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Pending free agent
Loui Eriksson’s days with the Boston Bruins may be numbered, but that hasn’t stopped him scoring, as Eriksson played the hero in a Tuesday night overtime against the Columbus Blue Jackets by way of his 20th goal of the year in a 2-1 win at Nationwide Arena.
In the 700th game of his NHL career, the Bruins gave a David Krejci-Eriksson and Torey Krug trio the start up front to begin the three-on-three overtime, and after the trio survived a quick Seth Jones shot, they pushed pace the other way while Eriksson drove towards the front of the net, a familiar and fortunate spot for both Eriksson and the B’s this season. And Krug, with the puck on his blade, did not miss on finding Eriksson with a slap pass deflected through Columbus netminder Joonas Korpisalo.
The Blue Jackets opened up the scoring behind a penalty shot goal from
Alexander Wennberg 9:54 into the first period. Awarded the shot on a hook from Boston captain
Zdeno Chara on a breakaway, Wennberg came in on
Tuukka Rask with speed and a long reach that ultimately beat the B’s netminder for Wennberg’s sixth goal of the season (and first since Jan. 13 against Toronto).
Boston countered with
Patrice Bergeron’s unassisted tally scored off a Jones giveaway, scored 14:28 into the first period. It was the welcome back the Bruins needed after struggling with Bergeron shelved for the previous two games -- the B’s went 1-1-0 in his absence in spite of large shot-differential disparities against them in both games -- with an undisclosed injury.
The Bruins leaned on Rask heavily throughout the night, with Rask forced to stand on his head with shorthanded breakaways from both
Brandon Saad (12 minutes into the first) and
Matt Calvert (midway through the second period). Both chances came with Boston’s top power play unit on the ice. Rask stopped 28-of-29 shots against in what was his fourth win in the last six games.
Bruising defenseman
Adam McQuaid, back from an 18-game absence (upper-body), was credited with three hits and two blocked shots in 14:51 of time on ice.
The Bruins are now 2-0-0 against the Jackets in 2015-16.
Random thoughts and notes
- What a night for Rask. What a response after getting the early hook following that ugly 19-of-24 showing against Detroit on Sunday. Yeah, it was against a Blue Jackets team that’s pretty … bad .. but they’ve been playing better hockey of late, and their pressure on the B’s was noteworthy. You could make the case that this isn’t a team you necessarily need your goaltender to stand on his head to beat, but Rask did that behind a Bruins defense that’s just so, so shaky throughout the season.
-
Brad Marchand’s seven-game goal streak came to an end, but he’s probably alright with that now that his linemate of six years, Bergeron, is healthier and back in the lineup for the Bruins. What a difference having No. 37 in action makes for the Black and Gold. Night and day.
- The Bruins had a few golden chances on the power play tonight -- Eriksson’s chance and Krejci’s chance shortly thereafter stick out -- but it was at its most dangerous tonight when the Jackets had the puck going the other way. Their power play has scored on just one of its last 32 opportunities. It shows.
- To make the McQuaid activation official, the Bruins sent
Colin Miller down to the Providence Bruins before tonight’s game. What’s that about developing your young defensemen? As much as you understand sending the only guy who doesn’t need to clear waivers down to the minors, it’s maddening to watch how the Bruins have handled Miller this season. This was your big piece in the Milan Lucic trade. He’s been a part-time bit player this season, and there’s nothing left for him to prove to your organization down in the minors. Make a trade, any trade, to find a spot and ice-time for this player.
Up next
The Bruins head to Nashville for the fifth game of their six-game road swing. While it hasn’t been the prettiest hockey you’ve seen -- far from it, actually -- the Bruins have taken six of eight points on this trip thus far. And the one game they didn’t was still a one-goal loss despite getting majorly outplayed by the Detroit Red Wings, so you’ll take the positives where you can. A win in Nashville, especially with a Saturday night game against Dallas awaiting the B’s, would make this a successful trip. They need that.
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Boston Bruins Blogger •Bruins Feature Columnist • 
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