BSJ Game Report: Blackhawks 4, Bruins 3 (OT) - B’s rally back in 3rd, steal point in OT loss

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 4-3 overtime loss to the Blackhawks in quickie form, with BSJ insight and analysis:

Box Score

TWO THINGS TO KNOW

B’s steal point after another sluggish start: Now where have we seen this story play out before? Staring at a three-goal deficit in the 41st minute of play, the Bruins once again pulled off another third-period rally — lighting the lamp three times in the final stanza to force overtime against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. 

With Boston’s big guns up front in David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand contained for most of the evening, Boston’s bottom-six unit clawed the team out of its hole, with Joakim Nordstrom opening the scoring for the B’s at 1:49 before Chris Wagner beat Robin Lehner on a shorthanded breakaway with just under five minutes to go in regulation. 

Torey Krug capped off Boston’s rally a little over two minutes later, lifting a puck over Lehner’s shoulder at 17:27 to extend the play into the extra period and push the B’s point streak to 13 consecutive games.

Boston was unable to close out the night with two points, however, as Jonathan Toews tucked the puck past Tuukka Rask just 54 seconds into overtime to seal a 4-3 win for Chicago. The TD Garden crowd subsequently started tossing water bottles and other trash onto the ice, upset at the lack of a call against Toews, who managed to initiate some contact with Pastrnak before skating in against Rask. 

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A bit of an anti-climactic end to another wild finish on Causeway Street, but Boston still can’t be



satisfied with a one-point showing on Thursday, especially after another slow start in which the club relinquished two goals in the closing minutes of the first period before only landing four shots on goal during 5v5 play in the second. The urgency needs to be better with this team, because Boston can’t keep orchestrating these rallies on a nightly basis. 

Special-teams woes doom Bruins: The Bruins haven’t had much to fret about when it comes to their power play this season, with the B’s entering Thursday’s matchup with a man advantage that has both yet to relinquish a shorthanded goal — while cashing in on over 30 percent of its opportunities. 

Maintaining both of those stats over the course of an entire 82-game slate is a tough ask, even for a 5v4 unit with so much firepower. Sure enough, some of that power-play proficiency bottomed out against the ‘Hawks, with special-teams woes standing as a key factor in Boston’s eventual one-point result.

While Boston went 0-4 on the power play, the most costly blunder came down the other end of the ice, as Ryan Carpenter buried a shorthanded goal against the B’s at 18:14 in the opening frame. That miscue snowballed into a quick salvo for the visitors. Just 37 seconds after Carpenter struck against Boston’s power play, the Blackhawks’ man-advantage cashed in as well, with Dylan Strome tipping one past Rask to make it a two-score lead for Chicago. 

Boston did manage to lessen some of the damage done on special teams after Wagner tallied a shorthanded goal of his own in the third period. But in what ended up (somehow) being a very winnable game against a lesser opponent, that 0-for-4 performance on the man advantage definitely loomed large. 

FOUR UP

Torey Krug: Krug provided some of the heroics on Thursday night, but Boston generally managed to tilt the ice in its favor whenever Krug hopped over the boards, with Boston holding a 25-11 edge in shot attempts during Krug’s 15:42 of 5v5 TOI. 

Joakim Nordstrom: Nordstrom was used rather sparingly on Thursday, but made the most of his reps with his third goal of the season in the 42nd minute of play. A fourth line of Nordstrom, Par Lindholm and David Backes only logged 5:24 of 5v5 TOI together, but Boston outshot the competition, 8-2, during that stretch. 

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Chris Wagner: Erik Gustafsson did Wagner a solid by blowing a tire on this shorthanded rush. Still, it was a nice finish for Wagner in what stood as his second goal of the season. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1202776966019133445

John Moore: Probably wasn’t the best guy for the job, to say the least, but props to Moore for dropping the gloves and standing up for Pastrnak after taking a questionable hit from Chicago forward Zack Smith. Moore, playing in his first game since undergoing major shoulder surgery back in June, didn’t last very long in the scrap, but noted postgame that he was alright after heading down the tunnel to receive clearance from the team’s medical staff. 

THREE DOWN

David Pastrnak: It was a frustrating night for Pastrnak, who was knocked around all night by the Blackhawks while failing to get on the scoreboard. Pastrnak, who finished with just two shots on goal, was also whistled for a pair of penalties, one of which the ‘Hawks capitalized on. 

Power play: While the Bruins managed to land 10 shots on goal against Lehner during 5v4 play, few attempts managed to leave much of a dent in the netminder. Even with seven scoring chances generated over those 8:00 minutes of power-play TOI, zero of them were high-danger looks. 

Penalty kill: Despite entering the game on a five-game stretch in which they eliminated 15 consecutive penalties, Boston’s PK was unable to corral a Chicago power play that ranked 27th overall in the NHL with a 13.4% success rate.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Thanks to Krug’s equalizer in the closing minutes of the third, Boston has still not dropped a home game in regulation so far this season. That’s a record of 12-0-5 within the friendly confines of TD Garden.

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PARTING THOUGHT

The fans were none too thrilled with the lack of a call in the seconds leading up to Toews’ OT winner, but Cassidy and the Bruins weren't too happy with this sequence earlier in the game, as it appeared that Smith left his feet while delivering a hit on Pastrnak. 

https://twitter.com/ConorRyan_93/status/1202775418983469056

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will close out their five-game homestand on Saturday night, with Boston set to host the Colorado Avalanche. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. The Avs, with Mikko Rantanen now back in the lineup after missing over a month due to injury, are leading all NHL clubs in goals scored per game at 3.70.