'Our Compete Was Excellent': Joe Sacco Praises Bruins After Big Win

BOSTON – Let’s engaged in a friendly exercise.

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Examine the rosters of all the Eastern Conference teams currently in, or on the brink of the playoff structure. You’ll find the Tampa Bay Lightning, Columbus Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers – all with at least 50 points.

Now, remove the top two defensemen from each team for an extended amount of time. How would the standings change at this point of the season? In the case of the Bruins, they have been without Hampus Lindholm since he suffered a knee injury on Nov. 12, which is a span of 33 games. Charlie McAvoy has missed the last five games, but has been dealing with a wrist injury even before landing on injured reserve.

Fans want to vilify the Bruins for their sub-par defensive play, especially getting the puck out of their own end, but it doesn’t help when a team’s top two puck-moving defensemen are either out of the lineup, or physically unable to perform at 100 percent.

Sure, the Bruins struggled even with McAvoy in the lineup. However, once he and Lindholm return it should pay dividends for the Bruins.

“It’s not easy when you have your top two out,” Sacco said. “Everybody’s minutes increase, your responsibilities are different. Mason (Lohrei) has done a good job for the most part with increased minutes, playing against different lines maybe that he (normally) wouldn’t. (Andrew) Peeke is a competitive kid and you pretty much know what you’re getting from him every night, you can count on him and he’s pretty reliable. Both guys, with the increased responsibility, have done a good job.”

The Bruins preach that next-man-up mentality, but they haven’t been receiving those contributions on a consistent basis this season.

“You’re counting on guys for increased roles and responsibilities that they’re not quite used to, but that’s the great thing about this league, too, is that players want more, so it’s an opportunity for them to see how they handle it. The biggest thing is not to change your game just because your minutes have increased, or your role has changed,” added Sacco. “You still have to play your game and that’s what we try to make sure our guys understand.”

Maybe things will change after the team’s impressive 2-0 win over the Ottawa Senators Thursday at TD Garden. The Bruins’ overall defense was outstanding and it led to an important divisional win. It started with goalie Joonas Korpisalo who made 29 saves and posted his third shutout of the season.

“It felt great. It feels good for the whole team,” Korpisalo said. “Playing that game (Wednesday and losing 5-1 to the Devils), traveling back here it wasn’t an easy game to play. The way we handled today was superb. It was a big game for everyone.”

The team’s overall defense, or lack of, has been a talking point for coach Joe Sacco of late. He wanted his team’s compete level to increase and the players responded in a big way.

“It was a real solid game from our group defensively,” he said. Ottawa’s “a good team offensively and they’re going to get some looks, get some chances, but we protected the slot well. (Korpisalo) made some big saves, timely saves for us, which you need, and good for him. He played an outstanding game. Overall, our compete was excellent tonight and that’s what we been focusing on. We knew this was going to be a competitive, hard-fought game and our guys did a good job responding tonight.”

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