BSJ Game Report: Bruins 6, Penguins 5 (OT) - Bruins overcome 3-goal deficit, injuries in remarkable comeback win

Everything you need to know from the Bruins’ 6-5 win over the Penguins, with BSJ insight and analysis:

BOX SCORE

HEADLINES

B’s somehow capture a win in Pittsburgh: On a night in which the Bruins lost two key lineup cogs due to injury, pulled their starting goalie after coughing up five goals in 32 minutes of action and trailed by three goals midway through the second period — this team just didn’t quit.

Despite all that went south for Jim Montgomery’s club at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday, Boston still managed to leave Pittsburgh with an improbable two points, with Boston scoring four unanswered goals over the span of 30:40 of regulation and OT en route to a wild 6-5 victory against the Pens.

With the victory — which stands as just the third time in the last 10 years that Boston has won a game after trailing in a game by three goals — Boston improves on its already franchise-best start with a 9-1-0 record out of the gate.

For most of this contest, the Bruins appeared to be battered, bruised and beaten — with both Jeremy Swayman and Derek Forbort knocked out of the game due to injuries, Linus Ullmark yanked after a sub-standard showing (before eventually getting put back in following Swayman’s injury) and Boston’s defense showing cracks in its armor once again.

But after Brad Marchand made it a two-goal game with a power-play snipe at 12:57 in the second, the Bruins had new life. And even after Swayman needed to be helped off the ice early in the third period on a freak play, the Bruins did not relent. As Ullmark held down the fort upon returning to the game (29 total saves), the Bruins scratched and clawed their way to a point, with Pavel Zacha making it a one-goal game at 11:59 before Taylor Hall forced overtime with the equalizer at 18:43. 

Even in an overtime where Pittsburgh operated with an extra skater for a majority of that period, the Bruins once again endured, with Hampus Lindholm going end to end and beating Tristan Jarry clean at 3:37 to close out a miraculous 6-5 win for the Bruins. 

Just an incredible win for a Bruins team that, just 10 games in, is already showing plenty of resolve.  

Swayman, Forbort leave with injuries

Of course, if there was any way to put a damper on Tuesday’s result, it was the fact that Boston lost both a starting goalie and a key defenseman en route to the comeback. 

On a night in which the Bruins' defense was routinely carved up by Pittsburgh (at least early on), Boston’s last line of D-zone fortitude took a major hit, as Swayman exited the game in the third period with what looked like a serious lower-body injury.

Swayman, pressed into game action after Ullmark was pulled in the second period, was injured on a freak sequence — with Patrice Bergeron sliding into the goalie’s legs while out on a PK shift. 

As Swayman’s legs swung back, his left leg collided against the post and bent awkwardly, with the young netminder not putting any weight on that leg as he was helped off the ice.

Based on just the optics of the collision, things sure don’t look good for Swayman, although more testing will need to be done in the next few days. Jim Montgomery had no official update on Swayman’s condition after the game. 

The Bruins will be keeping their fingers crossed that Swayman’s ailment is just a gnarly hyperextension. But even if it’s just a short-term absence for Swayman, the Bruins are going to need to rely on Ullmark heavily over this already daunting road trip. 

Elsewhere, it shouldn’t really have come as much of a surprise that Pittsburgh’s offensive surge in the second period (four goals scored in under 10 minutes) came as soon as Derek Forbort was lost for the game. Forbort, one of the unsung heroes on this B’s team and arguably its most consistent blueliner out of the gate, left the game in the closing minutes of the first period after blocking a shot, appearing to hurt his hand/wrist in the process.

Much like Swayman, Montgomery had little in terms of tangible updates for Forbort postgame.

Yes, this Bruins team still has enough talent, depth and moxie to claw out of any deficit and remain in the fight — but these injuries at critical areas of the roster are starting to add up. 

FOUR UP

Hampus Lindholm: For most of the first half of this game, Lindholm was downright dreadful, especially in Boston’s own zone. Through the first two periods of play, the Bruins were outscored, 3-0, in Lindholm’s 16+ minutes of 5v5 ice time. But over the final stretch of play, the B’s current top blueliner was a monster — recording a point in every single one of Boston’s four unanswered goals while finishing with 29:24 of total ice time. Charlie McAvoy’s eventual return will help tremendously, but make no mistake. Boston has two legit No. 1 defensemen atop its depth chart. 

Boston’s third-period response: Yes, it’s a cop-out to throw the whole group in here, but the Bruins as a unit were a team possessed in the final 12+ minutes of regulation. For as ugly as things looked for most of the first two periods, Boston completely put Pittsburgh on its heels down the stretch — culminating in some absurd hand-eye coordination from Hall on his equalizer. Quite the response, and that’s putting it lightly. 

Jakub Lauko: It feels like approximately two weeks ago, but Lauko made his mark in this barnburner midway through the first period when he scored his first career goal,  snapping a puck past Jarry on a sequence jumpstarted by a nifty steal and committed rush by Nick Foligno. For all of the talk of Lauko’s ceiling and his performance in training camp, the 22-year-old winger sure looks like an NHLer whenever he hops over the boards.

Penalty kill: A stick tap to Boston’s PK for going a perfect 4-for-4 against a Pittsburgh man advantage that has an awful lot of firepower on it. Boston’s eventual OT winner seemed all but inevitable after the B’s managed to negate another Pens power play earlier in the extra frame. 

ONE MEH

Linus Ullmark: Ullmark deserves plenty of credit for coming back into action after getting pulled and shutting things down on the Pens. But it was a pretty ugly start for the netminder, who was first yanked from the game at 11:36 in the second after giving up five goals to the Pens, including a three-goal salvo in under three minutes of action. 

ONE DOWN

Boston’s defensive structure in first 30-ish minutes: Yes, Ullmark was far from sharp in this one. But Boston’s overall defensive structure in front of him was downright ghastly for most of the night, be it poor backchecking from forwards, missed D-zone reads and just a number of mental lapses that made things far too easy for Pittsburgh. 

PLAY OF THE GAME

What else was it going to be? 

LOOKING AHEAD

The Bruins will continue their four-game road trip on Thursday with a matchup against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.