Turnovers and some shoddy play at times on Saturday night at the TD Garden had the Boston Bruins tied with the Vancouver Canucks following regulation, 4-4, and off to overtime. As they have done multiple times this year, the Black and Gold dominated overtime, but failed to score.
To say that the Canucks survived overtime would be an understatement. When the five-minute extra session ended, it was off to a shootout, where both teams were 2-0 this season. Something had to give, and one team was going to suffer its first setback of the season.
When the dust settled, it was the Bruins who dropped their first shootout of the season after it went seven rounds before a goal was scored. Liam Öhgren beat Jeremy Swayman to begin the seventh round before Kevin Lankinen stopped Boston's Morgan Geekie to secure the extra point for Vancouver. There was one decision that was questionable, at best, made by Marco Sturm that was head-scratching.
Bruins coach Marco Sturm explains questionable shootout decision
Casey Mittlestadt shot first for the Bruins, and he beat Lankinen, but his shot hit the post. David Pastrnak was next and beat Lankinen, but his shot rang off the crossbar. Marat Khusnutdinov was third and missed the net on his chance to win the game.
After Swayman stopped the first four Canucks opportunities, Sturm, in the fourth round, turned to defenseman Andrew Peeke. Wait, what? Ander Peeke? Yes, defenseman Andrew Peeke. The same Peeke who tied the game late in the third period when his shot from the point hit the post, then hit Lankinen in the back and trickled across the line.
Well, to nobody's surprise, Peeke came down and was stopped by Lankinen in what was, well, certainly a decision. Peeke's attempt had no shot of going in. So, why was Peeke picked to shoot fourth?
“We practice all the time. He did that one move, and he did it really well,” Sturm said. “Not just once. A few times. I thought he was going to do it again, and he didn’t. That’s why I picked him, so that’s on me.”
Swell. He's a great practice shootout player. Literally any forward would have been a better choice. How about Fraser Minten? What about Mark Kastelic? Tanner Jeannot? Instead. Sturm went outside the bos, and it failed—big time. Given the compact Eastern Conference playoff standings, every single point is valuable, and losing out on the second point is going to hurt. It puts that much more pressure on the final two games at home against the Ottawa Senators (Sunday night) and Montreal Canadiens (Tuesday night) before the three-day Christmas Break.
Sturm took the blame for the decision. Boston is in a heated postseason race in late December, which is not the best time to try Andrew Peeke in a shootout.