Who needs practice? Minnesota trio meshed well playing together for first time in Bruins' win over Lightning
In a season of so much gone wrong for the Bruins, Koepke, Mittelstadt and Lettieri at least for one afternoon delivered a motherlode of joy in the
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'Three Minnesota guys coming full circle, playing together in the NHL,' said a smiling Koepke, musing over the newly-minted 3M brotherhood, 'it's pretty cool.'
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Until Saturday, the three Minnesotans never played on the same line at any level, be it as amateurs or pros. Koepke, from Two Harbors, often lined up against Mittelstadt, from Eden Prairie, in their high school hockey days. Lettieri, 30 years old and four years their senior, grew up in Excelsior.
But in the global mix master of circumstance and caprice that is the NHL, Friday's acquisition of Mittelstadt, the slicker talent of the three, had the 3Ms shaking hands for the first time as teammates a mere three hours prior to puck drop on Saturday.
Practice? Forget practice. They jumped out there for the pregame warmup, rolled through their line rushes as the few minutes allowed, and went to work — accumulating an aggregate 46:24 in ice time. It likely earned them the right to work together again Tuesday when the
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Asked postgame Saturday if he would lobby GM Don Sweeney to import, say, a handful of other Minnesotans, a smiling Koepke said, 'Yeah, bring 'em all in!'
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Vinni Lettieri congratulates Cole Koepke after Koepke gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead in the second period against the Lightning on Saturday.If only the Bruins, still clinging to the slim hope of locking down a wild-card playoff seed in the East, could dip into the Land of 10,000 Lakes to find all their answers over the remaining 17 games of the regular season. Even with the blanking of the Lightning, they awoke Sunday with their .508 points percentage ranking 13th in the conference. They have some serious leapfrogging to do in the standings to get into the top eight, and precious little time to leap.
'If you keep playing the way we have the last couple of games, the bounces will go your way eventually,' said interim coach Joe Sacco, prior to boarding Saturday night's charter flight back to Boston. 'We got some … and we were able to extend our lead. That doesn't necessarily mean you can breathe easier [within a game], but it helps your psyche at times.'
Koepke's first goal midway through the second period snapped the scoreless tie. Mark Kastelic provided a touch more oxygen with his goal, off a shot from outside the blueline, for the 2-0 lead, with 6:44 to go in regulation.
The Bruins, their lineup turned inside out on Friday with all of Sweeney's deals, were a league-worst 1-6-2 in their prior nine games. The red-hot Lightning were 10-1 in their last 11. For those with the itch for the growing world of legalized sports gambling, good luck identifying dead-certain NHL wagers.
'We still have to look and see who fits where,' said Sacco, when asked to appraise the overall look of a remade roster, and what impressions his new lines made in Tampa. 'It's opportunity, right? They need to take advantage of it — and good for them today.'
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Brandon Carlo, among the vets wheeled out Friday by Sweeney, made his Leafs debut Saturday in his home state of Colorado, where Charlie Coyle's Avalanche rolled up a big 7-4 win. Carlo logged 22:04 in ice time and led the Leafs with six blocked shots. Coyle (swapped for Mittelstadt), making his Avalanche debut, assisted on one of the seven goals and logged 11:44 . . . After an off-day Sunday, the Bruins return to work late Monday morning at Warrior, the start of a busy week that will see the Panthers (Tuesday) and Lightning (Saturday) come to town — around a quick up and back to Ottawa to face the Senators on Thursday … Decades ago, Minnesota delivered Tommy Williams to the Bruins. A proud son of the Iron Range (Duluth), the dynamic skating Williams was only 21 when he cracked the Bruins' roster for the start of the 1961-62 NHL season — a time when Americans occupied NHL roster spots on par with the frequency that snowflakes piled up on Miami Beach. Williams produced admirably (232 points in 391 games) across some very lean years on Causeway Street only to be dished to the expansion North Stars on May 7, 1969. Exactly one year and three days later, Derek Sanderson fed Bobby Orr for the goal that delivered the franchise's first Cup win in 29 years. Timing, ya know? Other than Ken Hodge, born in Birmingham, England, every member of that '70 Cup team was born in Canada.
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