E XTRA NICE!
Marchand, B’s topple Habs in OT to complete season sweep
The Bruins were egregiously ineffective in overtime situations earlier this season.
With two wins in the past three OT contests, however, the B’s appear to have turned a corner in that area. Yesterday at the Garden, Brad Marchand scored at 2:05 of the extra frame for a 2-1 victory against the Montreal Canadiens.
“It is something we have built on a bit, and we weren’t great early on,” said Marchand, who leads the team in scoring with 25 goals and in points with 61. “I think this is the way our team has come together and has pushed our overtime units to be a little bit better and a little more productive. We were sloppy early on in the overall game but now we’ve dialed in a bit with the OT.”
Backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 27 saves to pick up the win.
The Bruins started the season 0-4 in overtime games and their reoccurring failures in 3-on-3 situations was a source of concern for coach Bruce Cassidy. In the past six OT games, the B’s have four wins.
“Having the puck helps and we did a good job with puck possession,” Cassidy said. “To have the puck and not have to defend makes a big difference in overtime and against Carolina (to open the current six-game homestand) we did a better job with that, too. I think the guys are understanding the value of puck possession maybe more now since we dug it out of our own net earlier in the year in these overtimes. We’ve taken it to heart.”
The Bruins dominated OT. Marchand took the puck deep, circled the net and fired a wrist shot from the low slot that beat Montreal goalie Antti Niemi (48 saves) high to the far side.
“Got a little lucky and they were a little tired, but it was nice to get the win,” Marchand said. “When I circled around I saw their netfront guy kind of back off a little bit. I knew as long as I got inside my guy I would have a chance at the net. When I came around I just tried to get a shot and it went in.”
With their fourth win against the Canadiens, the Bruins competed a regular-season sweep (40) of their ancient rivals for the first time since 1994-95.
“It is (satisfying) because they have had our number over the years, and the rivalry and all,” Marchand said. “People really want to see us win against them, expect us to win, and it feels good but it’s just another game and we have to worry about the next one.”
The Bruins failed score on a pair of power plays in the opening seven minutes of the third period. The Canadiens did a good job stopping the B’s at the blue line and Niemi took care of everything that got near the crease.
The power play finally delivered the tying goal at 17:15 of the third period. Recently acquired defenseman Nick Holden took a slide pass along the blue line from partner Torey Krug. Holden fired a soft wrist shot into a screen that was redirected past Niemi by Jake DeBrusk for the rookie’s 13th goal.
Montreal had led since 9:16 of the first period. Kevan Miller attempted a long clearing pass diagonally through the neutral zone that was intercepted by Brandon Gallagher, who advanced the puck to the top of the right circle and beat Khudobin with a high shot to the stick the side.