Bruins Coach Jim Montgomery wanted to see his team up its desperation. He got that and more on Tuesday night at American Airlines Arena.
And in a game that featured playoff intensity and drama, the B’s captured a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Arena.
After the B’s killed off a Brad Marchand in OT, David Pastrnak blasted a one-timer off a Charlie McAvoy feed to lift the B’s to the win.
The B’s, their power play again failing them (0-for-3) and trailing 2-1 in third period, played with determination to even it. Montgomery mixed up his lines, reuniting the Czech line and that group tied it up with 9:48 left in regulation. Brandon Carlo passed to Pavel Zacha on the left wing and he simply smoked a wrist shot past Jake Oettinger, who’d been playing very well. Zaca would later jump start the game-winning play, breaking the puck out of the B’s zone in OT to help create the GWG.
One of the biggest issues that hampered the B’s in their 2-1 loss to Washington on Saturday was that being too cute and over-passing the puck. It didn’t take long to see that they had received the message.
Within the first few minutes of the game, the B’s had a half dozen shots on goalie Jake Oettinger. They got the first power play and, though their streak of futility stretched to 0-for-18, the B’s had better offensive zone presence and Pavel Zacha nearly gave the B’s their first lead but hit the post from the slot.
But the B’s did eventually get the first goal on a pretty play. Taylor Hall carried the puck through the neutral zone with speed before moving it to David Krejci at the right point. Krejci handed it off to an onrushing Hampus Lindholm, who took two Dallas defenders with him behind the net. Lindholm dished back behind him to a wide open Hall, who beat Oettinger to the far side at 10:33. It was Hall’s 16th goal of the season but just his third goal in 22 games.
“I had a similar opportunity in Toronto that Pavel Zacha passed to me and I put it right in (the goalie’s) chest,” Hall told NESN after the first. “I kind of though of that as the play was happening and I wanted to get it as close to the post as I could and luckily it went in.”
While the B’s pelted Oettinger to a 15-6 shot advantage, they couldn’t get out of the first period with a lead as the Stars tied it at 13:11. From the right half wall, Joe Pavelski sent a short pass to Jason Robertson that bounced off the sharpshooter’s stick and into the high slot, from where a hard skating Roope Hintz swept a backhander under Linus Ullmark’s pads.
Oettinger made several big saves in the first, but none better than the one he made on Patrice Bergeron in the final minute of the period. With Nick Foligno and David Pastrnak crashing the net, the puck squirted out to the slot for the captain, but he couldn’t lifted it over the prone goalie’s pad.
And in early in the second period, the Stars took the lead on another goal off a first line rush. Brandon Carlo could not stop a Pavelski pass getting through to Robertson, who beat Krejci on the left wing and slipped the puck through Ullmark at 4:17 for his 34th of the season.
The B’s were lucky they weren’t down by more going into the second intermission. After they pushed their PP drought to 0-for-19, Charlie McAvoy and Connor Clifton took consecutive penalties, giving the Stars on a 57-second 5-on-3. But the B’s did a strong job of killing the penalties off, and then Ullmark made a big save on Robertson, who somehow broke in alone on his off wing late in the period.
The B’s were within a goal going into the third, but they desperately needed to get back on the attack. They were outshot 10-9 in the second.
