Bruins vs Panthers RECAP: The streak is snapped! Boston wins 4-3 in OT!

David Pastrnak got one of the luckiest bounces of the season

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-

1st Period

Early on in the game, the Bruins and the Cats were very clearly interested in hurting each other rather than scoring the opening goal, and the Bruins capitalized on a holding penalty against Antony Lundell; with noted apparent locker room foes Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak having a decent time spreading out the Panthers to allow Mason Lohrei a seeing-eye shot from the point, whose rebound came right to Morgan Geekie, who roofed it on Sergei Bobrovsky on the backhand! 1-0 Bruins!

Unfortunately, the Bruins also involved themselves in committing penalties, and the Panthers evened things right back up as Evan Rodrigues managed to corral the rebound from Balinskis’ shot to put it past Swayman. 1-1 Everybody.

Brandon where are you going here, bud

Anyway, the period ended after yet more penalties, and the 2nd period dawned.

2nd Period

With the game tied, and both teams having had a good tussle after AJ Greer decided he wanted to commit some roughing on Mason Lohrei, the Bruins finally pulled ahead thanks to David Pastrnak pulling away from a net-front battle with Dmitry Kulikov, and blasting home the feed from Morgan Geekie! 2-1 Bruins!

No further scoring, and we head to the final frame.

3rd Period

The Panthers took less than a minute to tie the game again, as a quick transition passing play got Sam Reinhart with nobody covering him, and he potted the puck home from right in front of Swayman. 2-2 Everybody.

Thankfully, about 2 minutes later, the Bruins would once again put themselves back on top as Justin Brazeau and Charlie McAvoy had chances out in front of Bobrovsky, and Oliver Wahlstrom would pick up the loose puck and stuff it in with all the confusion! 3-2 Bruins!

And, as the period ticked down, the Bruins valiantly defended their net and kept just about everything out that they could. Try as they might, the Panthers simply could not score on their shots.

So they had to go and get weird with it. 3-3 Everybody.

Anyway, onto OT.

Overtime

It took a minute. I really thought we were going to a shootout for a second there.

And then Havířov’s finest son came up big with a similar weird shot of his own (that was almost certainly tipped in by a Panther)

Boston WINS 4-3!

Game Notes

• Your TOI Leader was David Pastrnak, who played 25:09 tonight.
• By all accounts, the Boston Bruins should not have won this game. They got wildly outchanced, wildly out-attempted, wildly out-possessed, and mostly out-skated on every other shift. HOWEVER! The few times they did have possession this game? They absolutely made worth it. They got 2 goals from their power play (including in the single-most important opportunity of the game), they managed to win scrums going to the net, and forced Bobrovsky to earn his keep on just about every shot. This was as gutsy a win as you’re ever gonna get; one they may not be able to repeat, but will absolutely take.
• Something in that building seems to turn the final minute of a period into a gravity-optional zone. The game-tying goal and David Pastrnak’s winning tally were off of the kind of ridiculous bounces that only hollywood is capable of reproducing.
• Bad day for your facebook uncle who’s entire understanding of hockey came on a Don Cherry VHS, because not only did David Pastrnak snap a 2 game point-less streak by dropping a two goals (including the game-winner) and a secondary assist on Morgan Geekie’s goal, but Morgan Geekie himself had a 2 point day!
• Mason Lohrei appears to have heard some criticism of his game because he focused down on what he’s actually good at and hard tonight; finishing with two big assists on David Pastrnak’s goals.
• I know we’re all still very big mad about Jeremy Swayman making money but goddamn did he earn it against Florida today. His .930 SV% on 43 shots was a major difference maker. Absolutely phenomenal performance from him.

The Bruins get a brief stop home on Tuesday to face the Tampa Bay Lightning before hitting the road again. That game drops the puck at 7pm EST, and is on NESN.