BOSTON — Not much has come easily for the Bruins against the Columbus Blue Jackets, but a dominant third period pushed them over the finish line with a 5-2 victory on Saturday night at TD Garden.
Erik Haula scored his second goal of the game with 3:54 to go in the third period to give the Bruins a 3-2 lead. With time running out on a power play, Brandon Carlo carried the puck down the right side and sent an aerial shot/pass that Haula deflected home.
Then, with Columbus goalie Elvis Merzlikins pulled for an extra skater, Jake DeBrusk sealed it with an empty-netter.
Charlie Coyle added another empty-netter to make it look like a blowout, but it was not.
The Bruins outshot the Jackets 15-4 in the third period, with Columbus’ first shot coming on a clear during the Jackets’ penalty kill late in the game.
The Bruins dominated the first period, outshooting the Blue Jackets, 15-5, but had to settle for a 1-1 tie going into the first intermission, thanks to another late-period goal against.
Merzlikins was on his game early and the Bruins had to work to get one by him. They finally did at 15:09, with Haula getting his 11th of the season. Hampus Lindholm took the puck behind the net and threw it in front. Charlie McAvoy skated into it and appeared to have an easy goal if he could lift it, but Merzlikins made a terrific pad save. McAvoy stuck with the play, digging the puck out and sending it back through the crease. It hit Taylor Hall and bounced out into the slot, and Haula finished it off.
But they could not take a lead into the break.
In the final minute, the Bruins could not clear the puck. From the right point, Adam Boqvist flung a puck toward the net that, thanks to a Cody Sillinger tip, Jeremy Swayman could not glove. It bounced into the slot and Gustav Nyquist popped it home to tie it up 1-1 with 27.3 seconds left in the period.
The Jackets then hit the Bruins again in the first minute of the second period to take the lead.
Derek Forbort could not get the puck past old friend Sean Kuraly at the right point and Kuraly fed Yegor Chinakhov down low. Chinakhov took a bad-angle shot that produced a good rebound for an all-alone Justin Danforth in front and Danforth slipped it between Swayman’s arm and body for a 2-1 Columbus lead 42 seconds into the second.
By that point, the Jackets had their legs and heads firmly in the game and spent a lot of time in the Bruins zone.
But after killing off a penalty, the Bruins started to get some Grade-A chances of their own. Nick Foligno was stopped on a 2-on-1, McAvoy hit the crossbar on a nice move and Merzlikins stopped David Pastrnak on another odd-man rush.
The Bruins finally tied it up with 1:47 left in the period. McAvoy did not get a point on the goal, but he made a couple of great plays to make it happen. First he did a good job of keeping the puck in at the right point. Then he hustled all the way down to the left side of the crease to harass Patrik Laine into coughing up the puck to Jake DeBrusk behind the net. DeBrusk fed it out front to Patrice Bergeron, who made a deft pass over to Brad Marchand for a wide-open net and his 31st goal of the season to send it into the third knotted at 2-2.
“There wasn't much conversation with us on exactly where we stand, but I feel like I'm a guy who should be an every day guy,” Reilly said.
After Tuukka Rask got the crowd primed with his first Garden appearance since retiring by doing the ceremonial puck drop, the Bruins provided some good old fashioned entertainment with hits, fights and goals, goals and more goals.
After a wholly unsatisfactory game against the Maple Leafs on Tuesday, the Bruins owed their fans some good times. And on Thursday, the B's made good on the debt, with the help of a hapless New Jersey Devils team.
“In any sport, this is a great city to play for,” Rask said. “The fans are very supportive and they're very into their sports. During the time I was playing, we were doing good and the house was packed every night, so it just brings you that extra energy. They were always very supportive when they ran into you around town and saying how much they appreciate what we do on and off the ice. So I feel like I have great relationship with them and I'm looking forward to celebrating with a bunch of them in the stands tonight and a bunch of them who are watching at home and joining them on that side now. We can cheer together, and chirp together.”
