The Bruins got the first power play 6:19 into the period when Kevin Stenlund got bagged for tripping. On the power play, Brad Marchand intercepted a puck and shot on net, but Connor Ingram stopped it. Adam Kerfoot damn near tucked it in on the other hand but Swayman kept it out. Hampus Lindholm was also stoned by Ingram. Mason Lohrei passed it to Pavel Zacha but his shot was denied with 9:50 left in the period. With 8 minutes left, Dylan Guenther passed the puck to Logan Cooley but Swayman made the save. Down the other end, Nikita Zadorov's slapshot was saved by Ingram. With 6:37 left, Kerfoot dished it to Lawson Crouse who's one timer was saved by Swayman. With just over three minutes left, Mark Kastelic dished it to John Beecher but Ingram made the save. With 1:48 left, Guenther dropped the puck to Cooley but Swayman stopped the shot attempt. Then with 1:10 left, McAvoy was sent to the penalty box for high sticking to put the HC's on the power play. Kastelic managed to send the puck to Beecher for a short handed attempt but Ingram made the save. The Bruins managed to get to the end of the period still scoreless.
The HC's had 50 seconds of power play time carried over to the second period but the Bruins killed it off. Crouse batted a puck out of mid-air and shot on Swayman, but it didn't go in. Trent Frederic tried to set up Mason Lohrei on the other end but Ingram made the save. Kailer Yamamoto passed it to Matias Maccelli but Swayman made the save just 2:22 into the period. Just 3:03 into the second, Kastelic got in a chinwag with Robert Burtuzzo and both were sent to the box for roughing. In the four on four portion, Cole Koepke was denied by Ingram and both penalties expired without further shenanigans. After a Pastrnak shot went wide, Zadorov got bagged for hooking 7:44 into the period to put the HC's on another power play. Mikhail Sergachev was robbed by Swayman and then Josh Doan completely missed the net. With 9:25 left, Matthew Poitras was denied by Ingram and on the other end, Swayman robbed Ian Cole point blank. With just 7:11 left in the period, Marchand controlled the puck in the neutral zone and passed up ice to Koepke. Koepke skated in, shot and scored his third goal of the season to put the Bruins on top. Just 24 seconds later, Vladislav Kolyachonok was sent to the box for interference. Michael Kesselring looked to have a shorthanded goal but the puck clanged off the post. Hampus Lindholm got sent to the box for tripping with 49 seconds left in the period and Swayman BARELY stopped a shot from Guenther to keep the Bruins in front. That was it for the period as the Bruins headed to the third period up 1-0.
The Bruins killed off the remainder of the power play and two minutes later, Clayton Keller got bagged for hooking. With a chance to ice the game, Zacha tucked the puck past Ingram to put the Bruins up by two. But wait! Utah coach Andre Tourigny challenged that the Bruins were offsides. The refs looked at it and sure enough, the goal was overturned. Cooley was robbed by Swayman on a breakaway and it looked like the Bruins had the game won. Instead, with just 4:09 left, Nick Schmaltz sent the puck to Keller who dished it up the ice to Kolyachonok. Nobody picked him up and he skated in, scoring easily to tie the game. That was it for the period and the Bruins headed to overtime tied 1-1.
Things went bad right from the start of overtime as Pastrnak somehow got called for tripping 42 seconds into it. Keller's blast on net before the penalty was called was saved by Swayman. The HC's circled the net when Pastrnak was just about to come out of the box to make it 4 on 4. Instead, Maccelli passed it to Cooley who found Kesselring wide open in the slot. With Pastrnak on his way, Kesselring scored to win the game. The Utah HC's won the game 2-1 in overtime.
Reaction:
Pity point aside, that was a damned choke by the Bruins. They played damn near flawless defense for 55 minutes but that late third period goal sealed their doom. The offense evaporating against the HC's was mostly to blame but allowing that goal was inexcusable. The defense not picking up Kolyachonok was a fatal mistake as it turned out. The power play goal in overtime was just icing on the cake. The Bruins get a point out of it but as always, missing out on the second one could be a big deal come season's end. Where was the offense in this one? How did Pastrnak, Zacha, Coyle and Frederic just disappear like that? Its not like they were playing the Panthers either. All in all it was a bad loss but they got a point out of it. The Bruins look to rebound this coming Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators. The game begins at 8:00 PM at Bridgestone Arena.
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