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Kalman: Krejci Penalty Spoils Vatrano's Bruins Debut Versus Montreal

BOSTON (CBS) -- Bruins rookie forward Frank Vatrano probably learned a lot of lessons during his NHL debut Saturday in Montreal, but two stand out more than the others.

First, Vatrano learned that when he has an open chance to use his rocket-hard shot, he should take it. The UMass product fired three shots within the vicinity of the Canadiens' goal, including his first NHL goal in Boston's 4-2 loss.

Second, Vatrano learned that even the smartest, most experienced players can lose their cool and in the closing minutes of a tie road game against the team with the best record in the NHL, discipline should be foremost in everyone's mind.

Unfortunately for Vatrano, his linemate David Krejci lost his cool at the worst possible time and decided to settle a score with his Czech Olympic team teammate Tomas Plekanec with 2:08 remaining in a 2-2 game. Krejci, who picked up two minors earlier in the game, cross checked Plekanec near the benches and went off for a minor penalty. That set up the Bruins' league-worst penalty kill to give the game to the Canadiens.

Montreal scored with 1:08 remaining and the Bruins' otherwise solid road performance went to waste. They're left with one more game on their road trip to try and get a win after losing the opener to the Washington Capitals on Thursday. Perhaps the Bruins will consider not taking a stupid penalty at a crucial time against the New York Islanders on Sunday.

You'll remember that against the Capitals, forward Brad Marchand took a roughing penalty while the Bruins were already killing off a shorthanded situation. The Capitals scored on the ensuing 5-on-3 to extend their lead to 3-1 on the way to a 4-1 win. Marchand missed some ice time after his lack of discipline.

There wasn't enough time left for coach Claude Julien to discipline Krejci. And he shouldn't have to dole out any punishment. Krejci, a veteran who's been wearing an alternate captains' A for a couple seasons, has to know he put himself ahead of the team and he can't do that again regardless of the time, score or opponent. He seemed contrite in his postgame media session.

For a while it looked like Vatrano was going to be the hero. The way he skated off the right wall and then beat Montreal goaltender Mike Condon with a wrist shot from the high slot to give the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 8:51 elapsed in the second period, you never would've known he was playing his first NHL game.

Vatrano has proven he's a quick learner so far in his pro career. After a brief stint with Providence of the American Hockey League last spring, the Bruins informed him that he had to lose some weight. So the free agent signee went into the summer and transformed himself from "Frank the Tank" to "Frank the Coupe." The offseason work paid off. Vatrano challenged for a roster spot all training camp and then started the season with 10 goals in 10 games for Providence.

With Alexander Khokhlachev not doing enough to make people forget about David Pastrnak's injury, the Bruins decided Friday to swap Khokhlachev for Vatrano and insert Vatrano on the line with Krejci and Loui Eriksson. That decision paid dividends almost immediately.

In training camp, Julien compared the 5-foot-9 Vatrano to Marchand as a player with the requisite skill to play in the NHL assuming he could overcome his size deficiency. One would assume that ability to play in the NHL also includes a discipline piece, which Marchand still struggles with. And now Vatrano has seen firsthand what a lack of discipline can do to a team with little margin for error because of its talent gap on the penalty kill and in the defense corps. A lack of discipline by a teammate ruined Vatrano's coming out party. Lesson learned.

Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @TheBruinsBlog.

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