BOSTON – The Bruins welcomed the Vancouver Canucks to the TD Garden for a Saturday night showdown. The Bruins were looking to get back into the win column, while the Canucks sought to continue their three-game win streak. Their streak started after they traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, and continued tonight in Boston. The Canucks won in a shootout, 5-4.
The Bruins came out firing in the first period, testing the Finnish goaltender on the other end of the ice. On the night’s first power play, Charlie McAvoy found Morgan Geekie. He unleashed a one-timer right by Lankinen for his 25th of the campaign, and 50th of the calendar year.
It was all Boston throughout the first period. Per NaturalStatTrick, the B’s led high-danger chances in the first 20 minutes, 8-2, and led in Corsi, 27-10.
Until it was not all Boston. The Bruins killed off their only penalty of the first, and the Canucks sent their fourth line out there with less than a minute to play. That’s when Linus Karlsson pushed the puck to Liam Ohgren, all while Max Sasson positioned himself in front of the net. Ohgren found Sasson, and he tied the game with 13.9 seconds in the opening frame.
Boston steered 13 shots on goal in the first to Vancouver’s four. Boston also dominated the faceoff circle, winning 15 of the 19 faceoffs that were dropped in the opening frame.
The Canucks drew a high-sticking call three minutes into the second frame. The Canucks dumped the puck in; Swayman went for it, missed it, and the puck landed on Evander Kane’s stick. Kane threw it right into the blue paint, where Linus Karlsson was, and he finished it, giving Vancouver an early 2-1 lead in the second.
Special teams continue to squander the Bruins. Tonight marked the sixth straight game in which the Bruins have allowed a power play goal.
Jeffrey Viel and Evander Kane received matching roughing penalties, and the Bruins and Canucks skated four-on-four halfway through the second. On the four-on-four, Nikita Zadorov skated in towards the goal and found Pavel Zacha to his right. Zacha won the quick battle to keep the puck off of Tyler Myers’ stick, tapped it into the back of the net, and tied the game up for Boston.
The Bruins’ offense kept on rolling. The reunited third line was out there for the Bruins, moving the play into the offensive zone. Victor Soderstrom kept the puck in the zone and turned it to Fraser Minten. Kastelic showed off his offensive skillset, spinning a behind-the-back pass right to the tape of Tanner Jeannot’s stick. Jeannot beat Lankinen for his fourth of the season to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead in the second period.
Filip Hronek ripped a shot from the point, only for it to bounce over Jeremy Swayman’s head and into the back of the net. After video review, the puck was determined to have been knocked in by Marcus Pettersson’s glove; the goal did not count. The Bruins maintained their 3-2 lead and carried it into the second intermission. The B’s outshot the Canucks 28-12 through 40 minutes of play.
The Canucks came out strong to start the third period. David Kampf took a hooking penalty, the Canucks got the kill, and generated some offense while shorthanded. Shortly after, Linus Karlsson walked into the zone, picked up the puck, and fired a laser by Jeremy Swayman to tie the game. Karlsson was involved in the first three Vancouver goals, scoring two of them and adding an assist on their first goal.
The Bruins found themselves in penalty trouble about halfway through the third period. The Canucks went on the power play after Charlie McAvoy was called for interference. Hampus Lindholm gifted the Canucks a five-on-three, only for 19 seconds. However, the Bruins outmuscled the Canucks and got two timely kills.
The Bruins were battling both the Canucks and the clock late in the third period. Until Andrew Peeke drove a shot that went off the post. The puck would bounce off Kevin Lankinen’s back and roll into the net. Peeke’s third tally of the season tied the game up at four with 3:44 to play in regulation.
This game needed more than regulation to determine a winner. The Bruins teed up six shots in overtime, and Vancouver got two off, but no goals were scored. Still, this one required more than the five minutes of overtime.
In the shootout, Marco Sturm sent out Casey Mittelstadt, David Pastrnak, Marat Khusnutdinov, Andrew Peeke, Mikey Eyssimont, Elias Lindholm, and then Morgan Geekie. None of the Bruins could get past Kevin Lankinen, and it took until round seven for the lone shootout goal to come. Liam Ohgren, acquired in the Quinn Hughes deal, would score the shootout goal to give the Canucks the win.
The Canucks improve to 15-17-3, while the Bruins fall to 20-15-1. Going into tonight, the Boston Bruins were 16-0-0 when leading after two periods and 6-0 when the game went beyond regulation. They are now 16-0-1 and 6-1 in those categories, respectively.
The Bruins are right back at it on Sunday night. The Ottawa Senators are here for the back leg of the Bruins’ back-to-back. It will be the last meeting of the season between the two teams; Ottawa leads the season series 2-1.