After losing its previous two games at TD Garden, the Boston Bruins were on the verge of three setbacks in a row when Nashville's Mike Fisher aka Mr. Carrie Underwood made it 3-2 with 3:32 left in regulation this afternoon.
Boston (34-17-2) stuck with it though as Milan Lucic (20th of the season) tied it with a power-play strike at 18:53 with the goalie pulled and the B's went on to win 3-2 in a shootout against the Predators (32-18-6).
Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron scored the only shootout goals, meaning that it was over in the third round. I usually complain that Saturday matinees are usually terrible for the B's but not today, this was a top-notch contest.
If the Bruins had lost, they would have been the victim of bad puck luck since for the most part, they controlled play from start to finish. Nashville took advantage of a few scoring chances and they leaned heavily on one of the NHL's top goaltenders, Pekka Rinne (38 saves).
This turned out to be one of the most meaningful wins of the regular season given Boston's recent struggles. Lucic was a beast all afternoon and in the shootout, Tim Thomas (19 saves; 23-10-0) was able to forget about Facebook rants for a minute and make two saves.
Nashville is a quality team, I'll predict that they'll win a series or two this spring in the Western Conference playoffs. They're short on goal-scoring but they play to that well with a defensive-minded system.
With the Bruins shorthanded, Bergeron (16th of the season) had given Boston a 1-0 lead at 16:00 of the first period. Brad Marchand made the play happen by chipping the puck ahead then finding Bergeron for a screened one-timer.
Shea Weber (11th of the season), who has the second hardest shot in the NHL behind Zdeno Chara, showed off his cannon by tying it at 7:32 of the second with a power-play slap shot. His defensive partner Ryan Suter had the lone assist on Weber's missle from the point.
NESN didn't bring its A game since their broadcast went out at the end of the first period and for most of the second period. I was left listening to the radio broadcast on the Sports Hub like some 90-year-old and checking Twitter like a fiend (even more than usual).
The third period was wild so thankfully I was able to see it with my own eyes, rather than just hear about it. Both teams scored two goals. Daniel Paille (9th of the season) kicked it off with a diving backhander at 2:55 from Shawn Thornton and Johnny Boychuk.
Patric Hornqvist (17th of the season) tied it at 9:33 from Sergei Kostitsyn and Rinne. It was against the run of play as the puck was in Nashville's end for a while but then they broke out and multiple Bruins defenders were left in the dust.
Fisher's goal was a result of his own rebound off the backboards. Thomas should have stopped that one since the weak backhander went under his pads.
The Bruins will look to carry over this great effort on Tuesday as they host the New York Rangers. Everyone remembers that their first meeting with the Rangers was a classic, won 3-2 by New York in a shootout on Jan. 21 so I have no doubt this one should be superb too. The teams play twice more after that, both at Madison Square Garden and they have to be the odds on favorites to meet in the Eastern Conference Finals. They are clearly the top two teams in the East.
So whatever you're doing on Valentine's Day, at least make sure that you have the DVR set for what should be a beautiful hockey game between the Original 6 rivals.
UPDATE 2/12: After the game, Steven Kampfer was sent down to Providence. He's been a healthy scratch the last five games with Boston so this will give him more playing time.
UPDATE 2/13: The Bruins made the interesting choice to call up defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk this morning and not Kampfer. With the trade deadline two weeks from today, makes you wonder if Kampfer is going be be dealt soon. Boston also called up forward Josh Hennessey from Providence.
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