Caron breaks through, Ference goes down against Oilers
BOSTON – Thursday night’s game between the Bruins
and Oilers was touted by many as a clash between two former
first-round draft picks, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall and
Boston’s Tyler Seguin, a full season removed from being
selected 1-2 by the Oilers and Bruins in the 2010 Entry Draft.
Both phenoms had big nights, with Seguin (1-1—2) outdoing
Hall (0-1—1) and the Bruins running away from the Oilers
late. But just outside the spotlight, another former Bruin first
rounder had a solid outing for himself, too.
Jordan Caron, taken 25th overall in 2009, has been in and out of
the lineup this season, and was a healthy scratch for three
straight games last month. But he’s played in the last five,
and Thursday night picked up his first goal of the season. It
won’t win any beauty contests, but his dribbler through a
crossed-up Devan Dubnyk, off a feed from 2007 first-rounder Zach
Hamill, counts just the same.
Caron slotted into the wing on a line with Hamill and Chris Kelly,
and looked plenty comfortable putting his big frame in front of the
net and in the way of Oiler puck movers.
“He’s a young player, and the more he plays, the more
comfortable he gets,” coach Claude Julien said.
“He’s another guy like Zach (Hamill). We like his
hockey sense, makes smart decisions, and for the most part,
he’s always in the right place, so he’s certainly
becoming a pretty good player for us.”
Caron is starting to get the hang of making regular starts, and he
said it has led to more confidence, which he said was the toughest
part of his learning curve last year.
“I think just by getting more ice time, and coming to the
rink knowing you’re playing, you don’t have to worry
about all those things, and it does help a lot,” he said.
“I’ve been working hard since the start of the season.
I think right now, I’m getting rewarded for that. It’s
a long season, there’s going to be ups and downs, just got to
make sure I’m pushing hard every game of the season, and
there’ll be more good nights than bad.”
Caron’s spot in the roster may hinge on the health of Rich
Peverley, who could return to the ice as soon as Saturday if his
recent regular practice appearances are any indication. Either way,
Caron has certainly made the choice to pull him out of uniform a
little more difficult over the last couple of weeks.
Down goes Ference
Andrew Ference led the Bruins in time on ice in the first period,
but played just two shifts in the second before disappearing with a
lower-body injury, according to Julien.
The defenseman played an unremarkable 1:37 shift on the power play
at the start of the second period, took a 27-second break and went
back on the ice with 3:50 gone in the middle frame after Brad
Marchand tipped a Joe Corvo shot to make it 3-2.
He chased Edmonton’s Lennart Petrell and Anton Lander in the
corner to Tuukka Rask’s left, and after a turnover sent the
Bruins back up ice, he stood up and slowly followed the play before
going to the bench after just 21 seconds on the ice, and
wasn’t heard from again.
“Only a lower-body injury right now, and I don’t know
the severity of it, so that’s all I can give you,”
Julien said after the game.
Ference’s absence obviously left a huge hole, particularly
on the power play. Yet the Bruins responded with aplomb,
particularly the rearguard, which shuffled defensive pairs and
showed few signs of tiring out.
“Any time you go down to five D, it’s in the back of
your mind that you have to reserve your energy and pick your
spots,” defenseman Joe Corvo said. “I thought we did a
good job of managing our shifts and keeping the minutes
down.”
To wit, even warhorse Zdeno Chara wasn’t thrown into the mix
too much more than usual, though his 28:34 on ice was the highest
of the season and led the team.
The only sign that the depleted backline was suffering came late
in the third, when Ryan Smyth cut the Bruins’ lead to one
goal on the power play. The Oilers had overloaded to the left wing
throughout the man advantage, and when they altered tactics to
simply start closing in on the Bruin net, Smyth was able to get
position on Boychuk and tap in an Eric Belanger feed for his second
goal of the night.
“Our guys just kind of got caught,” Julien said.
“They were tired at the end, but even when they were tired in
the second half of the power play, they were really smart at
getting into the shooting lanes and keeping the puck to the
outside.”
If Ference’s injury ends up sidelining him for
Saturday’s game against Buffalo, it will likely signal the
return of Steve Kampfer, a healthy scratch for the last six games.
It’ll mean some reshuffling, but the Bruins’ defense
corps showed Thursday that they’re capable of handling a
little change.