As you would expect from such a gong show, there was a ton of highlights, lowlights and everything in between for both clubs. Murray put his team in a major hole early by allowing a soft goal to Jake DeBrusk, then Brad Marchand knocked a puck in the net out of mid-air (a new lead-off hitter for the Red Sox if Mookie Betts gets traded?) and David Pastrnak beat him shortside early in the second for the quick hook. DeBrusk's third goal of the season at 5:24 of the first period was technically unassisted by Kris Letang coughed the puck up right to him and Jake beat Murray down low to the far side. Marchand's ninth goal of the season came at 13:05 of the first and it was assisted by Pasta and Zdeno Chara. It was the beginning of Marchand's second five-point (2 goals, 3 assists) performance in his last four games (also Oct. 27 at NYR). It also extended his career-best point streak (13) and assist streak (12-most for a Bruin since Marc Savard in 2007!). The B's led 2-0 after one and when Pastrnak bagged his NHL-leading 14th goal at 4:22 of the second, this felt like another routine two points for the home team. Marchand and Carlo assisted on Pastrnak's tally that extended his point streak to 12 games (14 goals, 15 assists) which tied a career-best from two years ago (Nov. 22-Dec. 16, 2017).
Murray has probably been playing too much anyway (already his 12th start in 15 games) so it's not wonder he played like a guy that's fatigued. I couldn't tell you much about his backup Tristan Jarry (12 saves) but that move certainly flipped the momentum in Pittsburgh's favor. Suddenly, Boston kept giving up breakaways and Grade A scoring chances as the Penguins outshot them 21-5 in the second period (the most shots on goal allowed by the B's in a period in over a year). Dominik Kahun got the rally started with a one-timer at 5:35. Jared McCann and Justin Schultz had the assists on Kahun's third goal of the season which gave him five points (3 goals, 2 assists) in his last three games. Kris Letang hit Nick Bjugstad with a beautiful stretch pass and he cut it to 3-2 at 9:56. BC's Brian Dumoulin had the second assist on the former Panther's first goal of the season. Pittsburgh was flying up and down the ice, showing off their elite skill like when Evgeni Malkin (in his 2nd game back from injury) fed Bryan Rust with an absurd backhand tape-to-tape pass and the former Notre Dame star tied it at 15:59. Alex Galchenyuk had the second helper on the speedy Rust's second goal of the season.
You would have thought that was a perfect time for Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy to make use of his timeout but since it's still early November, he decided to let it play out and unfortunately, that decision backfired spectacularly. Coming out of the penalty box, North Easton MA native and Harvard product John Marino received an errant pass right on his stick, walked in on a breakaway and tucked one home past Jaroslav Halak (40 saves, 4-1-1) with 3.4 seconds left in the second period for his unforgettable first NHL goal. The stunned Bruins fans had no choice but to boo them off the ice as they went to the dressing room trailing 4-3. With a back-to-back looming in Montreal, Boston wanted no part of overtime or a shootout so they got the job done with a strong finish.
Leave it to some of their biggest stars to put this wild game to bed. Torey Krug one-timed a laser top shelf on Jarry from Marchand at 8:14 to tie it up at four apiece. Krug's second goal of the season (1 goal, 8 assists in his last 9 games) was also assisted by David Krejci. Brad got the game-winner with a fortuitous bounce following a wicked snap shot: the puck went off a post, ricocheted off Jarry's back and over the goal-line before Sidney Crosby (game-low minus-4!) could prevent that from happening. Marchand's 10th goal of the season was unassisted at 18:03 and it sent the Garden into delirium. Fittingly Mr. Steady himself Patrice Bergeron ended it with an empty-netter at 19:46. His seventh goal of the season (4-game point streak and 15 points in his last 13 games) was assisted by Krejci and Marchand.
Boston has already faced Toronto (7-5-3) twice this season and I'm not the first one to say that the Bruins-Leafs rivalry has been juicier the last few seasons than B's-Canadiens (7-5-2) mostly because Montreal has been an afterthought in the league. Of course, it won't feel like that tomorrow night (7:30, NBCSN) in the first encounter of this campaign at the Bell Centre with Tuukka Rask (7-0-1) in net for the Black and Gold plus former Bruins head coach Claude Julien aka Handsome Ralph behind the bench for the Habs. Boston had to work harder than they would have liked tonight after going up by three goals but they are such a professional team that I bet they find a way to get up for Montreal because duh.
Charlie McAvoy left the game late in the third period after crashing head first into a post on Boston's net. Cassidy thought it was only a cut and not a concussion which would be a relief while Krug also suffered a grizzly flesh wound on his chin after Rust's skate accidentally caught him when they were tangled up in the net following another collision. Cameron Hughes made his NHL debut on the fourth line for Boston and with David Backes and Par Lindholm both out with upper-body injuries, I'm guessing that he'll get another game (not that he really did much vs. Pittsburgh).
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