Bruins grind to much-needed victory over Stars behind McAvoy, Swayman

And the epic shootout saves from Jeremy Swayman after making 43 stops during regulation while waiting for Marchand and  Charlie McAvoy to supply the offense during a marathon nine-round shootout. After all, they were inches away from possible heartbreak if Craig Smith ’s backhander had managed to crawl across the goal line instead of dying thereafter bouncing off the back of Swayman’s leg in the crease.

It took all of that to pull the Bruins out of the losing morass with a gritty win where Boston was outshot by a 46-28 margin, but still managed to find a way to win a game when they perhaps didn’t quite deserve to against Dallas.

“Something has to happen to get out of a malaise that we were in results-wise,” said Jim Montgomery. “We got the great effort by our goaltender, and then on the 6-on-5 our great players made great plays at a time when we needed them.”

But it was also a B’s energy change with a different look fourth line after the Bruins announced the signing of 6-foot-5 AHL farmhand Justin Brazeau to a two-year, two-way contract before slotting him in for his first NHL game. It gave the Bruins a skilled, 6-foot-5 big body willing to go to the net along with speed merchants Jesper Boqvist and Anthony Richard, as fourth-line regulars Oskar Steen and Jakub Lauko found their way out of the lineup.

Brazeau scored a big goal to tie things up at the start of the second period after hammering home a Boqvist pass from below the goal line, and Boqvist had his own first period score off a Richard centering pass. The fourth line forwards were mixed and matched at points during the game with Trent Frederic jumping on at center for shifts here or there.

But it all amounted to Brazeau, Boqvist and Richard combining for two goals, four points, five shots on net and eight shot attempts while all three forwards finished with well over 10 minutes of ice time in the game. It felt like Montgomery had more confidence utilizing the trio of young vets as energy players, and that the sheer speed of Boqvist and Richard gave that fourth line a different kind of identity than they’ve shown previously this season.

“All three of them [on the fourth line] were really good. That’s a credit to the development staff and the coaching staff down in Providence,” said Montgomery. “I just liked the way they played to our team identity of getting pucks in, getting on the forecheck and holding onto pucks while wearing out the goal line at the back of the net. There wasn’t much risk, but there was a lot of reward to the way they played. The second and third effort on pucks was evident.”

But as much as it was about the feel-good pregame moments for Marchand and that epic shootout, it was also about Boston’s best players making something happen with the goalie pulled in the closing minutes. It was McAvoy moving in for a prime shooting position before sliding a cross-ice pass to David Pastrnak for a one-timer that he rifled into the open portion of the net.

It was a vital game-tying answer from Boston after a Derek Forbort pinch backfired on the Bruins earlier in the third period leading to a Dallas go-ahead goal.

That game-tying snipe was just the second goal in seven games since the All-Star break for Pastrnak, who has experienced an offensive slowdown as of late after starring at NHL All-Star weekend. There are other Bruins still struggling, of course. Jake DeBrusk has zero points in seven games since the break, Charlie Coyle has just one goal and is a minus-4 over that same span and even Marchand has just one goal in seven games since the break.

There is certainly more needed from the Bruins offensively after squeezing out a win while getting two goals from their fourth line. But Monday’s win was simply about getting the result however they could to right the ship ahead of a long Western Canada road trip that’s dead ahead.

“That was a big one for us. Team effort again. That’s how we’ve had success this year…and always,” Marchand said. “It’s great to see some guys come up and make an impact. That helps, that young energy and the grittiness was big for us. They did a great job coming through.

“But that’s the kind of game we’re going to see more often coming down the stretch. Teams that are built for the playoffs and playoff-ready and compete hard and are physical. So, it was a great test for us, and it was great to finally come out on top. We’ve had a few lately where we had good games but didn’t get the results. So it was good to get that one.”

It was important for the Bruins to find a way to get the winning, positive result as they closed out a rare seven-game, two-week homestand that became a missed opportunity for the Black and Gold. But now the challenge becomes repeating Monday’s dramatic victory while finding different ways within each game amidst heightened intensity levels from opponents across the league.