Bruins defeat Leafs in a SO, 3-2

It’s been a long time coming, but the Boston Bruins finally found themselves on the triumphant side of third period comeback. Boston picked up a huge victory tonight, beating Toronto 3-2 in a shootout. This game was far from pretty; nevertheless the Bruins picked up two key points and regained sole possession of first place in the Northeast Division.

Boston and Toronto battled to a scoreless tie in the opening frame. The Leafs struck first in this one. Joffrey Lupul, fresh off a two-game suspension, buried a power play goal at 2:04 of the second period. Lupul was the beneficiary of nifty touch pass from Jake Gardiner. Minutes later, Nikolai Kulemin beat Tuukka Rask on a breakaway bid. His goal left the Bruins in an all to familiar territory, another multi goal deficit.

Facing yet another hurdle, trailing 2-0, Boston was left in a vulnerable position. Claude Julien’s new look lines struggled out of the gate. Many of the guys seemed out of sync at the start. The Bruins showed superior mental toughness and refused to give up. The kinks seemed to work themselves out as the contest progressed and Boston began to assert its upper hand. In particular, Daniel Paille had a strong showing, registering 5 shots on goal.

The much-maligned Milan Lucic benefited from a change of scenery, skating alongside Rich Peverley and Jordan Caron for the majority of the game. Lucic cut the Toronto lead in half, scoring his first goal since February 24. The big man drove to the net with authority, beating James Reimer, making it 2-1.  

The B’s rolled their normal line pairings in the third period and showed great resiliency. Patrice Bergeron knotted the game up, sending a backhander past Reimer at 10:36 of the final stanza. Rookie blue liner Dougie Hamilton carried the puck deep into Toronto’s end while his teammates changed out. From behind the Leafs net, Hamilton flipped a pass to a trailing Bergeron who then faked out Dion Phaneuf and cashed in.

Ramped up physicality and emotional flare-ups fueled the remainder of the hockey game. Both sides swapped numerous post whistle exchanges. After appearing to be rattled, Tuukka Rask regained his focus and shut down the Maple Leafs in third period, overtime, and then in the shootout. James Reimer was terrific for Toronto, but it was Rask who shut the door.

In overtime both sides locked things down defensively and surrendered little ground. Boston elected to go first in the shootout and it was Tyler Seguin capitalizing like he so often does. Bergeron ended it for Boston, tricking Reimer for the winning goal, capping off a much-needed high character win.

In another tight divisional battle, the Bruins made the proper in game adjustments that ultimately led them in the right direction. Boston improved to 21-7-3 on the year. More importantly they hopped over Montreal in the standings only days before the two rivals will square off at TD Garden. The B’s did many things well in avenging Saturday’s loss. Even though it’s a step in the right direction, the Bruins should not be satisfied in the least bit.