Recap: Bruins top Wild, 4-3, in overtime

Minnesota Wild v Boston Bruins
Photo by Steve Babineau/NHLI via Getty Images

It was a wild finish with the Bruins’ two OT power plays!

The Boston Bruins capitalized on the power play with 11 seconds left in overtime to beat the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, at the TD Garden today.

Taylor Hall scored the winning goal for the second straight game (as he scored Thursday’s lone shootout goal).

With the win, the Bruins remain undefeated at home – posting two wins in regulation, one in a shootout and now an overtime win.

Ullmark made 24 saves in the victory.

Here are the highlights!

First period:

The Wild opened the scoring at 1:55 of the first period with a shorthanded goal.

From their blue line, Jared Spurgeon got the puck loose to Brandon Duhaime where he exploded through the neutral zone and down the center lane to beat out Jakub Zboril and Patrice Bergeron trying to get back and put a shot past Linus Ullmark’s glove. 1-0 Wild.

The Bruins answered back to tie the game at 3:12 of the first period.

As the power play expired, Hall found Nick Foligno inside the left-wing circle where he fired a wrist shot past Marc-Andre Fleury. 1-1 game.

The Bruins took the lead at 12:45 of the first period.

Driving into the offensive zone, Hall backhanded a shot on net. David Pastrnak picked up the rebound to put a shot into a wide open net as Fleury couldn’t set back up. 2-1 Bruins.

Second period:

The Bruins took a two-goal lead at 6:41 of the second period.

Inside the left-wing circle, Hampus Lindholm sniped a shot top-shelf past Fleury’s glove. 3-1 Bruins.

The Wild closed in on their deficit at 15:58 of the second period on the power play.

Matt Boldy tipped Mats Zuccarello’s passing shot in the slot over Ullmark’s blocker. 3-2 game.

Third period:

The Wild evened the game at 15:29 of the third period.

Zuccarello’s long rebound found Spurgeon who threw a backhander through traffic at net and it travelled past Ullmark’s glove. 3-3 tie game.

Overtime:

The Bruins beat the Wild with a power-play goal at 4:49 of overtime.

Pastrnak hit Hall with a pass low inside the right-wing circle where he sent a one-timer past Fleury. Final score: 4-3 Bruins.

Game notes:

  • Special teams ran wild – pun intended – today on both sides. The B’s penalty kill came up big in the third period to kill off two 5-on-3 situations that rolled into each other. While the first 5-on-3 was short-lived for only 14 seconds, the next was 57 seconds. But the Bruins did a nice job on clears to eat up time. Ullmark additionally made timely saves and there were bursts of energy like when Connor Clifton got out of the box and skated into the slot on Fleury.
  • Despite Hall’s OT game-winner on the man-advantage, the Bruins power play was still not up to speed. The power play also gave up another shorthanded goal – it’s second one of the season.
  • With that said, the Bruins had two power plays in overtime that looked better than their chances in regulation. The final power play really got the puck moving and gave Fleury no time to think as Hall took that one-timer. In regulation, the second unit had more looks and viable chances. Pavel Zacha and Charlie Coyle in particular both got the puck to the net and made second attempts.
  • Nick Foligno has pleasantly had a great start to the year. He’s now registered at least a goal in every other game so far, totaling three goals and one assist. Pastrnak leads with four goals, but Foligno is one of three players right behind him with three goals this season. Besides scoring, he’s generating chances for his linemates, drawing penalties and just overall being an offensive-zone presence.
  • Hampus Lindholm was on ice for 25:02 minutes – the most of any Bruin. Last season, with him joining the team late and a series of injuries on top of that, we really didn’t get to consistently see his full potential and how impactful he’d be on the blue line. We’re getting that now. He’s showing his worth in all zones and that he can lead breakouts and jump right into offensive plays, move the puck fast and also score.
  • Hall’s game-winner gave him his first multiple-point game of the season with three points total. He now also has two game-winning goals. But in theory, his shootout goal also won the game. So unofficially he’s at three.
  • The Bruins are back at the TD Garden on Tuesday Oct. 25 to face the Dallas Stars at 7 p.m.

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