On Saturday, the Bruins let a lead slip away late in the third period and then lost in overtime. On Monday, they flipped the script, coming back to tie the Dallas Stars with 1:45 left in regulation and then winning, 4-3, a nine-round shootout to snap their four-game losing streak.
Despite being outplayed for much of the first two periods, Boston went into the third tied 2-2. The Stars took the lead with 9:16 remaining, though, when back-to-back offensive-zone misplays from Derek Forbort and Brad Marchand handed the Stars an odd-man rush, which Esa Lindell finished off.
Desperately hoping to avoid a 1-4-2 homestand, the Bruins needed someone to step up, and with the extra attacker on, their best players did. Marchand, whose 1,000 career games were celebrated in a pregame ceremony, moved the puck back to Charlie McAvoy, who then zipped a pass over to David Pastrnak for one of his patented one-time blasts from the left dot. Tie game.
Two of those three stepped up again in the shootout. With the Bruins needing to score in the third round to keep their hopes alive, coach Jim Montgomery sent out Marchand, who is not usually one of Boston's first three shooters. Of course, he wasn't going to miss on his special day, and promptly snapped a shot past Jake Oettinger's glove.
No one scored in rounds 4-8, but McAvoy led off the ninth with a forehand-backhand roof job. At the other end, Jeremy Swayman denied former teammate Craig Smith to close out the win. After getting beat in the first round, Swayman made eight straight saves in the shootout, on top of the 44 saves he made in regulation and two more in overtime.
"Results are funny sometimes," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after the game. "I thought we deserved a better fate the last three games. I think we kind of got lucky tonight. We worked hard for it. We stayed with the process in the third. I thought in the second it got away from us a little bit. I thought that territorially we were too much in our own end.
"But, I said it takes a special kind of – something has to happen to overcome, to get out of the malaise we were in result-wise. And we got the great effort by our goaltender, and then our 6-on-5, our great players made great plays at a time where you need to tie the game."
Here are three more takeaways from the game:
Brazeau scores first NHL goal in first NHL game
Monday was billed as Marchand's big day (more on that next), but it turned out to be a big one for Justin Brazeau as well.
The 26-year-old, 6-foot-5 forward made his NHL debut after getting signed to an NHL contract and called up from Providence earlier in the day. Then he scored his first NHL goal early in the second period by doing what he's done best in the AHL: Getting to the front of the net.
Brazeau set up shop right in front of Stars goalie Jake Oettinger, beating veteran defenseman Ryan Suter (he of 1,418 NHL games) to the spot, and buried a feed from linemate Jesper Boqvist with a nice finish while dropping to one knee.
"I kind of blacked out, honestly," Brazeau said after the game. "Richie [Anthony Richard] asked me where it went and I said, 'I have no idea.' I just shot it and heard the crowd go crazy. So yeah, that's obviously a good feeling."
It's been a long road for Brazeau, who went undrafted and spent parts of his first three pro seasons in the ECHL, the level below the AHL. His size – something other Bruins fourth-liners this season have lacked – helped him get here, but more important than that was the continued growth of his game and his production in Providence, where he had 37 points (18 goals, 19 assists) in 49 games while often playing with more skilled players like Georgii Merkulov and Fabian Lysell.
"You've got to give a lot of credit to the young man," Montgomery said of Brazeau. "I mean, he wasn't signed to an NHL deal. He keeps on working. He was here every day in the summer. He lost, I don't know how many pounds, but he lost a significant amount to be able to show how much he wanted to be an NHL player.
"I just think it's a great story, for anyone that tells you you can't do something or that you're not good enough or you're not tall enough or you're not smart enough, whatever the case is. No one can tell you what you believe inside you. Give the credit to the young man, because I think he has a lot of intestinal fortitude."
Beyond being a feel-good story, Brazeau importantly helped the Bruins' fourth line provide a spark and some offense. They also scored the first goal of the game, when Anthony Richard fed a hard-charging Jesper Boqvist on the rush, and Boqvist finished with a nifty pull to his forehand and around Oettinger.
Brazeau nearly scored his second career goal in the third period when he tried a wraparound and briefly appeared to have Oettinger beat, only to have the Boston University product get his skate to the post at the last second.
Monday was the second straight game the fourth line has scored, as Richard potted his first as a Bruin on Saturday. The Bruins have been searching for more production and more energy from their fourth line all season. They may finally be finding it with the likes of Brazeau, Richard and Boqvist, none of whom were on the opening night roster.
Marchand sets the tone on his big day
The day started with a pregame celebration of Brad Marchand's 1,000 career games, with gifts, tributes and kind words from current and former teammates and a number of Bruins legends pouring in.
Never one to take things easy, Marchand decided to add to the festivities by dropping the gloves with Stars defenseman Joel Hanley late in the first period after the two had battled up and down the ice for a full shift.
It wasn't much of a fight as far as actually landing punches goes, but after a bit of wrestling, Marchand got the takedown. The TD Garden crowd and Marchand's teammates clearly appreciated watching their captain mix things up, and it did provide some needed energy after the Stars had started to take control of the game as the first period went on.
It was Marchand's second fighting major of the season, but just his third in the last four years. He also fought San Jose's Fabian Zetterlund back on Nov. 30.
Marchand continued to make things happen throughout the game, as he set up Matt Grzelcyk for a shorthanded chance after stealing the puck in the second period and then drew a Bruins power play a few minutes later with an aggressive drive and dangle into the slot.
Then he picked up an assist on Pastrnak's game-tying goal and scored in the shootout to keep the Bruins alive, the latter of which resulted in the TD Garden crowd erupting.
"I'm just happy for him," Montgomery said of Marchand. "There's been a lot of great Bruins, and there's been a lot of guys that have matched his love for the spoked B, but I don't think anyone's ever exceeded it. It's just great to see."
"It was special," Marchand said of the pregame ceremony. "It's something that as your career goes on and you play a lot of games, you don't remember all of them, but this is a night that I'll remember forever. It's special. Obviously I'm getting recognition, but it's a moment for me to thank and recognize all the people that have helped me get to this point in my career and to get here in general. I think that's something that doesn't get enough recognition, is your support system that you have in place.
"For me, they've been my family and my close friends. They've been my biggest supporters. There were some tough times that I had early in my career and throughout that they pulled me through and allowed me to come out on the other side feeling good and continue to build on what I was doing. So, I definitely can say I wouldn't be here without them."
Lindholm leaves with injury
The one big negative on the day was that Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm left with an injury six minutes into the third period and did not return.
Lindholm went down awkwardly in the corner after getting his legs tangled up with a Stars player. He was slow to get up and slow to get back to the bench.
Lindholm initially stayed on the bench and then took a twirl during the next commercial break to test out his right leg. He flexed it and massaged it several times, but then went down the tunnel to the locker room once he got back to the bench.
Montgomery didn't have any update on Lindholm after the game and said the team would know more on Tuesday.
Losing Lindholm for any amount of time would be a significant blow. While his offensive production hasn't been the same as last year, Lindholm is still second on the team in ice time (23:48 per game) and his plus-20 rating at 5-on-5 is tops on the team and ranks eighth among all NHL defensemen.
If the injury ends up being anything longer-term, it would certainly force general manager Don Sweeney to change his trade deadline plans as well.
