If you are a stats humper like me, here are some more for your personal spank bank: the Bruins improved to 7-1-2 in the second game of back-to-back sets this season, 9-1-2 in Game 2s of three games in four days and a perfect 7-0-0 in matinees. Haha why can't all their games be afternoon contests tightly packed together like this? Colorado has lost their last seven games in a row including three straight in OT (they are a ghastly 1-10 in overtime this season which seems impossible). After a nice start to the season which included a 6-3 drubbing of the Black and Gold way back on Nov. 14 in Denver, they have plummeted back to Earth although they are currently just as close to the Wild Card spots in the Western Conference as they are to the basement.
Colorado's only goal in 64:03 of action came when Nathan MacKinnon flipped in a tight angle shot top shelf on Halak for a 1-0 Avs lead at 19:27 of the first period. Gabriel Landeskog and J.T. Compher had the assists on MacKinnon's 29th goal of the season. After getting outshot 12-7 in the first, the Bruins woke up as John Moore of all people tied it with a shot from the point at 3:40 in the second period. Semyon Varlamov (33 saves, 13-13-8) must have been screened since Moore beat him from some distance for his third goal of the season, assisted by Charlie McAcoy and Marchand. If you are into weird hockey plays (and who isn't?), Moore had another puck go in the net off of his stick but it didn't count due to an obscure rule: the dump-in went off the curved glass by Boston's bench and bounced past Varlamov with 29.1 seconds left in the frame. Apparently, that is a rule and it cannot be reviewed, alrighty then.
Besides having the top two forward lines in the NHL, both of these clubs possess quality power plays (Boston is No. 2 and Colorado is No. 6) but you wouldn't know that from today's yucky performances: the Bruins were 0-for-5 on the power play while the Avalanche were 0-for-4. Are you not entertained? From that perspective, overtime was probably a foregone conclusion and the B's are now 6-6 in the extra five minutes which is way better than the 4-6 mark they sported coming into yesterday's OT victory vs. LA (23-27-5). Halak made a nice save on a backhander by Calvert and shortly after that, Marchand's shot bounced in the goal after it deflected off Calvert's skate. Marchand's 21st goal of the season also extended his franchise record to 14 career overtime goals-the second most for all active players-trailing only Alex Ovechkin (22). Patrice Bergeron and Torey Krug provide the assists with the latter running a Patriots style pick play to free up some space for Marchand to shoot from.
Chicago (23-24-9) comes here on Tuesday (7, NESN), Boston's last home game before they head out West for a five-game road trip. The Blackhawks looked like trash on New Year's Day when the Bruins beat them 4-2 at Notre Dame Stadium but surprisingly, they've been on fire lately (winners of 7 straight including Sunday's 5-2 win vs. Detroit). Every point is important at this time of the year and today's two points elevated Boston into third-place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of Montreal (31-18-7) and one point behind Toronto (34-17-3) who is playing at the Rangers (23-23-8) as we speak. The B's are riding a seven-game point streak (4-0-3) and another win would feel good as they head out of town for 10 days.
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