Kalman: Bruins' Newfound Resilience In Win Give Rangers' Vigneault 2011 Flashbacks
BOSTON (CBS) - Turns out New York Rangers coach Alain Vigneault thought there were more similarities between the game against the Bruins on Friday and the old Boston-Vancouver battles than just Vigneault's presence behind the opposition bench and the petulance that dominated after every whistle and even away from the puck between whistles.
Vigneault was asked to opine on Bruins forward Matt Beleskey's hit on Derek Stepan, who's expected to miss some playing time with broken ribs that resulted from the borderline play in the second period of the Bruins' 4-3 victory.
"In our opinion, it was a late hit. More than a second, and he was a couple of feet away from the boards," Vigneault said. "So we'll have to wait and see. I remember Aaron Rome in this building, 0.6 seconds late, getting suspended four games in the [2011] Stanley Cup Final, so [it will] be interesting to see."
First off, Vigneault should have that 2011 PTSD checked. Second, without getting into too much of a debate between the Rome hit and the Beleskey hit, Rome targeted the head. Beleskey did not, and probably should've gotten a boarding penalty, even though he wasn't penalized.
It's interesting, though, that Vigneault decided to harken back to four years ago because there was a little 2011 magic in the Bruins' victory. Although the Bruins of 2011 were deep and talented, their best attribute might've been their resilience. They lost Nathan Horton on that Rome hit, they fell behind 2-0 and 3-2 in the series and won Game 7 on the road. Without getting too carried away, and since Vigneault decided to bring it up, the Bruins showed a little 2011 backbone in their comeback win in the nationally televised Black Friday game.
The Bruins fell behind 3-2 in the third period after Brad Marchand was called for goaltender interference and Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist avoided an embellishment call despite going down faster than the horse hit the dirt after Mongo's punch in "Blazing Saddles." J.T. Miller cashed in on the ensuing power play.
When this Bruins' season started out with several new faces and a few younger players on their back end, a turn of events like that probably would've resulted in a point-less day at the rink. The Bruins, however, are taking a crash course in winning and sticking together. They won two games earlier in the week, on the road against Toronto and Detroit, they probably didn't deserve to win. Against the Rangers, they earned the two points they deserved by shaking off the unfortunate call and rallying behind goals from Ryan Spooner and David Krejci.
Now the Bruins are on a five-game winning streak.
"I think a lot of guys said some stuff on the bench," Marchand said. "But I think we all knew that it was a bit of a cheap call and we wanted to respond. We didn't want that to ruin our game. So the guys did a really good job of going out there and following it up."
Vigneault's references to 2011 and the Bruins' impressive third period aside, there's no way to put the current Bruins and their championship-winning forefathers in the same sentence. There are still too many holes in the lineup and too large a talent gap between the Bruins and the NHL's elite to be thinking about any type of a long playoff run. However, if the first objective of this season was to get some players on-the-job training and re-establish a winning culture, the Bruins might be achieving their desire.
It takes more than leadership from captain Zdeno Chara and alternates David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron to keep a team together when the going gets rough late in a game or when a team is having an off night. The likes of Marchand, Torey Krug and Tuukka Rask are starting to be purveyors of the message the coaching staff and other leaders are passing along. Colin Miller, Zach Trotman and Frank Vatrano are finding out how to bounce back from their own mistakes and learning how NHL teams get by under the rigors of the schedule and in difficult situations. Almost miraculously the Bruins are in position right now to make the playoffs.
"You learn from your previous games when you have [gotten] frustrated," Rask explained. "And you know it's mental toughness. You have to stay in the moment and believe in your system and what you do, and that's the only way to get through it. Today we did. Sometimes you don't, but today we did. The last couple games this week we did. So that's a great sign and we can build on it."
If Vigneault really wants to re-live 2011, he should hope for a Bruins-Rangers matchup in the upcoming playoffs. Before they can get a shot at the two-time Eastern Conference finalist Rangers, the Bruins have to get into the postseason after a year off. With more wins like their Friday victory, the Bruins' resilience might playoff-ready before their talent.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.
