PITTSBURGH – Jim Montgomery looked up at the clock and realized it might not be Bruins night.
Trailing by two goals with about nine minutes remaining, the Boston coach was pleased with how his club was still pushing the pace. But time is running out, he is content to enjoy the fight of his troops.
“It’s amazing. They believe in it. It’s amazing,” Montgomery said. “It was 5-3 there in the third and I’m sitting there…we’re creating chances, I’m like, ‘I love the fight on this team. There were about nine minutes left, so maybe it wasn’t our night. But damn it, it was.”
This surely has been.
Despite falling into a three-goal hole, the Bruins fought back with four unanswered goals, capped by Hampus Lindholmovertime winner to stun the Penguins, 6-5, Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena. The victory was the Bruins’ sixth in a row and improved them to 9-1-0 this season.
“It’s great to see the resilience,” said Lindholm, whose third career OT game-winning goal came with 1:23 left in the extra session. “People work for each other… super happy with the team win… we know we have guys who can score in this team. We just have to stick with it… you don’t want to get taken down, 5- 2, to a team like Pittsburgh, but the way we came back shows a lot of character.”
Lindholm led the charge in powering the Bruins’ unlikely comeback, factoring in Boston’s four unanswered goals. The imposing blue liner helped the markers of Brad Merchant (12:57 of the second), Pavel Zasha (11:59 of the third), and Taylor Room (1:17 left in regulation) before ending it himself with a high-end snipe on a full-ice rush.
Video: BOS@PIT: Bruins score 4 unanswered points for overtime win
Lindholm now has 11 points (three goals, eight assists), becoming the eighth defenseman in Bruins history to register that many points in the first 10 games. This is the record by a Boston defenseman since Ray Bourque in 1995-96 (4-8-12).
“I have so much faith in him,” Montgomery said. “I roll him on the boards as much as possible because he believes in himself and he can make plays. He might be the most underrated defenseman in the league…he’s been phenomenal. I don’t know any other words than he’s quite dominant there.”
The 28-year-old, who also finished the night with three shots on goal and three blocks in 29:38 of ice time, was on the ice for three of Pittsburgh’s five goals, but like his coach, he remains “enough confident in my game.”
“I felt good. Few sloppy battles defensively. It’s a 60 minute hockey game. I got a little behind there early. But it’s 60 minutes of hockey, so you’re trying to get stick to it and tonight was one of those nights where he went our way,” said Lindholm, who is the first defenseman to record a four-point outing in the NHL this season and the Bruins’ fourth blue defenseman. in the past 30 years to score four points in a game, joining Ray Bourque (7 times), Torey Krug (twice) and Matt Grzelcyk (January 10, 2022).
Video: Lindholm speaks to the media after scoring the OT winner
Lauko catches his first
Jakub Lako was not going to get angry too quickly.
The last time the winger saw a puck on his stick in the back of the net – in Boston’s home opener against Arizona – it was cleared from the board for goalie interference. So this time he made sure to confirm before celebrating his first NHL goal.
“My first look was at the referee,” Lauko said with a smile. “When he said it was OK…it was a bit of hesitation…when he said it was fine it was OK, I was really happy after that.”
There was nothing that was going to keep this one off the board. After recovering a puck high in the Bruins zone, Nick Foligno threw a 2 on 1 with Lauko through the neutral zone. Foligno then delivered a perfect pass into the slot to Lauko, who buried a wrist shot to give Boston a 2-1 lead with 6:40 left in the first period.
Video: BOS@PIT: Lauko scores his first career goal in 1st
“It’s not my first, second or third game… the time for apologies is over,” said Lauko, who now has one goal and one assist in six games. “I have to perform now. I didn’t think it was my best game so far, but I found a way to improve it. I just have to keep performing and staying consistent…we are on a very good run. We have to keep playing like we played in the third period.”
Montgomery was hardly as critical of Lauko’s efforts, saying the 22-year-old rookie did exactly what was asked of him.
“He’s playing really well,” Montgomery said. “He creates turnovers. He largely beats people. He does a lot of good things that fourth-line players should do in this league and he does it consistently.
Lauko also credited teammates Nick Foligno and Tomas Nosek for their tutelage – and gave Foligno some extra love for retrieving the puck that ended up in the corner after his goal.
“He took the first base against Arizona from me. [with the goalie interference]”Lauko said with a chuckle. “He’s a really good guy. I call him Uncle Nick… he takes care of advising me, same with Nosy. These guys are amazing. I really like playing with them.”
The Czech native went on to say that the puck from his first NHL count will go to the family of Ondrej Buchtela, his friend and former teammate back home who died of cancer two years ago.
“I promised my dying friend two years ago that I would go to the NHL for him. I think my dad and my mom – I won’t say angry, maybe a little disappointed – but it’s going to go to his mom because I promised him and his family. It’ll be fine with him,” Lauko said.
Video: Lauko speaks to the media after their 6-5 victory
Ullmark remains undefeated
Linus Ullmark became the first Bruins goaltender to win each of his first seven decisions of the season since Tim Thomas started the 2010-11 campaign 8-0-0. It was unconventional though as the goaltender was taken off after Pittsburgh’s fifth goal, only to be reinserted into the game after Jeremy Swayman left with a lower body injury in the third.
“I spoke to Linus. I needed to slow down the game. I didn’t want to burn a time out because we weren’t giving up a multitude of chances, we had big breakdowns in the middle of the ice, which is usually our strength,” Montgomery said of Ullmark’s withdrawal. “I just went up to him in time out and said, ‘Not a single goal is your fault. I said, ‘Don’t worry about that, I have to slow down the game.’ Sways came in and fought. This depth in our team is quite incredible.”
Ullmark finished the night with 29 saves on 34 shots.
“That says a lot. It shows the type of group we have and the belief we have in ourselves and that you can never count us and we should never count ourselves,” Ullmark said of the release. B return win. “Hockey is hockey. Some days you have a shutout, some days you can be called out. It doesn’t matter. It’s a very humiliating league.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kind of situation develop. [with having to go back in because of injury. It’s very unfortunate the way it did. I thought Sway did a great job in there. In the end, we got a win. That’s what we’re gonna take away from this.”
Montgomery did not have an update on Swayman, whose leg appeared to get jammed against the post following a collision with Patrice Bergeron. Ullmark, however, has faith that his puck-stopping partner will come out of the situation just fine.
“He’s from Alaska,” said Ullmark. “I’m not too worried. The guy’s tough as nails.”
Video: Ullmark Addresses the Media after Bruins 6-5 OT Win
Wait, There’s More
- Derek Forbort left the game in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Like Swayman, Montgomery did not have an update postgame other than to say that both would need to be further evaluated.
- Thirteen different Bruins recorded a point, including 11 of Boston’s 12 forwards. The lone forward without a point was Tomas Nosek, who rang the post on a 2-on-1 with Lindholm in overtime just before Lindholm ended it for good himself. Nosek was an impressive 9 for 13 at the faceoff dot, good for a game-best 69 percent winning percentage (minimum three faceoffs taken).
Video: Bruins score 4 unanswered to comeback and win in OT
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