If tonight was indeed a playoff preview-which it would be if the postseason started today-the Boston Bruins are in for another special journey.
The B's (38-21-3) got out to an instantaneous 2-0 lead on the New Jersey Devils (35-25-3) at TD Garden but had to rally to tie it at three in the third period. After months of underachieving, David Krejci notched his second career hat trick including the overtime game winner as Boston escaped with a scintillating 4-3 win.
With that, Boston swept the season series (4-0) against New Jersey but don't be surprised if these two teams see each other again in April.
In desperate need of some offense and a fast start, Bruins head coach Claude Julien shook up the forward lines and it paid immediate dividends. Krejci scored 1:13 into the game on a one-timer after a great feed from new linemate Tyler Seguin.
Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton fought less than a minute later in one of the longest bouts that you'll see all season. NESN's Jack Edwards gleefully compared it to Rock'Em Sock'Em Robots and that wasn't too far off.
At 8:10, that line produced another goal as this time Milan Lucic (2 assists) fought through a check along the boards and was able to center it to Seguin (21st goal of the season) who did the rest. Tim Thomas also assisted on Seguin's goal (his first in 11 games) which was followed by a New Jersey timeout.
Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur (21 saves) actually kept his team in it during the first as he made three grade A stops which kept it at a two-goal deficit. Krejci was sprung on a short-handed breakaway but Brodeur rolled over and deflected it away blindly with his glove.
New Jersey blitzed Tim Thomas (28 saves; 27-13-0) with three goals in the second period. After the now customary Joe Corvo giveaway (somewhere Dennis Wideman and Tomas Kaberle smile), Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise skated in on a 2-on-1. Kovalchuk fed Parise for his 24th of the season at 6:27. Now that the Bruins have Mike Mottau (scratched tonight) and Greg Zanon (who made his Bruins debut), it's time to make Corvo a healthy scratch. He seems to get worse by the game.
Patrik Elias (20th of the season) tied it up less than eight minutes later as Petr Sykora's shot bounced off Dennis Seidenberg's skate in front of the net and right to Elias. Amazingly, it is Elias' tenth season of 20+ goals. Impressive stuff.
David Clarkson (25th of the season) put the Devils up 3-2 at 17:46 thanks to a nice individual effort. He wheeled around from behind the Bruins' net and was able to stuff it past Thomas. In that case, Thomas needs to hug the post and make that save.
Krejci tied it at three with a crazy goal at 5:30 into the third. It deflected off a Devils player in the air to Lucic's stick. He passed it to Krejci but it was in the air as well so it hit him in the chest. Showing off his incredible hands, he was able to settle it down and slide it in. Amazing. Zdeno Chara had the other assist.
Krejci's deciding tally (16th of the season) was a one-timer 2:59 into overtime. Chara had the main assist with Patrice Bergeron recording the other one. Brodeur got a piece of it but the puck still managed to trickle over the line. Good enough for me.
This was a very nice win but it won't mean much if the B's fail to capitalize on the momentum the next time out: Saturday afternoon against the Islanders. It was back in November when Boston met New York twice in less than two weeks and they rolled (6-2, 6-0) both times. The Islanders have been playing a little better lately but they're still one of the most miserable franchises in the NHL. After Saturday afternoon's tilt, they also close out March with another matinee on March 31 in Long Island. That should be an easy four points.
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