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(Photo Credit: Jamie Kellner)
By Mike Cratty | Follow me on Twitter @Mike_Cratty
Home: Boston Bruins
Away: Carolina Hurricanes
Boston’s Lineup
Forwards
Marchand – Bergeron – Heinen
DeBrusk – Krejci – Johansson
Cehlarik – Coyle – Backes
Nordstrom – Acciari – Wagner
Defense
Chara – McAvoy
Krug – Carlo
Moore – Grzelcyk
Goalies
Halak
Rask
San Jose’s Lineup
Forwards
Niederreiter – Aho – Williams
Ferland – Staal – Teravainen
Svechnikov – Martinook – McGinn
McKegg – Wallmark – Foegele
Defense
Slavin – Hamilton
Pesce – Faulk
de Haan – van Riemsdyk
Goalies
McElhinney
Mrazek
First Period
The Bruins wore their whites at home as the Canes were wearing their green Hartford Whalers uniform for the second time this season. Just over three minutes in, Marcus Johansson was leveled by Micheal Ferland and went down in a heap. He left the ice with the assistance of teammates and Bruins head athletic trainer Don Del Negro.
Things immediately got chippy after that hit. Most notably David Backes taking liberties to the Ferland hit by fighting him, marking Backes’ third fight in four games. Ferland actually suffered an upper-body injury after his hit on Johansson and fight with Backes and went on to not return to the game.
A Calvin de Haan shot deflected off of Zdeno Chara and Sebastian Aho and past Halak to make it 1-0 Carolina. John Moore then cross-checked Brock McGinn in the back at center ice and went to the box for it. It got to the point where we saw a rare 4-on-3 for a bit – the first period was a mess in the first ten minutes.
The nonsense continued with a too many men on the ice penalty of all penalties for the Bruins. Peter Cehlarik served it. Luckily they killed it off.
Overall, it was a bad period for the Bruins. Too much retaliation after the Johansson hit was at the epicenter of their struggles. The shots were 12-11 Bruins.
Score: 1-0 Carolina
Second Period
Each team came into the period a forward down, but that didn’t stop Aho scored on a breakaway thanks to a poor Bruins defensive line change. 2-0 Canes. To make things worse, Patrice Bergeron unintentionally slew footed Jaccob Slavin and went to the box for tripping. Luckily again, the Bruins were able to kill it off.
Even a Bruins power play past the halfway point of the period couldn’t help the Bruins get on the board. The offense just wasn’t there early on. That was all until Chris Wagner buried a rebound to finally get the Bruins on the board. Wagner’s tenth goal of the season was assisted by Brandon Carlo (6).
With under two minutes to go, David Krejci helped make it consecutive unanswered goals for the Bruins when Jake DeBrusk picked up his rebound and buried it. Tie game. DeBrusk’s 22nd of the year was assisted by Krejci (41).
A resurgent second period for the Bruins concluded with another shot advantage, 15-10 this time, 27-21 overall.
Score: 2-2
Third Period
A second too many men on the ice penalty came to the dismay of the Bruins, served again by Cehlarik. To the surprise of no one, Brad Marchand did something awesome on a penalty kill. Marchand forced a defensive zone turnover, broke down the opposite side wing and found Patrice Bergeron on the other side of the pond for the Bruins’ third straight goal. 3-2 Bruins. Bergeron’s goal marked his 23rd of the season, Marchand hit 50 assists on the goal for the second straight season.
Following the goal, Curtis McElhinney made a series of excellent stops to keep Carolina’s deficit to one – the Bruins were hungry for more. Unfortunately, Justin Williams eventually evened things up off of a one-timer, thickening the plot of this wild game.
Thanks to a 15-9 shot advantage from Carolina, the shots finished tied at 36 at the end of regulation. The point streak for the Bruins is extended to 17 games.
Score: 3-3
Overtime
Coyle, Wagner, and Moore for Boston, and Staal, Teravainen, and Slavin for Carolina to start overtime. DeBrusk and Krejci wove some magic to win it for the Bruins. I’ll let the video do it some justice. What a goal.
Next up for the Bruins are the Florida Panthers on the Thursday at 7 PM ET at TD Garden.
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