The B's Closed Out November In Style: With Another Memorable Rally & OT Win at TD Garden

It's probably not a sustainable way to get positive results in the long run but at least for the time being, the Bruins (18-3-5) are finding ways to get wins even when they sleepwalk through much of a game. This afternoon in their usual Black Friday matinee at TD Garden, they spotted the Rangers (12-9-3) a 2-0 lead early in the second period only to rally for a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory thanks to David Krejci. Boston's sixth win in a row also ensured that they'll survive until December with their unbeaten in regulation record at home (10-0-4) intact.

New York is still rebuilding but at the moment, they seem to be making some progress under former BU head coach David Quinn. Coming into today's matchup, they had been 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and they were seeking revenge after absorbing a 7-4 Bruins blowout at Madison Square Garden back on October 27. The two Original Six teams will meet one more time in the regular season: February 16 in New York. Between Thanksgiving and the fact that they were playing their third game in four days (after winning at Montreal on Tuesday & at Ottawa on Wednesday), you can understand why the Black and Gold came out slow in their new third jersey (that is pretty sharp in my humble opinion).

The Rangers took a 1-0 lead at 14:14 of the first period as Pavel Buchnevich beat Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak (26 saves, 6-1-3) with a hard shot to his glove side. Tony DeAngelo and Jacob Trouba had the assists on Buchnevich's-their top line right wing-fifth goal of the season. Boston had managed to kill its first penalty of the contest (tripping on Sean Kuraly) but it might as well have counted as a power play goal since his infraction expired just five seconds before the breakthrough tally. Leading 1-0 after the opening frame, New York doubled its lead at 6:21 as Filip Chytil was able to drive right to the net and put in a juicy rebound at 6:21. Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin (8 goals and 19 assists in his last 16 games) provided the helpers on the young Czech center's eighth goal of the season.

B's defenseman Charlie McAvoy is known for many great things that he can do on the ice but dropping the gloves usually isn't one of them. The 21-year-old did help change the momentum for his team by getting into a very rare fight (which admittedly he lost) to New York fourth line left wing/part-time defenseman Brendan Smith-former Bruin Reilly's older brother. The other main factor that helped Boston dig out of its self-inflicted hole was their penalty kill which finished an incredible 6-for-6 on the day. First, they killed a two-man advantage that lasted for 1:02 with the Rangers already up 2-0. Not long after that, the Bruins finally put one past Rangers legendary goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (24 saves, 7-5-2). It came on a fluky play-the soccer equivalent of an own goal-as Jake DeBrusk threw a shot on net that was tipped by Kuraly and hit the post before bouncing off of King Henrik who ended up knocking it in his own net with his stick. Oops! Kuraly's second goal of the season was also assisted by Brandon Carlo and suddenly, Boston only trailed by one goal (2-1) heading into the third period.

After being outshot 11-7 in the first and 11-8 in the second, the Bruins officially woke up in the third (aka winning time) as they had five more shots than the Rangers (11-6). Boston didn't wait too long to tie it up either as David Pastrnak (who else?) scored his NHL-best 24th goal of the season at 4:27. David Krejci and DeBrusk had the assists as Jake's centering pass to Krejci in front of the net somehow deflected right to Pasta who knew exactly what to do with it-firing the puck low under Lundqvist's leg pads. Cool nerd stat: Pasta and Brad Marchand both have 40+ points now, becoming the first Bruins teammates to do that in 26 games since Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito (ever heard of them?) in 1974-75. It's only the fifth time in franchise history that has happened so yes, it's kind of a big deal if you're into that type of thing.

Par Lindholm got a double-minor for high-sticking more than halfway through the third period but yet again, Boston's killers (relax, head coach Bruce Cassidy lovingly refers to them as that) survived being shorthanded that long. Charlie McAvoy (who skated a game-high 25:22) also reminded everyone that the BU-BC hatred never goes away as he crushed former Eagle Chris Kreider with an open ice hit late in regulation in Boston's defensive zone.

There was some back-and-forth action in the abbreviated extra session but Krejci's goal turned out to be the only shot on goal for either club. Halak actually started the entire sequence by getting the puck to Krejci in the neutral zone. From there, he passed back to Pastrnak who dangled by a Ranger then slid a beautiful return dish to his fellow countrymen who admitted afterwards that he basically had an open net to shoot at. His fifth goal of the season came at 1:40 and Boston's first overtime win vs. New York in almost 11 years (Phil Kessel in a shootout on Jan. 19, 2008 was surprisingly the last time) helped extend their point streak to 10 games (7-0-3). The Bruins' last regulation loss was three weeks ago (4-2 at Detroit-an unexplainable setback to a putrid opponent). The B's also improved to 2-0 in overtime this season while the Rangers fell to 2-2.

A very busy stretch continues for the Bruins next week but at least they get to stay home and be around their loved ones. They host cratering Montreal (11-9-5) who played the only game in the NHL last night and lost their sixth straight game-at the Bell Centre to New Jersey (9-11-4). They are in Philadelphia (13-7-5) tomorrow afternoon so by the time that Claude Juilien's boys get here on Sunday night (7, NESN) they could be in full panic mode (let's be serious though, I'm sure the city of Montreal is already falling down with these recent results). Boston continues to play every other day as they host the Hurricanes (15-9-1) on Tuesday (7, NESN) followed by the Blackhawks (10-9-5) on Thursday (7, NESN) and wrapping up with Colorado (14-8-2) next Saturday night (7, NESN). Got it? This lovely five-game homestand is followed by a four-game road trip so there is that. At this hour, the Bruins have the most points (41) in the whole NHL so there isn't a whole lot to complain about if you are a fan of them.

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Tonight Should Serve As A Strong Reminder to Bruins Fans Why You Never Leave a Game Early

Look I get it. When I was younger, I could never understand why anyone would leave an expensive professional sporting event early. Now, adult Richard has thankfully grown from child Richard (in at least some ways, I hope) and I understand that life can come calling at times and you simply cannot spend all day/night at a particular game. However, I still think there are certain situations like tonight (Saturday night!) where there is no reasonable excuse (minus a medical emergency, awful weather, etc). For that alone, it did feel like some sort of poetic justice for all the Bruins (15-3-5) fans who bounced in the third period with their team down 4-2 that they pulled a miracle out of their sweaty hockey pants with an unreal 5-4 overtime victory against the Wild (9-11-3).

David Krejci scored twice with an extra skater on with under two minutes left to tie it up at four then Torey Krug broke in on a breakaway and finished a backhander through Alex Stalock's (34 saves, 5-3-1) five-hole to send the TD Garden into a drunken frenzy. It was Boston's first overtime win of the season and Minnesota fell to 0-3 in the extra session. In many ways, these two points felt stolen by the B's since they committed seven penalties which were basically all easy calls by the referees for utterly lazy mistakes (hooking, slashing, tripping, etc.). Much like their club, the Wild's power play is normally mediocre at best (ranked #18 in the NHL) but they did go 2-for-7. Conversely, Boston's power-play is ranked #2 in the league and while they only got three chances, they converted on the most crucial one with Krejci's tying goal.

With this final score that is straight out of the 80s or early 90s NHL, it seems odd to talk about the goaltenders but Stalock and Tuukka Rask (32 saves, 11-2-2) were both better than you would think. Rask saved his two best saves for crunch time too as he stopped Jason Zucker's breakaway late in the third with the Wild up 4-2 then he made an incredible toe save (in a full butterfly position) on defenseman Brad Hunt's slap shot in overtime. Did I mention that Boston is still unbeaten in regulation (9-0-4) at the Garden this season?

The Black and Gold weren't themselves from the start as Zucker gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 8:53 of the first period. He put in a rebound for his eighth goal of the season (tied with Zach Parise for the team lead) with assists to Hunt (who took the original shot) and Mats Zuccarello. Brad Marchand wrestled with Wild defenseman Matt Dumba to try to get his club emotionally charged. Boston actually had a super rare 3-on-0 but somehow they didn't score as Charlie McAvoy's shot was robbed by Stalock after Marchand unselfishly passed it to him. Note to Brad, McAvoy has zero goals this season so next time keep it for yourself! The fact that Boston only trailed 1-0 after the first period despite being outshot 15-10 and taking four penalties (leading to 3 power plays) was a pleasant surprise.

The B's appeared to find their balance in the second period as Jake DeBrusk tied it at 4:14 by tipping in Zdeno Chara's shot from the point. Brett Ritchie had the second assist on DeBrusk's fourth goal of the season. It remained knotted at one for exactly two minutes as Victor Rask (no relation as far as I know) had the good fortunate of having the puck go off his skate and past Tuukka. It was quickly reviewed but stood up since he didn't make a distinct kicking motion. Jared Spurgeon and Ryan Suter (who played a game-high 29:40!) had the assists on Victor's second goal of the season. Chara was called for a high-sticking double minor after he caught Zucker in the face and drew blood. Minnesota cashed in with a power play goal by Eric Staal at 14:26. He chopped in a loose puck by Tuukka for his seventh goal of the season, assisted by Suter and Zuccarello.

If the Wild led 3-1 after two periods, it might have been game over but they left the door open due to Marchand's ultra timely goal with 3.1 seconds left in the frame. Krug had taken a shot that went wide of everything but rimmed around to Marchand on the other side of the net. His 16th goal of the season was also assisted by Bergeron. That good fortune for the home team evaporated early in the third period as Kevin Fiala's shot/pass was deflected past Rask by none other than Krug. Yikes, Fiala's fifth goal of the season was unassisted and made it 4-2 Minnesota at 5:19. This all set the stage for a Toronto-like collapse by Minnesota in crunch time: Krejci's first goal at 18:05 was from the doorstep where he was assisted by Bergeron and DeBrusk. The next one 48 seconds later took a bit more skill as he cranked a one-timer from Bergeron and Krug for his fourth goal of the season. Krejci has been back on the second line since Bergeron returned on Thursday but he still has 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in his last 12 games.

The seas parted for Krug to go from one end of the rink to another on the game-winning goal at 2:41. Bergeron (6 goals and 10 assists in his last 11 games) and Marchand (6 goals & 5 assists in his last 7 games) obviously had the assists on his third goal of the season and undoubtedly one of the most memorable of his career/life. Jaroslav Halak was originally slated to start this game for the Bruins but he showed up sick this afternoon so Rask got the start at the last-minute.

This is a really busy stretch for the B's with four games in seven days. No practice tomorrow so they'll be back on the ice Monday morning before traveling to Montreal (11-7-5) for Tuesday's game (7, NESN) followed by Wednesday's (7, NESN) contest in Ottawa (11-11-1). The NHL must have forgotten how many Americans are on the Bruins these days since they are right back to work on Friday (1, NBC)-the day after Thanksgiving-against the Rangers (10-9-2). Rest up guys, you are going to need it to survive until December.

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A Slow Start Doesn't Doom the Bruins as They Find A Way to Hold Off the Free-Falling Sabres, 3-2

The Sabres (10-9-3) got off to a fantastic start this season but they have predictably dropped off a cliff the last few weeks so they served as the perfect foil for the Bruins (14-3-5) tonight at TD Garden as they try to get back into a groove. Buffalo scored first and outshot Boston 12-0 to begin the tilt before the Bruins woke up with three straight goals en route to hanging on for dear life in a harder-than-it-should-have-been 3-2 victory for the home team. Believe it or not, the B's actually haven't lost in regulation at the Garden in 2019-20 (8-0-4) and they improved to 3-0-3 in their past six games. On the other side, the Sabres dropped to 1-7-2 in their last 10 games.

Brad Marchand scored two goals, David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist while Danton Heinen added two assists but there was no question that as Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy pointed out after the game, Tuukka Rask (36 saves) was Boston's best player. Rask is now 10-2-0 this season and he faced a barrage of pucks for most of the contest as Buffalo outshot Boston 38-27 including 17-4 in the first period and 14-9 in the third period. Boston's power play only got two opportunities but they managed to convert on both of them with tallies from Marchand in the second period and Pastrnak early in the third. Along the way, Rask also made one of the best saves of his career as he robbed BU's Evan Rodrigues with a diving stop across the goal mouth that ended with the puck hitting him on the underside of his blocker. Check the interwebs for it!

Buffalo came in with a terrible power play (ranked #24 in the NHL) but they scored on their first one 5:25 into the contest. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen parked his large Finnish body (6-foot-4, 220 pounds) in front of Rask and he was able to stuff in a loose puck. North Chelmsford's Jack Eichel and Victor Oloffson had the assists on Ristolainen's first goal of the campaign. Eichel leads the Sabres with 26 points (13 goals, 13 assists) and he's one of the best players in the league with nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) in his last six games. He is signed with Buffalo for years to come but you wonder how many more of these fruitless seasons with no playoffs that he can take before he starts to lose his mind. As a local guy (that won the Hobey Baker in his 1 brilliant season at BU), you hope that at some point he can be surrounded by teammates, coaches and a front office worthy of his incredible talent.

The Bruins tied it up on their second shot on goal of the game: Marchand cruised in front of Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark (24 saves, 4-5-1) and he tipped in Zdeno Chara's shot from the point. Pasta had the second assist on Brad's 14th goal of the season. That goal woke the B's up and the crowd got fired up to another level after that as Chris Wagner sort of dropped the gloves with Curtis Lazar after the latter poked Rask who had covered up the puck for a face-off. Boston was lucky that it remained 1-1 after 20 minutes but they came out a much better team in the second period. They outshot the Sabres 14-7 and went ahead 2-1 at 14:45 on Marchand's power play strike. He put in a rebound, assisted by Matt Grzelcyk and Heinen. Marchand is proving that last year's 100 points (a 1st in his NHL career) was no fluke as he has nine points (5 goals, 4 assists) in his last six games and 37 points (15 goals, 22 assists) in his last 21 games. You don't have to be a Bruins honk to see that he's a top star in the NHL.

The B's were up 2-1 after two periods and that advantage increased to 3-1 at 1:56 of the third. Pasta's power play goal was pretty similar to Marchand's, he put in a loose puck with assists going to Heinen and Patrice Bergeron (who returned after missing 2 games with a lower-body injury). Pasta leads the NHL with 20 goals and he became the fastest Bruin to reach 20 goals since Cam Neely in 1993-94 (who did it in 19 games). Ironically, Rask's worst moment of the evening came very shortly after that show-stopping save. UMass alum and defenseman Brandon Montour beat him from way out with a shot that simply appeared to elude Rask's glove. Montour's second goal of the season was at 12:58, assisted by another Minuteman Brandon Sheary and Rasmus Dahlin. Buffalo had three guys named Rasmus in the lineup tonight, don't forget Rasmus Asplund their fourth line center. Even stranger than that is the fact they come from three different places: Ristolainen is from Finland, Dahlin is from Sweden and Asplund is from Minnesota.

Charlie McAvoy had a wonderful chance to put the game on ice/get his first goal of the season but his backhander on a breakaway went wide of the net. This meant that Boston had to sweat out the last few minutes of regulation, including Ullmark getting pulled for an extra skater but luckily for them, they weren't facing the Capitals or another high-caliber team that could make them pay for allowing a whopping 69 (hi Gronk!) shot attempts (38 on goal, 17 blocked, 14 missed net). It certainly wasn't pretty like their 5-1 blowout in New Jersey on Tuesday but the Bruins will happily take those two points thank you kindly. Another cupcake comes to the Garden on Saturday night (7, NESN) in the form of the Wild (9-11-2)-the second worst team in the Western Conference. Minnesota has won its past two games and they are 5-3-2 in their last 10 which should show you just how terrible they were to start this season.

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Halak Wills B's to Near Win vs. NHL's Best (Caps), Only to Collapse Late & Predictably Lose in SO

Jaroslav Halak (4-1-3) already recorded a shutout this season but I doubt that he'll have a better outing than the one that he turned in tonight ironically enough in a losing effort. He made 42 saves as he did everything that he could to earn two points for Boston (12-3-5) but unfortunately, they coughed up a 2-1 lead late in the third period then of course Washington (14-3-4)-the team with the top record in the league-found a way to beat them 3-2 in a shootout at TD Garden. Patrice Bergeron was a late scratch with a lower-body injury so the already Providence Bruins-filled lineup had a huge void in it with David Krejci bumped up to the top line with Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak.

Both teams played in Canada last night (Boston won 4-2 at Toronto and Washington lost 5-2 in Montreal) so it was impressive that they still cobbled together such an entertaining playoff-like contest that was chock full of hits, emotion and incredible skill. The Bruins actually led two different times as Charlie Coyle gave them a 1-0 advantage at 11:32 of the first period after a beautiful feed from behind the net by Danton Heinen. Coyle put a one-timer low past Braden Holtby (21 saves, 10-1-3) for his fourth goal of the season with Charlie McAvoy getting the secondary assist. The Caps tied it less than three minutes later though as Travis Boyd (recalled from Hershey ((AHL)) earlier in the day) scored his first goal of the season at 14:27. He tipped in John Carlson's shot from the point with Brendan Leipsic picking up the second assist. Can we talk about how ridiculous that Carlson has been in 2019/2020? That was his NHL-leading 24th helper of the season which also extended his point streak to six games (1 goal, 8 assists). He has 19 points in his last 19 games (8 goals, 11 assists). Where did this offensive explosion come from? He was always known as a physical, steady defensive defenseman and now this which is mind-blowing.

What this game lacked in total goals, it more than made up for in sheer viewing pleasure. The B's went ahead at 3:30 of the second period after David Pastrnak put in a rebound from McAvoy's one-timer that somehow missed the net but fortuitously bounced right to the leading goal-scorer in the NHL (17 and counting). David Krejci had the second assist since he had passed up a great shooting opportunity of his own to feed McAvoy bombing down the slot. Against the run of play, Boston almost took a 3-1 lead when Pasta tipped Matt Grzelcyk's shot but it went off the post. For shits and giggles, Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson ran into each other in Washington's defensive zone (luckily, they were both fine). The scoreboard said Boston 2, Washington 1 after two periods completed despite the fact that the Caps had doubled the Black and Gold in shots on goal (30-15).

The B's had 1:45 left of a power play to start the third but they couldn't convert (their #2 ranked PP was 0-for-3 on the night). Wilson crushed Chris Wagner with a clean open ice hit and on the other end, McAvoy made an incredible recovery play defensively to knock the puck away from Ovi. Krejci tipped a shot from McAvoy that Holtby just got a piece of and the puck trickled wide of the net. Zdeno Chara and Wilson got matching roughing penalties because someone had to settle Washington's intimidating enforcer down just a bit. Coyle had a partial breakaway but Holtby stopped his backhander. Halak matched that by robbing Ovechkin and Carlson's shot hit the crossbar. With an extra skater on the ice, Washington finally tied it up with 58.6 seconds left in regulation. Oshie one-timed a pass from Kuznetsov (4 goals, 7 assists in last 7 games) from point blank range on Halak. Nicklas Backstrom had the second assist on Oshie's 10th goal of the season.

For the third time in four games (all at the Garden), the Bruins had to decide the outcome in overtime or a shootout which is never a good thing for them. Kuznetsov was stopped on a breakaway and Halak also made a good save on Jakub Vrana as Washington outshot Boston 3-2 in overtime (44-23 for the game!). Once it went to a shootout, you might as well have turned off the lights at the Garden. Boston dropped to 0-4 in shootouts this season while Washington improved to 3-1. The B's could only manage one measly goal in five attempts (Coyle in Round 1), making them 2-for-16 this season which seems almost impossibly bad. Backstrom tied it in the third round and Vrana won it in the fifth round. As he did all game long, Halak deserved better after he made a showstopping save on Ovechkin to start Round four.

With Bergeron temporarily on the shelf and Torey Krug placed on IR this afternoon, the beat up Bruins understandably won't practice tomorrow. They will be back to work at Warrior Arena on Monday before they travel to New Jersey for Tuesday's (7, NESN) meeting with the Devils (7-8-4). For awhile, the B's have owned the Devils so that's a team you want to see on their schedule this week. Ditto for the Sabres (10-6-3) who have come crashing back to Earth after an unbelievable start and they make their first visit of the season here on Thursday (7, NESN). Rounding out the manageable week for the Bruins is the lowly Wild (7-11-2) who visit on Saturday night (7, NESN). They are the worst team in the Western Conference and tied with Detroit (7-12-2) for the fewest points in the NHL. I'm not predicting three easy wins but at least on paper, the B's couldn't ask for three more favorable opponents to see when they have so many unproven guys in the lineup.

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Everybody Knows That A Four-Goal Lead Is the Most Dangerous One In Hockey, Wait What?

It's hard for a single sporting event (played early in the regular season) to create a wider range of emotions than what the Bruins (11-3-4) and Panthers (9-4-5) produced tonight at TD Garden for Military Appreciation Night. The first period might have been the most boring in NHL history (slight exaggeration but it was scoreless with 12 combined shots) but the B's followed that with four goals in a thrilling second period for what should always be an insurmountable 4-0 advantage. However, Florida responded with not one, not two (LeBron voice), not three but four goals in the third to send it to overtime. It was a thrilling five minutes that sadly lacked a goal, setting the stage for yet another shootout loss for the Black and Gold (their 2nd in 3 nights and 3rd of the season), 5-4.

Where to begin? Outside of the playoffs-which are a whole other ball of wax-it's tough to picture the Bruins suffering a worse loss from now until mid-April 2020 when the regular season mercifully ends. The Panthers should be commended for rallying behind backup goaltender Sam Montembeault (15 saves) who came on in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky (19 saves, 4 goals allowed) who was pulled after two periods. Still, Florida isn't exactly Washington or St. Louis, they are probably a fringe playoff team in the Eastern Conference at best. This also painfully extended Boston's losing streak to four games (0-2-2) although they've taken single points in the last two not that anybody feels too thrilled about that.

Every team has bad stretches and maybe that's the biggest explanation at the moment for the B's. The injuries that keep piling up especially to their forwards can't help either: Zach Senyshyn left tonight's game with a knee injury that hopefully isn't too serious since he's looked pretty promising in four games since being recalled from Providence. This is a club that prides itself on closing out games and with so many dependable veterans in the lineup, losses like tonight are super rare but incredibly painful.

The first omen that it was going to be a wacky night was when the lights conveniently went out for a few seconds early in the second period when Florida happened to have the puck in a dangerous scoring position. After Bobrovsky made a few quality saves, Boston found a way to bombard him with four goals just 7:36 apart from the middle of the frame to near the end of it. Obviously David Pastrnak opened the barrage with his NHL-best 16th goal of the season at 11:55. Bergeron had picked off the puck at center ice and fed him for a 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand. In his second game back after missing eight of nine with an elbow infection, Joakim Nordstrom made it 2-0 Bruins at 14:02 with a low snipe on Bobrovsky. Charlie Coyle had the lone assist on Nordy's second goal of the season. Anders Bjork's power play goal at 17:16 was I'm sure the one that Sergei would like to have back since he tipped it with his glove but couldn't snap it closed in time. David Krejci and Marchand had the assists on Bjork's third goal of the season. Finally, the captain Zdeno Chara flipped in a loose puck and topped that off with Jake DeBrusk's (a nice tribute to a sidelined buddy) signature celebration for a 4-0 Bruins lead at 19:31. Krejci had the primary assist after Bobrovsky flat out robbed him and Danton Heinen had the secondary assist on Chara's third goal of the season.

Tuukka Rask's (25 saves, 7-2-2) shutout bid ended 50 seconds into the third period as Aaron Ekblad cranked a one-timer past him. Milton MA native and Cushing Academy alum Keith Yandle and Aleksander Barkov had the assists on Ekblad's second goal of the season. That didn't seem like a big deal until Boston was whistled for a couple shaky penalties (slashing on Chris Wagner and hooking on Sean Kuraly) that ended up both costing them dearly. UMass alum, Longmeadow MA native and former Bruin Frank Vatrano cut Boston's lead to 4-2 at 5:26 with a one-timer that he snuck under Rask's leg pads. Jonathan Huberdeau had the lone assist on Vatrano's sixth goal of the season. The wheels really started to come off for the B's and the crowd got understandably nervous when Rask gave up his extra soft goal of the game. Mike Hoffman tried to backhand a pass across the crease but it ended up in the back of the net, an unforgivable mistake for Tuukka (which will surely serve as fresh kindling for his usual haters). Hoffman's seventh goal of the season was assisted by Yandle and Huberdeau.

Boston seemed to finally regain some semblance of balance as Coyle hit the crossbar then Sean Kuraly drew a tripping penalty on his former linemate and PC icon Noel Acciari. Florida's penalty kill unit survived that one though and Yandle unbelievably tied it up when he roofed the puck past Rask at 18:21. A huge defensive breakdown led to his second goal of the season, assisted by Barkov and Huberdeau (the 1st star of the game). I'm not going to say it was a foregone conclusion at that juncture since Marchand had a breakaway in overtime (and Rask also stopped Hoffman's breakaway) but when it got to the shootout, you felt like Boston's kryptonite would get them once again like it had on Sunday night vs. Philadelphia. This time they did get a goal in the shootout (Coyle in the 3rd round to extend it) but lost in the fourth round as Hoffman scored and Charlie McAvoy did not. Vincent Trocheck provided the other shootout goal for Florida in the second round.

There is no practice tomorrow for the Bruins which honestly is a good thing since I'm sure the last thing they want to do is get yelled at by the coaching staff for a few hours after this debacle. Instead, they'll be back on the ice on Thursday before traveling to Toronto (9-6-4) for another showdown with the Maple Leafs on Friday (7, NESN). That is sure to be an emotional and competitive game with an even better team-the Capitals (13-2-4)-waiting for them at the Garden on Saturday night (7, NESN). Eventually, Boston will get itself out of this funk and against the Leafs would be as good a time as any to look like themselves again. They have already split the first two games with them this season with each team winning on its home ice. The Caps are another story since no team has owned the Bruins for years quite like them but we'll deal with that come Saturday morning.

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The Bruins Mostly Slept Through The First Two Periods Then Fell 3-2 in a Shootout With the Flyers

When the Bruins got out to such an incredible start to this regular season-an unexpected surprise since they went to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in June-you had to know that they would hit a slide soon enough. Going winless (0-2-1) in three games probably doesn't qualify them for that mode quite yet but it's plain to see that they haven't been nearly the same team in their last few outings. Tonight, they let the Flyers (10-5-2) score twice in the first period then they rallied in the third to send it to overtime and finally a shootout where they eventually lost 3-2. BU one-and-done Joel Farabee (who was a 1st round pick for Philly) scored the lone shootout goal-his first ever in the NHL-to clinch the two points for the Flyers.

It's tough to spot any opponent in the NHL a two-goal lead but especially one like Philadelphia who has been hot lately (7-2-1 in their last 10 games). Did I mention that the Bruins had a grand total of 10 shots on goal through the first two periods combined? Yuck. The positive that they can take out of this up and down performance is that they earned a point and in head coach Bruce Cassidy's words "we found our game in the 3rd which is something to build on."

The Flyers had actually played last night in Toronto-a familiar 3-2 shootout victory for the visitors-so you would have expected them to be the team with skates full of cement and sandbags in their pants. Nope, Boston could only manage five shots on goal in the first period and five in the second before exploding for 17 in the third. Philadelphia's second forward line made it happen in the opening frame as talented right wing Travis Konecny put in a rebound past Jaroslav Halak (27 saves, 4-1-2) at 13:50. Left wing Oskar Lindblom (3 goals and 4 assists in his last 7 games) and center Sean Couturier (3 goals, 5 assists in his last 7 games) had the assists on Konecny's eighth goal of the season which tied him with Lindblom for the team lead. That tally didn't serve as any sort of a wake up call to the B's as defenseman Philippe Myers had way too much space to blast a shot off the post and in at 17:56. His third goal of the season was assisted by Konecny and Couturier.

The Bruins appeared to get on the board early in the second period when Connor Clifton went to the net and Par Lindholm eventually put the loose puck by Flyers goaltender Carter Hart (26 saves, 6:31). Clifton grazed Hart's leg pad as he went plus Lindholm pushed Hart's pad/the puck over the goal line which sadly you can't legally do. It was a bizarre play since there was never a whistle on the ice but everyone (coaches, players, the crowd, etc.) waited for that to happen but it never did. Halak kept his team in contention by stopping Flyers captain Claude Giroux's backhand attempt on a breakaway.

It took way too long but the Black and Gold finally looked like themselves for the first time since Wednesday in Montreal. They completely dominated the third period as Danton Heinen was the unlikely catalyst for the home team (who got booed off the ice after the 1st period). He collected a puck next to Hart, spun around on his forehand and hit the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season. Charlie Coyle and Zdeno Chara had the assists on Heinen's momentum-changing tally. Brad Marchand tied it up with an absolute snipe at 12:22. Matt Grzelcyk had the lone assist on Marchand's 11th goal of the season. Philly was falling apart like you read about as defenseman Ivan Provorov (who played a game-high 27:26) slashed David Pastrnak on a breakaway. Hart would have none of it though as he stopped Pastrnak's second career penalty shot (he made the other).

The Bruins were charged with a too many men on the ice penalty in overtime which is incredibly rare but it occurred with less than 22 seconds left in the extra session so they lived to tell about it. Boston is 0-1 in overtime this season and they dropped to 0-2 shootouts while Philadelphia went to OT for the sixth time this season (1-0 in OT and 3-2 in SO). The Flyers can't get enough of extra hockey since they have needed it in three straight contests and five of their last six games. Coyle, Marchand and Pastrnak were all stopped while Farabee converted on Philly's first shot and Giroux was stopped by Halak. Torey Krug didn't appear in OT or the shootout because he was dealing with an upper-body injury.

Boston's top-ranked power play was never heard from as they only got two chances on the night but nevertheless they couldn't convert on either one of them. On the other end, their penalty kill was flawless (2-for-2). The Bruins still haven't lost in regulation at the Garden (7-0-2) this season while the Flyers moved to .500 on the road (4-4-1). Military Appreciation Night is on Tuesday (7, NESN) as the Panthers (8-4-5) come to town. That is always a fantastic event so hopefully some of those numerous inspirational people that will be honored by the team can also serve as good luck charms as the Bruins try to get back untracked after a frustrating blip on the schedule.

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Monday Night Hockey (B's vs. Pens) > Monday Night Football (When It's Cowboys vs. Giants)

Outside of holidays (which usually have sleepy afternoon start times) and playoff games in the spring, there are never too many Bruins home games on Monday nights during the regular season. Everybody knows that Mondays are the worst day of the week so it's nice to have something to reward us at the end of those miserable 24 hours. Doubly so when it's such an entertaining contest like the one that Boston (11-1-2) and Pittsburgh (8-6-1) had this evening at TD Garden. The Bruins scored the first three goals to chase Pens goaltender Matt Murray (8 saves) then watched the Penguins score four in a row in the second to take a 4-3 lead before closing it out 6-4 thanks to a 3-0 third period. Boston has won six games in a row and they have points in 10 straight games (8-0-2).

As you would expect from such a gong show, there was a ton of highlights, lowlights and everything in between for both clubs. Murray put his team in a major hole early by allowing a soft goal to Jake DeBrusk, then Brad Marchand knocked a puck in the net out of mid-air (a new lead-off hitter for the Red Sox if Mookie Betts gets traded?) and David Pastrnak beat him shortside early in the second for the quick hook. DeBrusk's third goal of the season at 5:24 of the first period was technically unassisted by Kris Letang coughed the puck up right to him and Jake beat Murray down low to the far side. Marchand's ninth goal of the season came at 13:05 of the first and it was assisted by Pasta and Zdeno Chara. It was the beginning of Marchand's second five-point (2 goals, 3 assists) performance in his last four games (also Oct. 27 at NYR). It also extended his career-best point streak (13) and assist streak (12-most for a Bruin since Marc Savard in 2007!). The B's led 2-0 after one and when Pastrnak bagged his NHL-leading 14th goal at 4:22 of the second, this felt like another routine two points for the home team. Marchand and Carlo assisted on Pastrnak's tally that extended his point streak to 12 games (14 goals, 15 assists) which tied a career-best from two years ago (Nov. 22-Dec. 16, 2017).

Murray has probably been playing too much anyway (already his 12th start in 15 games) so it's not wonder he played like a guy that's fatigued. I couldn't tell you much about his backup Tristan Jarry (12 saves) but that move certainly flipped the momentum in Pittsburgh's favor. Suddenly, Boston kept giving up breakaways and Grade A scoring chances as the Penguins outshot them 21-5 in the second period (the most shots on goal allowed by the B's in a period in over a year). Dominik Kahun got the rally started with a one-timer at 5:35. Jared McCann and Justin Schultz had the assists on Kahun's third goal of the season which gave him five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last three games. Kris Letang hit Nick Bjugstad with a beautiful stretch pass and he cut it to 3-2 at 9:56. BC's Brian Dumoulin had the second assist on the former Panther's first goal of the season. Pittsburgh was flying up and down the ice, showing off their elite skill like when Evgeni Malkin (in his 2nd game back from injury) fed Bryan Rust with an absurd backhand tape-to-tape pass and the former Notre Dame star tied it at 15:59. Alex Galchenyuk had the second helper on the speedy Rust's second goal of the season.

You would have thought that was a perfect time for Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy to make use of his timeout but since it's still early November, he decided to let it play out and unfortunately, that decision backfired spectacularly. Coming out of the penalty box, North Easton MA native and Harvard product John Marino received an errant pass right on his stick, walked in on a breakaway and tucked one home past Jaroslav Halak (40 saves, 4-1-1) with 3.4 seconds left in the second period for his unforgettable first NHL goal. The stunned Bruins fans had no choice but to boo them off the ice as they went to the dressing room trailing 4-3. With a back-to-back looming in Montreal, Boston wanted no part of overtime or a shootout so they got the job done with a strong finish.

Leave it to some of their biggest stars to put this wild game to bed. Torey Krug one-timed a laser top shelf on Jarry from Marchand at 8:14 to tie it up at four apiece. Krug's second goal of the season (1 goal, 8 assists in his last 9 games) was also assisted by David Krejci. Brad got the game-winner with a fortuitous bounce following a wicked snap shot: the puck went off a post, ricocheted off Jarry's back and over the goal-line before Sidney Crosby (game-low minus-4!) could prevent that from happening. Marchand's 10th goal of the season was unassisted at 18:03 and it sent the Garden into delirium. Fittingly Mr. Steady himself Patrice Bergeron ended it with an empty-netter at 19:46. His seventh goal of the season (4-game point streak and 15 points in his last 13 games) was assisted by Krejci and Marchand.

Boston has already faced Toronto (7-5-3) twice this season and I'm not the first one to say that the Bruins-Leafs rivalry has been juicier the last few seasons than B's-Canadiens (7-5-2) mostly because Montreal has been an afterthought in the league. Of course, it won't feel like that tomorrow night (7:30, NBCSN) in the first encounter of this campaign at the Bell Centre with Tuukka Rask (7-0-1) in net for the Black and Gold plus former Bruins head coach Claude Julien aka Handsome Ralph behind the bench for the Habs. Boston had to work harder than they would have liked tonight after going up by three goals but they are such a professional team that I bet they find a way to get up for Montreal because duh.

Charlie McAvoy left the game late in the third period after crashing head first into a post on Boston's net. Cassidy thought it was only a cut and not a concussion which would be a relief while Krug also suffered a grizzly flesh wound on his chin after Rust's skate accidentally caught him when they were tangled up in the net following another collision. Cameron Hughes made his NHL debut on the fourth line for Boston and with David Backes and Par Lindholm both out with upper-body injuries, I'm guessing that he'll get another game (not that he really did much vs. Pittsburgh).

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Boston Wins Its 5th Straight Game, 5-2 vs. Ottawa On An Otherwise Depressing Night at TD Garden

Hockey is an incredible sport that I will put up there with any other in the world in terms of entertainment value, life lessons that it teaches and team bonding that it naturally produces. With that said, since most of the violence has been rightfully erased from the NHL over the last decade, you almost forget that a game built on such breathtaking speed and agility sometimes can produce horrifying collisions. That's the grim backdrop for what otherwise should have been a very enjoyable night on Causeway Street as the B's (10-1-2) used a 3-0 third period to pick up a 5-2 victory against the Senators (3-8-1). Boston has the second best record in the Eastern Conference and the NHL while Ottawa is the worst team in both cases so the two points were a mere formality since the Bruins have now picked up five wins in a row.

Unfortunately, this game will most likely be remembered for one thing only: the scary scene in the first period after Senators rookie Scott Sabourin ran into David Backes and appeared to be knocked out in midair before he hit the ice face-first. Ugh, what a brutal event. He was down and motionless for what felt like an eternity as all of Ottawa and Boston's medical staff attended to him. The good news is that he gave the thumbs up to the crowd as he got wheeled off the ice on a stretcher and Ottawa's PR staff later reported on Twitter that he was alert and talking to the doctors before going to a hospital in Boston. Backes went to the dressing room for what we assumed was just to compose himself but it turned out that he left with an upper-body injury. He's suffered a sickening amount of concussions already in the league so I really hope that isn't the case once again, he'll be evaluated more tomorrow.

It seems secondary to even mention it at this point but there was a game after all and things did happen in it worth noting. The NHL's second star of the month in October-David Pastrnak-picked up right where he left off with a power-play goal just 1:17 into his first tilt in November. His NHL-best 13th goal of the season was also his seventh in the first period already this season and it extended his point streak to 11 games. It actually came off a set play that him and Torey Krug used last season vs. Calgary. Krug banked it off the end boards behind Senators goaltender Craig Anderson (27 saves, 2-5-0) and Pasta raced to it first before dekeing and jamming the puck over the line. Ottawa tied it at 12:04 of the first period when Anthony Duclair put in a one-timer from Logan Brown (who later left with an upper body injury of his own) and Mark Borowiecki.

With the top ranked power play in the NHL along with a penalty kill that isn't too shabby either (#9), Boston loves when games are decided by special teams and this was one of those routine events in today's whistle-happy league. The Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice early in the second period then Brad Marchand was called for two penalties (minor for hooking and double minor for spearing) on the same play. That meant they had to hold off the Senators for 55 seconds of a 5-on-3 then 5:05 of Marchand's temporary stupidity. Spoiler alert: they were able to do it. Granted, Ottawa has the worst power play in the NHL (#31) but it was still impressive nonetheless. Tuukka Rask (30 saves, 7-0-1) remains unbeaten in regulation for 2019-20.

The B's had taken a 2-1 lead earlier in the frame as Pastrnak chose to dish the puck to Patrice Bergeron (6 goals, 8 assists in his last 12 games) rather than take his own wide open shot. Bergeron's sixth goal of the season came at 1:51 and it was also assisted by Marchand (12-game point streak and 11-game assist streak, both career highs). The Senators might be awful and constantly rebuilding but at least they showed more effort than the Sharks for instance last Tuesday. Connor Brown tied it at 3:04 as he threw the puck in front and it bounced by Rask for his second goal of the season, assisted by Borowiecki and Dylan DeMelo (which sounds like the name of a bully at your local high school).

Riding an eight game point streak, I don't think that many Bruins fans were sweating despite the fact that their favorite team was knotted at two heading into the third period. The few doubters were quickly told to shut up for the evening as Boston scored three unanswered goals to clinch it. Danton Heinen started it off with a great individual effort to win the puck along the wall in the neutral zone and eventually find it again out front for his third goal of the season, unassisted at 5:43. Borowiecki took his third penalty of the contest and Marchand immediately made him pay with a one-timer from Pastrnak and Bergeron (his 500th NHL assist, only the 15th active player to reach that mark) at 6:50 for his eighth goal of the season. For good measure, Jake DeBrusk cranked in his best shot of the young season-a one-timer from Heinen at 16:16 for his second goal of the campaign.

Brett Ritchie and Joakim Nordstrom were both out with similar infections (were they hanging out in the Browns' staph infection riddled locker room from a few years ago?) so Peter Cehlarik was recalled from Providence. As usual, he showed no reason why he should featured regularly in the NHL (at least yet) so hopefully one or both of those guys can play in a few days when things should be much more difficult. Boston hosts Pittsburgh (8-5-1) on Monday (7, NESN)-the rare Monday Night Hockey-followed by their first meeting with Montreal (7-5-2) the following night (7:30, NBCSN) North of the border. I thought that Jaroslav Halak would get the start tonight (WRONG!) so I'll lick my wounds from that and guess that he will play against the Canadiens since Rask has a terrible history at the Bell Centre. Don't listen to me though as Jaro will probably start on Monday and Rask will get the start vs. Claude Julien's pukes. Regardless, it probably doesn't matter at the moment since the Black and Gold are absolutely on fire with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

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