Bruins Just Can't Quit You Overtime, But Hey At Least Now They Are Winning In The Extra Sessions

(30 for 30 voice) What if I told you that the Bruins (31-17-8) have gone to overtime now in five of their last seven games? If that wasn't enough, Boston needed an extra frame in back-to-back days this weekend at TD Garden but odds are they won't be complaining after they walked away with another victory. Brad Marchand (and Matt Calvert's skate) was the hero as the Bruins outlasted an equally gassed Avalanche (22-22-11) 2-1 this afternoon. In the process, they put an end to some embarrassing streaks: this was their first overtime win vs. Avs/Nordiques since March 31, 1992 and their first ever OT win here vs. them. Finally, Jaroslav Halak (35 saves, 14-9-4) picked up his first win in well over a month (Jan. 3 vs. Calgary).

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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The Avalanche's Utter Dominance In Boston is One of the More Mystifying Current Streaks in Sports

I am not employed or affiliated with the Bruins by any means but on their behalf, I'd sincerely like to apologize for all the poor souls who paid to watch just about the most boring NHL game that you'll ever see. On Monday afternoon, Colorado (2-1-0) blanked Boston (1-1-0) 4-0 at TD Garden. Obviously the Avs don't make the cross-country trip here every year but did you have a clue that they are now on a 12-game win streak (10-0-1-1) in Boston? Unless your name is Joe Sakic, I'm sure like me that you didn't have a clue about that obscure statistic. In fact, the last time that the B's beat the Avalanche in Boston was way back on March 30, 1998 (when I was chillin' in eighth grade!).

The Avalanche were by far the worst team in the NHL last season and while they have a decent amount of youngish talent, they aren't believed to make a notable leap from that in 2017-18. Patrice Bergeron (lower-body) is still day-to-day while David Backes (illness) and Noel Acciari (broken finger) are on IR meaning that Torey Krug and Austin Czarnik made their season debuts for the B's while Matt Grzelcyk was sent down to Providence. Colorado was also wrapping up a three-game road trip to begin the year but even though the Bruins hadn't played since Thursday, the Avs were somehow the fresher team.

Just like the Red Sox in Games 1 and 2 of the 2017 ALDS vs. Astros, the Bruins didn't give themselves much of a chance as they trailed 2-0 less than 14 minutes into the contest. First Tuukka Rask (19 saves) allowed a very weak goal as Sven Andrighetto's shot trickled off his glove hand and into the net at 4:41. Mikko Rantanen and Nikita Zadorov had the assists on Andrighetto's first goal of the season. After going 1-for-5 in the season-opening win vs. Nashville, Boston's power play was 0-for-4 this afternoon which was made worse by the fact that they allowed a 2-on-1 shorthanded goal to J.T. Compher at 13:22. Old friend Carl Soderberg had the assist on Compher's first goal of the campaign.

Boston outshot Colorado 29-23 including 11-5 in the first period and 11-8 in the second period but that hardly mattered. The B's also owned the face-off dot (37-15) but what does that matter when you have six more giveaways (13-7), seven less takeaways (15-8) and missed the net with 16 shots (!). If you skipped the second period, literally nothing happened besides David Pastrnak almost scored a goal except Semyon Varlamov (29 saves; 22nd career NHL shutout & 2nd vs. Boston) stopped the puck just enough with his left leg pad that it went along the goal line but never over.

Rask's rough day continued in the third period as he came way out to try to get to a loose puck before Nail Yakupov did but the former Oilers No. 1 overall pick 2012 is at least faster than him so he potted what'll be the easiest non-empty net goal of his career. Your guy Patrik Nemeth and Harvard's Alex Kerfoot had the helpers on Yakupov's laugher of a tally. Speaking of which, Yakupov rounded out the scoring by getting credit for an empty-netter with 43.6 seconds left as Pastrnak knocked the net off its mooring before the puck inevitably would have been swept in by Yakupov or Andrighetto.

These same clubs meet on Wednesday in Colorado (9:30, NESN), thanks NHL? I feel like that could be a good time for the Bruins to give backup goaltender Anton Khudobin his first start of the campaign, at least to shake things up a bit, but so far it hasn't been confirmed either way if it'll be him or Rask between the pipes. After that meeting (the last one of the season between these ancient rivals), Boston will be in Arizona (0-1-1) on Saturday night (9, NESN) and the three-game road trip concludes in Las Vegas (2-0-0) on Sunday night (7, NESN). They simply can't lose back-to-back games in regulation to the lowly Avalanche and hopefully they can earn at least two or three points in the latter two tilts against other presumable Western Conference bottom-feeders.

PS goodnight Red Sox, at least you weren't swept this season in the first round of the playoffs! Fire Farrell.

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