Numbers can be a funny thing, you know. For example, Boston Bruins center
David Krejci came into tonight's game with just three points in his last 15 games, otherwise known as "since
Nathan Horton went down."
But after a month that saw the B's shut out a whopping five times led to some fiddling with the lines by
Claude Julien, the 25-year-old broke out with a three-goal performance on the way to a 4-3 Boston win.
Striking a minute and 13 seconds into the first period, the Krejci line now featuring
Tyler Seguin along with
Milan Lucic, the Bruins would add another when Seguin scored his 21st of the season just seven minutes later. Taking a 2-0 lead into the second frame, it was a meltdown of a second from Boston that would give New Jersey an edge they appeared capable of holding.
Getting on the board once
Zach Parise capitalized on a
Joe Corvo turnover, and then once again when
Patrik Elias banged home a rebound goal with Corvo in no-man's land, the 34-year-old slumping d-man took a seat on Boston's pine.
"I mean, I don’t know how you want me to answer that because I don’t throw my players under the bus," coach
Claude Julien said when asked about benching Corvo. "But obviously he had a bit of a tough outing."
Shortly falling behind thanks to an odd-angled
David Clarkson wraparound, the Bruins' inability to generate much of anything left them facing a one-goal deficit entering the third frame. But there was Krejci, a player whose confidence disappeared once Horton went down, to answer the bell, tying things up with a crazy goal from the side of
Marty Brodeur's net.
Connecting with his second of the night, knotting things up at two, Brodeur and Boston's
Tim Thomas would trade save for save to close out the third, setting the Bruins and Devils up for an overtime frame of intense proportions -- well, as intense as a regular season overtime can get.
Winding up in the attacking zone all by his lonesome, reinforcements would come with
Patrice Bergeron and
Zdeno Chara's joining of the attack, creating a ruckus in front of Brodeur before Krejci throw it on and beat the 39-year-old, sealing the win for Boston and giving the Czech-born forward his second career hat trick.
"He’s definitely getting his confidence back when he has the puck on his stick, and that’s a huge thing for him," Lucic said about Krejci's rebound as of late. "Obviously, it’s been kind of an up and down year for David and it’s been frustrating at times for him, but it’s great to see him work through it."
With the victory, Boston swept the season series with New Jersey for the first time since the 1985-86 season. In their meetings this year, the Black-and-Gold outscored the Devs 18 to 8.
All things defense: Zanon debuts, Ference gets hurt, and Corvo's terrible
Not a bad debut for the physical
Greg Zanon, who was obtained from Minnesota for
Steve Kampfer earlier this week. In 21 shifts, the 5-foot-11 blue-liner blocked three shots, had three hits, and finished the night with more ice-time than originally anticipated, but not by design.
Losing
Andrew Ference to a 'lower-body injury' late in the game, the Surrey, British Columbia native filled in for the B's alternate-captain, something that gave him some much needed experience as he adapts to the way Boston plays.
"Obviously you don’t like seeing anybody to go down hurt, but obviously you get a chance to get in there, get a lot of reps playing against top guys," Zanon said of the added ice-time. "You just get a good feel for the way everybody plays, and the way the system is played and I had a real good time too."
Then, there's the curious case of
Joe Corvo.
Once the ice for the first two New Jersey goals -- committing an egregious turnover to noted superstar
Ilya Kovalchuk of all people on one and nowhere near his man on the second tally -- it's clear that frustration is mounting with Corvo. In every possible way. You can tell that he's irritated, you can tell that the fans hate the guy, and you can tell that Julien's patience with the veteran offensive defensemen is wearing thin.
While Julien wouldn't 'throw Corvo under the bus' as previously mentioned, the Illinois-born defensemen would skate out for just seven shifts in the final 20 minutes and change of the game. Obviously forced to fill in for the injured Ference, Julien noted the struggles of his supposed puck-mover in the easiest way possible.
"Not the easiest night for Joe, but at the end we needed him, so he came back out there."
Yikes.
Up next
The Bruins continue to search for a win streak as they play host to the New York Islanders on Saturday. It's been 50 days since the Bruins won back-to-back games. Seriously.
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