NHL Rewind: Bruins push winning streak to 10 games, plus the Lightning are starting to falter

The weekend after the NHL trade deadline was packed and there was no shortage of entertainment.

The Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to 10 games by defeating the New York Rangers. The Bruins are now 49-8-5 and one step ahead to set a new single-season points record with 132.

Elsewhere in the league, the Lightning have had a tough time, with new acquisitions scoring their first goal with new teams, and Tyler Toffoli has kept the Calgary Flames’ playoff hopes alive. Let’s take a look back at the most important storylines and highlights from this past weekend in the NHL.

Goal of the weekend: Gabe Vilardi sticks pens in a phone booth

There isn’t much room to work in front of the grid. A grown man with pillows tied to his legs, and other grown men intent on hitting anything that moves, made sure of it.

Those professional risks meant little to Los Angeles Kings forward Gabe Vilardi on Saturday.

With the Kings on the power play, Vilardi shot the puck low in front of St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington. In the blink of an eye, Vilardi spun, faked a right hand, moved to a backhand, and landed a punch over Binnington’s pad.

As two blues crashed down on him, Vilardi displayed impressive poise and silky smooth hands.

Weekend robbery: Andrey Kuzmenko harassed twice

Andrei Kuzmeko is going to have a very long talk with his insurance company, because he was robbed twice over the weekend.

The first time it happened was Saturday night when the Vancouver Canucks beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1. In the second period, Kuzmenko and Conor Garland went 2 on 0, and the puck ended up on Kuzmenko’s stick. The Vancouver forward was unable to pick up his shot and Murray made him pay. Murray stretched from side to side to knock the pillow away from Kuzmenko.

Then, Monday night, in a shootout over the Nashville Predators, Anthony Beauvillier caught a rebound in the slot and sent it to a wide-open Kuzmenko. Once again, Kuzmenko was unable to pick up the shot, and this time Juse Saros slid forward to parry it with his skate.

It’s been a long weekend for the young Canucks forward, but he may have learned to put more air into his shots in the future.

Bruins win 10th game in a row

The Bruins were able to avoid peaking too early by simply peaking all season. After a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers on Saturday, the Bruins have won 10 games in a row. It helps that on deadline they added Dmitri Orlov and Garnet Hathaway from the Washington Capitals and Tyler Bertuzzi from Detroit.

In his first game for the Bruins, Bertuzzi made an instant impression. At the end of the first period, Bertuzzi found Charlie Coyle with a great pitch to give Boston a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Thomas Nosek’s massive solo effort doubled the lead for the Bruins.

After the Rangers cut the Bruins lead in half, Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron took over. Bringing the puck into the zone, Marchand went around the net and found Bergeron all alone in front of the gate.

David Pastrnak sealed the win by throwing a one-shot rocket to complete Charlie McAvoy’s flawless serve.

Boston has won 49 games, losing just 13. The team is receiving contributions across the entire roster, which has recently gone deeper thanks to a trade deadline. I stopped wondering when the Bruins would run out of steam (or ever).

Bolts show signs of slowing down

One team that may actually be running out of steam is the Tampa Bay Lightning. Over the past three weeks, the Bolts have gone 3-5-3, their 25th best record in that period.

In Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabers, head coach John Cooper kept Nikita Kucherov, Steven Stamkos and Braden Point on the bench for the entire third period. In his post-game press conference, Cooper said these players simply didn’t live up to the standards they set for the team.

It would have been fair to expect Tampa to do better against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, but the team lost 6-0.

Yes, it would be a mistake to doubt that the Lightning will make the playoffs. Any team that has been to the Stanley Cup Finals three years in a row could lose interest in the finals of the regular season… but that’s about as deadly as the Bolts have looked for a long time.

At least the Lightning has about five more weeks to get back on track.

Meyer and Chichran score first goals in new kit

In case you haven’t heard, there have been several deals made before the 2023 NHL trade deadline. The two biggest names in the movement were Timo Meyer and Jakob Chichrun. Over the weekend, both of these players scored their first goal in their new jerseys.

Chichran defeated Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Elvis Merzlikin on Saturday. He clearly had a burning desire to be on the board for the first time in Ottawa.

Chichran’s grandfather was also present, and he celebrated the occasion by holding several glasses of Tim Horton in his hands. After the game, Chichran got excited to see a video of his grandfather celebrating a special moment.

On Sunday afternoon, Meyer scored his first goal with the Devils around the middle of the first period. He just scooped up a weak rebound and punched Arizona Coyotes goaltender Connor Ingram in the legs.

Meyer’s first game in New Jersey ended in spectacular fashion, with compatriot Swiss-born Nico Hishir taking the overtime victory.

If last weekend is any indication, it will be great to see both of these players at their new clubs.

Tyler Toffoli backs Flames playoff hopes

The Western Conference playoff race is starting to look more straight forward, but the Calgary Flames are one team that could make things more interesting. On Monday night, it looked like their playoff hopes were about to be dealt a serious blow. At 4-2 in the third period, Calgary was heading for a big win over the Dallas Stars, but the wheels were starting to fall apart.

Rupe Hintz scored a shorthanded breakaway goal and with 10 minutes left, the Stars were level with one goal.

With less than six minutes left in the third period, Jamie Benn saved a spot shot to equalize.

In the third period, the Flames squandered a multi-goal lead and they looked down on a crushing defeat. That is, until Tyler Toffoli broke through in the final seconds of regulation.

With less than seven seconds left in the game, Toffoli beat Jake Oetting to score two points for Calgary.

View this week’s meeting

Golden Knights in Panthers | Tuesday, March 7: The Panthers are still fighting for the Eastern Conference playoffs, and this game against the Golden Knights will largely determine their fate.

Islanders in Penguins | Thursday, March 9: It feels like these two teams have been fighting for their lives in the playoffs for the last two months and it will continue on Thursday night. The Isles and Pans currently sit two with a wildcard in the Eastern Conference.

Oilers at the Maple Leafs |…