The bad news was Hampus Lindholm left tonight's Boston Bruins game with the Chicago Blackhawks with an apparent groin injury, the good news was the Bruins bounced back from a 2-1 deficit to win 4-3 in overtime in the home opener at TD Garden. Casey Mittelstadt scored his first goal as a Bruin but Connor Bedard and Louis Crevier scored to put Chicago ahead. Tanner Jeannot scored his first goal as a Bruin and Elias Lindholm scored on the powerplay to give the Bruins the lead. Andre Burakovsky scored to tie the game to send it to overtime. In overtime, Fraser Minten stole the puck and streaked to the net on a 2 on 1, scoring the game winner. The Bruins had won the game 4-3 in overtime at TD Garden.
The Blackhawks put four shots on Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo in the early goings but the Bruins struck first. Viktor Arvidsson put the puck on the Blackhawks net and it was saved by Arvid Soderblom. Casey Mittelstadt took the rebound and fired it past Soderblom to put the Bruins on top 3:53 into the period. Wit just over 8 minutes left, Connor Bedard took a dish from Andre Burakovsky in the slot and fired past Korpisalo to tie the game. Not too long after, Hampus Lindholm left the game and never returned. With 7 minutes left in the first, Jason Dickinson was whistled for tripping to put the Bruins on the powerplay. They failed to score and David Pastrnak was called for slashing with 5:54 left in the period. The Bruins killed it off and went into the break tied 1-1.
The Blackhawks struck first in the second wit 2:19 gone. Old friend Nick Foligno won the faceoff back to Connor Bedard who passed it to Lou Crevier. A simple wrister found its way through and the Hawks had the lead. Crevier nearly had enough one 8 minutes into the period but Korpisalo kicked it out. With 11 minutes left in the period, Michael Eyssimont threw the puck on net. Soderblom kicked it out but Tanner Jeannot scored his first goal as a Bruin on the rebound to tie the game. With 6:52 left, Marat Khusnutdinov got bagged for high sticking to put Chicago on the power play. The Bruins defense held the fort and Chicago was now 0 for 2. With 2:46 left in the period, Sam Rinzel had a wide open shot from the slot but Korpisalo robbed him. The Hawks made a big boo boo with 1:12 left when Foligno flipped the puck out for a delay of game penalty as Ryan Greene cross checked Fraser Minten for the double minor 5 on 3. The Bruins failed to score but still had 48 seconds of 5 on 3 as they went into the break tied 2-2.
Starting the third period on a 5 on 3, just 15 seconds in David Pastrnak passed it to Pavel Zacha down low. Zacha sent it to Elias Lindholm who pounded it in for the power play goal to put the Bruins on top. Lindholm almost had a second goal but Soderblom made a huge save to end the second power play. The lead didn't last as two minutes later, the Hawks caught the Bruins on a 4 on 3. Frank Nazar sent it over to Artyom Levshunov. Levshunov sent it to Burakovsky in the slot who shot it past Korpisalo to tie the game. Just four minutes into the period, Nazar got caught for tripping to put the Bruins on another power play. The Bruins failed to score and Charlie McAvoy got robbed just 8 minutes into the period by Soderblom. With 10:10 remaining, McAvoy got bagged for interference to put the Hawks on the power play. One minute into the penalty kill, Nikita Zadorov crushed Sam Rinzel against the boards. With 5 seconds left on the power play, Korpisalo covered it up and Zadorov pushed Nazar from behind for a cross check. Nazar turned around and socked him to earn a roughing penalty which drew the ire of Kuraly and Levshunov. Those two exchanged unpleasantries and both got called for roughing as well. In essence the Bruins were now 3-0 on the PK in this game. With 6:30 left the Bruins had a 3 on 1 and Minten passed to a wide open Jeannot....saved by Soderblom. With 2:42 left, Levshunov was sent to the penalty box for high sticking. The Blackhawks killed it off and it was on to overtime. At least the Bruins got one point out of this game tied 3-3.
46 seconds into overtime Connor Bedard skated into the slot and passed to Rinzel. Rinzel found Nazar all alone in front of the net. Korpisalo BARELY got his stick on it to save the game. A few moments later the Blackhawks had a 2 on none and Korpisalo robbed Bedard. With 3 minutes left in OT, Minten skated out of a scrum with the puck with Morgan Geekie beside him. Minten took the shot himself.....SCOREEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! THE BRUINS WIN 4-3 IN OVERTIME!
End Rant:
After the game, Bruins head coach Marco Sturm announced that Hampus Lindholm did NOT injure his knee again, so that's a bullet dodged. Otherwise, what a game! Korpisalo let in some softies but made two absolutely "gotta have it" saves in overtime to keep it going. Bruins scouts supposedly pushed for Fraser Minten in the trade for Brandon Carlo last year and it paid off tonight. Minten's first game winner came at a great time with the Bruins on the second night of a back to back. Tanner Jeannot and Casey Mittelstadt both found the net, but more importantly, so did Elias Lindholm again. He was supposed to be their big free agent acquisition last season expecting him to perform like he did in 2022. So far this year he has 2 goals in 2 games, off to a great start. Once again, the Bruins are expected to stink like old garbage this season so enjoy wins like this while you can. Then again, if Jeremy Swayman stands on his head and Korpisalo makes saves like he did tonight, they might actually be better than expected. The Bruins look to make it 3 wins in a row this Saturday night against the Buffalo Sabres. The game begins at 7:00 PM at TD Garden.
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