It was an evening of blown leads for the Bruins on Sunday, as they let a 3-0 second period lead and a 4-3 third period lead slip away before losing to Pittsburgh in OT, 5-4.
Tommy Novak scored the game-winning goal 17 seconds into overtime, taking advantage of a Bruins turnover and a bit of interference from Erik Karlsson.
The Bruins wasted a great game from Pavel Zacha, who recorded his second hat trick of the season. David Pastrnak also broke his goal-scoring drought with a second period goal.
Joonas
Korpisalo made 34 saves in the loss.
Zacha got the scoring started midway through the first period, finishing off a nice passing play with a PPG to make it 1-0 Bruins.
Guess who? It was Zacha again nine minutes into the second period, as he beat Arturs Silovs with a beautiful back-hand. 2-0 Bruins.
While it won’t be the prettiest goal Pastrnak ever scores, he got back in the goal column with a nice effort to take advantage of a Silovs mistake. 3-0 Bruins.
Two minutes later, Egor Chinakhov got the Penguins on the board with a 5-on-3 PPG to make it 3-1 Bruins.
Connor Dewar make it 3-2 Bruins with a back-hand over Korpisalo’s shoulder six minutes into the third period.
Just 33 seconds later, Anthony Mantha beat Korpisalo five-hole to make it a 3-3 game.
Zacha would get his hat trick two minutes later with a perfectly placed shot to beat Silovs, making it 4-3 Bruins.
Less than three minutes later, it was Mantha again, as he collected a loose puck in the crease and made it a 4-4 game.
Novak’s goal came just 17 seconds into OT, helping the Penguins end their losing streak and sending the Pittsburgh fans home happy.
Bruins lose, 5-4 in OT.
Game notes
- If you were told on Friday afternoon that the Bruins would take 3-of-4 points in back-to-back games against Washington and Pittsburgh, you probably would have taken it. However, the way the B’s let this game get away from them (and the speed with which the wheels fell off) makes this feel more like a point that the Bruins gave away and less like a point earned.
- The Penguins deserve credit for hanging in the game, particularly without their two best players and in the midst of a losing run. However, the Bruins repeatedly shot themselves in the foot with mistakes or by losing puck battles, particularly in the latter half of the game. You have plenty of examples to choose from: Dewar winning a foot race on his goal, Charlie McAvoy giving the puck away in OT, Mantha being given a breakaway, etc.
- It sure looked like some “accidentally on purpose” contact from Karlsson on Pastrnak immediately before Novak’s goal. From a Pittsburgh perspective, you’ll probably claim that was just Karlsson standing his ground, but…yeah. I’ve seen some complaining that Pastrnak didn’t do enough to get up and get back in the play, but I’m not sure it would have mattered. The entire sequence really turned into a calamity, with Zacha and McAvoy both going after the same guy, leaving Novak by himself.
- Regardless of your take on the penalty (or lack thereof), you can’t pin this result solely on a missed call in an overtime that never should have happened in the first place. Even in OT, the Bruins had possession of the puck and their best players on the ice, only to give the puck away under little pressure. They paid for it just seconds later. Hopefully, that dropped point doesn’t come back to haunt them.
- While he didn’t end up with a goal, I thought Viktor Arvidsson had a good game against Pittsburgh, building on Saturday’s effort against Washington. Arvidsson was credited with two assists and seemed to create a positive kind of chaos in the offensive zone.
- The two teams combined for 25 shots and four goals in that wild third period.
- Regarding the highlights above, the NHL website just randomly doesn’t have clips of both Mantha goals and the OT goal. I’ve never really seen that in a recap before. WHAT IS THE NHL HIDING? Discuss.
- This game had a wild ending, but paled in comparison to Sunday night’s Sabres-Lightning game. That one saw the teams combine for 15 (yes, 15) goals, including seven in the third period of what would end as an 8-7 Buffalo win.
The Bruins will be back in action on Tuesday night, as they host the Los Angeles Kings at TD Garden.
Those same Kings could do the Bruins a favor on Monday, as they play the Blue Jackets in Columbus on Monday evening.
