Vaakanainen Debuts in Bruins OT Loss to Vancouver

VANCOUVER - Like most the night before their NHL debut, Urho Vaakanainen didn't get much sleep.
And while there were undoubtedly plenty of butterflies rummaging through his stomach, his lack of shuteye was less about nerves and more about logistics.

The 19-year-old suited up for Providence in Bridgeport, Conn., on Friday night and afterwards found out from coach Jay Leach that he'd be joining the big club. After about an hour or two of sleep, Vaakanainen headed to Logan Airport for a 6 a.m. flight to Vancouver - with a stop in Toronto.
"I didn't really sleep, I had like three naps, that's pretty much it," Vaakanainen quipped. "[Friday] night when I got back from Bridgeport I slept like an hour, then I slept the first flight to Toronto so it was like an hour and a half, then at the hotel [in Vancouver] I took a couple hours nap."

Despite that long day of travel, the former first-round pick settled in for his first game in Black & Gold and - after a tough first shift - played solidly in 12:26 of ice time.
"He was good. He had good composure," said Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy. "I don't know that we used him a lot, on the road is not always easy for your first game when we're already down some defensemen. You want to make sure you put them in the best position possible.
"I think he'll be fine from what I saw in exhibition games. He didn't seem to get himself in a lot of trouble. Obviously we'll go through it after and watch where the issues were.
"I think he'll have net-front battles - below-the-goal-line battles will be new for him here. These are big men. But all in all I thought he was fine."
Vaakanainen was recalled earlier in the day on an emergency basis due to injuries to Charlie McAvoy (undisclosed) and Kevan Miller (hand), which required both players to return to Boston. The Sweden native jumped right into the lineup and was paired with Matt Grzelcyk to start. And what a start it was.
On the duo's first shift, Brandon Sutter corralled a bouncing buck between the two defensemen and slid a shot under Jaroslav Halak's pad - a tally the Bruins goalie admitted after the game he'd like to have back.
"Pretty bad start, first shift and they score," said Vaakanainen. "But after that I think I played pretty well, got better all the time. First period was pretty hard for me, but the last two periods were much better."
More notes and observations from the Bruins' loss to Vancouver:

Tripped Up

The Bruins' setback in Vancouver was their second consecutive overtime loss and third overall, leaving them winless so far on their road swing through Canada. Despite out playing the Canucks for, what they believed, was the final 40 minutes, the Bruins once again left disappointed after Bo Horvat scored off a Boston miscue with 1:48 to play in the extra session.
"It was a game we went into expecting to win," Cassidy said when asked if a point was acceptable given the team's injuries. "It didn't happen. I thought we played well enough to win again. When you're in overtime and your goalie doesn't stand on your head to get you there, then usually you've played well enough. I thought their goalie was really good, made some big saves for them, our power play finally generated some stuff that we couldn't get behind them.
"Easily could have gone our way, it didn't. And these are the types of game you've got to build off and I thought Edmonton was a lot like that too. That's the way it goes.
"We need a little more finish around the net and these games don't get to overtime. You go through stretches like that. Hopefully we come out of it Tuesday in Ottawa."

Hitting the Switch

Cassidy opted to alter his lines towards the end of the first period and into the second as the Bruins struggled to generate much offensively, landing just five shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes. He made the much-speculated-about move of shifting David Pastrnak down to play with David Krejci and Jake DeBrusk and tried both Danton Heinen and Anders Bjork on the right side with Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand.
"I know him so well, I know what to expect from him," Pastrnak said of playing with Krejci. "For me, I'm a way different player than I used to be when I used to play with him. I've grown a little bit, it's been a while since we played together. At the [World Championships] we knew we've still got it together. He's a righty like Bergy, makes similar plays to Bergy. For me it's not much of a change."
Ultimately, Cassidy switched back to his original lines, which appeared to spark the Bruins, who outshot Vancouver, 25-13, over the final two periods and tied the game at 1 on Joakim Nordstrom's snipe at 7:45 of the third.

"I didn't think we manufactured anything in the first period, shake them up a little bit," said Cassidy. "Pasta we moved with Krech for a little bit, get him away from a matchup - they were hard matching Bergy. We went back to that, figured we would. Was just trying to generate a little offense. I thought we were a little stagnant, and get their attention.
"I thought we were better the last 40 minutes. Whether it had anything to do with the lines being switched up, I don't know. We just wanted to play harder and win a hockey game."

Halak Starts Again

Halak made his second consecutive start between the pipes and once again played well - outside of Vancouver's first goal sliding under his pads - stopping 20 of the 22 shots he faced. Cassidy said his decision to start Halak came down to giving Tuukka Rask more practice time to find his game.
"The quick explanation is, Tuukka we all agree, his game is not where it needs to be," said Cassidy. "We didn't [have] morning skate in Edmonton, two guys skated. Off [on Friday]. So really to work on his game he would have had one morning skate today.
"He got some work in with [goalie coach Bob Essensa] after [morning skate on Saturday], he'll have a good team practice on Monday and hopefully Tuesday he's where he needs to be.
"I'm not gonna tell you he's in Tuesday, but that was the thinking behind it. There wasn't a lot of work in between games. I think he'd be the first to tell you that he wants to get his work in and be as sharp as he can for his next start."

Backes Scratched

David Backes was a late scratch after not feeling 100 percent during the morning skate. The veteran forward took a high hit from Matt Benning on Thursday in Edmonton, briefly leaving the game in the first period before returning to play just over six minutes.
"We exercised caution there," said Cassidy. "We'll list it as upper body - you all saw the hit. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow and gets back on the ice Monday. You want to be cautious first of all. This is a player's health that left at the end of last year with a concussion, so you want to make sure that there's no long-term by rushing something.
"Obviously he's a veteran guy, it's his call, and we support it 100 percent and hopefully one game doesn't turn into a bunch. But I guess we'll see tomorrow how he feels."