Bruins top Red Wings with Pavel Zacha goal in overtime
The Boston Bruins improved to 13-11-3 on the season with a 3-2 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at TD Garden.
Pavel Zacha scored the game-winner for the B’s in extra time, after David Pastrnak received a pass then fed it right back to him for a one-timer. The goal was Zacha’s sixth of the season, and he now has five points in his last four games.
Bruins goaltender Joonas Korpisalo stopped 25-of-27 Red Wings shots (.926) to earn his sixth win in nine starts. He’s now 6-2-1 on the season.
As we rewind to the start of the game, the Red Wings drew first blood off the stick of Lucas Raymond, who took advantage of a fortuitous bounce off Charlie McAvoy’s skate and toward him in the slot, and fired it past Korpisalo. Prior to the goal, the Bruins had failed multiple times to clear the puck out of their own end.
The Bruins were able to answer just 1:44 later, as defenseman Nikita Zadorov rifled a one-timer from the high slot right through Red Wings goaltender Ville Husso, making it 1-1. Zadorov helped create his own opportunity by feeding the puck down the half boards, then Brad Marchand won the loose puck and found open ice before passing it back to him.
The teams headed to the locker rooms for the first intermission locked at 1-1, after the Bruins couldn’t cash in on a late first-period power play, despite generating two shots on goal during the man advantage.
Boston’s Charlie Coyle got whistled for tripping behind the Detroit net around the midway point of the second period. And at the 12:41 mark, the Wings believed they had found the back of the net for a go-ahead power play goal.
But after a long replay review, the officials determined that they were offside prior to the score, marking a challenge win for Bruins interim head coach Joe Sacco. The B’s then killed off the remaining 42 seconds of the Coyle penalty. It remained tied 1-1, with the B’s holding a 16-11 edge in shots on goal, after 40 minutes.
Just 1:19 into the third period, Raymond struck again for the Red Wings. Left wide open in the high slot off a coverage breakdown by the Bruins, Raymond finished a cross-ice feed from linemate Michael Rasmussen, beating Korpisalo glove side to put the Wings up 2-1.
At the 6:31 mark of the third, McAvoy got whistled for hooking, sending the Bruins to the penalty kill trying to keep it a one-goal game. They killed off the two minutes, then soon gained a power play of their own after David Pastrnak drew an interference penalty from Detroit’s Ben Chiarot.
And the B’s made them pay. Almost right off the faceoff, Justin Brazeau gained position in front of the net and deflected a point shot by defenseman Mason Lohrei to tie the game 2-2. Not long after that, Husso made a clutch stop on a golden scoring opportunity for the Bruins’ Trent Frederic, which calmed down the raucous TD Garden crowd a notch.
The game remained tied 2-2 through 60 minutes, setting the stage for overtime and Zacha’s game-winner.
Up Next: The B’s have a quick turnaround, as they now have to travel to Chicago for the second night of a back-to-back against the Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday night.
Matt Dolloff is a writer and digital content producer for 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read all of his articles here.
