Boston Bruins: 3 Studs In a 5-4 Shootout Win Over NJ

It wasn’t perfect, but the Boston Bruins will take it. Trailing 4-2 after two periods Tuesday night, the Black and Gold rallied with two third period goals to force overtime, before pulling out a 5-4 victory over the New Jersey Devils at the TD Garden in a shootout.

While it was an up and down game for the Bruins, here are three studs who stuck out and helped the Bruins rally for the win.

Jaroslav Halak

Halak gave up four goals, but he was left out to dry for a fair amount of the game by his teammates. Two goals were scored off giveaways and one was deflected that he had no shot on stopping. In the first and second period, Halak did everything he could to give him team a chance to rally despite being under fire from the Devils.

Miles Wood could have easily had a hat trick through two periods, while Halak twice stoned Jack Hughes in close. In overtime, he made three saves while the Bruins killed a penalty, but in the shootout, he stopped both New Jersey attempts by Pavel Zacha and Kyle Palmieri.

Brad Marchand

When the Bruins needed a spark, it was their first-line left wing who supplied it. In the second period and his team down 3-1, he laid the body behind the Devils’ net to defensemen, then dropped the gloves and threw Jesper Bratt down on his back. Both were given two minutes for roughing.

When he came out of the penalty box, he scored a power play goal to bring the Bruins within a goal. In the third period, he picked up an assist on Charlie McAvoy’s goal to once again bring the Bruins within a goal, setting the stage for another Boston rally.

David Krejci

Scoring has been a problem for the Bruins’ second-line center this season, but if there’s one way that Krejci has been contributing, it’s with his playmaking abilities.

Krejci collected three assists in the game. He got the primary assist on Nick Ritchie’s first-period goal, then assisted on Marchand’s second-period goal. In the third, he won a faceoff in the Devils’ end, which led to Matt Grzelcyk scoring the game-tieing goal with four minutes left. Krejci now has 20 assists this season.

The Bruins rallied to beat a team that had won the last three games in Boston, two by 1-0 shutouts. Boston was able to rally and secure two badly needed points in the East Division standings.