‘Dominant’ Dmitry Orlov making huge impact for Bruins in every area originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
BOSTON — Dmitry Orlov knows what playoff-type atmospheres are all about.
He appeared in 74 postseason games with the Washington Capitals over the last seven seasons, and he played a key role on the 2017-18 Capitals team that won the Stanley Cup.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Russian defenseman played an important part of the Boston Bruins‘ 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon at TD Garden.
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It was a hard-fought 60 minutes that included multiple fights, plenty of huge hits, guys laying their bodies on the line to block shots and plenty of post-whistle scrums.
“I think 85 percent of it was will, by both teams,” Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery said. “It just made for a really good hockey game, maybe a late 1980s, early 1990s type of hockey game, but it’s great because we’re going to face this in the playoffs. We’re going to face games where it’s physical and it’s hard. I really liked the way we responded. After the first period, I thought we really got to our game 5-on-5, and I just thought everyone started winning foot races, which is a huge indicator of not being deterred by any physicality that comes our way.”
The Bruins upgraded their blue line in a major way last month by acquiring Orlov — as well as bottom-six forward Garnet Hathaway — in a trade with the Washington Capitals.
Orlov has made an imprint on so many of the 14 games he’s played for the Bruins, and Saturday’s showdown was yet another example. He set a physical tone and played fantastic in all three zones at 5-on-5 and on special teams.
He was especially clutch during the second period when the Bruins spent nearly three straight minutes on the penalty kill — a stretch that included 70 seconds of a 5-on-3 Lightning power play with two good penalty killers, Charlie McAvoy and Brandon Carlo, in the box.
Orlov played the entire penalty kill and did a great job preventing the Lightning from generating quality scoring chances.
“We did a pretty good job. They didn’t have any shots,” Orlov said when asked about that pivotal second-period penalty kill. “We stayed tight and Bergy had a good stick and we had a couple good blocks. It was important. We tried to stay close and not give them any opportunities. It was a huge PK for us.”
The Lightning had five power-play opportunities and…