The Bruins returned home from a four game road trip in which they only got two of a possible eight points. They would take on the LA Kings for the first time this year and the King’s first game since waiving forward, Ilya Kovalchuck. I mention this because the B’s were interested in signing him before he went to LA, and reports are that the Bruins are interested in signing him to a league minimum contract.
In the game, the Bruins got off to a slow start as the Kings would score just over two minutes into the game. With about a minute left in the period, the Bruins would tie the game when Brad Marchand found the skate of Danton Heinen for the goal, but I felt as if it should not have counted, but hey the refs after review made a call in favor of the B’s, something that hasn’t happened a lot this year, so we’ll take it.
In the second period, the Bruins let the Kings take the lead very early again as their second goal came less than three minutes in. The lead wouldn’t last as long this time as Patrice Bergeron would score off the post and in.
In the third period, the script was flipped as the Bruins would score less than two minutes into the period when Brandon Carlo would throw the puck on net from the blue line, and somehow it got past the Kings’ Jonathan Quick, giving the Bruins the 3-2 lead. After the goal the B’s continued to pour it on, controlling the play for a majority of the period. The Kings would eventually pull Quick for the extra attacker and they would immediately score and tie the game with two minutes remaining and force overtime.
3-on-3 overtime has proven to be exciting time and time again and this overtime did not disappoint. Both teams went back and forth with great scoring opportunities, but Anze Kopitar would score for the Kings to end the game 4-3. It wasn’t the result the Bruins were looking for, but they have to take the one point and look ahead to Thursday night where they will take on the New York Islanders at 7pm in Boston.
Videos courtesy of NHL.com