Just a couple of weeks ago, it was open season on Casey Mittelstadt.<\/p>\n
Seemingly a lightning rod for criticism since he was drafted eighth overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2017, Mittelstadt found himself a healthy scratch in Utah on Oct. 19 and the knives were out for him again.<\/p>\n
But a funny thing has happened. Mittelstadt has pushed back with some very good play, and in all three zones with his vastly improving second line with Pavel Zacha and Viktor Arvidsson. And on Saturday at the Garden, he earned third star honors by scoring a goal and assisting on Arvidsson\u2019s game-winner in the Bruins\u2019 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.<\/p>\n
The healthy scratch is a clear line of demarcation in Mittelstadt\u2019s season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve said this to your guys before. I could sit and pout about it but what\u2019s that going to do for me?\u201d said Mittelstadt. \u201cI\u2019ve wanted to be a hockey player my whole life so I feel very grateful too be able to do this and to wear this sweater. For me, there\u2019s really no time to pout. Just come in the next day and keep working hard. Things usually work out when the hard work is there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coach Marco Sturm got the reaction he wanted from Mittelstadt after the scratch.<\/p>\n
\u201cCasey was not happy when he got scratched. He was pissed off and he should be. But he showed a reaction,\u201d said Sturm.<\/p>\n
Another major development for Mittelstadt was being moved from center to wing while Zacha has taken over the pivot duties.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be honest, I think it\u2019s really helped me, too,\u201d said Mittelstadt. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the things Marco and I talked about when he took me out. I think there were times earlier in my career when I was struggling in Buffalo and (former coach) Donnie Granato would put me on the wing and I felt like it really helped me find my game again. I\u2019m very comfortable along the walls. I think I\u2019m good along the walls. It gives me some confidence throughout the whole rink. It\u2019s been great. And Pav\u2019s a proven center. It\u2019s not like we put someone in there who can\u2019t do it. He\u2019s doing a heck of a job and he\u2019s a heck of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
The second line has also been relied upon to shut down the opposition\u2019s best players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019re just playing with speed and making plays. If mistakes are made, guys are covering for each other and working hard. I think we\u2019ve done a good job sorting things out in the D zone and going up ice from there. He\u2019s kind of challenged us with the top line of the other team, so I feel like we responded well,\u201d said Mittelstadt.<\/p>\n
Turning on power<\/p>\n
Under the guidance of assistant coach Steve Spott, the Bruins went into Saturday\u2019s game with the 13th-ranked power play, clicking at 22.2%. That station isn\u2019t the ultimate goal, but it is much better than last year, when it finished ranked 29th with a 15.2% success rate. Sturm has liked what he\u2019s seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been really good. They\u2019re already ahead of what we were hoping for. They\u2019re really getting the message of what we\u2019re trying to do here,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cI think we\u2019re a threat now on the power play. It\u2019s going to change a little bit with (Elias Lindholm) out. He gave us a really good faceoffs to get the puck right away. (Viktor Arvidsson) will be in his spot, not taking the draw but he\u2019s played on good power plays, too, so we\u2019re very confident that he can do the same as Lindy on that unit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sturm has liked the fluidity of the man advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s puck movement, player movement. You don\u2019t have to be in the same spot all the time,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cI think it\u2019s having a faster mindset, more aggressive, more direct mindset. It\u2019s just a combination of everything. So that\u2019s what we tried to do. It starts with faceoffs, breakouts. We already scored a few breakout goals because we have good structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
The B\u2019s had one unsuccessful power play on Saturday.<\/p>\n
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Happy with this six-pack of defensemen the previous two games, Sturm scratched Mason Lohrei for the third straight game.<\/p>\n
The coach was hoping it was providing the young defenseman with some motivational ammunition for when he returns to the lineup, whenever that may be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe should be pissed. He should be very pissed. He should be upset,\u201d said Sturm. \u201cHe works hard in practice. He\u2019s ready, he\u2019s just waiting for his opportunities. I think that\u2019s the goal, having him out there and be a little different when he comes back. Watching from upstairs, watching some other players what they do well, what they do wrong, too. It\u2019s a learning process for him right now and that\u2019s why we do it. But when it\u2019s his turn, we\u2019re hoping he gets better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Jonathan Aspirot has given the B\u2019s some steady, no-frills defense on the third pairing with Henri Jokiharju. In his third NHL game, the 26-year-old Aspirot skated 15:22 with two blocks on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just a couple of weeks ago, it was open season on Casey Mittelstadt. Seemingly a lightning rod for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":279648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5107],"tags":[95,530,194,29,5176,5,195,1714,40,4,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-279647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-hurricanes","8":"tag-boston-bruins","9":"tag-bruins","10":"tag-carolina","11":"tag-carolina-hurricanes","12":"tag-carolinahurricanes","13":"tag-hockey","14":"tag-hurricanes","15":"tag-mason-lohrei","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115476793010863499","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}