The young and speedy Chicago Blackhawks gave the Bruins all they could handle, but it was a kid in Black and Gold who decided the fun back-and-forth home opener at the Garden on Thursday.
On a 2-on-1 in overtime, Fraser Minten kept it for himself and sizzled a wrist shot past goalie Arvid Soderblom to lift the B’s to a 4-3 victory.
Nikita Zadorov made a good defensive play in the Boston zone to send Minten off with Morgan Geekie on the wining play. Joonas Korpisalo (21 saves) also made two terrific saves in OT, one on a Connor Bedard clean break-in.
It may have been a costly victory, however, as Hampus Lindolm left the game in the first period and did not return.
The Bruins did not start out well, turning the puck over several times off the opening faceoff and Joonas Korpisalo had to be sharp. The turnovers would be a harbinger of things to come.
The B’s eventually got their footing and, after the top line did all the scoring in the opening night win in Washington, they got some welcome production from the second line when Casey Mittelstadt scored his first of the year 3:53 into the game. Viktor Arvidsson had made a nice move to get around a Chicago defender but he was forced wide and behind the net. He sent a pass out front the rattled around old friend Matt Grzelcyk’s skates. Mittelstadt was able to pounce on it and sneak the puck under Arvid Soderblom’s pads.
The Blackhawks, however, capitalized on a costly turnover. After a clean faceoff win in the circle to Korpisalo’s right, Nikita Zadorov came around the net and sent the puck into space at the left circle. Connor Bedard gathered it and the Hawks went back to work. Bedard dished the puck and floated over to the other side. Andre Burakovsky found him with a cross-ice pass and Bedard sniped it over Korpisalo’s shoulder at 8:19.
But what was more concerning came at 12:23, when Hampus Lindholm, playing his second game back after missing most of last season with a broken kneecap, left the game. It was not immediately clear what was ailing him. He did not return for the second period.
The Blackhawks created more and more turnovers in the B’s zone and then took the lead at 2:22 on hat looked like a nothing play. Off a Chicago faceoff win, the puck went out to the right point and defenseman Louis Crevier, whose shot appeared to go off Tanner Jeannot’s skate and over Korpisalo’s shoulder, giving the B’s their first deficit of the season.
Jeannot got it back, however, with his first goal as a Bruin at 9:10 off a good third line shift. Mikey Eyssimont collected an errant Henri Jokiharju shot behind the net and went work. He made a nice move to get out to the left circle and, finding a soft spot on the Chicago, took the puck toward the net. He snapped off a shot that didn’t get through, but the puck went right to Jeannot, who had an empty net to score.
The B’s caught a break late in the period when, with 1:10 left in the period, Ryan Greene was called for crosschecking Marat Khusnutdinov. Then on the ensuing faceoff, old friend Nick Foligno was called for playing the puck with his hand on the draw and the B’s had a full two-minute 5-on-3.
They could not cash in before the second period was up, but it took them 15 seconds in the third to capitalize. With Pavel Zacha, on one side of the net, tried to get a pass over to Elias Lindholm on the other side. It hit a Chicago skate in front and sat there for Lindholm to sweep it in for a 3-2 lead.
It would be short-lived.
The B’s coughed up the puck in the offensive zone and then the Blackhawks broke out with speed, leaving most of the Bruins behind. Eventually, Burakovsky took a pass in the middle of he ice and beat Korpisalo from the slot at 2:22.
The B’s had to kill off a Charlie McAvoy interference penalty on Bedard — a chintzy call — at 9:50. As the B’s were finishing off the kill, things got rambunctious after Bedard threw a hit after the whistle. After a couple of extending wrestling matches, Zadorov and Sean Kuraly went off for the B’s and Frank Nazar and Artyom Levshunov got sent to the box.
With about 6:20 left in regulation, the B’s had a great chance to retake the lead on no a 2-on-1 when Fraser Minten fed Jeannot but Soderblom made a great pad save to keep the game tied.
The B’s got one more power play with 2:42 left in the third when Levshunov high-sticked Morgan Geekie. They had several Grade A chances but could not get the winner and the game went to the extra session.
