The Bruins could not have been more frustrated late in the first period of Thursday night's game against the Winnipeg Jets. They were trailing 2-0 and once again not playing their best hockey, something that was a trend throughout this five-game homestand.
No player better highlighted that frustration than the penalty Taylor Hall took with two minutes left in the period. While attempting to get in on the forecheck, Hall was mildly obstructed by Jets defenseman Ville Heinola, who set a little bit of a moving screen.
Instead of working to fight around Heinola, Hall decided to crosscheck him directly in the back, resulting in one of the easiest penalty calls any ref will ever have to make. It was an act of pure frustration.
"Obviously that may be the poorest decision we've made, and the most blatant one all year, but it does exemplify the frustration we had not being able to get to our game," Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after the game.
The Bruins killed that penalty and then began playing much better hockey to start the second period. The frustration could have continued, though -- not because of the way they were playing, but because they now couldn't beat perennial Vezina Trophy candidate and UMass Lowell legend Connor Hellebuyck.
David Krejci couldn't beat him 1-on-1 after forcing a turnover. Craig Smith was denied on a point-blank rebound chance. Brad Marchand missed the net trying to pick a corner. Hall had a nice redirect that Hellebuyck just happened to be in perfect position to stop. Trent Frederic's one-timer from the slot was kicked aside.
Then, a Christmas miracle. With eight minutes left in the second, Nick Foligno fired a dump-in around the glass. Hellebuyck left his net to play it, but the puck never got to him. Instead, it hit a stanchion and took the luckiest of bounces right to a waiting David Pastrnak, who buried it into the empty net before Hellebuyck could recover.
"I think there were a couple chances we felt like he made some great saves on. When you get a goal like that, I think it starts to turn," Foligno said. "You get a little bounce, a little jump in your game. Let's be honest, they out-executed us in the first period, which is unlike us. But we knew we were gonna come back with a better period, and we did. We didn't get rewarded right away, but get that lucky bounce and then make something happen."
Suddenly, it was like a stocking full of coal was lifted off the Bruins' shoulders. Charlie McAvoy drew a tripping call on Mark Scheifele two minutes later, and the B's tied the game on the ensuing power play when Jake DeBrusk tipped in a slap pass from Pastrnak. They ultimately outshot the Jets 16-6 in the second period.
The Bruins continued to control play in the third, looking much more like the team that has finished strong most of this season rather than the one that blew a pair of third-period leads earlier in this homestand. They took the lead with 8:52 to go when Charlie Coyle set up Foligno in the slot and went on to close out the 3-2 victory.
"I thought we started skating the puck wide in the offensive zone, driving wide so we got low in the zone, below the dots," Montgomery said when asked what his team did better in the final two periods. "And if we couldn't do that, I thought we put pucks to good areas to get our forecheck going. And then that led to us using our defensemen and then we were able to establish some extended o-zone time."
As imperfect as this homestand was, the Bruins ultimately finished it with nine of a possible 10 points, and they finished it with two periods that reminded us what they can look like at their best. Now they'll try to carry that into their final pre-Christmas game Friday night in New Jersey against a Devils team that got off to a great start, but has now lost six of their last seven games.
Obviously, a 60-minute effort would be preferable to the 40-minute version. It won't be easy on the second night of a back-to-back with travel, but if they can bring it, they'll feel even better and a lot less frustrated as they hit their four-day holiday break.
