The Bruins scratched back from a two-goal deficit but one point was all they could manage against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.
Leo Carlsson scored the game-winner with 1:21 left in overtime to lift the suddenly hot Ducks to a 3-2 win over the B’s in their return after the two-week break.
Morgan Geekie, who been stoned on several Grade A chances earlier in the game, tied the game with 1:11 left in regulation on a 6-on-5, blasting a slapper from the left wing. It was initially waved off for goalie contact from Elias Lindholm, but it was rightly ruled upon review that Lukas Dostal, a third period replacement for starter John Gibson, was able to play his position and equalizer went on the board. That sent it to OT.
There were major doubts it would get that far for the B’s, undermanned on the back end without Charlie McAvoy and Hampus Lindholm.
It was the third straight loss for the B’s (0-2-1) while the Ducks have won 7-of-8.
On Thursday morning before Canada-US game of the 4 Nations Faceoff, third-string US goalie Jeremy Swayman was asked if he’d be ready to play against Anaheim on Saturday. He answered with his usual aplomb.
“Born ready, baby!” he replied with a wide grin.
Maybe he didn’t know how ready he would have to be. The Ducks came into the Garden and nearly ran the B’s off the ice in the first period, outshooting the B’s 17-7 in the opening 20 minutes and taking a 2-0 lead with a paiir of in the final 2:33 of the period.
Anaheim began the game outshooting the B’s 9-1, the best chance being a wide-open slot chance from Cutter Gauthier that Swayman got his blocker.
Midway through the period, the B’s looked like they’d gotten their skates under them. Morgan Geekie had two great chances on the same shift. Goalie John Gibson got a pad on the first one and then Geekie shot it over the net on the second one.
But when Elias Lindholm and Ryan Strome went off for matching roughing penalties, the Ducks struck for their first one in the resulting 4-on-4. First David Pastrnak turned over the puck on the attack in the offensive zone and then Mason Lohrei could not shut down the play in the neutral zone, leading to a 3-on-1. Trevor Zegras and Jackson Lacombe played catch before Zegras took the return pass and beat Swayman on the shortside.
Then with 38 seconds left, old friend Frank Vatrano was left all alone at the left side of the net to take Radko Gudas’ diagonal pass from the right point and beat a helpless Swayman.
Predictably, the B’s left the ice for the first intermission to boos.
Anaheim’s penalty trouble got the B’s back in the game in the second. The Ducks took four minors in the period.
The B’s first power-play produced nothing but grumbles from the crowd. But then the Ducks took a pair of infractions 28 seconds apart, giving the B’s a lengthy 5-on-3. On the two-man advantage, Elias Lindholm’s shot from the left circle broke through Gibson’s pads and just crossed the line at 9:08 for his 11th of the year.
Both teams squandered power plays at the end of the second and remained a one-goal game going into the third.
Gibson, who suffered an upper body injury somewhere in the first 40 minutes, did not come out for the third, giving way for Lukas Dostal.
The Bruins would soon lose Brad Marchand. The captain lost an edge and slid toward the boards at a high rate of speed. He tried to brace himself with his arm but he crashed hard, his head bouncing off the boards. He would return.
The B’s didn’t test Dostal a lot until Pavel Zacha sent Geekie off on a clean breakaway late in the game but the Ducks netminder stoned him.
But with Marchand picking up the secondary assist, Geekie finally found the back of the net to tie it