Thursday night’s tilt at TD Garden saw a tale of two teams on drastically different trajectories collide, as a Bruins squad fresh off a decisive victory against the New Jersey Devils found themselves on the wrong end of a surprising 5-2 comeback by a Blackhawks team that just two nights prior had been utterly silenced in a 5-0 shutout by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Just 93 seconds of third-period chaos saw Ryan Donato, Tyler Bertuzzi, and Kevin Korchinski each light the lamp, rocketing the Blackhawks to a sudden 4-1 lead. For Boston, David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie each found the back of the net. The Blackhawks return home on Saturday to host the Winnipeg Jets, and the Bruins head to PPG Paints Arena on Sunday to take on the Penguins.
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Chicago Blackhawks Lineup:
Moore – Bedard – Mikheyev
Teravainen – Nazar – Bertuzzi
Donato – Foligno – Kurashev
Slaggert – Veleno – Maroon
Vlasic – Rinzel
Korchinski – Crevier
Del Mastro – Levshunov
Soderblom
Knight
Boston Bruins Lineup:
Geekie – Lindholm – Pastrnak
Zacha – Mittelstadt – Lysell
Khusnutdinov – Minten – Duran
Koepke – Beecher – Lauko
Zadorov – Jokiharju
Lohrei – Peeke
Callahan – Wotherspoon
Swayman
Korpisalo
David Pastrnak opened the scoring, putting the Bruins in front 1-0 for his 41st goal of the season with 9:21 on the clock in the first period. An intended pass from Elias Lindholm to him deflected in off the stick of Sam Rinzel and him before beating Arvid Soderblom after Pastrnak had gone to make a check on Philipp Kurashev, who turned the puck over while trying to make a move around him, and the puck made its way to Lindholm.
At 12:05 of the second, Nick Foligno knotted it up 1-1 on his 13th of the season when he broke up a pass at the defensive blue line between Fabian Lysell and Mason Lohrei after Pavel Zacha lost the puck around the Blackhawks’ net. He then chipped the puck to himself off the boards and drove down the right wing before beating Jeremy Swayman blocker side on a partial breakaway.
Ryan Donato found the back of the net for his 30th goal of the season, which is the first time in his career that he reached the 30-goal mark to untie the knot and give Chicago their first lead of the night 2-1. He scored on a rebound near the right post at 16:46 after Rinzel and Kurashev attempted to get the puck past Swayman to get the party started. Tyler Bertuzzi put in his 22nd of the season, making it 3-1 at 15:37 when he struck from the high slot, scoring blocker side after his backhand pass to Teuvo Teravainen was blocked by Parker Wotherspoon, but the puck went back to him for the third Hawks tally. 24 seconds later, Kevin Korchinski put home his first goal of the season to push the lead to 4-1 off a pass from Connor Bedard, who sent it to him from the right circle after Bedard got the puck along the boards from Oliver Moore, who carried it up into the neutral zone after receiving a pass from Ilya Mikheyev in Chicago’s zone. With 8:52 on the clock in the third period, Morgan Geekie cut it to 4-2 on a one-timer in the low slot for his 31st of the season off a pass by Pastrnak, who took a pass from Lindholm when their first attempt failed and the puck found its way back to Pastrnak, handing it over to Geekie. Foligno put home his second of the night with 28 seconds left to play on an empty-netter for the 5-2 final.
Game Notes:
– Arvid Soderblom made a total of 31 saves for Chicago, and Jeremy Swayman made a total of 16 saves for Boston.
– Riley Duran, who is from Boston, made his NHL debut for the Bruins and had been minus-1 in 13:36 of ice time.
– Ryan Donato, who reached the 30-goal mark for the first time in his career, is the first player to score at least 30 goals for the Blackhawks since Alex DeBrincat in 2021-22 scored 41.
– Both David Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie had a two-point night, each recording one goal and an assist. …Geekie extended his point streak to nine games, which is an NHL career-high for him (seven goals, 10 assists). Pastrnak extended his point streak to eight (eight goals, 10 assists).
– Aside from extending his point streak, Pastrnak is the seventh player in team history to have at least 60 assists in consecutive seasons, the first since Marc Savard, who had three straight from 2006-07 and 2008-09.
– The Blackhawks lost six of seven (1-5-1), and the Bruins lost two of three.
– CHI: 23-46-10, BOS: 32-39-9.
Season 4. Episode 39. The Off Season – Bruins Benders Podcast
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