At 0-2-2, the Bruins were unable to earn a victory on their four-game road trip.
But thanks to another game-tying goal from center Pavel Zacha in the third period, as well as yet another dynamite performance from goaltender Joonas Korpisalo (this time in relief), the Bruins were able to gain a point for the second straight game with a 6-5 overtime loss to the Hurricanes down in Carolina.
It was a mixed-bag kind of night for the Bruins, who led through 20 minutes of action, but saw things unravel quickly with three goals in less than four minutes in the second period. In fact, at the time that the Bruins gave what felt like a mercy hook to Jeremy Swayman (five goals on 23 shots), the Hurricanes had more goals than the Bruins had shots on goal to that point in the period.
“We just totally lost control in that second period,” Bruins head coach Marco Sturm said following the loss. “Started with a bad penalty, didn’t clear the puck on the PK, just did a lot of bad things out there. It’s playoff hockey out there, and you cannot play like this, and we just didn’t understand that, I think. But in the third, we wanted to play a certain way that at least gives us a chance, and guys responded.”
The Bruins did rally back, though, with goals from Morgan Geekie late in the second period and the aforementioned Zacha game-tying goal in the third. Korpisalo, meanwhile, stopped all 12 shots faced in the third period to give the B’s a chance.
Geekie’s second-period goal was also his third of the night, giving him the second hat trick of his career. It could not have come at a better time for Geekie, too, all things considered, as he came into Tuesday’s game riding a 17-game goal drought.
The Bruins will get back to work Saturday when they host the Bolts at TD Garden.