BSJ Game Report: Bruins 2, Blackhawks 1 (OT) - Grzelcyk lifts Bruins past Chicago, Fleury in overtime

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 2-1 overtime win over the Blackhawks, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES 

B’s make most of frustrating night in Chicago

It sure looked like it was going to be one of those nights for the Bruins.  

Despite routinely hemming the Blackhawks in their own zone and peppering Chicago’s net, the B’s entered the second intermission at United Center still stuck in a 0-0 deadlock.

It was frustrating opening 40 minutes for the Bruins, who entered the final period of regulation with a 2.87 expected goals rate in all situations — with Chicago netminder Marc-Andre Fleury serving as the shield against Boston’s numerous salvos in the O-zone. 

Even when a break finally went their way after Patrice Bergeron mercifully broke the scoreless draw on Boston’s 40th shot of the evening, those good tidings didn’t last for very long.

 Less than five minutes after Bergeron batted a puck home to give Boston a 1-0 lead, Chicago tied it off a tip from Brandon Hagel — his third goal in two games against the Bruins this season. 

In a similar script from Saturday’s win over the Coyotes, it appeared as though Charlie Coyle was the hero in crunch time once again for Boston, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead with a shot from the slot at 15:15 in the third. 

But, much to Boston’s chagrin, Coyle’s go-ahead marker was immediately waved off due to goaltender interference — an … interesting call, all things considered.

To make matters worse, Boston’s challenge of the call on the ice didn’t fall in their favor, with Chicago granted a power-play opportunity in the closing minutes of the third after the no-goal call was confirmed.

For some clubs, so many setbacks and a sterling performance in net from the opposition would have served as a backbreaker. But the Bruins — now 10-1-1 in their last 12 games — answered right back, negating the delay-of-game penalty and forcing overtime.

There would be no tally scrubbed off the scoresheet in the extra period of play — with Matt Grzelcyk ending things for good by beating Fleury clean at 1:40 in OT following some superb puck movement from David Pastrnak and Taylor Hall.

A frustrating night? Absolutely. But good teams still manage to string together results when things don’t go their way. And the Bruins took care of business at the United Center on Tuesday night. 

Since Jan. 1, the Bruins have now won 23 games, with only the Avalanche (25 victories) winning more over that same stretch.

Foligno reaches 1,000 games

Nick Foligno joined a rather exclusive club on Tuesday, becoming the 364th player to reach 1,000 career games played in the NHL ranks.

Of course, the 34-year-old veteran wing is in considerably smaller company when you factor in his bloodlines — with Nick and his father, Mike, becoming just the second father-son duo in NHL history to each reach 1,000 career games, joining Hall of Famers Bobby and Brett Hull. 

Foligno, who finished Tuesday’s game with one shot on goal over 8:32 of ice time, reflected on his career milestone ahead of puck drop in Chicago. 

"Maybe give yourself a little more credit sometimes. … Sometimes you can be really hard on yourself,” Foligno said when asked to reflect on his career. "But sometimes you've got to appreciate how hard you work, how far you've come, and to enjoy the little moments. It goes fast. It's a special thing to play in this league, special group of guys you get to play with every year. 

“So, I feel so blessed that I got some of the best experiences through this game and for not just myself, my family as well. We got to experience some things that I don't think a lot of people realize how fortunate we are. I try to make sure I approach every day with that mindset. I've been very lucky."

FOUR UP 

Linus Ullmark: Yes, when compared to Fleury (48 shots against), Ullmark didn’t have nearly the same taxing shot volume (20 shots against). But the Bruins veteran goalie sure made the most of the Grade-A chances that came his way, with the lone blemish of the night coming off of a skilled redirection from Hagel down low. Very sharp performance all-around from Ullmark. 

Patrice Bergeron: After a quiet couple of games from that top line, good to see Bergeron break through with his greasy goal in the third period. Even though the Marchand-Bergeron-DeBrusk line perhaps isn’t generating as many goals as some would like, it’s not due to a lack of effort. That trio combined for 15 of Boston’s 48 shots on goal, with Boston holding a 4-1 edge in high-danger scoring chances when they were out on the ice.

Taylor Hall: Hall was all over the ice in this one, assisting on both of Boston’s tallies while logging over 19 minutes of ice time. Hall, who is now up to 13 points in his last 13 games, recorded his 400th career assist with his set-up on Grzelcyk’s OT winner.

Matt Grzelcyk: This one seems rather obvious, no? After missing a couple of games due to injury and illness, good to see Grzelcyk etch his name on the stat sheet once again, especially in overtime. 

TWO DOWN

Forbort-Clifton pairing: A rough going from Boston’s third pair in this one, with Hagel being able to set up camp right in front of Ullmark just ahead of his game-tying goal in the third period. Yikes. 

Power play: Granted, Bergeron scored shortly after one of Boston’s power plays expired, but you’d have to think that Boston could have made things a whole lot easier on itself in this one had it managed to cash in on one of its four chances on the man advantage Tuesday night. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

LOOSE PUCKS

Sneaking in a quick celebration just seconds after taking a skate blade to the face? Who says the Bruins need to add some #grit ahead of the postseason? Good to see Hall was ok here. 

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their four-game road trip on Wednesday with a matchup against the Minnesota Wild. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. Jeremy Swayman is slated to get the start in net.