DeBrusk gets it done in OT
But Pastrnak, Frederic leave early with ailments
The Bruins completed the season sweep of the Columbus Blue Jackets in dramatic fashion on Monday, but they can only hope that it was not too much of a Pyrrhic victory.
Jake DeBrusk scored his second goal of the game in overtime to lift the B’s to a 3-2 win, taking a feed from Hampus Lindholm and beating Elvis Merzlikins with an off-wing wrister 1:03 into the extra session. Jake Voracek made a soft play on the breakout and Lindholm easily picked off his pass, dishing to DeBrusk. DeBrusk initially fanned on his first attempt but then beat Merzlikins to the far side on his second chance.
But in the nasty, hot-tempered game, the B’s lost Trent Frederic to an upper body injury in the second period and David Pastrnak, who has been battling a core injury, left with discomfort in the third period. There was no update after the game.
Though they pushed hard to get the go-ahead goal late in the third period and finally got it in OT, the B’s highend skill was not clicking in this one. They outshot Columbus, 37-22, but they went 0-for-5 on the power play, which was at least offset by a 5-for-5 night on the penalty kill. Linus Ullmark was solid in the 20-save win, especially when he had to preserve the tie late in the third period on a good glove save on Oliver Bjorkstrand after a Josh Brown giveaway.
So, as usual, it was not easy for the B’s against the Jackets, but they prevailed in the end.
“It’s resiliency,” said DeBrusk. “It wasn’t necessarily our best. I give Columbus a lot of credit. They were pushing pretty much all night and they were taking it to us in the neutral zone, but we stick with it. Big props to Linus. He kept us in it with some big saves, especially in the third. It’s just one of those things where good teams find a way to win. It’s a fine line, it took till overtime, but these points are big for us now. We need all of them.”
DeBrusk, of course, had asked for a trade last summer and many thought he’d be a goner by the trade deadline. But GM Don Sweeney re-signed him, then did not find a deal to his liking. So far, that turn of events has been serendipitous. With his two goals on Monday that gave him 21 on the season, and he’s got six in his last five games.
But what caught coach Bruce Cassidy’s eye was the buy-in he showed. When Columbus defenseman Andrew Peeke took an extra shot at Brad Marchand after a whistle -- the two had a game-long feud -- DeBrusk was the first one to jump to
Marchand’s defense.
“That goes a long way, more than a goal will,” said Cassidy. “Trust me, we want the overtime goal. Don’t get me wrong. But in terms of what you’re doing for your team, in a team-building aspect, coming in and sticking up for a teammate, guys don’t forget that.”
The win pushed the B’s into third place in the Atlantic Division on the strength of Toronto’s win over the Lightning, over whom the B’s currently own the tiebreaker (regulations wins).
While fingers remain crossed for Pastrnak and Frederic, it was indeed an entertaining game.
Columbus took the 1-0 lead at 4:31 of the first. Voracek cleared the puck out of the Jackets’ zone and Matt Grzelcyk could not handle the puck in the neutral zone, with the puck going off his skate and into the middle of the ice. Emil Bemstrom seized it and, as he angled away from Brandon Carlo, he beat Ullmark with a snap shot over the goalie’s glove shoulder.
Slowly but surely, tempers began to rise. First, Voracek did not like Frederic pressing the issue after the whistle on net-front scrum and both got heaved for roughing. Then off the ensuing faceoff, Marchand was whistled for interference. Marchand, who hasn’t been getting a lot of calls lately (he was wrongly given two extra minutes in the aforementioned in which DeBrusk came to his defense), was incensed by the penalty as he went to the box.
The B’s killed that off and Marchand came out buzzing. Late in the period, Peeke pinched down from his right point position and Marchand blasted him with a clean check along the boards.
Peeke stayed down, but there was no whistle.
McAvoy grabbed the loose puck and spotted DeBrusk for a clean breakaway and DeBrusk buried his 20th of the year at 18:32, giving him his second career 20-goal season (he had 27 in 201819).
“That was a hard play,” said Cassidy. “It got the energy in the building up. They’re mad, our guys are awake, because we weren’t there at the start. We were kind of off. It got everybody going and made it a better hockey game.”
After Peeke eventually got up and off the ice -- he returned in the second period -- the Jackets were furious. Voracek earned himself a 10-minute misconduct and at the end of the period, Patrice Bergeron did not like a hit from Bjorkstrand and went back at him, earning both of them roughing penalties.
The B’s took the lead at 7:52 of the second. With the B’s doing a great job of possessing the puck in the offensive zone as the third line changed onto the ice, Charlie Coyle curled off the boards and eventually pushed the puck to Craig Smith. Smith took his time to let traffic gather in front and he beat Merzlikins with a long-range wrister.
The B’s had a great chance to extend the lead when they had a 4-on-3, but they could do nothing with it. And with 15 seconds left in the period, the Jackets tied it up on a contested play. Gavrikov played a high puck with his stick at the right point. The puck went back behind the net, where Voracek fed it out to Zach Werenski for the tying goal, yet another final minute score allowed by the B’s.
Coach Bruce Cassidy challenged that Gavrikov played the puck with a high stick and, after a lengthy review, the challenge was denied.
“Every case is a little different, but in general, it’s a lack of urgency late in periods to shut the door,” said Cassidy.
The B’s lost Frederic when he was hit with a clean shoulder check from Jake Christiansen in the second. Frederic, who has had concussion issues, got up slowly and immediately skated off. They then lost Pastrnak when he fell awkwardly off a faceoff in the third period.
But as they usual do these days, the B’s found a way to get the two points. Now it’s wait-and-see time on their two valuable wingers.