Bruins vs. Devils 5/4/21 RECAP: A crazy third period and disastrous Kuraly shift ends the B’s winning streak at 4. B’s lose 4-3 in OT.

Thank god this stupid season series is over.

First Period:

This game started with PENALTIES! Lots and lots of penalties! The Bruins could get chances, but the B’s

And eventually, one of the many shots that the Devils had in those power plays had to go in, and Pavel Zacha was the lucky winner. 1-0 Devils.

If you spend this much time killing penalties, you’re eventually gonna give something like this up.

Not much else happened, the Bruins began to take over this game, and then the period ended.

Second Period:

Things got good!

The Bruins were on another level, and the Bruins were justly rewarded on a power play as the captain himself took a shot-turned-pass from David Pastrnak, and then swiveled and put it straight past Blackwood’s glove! 1-1 Everybody!

Who better to help finish a good shot than the skipper?

Then, in the wildest goal he’s scored all year, Taylor Hall flubbed a pass that got to Matt Grzelcyk, who shot it at Hall, who deflected it off of his inner thigh to put the B’s up 2-1!

In retrospect, maybe this was the moment we should’ve noticed things were about to get weird. Hall continued his strong play throughout the night, Boston and New Jersey went back to their locker rooms.

Third Period:

...And it started so well, too.

That’s a joke, it didn’t start well at all.

The period in terms of events started with Jesper Boqvist sitting on the doorstep and getting rewarded for his diligence with a goal, as neither McAvoy nor Halak could get to him in time. 2-2 all.

Then, not a minute and a half later, David Pastrnak threw a pass into the crease, and Sean Kuraly deflected it in. 3-3 everybody

And for much of this game afterward, the Devils tried their damnedest to get even. The B’s certainly did their due diligence for much of it, but more often than not failed to contain their rush. And finally the dam burst when Yegor Sharangovich tied the game at 3 with only 7 minutes left in the period.

Time expired, both teams got a point, and we went to Overtime.

Overtime:

Sean Kuraly got a shift in OT. How’d that go?

Welp. Devils win 4-3 in OT

Game Notes:

• Halak didn’t have a great game, finishing his night with an .810 SV%, and he definitely looked like someone who noticed he probably just lost his last best chance at being the backup in the playoffs, and shares more than a little bit of the blame for how this game ended. Don’t worry, Jaro. They give out rings to everybody. Even if they don’t play.
• There is plenty of blame to go around for how this happened; Bruins kept giving up odd-man rushes, Mike Reilly got an edge caught, the Bruins took three consecutive penalties in the first, all of them generally avoidable, but man if Sean Kuraly didn’t ingratiate himself to fans tonight. Sure he got a goal, but he was a big part of why they spent so much time in their own end shorthanded in OT: gave up the puck in the offensive zone and then took a penalty on it. The hockey gods giveth...and they taketh away.
• Charlie Coyle left the game in the third period for an undisclosed reason. We’ll update you on how that ends up.
• It’s not all bad, though. Boston still has that all important point to get within two of Washington (Pittsburgh took the Flyers to the woodshed), and play the slumping Rangers on Thursday and Saturday. The hope of getting into the top 2 in division is not dead yet! It’s still good, It’s still good!
• In general, tonight was a great example of doing pretty much everything right and still failing. The B’s controlled shots on goal, shot attempts, expected goals, and never once let the Devils really have that many dangerous chances. It’s just that the dangerous chances they did get...went in. It sucks, but that happens sometimes.
• I was off by .003 of a % in the preview. Mackenzie Blackwood, Bruins killer was as his usual self, finishing with a .917 SV%. If he could just translate that into every other team he’d be a Vezina candidate.
• First line was well represented on the scoresheet tonight, as they practically controlled whole shifts in the second period for whole half-minutes at a time. Bergeron got on the board, of course. But David Pastrnak while hunting for NHL goal 200 decided to be a good sport, and picked up a pair of primary assists.

Bruins get a night off to come home, and then have the New York Rangers come to town at 7pm EST, assuming of course they aren’t dragged to the NHL office kicking and screaming when Bettman demands an apology.

We’ll see you there!