The Bruins overcame an terrible first interval, a two-goal deficit, the lack of two defensemen and a five-minute main penalty in opposition to them within the third interval to notch their finest character victory of the younger season on Monday on the Garden.
Just incomes a degree would have been thought-about a fairly stable ethical victory contemplating the circumstances, however Pavel Zacha topped off the electrical comeback with the winner with 1:24 left in additional time to elevate the B’s to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers that appeared extremely unbelievable earlier within the night time.
“It was a very gutsy win and we stuck with it for all 60-plus minutes,” mentioned Linus Ullmark, who made 36 saves for the win.
The win is not going to erase the ache that the Panthers inflicted on the B’s final April, as captain Brad Marchand readily admitted, but it surely ought to function a fairly good constructing block.
“I just think you can build some confidence,” mentioned Marchand, who began the comeback. “These are the games, especially going down the stretch and in the playoffs, that you have to be able to win. Right now, it’s just another two points but it’s definitely something where we can understand when we come in between periods, look at our game and make adjustments, it can make a difference. We saw that tonight.”
After the brutal first interval wherein they went down 2-0, the B’s discovered their footing within the second with a Marchand aim after which Charlie McAvoy tied it up at 7:20 of the third interval off an attractive rush. Zacha made a pleasant contact go to David Pastrnak, who had pace going by the impartial zone. Pastrnak sliced from left to proper by the offensive zone and lifted a go to the dashing McAvoy, who flipped residence his second aim in as many video games previous Sergei Bobrovsky.
But McAvoy put his workforce in a gap with a success to the pinnacle on Oliver Ekman-Larson with the puck nowhere near the world within the offensive zone, incomes a match penalty and probably a few video games off. That gave the Panthers a five-minute energy play and put the B’s down 4 defensemen after Matt Grzelcyk had left the sport within the first interval with an higher physique damage (he’s anticipated to overlook a few weeks).
The B’s and their incredible penalty killers (now 36-of-37 on the season) did their job and survived the main, pushing the sport to OT.
“It was tremendous character by our four defensemen (Brandon Carlo, Derek Forbort, Hampus Lindholm and Kevin Shattenkirk) that gutted it out. And also for our team coming back against a real good team from 2-0 down and be able to find a way to win,” mentioned coach Jim Montgomery.
It was the night time earlier than Halloween, however the Bruins skilled all their nightmarish flashbacks from final spring within the first interval, when the Panthers received all the important thing battles on the blue strains, received their sticks in lanes to thwart scoring probabilities and completely pissed off the B’s on breakouts.
The B’s incurred their first multi-goal deficit within the opening 20 minutes – and it might have been worse than the 2-0 rating that it was. The Panthers dominated, outshooting the B’s 16-6 within the first.
The B’s had a glimmer of spark within the early going, but it surely rapidly blew up of their faces.
Rookie Matt Poitras broke in on an odd-man rush and from the left wing fired a shot that Bobrovsky kicked out for a protracted rebound. With McAvoy pinched down on the proper level, Sasha Barkov took off on a 2-on-1 with Sam Reinhart. Grzelcyk took Reinhart and gave Ullmark the shooter, however the goalie’s glove couldn’t catch as much as Barkov’s wrister at 6:13.
That appeared to throw the B’s into disarray, as they continued to cough up the puck all around the ice. The Panthers doubled their lead at 15:08. Poitras misplaced the puck behind the B’s internet and Barkov pounced on it. He circled the cage and located Reinhart out entrance for Reinhart’s eighth of the season.
In the second, Montgomery shifted his strains, shifting Zacha to the wing with Poitras and Pastrnak, and placing Charlie Coyle with Jake DeBrusk and Marchand. On prime of that, the B’s simplified their sport, received pucks behind their defensemen and received to their very own forecheck.
The B’s additionally got here with extra snarl – and it paid fast dividends. On one shift, Shattenkirk dropped Anton Lundell with a forearm and Morgan Geekie deposited Nick Cousins into the Florida bench, creating the primary buzz within the constructing.
“It got some juice to the bench and it got the crowd going, too,” mentioned Montgomery.
Then, at 3:38 of the second, the B’s gave Florida a dose of their very own drugs to attract to inside a aim. Coyle stored a puck in on the blue line and fed a circling DeBrusk. DeBrusk took it deep down the correct wing and fed it out entrance for Marchand, who simply received his stick on it to nudge it previous Bobrovsky, who’d come out of his internet to face a possible DeBrusk shot. It was Marchand’s fifth of the 12 months.
The B’s lastly had some momentum, but it surely was thwarted by a foul name. Geekie was clearly knocked into Bobrovsky by defenseman Josh Mahura however he was despatched off for goalie interference. The B’s killed that off and, on the finish of the kill, the Panthers misplaced Sam Bennett, who was making his season debut after struggling a decrease physique damage within the preseason. Bennett received snarled with Hampus Lindholm and appeared to harm his left knee, needing assist to get off the ice.
Heading into the third, the B’s remained in hanging distance, because of a terrific save on Evan Rodrigues’ one-timer in tight late within the second. The B’s made it rely, tying it within the third then hanging on for expensive life on the prolonged penalty kill earlier than the OT.
Both groups had good probabilities to win it within the additional session, however when a free puck got here to Zacha on the correct boards within the defensive zone, he went the gap on his off wing, beating Bobrovsky with a pointy wrist shot to the far aspect to maintain the B’s unbeaten within the regulation (8-0-1).
“It was an important win, especially after last year. this game meant a little bit more,” mentioned Zacha. “You want to beat teams like this.”
Source: www.bostonherald.com