On Thursday evening, A.J. Greer did his finest to put declare to a Bruins roster spot with a two-goal, seven-hit efficiency.
On Saturday, it was Marc McLaughlin’s flip to boost his hand. McLaughlin, the Billerica native and former Boston College captain, scored two objectives to guide the B’s to a 4-0 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on the Garden within the membership’s third of six preseason video games.
McLaughlin can nonetheless be despatched to Providence with out being uncovered to waivers, and the B’s have a number of gamers who have to undergo waivers to be despatched down. That group contains Oskar Steen, who like McLaughlin is vying for the fourth line proper wing spot. But McLaughlin is making it tough for GM Don Sweeney and coach Jim Montgomery to make what appeared like a straightforward resolution at the beginning of camp.
“He had a real impactful game,” mentioned Montgomery. “It’s great. We have a lot of depth up front and on the back end. So decisions are getting tougher and tougher and that’s what us as coaches and management is what we’re looking to see.”
Even earlier than the 2 objectives on Saturday, McLaughlin was having a stable camp.
“He’s a very conscientious young man. He tries to do everything the right way all the time, whether it’s practice or games and he pays attention to detail, so there’s a young man whose growth will grow as he understands how we want to play professional hockey,” mentioned Montgomery.
McLaughlin signed with the B’s on the conclusion of his season at BC final 12 months and had a right away influence when he acquired the possibility to play for the B’s, scoring three objectives in 11 video games.
Given his relative inexperience, McLaughlin feels he has to go above and past as a way to stick.
“I’m young and I just got here. Obviously I played a little bit in the spring. But everything needs to be earned for me. I’ve kind of been keeping that mindset, that I need to earn everything. I’m still a young guy and I need to show up every day. I need to earn the spot. It’s not getting handed to me,” he mentioned.
The B’s went with a high heavy lineup and, with some veterans like David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron taking part in their first sport of the preseason, there was some noticeable rust to begin.
But after surviving some Flyer energy performs, the B’s took the lead at 7:09 of the second with the second power-play unit getting on the board. Newcomer Pavel Zacha gained a puck deep on the left aspect and pushed it out excessive to Jack Ahcan. Ahcan let it rip and McLaughlin tipped it dwelling from the slot previous Troy Grosenick.
In the third, McLaughlin scored his second dirty objective of the sport, jamming dwelling a free puck along side the web on a second effort.
While he’s not anticipating something to be handed to him, McLaughlin does really feel like he belongs.
“Absolutely,” mentioned McLaughlin. “I feel confident. I feel like my skating’s gotten a little bit better. I think I can manage the puck a little bit better. I think I was in the right areas today. That really plays to my game, getting to the front of the net, getting shots off and just being a big body. I was happy with that and I’ve just got to keep competing.”
Beecher pots a pair
McLaughlin wasn’t the one teen to face out. Johnny Beecher helped salt the sport away with two objectives within the remaining 5 minutes. The first one got here when Derek Forbort banked a move off his skate (had it been a daily season sport, the officers could taken a second take a look at it for a kicking movement) after which he turned on his jets to attain an empty-netter.
Beecher acquired higher as the sport went on.
“First game at TD Garden with the Bruins sweater. If you’re not nervous, then you’ve got bigger issues,” mentioned Beecher. “Coming out of the second period, I wasn’t necessarily upset but I wanted more out of myself. I just had to sit there, take some deep breaths and realize I could do more. I think right from my first shift in the third period I turned it up a little bit.”
With Tomas Nosek and Jack Studnicka forward of him on the depth chart, Beecher is most probably headed to Providence. Trent Frederic, alternatively, has slightly extra strain on him to safe a spot. He was dropped from the third line in favor of Greer in observe final week, and began Saturday’s sport very slowly once more. But like he did on Thursday, Frederic got here to life within the third interval. He wound up notching a pair of assists, two hits and a plus-3.
“(We’d like to see) a more complete 60 minutes. Start the game like you finished the third,” mentioned Montgomery. “But he was really good in the third. I thought the second goal all started with him and his puck protection against (Rasmus) Ristolainen, an NHL defenseman. So that’s the kind of play we want for his game to continue to grow and his confidence to grow.”
Lysell, Hall dinged
Fabian Lysell and Taylor Hall left the sport with what Montgomery described as “minor” accidents. That’s significantly excellent news for the teen Lysell, who took a reverse hit from Ristolainen and, with the way in which he went off the ice favoring his proper shoulder, it regarded prefer it may very well be a long-term harm.
“We were fearful that it was his shoulder, but thankful it’s not. Also, the first 10 minutes I thought he was the best player on the ice,” mentioned Montgomery, who mentioned he may attempt to get him into one other preseason sport.
Odds and ends
Big defenseman Nick Wolff fought the puck early on, however he made his influence when Zack MacEwen cross-checked Nick Foligno. Wolff went proper after the Flyers’ robust man and gave higher than he acquired, touchdown a few stable blows earlier than ultimately wrestling MacEwen to the ice. …
Linus Ullmark had a very good sport, particularly within the early going when the B’s have been looking for their fingers and legs. He made 21 saves for the shutout. Jake DeBrusk didn’t issue within the scoring however he had his skating legs, drawing a penalty.
Source: www.bostonherald.com