Playing on the second night of a back-to-back and against a team that hasn't played since Saturday afternoon, the Boston Bruins were playing on fumes in the third period on Tuesday night at the TD Garden. However, holding a 2-1 lead through 40 minutes, the Black and Gold were in the same position they were the night before at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers, up one goal.
They were 24-0-1 when leading after two periods before blowing the lead to New York and losing in overtime. They did it again on Tuesday night. They blew a third-period lead when Nick Blankenburg blew a slap shot past Jeremy Swayman at 13:17 of the third period. However, this time, they finished the job in overtime to pick up two valuable points.
David Pastrnak scored 15 seconds into overtime when he redirected a Charlie McAvoy pass in front of the net for Boston's eighth straight home win. However, it didn't come without some bad news.
Bruins lose Elias Lindholm to injury in overtime win over Predators
The Bruins grabbed a 2-0 lead on a first period goal from Hampus Lindholm, then Morgan Geekie scored his 30th of the season early in the second period. The Predators got a power play goal from Roman Josi late in the second before the wild third period and quick overtime.
Late in the second period, Elias Lindholm took a face-off just outside the Bruins' defensive zone, but was injured. He ended up going down the tunnel, and during the third period, it was announced that he was not returning due to an upper-body injury.
This is not the first injury this year for Elias Lindholm, as he missed some time in late October and November with an injury after taking a big hit from Jordan Greenway of the Buffalo Sabres.
As for the win over the Predators, this was a gutsy win on a back-to-back. Yes, they survived the third period, but they ended up getting the valuable extra point. They will host the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night.