Bruins Rookie Tournament Recap

This weekend, the Bruins, along with the Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers and Nashville Predators, took part in a round-robin tournament down in Florida. The Floridian teams boast two of the best prospect systems in the NHL so it was a good preview of some of the future in the Flortheast division.

Game 1 vs. Tampa Bay (5-5 Tie)

Lines/Defensive Pairings:

Lindblad-Spooner-Knight
Camara-Khokhlachev-Griffith
Florek-Fallstrom-Villemaire
Dempsey-Hart-Simpson

Cross-Spinell
Beaureguard-Trotman
Cord-Casto

Subban
Morrison

Recap:

Camara started off the scoring with a power-play goal midway through the first. Soon after Tampa answered a period later, Trotman reclaimed the lead for Boston with another goal on the man advantage. The conclusion of the period would see Tampa tie things up bringing it to two a piece going into the third. Eight minutes into the third, the Bruins and Lightning traded goals, with Koko scoring for the black and gold. Villemaire broke things open with two goals to put the Bruins up 5-3 with four minutes remaining. Unfortunately, the lead wasn't good enough and Tampa Bay tied it up to end the game in a 5-5 tie.

And some of Kirk Luedeke's thoughts on the game:

Malcolm Subban was great early & made some tremendous stops, but faltered and struggled at the end, giving up a 5-3 lead late. Took it hard

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 6, 2013

@BruinsQuebec If the game had ended after 2 periods, Subban. Trotman was best D, Max Villemaire impressed too up front. Opportunistic scores

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 6, 2013

@JesseDesrochers On D- Zach Trotman. Offensively, probably Camara, but Koko amped it up in late 2nd/3rd.

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 7, 2013

One last tweet on today, but Steve Spinell was an unsung hero on D. He skates well, keeps the play in front of him. Solid, unspectacular

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 7, 2013

Game 2 vs. Florida (4-5 Loss)

Lines/Defensive Pairings:

Florek-Spooner-Knight
Camara-Khokhlachev-Griffith
Elynuik-Fallstrom-Villemaire
Dempsey-Lindblad-Simpson

Trotman-Spinell
Cross-Spinell
Cord-Casto

Morrison
Subban

Recap:

The Bruins started the game off impressively with four first period goals. Trotman, Koko, Camara and Knight all scored to give the Bruins a seemingly ironclad lead. Unfortunately, thanks in part to a Nick Bjugstad hattrick, the Bruins blew the lead and the game giving up five over the final forty. The game ended in a disappointing 5-4 loss for Boston. Casto and Camara both dropped the gloves in the game.

And some of Kirk Luedeke's thoughts on the game:

Report out of Boston room is that Campbell Elynuik suffered upper body injury in awkward fall when he engaged Gudbranson in 1st. Rough break

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 7, 2013

Alexander Khokhlachev & Ryan Spooner shining as Boston's best forwards today. Florida PBP & former NHLer Randy Moller impressed with both

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 7, 2013

Zach Trotman carrying over another strong 2-way game on D today with another 1-1-2 effort-still 1period to play #WatchthisGuy

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 7, 2013

Quick hits after today's B's rookie game- Jared Knight was excellent- hungry & motivated- paid off with a shorty #confidencebuilder

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 8, 2013

Other thoughts: Mitch Dempsey looked more settled- finished checks with authority. Justin Florek was effective down low- took & gave hits

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 8, 2013

Tommy Cross pretty steady on back end- did usual solid work to keep forwards to outside; Bruce Cassidy singled him & Trotman out for kudos

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 8, 2013

One last tweet before I take off- Alexander Fallstrom had a strong game vs Panthers. Industrious & bright player- his shootout move was boss

— Kirk Luedeke (@kluedeke29) September 8, 2013

Game report

Interviews with Jared Knight, Koko and coach Bruce Cassidy

Game 3 vs. Nashville (2-2 Tie)

Lines/Defensive Pairings:

Lindblad-Spooner-Knight
Camara-Khokhlachev-Griffith
Florek-Fallstrom-Villemaire
Dempsey-Hart-Simpson

Cross-Spinell
Cord-Lees
Beauregard-Casto

Subban
Morrison

Recap:

Griffith put Boston up early with a goal two minutes in. Despite strong efforts from Subban, Nashville pressure yielded a game tying goal in the second and a go-ahead goal in the third. The other former Harvard Captain, Alex Fallstrom brought the Bruins back with a goal in the third and that's how things would end, in a 2-2 tie.

...

Don't get caught up in that 0-1-2 record. This is more of a showcase affair than one concerning wins and losses. The inability to hold multi-goal leads is a little disconcerting, but on the bright side, there was a nice bit of secondary scoring. And can any version of Nashville score? Rookie Camp wraps up tomorrow with a practice at Ristuccia. Then Bruins training camp officially opens on Wednesday.