NHL Notebook: 'Disaster' Talk A Byproduct of Bruins/\' Struggles

"The locker room is a disaster, and David Pastrnak is at the center of that," said Keefe, who at no point this season has been anywhere near the actual Boston Bruins locker room. "David Pastrnak has told the team he doesn't want to be on a line with Brad Marchand, and it may stem from Brad Marchand calling out Pastrnak for some of his play."

Never mind that Marchand and Pastrnak rarely play together anymore anyway as the Bruins clearly look to spread out their offensive talent over two lines to maximize goal-scoring depth and haven’t really played together at all since the Perfection Line days ended with Patrice Bergeron’s retirement. It’s been clear this entire season that Pastrnak and Pavel Zacha have good chemistry together, and that Marchand has played at his best with Elias Lindholm sporting a game that’s in some ways very similar to Bergeron.

So anybody that actually knows anything about hockey would be aware those two wouldn’t be playing together regularly on anything but the power play, and that will continue to play together on the man advantage. Wouldn’t Pastrnak have made superstar demands that he didn’t want No. 63 on the power play with him if any of this was even remotely close to reality?

Instead, it feels like somebody with a casual hockey background read a headline about the Vancouver Canucks alleged rift between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson and decided to cook up the same kind of thing with the struggling Black and Gold group instead. Mission accomplished in terms of attention, clicks and maybe even dial turns to WEEI, but in doing so they also invoked the fire and brimstone wrath of the NHL’s most accomplished trash talker.

“I’ve heard what was said in the media this morning. It’s unfortunate,” said Marchand. “I know reporters have a job to do and that job is to report on the team. Usually, you try to be fact-based. But when there’s just blatant lies told in the media, that’s where there’s a problem.

“The fact this guy has a platform and is just making this up is embarrassing. There’s zero truth to anything he said. This is how you lose a job very quickly. The fact that he’s gonna have a job after this is insane.

“There’s zero truth to him being a problem in the room. He’s one of the most loved guys in the room. There are zero issues in the room at all and to say he’s at the center of anything is a completely fabricated lie. This guy has zero merit to anything he’s saying. The guy can go pound sand and go back to the closet where nobody knew who he was before."

Keefe followed all of this by flippantly taking Marchand’s fiery denial as “confirmation” of his report while opining that nobody would act this way if something were actually untrue. 

Honestly, a lot of people with a thing called pride would react exactly like Marchand if somebody else was going on a quasi-popular sports radio station and spreading lies and mistruths about them. The bottom line with all of this is that this humble hockey writer thinks Keefe is full of crap with this flimsy report based on pretty much nothing, and this saga – and the “Fire Sweeney” chants serenaded from the balcony earlier this week – are more a byproduct of the buzzards circling a Boston Bruins team that’s hit a clear nadir in a regular season that’s been a lot more challenging than anybody initially realized. 

This is just the tip of the iceberg if the Bruins can’t stabilize things and make certain that this becomes the lowest that things go this season.

ONE TIMERS

*Great to see Oliver Wahlstrom finally reward the Bruins for sticking with him through a scoreless first nine games after arriving via waivers. The former Islanders first-round pick was getting shots on net and had been close with a number of posts and crossbars during that goalless stretch to start his B’s career, and he finally was able to come through with a big go-ahead goal in the third period that would have been the game-winner if they hadn’t stumbled in the closing seconds of regulation.

“A couple of chances…a few posts. You just say inside and maybe one hits off you or goes in like it did today,” said Wahlstrom. “It was a good shift by our line. I grew up watching [the Bruins] when I was little and going to the Garden with my dad. So it was a cool moment for sure, but I want a lot more. I’ve got to get to those areas, get my shot off and just keep going.”

Wahlstrom has looked good as a third-line option with Trent Frederic and Justin Brazeau while ringing up 17 shots on net in 10 games amidst some modest ice time opportunities, but it was getting to be do-or-die time when it came to offensive production. A big goal against the Panthers should buy him some more time in the Bruins lineup and more chances to get on a roll with the Black and Gold as he’s looked like a solid two-way winger thus far since arriving from the Islanders.

*Some will call Saturday afternoon’s victory over the Panthers a lucky one, or say that it reveals a wide disparity in talent levels between Boston and Florida at this point. But give the Bruins credit for grinding their way to a win they very badly needed, both to squash the six-game losing streak and also to push past any kind of a mental block they seemed to have against Florida.

They accomplished both goals by blocking 29 shots, riding a red-hot Jeremy Swayman and showing a lot of character recovering from allowing the game-tying goal with 1.8 seconds left in the third period. That could have been a backbreaker for a B’s team that’s seen those kinds of moments break bad against them many, many times over the last few years, but instead they found a way to settle things down in overtime and ultimately get a good bounce for the overtime game-winner for Pastrnak.

“What a big win for us. We obviously needed it, so it’s a good win. I don’t think either team played their best game…those afternoon games are tough,” said Pastrnak after Saturday’s 4-3 victory. “You’re obviously not happy about that late goal, but a hell of a win for us and now we move on. You’re pi--ed off that they tied the game, but you just quickly regroup and make sure not to lose that second point.”