The Boston Bruins battled through several injuries and the flu bug in their latest road trip through Canada, but they remained atop the Atlantic division by winning three of four games.
One of the primary reasons for the team’s recent success has been the quality performances from young prospects called up from Providence who were asked to play important roles filling in for injured regulars.
Defenseman Kevan Miller, who was sent back to Providence on Wednesday, was stellar on the Boston blue line while Dennis Seidenberg and Adam McQuaid dealt with injuries. Miller had no previous NHL experience before this season, but he’s played like a savvy veteran fully capable of excelling in the Bruins’ defensive-minded system through his first nine games.
Ryan Spooner, Nick Johnson, Craig Cunningham and Matt Fraser have also impressed at the NHL level while bottom-six forwards Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly and Shawn Thornton have been out of the lineup. These young players, some of whom made their NHL debuts over the last three weeks, provided the Bruins with valuable forward depth on the road trip through western Canada.
In this week’s edition of NESN’s hockey podcast, NESN.com NHL editor Mike Cole and NESN.com assistant editor Nicholas Goss discussed the impact that players such as Miller and Spooner have made over the past week, as well as some other Bruins and NHL topics, including HBO’s 24/7 series and the abundance of suspension-worthy hits.
Listen to the podcast below.
