Bruins Rally To Beat Detroit In OT (12/3/24)

The Joe Sacco era is off to a great start as the Boston Bruins rallied to beat the Detroit Red Wings tonight in overtime to improve Joe to 5-2 as Bruins coach. The Red Wings struck first in tonight's game when Lucas Raymond beat Joonas Korpisalo in the first period but the Bruins tied it when Nikita Zadorov's blast from the blue line slipped past Detroit goalie Ville Husso. It looked like Detroit took the lead in the second period when Raymond scored again but the alert Sacco challenged the goal. Sure enough, the goal didn't count and the game remained tied until the third period. Raymond scored his official second goal just a minute into the third period and it looked like Boston was headed to a bitter defeat. Instead, Justin Brazeau scored on the power play to tie up the game. The game plunged into overtime and David Pastrnak set up Pavel Zacha's blast to end the game. The Bruins had won it 3-2 in overtime at the TD Garden.

                                                           Zacha wins it for Boston

Alex DeBrincat got the first scoring chance of the game one minute into the game but Joonas Korpisalo made the save. Simon Edvinsson also fired on net but it was stopped by Joonas. Just over three minutes into the game, Cole Koepke passed to Marc McLaughlin who's shot was saved by Detroit goalie Ville Husso. A minute later, Mark Kastelic nearly tipped one in but Husso made the save. Then disaster struck when Edvinsson threw the puck off Charlie McAvoy's skate right to Lucas Raymond who fired the puck past Korpisalo to give Detroit the lead 7:31 into the period. Less than two minutes later, Brad Marchand back handed a pass to Nikita Zadorov who's one time blast went through Husso to tie the game. With 2 minutes left in the period, Jeff Petry was called for holding to put the Bruins on the power play. The Bruins failed to score and they headed to intermission tied 1-1.

                                                A slapshot goal from a defender named Z

The second period was a stalemate although Kastelic had a rebound go right to him in front of the net, but he failed to score eight minutes into the period. Charlie Coyle got called for tripping with 8:52 left in the period and it looked like Marco Kasper scored a power play goal on a tip in. Bruins coach Joe Sacco challenged that the Red Wings were offsides. The refs looked at the replay and sure enough, the goal was overturned. Things got a little chippy when Zadorov got sent to the box for slashing with 5:51 left and almost as soon as he got out of the box, Ben Chiarot told him "its go time." They both got matching double minors and Zadorov managed to get six penalty minutes in just over two minutes. Korpisalo robbed JT Compher and then Petry also was stopped. We then had four on four action to end the period as Brandon Carlo went off for interference while Compher went off for holding. Pastrnak had a breakaway with 45 seconds left but Hossa stopped the attempt. That was it for the second period with the score remaining tied 1-1.

                                                     "No goal for you!" - Sacco

The Red Wings wasted no time scoring to open the third period. Just 1:19 into the period, Edvinsson passed to Michael Rasmussen who found Raymond open in the slot. Raymond's shot went through Korpisalo to put the Red Wings up 2-1. Worse yet, Charlie McAvoy went off for hooking 6:31 into the period to put the Red Wings on the power play. Dylan Larkin fired on net to draw Korpisalo out of the crease and the rebound went right to Rasmussen. Korpisalo BARELY got the blocker on it to keep the game tied. Momentum shifted as Ben Chiarot took an interference penalty 9:28 into the period. Frederic won the faceoff and passed it back to Lohrei. Lohrei fired on net, off the stick of Brazeau and in to tie the game! With 4:45 left Erik Gustafsson was sent to the box for tripping. The Bruins failed to score on the power play and we headed to overtime.

                                                       Bruins tie it up

Pavel Zacha got the first chance 15 seconds into overtime but Husso made the save. Alex DeBrincat tried to dive for a penalty on Pastrnak but the ref let them play. Pastrnak passed the puck back to Zacha who's slapshot went in to win the game 2:15 into OT. The Red Wings complained but they took their eye off the ball long enough for the Bruins to win.

                                                          Bruins win

Reaction:

Detroit is missing some guys for sure but that was a balsy win by the Bruins. They fell behind twice in the game and rallied back to win it. The challenge by Sacco pretty much saved the game considering that goal would have been the difference in the game. Kudos to Andrew Peeke who played the third period with cotton up his nose after taking a puck to the face in the second period. Pastrnak and Zacha have been called out in the media when the Bruins were getting their teeth kicked in the dying days of Jim Montgomery, I'd say they stepped up big time. Winning five of seven is nothing to sneeze at, considering the lopsided scores leading up to the Montgomery firing. Korpisalo made some BIG stops and finally looked like the goalie that got the superstar contract from Ottawa. The win improved the Bruins to 13-11-3, just three points behind the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Bruins have no time to celebrate because the Bruins are back in action tomorrow night in Chicago to face Connor Bedard and the Blackhawks. The game begins at 7:30 PM at the United Center.