Mikko Rantanen finished off a hat trick with the game-winning goal 3:52 into overtime, helping the Stars to a come-from-behind, 3-2 OT win over the Bruins.
Rantanen’s winner came on the power play, with the B’s around 30 seconds away from successfully killing a slashing penalty on Pavel Zacha.
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The Bruins got goals from Matthew Poitras and James Hagens, while Jeremy Swayman recorded 22 saves in defeat.
The B’s had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in this game, but seemed to run out of gas and ideas down the stretch.
The loss is the B’s first in more than two weeks and sees them end their road trip with a 3-0-1 record.
To the highlights!
After the B’s forced a turnover, Frederic Brunet threaded a perfect pass through to Poitras, who didn’t miss to make it 1-0 Bruins early in the first.
Speaking of turnovers, the Bruins managed to give the puck away about five times in five seconds, the last of which ended up on the stick of Rantanen. He followed his own shot to make it a 1-1 game early in the second period.
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Five minutes after the Rantanen goal, Hagens beat Miro Heiskanen to the top of the crease and tapped home a great pass from Casey Mittelstadt to make it 2-1 Bruins.
The Stars began to tilt the ice in their favor in the third period, and they finally got what felt like an inevitable goal with around six minutes left. Rantanen was the beneficiary of a deflected puck, and he wasted no time firing it on net. 2-2 game.
The B’s were bady outplayed in the last five minutes of regulation and played a dreadful overtime (save for Swayman, who was great) that was capped by (guess who) Rantanen, who finished a standout night with a hat trick winner.
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In the words of Jack Edwards, “a torture chamber goal.”
Bruins lose in OT, 3-2 final.
Game notes
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You can’t help but feel for Swayman, as he made two OT breakaway saves on Wyatt Johnston only to find Rantanen alone at the top of his crease for the winner. NOT IDEAL. Swayman’s play helped extend overtime by a minute or two, and his ability to hang in there in the third period helped the Bruins at least earn a point.
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While the B’s had some impressive passages of play in this game, they spent pretty much the last 25 minutes holding on for dear life. Dallas tying the game in the third period felt like an inevitability.
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To illustrate the point above: the Bruins went the final 13ish minutes of regulation and all of overtime without recording a shot on goal. To be frank, I’m not sure I really remember them coming all that close to even attempting a shot on goal during that stretch.
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The power play went back to being a sore spot for the Bruins, as they went 0-for-4 on the night. They weren’t without their chances and Jake Oettinger made a couple of big stops, particularly in the second period, but this was one of those games where a PPG would have gone a long way and the B’s couldn’t muster one.
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It was a night to forget for David Pastrnak. He finished without a shot on goal (a rarity for Pastrnak), though it wasn’t for a lack of attempts. His misplay of the puck/a bad bounce at the attacking blue line led to Johnston’s first breakaway in OT and was essentially the beginning of the wheels really falling off. This certainly isn’t meant to suggest Pastrnak lost the game for the B’s, just that it wasn’t his night.
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If you were looking at this game as a measuring-stick game against a legitimate Cup contender, there are positives to take away from it. For example, the youths (Hagens, Marat Khusnutdinov, and Fraser Minten, in particular) had stretches of play where their speed and tenacity gave Dallas trouble, the B’s had a handful of occasions where the speed and crispness (for lack of a better word) of their breakouts caught Dallas by surprise, etc.
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Having said that, this game also illustrates what can happen when you get a little too passive/tentative against a good team. There seemed to be a point where the B’s decided they had to circle the wagons and hunker down instead of push back, and that rarely goes well. I don’t think this was an intentional strategy on Sturm’s part, just that Dallas started skating downhill and the B’s couldn’t muster a response. Live and learn.
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You’re likely not feeling charitable at the moment, but going 3-0-1 on this road trip is a great result for the B’s. Maybe you will feel better in the morning. If not, that’s fine too.
The B’s will head back to the East Coast (best coast) Tuesday night and will host the Nashville Predators at TD Garden on Thursday night.
