B’s live another day
Kuraly nets game-winner in 2nd OT to avoid elimination
OTTAWA — Whether the Bruins have enough healthy bodies to actually win this intense Eastern Conference playoff series remains to be seen. But last night they came through with a gut-check 3-2 win for the ages in double overtime over the Ottawa Senators to get to Game 6 tomorrow at the Garden.
The B’s started the game down 3-1 in the series and with half their defense corps on the shelf. David Krejci joined them late in the first period, courtesy of leg-on-leg hit from Sens defenseman Chris Wideman. They then found themselves down by two goals early in the second with the Canadian Tire Centre crowd fully expecting their team to eliminate the Bruins.
But the B’s got off the mat with two second-period goals to tie the game, and had what looked like a game-winning goal in the first overtime taken off the board before winning at 10:19 of the second overtime, as a new star — rookie Sean Kuraly — was born.
After Kuraly tied the game, he got the winner when a puck bounced off the Senators’ Erik Karlsson in front, and he backhanded it home.
“I thought we hung in there through some injuries and some things that didn’t go our way when we thought we may have scored earlier, and we just kept playing,” said interim coach Bruce Cassidy. “We’ve had a word for us all year, resiliency, and tonight it really came through in our group. You don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but, at the end of the day, we weren’t going quietly.”
The injury to Krejci created more ice time for Kuraly, as well as some faceoff duty for David Backes, including the final one of the game. Backes beat Derick Brassard cleanly in the right dot, snapping it back to Charlie McAvoy. The teenage defenseman fired it toward the net. It went off Karlsson and right to Kuraly for the winner.
“There’s no bad shot in overtime, so I said to Charlie ‘If it gets back to you, take a step, find the lane and head up and shoot it,’ ” said Backes. “He’s able to do exactly that. I was able to get a tip on it and Sean Kuraly was where he was, finding those loose pucks.”
Kuraly would not have had a chance to be the hero if not for Tuukka Rask. Rask was beaten on two breakaways, the first by Mark Stone in the first period and the second by Jean-Gabriel Pageau 30 seconds into the second. But Rask would not let another puck by him, turning away 41 shots, 24 in the third period and overtimes.
In Cassidy’s mind, the game turned in the B’s favor when Wideman took out Krejci. With Krejci in pain, Wideman apparently had some words for the B’s center.
“I think with the hit on Krejci, when they started chirping Krejci, that rankled (us) a little bit,” said Cassidy. “It’s one thing to play hard. It’s another thing with a veteran guy in the NHL, a proven performer, and a young kid starts lipping him. I think that really got to our guys to be honest and turned the temperature up in the game.”
The Bruins overcame the deficit before the second period was out. First, David Pastrnak scored on a rebound of Brad Marchand’s wraparound at 8:40. Then at 17:05, Kuraly took a feed from Backes and jammed it in off Wideman at the post for his first NHL goal.
The fun had only just begun. Late in regulation, the B’s tried their hardest to give the game away. Dominic Moore took a delay penalty with 5:08 left. After killing that, the B’s were whistled for too many men with 2:28 to play. They survived that one, too.
Then the Bruins thought they won the game at 14:25 of the first OT when Noel Acciari put home a rebound off a Kuraly rush, but after a five-minute review it was ruled that Kuraly interfered with goalie Craig Anderson.
Next, at 15:21, McAvoy backhanded a puck toward the net and it pinballed around the slot. It nearly rolled over the goal line but Pageau stopped it with his glove. Cassidy was incensed, believing Pageau closed his hand on the puck in the crease, which would have resulted in a penalty shot. It was not called.
“All you had to do was look at the Jumbotron to see how I felt about it,” said Cassidy with a chuckle. “Clearly, I had a composure issue there, but hey, I’m a passionate guy. I felt they didn’t go our way, voiced my opinion and moved on. And I think our guys, they were angry, but I think they were more motivated, like ‘We’re going to get this.’ ”
And 14 minutes to midnight, the B’s did indeed get it.