One point was stolen, and honestly, the Bruins barely deserved it.
The Bruins entered New Jersey after a high scoring victory against the Coyotes looking to build up some momentum. Against them? A strong young core for the Devils who look to continue to grow. Jeremy Swayman vs Vitek Vanacek. Who comes out on top?
First Period
The Bruins buzzed for most of the period and made it count! James van Riemsdyk found himself alone in the slot to rip a shot, and Morgan Geekie fought through a check to put it past Vitek Vanacek, 1-0 Boston!
Second Period
Aside from this Pasta dangle, this was a really…meh period. Swayman made his save of the night on the penalty kill against Dawson Mercer, and honestly, I’ll let the TNT crew describe how strong Sway has been of late.
David Pastrnak’s getting creative out there#NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/cwmwD0E0K2
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) December 14, 2023
.@ansoncarterla and @hlundqvist break down Jeremy Swayman and his play-style in net ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/JP3yNwP0zb
— NHLonTNT (@NHL_On_TNT) December 14, 2023
Third Period
The Bruins regressed and it definitely showed on this game-tying goal. A lot of flat feet leads to a chance that Erik Haula puts off the post, but Dawson Mercer pots past Jeremy Swayman, a 1-1 game.
Overtime
Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt are fast as f boi. Bratt puts Lindholm on his behind, passes to a trailing Hughes who slots one past Swayman to finish this one off. 2-1 Devils, the final.
Game Notes and Thoughts
- The Bruins got outshot 6-0 in overtime. Not good, chief.
- I feel really bad for Jeremy Swayman, who continues to put up extremely confident games. He doesn’t deserve the OT loss on his season record.
- Only Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak skated more than 20 minutes tonight. Monty really going for the mixer while they’re down their 1C in Pavel Zacha.
- I’ll take holding the Devils offense to one regulation goal, but it’s hard to abide how quiet the offense looked the last two periods. The B’s got outshot 22-15 in the final two periods in addition to the terrible overtime metrics.
- The Bruins are back at it Friday night on Long Island to start a back-to-back, finished by the full tri-state area trifecta with the Rangers at TD Garden Saturday night.