The Bruins are returning home having lost three of four games on their western road trip, which doesn't exactly scream "success."
But all four games went to overtime and they ultimately took five of a possible eight points. Add in the schedule and some key injuries and illnesses, and this trip winds up looking pretty good despite the two OT losses and a shootout loss.
Saturday night in St. Louis was the swing game, and of course it took more than 60 minutes to decide. Charlie McAvoy made sure the Bruins shook off their overtime blues by finishing off the Blues, 4-3, with a snipe over Jordan Binnington's blocker on a 2-on-1.
"We gotta win. We gotta find a way to win today," McAvoy told NESN during the second intermission when the game was tied 2-2.
He certainly did his part, scoring twice and playing over 27 minutes. Brad Marchand also scored twice, while David Pastrnak and James van Riemsdyk each had two assists.
It wasn't just that the Bruins found a way to win, though. They played good hockey and were the better team the vast majority of the night, especially in the second and third periods, when they outshot St. Louis 26-16. And while the Blues might not look like the toughest competition on paper, they are a team that has clawed their way back into the playoff race since firing coach Craig Berube, as they entered Saturday with an 8-4-0 record under interim coach Drew Bannister.
Two of the Blues' goals also came on power plays they got from extremely soft penalty calls, to say the least – a "slash" by Marchand that was barely a love tap and an "interference" by Hampus Lindholm that was really just a flop by Kasperi Kapanen. Boston's Jesper Boqvist also got hooked on a grade-A scoring chance late in regulation that went uncalled. In fairness, or maybe in an act of karma, Pastrnak did get away with a trip right before McAvoy's winner.
"It was really good," Montgomery said of Saturday's effort. "I thought we didn't start on time in the first period, really loose, but then I thought in the second and third period we got to Bruins hockey."
The Bruins did it with defenseman Brandon Carlo (upper-body injury) and centers Pavel Zacha (illness) and Matt Poitras (upper body) all out. Goalie Linus Ullmark (lower body) also missed a second straight game after suffering a lower-body injury on Tuesday, opening the door for Jeremy Swayman to get a second straight start and turn aside 19 of 22 shots in the win. Swayman, by the way, was named an All-Star for the first time in his career earlier in the day.
The good news is that there's been fairly encouraging news on all of those guys. Carlo will miss at least one more game since he's on injured reserve, but all four have been deemed "day-to-day" and appear to have avoided serious injury (or illness in Zacha's case). Ullmark was on the ice Saturday morning and told reporters that "everything looked good" after an MRI.
Those updates alone feel like a victory, especially considering how serious Ullmark's injury in particular looked in real-time. Add in an actual victory Saturday night and the Bruins should feel just fine as they return to Boston. With games against the last two Stanley Cup champions, games in three different time zones, and a back-to-back included, this was always going to be a tough trip.
"We just kind of had that desperation tonight," Marchand told NESN after the game. "I thought we played a great game. Even when they scored to get back into it a couple times, we kept going. It's a really good way to end a road trip. Five points out of eight. We gotta be happy about that. It's something we can build on."
The Bruins don't get too much of a breather just yet. They fly back to Boston on Sunday, but have a quick turnaround with a Martin Luther King Jr. Day afternoon game against the New Jersey Devils on tap for Monday.
