It shouldn't have gone to overtime in the first place, mainly because the Hurricanes stink, but at least the Bruins were able to fully wake up in the extra session as David Krejci scored at 1:28 to end the proceedings. Boston (15-6-2) remains in first place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Penguins and the B's actually have a game in hand on Pittsburgh as well.
Krejci hadn't scored a goal in his previous seven games so his fourth of the season had to be a little extra sweet given the drought and the way it wrapped up a game for his club. Jarome Iginla did much of the work by getting Cam Ward (35 saves) to commit then sliding it back to Krejci who waited out Ward before roofing the puck. Johnny Boychuk had the second assist.
It's hard not to hate Saturday afternoon games at TD Garden since they are usually terrible and the B's never play any good teams at that unappealing time slot in front of a mostly lifeless (I blame all the children) crowd. Today's contest featured Boston's backup goaltender Chad Johnson (22 saves) vs. Carolina (8-10-5), are you not entertained? The Hurricanes put up more of a fight than Monday on their home ice (a 4-1 loss) but where did that get them? Actually, I take that back. They "earned" that lame point just for getting to overtime.
Andrej Sekara opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period with a cheap power play goal. His weak wrist shot from the point didn't get tipped or anything wild but it still found its way past Johnson.
"Mr. Power Play" Zdeno Chara answered with a-you guessed it-power play goal, his fourth of the season (all his goals have come on the man advantage). It was one of the few mistakes made by Ward as he kicked out a rebound on Milan Lucic's shot and Chara was there to hit it in. Torey Krug-another power play specialist-had the second assist as Boston took a 2-1 lead.
Somehow someway (thanks Snoop Dogg) youngster Reilly Smith keeps finding ways to contribute offensively. Today, he slipped a backhander past Ward at 13:31 of the second period. That was Smith's fourth goal of the season. The motley crew of Carl Soderberg and Matt Bartkowski assisted on Smith's tally.
A turnover in Carolina's end on the power play led to a breakaway by something called Patrick Dwyer. He tied it at two at 11:10 with his unassisted shorthanded goal.
Mercifully, these teams only meet once more this season (March 15 in Boston). I'm way more interested in the Bruins' next heavily anticipated game: on Monday (7, NESN) vs. the Penguins (15-9-0, 1st in Metropolitan Division). They met on October 30 in Pittsburgh, a game the home team captured 3-2. This should be fun since it is the first time Pittsburgh has been in the Garden since they were swept in the Eastern Conference Finals last season. Oh and Iginla changed sides in this fresh new rivalry.
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