Talking Points: Boston Bruins Continue Winning Ways

BOSTON – Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks at TD Garden on Sunday night.

GOLD STAR: When Tomas Nosek comes up one assist short of a Gordie Howe hat trick, that my friends is when it’s time to recognize the fourth line center for what he’s been bringing to the table. This comes just one day after he made a confident, patient play with the puck holding onto it before feeding Jakub Zboril for the game-winning goal, so Nosek in general has lifted his game to a higher level. But he took it to an even better place on Sunday night when he dropped the gloves and tackled Derek Burroughs after he threw a mean hit on No. 88 at the blue line, and then when he snapped his goal-scoring drought in the third period with an empty netter that iced the game. So a stick salute to Nosek for snapping a 65-game goal-scoring drought that had some truly painful moments over the last two seasons.

BLACK EYE: Visaly Podkolzin might be a scrappy young forward, but he probably will think twice about dropping the gloves again in an NHL game. AJ Greer smacked Podkolzin with a big mid-ice hit in the first period and then dropped the gloves with the Canucks forward when he came charging at him. Podkolzin then suffered facial cuts when Greer tuned him up with a series of right-handed punches before smashing his head on the ice after his helmet popped off during the fisticuffs. That was the evening for him as he didn’t play again after registering just over two minutes of ice time in the loss.

AJ Greer drops the gloves with Vasily Podkolzin and Podkolzin heads down the tunnel for some serious repairs my goodness pic.twitter.com/U1FcsFjIIk

— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) November 13, 2022

TURNING POINT: It was a power play goal for the Boston Bruins toward the end of the first period that helped really turn the tide in the game. With the score tied 1-1 after JT Miller had managed to sneak behind the Boston defense, old friend Jack Studnicka took a tripping call after fouling David Pastrnak as he went for a scoring chance in front of the Vancouver net. That set up a beautiful Boston PP as Pastrnak threw a hard pass from the point that Patrice Bergeron redirected into the net from the bumper position on a perfect play. It gave the Boston Bruins a 2-1 lead headed into the first intermission and took all the wind out of the sails of the Vancouver Canucks.

HONORABLE MENTION: Three assists and a plus-3 rating in 22:44 of ice time for Hampus Lindholm, who made some top tier elite level plays on the back end to help vault the Boston Bruins out to a lead. None was better than the first period play where Lindholm raced to hold the puck at the blue line before moving it to Taylor Hall, who then fed Connor Clifton for the B’s first goal. None of it happens if Lindholm doesn’t bust it to keep the puck in the zone. Then there was the give-and-go with Pavel Zacha that helped extend Boston’s lead a little later in the game. Lindholm is a point-per-game player and hasn’t been a minus once this season while playing huge minutes every night. It’s time to start mentioning him in Norris Trophy conversations.

BY THE NUMBERS: 20 – the number of different goal-scorers for the Boston Bruins this season as Tomas Nosek clocked in with his first of the year in the victory.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “These guys don’t want to see anybody take advantage of their teammates. That’s a great quality.” –Jim Montgomery on Tomas Nosek dropping the gloves and fighting Derek Burroughs after his first period hit on David Pastrnak: