Bruins Beat Blue Jackets in Shootout, Snap Skid

By Greg in Bruins, Featured, Top Story ⋅ March 16, 2011 at 12:01am ⋅ Post a comment

Derek MacKenzie of the Columbus Blue Jackets attempts to block a shot from Zdeno Chara. The Bruins went on to win the game 3-2 in a shootout. (Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images)

The rookie prevails. When all else was lost, the Boston Bruins relied on first-year player Tyler Seguin in the overtime shootout to get past the pesky Columbus Blue Jackets. The Bruins really needed the 3-2 victory on Tuesday night, as it snapped a four-game losing streak.

Before the game, head coach Claude Julien knew that his team needed to get back on track if they wanted to head into the playoffs with some momentum.

“We just have to find our game again,” coach Julien said. “We’ve been off our game. We seem a little out of sync right now.”

Things turned around for the Bruins on Tuesday as they are now headed in the right direction. Rich Peverley got the Bruins into the overtime as his shorthanded goal late in the third period tied things up with the Blue Jackets. Both teams failed to score in the overtime period and it all came down to the shootout. Seguin was the first Bruins’ player up and scored on a wristshot from seven feet out. That’s all Boston needed to get by Columbus for it’s 39th win of the season.

The Bruins now stand at 39-21-9 on the year, good for 87 points. Boston is now four points ahead of Montreal for the Northeast Division title.

The Blue Jackets, on the other hand, fell to 32-27-10 (74 points). Columbus is currently seven points away from making the playoffs and things aren’t looking too bright as the team takes on the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.

Tuukka Rask started in goal for the Bruins and put together a stellar effort. He stopped 34-of-36 shots on goal for his 10th win of the season. He now has a record of 10-12-1. This was a good win for Rask who rebounded nicely after the 4-1 loss to the Canadiens last week.

Steve Mason was the starter in goal for the Blue Jackets and also had a pretty good game. He stopped 27-of-29 shots on goal but ended up with the overtime loss that saw his record fall to 23-17-5 on the year. The 22-year-old hasn’t been very consistent as of late. He has a record of 1-3-3 in the month of March after going 7-2-0 in February.

First Period

The Blue Jackets got on the scoreboard first with a goal from Grant Clitsome with less than a minute left in the period. It was his fourth of the year and was assisted by Jakub Voracek and Rick Nash. Blue Jackets up 1-0
Shots on goal: Boston 10 , Columbus 12

Second Period

Boston ties things up with David Krejci‘s 11th goal of the season. He was assisted by Johnny Boychuk and Zdeno Chara on the play. Game tied 1-1
Shots on goal: Boston 7, Columbus 11

Third Period

With less than eight minutes left in the period, Scottie Upshall‘s 20th goal of the season was assisted by R.J. Umberger and Antoine Vernette. Predators up 2-1
While on the penalty kill, the Bruins were able to tie things up with less than six minutes left in the game. Rich Peverley netted his 16th goal of the year. He was unassisted on the play. Game tied 2-2

Overtime

Both teams failed to find the back of the net in overtime.
Shots on goal: Boston 5, Columbus 3

Shootout

Columbus: Nash backhander saved by Rask. 0-0
Boston: Tyler Seguin wristshot scored. Bruins 1-0
Columbus: Fredor Tyutin wristshot saved by Rask. Bruins 1-0
Boston: Patrice Bergeron wristshot saved by Mason. Bruins 1-0
Columbus: Upshall backhader saved by Rask. Bruins 1-0

Up Next

The Bruins will have Wednesday off before heading to Nashville to take on the Predators. Nashville has been playing pretty mediocre throughout March, which is an improvement from February when the team collected only five wins. The Bruins haven’t played the Predators since October 2009, a 3-2 victory for Boston. Nashville currently has a record of 35-24-10 on the year and are right behind Calgary for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.