By: Chad Jones | Follow me on Twitter/X @ShutUpChadJones
Sunday night in Columbus, the Boston Bruins came away with one of their most gutsy victories of the season to improve their record to 42-24-8. After being down 3-0 after the first period to the Blue Jackets, the Bruins mounted a furious comeback to come away with a hard-fought 4-3 shootout win. With Boston and Columbus being two of the teams battling for a spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs, the Black and Gold triumphantly corralled two massive road points.
First Period
The Blue Jackets definitely started the contest on time, as they dictated play in Boston’s zone. And at the end of a good offensive zone shift by the Bruins, Connor Garland picked Hampus Lindholm’s pocket. The forward rushed up the ice and delivered a pass to Boone Jenner, who was barreling down the slot with a ton of space to work with. Jenner ripped a wrister past Swayman to give Columbus the early 1-0 lead.
Soon after the opening goal, the Blue Jackets were again on the prowl. An Andrew Peeke defensive zone turnover led to an Ivan Provorov point shot. Mason Marchment tipped home the attempt to give Columbus a 2-0 advantage before the period reached the eight-minute mark.
Late in the session, Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic tried to get the Bruins going by engaging in back-to-back fights. But unfortunately, Boston could not capture any momentum.
After turning the puck over in the offensive zone, David Pastrnak took an ill-advised tripping penalty. And the ex-Bruin Charlie Coyle would make his old team pay, as he ripped home a tally past Swayman to balloon the Columbus lead to 3-0.
In a very important game for the Bruins, they could not have had a worse opening 20 minutes. The intensity, attention to detail, and overall play were nowhere near the appropriate level for a game of this importance.
Second Period
The Bruins increased their intensity in the middle frame. But Boston’s struggles on the power play showed up on an early chance on the man advantage, as the Bruins failed to capitalize on special teams.
Boston was doing a much better job of establishing offensive zone time and generating chances, but they could not solve Jet Greaves. The Columbus netminder proved strong between the pipes, pitching a shutout through the game’s first 40 minutes.
Neither team found the back of the net in the period. The Blue Jackets took a 3-0 lead into the second intermission.
Third Period
The Bruins finally got on the scoreboard approaching the middle of the final frame. After a terrific pursuit, Pavel Zacha got the puck to Charlie McAvoy near the right point; the defenseman’s attempt found the back of the net to break the shutout for Greaves.
Soon after, McAvoy and Zacha would again connect on a Boston goal, this time on the power play. The centerman tipped home a left point shot from McAvoy to give the Bruins an important score on the man advantage to cut the Blue Jackets’ lead to 3-2. The tally was Zacha’s 12th of the month, the most in the NHL during March.
With under 45 seconds left, the Bruins had a six-on-four opportunity on the hunt for the equalizer. And during an absolute mad scramble with less than 15 seconds left, Zacha chipped home the game-tying goal from the slot.
There were only eleven ticks on the clock when Zacha buried his 12th score of the month. Tied 3-3, the Bruins and Blue Jackets went to overtime to battle for the all-important extra point.
Overtime/Shootout
The Bruins were able to generate some terrific chances in the extra session, but Greaves stayed firm in the blue paint to get the game into the shootout. In the competition, Fraser Minten got the Bruins first on the board with a slick finish. Coyle flipped one past Swayman to tie the contest, but Viktor Arvidsson executed a lethal forehand-backhand maneuver to beat Greaves and give the Bruins the shootout win.
The Bruins had one of their worst singular periods of the season to start off this game. But Boston dug deep and fought hard to the very last minute to snag two critical points at this point of the year.
Swayman continued his phenomenal play of late between Boston’s pipes, and Zacha stayed as hot as anyone in the entire league with another brilliant offensive performance. The Bruins have been dealing with road adversity much better of late, and they again showed their compete level against the Blue Jackets Sunday night.
The Bruins will be back home for a single game Tuesday night, as Boston will host the Dallas Stars. The Bruins will then embark on a massive four-game road trip with stops in Florida, Tampa Bay, Philadelphia, and Carolina. If you want to see the Black and Gold in person at TD Garden or on the road before the season ends, consider using this official StubHub Ticket-affiliated link here for the most competitive concert and sporting event tickets in the North American region.
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