Bruins' Mark Kastelic makes his feelings known after chucking knuckles against Robert Bortuzzo twice in the same game

By Abhilasha Aditi

Modified Nov 22, 2024 05:49 GMT

Mark Kastelic returned to the Boston Bruins lineup on Thursday night after missing one game due to injury. He made an impact right away, fighting Robert Bortuzzo, a defenseman for the Utah Hockey Club, twice. The Bruins won the game 1-0 at TD Garden.

Mark Kastelic, who is 6-foot-4 and weighs 226 pounds, wasn’t intimidated by the physical play. His first fight with Bortuzzo happened early in the first period. Bortuzzo jumped onto the ice, grabbed Kastelic and they exchanged punches before falling. The second fight in the second period was more intense. Kastelic landed several right-handed punches, sending Bortuzzo to the ice.

“Sometimes it’s more technical, sometimes it’s just a little bit more rage, whatever you call it,” Kastelic said (via NESN). “That time I was a little bit angry, but that’s just a part of it."

“I wasn’t even thinking about that,” Kastelic added. “He plays hard over there and I respect it. But at the same time, I think those situations just arise when two guys play hard like that.”

Kastelic said there was no personal rivalry with Bortuzzo, despite their roughing penalties in a previous game between the Bruins and Utah. He explained that the fights were just about playing hard and being passionate.

“The first one just happened and the second one was just being passionate about the game,” he said.

Mark Kastelic's return was crucial for the Bruins, who were on a three-game losing streak and had recently changed coaches.

Mark Kastelic joined the team following Montgomery's firing after a 5-1 loss

The Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Boston Bruins 5-1 at TD Garden on Monday, scoring two short-handed goals. Bruins coach Jim Montgomery had talked about making improvements before getting fired from his coaching role.

“We just keep building,” Montgomery said (via NHL.com).“We just keep demanding that we get to the level that we need to get to.”

Dmitri Voronkov scored the first goal at 5:17 of the first period and Mathieu Olivier made it 2-0. James van Riemsdyk scored late in the first to make it 3-0. Charlie Coyle scored Boston’s only goal at 14:30 of the second period.

Justin Danforth added another short-handed goal for Columbus in the third period at 7:19. Yegor Chinakhov scored the final goal at 14:10 to make it 5-1. Swayman stopped 23 shots for the Bruins, they had lost three straight games prior to the win against Utah.