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This article originally appeared on WEEI.com's Big Bad Blog...
A solid start but a nightmare finish in Carolina on Dec. 23 was the final straw for the Bruins in regards to backup netminder Anton Khudobin after just one win and an .885 save percentage in eight games.
Fittingly, it was Khudobin’s replacement (for now, anyways), Zane McIntyre, that had his first real audition at making the job his own, against the same team and in the same arena. But the result was the same for the Bruins, as the Hurricanes defeated the Bruins in overtime, this time by a 4-3 final, at PNC Arena Sunday afternoon.
Back in the NHL behind a 10-0-0 AHL record along with a league-leading 1.41 goals against average and .951 save percentage, McIntyre’s night began with a perfect 13-save first period and with a 1-0 lead to his name behind Tim Schaller’s sixth goal of the season.
But the ‘Canes punched McIntyre and the B’s back with two goals in the middle frame and honestly could have put the game away had it not been for two big shorthanded stops on Jordan Staal with the Bruins down by one.
Those were two stops that Khudobin did not make in that Dec. 23 game.
They proved to make a mammoth difference for the Black and Gold, too, as the teams traded goals in the third period and skated to a tie through 60 minutes of play. In other words, the Bruins battled back, and with timely stops from the 24-year-old McIntyre earned at least one point. It was a job that Khudobin accomplished as well in that aforementioned Dec. 23 game, yes, but he did that as he collapsed into an overtime loss, while McIntyre kept things tied up when the Bruins battled back a second time.
On the second leg of a traveling back-to-back and given the struggles the Bruins have had against Cam Ward and the Hurricanes this season, a point might honestly be the best result possible, especially with a rookie in the crease.
And though McIntyre skated off a loser for the third time in as many NHL starts, this time behind a 26-of-30 night. But (again) and more importantly, his play helped the Bruins grab a much-needed point to bump up the Bruins’ second-place point total, and will help ease the burden that will surely be on this club when the rest of the Atlantic catches up to them in games played.
It’s a point that could earn the Minnesota native a bit more trust from Bruins coach Claude Julien, too.
Ty Anderson is the Boston Bruins beat writer for WEEI.com, and has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010. He can be heard on the Saturday Skate program on 93.7 WEEI (Boston), can also be found in the New England Hockey Journal magazine, and has been part of the Boston Chapter of the PHWA since 2013. Contact him on Twitter or send him an email at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.