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For better or worse (and there’s been far more of the latter this season), it’s seemed as if the Boston Bruins have been waiting for bounces and breaks to go their way. And in their 41st game of the season, and a single point out of the second wild card spot in the East, the Black and Gold found just enough needed to top one of the league’s best, sinking the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 3-2 overtime final at CONSOL Energy Center.
It was yet another slow start for the Bruins, though, as Beau Bennett got the Penguins on the board just 3:37 into the first, as Evgeni Malkin lured Zdeno Chara behind the net before dishing it to Bennett for his second goal of the season. Though much of the criticism went Chara’s way, it was yet another goal that exposed the Bruins’ alarming lack of a five-man commitment to their defensive game, something that’s come under fire all year long, as Carl Soderberg tracked Bennett for some time before simply letting him get to the sweet spot of the attacking zone without much of a resistance.
Chara and company redeemed themselves, however, with Chara’s first goal since Oct. 18 (and his third of the season) coming at the 17:57 mark of the first period, tying the Bruins-Penguins through 20.
Boston, despite being thoroughly dominated for over half of the period, jumped ahead behind Patrice Bergeron’s ninth goal of the season, and his second in as many games, at the 15:37 marker of the second. It was a strike that came from some unfamiliar names, too, with makeshift linemates Danny Paille picking up the primary assist and Milan Lucic getting tabbed for the secondary helper.
The Bruins have needed their leaders to lead for too long now, and with those goals, they got just that.
But it went far beyond the names recording those tallies for Claude Julien’s embattled squad.
Look at both goals and you’ll notice one constant-- the 6-foot-4 Milan Lucic driving the play to open space by using his skating and power to push the play. Those moments have been few and far between for the top-liner, and those signs of life are a breath of fresh air for the Bruins, especially after a reported ‘long discussion’ between Lucic and Julien prior to the Bruins’ deflating shootout loss to Carolina on Sunday.
Lucic has become the whipping boy for a Bruins club that’s greatly underwhelmed in 2014-15, and while it shouldn’t fall on his shoulders with each loss, it’s clear that the 26-year-old has a way of changing the game when he’s pushing and skating the way he did against Pittsburgh. He’s a game-changer in that way, and when he’s going, he’s tough to slow down. The Bruins need more of that, and it seems like Lucic, with the mindset that 2015 will be different than his mightily worrisome 2014, is bringing that.
The Bruins were brought back down to reality with Malkin’s bullet 14 seconds into the third period, and survived a third period that saw them outshot 11-to-5, sending them to overtime for the fourth straight game.
And finally, the Black and Gold struck with a fortunate bounce, with Bergeron tipping a Lucic point-shot home 2:43 into overtime, putting an end to the Bruins’ four-game streak (0-1-3) after a lengthy review.
The win put an end to the Bruins’ four-game losing streak in Pittsburgh, and gave them just their third win in their last 11 regular-season meetings with the Pennsylvania rivals.
Random thoughts and notes
- Forward Seth Griffith was last seen 12 minutes into the second period, and never again. Well, I mean, he was on the bench, but that’s where he stayed. It’s been a turbulent year for the second-year pro, and he’s been put into a position that’s simply over his head at this point in his career, but that’s the obvious signal that David Pastrnak will be the guy getting the call on the Krejci line tomorrow night against New Jersey. The Bruins have been waiting to roll the Lucic-Krejci-Pastrnak trio out for a long while, too.
- The Bruins stole this one, and that’s what you’ve been waiting for. They’ll chalk it up as a ‘character win’, and it, y’know, actually felt that way. The B’s were severely outplayed throughout long stretches of this game, outshot in all three periods with the exception of the overtime frame, but still found a way to win. Much of that comes back to the play of Tuukka Rask, who turned in another strong performance, stopping all but of the 39 shots thrown his way. Rask also stopped all five power-play shots Pittsburgh threw at him.
- A sour note for the Bruins-- Loui Eriksson appeared to injure his wrist on a slash sustained in the second period. He returned to the ice, took a penalty, and even took some shifts, but wasn’t seen on the ice for the second half of the third. It could be a mere precaution for the Bruins, but losing Eriksson, who finally looks at home in a B’s sweater, would put even more pressure on an already thin right wing.
- You know, I honestly don’t get a lot of the hate for NBC’s Pierre McGuire, but I’ll be honest, I’m starting to come around (or maybe simply wise up to what people are talking about with him).
McGuire talked about the ‘unusual look’ the Bruins were going with on the power play when they put a forward combo of Griffith-Marchand-Chara out there with Krug and Krejci on the point. McGuire touched on this being Julien mixing things up, but that’s simply not right. That’s been the B’s first power-play unit for some time now. It’s simple research, and you undoubtedly expect your broadcasters to do that.
My ultimate beef with McGuire remains the same, however. For a moment here, think about his access at ice-level, and then think about what he brings to the table. Does it bring anything that makes you go, “Oh wow thank goodness we have Pierre down between the benches!… Absolutely not. It’s way more, “Oh, he’s bleeding!… Thanks, Pierre, I can see that. “Oh, the coaches are arguing.… Yeah, but about what?! This is a guy that had two coaches standing on the benches screaming at one another in a Flyers-Penguins game back in 2012 and what was Pierre doing? Sitting there with his mic muted and saying “Oh, these guys are very angry.… Again, thanks for that incredible insight. Glad we have ‘ya there, buddy.
Simply put, bring more to the table, man.
(This guy still knows way more about where so-and-so played pee-wee as nine-year-old than I ever will. That’s probably for the best, too.)
Up next
The Bruins will return to Boston for a Thursday night showdown with the New Jersey Devils. It will be the second of three meetings this year between the Eastern Conference foes (Boston took the previous showdown by a 4-2 final on Nov. 10), and will be the Bruins’ first look at the Devils since the club fired Pete DeBoer nearly two weeks ago. With general manager Lou Lamoriello behind the bench (along with Adam Oates and Scott Stevens), the Devils have won three of six, and come to the Hub sitting next to last place in the Atlantic Division with 37 points through 42 games.
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