What started out as a memorable night for the Boston Bruins and Willie O’Ree quickly turned into a nightmare as the Carolina Hurricanes outscored their opponents 7-1 on Tuesday at TD Garden.
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The Bruins took advantage of the passage of their rivals from Raleigh to remove the number 22 jersey from O’Ree in the heights of their amphitheater.
The main interested party was watching the ceremony from his daughter’s home in San Diego, he who did not cross the country to attend due to fears over COVID-19.
“To the Bruins fans, it was an honor to have played in front of you,” O’Ree said in the video shown on the giant screen at TD Garden. Thank you for all your love and support. I will never forget this day. I’m excited to be part of Bruins history forever.
Although he only played 45 National Hockey League (NHL) games during his career – all with the Bruins – O’Ree instantly became a hockey pioneer. 64 years ago, on January 18, the now 86-year-old man became the very first black man to lace up skates in an NHL game. He eventually amassed 14 points in the top hockey league.
“I’ll never forget how my teammates accepted me as one of their own in the locker room,” O’Ree said. It was a time when some fans and opposing players weren’t ready for a black man to play in the NHL.”
It was against the Montreal Canadiens that O’Ree played his first game in the NHL.
“Simply by stepping onto the Montreal Forum rink in a Boston Bruins jersey 64 years ago, Willie changed our sport,” said commissioner Gary Bettman, present at the TD Garden.
A few years after ending his playing career, O’Ree became an NHL ambassador to promote diversity in hockey.
Moreover, the only black NHL official, Shandor Alphonso, was in uniform for the Bruins and Hurricanes game, as a linesman. Jay Sharrers, the Bettman Tour’s first black umpire, now retired, was also assigned a role for the special evening, acting as umpiring supervisor.
Rask blown by a hurricane
Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask still did not seem to have recovered from the emotions experienced during the ceremony at the time of the initial face-off, he who yielded for the first time barely 3 min 44 s after it.
The Finn was not at the end of his troubles, since he finally allowed five goals in the first twenty. Former Canadian Jesperi Kotkaniemi particularly benefited from the largesse of his rival, who hit the target twice. Seth Jarvis and Derek Stepan also outsmarted him.
The Massachusetts roster’s masked man was eventually retired after the first 20 minutes, having barely made seven saves on 12 shots. His replacement, Linus Ullmark, for his part made 20 saves from 22 attempts, allowing goals to Jaccob Slavin and Andrei Svechnikov.
At the other end of the ice, Frederik Andersen was only deceived by Patrice Bergeron, thus signing the victory thanks to a performance of 31 saves.
Perfetti opens the counter, Ovechkin at the top
He needed five games, but Cole Perfetti scored his first career National League goal. Tom Wilson, however, played the spoilsport by scoring in overtime in the Capitals’ 4-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday in Washington.
Perfetti took advantage of a perfect pass from Quebecer Pierre-Luc Dubois during a 2-on-1 run to deceive Vitek Vanecek with a good shot. He gave the visitors a two-goal lead after just 2:20 of play. Dubois also hit the target later in the game.
The Capitals, however, replied, three times rather than one, notably through captain Alexander Ovechkin. With his 27e net and bran 55e point of the campaign, the Russian took the first rank of scorers and pointers in the National League ahead of Leon Draisaitl (26 goals, 54 points).
Senators come up against Michael Houser
In Ottawa, goaltender Michael Houser repeatedly frustrated Senators skaters to help the Buffalo Sabers win 3-1.
The 29-year-old saved an impressive 43 pucks, yielding only to Drake Batherson in the second period as the crowd favorites played with a man advantage.
Dylan Cozens, in the first period, and Mark Jankowski, in the final period, deceived the vigilance of Senators goalkeeper Anton Forsberg, while Alex Tuch completed the scoring in an empty net.
Elsewhere in the NHL
Oliver Wahlstrom snapped an impressive 17-save shootout streak from both goalies to give the New York Islanders a 4-3 win over the Flyers in Philadelphia.
In Nashville, a power-play goal by Brock Boeser 3:41 into the third period proved to be the difference maker in a 3-1 Vancouver Canucks win over the Predators.