Boston Bruins: B’s Happy With 3-on-3 OT Format
The Boston Bruins gave their fans a taste of the new 3-on-3 overtime Tuesday night. As the whole overtime period lasted only twelve seconds, it was a brief but excellent sample. Czech forwards David Krejci and David Pastrnak teamed up for a 2-on-1 play that put the puck past Washington goaltender Philipp Grubauer and gave the Black and Gold 2-1 victory at the TD Garden.
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The 3-on-3 format overtime was going to be used no matter what happened with the score. The NHL wanted to showcase the new format. The preseason games seemed the perfect time for fans to get used to the new overtime style of play. The fans at the TD Garden seemed to enjoy it (and not just because the B’s won).
The Boston Bruins as a whole seem to like the new format. They seem to enjoy the open ice with the reduced amount of players. The Bruins are happy to see more action on the ice and less shootouts moving forward this season.
Coach Claude Julien expressed his satisfaction with the format and how the Bruins did during that very brief overtime.
“There’s a good chance those are going to end quickly,” said Julien. “Because it doesn’t take much — one 2-on-1 or one bad pass behind the guy and he’s skating in the wrong direction, they pick it up, go the other way — it’s not going to take much.”
“What I liked is the way [we] scored that goal. It was great winning the faceoff, which I thought was a little bit of a challenge for us throughout the game even though it’s preseason — you know, when you don’t win faceoffs, you’re chasing the puck more than you’d like so we’ve got to get a little bit better there — but in that overtime we won the faceoff, we took control of the puck, we took just a couple of passes and the puck was in the net, so I was happy with that.”
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David Pastrnak scored both goals for the Bruins in Tuesday’s win.
“I actually watched Washington last night, I saw their 2-on-1 miss the net and a guy got a goal on the rush, so all I was focusing on was to hit the net,” said Pastrnak. David Krejci earned the primary assist on both goals, and the obvious chemistry between the two Czech forwards was on display Tuesday night.
“He’s a great passer,” said Pastrnak of Krejci. “So I kind of expected that he was going to pass to me and he made me turn for a one-timer and gave me good sauce, so I had a pretty easy one.”
The Bruins used Krejci, Pastrnak, and defenseman Torey Krug as their three players in Tuesday’s overtime. Krug looked good during the first sixty minutes of play. Krug was a solid choice to put on the ice as he often acted as an additional forward under the old format.
The Bruins defenseman got a great look at the winning goal and was pleased to share his thoughts after the game.
“If we can limit it to 12 seconds every game, I’ll be happy,” said Krug after the game. “Anytime you have a disher like Krech out there, you’re going to have a good opportunity to shoot the puck 2-on-1 because he’s able to make that saucer pass like no one else in this league.”