Bruins Hoping To Turn Things Around After Comeback Victory Over Devils
At the end of the second period of Tuesday night’s 5-4 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils, things did not look good for the Boston Bruins. After a power play goal from Brad Marchand seemed to give the black and gold some life, Jeremy Lauzon made a tape to tape pass to a net-front Kyle Palmieri who buried his eighth goal of the season to give the Devils a 4-2 lead at the 17:06 mark of the second period. At that point, I think it’s safe to say that many Bruins fans had the game chalked as another disappointing and frustrating loss.
But then the third period rolled around.
In the third, the Bruins out-chanced, outshot and, most importantly, outscored the Devils.
Charlie McAvoy got the Bruins within one when he fired home a rebound past Devils netminder MacKenzie Blackwood after a Craig Smith shot from the point found him alone in the slot.
Then, with four minutes remaining in regulation, David Krejci had a clean faceoff win in the offensive zone. Smith quickly dished it to Matt Grzelcyk who ripped a shot from just above the right circle that found the back of the net as Nick Ritchie set a great screen in front. 4-4.
After an entertaining overtime, the Bruins made quick work of the Devils in shootout on filthy goals from Charlie Coyle
and David Pastrnak.
Now, this article isn’t to say that everything that has been plaguing the Bruins as of late is all of a sudden magically fixed. They’ve scored just 57 goals at even strength – the second-fewest in the league; they’re still dealing with injuries and players out due to COVID-19 protocol as Jake DeBrusk, Sean Kuraly, Tuukka Rask, Kevan Miller and Ondrej Kase all remain out; and they sit just three points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers for the East Division’s final playoff spot.
What this article is to say is that the Bruins desperately needed a win like this. At just past the midpoint of this shortened season, the Bruins have been largely inconsistent. Every team in the league goes through slumps at one point or another and when they do, they turn to their leaders to step up.
And that’s exactly what the Bruins did on Tuesday night.
Patrice Bergeron recorded an assist, Krejci collected three assists and Marchand tallied a goal and an assist while also making perhaps the most important play of the night when he decked Dmitri Kulikov and then immediately dropped the gloves for a quick takedown of Jesper Bratt.
One thing we’ve seen time and again over the last 10 years is that when the black and gold need a boost, their leadership core always comes through.
Looking Ahead
The next four games for Boston are critical: two against the third-place Pittsburgh Penguins, and two against the aforementioned Flyers.
With 24 games left in the regular season – six of them against the Buffalo Sabres – and games in hand on every other team in the East Division, the Bruins are undoubtedly capable of climbing back to the top of the standings.
