After losing 13 games in a row to the Montreal Canadiens, the Boston Bruins finally came through last night (and saved their season for at least two more nights) by winning 2-1 in overtime at the Garden.
Marc Savard fittingly scored the winner, his first playoff goal in only his third career game. How someone as gifted as Savard never made the playoffs before is baffling. He must have been on some terrible teams.
The overtime goal was a beauty. The Bruins had just received a delayed penalty call on the Habs so Peter Schaefer held the puck in the offensive zone before dropping it to Dennis Wideman. Savard was the extra skater when Tim Thomas (28 saves) got to the bench. He went to the other side of the net and Widemen hit him with a tape to tape pass. Savard loaded and fired quickly, beating Montreal goalie Carey Price (31 saves), who slid over a second too late.
It was a night of firsts as Boston also scored the first goal of the game (something it hadn't done in 11 games this season against the Canadiens) when Milan Lucic (assists to Savard and Marc Stuart) ripped a wrist shot top shelf, six and a half minutes in.
Tom Kostopoulos scored for Montreal in the second and then the team's traded chances but couldn't score in the third, sending it to overtime for the second straight night.
All jokes aside, the playoff atmosphere at the Garden was actually top-notch. It helped that there were plenty of Canadiens fans in jerseys there too but the hometown crowd was into the game all night. Who knows if the Bruins will win another game but for one night at least hockey was alive and well in the Hub.
The pivotal game 4 is tomorrow night at the Garden.
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