Even on nights when a lot of bad things happen to them, the Bruins continue to make you believe something special is brewing with this team.
The Bruins erased a three-goal deficit and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-5, on a Hampus Lindholm overtime goal at PPG Paints Arena, stretching their win streak to six games while Linus Ullmark, yanked earlier in the game only to be forced back into action, improved to 7-0.
The game appeared to be all but over when the Penguins scored four straight goals in the second period to open a 5-2 lead. But the the Bruins chipped away, scoring a power-play goal in the second period.
But it looked like this night would end on a sour note as Jeremy Swayman suffered some sort of leg injury. Swayman had replaced Ullmark in the second period and, during a third period penalty kill, Patrice Bergeron crashed into him. It appeared Swayman’s left knee hyper-extended and he needed some assistance off the ice.
But losing Swayman, the Bruins — who had already lost Derek Forbort — got back to within a goal when Pavel Zacha deflected home a Lindholm shot with 8:01 left in regulation.
And with Ullmark pulled for an extra skate, Taylor Hall tied it up with 1:17 left in regulation, corralling a loose puck in front of the net and beating Tristan Jarry.
In overtime, Lindholm took a tripping penalty on Evgeni Malkin and, after the Bruins killed that off, Tomas Nosek hit the post on a 2-on-1. But Lindholm scored the winner off the rush with a wrister at 3:37 of OT.
The Pens came into the game after having lost four straight on their West Coast road trip, so it stood to reason that they’d come out strong and they did. But it was the Bruins who finished well in the period and held a 2-1 advantage after the first 20 minutes.
Pittsburgh took the first lead just 30 seconds into the game when Bryan Rust’s centering pass bounced off Lindholm’s skate and right to Sidney Crosby, who had beaten Jake DeBrusk up the ice and then beat Ullmark from the high slot.
But the Bruins scrapped back to lead before the period was finished with third and fourth line goals. First, Drew O’Connor turned over the puck to A.J. Greer, who in turn fed Trent Frederic down low in the left wing. Frederic took it to the net and could not get it past Tristan Jarry, but Charlie Coyle swooped in to jam home the loose puck at 5:19.
Then later in the period, Nick Foligno, continuing his convincing bounce-back season, stole the puck from Rickard Rackell and skated right through him, breaking out on a 2-on-1. Eventually, he fed Jakub Lauko for the rookie’s first NHL goal at 13:20.
It wasn’t all good news in the first period. They lost Derek Forbort, who has been extremely steady all season and had landed five hits in the first period, to an upper body injury and he did not return. Things would get a lot worse, as the Pens scored four straight goals to take control of the game.
First, at 1:47 into the second, the Pens tied it up. Pierre-Olivier Joseph drifted down from the left point and was able to sift the puck through Anton Stralman to Malkin, who was all alone at the side of the crease to beat Ullmark.
Pittsburgh owned the first part of the second period and regained their lead at 8:42. On a delayed penalty on Brad Marchand, Josh Archibald took a feed from Brock McGinn in the slot to beat Ullmark, the Pens’ first of three goals in 1:54.
Then the bottom fell out for the Bruins when the Pens added two more in 20 seconds, first with Rust tucking in a bouncing puck inside the near post and then Rackell ripping a wrist shot from the right circle on the ensuing shift at 11:36.
That was enough for coach Jim Montgomery. He not only called his timeout to regroup, he pulled the previously undefeated Ullmark in favor of Jeremy Swayman.
Initially, it looked like that maneuver had worked wonders, because it appeared that Bergeron had scored when he banked the puck off Jarry just 27 seconds after the Rackell goal. But it was smartly challenged by Penguins coach Mike Sullivan and it was ruled that Bergeron had interfered with Jarry.
But the Bruins did get one back on their next power-play, with Marchand burying a one-timer at 12:57 for his third goal in his second game back from double hip surgery.
The Bruins had a chance to draw within one before the period was when Crosby took a late penalty, but they could not get pull any closer.
