Playing without Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy, the Boston Bruins let a 1-0 lead slip early in the third period before eventually losing in overtime.
Jack Hughes scored at 2:47 of overtime, lifting the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
The Devils took control for nearly the entire overtime period, outshooting Boston 7-0. Jesper Bratt’s zone entry on the right side allowed Hughes to find space to hammer home the cross-ice pass and secure the win. Devils goalie Vitek Vanecek had the secondary assist on the play, his first of the season and fourth total in his NHL career.
Morgan Geekie scored the only goal for Boston, which dropped to 18-5-4. Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves in a terrific effort despite the loss. The Bruins were without Pavel Zacha and Charlie McAvoy, who are each day-to-day with upper-body injuries.
“You feel it in, I guess, crucial moments, right? Special teams, and then face-offs; matchups a little bit,” Bruins coach Jim Montgomery told reporters regarding the impact of Zacha and McAvoy's absences. “You lose two guys out of your lineup that play 20 minutes a night, you’re gonna feel it, but I loved the way we competed. I loved the way the guys who got the extra minutes competed.”
After dominating possession in the first three minutes of the game with four scoring chances to New Jersey’s zero, the Bruins went without a shot on goal from 4:13 to 16:48 in the first period. But the drought-ending shot from James van Riemsdyk rebounded out to Geekie, who took the puck from the slot and patiently wrapped it around Vanecek and in to take a 1-0 lead at 16:51.
“Won a few battles down low, won a few pucks. It was good, we had a few big bodies on that line, so it’s nice to stir around a little bit down underneath the line, and got up top, right back to the net, and just right spot,” Geekie said.
The goal completed a near-two minute offensive zone sequence that included competitive shot attempts from Matt Grzelcyk and Jake DeBrusk to help knock the door down. If you ask Montgomery, he’d rather not have his team go 12:35 without a shot on goal, but the ability to capitalize when chances aren’t coming was as good a consolation as he could ask for.
The Bruins utilized their size advantage to keep New Jersey off the board through two periods, including two penalty kills against the league’s top power play unit. Boston allowed three shots on goal between the two kills, and led the blocked shot count at all strengths 16-6.
Swayman’s biggest save arguably came on the penalty kill at 16:42 of the second period against Dawson Mercer, who had a clean look up high that Swayman just barely got his body in front of.
“He’s been terrific all year long,” Montgomery said of Swayman. “Him and Linus [Ullmark], both of them, they’ve been terrific. That’s why we have the record we have.”
While Swayman and the defense held up through two periods, the offense couldn't cash in any insurance tallies.
Mercer finally beat Swayman to get the Devils on the board at 2:34 of the third period, knocking in a flying puck following Erik Haula’s shot to cap off a sequence of five New Jersey shot attempts in a row and tie it 1-1.
Boston outshot the Devils 7-6 down the stretch, but neither side could get the deciding goal through 60 minutes of regulation.
“I thought we played a solid game tonight,” Geekie said. “Obviously didn’t come out on the right side of the outcome, but I thought we played a solid 60, and they’re a good team. Obviously they’re gonna push back, so something to build off of, and be ready for the [New York] Islanders (on Friday).”