Brad Marchand offers high praise of goalie Tuukka Rask after the Bruins get the win on opening night
The Boston Bruins wasted no time sending a message to Miles Wood in Saturday afternoon's game.
The Devils forward ran over Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask twice in Boston's 3-2 shootout win over New Jersey on Thursday night. B's head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters after the game that his team has "plenty of guys in our lineup that can take care of business in that regard."
We saw that come to fruition in the first period Saturday when Bruins defenseman Kevan Miller and Wood engaged in a short but entertaining fight.
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SIGN UP HERE It was Miller's first fight since Jan. 29, 2019.
Before returning to the lineup Thursday, Miller hadn't played for the Bruins since April 4, 2019, due to knee injuries. The veteran defenseman brings a lot of toughness to Boston's lineup, and he's always willing to drop the gloves and come to his teammates' defense if required.
This kind of truculence and leadership might be needed more often than normal this season. The league chose to use a division-only schedule for the 2020-21 campaign. This means every team will play each divisional opponent eight times.
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Playing these opponents so often in such a short period of time is sure to increase the physical intensity of these games, and we've already seen plenty of it through just four periods of Bruins-Devils action this week.