With Ottawa getting blown out 5-1 by the Rangers tonight, the Bruins had the perfect opportunity to go back ahead of the Senators if they could just hang on for a 2-1 win vs. Anaheim tonight at TD Garden. Predictably, Boston (36-25-13) gave up the tying goal to Corey Perry with 39 seconds left in regulation when the Ducks (47-22-7) had Frederik Andersen (27 saves) on the bench for an extra skater. Their other superstar Ryan Getzlaf won it with an absolute snipe at 3:09 into overtime. The Senators and Bruins both have 85 points but Ottawa has played one less game.
After a scoreless first period, Anaheim stuck first as Patrick Maroon (great name) made Matt Bartkowski look silly. He blew by him then beat Tuukka Rask (29-19-12; 29 saves) for the 1-0 Ducks lead at 10:18. Clayton Stoner and Sami Vatanen assisted on Maroon's ninth goal of the season. Boston's power play goal helped them tie it up less than three minutes later. Rookie Ryan Spooner shot the puck through Andersen's five-hole for his sixth goal of the season at 13:07. Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci (playing for the first time since February 20) had the assists.
Boston's power play struck again 27 seconds into the third period. Andersen left a juicy rebound that Loui Eriksson was able to knock in for his 19th goal of the season. Torey Krug had the primary assist and Krejci picked up his second helper of the evening. Perry's goal was a classic goal-scorer's tally as he parked himself in front of Rask and tipped in Getzlaf's shot. Cam Fowler had the other assist on Perry's 32nd goal of the season.
The Ducks only had two power plays in the entire game but when Zdeno Chara got called for a bogus hooking penalty 38 seconds into overtime, you had to think that Anaheim would end it right there. It's a credit to the B's that they were able to kill off that 4-on-3. Getzlaf's game-winner came off a pretty innocent play as he skated in basically by himself against two Boston defensemen. He uncorked a very hard shot from a few strides inside the blue line that went up and under the crossbar.
Boston is off tomorrow before they host the Rangers (47-19-7) on Saturday afternoon (1, NESN) then they travel to Carolina (27-36-10) on Sunday night (5, NESN). Needless to say, the Bruins can't afford to leave anymore points on the table like they did tonight.
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