Bruins tie game late, but lose to Wild in OT, 4-3

A tremendous night of entertainment at the Garden ended in disappointment again for the Bruins and renewed concern about frittering away leads.

The B’s lost a third period lead for third time in four games and, though they tied it late to get a point., Kirill Kaprizov scored with 2:06 left in overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 win.

The B’s coughed up two third period goals but after Alex Goligoski high-sticked Charlie Coyle with 2:31, Brad Marchand tied it up with 1:06 left in the third. In a wild pile-up in front of Marc-Andre Fleury, Marchand pulled it out of the mass of humanity and roofed it over the gallant Fleury.

Coyle then hit the post on a backhand attempt in the final minute

On the winner, Jake DeBrusk missed the net, sending the Wild off on a 3-on-1. Joel Eriksson-Ek set up Kaprizov for his second goal of the game and the win.

In their last Garden game before Christmas, the B’s gave their fans a good show in the first period to take a 2-1 lead on a pair of David Pastrnak goals, the second of which just beat the buzzer.

But first they spotted the Wild the first lead of the game.

Jake DeBrusk was called for slashing and Minnesota took advantage. With time winding down on the man advantage, a Freddie Gaudreau shot produced along rebound off Linus Ullmark and old friend Marcus Johansson popped it home for the 1-0 lead at 7:44.

The rest of the period belonged to the B’s. Coach Jim Montgomery had spoken in the morning that he wanted a little more energy from his fourth line. It did not fall on deaf ears.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Jakub Lauko – a healthy scratch the previous game – dropped the gloves with Connor Dewar and fairly pummeled the visitor, sending him to the room. As Lauko made his way to the box, he raised his arms repeatedly, revving up the fans.

With Lauko still in the box, his centerman Johnny Beecher made a terrific play up the left wall, burst through the check of rugged defenseman Zacha Bogosian. Once in the clear, he dished it over to Pastrnak, who blasted a shot through Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads to tie it at 11:29.

The fourth line later had a memorable shift. After Lauko just missed pulling off a lacrosse style goal, Oskar Steen put big Pat Maroon on his backside with a check behind the Minnesota net.

While the rink was buzzing, it looked like the B’s would have to settle for a 1-1 tie going into the first intermission when Pastrnak struck for his 19th. Pavel Zacha, back after missing the previous three games with an upper body injury, beat two Wild players out of the right corner and fed Pastrnak, who had creeped out from behind the net on the left side and snapped it over Fleury with less than a second on the clock.

The Wild tried to match the B’s energy to start the second and they had the B’s hemmed in for a couple of shifts until Parker Wotherspoon rattled Johansson with a well-timed hit along the boards. Maroon then jumped Wotherspoon, taking 17 minutes in penalties, including the two-minute instigator.

The B’s didn’t score on the power play, but the advantage helped shift the momentum back to their side.

Pastrnak was sniffing the hat trick goal (six shots on goal in the first 40 minutes) and even that didn’t tell the story of how much he had the puck and dangled with it.

But the B’s could not get the insurance goal and had to go into the third period with just a one-goal lead.

In the third period, Fleury and Ullmark took turns making spectacular saves to maintain the 2-1 score. Eventually, the Wild started to take control of the play.

Minnesota finally evened it with 6:48 to go in regulation. Jacob Middleton’s long distance shot made it through a crowd and it hit the post to Ullmark’s left. It dropped in front of Kirill Kaprizov, who didn’t miss the empty net in front of him.

The Wild then pushed ahead 1:58 later. Charlie McAvoy blocked a shot in the slot, but Ryan Hartman fished it out and snapped it over Ullmark’s shoulder to make it 3-2.

 

 

 

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