Marchand Completes Hat Trick In Overtime, Bruins Beat Red Wings 6-5
Stop us if you’ve heard this before. Brad Marchand scored a nifty goal in overtime to give the Bruins a win.
Marchand has done it again, this time completing a hat trick in the extra frame to lead the Bruins to a 6-5 win over the Detroit Red Wings at TD Garden on Tuesday. In a game where both teams had trouble on defense and in goal, the B’s ended up on top thanks to No. 63. He’s now up to 11 career overtime goals.
It’s clear that there will be an adjustment period defensively for the Bruins as they play without Charlie McAvoy for at least the next four weeks, as well as without Patrice Bergeron as he continues to recover from a small fracture in his foot. But the game also proved that this Bruins team has what it’s shown on many occasions in their remarkable season: resiliency.
Highlights
Torey Krug got the scoring started just 37 seconds in with an absolute missile from the point. Nick Holden fired a shot wide that rang around the net and all the way up to Krug, who launched it to the top-right corner.
Jake DeBrusk found the back of the net just 15 seconds later. He tried to make a centering pass on an offensive rush, but instead got a fortunate bounce off the skate of the Red Wings’ Jonathan Ericsson to beat goalie Jared Coreau.
Despite the loss of McAvoy, the Bruins’ top power play unit looks like it could be just fine for now. After the Red Wings battled back to tie the game 2-2 in the first, Marchand found Krug with a cross-ice pass as the defenseman barreled toward the net. Krug finished the one-timer to put the B’s up 3-2:
Second Period
Marchand got on the baord for the first time in the second frame, netting one of his wilder goals of the season. First he spun away from a defender and worked the puck down low, sending it across the ice to David Pastrnak. He backhanded the puck to Krug at the point, who tic-tac-toed it to Marchand near the goal line for the near-impossible angle shot that found its way in.
Marchand’s second goal came on a sequence that started with a Riley Nash takeaway. David Pastrnak took two tries at the net before Marchand fired a rebound that bounced behind the net and back to him. He then backhanded the fresh rebound off the goalie’s pads to put the Bruins up 5-3.
Overtime
And finally, the Detroit defense split like the Red Sea in 3-on-3 OT as Marchand waited patiently for an opening before flipping the puck over a sprawled Jimmy Howard to secure the win.
Marchand is now up to 28 goals and 38 assists in just 51 games on the season. Over the course of a full 82 games, he’d be projected to score 45 goals and 61 assists for an incredible 106 points.
The Bruins are off to a fine start without McAvoy, but it won’t get any easier for them as they get the red-hot Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at the Garden.
— By Matt Dolloff, 985TheSportsHub.com
Matt Dolloff is a digital producer for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Have a news tip, question, or comment for Matt? Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff or email him at matthew.dolloff@bbgi.com.
