A night that began with the collection of more concerning data for new Bruins coach Marco Sturm ended on a high note, thanks to a spirited third-period comeback that led to a 5-4 overtime victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
Nikita Zadorov scored the winner on a bar-down wrister to lift the B’s to a victory that was made possible by a monster third period by newcomer Mikey Eyssimont, who scored two goals and then set up Marat Khusnutdinov’s equalizer with the goalie pulled for an extra skater.
“Hopefully it just shows that we fight until the end and see games all the way through,” Eyssimont told reporters in New York. “We fixed a lot of things and that’s a sign of a mature team.”
The first two periods for the Bruins were marked by shades of the worst tendencies of last year’s team – costly turnovers inability to build on in-game success and lack of timely saves.
Last season the Bruins had the terrible habit of giving up a goal quickly after they scored one and, in the preseason, that trend has continued.
On Sunday, the Caps scored quickly after Morgan Geekie gave the B’s a 1-0 lead and the same thing happened on Tuesday at MSG.
Matej Blumel, a high-scoring AHLer in the Dallas system who hopes make his NHL breakthrough in Boston, got the B’s on the board quickly, tapping in a pretty Casey Mittelstadt feed from the bottom of the right circle. If the B’s have any chance of competing for a playoff spot, Mittelstadt will need to produce offensively and it was a good start for him.
But just 44 seconds later, the B’s coughed up the lead after Khusnutdinov coughed up the puck at the defensive blue line and Nathan Aspinall slipped a shot through Joonas Korpisalo.
Unlike Sunday, the B’s did not implode after that – at least not immediately – and the teams went into the first intermission at 1-1.
But it was all Rangers in the second period.
But at 3:26, former Boston College star Gabe Perrault put the Blueshirts up by a goal. John Beecher turned the puck over just outside the Boston blue line New York quickly transitioned to offense. From the left circle, Perrault beat Korpisalo with a hard wrist shot under the glove that the netminder would want back.
Sam Carrick put the Rangers up by two at 9:53 off a bad turnover from Victor Soderstrom, who has had a rough couple of games in his return to North America after a season in Sweden. His too-hot pass intended for Mark Kastelic in the middle of the ice was picked off by Sam Carrick and Carrick tucked it around a sprawling Korpisalo.
In more shades of the disastrous 2024-25 season, the B’s got the first power play of the game and it promptly blew up on them. Blumel fumbled with the puck along the left half wall and Ranger Noah Laba took off with it the other way. Laba banger trailer Vladislav Gavrikov and the defenseman beat Korpisalo for the shorty.
The Rangers, who held a 16-7 sot advantage in the second, stormed the B’s zone after that and Korpisalo did start to battle well. It proved to be important.
The game could have gone to the garbage real quick if he didn’t make those big saves,” said Zadorov. “Korpi stayed big for us and gave us a chance to get back in the game.”
In the third, the B’s penalty kill got its first look of the preseason in the third period when Zadorov went off for crosschecking. Eyssimont, who exhibited a taste of his game in the first period when he drilled a Ranger into the boards, stole the puck from Adam Fox in the Ranger zone and then beat goalie Talyn Boyko with a nifty backhand move.
Eyssimont scored his second at 11:11 on another Ranger turnover in their own zone. Jordan Harris picked off a breakout pass and dished it down low to Eyssimont, who scored on another pretty roof job.
And then with Korpisalo pulled for the extra skater, Eyssimont fed Khusnutdinov for the equalizer with 1:05 left in regulation.
The B’s couldn’t capitalize on an OT power play, but after ringing the crossbar, Zadorov won it at even strength.
Loose pucks
Zadorov was in the second time in as many games this preseason after he and Soderstrom were on the ice for three goals against in the first period in the B’s 5-2 loss to Washington on Sunday. Sturm wants to see more out of Zadorov this season.
“I’ve known him for a while. You recognize him from his size right away,” said Sturm after the morning skate in Boston before the team traveled to New York. “But with injuries last year it was a lot, not just for (Mason) Lohrei and other guys, it was also a lot for him. So I think everyone’s come back and hopefully it’s going to help is game, too. We want him to play hard, we want him to close as quick as possible because of his reach … he needs to be better as well. We need him this year. We need him to be a leader, we need him to be a presence on the ice and be one of the better D moving forward.”…
The Providence Bruins’ training camp is set to open on Monday so expect the first healthy cuts after the B’s third preseason game on Saturday in Philadelphia. … The team will have a day off on Wednesday.
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