The Bruins walked into Friday night’s game against Anaheim looking shaky, then walked out with a win that turned the whole night on its head.
Boston got buried early, spotting the Ducks two goals in the final 38 seconds of the first period, but the Bruins answered with four straight and rolled to a 4-2 victory. They were sharp where it mattered most, going 3-for-4 on the power play and perfect on five penalty kills, while Michael DiPietro stopped 25 shots for his first NHL win.
In his eighth professional season, the 27-year-old DiPietro finally got his first opening roster spot this year, and the moment hit him hard.
“It was a long road to get here and i just want to thank my family, my Dad, my Mom, my brother, my wife, everyone who supported me through eight years of pro,” DiPietro told NESN. “It was a long road but this one was extra special.”
Boston’s goals came from Frederic Brunet, David Pastrnak, Elias Lindholm and Matt Poitras, and the result guaranteed at least a split on the team’s four-game road trip.
That didn’t look likely at the start. The Bruins were sloppy in the opening period, with their breakouts and puck management in their own zone causing problems again. DiPietro kept them alive with a string of quality saves, but Anaheim still controlled the ice and the shot volume, owning a 14-7 edge in shots on net and a 28-11 advantage overall.
Then the Ducks broke through twice in quick succession. Tim Washe’s low shot from the left point found its way through traffic and past DiPietro, and on the next shift Cutter Gauthier helped set up a pretty finish by Nikita Nesterenko, who fed Beckett Sennecke for the 2-0 lead.
DiPietro said the Bruins regrouped after that rough opening.
“Coming in after the first period, (Pastrnak) settled us down, all the leaders as well,” said DiPietro. “We just did bite-size chunks, five minutes at a time, and just tried to take care of business.
With special teams, we won that battle. It was a long game to get to it but we finally broke through and we finally did it.
It was great.”
Boston got its first break in the second period when the power play gave it a chance to settle in. The sequence nearly went sideways when Charlie McAvoy missed on a shot high in the zone and Nikita Nesterenko raced off on a breakaway, only to lose control and fail to get a shot off.
The Bruins made the most of the remaining time on the man advantage. Pastrnak kept a puck alive along the boards, James Hagens sent it out to Brunet, and Brunet fired a bouncing shot through traffic that slipped past Lukas Dostal for his first NHL goal at 3:15.
“It was probably the worst shot of my career,” a grinning Brunet told reporters in Anaheim. “The play of keeping the puck in was probably better than my shot but everything happens for a reason and I’m happy it happened today.”
Anaheim still had more of the play in the second, but the period ended with a mess that would end up swinging the game. Nikita Zadorov was called for elbowing on Frank Vatrano with 59 seconds left, then picked up a roughing minor after shoving Vatrano to the ice. Boston survived the first penalty, and with 40 seconds left in the second one, Ducks rookie Roger McQueen was whistled for interference.
Marco Sturm saw that penalty kill as the turning point.
“I thought that was the game right there,” said coach Marco Sturm. “I thought ‘when we kill this penalty, that’s when we’re going to start playing our game.’ And that’s what happened.”
Once the Bruins got to the third, they took over. At 3:26, on a power play, Pastrnak and Elias Lindholm worked the puck in tight around the slot before Pastrnak snapped in a backhander for the tying goal. It was his 423rd career goal, pushing him past Brad Marchand and into fourth place alone on Boston’s all-time goals list.
The Bruins kept pushing and grabbed the lead at 8:18 on another power play after Matt Poitras drew a penalty. The first unit won battles all over the offensive zone before Pavel Zacha found Lindholm for a tap-in at the top of the crease.
Zacha later left at 10:29 after taking a hit along the boards and did not return. There was no immediate word on the issue.
Boston sealed it with 3:40 left when Poitras and Hagens connected on a 2-on-1 out of the defensive zone. Poitras fed Hagens, Hagens carried into the offensive zone and returned the puck, and Poitras finished with a backhander for the 4-2 cushion.
McQueen’s penalty shortly after that helped drain the final drama out of the night, and the Bruins closed out another two-point game with their fourth straight win.
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