Bruins 3, Blue Jackets 2, (SO)
BOSTON -- The Boston Bruins blew a two-goal second-period lead but managed to pull out a 3-2 shootout win over the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets on a snowy Saturday night.
Center Ryan Spooner, playing on the right side in this game, and defenseman Torey Krug, who has gone 21 games without a goal, scored and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson stopped both shots in the shootout as the Bruins won for the fourth time in the last five games but only the third time in their last eight home games.
Gustavsson, who made 31 stops during the game, improved to 9-3-1 this season and to 10-9 in career shootouts.
Rookie goaltender Joonas Korpisalo, playing in only his 10th NHL game, played well (32 saves) but fell to 3-6-1 for the Blue Jackets, the last-place team in the NHL that visited without coach John Tortorella, injured during a Friday practice.
Both teams survived the other's power play in the overtime.
Bruins defenseman Dennis Seidenberg was called for slashing when he wacked center Alexander Wennenberg's stick in the closing seconds, leaving the Blue Jackets on the power play in the overtime. Gustavsson made a couple of nifty saves and, soon after the Bruins killed the penalty (their 24th straight kill), a Boston rush saw the Jackets guilty of too many men on a sloppy line change.
The Bruins (25-17-5 but just 11-12-2 at home) kept the pressure on during their power play but missed several shots and had others stopped by Korpisalo. He then made two more stops right after the penalty ended. The Blue Jackets then had a chance to win it in the closing seconds, but right winger Cam Atkinson missed the net on a 3-on-1 break.
Left winger Brad Marchand (19th goal) and right winger David Pastrnak gave the Bruins their 2-0 lead with goals early in the second period, but the Jackets (17-27-5) answered quickly when defenseman Dalton Prout scored his first goal in 108 games and left winger Kerby Rychel scored his second goal in 18 games this season.
The Blue Jackets outshot the Bruins 13-11 in the first period but neither team scored. That didn't repeat as both teams scored twice in the first 10:08 of the second.
The Bruins' new line got the home team on the board just 49 seconds into the second period when Ryan Spooner, a center playing right wing with Brett Connolly benched, took a pass from center Patrice Bergeron and fed Marchand, who was tied by with defenseman Ryan Murray going to the net.
Marchand re-directed the puck on the backhand, giving Spooner his 13th point in the last 12 games and Bergeron a four-game points streak.
Pastrnak had only recently returned from the penalty box when he went hard to the net and deposited a rebound off center David Krejci's shot before crashing into the crossbar, the goal coming at 3:34.
A video of the New England Patriots then got the crowd charged up, but it was the Blue Jackets who rallied, scoring at 6:58 and 10:08 -- the Prout goal a soft one from a bad angle and Rychel tipping home a screened shot from defenseman Justin Falk.
The goal was originally credited to left winger Nick Foligno but was changed after the second period.
NOTES: The Blue Jackets had the players' dads on the trip but did not have coach John Tortorella, who broke two ribs Friday in a collision with RW Rene Bourque during a practice in Columbus on Friday. Assistant Craig Hartsburg served as coach. ... Bruins RW Brett Connolly, who has one goal in his last 23 games, was a healthy scratch. C Ryan Spooner took his spot on the line with C Patrice Bergeron and LW Brad Marchand. ... C Gregory Campbell, who played 358 games and won a Stanley Cup with the Bruins, made his first return visit. He was given a video tribute during a first-period break and waved to the crowd. ... The Blue Jackets got LWs Nick Foligno (upper body, six games) and Matt Calvert (knee, nine games) back from injured reserve but placed G Sergei Bobrovsky (groin) on the list for the third time this season. ... Bruins LW Matt Beleskey, who missed practice Friday because of illness, was at Saturday morning's optional skate and played in the game.