By: Ryan Jainchill | Follow me on Twitter / X @Jainchill_Ryan
Coming into March 20th, the Boston Bruins were in the thick of a playoff race that they were losing ground in. On that date, they had 84 points, which tied them for the top wild-card spot with the Detroit Red Wings and also put them a half-game back of the Montreal Canadiens. While that was a solid position, the Columbus Blue Jackets had just jumped the New York Islanders for the third spot in the Metropolitan Division with 83 points and now trailed the Pittsburgh Penguins by a point, putting three more teams into the mix for only a few spots.
To this point in March, the Bruins were 5-2-3 but had lost three of five. While the optics look good, as in they had 13 points in 10 games, they had squandered the opportunity for more with two blown-lead overtime losses and a rough showing against the Nashville Predators on the eve of the trade deadline.
This sets the scene for March 21st, when the Bruins made their second and final visit to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit for a prime-time matchup with the Red Wings. Coming off a 6-1 thrashing of the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday, the Bruins started slow, but goaltender Jeremy Swayman kept them in it, with neither team finding the back of the net in the first frame.
Early in the second, Detroit struck first on the power-play, with the struggling Bruins’ penalty kill failing to pick up Lucas Raymond back-door. But just over a minute later and on a 5-on-3, David Pastrnak rocketed one past John Gibson to get the Bruins on the board, and the score of 1-1 stuck after 40 minutes.
With 20 minutes remaining in a crucial game for both teams, Detroit took the lead four minutes in. But in a trend you will see again, the Bruins didn’t quit. Elias Lindholm broke a lengthy goal drought right after the Red Wings took the lead, and Nikita Zadorov muscled one past Gibson for only his second goal of the year to give the Bruins their first lead of the night with nine minutes left. Marat Khusnutdinov put the finishing touches on this big win with an empty netter, separating the Bruins by two points now over Detroit.
After a rough loss on home ice against the Toronto Maple Leafs in what many thought would be an easy Bruins victory, they traveled to Buffalo to take on the Sabres in the second-half of the back-to-back. On March 24th, Buffalo had a two-point lead atop the Atlantic Division and was nine points ahead of Boston. After the loss at home the night before, confidence heading into this contest was low.
David Pastrnak got the scoring started for Boston in the first, but Jason Zucker answered right back on the power play towards the end of the first frame. Tied at one in the second, Pastrnak was denied on an in-tight breakaway, but Viktor Arvidsson was there to clean up the trash and give the Bruins a 2-1 lead, which would hold going into the final period.
But Buffalo responded right away. Zach Benson capitalized on a breakaway to tie the game at two, and after Mason Lohrei took a penalty after the goal, Zucker got his second of the night 33 seconds later to turn what was a Bruins lead into a 3-2 deficit. However, like the Detroit game, the Bruins fought back, with Jonathan Aspirot’s shot bouncing right in front of the net where Casey Mittelstadt knotted the game with six minutes left. In overtime, the Bruins dominated possession, culminating in a Pavel Zacha overtime winner to give Boston two crucial points.
Riding the high of a comeback victory against the class of the Atlantic, the Bruins welcomed the Minnesota Wild to TD Garden on Saturday for their second and final matchup of the season. The Wild, in their own fight in the Central Division, were trying to catch the Dallas Stars for second place. Minnesota had handily beaten Boston 6-2 in St. Paul in December in Quinn Hughes’ team debut.
This game was a different story. A minute in, Andrew Peeke sniped one blocker side on Filip Gustavsson to give the Bruins an early lead, and later in the frame, the scorching Bruins second line connected, with Arvidsson finding Zacha on a 2-on-1. Leading 2-0 in the second, Arvidsson was the recipient of a cross-ice feed from Pastrnak and buried it to make it 3-0. But Minnesota was not done.
With Boston up 4-1 in the third, the Wild kept fighting, cutting the deficit to 4-3 with just under seven minutes remaining. Given what had happened earlier in the month in Pittsburgh, doubt crept into the Bruins. But with key points on the line, Zacha tipped in a Mittelstadt turnaround shot from deep with 3:10 remaining to restore a two-goal lead, and Lindholm buried one into the empty netter for his second goal of the period to make it a 6-3 final.
The next day, Boston traveled to Columbus for another matchup between two teams fighting for the wild card. Columbus had stumbled a little, falling back into the second wild card spot, three points behind Boston. The Blue Jackets needed points and quickly, as they were losing ground to the suddenly streaking Ottawa Senators, who trailed them by just one point.
After Swayman was stellar the day before, Head Coach Marco Sturm rolled with him again in the back-to-back for the first time this season. Even with momentum, Boston got out to a very sluggish start, spotting Columbus three goals in the first period. In what looked like a loss already, it looked like the fatigued Bruins were going to lose ground on the Blue Jackets.
But the tide started to turn. After a scoreless second period, in which the Bruins outshot Columbus 13-5, Charlie McAvoy finally beat Jet Greaves to get Boston on the board early in the third. A minute later, on the power play, Zacha scored his fourth goal in three games to make it 3-2 with over ten minutes to go. With 11 seconds to go in what would be a rough loss, Zacha found the puck in front of the net to tie the game to salvage a point out of being down 3-0 going into the third.
While overtime did not solve anything, Fraser Minten opened the shootout with an against-the-grain rip over Greaves’ shoulder. After Mittelstadt was stopped, former Bruin Charlie Coyle beat Swayman to tie the shootout at one in the third round. Up stepped Arvidsson, already with three assists in the contest, who went backhand-forehand-backhand to beat Greaves and give the Bruins a statement victory in comeback fashion.
These last four victories have propelled Boston to 92 points, the top wild-card spot, and given them a six-point lead over Ottawa, Detroit, and the Philadelphia Flyers for that honor. They now trail Montreal by two points for third in the Atlantic Division. After this hot streak, MoneyPuck has the Bruins’ odds of making the postseason at 90.9%, a number unimaginable coming into this season.
While the Bruins are far from being done trying to fend off those chasing them, if they make the postseason, this stretch of play could be the catalyst. Four victories over playoff teams, two of which are actively chasing you, is incredibly important down the wire and gives the Bruins some cushion. Considering Boston has the fourth-hardest remaining schedule by points percentage, that four-out-of-five victories stretch could loom large.
Leave a Reply