Recap: Bruins cap near-perfect road trip with a 5-4 shootout win in Columbus

In a wild, back-and-forth affair, the Bruins finished off their lengthy road trip with a 5-4 shootout win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus.

This game saw the Bruins each team come back from a goal down, some questionable timekeeping, a buzzer beater goal to tie the game, and the Bruins actually scoring (!) in a shootout.

To the highlights!

Jake DeBrusk got things started midway through the first period with a deflection through traffic to make it 1-0 Bruins.

Gustav Nyquist beat Jeremy Swayman upstairs with a well placed shot to make it a 1-1 game six minutes later.

Vladislav Gavrikov collected a loose puck and put it home with a minute left in the first period to make it 2-1 Columbus.

Erik Haula evened things up two minutes into the second period, making it a 2-2 game.

Zach Werenski fires a shot through traffic and beats Swayman to make it 3-2 Columbus with five minutes left in the second.

Craig Smith finishes off a beautiful pass from Connor Clifton to make it a 3-3 game five minutes into the third period.

After getting a late power play chance, Patrice Bergeron crashes the net to cash in on a double-post and make it 4-3 Bruins.

After a Nick Foligno hooking penalty with 30 seconds left, Jakub Voracek beat Swayman with a bomb with two seconds left to make it a 4-4 game.

David Pastrnak had a chance to put pressure on the home team in the third round of the shootout, and he took the chance, scoring the game-winning goal.

That was the game! 5-4 Bruins in a wild one in Columbus.

Game notes

• Tail-end of a long, successful road trip...you’re looking for results, not perfection. While it’d be an understatement to say this wasn’t the Bruins’ strongest overall effort in recent weeks, they got it done.
• The Bruins are coming home with 10 points out of a possible 12 on the trip. And to think, they came within 30ish seconds of 11 points (or 12, depending on how that hypothetical overtime went).
• It’s probably taking things a little too seriously, but the league is lucky this was a random, relatively low-profile regular season game. The time-wasting by Columbus after Bergeron’s goal, the questionable “no, it wasn’t intentional” offsides prior to the game-tying goal, the questionable (at best) timekeeping, etc. It’ll fade into the background, but imagine if this was a playoff game?
• Nick Foligno has to be the most relieved guy in the state of Ohio tonight — that late hook was horrible, but his teammates ultimately bailed him out.
• Depth led the way for the Bruins tonight, as DeBrusk, Smith, and Haula scored three of the four goals, all three at even strength.
• Given how he has played lately, it’s surprising to see the opposing team put four on the board with Swayman in net. It was below his more recent standard, but it’s hard to fault him for the performance — a few deflections, some shots through traffic, etc. He was tremendous in the shootout though.
• We’re getting a bit ahead of ourselves, but the Bruins’ success on this trip has nearly halved the gaps between them and the rest of the Atlantic Division. When they started the trip, they were 13, 10, and 4 points behind Florida, Tampa, and Toronto; those gaps are now 7, 6, and 2 points (though the others have games in hand).

The Bruins will enjoy a hard-earned day off at home tomorrow, then get back at it Monday night against the Kings.

7-0 Part II would be nice, right?