At some point, the high-scoring Boston Bruins knew they’d have to grind out a painful two points. That development came to fruition during Thursday’s tilt with the rebuilding Anaheim Ducks.
The Bruins and Ducks hardly embarked on a proverbial track meet in this early season intraconference tilt. Neither team could establish extensive stretches of puck possession in their respective attacking ends of the ice.
In the rare times they did, Linus Ullmark and John Gibson were up to the task. And both teams capitalized on second-period turnovers, with Taylor Hall netting his first of the year on an errant Gibson pass and Frank Vatrano striking against his former team after Jack Studnicka’s errant poke check at Boston’s offensive blue-line led to a 2-on-1 in the other direction.