Believe it or not (given the final score), the story for much of this contest was the continued dominance of Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask (33 saves). After playing one of the best games of his NHL playoff career on Thursday (a 4-1 victory at Columbus), he appeared poised to somehow top that with a shutout. In the span of 3:35, Columbus managed to score three goals to erase that two-goal deficit. In the long, storied history of the Black and Gold, this was only the second time ever that they had blown a multi-goal third period lead then recovered to still win it in regulation (1989, division semifinal at Buffalo).
Boston's first forward line (Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand) had been the best in the NHL not only this season but the last few which made their struggles earlier in the series vs. Columbus so puzzling. Were Pastrnak and Bergeron hurt or just in a major offensive drought at the worst possible time? They have certainly answered their critics with the back-to-back crucial wins that they starred in. Marchand (goal, 2 assists) and Pastrnak (2 goals) each had their best games of the postseason and Rask once again outplayed Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (32 saves) who is still making some of the best stops that you'll ever see.
Interestingly enough with the top two power plays left in the postseason (Columbus is #1 & Boston is #2), all seven of the goals came via 5-on-5 action. After a scoreless first period, David Krejci opened the scoring at 1:39 of the second. Who cares if he almost whiffed on the shot which actually helped it fool Bobrovsky? Jake DeBrusk and David Backes had the assists on Krejci's third goal of the playoffs (his 35th career playoff goal that moved him into 7th place on the club's all-time list). Boston doubled its lead at 4:51 of the third period on a Marchand goal and at that point with the way that Rask was completely shutting down the Jackets, you thought that would be more than enough. Bobrovsky robbed Marchand with a spectacular glove save but Brad stuck with it and beat the brilliant goalie with a snipe in basically the same spot. His fifth goal of the postseason was assisted by Quinnipiac's Connor Clifton (his 1st career playoff point!) and Bergeron.
Columbus' ill-fated comeback attempt fittingly started with another shady goal (at least it wasn't the boneheaded no call from Game 4 when the puck clearly went into the netting over the rink before the Blue Jackets scored on the same play). Seth Jones' shot deflected off Matt Grzelcyk's stick and Rask was hugging the near post but he wasn't able to keep it out of the net, apparently. It was called no goal on the ice then after a very lengthy review (and to the dismay of the Garden crowd), it was overturned for Jones' third goal of the playoffs. Zach Werenski and BC's Cam Atkinson had the assists on the goal by Jones who once again nearly played half of the game (he skated a game-high 29:49). 43 seconds later, Pasta ripped a laser by Bobrovsky who barely moved. Marchand had the lone assist but Pasta did most of the work on their 2-on-1; his fifth goal of the postseason was an understandably emotional moment for him after he'd been bashed for the last few weeks by local media and fans alike.
It's a real credit to the Blue Jackets that they still wouldn't die after that (when most other clubs would have) as Ryan Dzingel cut it to 3-2 with a top-shelf shot 51 seconds later. Matt Duchene and David Savard had the helpers on Dzingel's first point of the postseason. Even more unlikely than that, something named Dean Kukan (haha who the hell is that?) tied it up at 13:58 with a blast that went off of Brandon Carlo's skate. It was the first goal-regular season or playoffs-of Kukan's NHL career. Artemi Panarin and Josh Anderson notched the assists on Kukan's tying goal which proved as always that if you give almost any NHL player that much time and space, they can hurt you in a major way. Assuming that you weren't dead already, the B's saved us further heart problems (for now!) since they bypassed (get it?) overtime for the excruciating third straight contest at home.
The Bruins left it to be decided late but doesn't the additional drama make it that much sweeter? Carlo started the winning sequence by stripping the puck from Panarin then Marchand threw it towards the Columbus net where Pastrnak was situated and he re-directed it enough to elude Bobrovsky to the far side. Needless to say, I think that Pasta's first career game-winning goal in the playoffs will be one that he'll never forget.
Boston now has a little bit of a cushion (2 chances to get 1 win) as they enter Game 6. Keep in mind that Carolina is relaxing and waiting for the winner of this series in the Eastern Conference Finals after they finished their sweep of the Islanders last night. Unlike the Leafs series, the Bruins have learned to give themselves some breathing room but make no mistake, they need to do everything in their power to eliminate Columbus as soon as possible. You don't want to see them and especially Bobrovsky in a Game 7 situation.
Some numbers to keep in mind for Monday: the Bruins are 10-16 all-time in Game 6s when they lead a best-of-seven series 3-2 while the Blue Jackets are 0-2 in Game 6s when they trailing a series 2-3. Also, Boston is 21-5 all-time in best-of-seven series when they lead in a series 3-2 and Columbus is 0-2 when they trail in a series 2-3. The B's have won their last two games and what better time to make it three in a row and reach their first Eastern Conference Finals since 2013 (vs. Tampa Bay) than Monday in Columbus?
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