no means did he play poorly when you look at the week as a whole. He played well at times, but then you have to take into account the blunder that occurred this past Friday.
Now to be fair to Rask, Buffalo came into Friday’s game with all cylinders firing away. Sam Reinhart even had a hat trick in that game. While it’s no excuse for poor play in net, this was not the same Sabres’ team we have seen all year long. They came prepared. Rask just was not ready for the onslaught that came for him. The Sabres scored five unanswered goals. Rask was only in net for the first four. While he did post a shutout this week, he ended the week on a sour note.
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