The Bruins erased a one-goal third period deficit and Pavel Zacha scored at 2:15 of overtime to lift the B’s to a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings at the Garden on Tuesday.
David Pastrnak knocked Alex DeBrincat off the puck – the Wings were furious there was no penalty, especially after Pastrnak drew two penalties in the third period – and it slid to Zacha on the right wing. He passed back down to the Pastrnak, who faked the one-timer from the low slot and pushed it back over to Zacha for the winner.
While the Wings weren’t happy with how the game ended, they themselves got away with Ben Chiarot’s high-stick on Zacha late in regulation that could have been a double minor as Zacha spitted up blood from a cut on the inside of his mouth.
Zacha admitted that, for a split second, he thought a penalty might be coming on Pastrnak.
“For a second, yeah,” said Zacha, who scored his sixth of the season. “Once I touched the puck … I knew they weren’t going to whistle it anymore. But when (DeBrincat) fell, I looked a little bit to see if there was a penalty. But it wasn’t, so I’m happy it wasn’t and we scored.”
Since Joe Sacco took over for Jim Montgomery, the B’s have now won five of seven games. The wins have not always been pretty, but the overall process is moving closer to what was envisioned for this team. They’ll be going for that three-game win streak that’s eluded them when they play the Blackhawks in Chicago on Wednesday.
“We’re playing with passion, I think we’re playing with pride, I think we’re playing for each other,” said Nikita Zadorov, who scored for the B’s in the first period. “I thought we were disconnected before. That’s why it wasn’t working. I don’t think we fixed much Xs and Os. I think it’s the same system, same game plan. We’re just doing it this time.”
After Lucas Raymond gave the Wings a 2-1 lead earlier in the third period, the B’s tied it with the rarest of birds for them – not only a third period goal (just the third at the Garden this season) but a power-play goal to boot on a tip from Justin Brazeau.
Joonas Korpisalo made 25 saves, including an excellent blocker stop on DeBrincat in the third with the B’s trailing 2-1, to improve his record to 6-2-1.
“Very important player for us,” said Sacco of Korpisalo. “He flies under the radar a little bit with the start that he’s had with our group. He deserves a lot of credit with the way he’s come in and played, under tough situations sometimes.”
It was a fun end to a so-so game.
The game had all the makings of an early week dud. With the typical city traffic no doubt playing a part, the Garden was barely half full at the first puck drop and, with the building quiet, the early play matched the ambience.
“It wasn’t a clean game from either side. It was a low event game for a while,” said Sacco.
But the proceedings picked up a bit when Detroit scored the fist goal of the game at 7:31. Simon Edvinsson’s deflected pass found the dangerous Raymond in the slot and he buried it past Korpisalo, who could not recover in time to adjust to the deflection in front of him.
The B’s didn’t waste time in evening it up. Zadorov kept the puck in at the right point and Brad Marchand collected the loose puck. With Zadorov into the high slot, Marchand fed him and the big defenseman blasted a one-timer past Ville Husso for his second goal of the season at 9:15. His first came last Wednesday on an empty-netter against the Islanders.
The play had been even to that point, but the B’s started to tilt the ice in their favor. They wound up with a 12-6 shot advantage in the first but could not get the go-ahead goal, despite a late period power play.
At 12:41 of the second, it appeared that the Wings had retaken the lead on their first power play when Marco Kasper redirected Jonathan Berggren pass through Korpisalo’s pads. But after a lengthy review, it was determined that Erik Gustafsson was offside and the goal came off the board.
Zadorov then tempted the Wings’ fourth-ranked PP when he then took a slashing penalty on Raymond, but the B’s were able to kill that off, too.
Zadorov had been vexed before he served his penalty, believing Raymond sold the call. When he came out of the box, he was still fuming. He nudged Chiarot after he tried and failed to beat an icing call. Chiarot threw a punch at Zadorov and then Cristian Fischer jumped in to help Chiarot, but in the end Chiarot and Zadorov received matching double minors.
“I don’t like when the guy is shaking his hand,” said Zadorov. “I barely touched his hand. That’s got to get out of the league. It’s a men’s league. We all get slashed. We’re all in pain. But you don’t go like this and show the referee you get slashed. I just thought it was a little bit disrespectful so I went after him.”
The B’s had a chance for another power play late in the second when J.T. Compher held Marc McLaughlin. But on the delayed call, Brandon Carlo was nailed for interference to nullify the advantage. It was the that kind of night.
The third period has not been kind to the B’s, especially at the Garden, and at 1:19 of the third, Michael Rasmussen found a too-open Raymond in the slot and he beat Korpisalo to the glove side for the 2-1 Wings’ lead.
Considering the B’s had scored only two goals in the third period at the Garden this year, it didn’t look great for the home team, especially when Charlie McAvoy took an offensive zone penalty. They killed that off, and Korpisalo made the great blocker save on DeBrincat off a rebound to keep it one-goal deficit.
When Chiarot took an interference penalty on Pastrnak, the B’s power play, ranked 32nd in the league going against Detroit’s 32nd ranked penalty kill, cashed in.
It didn’t take long. Just as Chiarot was taking a seat, Trent Frederic won a faceoff back to Mason Lohrei, who fired a shot to the net that Brazeau deflected home, his sixth of the season.
Pastrnak drew another penalty on Gustafsson with 5:00 left in regulation, but they did not test Husso on it.
Leaving that one on the table would have smarted if it was a different result. But thanks to Zacha and Pastrnak – and refs Wes McCauley and Jon McIsaac for keeping their arms down – the B’s finished it off in OT.
