After clinching a postseason berth with their overtime loss to the Blues on Wednesday, the Bruins could lose every game for the rest of the regular season and if it meant they did not suffer any additional injuries, you’d almost have to take it as a win on its own.
So when Jamie Benn scored a shorthanded breakaway goal with 38 seconds left in the second period to put the Stars up by two heading into the third, I was totally on board with benching every single player left in the B’s top six forward corps as well as any valuable defenseman and packing it in for the final 20. The desperate Stars (who legitimately needed this game to keep their playoff hopes alive and well) were hungrier with tangible results on the scoreboard, and there was no sense in fighting it.
But I somehow forgot that we’re talking about a Bruins team will never, ever quit.
So realistically, perhaps the 3-2 comeback win, including a game-winning goal scored with 11.1 seconds left in the game, is exactly what I should have expected.
Frustrated to zero goals on their first 26 shots of the night, a David Pastrnak shot off Brad Marchand’s leg and through Kari Lehtonen put the Bruins on the board just 1:17 into the third period. And when the Stars had the chance to go for the kill with a power-play goal midway through the final frame, it was a two-on-one capped by a beautiful Tim Schaller goal that drew this game even with just 10:13 left in regulation.
And similar to the Blues and their ability to turn it on late, the Bruins smelled blood.
They upped the pressure on a shaky Dallas netminder that never quite felt comfortable in his crease, started winning battles along the wall, and fought for every inch of ice. (This is where it feels worth noting that the B’s are still without seven of their regulars, including their three most important defensemen and half of their top six forwards.)
Given the ultimate chance after yet another Stars icing late in the game, the Bruins turned it on, and it was Pastrnak that straight-up outworked everybody en route to a prime chance and extension that beat a sprawling Lehtonen with just seconds left.
Game winner from David Pastrnak, #NHLBruins come back to beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 pic.twitter.com/62N8FnGMaB
— Marina Molnar (@mkmolnar) March 24, 2018
Incredible. Absurd. Ridiculous. But most of all -- fitting.
In the last five weeks alone, with injuries ravaging this squad, the Bruins have delivered a game-winning (or game-tying) goal in the final five minutes of regulation on five different occasions. Or, alternatively, in five of their last 16 contests.
So much of this final stretch is going to be about maintaining the health of this squad -- and improving it with a return to the ice for many of the B’s vital pieces. But this group has done a once seemingly impossible job of creating confidence in their ability to win games without their best players (namely Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara). Of course, they did this in October and November, but that was then and this is now. This is the time of year where you face everybody’s best shot -- from the desperate to the hungry to the fighting-for-a-job-next-season -- and the Bruins have answered the bell.
Every. Single. Night.