Bruce Cassidy returned to TD Garden for the first time since winning a Stanley Cup with the Vegas Golden Knights, and was very happy about having his bling in the building he coached the Boston Bruins in from 2016 to 2022.
It is possible that gave his former team a little extra motivation, as they blitzed the Golden Knights for 3 goals in the first period, and ultimately won the game 5-4.
The Golden Knights entered the second period trailing by 3 goals, and Paul Cotter broke the ice for them at 1:48, with Alex Pietrangelo adding a goal of his own 5:09 later to make it 3-2.
Morgan Geekie, having already scored two goals in the first, completed his hat trick at 16:32 of the period to temporarily halt Vegas’ momentum, but Michael Amadio silenced the crowd with a goal of his own 1:14 later to once again make it a 1-goal game.
Vegas once again was in a spot where they needed to have a big third period to win the game, and it looked like they might have a chance to pull off another comeback win.
Special teams good fortune shined on them in the form of a shorthanded goal scored by Chandler Stephenson at 5:01, but they felt the reverse of that when Mason Lohrei put Boston ahead with a powerplay goal with just under 5 minutes to go in the game.
Despite going down by a goal, it wasn’t completely over for the Golden Knights, as Matt Grzelcyk took a holding the stick penalty with 3 minutes left in regulation. Vegas failed to capitalize, and the Bruins held on for win No. 35 of the season.
Analytically the game ended up being a toss-up, which is pretty impressive considering the poor start the Golden Knights got off to.
The Golden Knights are back in action on Saturday vs. the Buffalo Sabres, and it remains to be seen if Jack Eichel will be in the lineup for that game. He resumed skating with the team this week, but there’s no guarantee of him getting back into action on this trip.