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The roadhouse blues are more than just a song by the Doors. The Boston Bruins would’ve confirmed this for you after their first period in a Friday night showdown with the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. Falling into an 0-2 hole behind two goals in 1:38 -- the first off the stick of Ryan Johansen and the second off Nick Foligno -- it looked as if the B’s were in for yet another road nightmare.
For the Bruins, it was another rough start, and pushed the Bruins to 13 goals against in their last seven road periods. (That’s not a pretty figure, as you can assume.) The second period didn’t help, either, as the Bruins couldn’t find the scoreboard, or the puck for that matter. Dominated at the dot 68 percent to 32 through 40 minutes of the play, the Bruins needed something to go their way against a last-place Columbus squad.
88 seconds into the third, the Bruins found that bounce by way of Dennis Seidenberg’s goal, scored just inches over the red line, beating Sergei Bobrovsky for his third goal of the season.
Within one, the B’s found the equalizer when Matt Fraser tipped home a Matt Bartkowski shot, and took the lead two minutes later by way of Danny Paille’s first of the season.
The ever pesky Blue Jackets would knot things up a minute later, though, with Jack Johnson blasting his first of the season through Niklas Svedberg.
Overtime didn’t solve anything, and it was on to the shootout.
For seven rounds, the Bruins and Blue Jackets teased goals. They flubbed on some shots. They rang some iron. But in the bottom of the seventh, a late-minute sub-in, Alexander Khokhlachev, was given the chance to seal the deal on an improbable two points for the Black and Gold. And with a dizzying dazzle towards Bobrovsky’s crease, the quick-thinking forward buried the first shootout goal of his NHL career, ending this one with the thrill that only an emergency call-up can deliver.
The shootout dagger was a successful cap to an otherwise uneventful night for Khokhlachev, who finished the night with a minus-1 rating and one giveaway in 9:33 of time on ice (the lowest on the team).
Khokhlachev -- or Koko, or even Gammy if the Bruins bring another Koko into the mix (you’re the best if you get that reference) -- was only in because David Krejci’s undisclosed flared up yet again. Uh-oh.
This has become a silent-but-huge issue for the Bruins, who absolutely need their Czech playmaker if they go anywhere this spring. The bitter truth is that you simply can’t rely on Krejci to be in the lineup on a nightly basis at this point, and from everything we’ve heard, this isn’t an issue that’s going to disappear overnight. It’s most likely something Krejci will battle throughout the season and address in the offseason (think if he needs surgery to fix it). It’s been rumored to be a hip injury, which if true, would likely put us down the path of a torn labrum, something Krejci skated with throughout the 2009 postseason. That’s a pure guess on my part, but if we connect the dots, realize it’s something he can play through (though quite limited, mind you) and something that can’t be fixed with a quick procedure, you’d have to believe it’s something along those lines.
It could be something less severe, however,, as Krejci has been an effective presence when in the lineup this year, tallying three goals and 10 points in 11 games. He has points in all but three games, too.
Milan Lucic gets one-punched by Dalton Prout
I’ve watched almost every game of Milan Lucic’s NHL career. I’ve covered almost every game of his career for the past six seasons, no less. And over that time, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the 6-foot-4 power forward rocked with a one-punch like he was by Dalton Prout in the closing seconds of tonight’s overtime.
Now, when it comes to analyzing this one, I’m sorta lost. Lucic is a bonafide tough guy. So when he sees Prout drop the gloves, he should know what’s coming. Especially when he engages like he did just seconds prior. Was he simply caught off guard? Did he not think Prout was going to throw a punch until Lucic dropped his gloves as well? I’d lean towards the latter given Lucic’s apparent anger with Prout, but honestly, what was he expecting? It just seemed like Lucic moved in slow motion while Prout was ready to go.
It was all-around strange. But let’s see if that gets Lucic mentally warmed up for tomorrow’s tilt, huh.
Up next
It’s back to the Garden for a Saturday night showdown with the Montreal Canadiens.
This one… this one’s gonna be loud. It’s a Saturday night Bruins-Canadiens game in Boston. You’re gonna have a ton of Habs fans in town given the weekend contest. You’re gonna have a lot of drunks in the stands because it’s a Saturday night. (Well, because it’s Boston and the Boston Bruins, actually.) And you’re gonna have a B’s club that desperately needs to make a statement to their fans when it comes to their ability to hang with Montreal. And by that, you don’t need or want the Bruins to goon it up. It’s just the opposite, actually. You want them to, y’know, compete with Montreal on the scoreboard. That’s been their biggest struggle this year, last year, and the year before that for that matter, and that’s gotta snap if the Bruins are serious about competing this year.
Ty Anderson has been covering the Boston Bruins for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, is a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com