Jeremy Lauzon has struggled a bit for the Boston Bruins since returning from his fractured hand injury.
The defenseman hasn’t had it easy, though. Shortly after coming back from his hand ailment, Lauzon was cut with a blade of a skate and received stitches. So it’s fair to wonder whether he’s 100% when he goes out on the ice.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy gave Lauzon a game to rest over the weekend, but he made a costly mistake Monday night.
Lauzon was called for a holding penalty for the second time against the Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden. It led to the Flyers tying the game before they won it 3-2 in overtime.
After the game, Bruce Cassidy once again called out his younger players to do a better job while they’re on the ice.
“There were some good things,” Cassidy said. “We took a lead into the third and we took a bad penalty — same guys, similar type penalty, he’s gonna have to do a better job at his one-on-ones, and we’re gonna have to do a better job identifying what you can get away with. That’s been an issue. That hurt us, obviously.”
When asked specifically about Lauzon, Cassidy said he needs the defenseman to “play through this struggles.”
“He came back off an injury, had another one right away. He got cut, so he was dealing with some uncomfortableness, so we gave him a night off. He has to play through it,” Cassidy said. “If he can’t we’ll have to make a determination of putting the next guy up in. We had a plan in place early on, and he was doing a good job. Obviously anyone playing with Charlie (McAvoy) is gonna look more effective, so that’s something else we have to look at. We’re going on the road, Kevan Miller’s a possibility, that helps solidify another pair. That’s part of it, too, right? We’ve been down a few guys with (Brandon) Carlo and Miller being out. Those are guys that can solidify pairs. But they’re not in the lineup. So the guys have to play through it, find ways. That’s it. I don’t how else to say it. Yes, he’s in the lineup and when you’re in, play through your mistakes, learn from it and move on. Hopefully that’ll be the case (Tuesday).”
The Bruins don’t have a ton of time to fix their mistakes, as they take on the Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins-Flyers game:
— Dan Vladar gave the Bruins a chance to win Monday night. The goalie stopped 29 of 32 shots he faced against Philly. He was 2-1-0 with a 2.03 goals-against average entering Monday’s game, and has impressed during his time with Boston.
“I’m just living my dream out there. … I really appreciate that the coaches are still giving me a chance,” Vladar said. “Obviously, that helps my game too because I feel more comfortable. … Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough today. We got the point, but, me personally, I’m pretty sure the whole locker room wanted two. A little disappointed, but we play those guys tomorrow. I think we are gonna come back.”
Cassidy also liked what he saw from Vladar.
“He never quits on a puck, that’s what everyone loves about him,” Cassidy said. “He never quits on a puck.”
He certainly doesn’t.
— Patrice Bergeron scored the go-ahead goal for the Bruins.
The goal put him the captain in sole possession of fourth place on the Bruins’ all-time scoring list.
— Karson Kuhlman had the other goal for the B’s.
“That’s a big part of my game is getting pucks to the net, and getting to the net myself,” Kuhlman said. “I think I was passing up a lot of opportunities to shoot it early on in the year. So that was an emphasis: get back to getting to the net.”
— The Bruins, ravaged by the injury bug, could get some reinforcement back Tuesday.
While Tuukka Rask won’t play, Miller possibly could see his first game action since Feb. 18, which certainly would provide a boost to the blue line.
