In another sign that this Bruins team is different than recent vintages and worthy of investment, they overcame their own personal Planes, Trains and Automobiles experience to bank another two points.
The B’s players harkened back to their minor league days when they took a convoy of team buses from snowy New York when plane travel wasn’t going to be possible and didn’t make it home until the early afternoon prior to their 7 pm game against the Nashville Predators. It was clear they didn’t have their best on Tuesday night against the Preds, but they still managed to grind out a 3-2 overtime win at TD Garden.
It was all hands on deck as Bruins skating and skills coach John McLean helped shovel out the players’ cars at the team airport parking lot prior to the buses arrival, and the Bruins team chefs – Peter Haney and Spencer Thompson – traveled to the airport scene to make pregame meals for the players.
“I was actually very happy. Nobody was complaining. We just did the best possible, right? It was a little bit out of our control, so we just had to grind it out a little bit,” said Marco Sturm. “Guys did a really good job. Our staff, everyone around, helped us with food, getting the snow off our cars to make it easier for our players to get home. I would say it was a whole team effort from everybody.”
“Guys were ready to go today. Things don’t always go perfect, but our third today was better than yesterday. Guys showed character and at the end of the day we’ll take points whenever we can get them. We’ll take all the points we can get, and after the season nobody is going to ask [how you got them] so I’ve been really pleased with how the last couple of weeks have gone.”
Then the B’s rewarded those efforts with a winning performance on the ice that saw David Pastrnak score the game-winning goal 15 seconds into overtime after Charlie McAvoy threw a net-front pass to the game-breaking winger.
AN OVERTIME SERVING OF PASTA 🍝
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) January 28, 2026
David Pastrnak scores the Subway Canada OT winner for the Bruins. pic.twitter.com/ZFAUdBEZDI
The extent of the travel issues was learned after the game was over and is exactly the kind of adversity and team building that shows exactly the kind of stuff that everybody within an NHL organization is made out of. Needless to say, the B’s passed the test and continue to show resiliency when last season’s edition of the Black and Gold would have folded the tents and called it a day.
“It’s huge. Especially when you are kind of faced with adversity a little bit like that, it’s easy to throw in the towel and make some excuses,” said Morgan Geekie, who scored his fifth goal in as many games during Tuesday night’s victory. “But I think it just speaks to the character of the group that we know nothing is going to come easy, and we’re ready to battle through adversity whenever that may be. These are the games we’ll talk about when our careers and stuff are done.”
On the ice, the game actually looked and felt a lot like Monday night’s OT loss in New York as the Bruins built a one goal lead without being able to extend it, and then watched as Nashville scored the tying goal midway through the third period. But it was exactly how the B’s drew it up in the extra session with the OT faceoff specialist Mark Kastelic winning possession, and then McAvoy and Pastrnak playing a three-man weave in the offensive zone before clinching the game 15 seconds into OT.
Hampus Lindholm and Morgan Geekie scored the goals in the first period, the B’s managed to grind through an upper-body injury to Elias Lindholm that knocked him out of the game, and they managed to take three of four points in a grueling back-to-back setup with travel that saw them playing with tired legs throughout both games.
It’s a bit of a concern that just about everybody else amongst the forward group has gone dry offensively at the same time outside of Boston’s best players, but those are the times when the best players need to step up as they’ve done this week. Most noticeable has been Geekie, who has hit the 30-goal mark again this season and is now pushing toward career high totals in the back half of this season.
30TH OF THE SEASON FOR MORGAN GEEKIE! 🐻 pic.twitter.com/xFzwBYRh3w
— NHL (@NHL) January 28, 2026
“He is shooting pucks. He’s actually passing too many times and that is driving me nuts. Now, you can see, I think he’s enjoying the game again. I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Sturm of Geekie. “He’s a happy camper right now when the goals are coming. When he wasn’t scoring goals, you can see that he was getting frustrated.
Now the B’s just have three regular season games prior to the Olympic break and have pushed into a three-way tie for third place in the Atlantic Division with the Buffalo Sabres and the Montreal Canadiens. It’s as good as they could have hoped for at the start of the season, but it’s also vital that they don’t go into a pre-break swoon just as they did in the handful of games ahead of the Christmas break a month ago.
“That’s what makes the win special; the way we grinded it out and did it together as a group,” said Pastrnak. “Good teams come back, and we responded well. Good to get it quick, sometimes that’s the way it works. It was a great play, great faceoff win, start with the possession. Big win for our group.”
The evidence is mounting that this Bruins group of players is worthy of time and investment from fans, media and this management group, and the entire day from beginning to end on Tuesday was another shining example of that.