The Bruins are back in action Saturday night, when they host the Ottawa Senators.
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Hampus Lindholm admires Brad Marchand’s dogged determination.
“He’s like a pit bull. It’s like if there’s meat on the bone, he just never leaves it alone,” said the Bruins defenseman. “He wins his battle. He’s hungry and that’s the way you score three on three in this league.”
Marchand again was the top dog for Boston, scoring with 20 seconds left in a wild overtime to secure a 4-3 win over the Flames Thursday night at TD Garden.
It was the second OT winner of the season for the captain, who also stuck a dagger in the Maple Leafs on Oct. 26.
It capped an eventful night for Marchand, who was buzzing all game. He hit a pair of posts, drew a tripping call on Calgary goalie Dustin Wolf, and also was sent to box for roughing nine seconds into the third period when the Bruins were guarding a 3-1 lead.
The extra session was fully caffeinated.
Bruins goalie Joonas Korpisalo made four of his 34 saves in OT to win his second straight game. Wolf (34 saves) stopped the first four shots he saw after regulation, but Marchand got him with the fifth.
On the winner, Elias Lindholm outworked Rasmus Andersson behind the net and fed the puck to Marchand. Wolf stopped his initial bid before Marchand buried the rebound.
It was the 21st overtime winner of Marchand’s career.
“I think I just try to hound pucks,” said Marchand, explaining his success during three on three. “I think that in overtime a lot of guys are trying to cheat offensively, and if you pressure the puck here, a lot of times you get turnovers, you’re getting an odd-man rush or a good scoring chance. So, over the past I played with great defensive players breaking up a lot of plays and we read off each other well. But also times, that’s just how the cookie crumbles and that’s when you get your break.”
Marchand acknowledged he was looking to redeem himself after the roughing call.
“It’s obviously a bad penalty to take, bad time of game,” he said. “The start of the period usually dictates in a position like that how your team’s going to play through the period, and that’s just a bad penalty to take ... It doesn’t make up for it, but it was good that we got the 2 points.”
The Bruins’ much-maligned penalty kill was on point, however, with only Andrei Kuzmenko’s in-close threat (it went high off the glass) a real concern.
Marchand created a Bruins power play with a classic Marchand hustle play with Zadorov still in the box.
The captain went hunting behind the Calgary net, where Wolf was fumbling with the puck. As Marchand wrested it away, Wolf took him down for the rare goalie infraction.
Coincidentally, Marchand had the best chance, whistling a wrister off the far post with just eight ticks left in the period.
The Pastrnak-Zacha chemistry came out in the second with a nifty give-and-go, with Pastrnak dishing it to Zacha, who gave it right back for a one-timer that Pastrnak blasted high into the seats.
Somewhere, Bobby Schmautz was saluting.
Things got testy late in the period when Mark Kastelic and Kevin Rooney (of the Canton Rooneys) exchanged some unpleasantries in the Calgary end and were sent off for roughing.
The testiness carried over to the third, when Marchand went a bit too far during an exchange with Martin Pospisil.
It set the stage for Calgary’s comeback, but also for Marchand’s redemption.
Wonder what Zacha and Pasta would look like with Brazeau.
