After squandering a late 3-1 lead to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday to lose 4-3 in overtime, the Boston Bruins held another 3-1 late on Saturday against the Detroit Red Wings. This time, they held on for a 4-1 win, earning crucial divisional points in the process.
BOSTON – The Boston Bruins’ first loss of the season, a 4-3 overtime loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, was tough for the Bruins to swallow. The Bruins led 3-1 with 1:55 remaining, then allowed two 6-on-5 goals to force it to overtime, where Ducks forward Mason McTavish ended it.
“I thought the game was over twice, [if] we put in an empty net [goal],” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery said after Thursday’s loss. “Guys whiffing on pucks, guys going for the open net instead of using the walls as an indirect to clear and get off the ice.”
Facing their first Atlantic Division opponent of the season in the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday, David Pastrnak took Montgomery’s critique quite literally.
Put in the exact same scenario as Thursday – defending a 3-1 lead with 2:19 remaining and Detroit goalie Ville Husso pulled for the extra skater – Pastrnak secured the puck in the middle of the Bruins’ zone and cleared it off the side wall. However, the puck took the perfect bounce and slid right into the empty net from 130 feet out to secure the 4-1 win.
Pastrnak showed off his top-tier finishing ability on his penalty shot goal at 11:19 of the third period to make it 3-1, but he deflected any credit for the empty-netter.
“I was just trying to get [the puck] out,” Pastrnak said. “It was there for a while, and I wanted to get a change, honestly.”
In his 600th NHL game, Pastrnak scored two other points besides the empty-net goal – an assist and the penalty shot goal – and Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy scored the other two goals. Jeremy Swayman made 22 saves to improve to 4-0-0.
Perhaps it’s too early to pay attention to the standings, but the win put the Bruins four points clear at the top of the Atlantic Division with 15 points. The Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens all sit behind at 11 points apiece.
“[Wins are] all good, but when we’re playing within [our] division, they’re kind of like four-point games,” Montgomery said. “And doesn’t matter how early it is because it always seems to be tight at the end for the playoff races.”
The Bruins have a chance to create more distance in their division lead with matchups against the Florida Panthers on Monday, the Maple Leafs on Thursday and the Red Wings again next Saturday.
Both Montgomery and the players called this upcoming stretch “measuring stick” games. They passed the first test, but the remaining three games will be equally as telling, especially with Monday’s matchup against the team that ended their 65-win season early last year in the Panthers.
“Every team in this league is a serious opponent,” Swayman said. “But again, those division points are huge for us. And we know that these points matter early on in the season and [are] big momentum pieces for us to build off of and grow from.”