By: Tom Calautti | Follow me on Twitter/X @TCalauttis
The Boston Bruins returned to action, and Charlie Coyle returned to TD Garden, in Thursday night’s matchup against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Thanks in large part to their goaltending, the Black and Gold escaped with a 4-2 victory.
Most of Boston’s roster hadn’t skated in an NHL game since February 4th, and it showed early on. Columbus controlled the majority of the play in the first period and jumped out to a 1-0 lead when a stretch pass hopped over the stick of Charlie McAvoy and onto the stick of a streaking Kirill Marchenko. He beat Joonas Korpisalo to give the Blue Jackets an early lead.
The Bruins were under siege for most of the first period, and they stayed in the game in large part thanks to their goaltending. Korpisalo stopped 19 of 20 shots in the opening frame and was able to keep his team in striking distance.
“Yeah, it was not pretty,” said Head Coach Marco Sturm of the first period. “That was just not us. That was just not the game we wanted to play. And we just had to settle things down; we had to make a few points between periods. I would say the second and third period was much better – more like us. But still, overall, I think we need to get better.”
The lone bright spot came with less than five minutes remaining in the first when Jonathan Aspirot rimmed a puck around to Viktor Arvidsson. The speedy winger wasted no time firing a slapper from high in the zone, which deflected off a Columbus stick past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins to tie the game at one.
The second period was where things got interesting. Columbus big man Miles Wood drove the net hard early in the period and made clear and obvious contact with Korpisalo. Boston’s netminder was pulled for testing by the concussion spotter, and with no Jeremy Swayman, that meant that Providence Bruins star Michael DiPietro had to take over in net.
The Bruins made life easy on DiPietro as his time in the crease began with his team on the power play. David Pastrnak, manning the ‘top of the key’ position usually assigned to a defenseman, found Morgan Geekie for a patented one-timer, which beat Merzlikins and gave Boston the lead. DiPietro would end up spending 6:03 in goal before Korpisalo returned, making two saves and maintaining the lead.
“He better,” said DiPietro after the game, if he knew Korpisalo would return. “I’m just glad it was quick, and he was back out there. He played a fantastic game. I’m just happy I didn’t screw it up for the boys.”
The Bruins finished the second with the lead and were able to extend their advantage nine minutes into the third. Tanner Jeannot found Kuraly streaking out of the defensive zone, and the former Blue Jacket ripped a half-slapper past Merzlikins to increase the lead to 3-1.
The Bruins relinquished their two-goal lead just several minutes later when Adam Fantilli snapped a high-zone shot past Korpisalo. The score stayed 3-2 until just under 30 seconds remaining when Arvidsson potted an empty-netter to seal the victory. He now has 16-14-30 in 46 games and is third on the team in scoring.
Make no mistake, Korpisalo was the star of this game, finishing with 36 saves on 38 shots and keeping the Bruins afloat when they didn’t have their game. Since the new year, the bronze medalist is 5-0-2 in eight starts, with a goals-against average of 2.20 and a save percentage of .923, according to Statmuse.
“He made a couple game-changing saves,” said Kuraly of his goaltender. “(Especially) the one on (Zach) Werenski late in the third and a few others. He was crucial to us winning this game, if he didn’t play like he did it could’ve been a different story.
The Bruins didn’t get a ton of help on the out-of-town scoreboard, but they still have a solid hold on the second wildcard spot and trail the Sabres and Canadiens by a single point. They’ll travel to Philadelphia for their next contest against the Flyers.
Game Notes:
- With an assist on the opening goal, Aspirot now has five points in this last five games.
- With two goals last night, Arvidsson now has four goals in his last five games.
- Both Charlie Coyle and the Olympic medalists received video tributes in the first period.
- Andrew Peeke was a healthy scratch from tonight’s game, which Sturm said was because the team is trying to work all their defenseman in down the stretch.
- Fun fact: if the score had held following Michael DiPietro entering the game, he would’ve been credited with the win.
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