Boston Bruins History: Three Short-Handed Goals Scored On Same Penalty Kill
Boston Bruins History: Three Short-Handed Goals Scored On Same Penalty Kill Against Carolina Five Years Ago Today
On April 10th 2010, then-Bruins defenseman Matt Hunwick took a penalty with 18 seconds to go in the first period of a game against the Carolina Hurricanes and said to his team “Hey, boys, kill this one for me.” The Bruins responded in a way that nobody could have possibly expected.
The Boston Bruins shocked the hockey world by scoring three short-handed goals within 64 seconds of each other on the same penalty.
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The Bruins goal-scoring started in the second period when Daniel Paille showed his wheels and got to a loose puck in the corner. He then showed off some silky-smooth hands in front of the net and found twine to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead, their first short-handed goal of the game. Just 49 seconds later, Blake Wheeler took a great pass from David Krejci and made no mistake as he buried the puck past Cam Ward for the Bruins second short-handed goal of the game, and of the penalty. 19 seconds later, Steve Begin took a long pass from Dennis Seidenberg and found the back of the net to give the Bruins a 3-0 lead. The Bruins only had three short-handed goals prior to this game. One penalty later and the team doubled up their total in one of, if not the most unbelievable penalty kills in NHL history.
“That was crazy,” Hunwick said. “You never want to take penalties, but they responded great. You’d like to be out there and be a part of it.” The Bruins became the first team in NHL history to score three times while short-handed on the same penalty. The record for the most short-handed goals in a game by a team came back on April 7th 1995 when the Winnipeg Jets — now the Arizona Coyotes — scored four short-handed goals against the Vancouver Canucks.
Next: The Bruins Were Set Up To Fail
The Boston Bruins also clinched a playoff berth with 89 points with their win that day, securing the 6th overall spot in the Eastern Conference. The Bruins ultimately went on to lose in the second round of the playoffs to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins had a 3-0 lead in the series before infamously collapsing and ultimately losing the series 4-3.