3 Stars: Minten’s homecoming carries Bruins to victory

If we're being honest with ourselves here, the Boston Bruins have already left too many points on the table this season. It even hit the point where we were begging them to be better "losers." And for large stretches of the third period of Saturday's game in Vancouver, it felt like the Bruins were destined to once again leave points on the table.

But the Bruins survived a late push from Vancouver to get the game to overtime. And perhaps most importantly, the Bruins made sure not to leave it to the coin flip of the shootout like they did last time, and instead grabbed a victory by way of a Fraser Minten overtime goal in the last minute of the extra session.

For the Bruins, the win was by all means a road trip-salvaging kind of victory. By nabbing the extra point, the Bruins ensured that they will return to Boston from this road swing with at least five points banked away (an even .500). It's also set the Bruins up to return to Boston with it being a great trip, as a win in Seattle on Tuesday night would see the Bruins fly back home with seven of a possible 10 points in their pocket.

Here's a look at the 985TheSportsHub.com 3 Stars of the game...

I'm going to state the obvious here, I know, but the Bruins desperately needed the power-play goal they got from Elias Lindholm in the second period of this game. Not just because it was a tally necessary to ensure that the Bruins got to overtime in the first place, but because of the domination the Bruins experienced over the final 40 minutes of regulation, with Vancouver outshooting Boston 27-13.

It does feel like Lindholm has become a power-play specialist of sorts, at least from an offensive point of view, with five of his seven goals and 14 of his 26 points coming on the man advantage this season. But as always, Lindholm is more than a box score kind of player when his game is going in the direction the Bruins need it to go.

Just look at Saturday's overtime for example. The Bruins possessed the puck for the first minute of overtime, and when they lost possession, it actually looked like Vancouver was going to have numbers going the other way. But Lindholm, even without a stick, engaged in a board battle and won the puck away from Jake DeBrusk and created a 50-50 play towards the neutral zone. It denied the Canucks some serious downhill momentum in an overtime that ended with just one Vancouver shot.

Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman opted not to speak to reporters following Boston's downright gross loss to the Canadiens on Dec. 23. Now, in the interest of fairness, I don't know if he outright refused. But typically speaking, it's common for goalies to speak after their starts, win or lose. Now I also don't know what exactly he did instead of talking to the media, but I imagine that Swayman put himself in some sort of '13 Ghosts' haunted house of his goals against as some sort of motivation. Because he's been back to being everything the Black and Gold need him to be down the stretch.

After stopping 34 of 36 in last Wednesday's win over the Oilers, Swayman delivered once again on Saturday, this time with a 31-of-33 line in net for the victory. Swayman was especially brilliant late in regulation, and had a high-quality save on Liam Ohgren in what was his only shot of the overtime frame.

Win or lose, goal or no goal, a player's first game in their hometown is always a sight to behold. You got family, friends, coaches, and pretty much everybody you've ever known coming to the arena just to see you. And for those players, it's a great feeling because they're beyond thrilled to see you even if you're a minus-5 and played just 4:04. But Vancouver native Fraser Minten decided to treat his crew to an absolutely amazing performance Saturday night, with two goals on the way to a Boston win.

Minten's confidence has grown as the season has gone on here, but you could just tell he was feeling it in this one. Deployed for over 20 minutes for the first time in his NHL career in this contest, Minten also landed a career-high six shots on goal in the win, and even had a slick dish to David Pastrnak for a breakaway look in the first period.