Bruins vs. Red Wings 12/13/17 RECAP: Brad Marchand makes a highlight reel OT winner, B’s win 3-2!

First Period:

Look, almost nothing happened here. The first had almost nothing worth discussing other than both teams feeling each other out and trying to outlive the other.

Move on.

Second Period:

Things didn’t improve for Boston as the otherwise listless B’s allowed Detroit to control stretches of the period, and finally paid for it as Patrice Bergeron took a penalty halfway through, and Tomas Tatar took advantage of a screen. 1-0 Red Wings.

Not great.

The B’s didn’t get any better with the rest of the period, but did manage to get closer in shots than they were, slowly taking control in the very last seconds.

This would be an important point going forward.

3rd Period:

Early in, The 4th line managed to crowd around Jimmy Howard unmolested and the puck bounced around in front of him until Noel Acciari tossed it in and tying the game at 1-1!

In general, the Bruins tried to take over this period and for a stretch they did indeed, taking the Wings to the breaking point and almost doubling their shot total from the first and second...but then Boston got a power play...and a shot bounced off of somebody and flew out into space...and then Dylan Larkin got it...

And...well...

...Yeah. Shorthanded goal, 2-1 Wings...just a disastrous sequence.

And normally, you’d expect in close games like this that they’d run the same “Get the L” routine, right? Skate around till around 2:30, pull Rask, and then let in an ENG for a 3-1 loss, right? Well...not gonna happen.

Boston got a lucky icing, and then Tuukka Rask got pulled and then...oh man...Brad Marchand’s pass here...

Get your best players on the ice and good things happen. Boston gets the tying goal and we are on to overtime tied 2-2!

Overtime:

Man, just go over here and watch this.

Game Notes:

• Your leaders in puck possession tonight were: David Krejci, Jake DeBrusk, Anders Bjork, Matt Grzelcyk, and Charlie McAvoy.
• This is of course, relative. As there were only three players below 50% in CF% tonight.
• Boston’s 3rd period saved them this game, but they absolutely cannot keep letting the 2nd period be a weakness like this.
• Uncharacteristically pedestrian night for the 1st line...right up until the last 3 minutes of the game where everyone turned their game right up. That’s the mark of quality.
• It might get lost in the shuffle, but Torey Krug had a pretty good game on the backcheck tonight. Blocking shots, breaking up 2-on-1’s, saving opportunities when Rask couldn’t...Assisting on both the game-tying and then game-winning goal definitely helped. His accuracy might be a bit wonky in shooting, but his passing? His passing’s a winner.
• Tuukka Rask finished with a .939 in SV% tonight and given the way the B’s played in the 1st and 2nd, they needed him to play like that.
• Paul Postma didn’t register much ice time after a period of time. Might be time for this experiment to get a definite conclusion, I think.
• Postma and Carlo had miserable nights with possession. Gonna need more from Carlo. A lot more.
• Always good to have Rhode Island’s own Noel Acciari show up on the scoresheet scoring a very 4th line goal.
• Speaking of which, Brad Marchand absolutely earned the first star from me. That pass...that GOAL.

Next game is tomorrow night at 7 vs. Washington!