LOADING

Type to search

  • Ryan Spooner picks the right time for first NHL goal

    Post Game

    Ryan Spooner picks the right time for first NHL goal

    Tim Rosenthal February 27, 2015
    Share

    Ryan Spooner couldn’t have picked a better time to score his first career goal in the National Hockey League.

    The Boston Bruins couldn’t have picked a better time for Ryan Spooner to score his first career NHL goal.

    With another win seemingly slipping away from them, Spooner, in his 35th career game with Boston, gave the Bruins a sigh of relief when he beat former Boston College product Cory Schneider in his overtime winner against the New Jersey Devils on Friday night. The Black and Gold blew a 2-0 lead in the third period – a period that’s usually very kind to them – when Travis Zajac and Jordin Tootoo scored 2:09 apart to tie things up.

    Thankfully for Claude Julien, he could rely on Spooner’s line to help ease the damage. His fellow linemates, Milan Lucic and, particularly, David Pastrnak played a very solid game combining for ten shots on goal, two goals, one assist and a plus-six rating.

    Lucic and Pastrnak both played a role in Spooner’s winner. During an odd man rush, Lucic created space by drawing defenders in front of the net, while Pastrnak delivered a tape to tape pass to Spooner who did the rest.

    Not bad for a line that was put together less than a week ago when David Krejci went down with a partially torn MCL.

    “I came off the bench and it was 4-on-2 and I got a great pass,” Spooner told reporters following the Bruins’ 3-2 overtime win at the Prudential Center in Newark. “I’m not sure if it went off their guys’ stick but I’m just happy I scored. I was honestly shocked. I was like, ‘Oh wow, it actually went in.’ ”

    After spending most of the 2014-15 season in Providence, a season where he was projected to be one of the 12 regular forwards with Boston on a nightly basis, many are considering his recent call up to be one of the final chances he has with the big club.

    Through three games, Spooner is making the most of his opportunity notching a goal and an assist while averaging about 16 minutes of ice time over that span.

    “He’s really been playing well in this stint he’s been up with us,” Julien told NESN’s Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley. “He’s skating well, he’s doing a lot of good things. Just the experience and the confidence of a guy being up for the (fourth) time getting better all the time.”

    General Manager Peter Chiarelli will still be working the phones in hopes of acquiring a player or two before Monday’s 3 pm trade deadline. In the meantime, the B’s are desperately looking for a spark from their roster as they try to right the ship after their February slump.

    On this night, Spooner delivered that spark.

    Facebook Comments
    Tags:
    Tim Rosenthal

    Tim Rosenthal serves as the Managing Editor of Bruins Daily. He started contributing videos to the site in 2010 before fully coming on board during the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2011. His bylines over the last decade have been featured on Boston.com, FoxSports.com, College Hockey News, Patch and Inside Hockey. You can follow Tim on Twitter @_TimRosenthal.

      1

    You Might also Like

    1 Comments

    Leave a Comment