Bruins Dethrone Kings in Overtime (10/12/24)

He's baaacckkkkkkk. Jeremy Swayman missed most of training camp with the Boston Bruins and looked shaky in his season debut on Thursday. Today he was his old self against the Los Angeles Kings in a Saturday matinee. He faced 34 shots and managed to stop 33 of them, including the ones in overtime. The Bruins defense also looked a lot better as they held the Kings to just one goal in regulation as well. Trevor Moore scored the first goal of the game for the Kings five minutes into the second period but Elias Lindholm tied it with just over three minutes into the second period. The Bruins and Kings plunged into overtime after a scoreless third period and who else but David Pastrnak scored the game winning goal. The Bruins survived to win the struggle 2-1 over the Kings in overtime at TD Garden.

                                                            Pasta wins it in OT

The Bruins got the first power play just 3:31 into the game when Alex Laferriere got sent to the penalty box for hooking. Brad Marchand gave the puck away to Trevor Moore who damn near put it past Jeremy Swayman, luckily Sway saved it. Pavel Zacha dished it to Charlie McAvoy but his blast was saved by Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper. That was the Bruins only shot for the first 14 minutes despite them getting a power play after Brandt Clarke was whistled for high sticking 7 minutes into the period. The Bruins missed a golden chance when Matthew Poitras shot it on net and Kuemper had to dive to rob Trent Frederic of a rebound goal. David Pastrnak also couldn't get it past Darcy in that sequence. Mason Lohrei found Charlie Coyle wide open but Kuemper saved that too. With four minutes left in the period, Laferriere walked in alone but Swayman made the save. With 45 seconds left, Marchand dished it to Morgan Geekie but Kuemper saved Morgan's shot attempt. The period ended scoreless 0-0.

                                                              Tough game so far

Just one minute into the second period, Coyle found Nikita Zadorov open but his slap shot was saved by Kuemper. Nikita Zadorov then got bagged for boarding just 3:19 into the period and the Kings went on the power play. Swayman made a big stop on Kevin Fiala and another on Adrian Kempe before Laferriere was also denied. Just as the power play was expiring, Quinton Byfield passed to Phillip Danault. Danault fired and the rebound went right to Moore with a wide open net. Moore scored to put the Kings on top just like that. Less than two minutes later, McAvoy was then whisked off for tripping but the Bruins killed off the penalty. Jordan Spence got tagged for interference with 8:03 left in the second period but the Bruins failed to score on the power play. Clarke got called for holding with 3:52 left but just nine seconds later, Zacha was hauled off for interference to make it four on four. Then Mikey Anderson turned over the puck right to Marchand. Marchand skated in alone but Kuemper stopped the shot. The rebound went to Lindholm who fired it in for the goal to tie the game with 3:10 left in the period. The Bruins killed off the nine second power play and with ten seconds left in the period, Poitras passed to a wide open Lohrei who clanged a shot off the post to end the period. The Bruins and Kings went into intermission tied 1-1.

                                                         Lindholm ties it up

The Kings got the first power play of the third period when Brandon Carlo went off for tripping 3:52 into it. Laferriere hit the post with the shot but otherwise the Kings couldn't cash in. With 6:16 left in the period, Pastrnak went off for slashing to give the Kings another power play. Moore was robbed point blank by Swayman and the final power play went to the Bruins with 3:03 left in the period. Byfield went off for holding the stick but the Bruins failed to capitalize on the power play again. That was it for the period and we headed to overtime.

                                                     On to OT we go

Fiala got robbed by Swayman just nine seconds into OT but ninety seconds into it, McAvoy and Zacha had a two on one. McAvoy passed it to Zacha but Kuemper made the save. Down the other end, Swayman robbed Byfield point blank. Matthew Poitras passed the puck to Mason Lohrei with 2:16 left and he gave it to Pastrnak. David passed it back to Lohrei but Pasta got stripped. Lohrei beat the Kings to the puck and swiped it over to Poitras. Poitras passed to Pastrnak who gave it to Lohrei. Lohrei gave it back to Pastrnak who shoots....HE SCORESSSSSSSS! Bruins win 2-1 in overtime!

                                                            Pasta wins it in OT

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That was a damn good win in a tough, gritty game where offense was hard to come by. Pastrnak is the Bruins best player and he stepped up when the Bruins needed it the most in OT. Lindholm got the only goal the Bruins scored in regulation and Swayman stopped 33 of 34 shots to give the Bruins a chance. This is the Bruins defense fans were banking on with Swayman getting back into shape. The Bruins need to cut down on the damn penalties but other than that, they played a near flawless game defensively. They're not going to be able to outslug teams every night but they sure as hell grinded out this one. One thing's for sure, for a team that lost Jake DeBrusk, James van Riemsdyk and Pat Maroon, they seem to be rolling right along with the return of Poitras, Mark Kastelic and Elias Lindholm....for three games anyway. Now let's see if the Bruins can go on a nice winning streak. Their next test is a rematch at home with the Florida Panthers this Monday night. The game begins at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.