The Bruins pushed, but fell short of a comeback.
The Boston Bruins pushed to recover from a two-goal deficit, but couldn’t complete a comeback as they fell 3-2 to the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday night at the TD Garden.
“It was a bit of a sloppy game,” Brad Marchand said. “We kind of expected that after the break. We made some mistakes, but we stuck with it.”
The Bruins found themselves in a hole after the first period, down 2-0 with two late goals from Trevor Zegras and Frank Vatrano.
“You spot a team a two-goal lead, and I don’t care in this league, it’s hard to play catch up,” Interim head coach Joe Sacco said postgame. “But we fought back and we kept with it.”
The Bruins capitalized on a 5-on-3 power play in the second as Elias Lindholm snapped a David Pastrnak feed into the net.
They continued to push and created offense in the third period. Brad Marchand also had a scary moment about five minutes into the periods as he fell funny and hit his head crashing into the boards. But he returned for a few shifts at the end, and assisted on Morgan Geekie’s tying goal.
The equalizer was first ruled no goal as the referees thought Elias Lindholm had interfered with goaltender Lukas Dostal. The Bruins challenged the goal and it was ruled good.
Despite the Bruins’ resiliency to bounce back, Leo Carlsson ended the game in overtime.
“It just took us a little bit too long to get into it tonight,” Marchand said.
“It’s disappointing we didn’t grab the extra point, especially when you grab momentum like that late in the game,” Sacco said. “Every point matters right now.”
Here are the highlights:
First period:
On 4-on-4, after a give-and-go pass with Jackson Lacombe, Trevor Zegras let a wrist shot fly past Jeremy Swayman at 17:27 of the first period. 1-0 Ducks.
Unattended in the slot, Frank Vatrano tipped in Radko Gudas shot past Swayman at 19:22 of the first period. 2-0 Ducks.
Second period:
On a 5-on-3 power play, David Pastrnak found Elias Lindholm in the left-wing circle for a one-timer which he snapped past John Gibson at 9:08 of the second period. 2-1 game.
Third period:
Mason Lohrei fed a pass to Morgan Geekie inside the left-wing circle for a one-timer past Lukas Dostal at 18:49 of the third period. 2-2 game.
Overtime:
Leo Carlsson found Brian Dumoulin’s rebound for a quick one-timer from just inside the right circle and beat Swayman top-shelf at 3:39 of overtime. Final score: 3-2 Ducks.
Game notes
- Sacco said he liked his team’s effort to fight back and tie the game after a not-so-great first period. He said their start wasn’t what they liked, especially giving up the 4-on-4 goal. He added you never know what you’re going to get after two weeks off in a first game back and felt they stuck with it as the game went on.
- Pastrnak extended his point streak to 14 games with an assist on Lindholm’s goal. It is now his longest point streak with 11 goals and 16 assists for 27 points in that time.
- Marchand went down hard in the third period. Postgame, he said he felt fine, but there was a mandatory check-in that needed to be done. Sacco said Marchand returning in the later in the third period gave the team a boost.
- Elias Lindholm talked after the game about how there was no question that Geekie’s goal was a good goal. “It should have been a goal every day of the week,” Lindholm said. “ I was surprised, the goalie was surprised.”
- Lindholm said while a point is a point, it isn’t satisfying at this juncture in the season. “We’re desperate for points,” Lindholn said. “Early in the season good you know to come back late like that, but still it stinks a little bit. We came back and got the point. But right now we’re in a tough spot and need every point we can get and to put ourselves in that spot after the first, it’s tough.”
- Ducks’ goaltender Gibson did not return for the third period due to an upper-body injury.
- The Bruins will face the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the TD Garden as the homestand continues.