The Bruins defeated the Canadiens in Montreal on Thursday, March 14th at Bell Centre in overtime. After a 5-1 loss against the St. Louis Blues and unfortunate losses in overtime recently, the three periods remained a 1-1 tie, Boston and Montreal headed into overtime to wrap it up and Jake DeBrusk scored 24 seconds in for the game-winning goal. DeBrusk has 16 goals this season, as well as 18 assists and 34 points.
Bruins lineup against the Canadiens:
Marchand – Coyle – DeBrusk
Heinen – Zacha – Pastrnak
Frederic – Geekie – Brazeau
Beecher – Boqvist – Lauko
Lohrei – McAvoy
Lindholm – Carlo
Wotherspoon – Peeke
Ullmark
Swayman
Canadiens lineup against the Bruins:
Caufield – Suzuki – Slafkovsky
Roy – Newhook – Armia
Gallagher – Evans – Anderson
Pearson – White – Harvey-Pinard
Matheson – Guhle
Xhekaj – Savard
Harris – Kovacevic
Montembeault
Primeau
Danton Heinen struck first to put Boston ahead 1-0 early into the opening 20 at 15:11. He scored his 12th goal of the season as he was falling to the ice after Juraj Slafkovsky had knocked him down, scoring with a second-effort swipe in the left post. Later on, in the first period, Nick Suzuki tied it at 1-1, to which was the score for the rest of the game, and headed into overtime. Suzuki’s goal was his 26th of the season and tied his NHL career-high when he received a quick pass from Slafkovsky and netted it with a one-timer after the puck had been turned over by Brandon Carlo due to a forecheck by Cole Caufield.
As the score remained 1-1 through the second and third, Boston and Montreal headed into overtime to finish it up.
Just 24 seconds into the extra time, Jake DeBrusk hunted down that 2-1 final and struck his 16th of the season. He took a pass during a 2-on-1 from Brad Marchand, then deked and stuck a backhand past Sam Montembeault.
Jake DeBrusk on the overtime win and how important it is for the team to find their way through: “I know tonight was not necessarily the best game as a team, but we found a way – I think that’s kind of what you build towards. Obviously, you want to be perfect, you want to play your game, and you want to dominate as much as you can, but it’s the NHL, and I think they responded from the last time we played against them. I think they changed some things up and they played a hard game. It was one of those things where you could give them credit as well as us finding a way in overtime too. I think I was told 24th overtime, so anytime we can win those around this time of year is nice.”
Johnny Beecher on the Bruins 2-1 victory: “It’s huge. Obviously, getting two points at this time of the year is pretty big and just winning close games like that, down the stretch, builds your team and gets you a little bit of momentum going towards playoffs. It was huge, I don’t think it was necessarily our best game for the whole 60, but we found a way to win, which is all that matters in the end.”
Notes:
– Jake DeBrusk’s overtime game-winning goal was marked as the sixth-fastest overtime goal in Boston Bruins history, thanks to Brad Marchand’s assist (26; 19 goals, seven assists), who had passed Patrice Bergeron (25) for the most overtime points in franchise history.
– The Bruins have gone into overtime 24 times this season, and have won six of 18 decided in the extra hockey time. They’ve also gone 3-3 in the shootout.
– Andrew Peeke played 17:01 and blocked two shots in his first game with the Bruins since being traded from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
– Both Matt Grzelcyk and James van Riemsdyk were unable to play due to illness.
– Linus Ullmark made 18 saves for Boston, and Sam Montembeault made 21 saves for Montreal.
– The Montreal Canadiens have not allowed a power-play goal for the sixth straight game, blowing 19 straight opportunities.
