The Bruins Blew 2-0 Lead In The 3rd Period But Recovered To Beat Pens 3-2 In OT On Smith's Goal

 

    For nearly 50 minutes of game action tonight at TD Garden, the Bruins (4-1-1) had a near perfect performance. Left wing Brad Marchand scored a shorthanded goal (the 28th of this excellent career) in the first period and Boston's secret power play weapon Nick Ritchie added a goal on the man-advantage for a 2-0 lead in the second period. Pittsburgh (4-2-1) entered as the league's hottest team as they came in on a four-game win streak after going 0-2-1 to start 2021. The Penguis predictably wouldn't go down that easily as they scored a pair of goals in the the third period-by left wing Jason Zucker and right wing Kasperi Kapanen-to tie it at two and eventually send it to overtime. Luckily for the B's, the newest Bruin-right wing Craig Smith-was able to win the game when he finished a 2-on-0 with center David Krejci, there was a little over 10 seconds left in overtime.

    This could have been a disastrous loss for the home team but instead, it turned into their third straight victory. Goaltender Tuukka Rask (28 saves, 3-1-0) shook off an injury scare to grab his third win of the season. The only real bad news to come out of this contest for the B's was that right wing Jake DeBrusk left in the first period with a lower-body injury and never returned. The play that seemed to cause the discomfort was a textbook hip check by Penguins captain Sidney Crosby delivered near center ice as DeBrusk tried to get into Pittsburgh's defensive zone. Bruins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk took warm-ups with the team before the game but ultimately he was a last-minute scratch as he nurses a lower-body injury of his own. 

    Marchand is one of the best shorthanded goal-scorers in the history of the NHL. He took a pass from defenseman Charlie McAvoy (3 assists) and used Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (game-high 29:57 of ice time) as a screen then he ripped a shot by Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry's (33 saves, 2-2-1) glove at 7:41 of the first period. McAvoy had the lone assist on Marchand's team-leading fourth goal of the season. Boston only received three power plays all game long (as opposed to Pittsburgh's woeful 0-for-6 showing!) but they made the most of one in the second period as a 5-on-3 expired. Marchand fired a pass across the crease to Ritchie who was stationed next to the post and simply had to sweep it in. We don't have to complain about what he did in the bubble anymore because Ritchie looks like a different guy with five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in his last three games. All three of his tallies this season have come on the power play as well. 

Speaking of the postseason, the Pens have been eliminated early in their last few playoff appearances which means that while their high-scoring games may work in the regular season, once it changes to the playoffs, it's been a different story lately. After a mad scramble by Rask (and a few saves in the sequence), Pittsburgh finally got on the scoreboard at 9:47 of the third period as veteran forward Jason Zucker was able to find the loose puck and whip it past Tuukka. Center Jared McCann and left wing Drew O'Connor (first NHL point in the NHL debut for the Dartmouth alum) were credited with the assists on Zucker's first goal of the season. Things got a bit sketchy for the Bruins when they allowed the tying goal to Kapanen at 16:44. His first goal of the season was assisted by center Evgeni Malkin and Zucker. The former Maple Leaf was able to use his speed to leave McAvoy in the dust then he went to the net and slid a backhander under Rask. 

    Boston evened their overtime record to 1-1 thanks to a complete defensive breakdown by the Pens (shocking, I know!) that left Krejci and Smith all alone on a breakaway with almost too much time and space to make the correct decision. They passed back and forth before Smith put the puck through Jarry's five-hole for his second goal as a Bruin. You could say that he was due for the goal since he managed to accumulate a game-high seven shots on goal. In another mini-series, these same clubs meet at the same place on Thursday (7, NESN). I'd expect a battle of backup goalies with Jaroslav Halak taking on UNH's Casey DeSmith. Hopefully Grzelcyk can return for the B's and maybe DeBrusk's injury isn't that bad, otherwise those are two sneaky important holes that head coach Bruce Cassidy will have to fix in the lineup.

Bruins Do Enough to Beat the Weary Maple Leafs, 4-2 In the Second Part of a Home-and-Home Set

In any sport, particularly ones with grueling travel schedules like the NHL there is a common phrase of "schedule loss" that refers to any time a confluence of factors can understandably trip you up. Tonight was just such an occasion for the Maple Leafs (5-4-2) against the Bruins (6-1-2) at TD Garden. Toronto was playing in the second part of a back-to-back as well (losing 4-3 in OT to Columbus on Monday at Scotiabank Arena) as its third game in four nights so Boston's 4-2 victory seemed like a forgone conclusion before the opening faceoff had even occurred.

I'll give the Leafs credit though, they made this way more competitive than you would expect it to be especially considering that backup goaltender Michael Hutchinson (35 saves; 0-2-1) got the rare start for them. Even though they lost 4-3 in overtime at Toronto on Saturday night and have needed seven games the past two springs to squeak by them in the first round of the playoffs, I am still confident in stating that the Bruins are simply a better all-around team than the top-heavy Maple Leafs. Two guys outside the first line scored for Boston in the first meeting and they matched that this evening with Brett Ritchie and Par Lindholm of all people scoring the game-winner and insurance marker in the third period.

It was a night of milestones for the Black and Gold: goaltender Tuukka Rask's (28 saves; 5-0-1) 500th NHL game, Bruce Cassidy's 200th game as Bruins head coach and David Pastrnak reached 300 NHL points. The first two numbers were very notable in their own right but Pastrnak is currently the hottest goal-scorer in the league so he deserves the most attention at the moment. He did not disappoint the home crowd with another highlight reel goal along with an assist. In the meantime, he became the fourth Bruin to reach 300 points in fewer than 350 games played, joining Barry Pederson, Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque. Ever hear of them? The NHL's reigning First Star of the Week got his First Star of the Month campaign going by extending his point streak to seven games (10 goals, 7 assists) while also scoring a goal in four straight games (8 total goals) which ties his career-best goal streak.

Pasta actually had an earlier first period goal overturned after the play leading up to it was deemed to feature a naughty Bruins player in an offside position. No worries, that just gave him a few more minutes to think of a more creative goal as he took a pass from Brad Marchand (career-best 7 game assist streak), spun towards the net and flicked a shot with his stick between his legs. Hutchinson got a piece of the puck but it still slipped over the goal line at 17:15. Pastrnak's NHL-best 10th goal of the season was also assisted by Torey Krug (5 assists in his last 4 games) and it came on a power play.

As the contest went along, you figured that Toronto would start to lose their skating legs but it took until the third period for their fatigue to fully set in. They trailed 1-0 after the first period but the Leafs tied it at 4:23 of the second period as Kasperi Kapanen unleashed a rocket of a one-timer from Harvard's Alexander Kerfoot. Rask had no chance to stop it as Justin Holl had the secondary assist on the young Finn's third goal of the season. The teams continued to trade goals as Boston took a 2-1 lead 1:26 after that with Pastrnak switching roles with Marchand and becoming the feeder. David showed his underrated vision to quickly turn his body and hit Brad on the tape of his stick with a pass that Marchand quickly deposited top shelf via a wrist shot. Charlie McAvoy had the other helper on Marchand's fifth goal of the season. Brad's point streak has reached eight games with five goals and nine assists in that span.

Kerfoot struck again with his second goal in as many games against the Bruins to make it 2-2 at 12:54 of the second period. Another blown coverage allowed him to skate right down the middle on the power play and tee up a one-timer from Kapanen. William Nylander provided the second assist on Kerfoot's fourth goal of the season. After going to a shootout against Tampa Bay (4-3-1) last Thursday and overtime with Toronto on Saturday, Boston had no interest in playing beyond the allotted 60 minutes.

Ritchie scored in the season-opener against his former team-at Dallas (3-7-1)-on October 3 and hadn't been heard from much since then. David Krejci is on IR with an upper-body injury and Karson Kuhlman broke his leg blocking a shot on Saturday so he's expected to miss at least a month of action. This elevated Ritchie to the second line tonight. He had an assist against the Leafs on Saturday and he topped that with the goal that put the B's ahead for good, 3-2 at 6:35 of the third period. Jake DeBrusk's shot bounced off a Leafs defenseman and Ritchie was able to knock in the loose puck for his first goal at the Garden as a Bruin.

Sean Kuraly took a high-sticking penalty with under five minutes left in regulation that could have spelled doom with the Bruins nursing a slim 3-2 advantage. Luckily for his sake, Boston killed off the infraction and he made everyone forget about his mistake by jumping out of the penalty box into a 2-on-1 with Lindholm. Hutchinson stopped Kuraly's initial shot but the Swede followed it up with a backhander on the rebound for his first goal/point as a Bruin at 17:57. The Bruins had a few cracks at an empty-netter (which would have made those that took the over at 6.5 goals very happy) in the closing minutes but they couldn't help the degenerates cash those tickets.

With practice scheduled for Wednesday-Friday, the B's will have plenty of time to focus on their next opponent-the Blues (4-2-3)-who come here on Saturday night (7, NBCSN) for their first meeting with Boston since Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in June. Clearly a matchup in late October is nothing compared to the highest stakes in June but with that said, it promises to be a memorable event for the Bruins who are trying to turn the page on that unforgettable loss. The weekend is jam-picked for the Bruins since they go to New York on Sunday night (7, NESN) to play the lowly Rangers (2-4-1) who lost their fifth game in a row tonight. Couple that with the fact that Patriots (7-0)-Browns (2-4) kicks off at 4:25 on Sunday afternoon and you can understand that way fewer eyeballs around New England will be fixed on that Original Six tilt.

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In Recent Years, Nothing Has Ever Come Easy For the Bruins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Has It?

Good luck trying to predict anything that will happen in this series, other than the fact that neither team has won two games in a row at least thus far. Coming off a crucial 6-4 road win in Toronto on Wednesday that evened the series at two games apiece, the Bruins once again mostly failed to show up (eerily similar to Game 1) on their home ice and consequently lost 2-1 to the Maple Leafs. Toronto now leads the first-round playoff series 3-2 and they have a chance to eliminate the B's on Easter Sunday afternoon (3, NBC) at Scotiabank Arena.

For most of Game 5, it felt like both clubs were scared to make a mistake but Boston got the first three power plays (1 in the first period and 2 in the second period) but weren't able to take advantage of any of them. It was scoreless through two periods and up until then, the best chance came late in the second for David Krejci who did everything right but saw his shot hit the corner of the post/crossbar and bounce away from the net. As you would expect, both goaltenders were sharp from start to finish. Tuukka Rask (25 saves) deserved a better fate but as he's been for most of this series, Frederik Andersen (28 saves) was just a little bit better.

Auston Matthews looked overmatched in this matchup last postseason but this time around, one of the NHL's bright young stars has started to play like it. He hammered in a one-timer from Jake Muzzin and Kasperi Kapanen at 11:33 of the third period. That was Matthews' fourth goal of the series and it extended his point-streak to three games (4 goals, 1 assist). Toronto left winger Zach Hyman bumped Rask before the shot happened so Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy understandably challenged it for goalie interference. After a long review, the NHL replay officials (ironically enough in Toronto) ruled that there wasn't "enough conclusive evidence to overturn it." That stung but not as much as the insurance tally by Kapanen 2:12 after that. It was the end product of a beautiful rush by Toronto with Andreas Johnsson (3-game point streak) and Morgan Rielly (3-game point streak) assisting on Kapanen's first goal of the series.

Boston finally found the back of the net but it was too late as David Krejci one-timed in a pass from David Pastrnak and Torey Krug with 43.4 seconds left in regulation. Krejci's second goal of the series came with Rask off for an extra skater. This being Toronto, they nearly pissed it away in epic fashion when Brad Marchand had a buzzer-beating shot but this is a new year and team so Andersen blocked it away as time expired.

For me, the most surprising aspect of this series so far is how great the Bruins were for most of the regular season at the Garden and you could very well argue that Game 1 and tonight were two of their worst performances all year in front of their home crowd (many of whom left when it was 2-0). As you would expect, the numbers for the B's heading into the must-win Game 6 are not pretty: they are 10-13 all-time in Game 6s when they trail a series 2-3 and 3-20 all-time in best-of-seven series when they trail 2-3 (last series win in that situation was the 2011 Stanley Cup Final vs. Vancouver). Conversely, the Leafs are 19-5 all-time in best-of-seven series when they lead 3-2.

Will Toronto become the first one to win two straight contests or can Boston force another Game 7? The Celtics will be going for the sweep vs. the Pacers (1, ABC) as well on Sunday but let's be serious, Bruins-Leafs Game 6 is the real main course. If you celebrate it, I hope that the Easter bunny brings you whatever helps to calm your nerves in tense situations like this (candy, booze, drugs, etc.). As usual in the NHL playoffs, home ice hasn't meant much especially for these two Original Six clubs who are so close in terms of talent and performance-levels. It doesn't matter how, the B's just have to find a way to steal Game 6 in Toronto and bring it back here for another Game 7 which would be on Tuesday.

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