Oh sure, there was some hockey being played, but since the Chicago Blackhawks had clinched the Central Division title in the NHL's Western Conference on Saturday night, only the Bruins had any chance of improving their playoff seeding, as two points for a win would enable them to jump over both the Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators for second place in the Atlantic Division...
...and thanks to an unassisted wrister from defenseman Kevan Miller midway through the final period and some nifty goaltending down the stretch from Anton Khudobin, the Bruins did just that, winning their fifth straight match with a 3-2 victory at the United Center in Chicago.
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| Forward Brad Marchand passes from the low circle |
Miller picked up a loose puck at center ice, split two defenders crossing the blue line, his momentum taking him to the top of the left circle where he found himself wide open, firing a top-shelf, glove-side snipe past Chicago netminder Corey Crawford for what would be the eventual gamer.
The Bruins never trailed, taking command of the scorebaord on a Ryan Spooner redirection of a Zdeno Chara tumbler that easily beat Crawford and a Patrice Bergeron one-timer off a Brad Marchand feed from the right dashers to make it 2-0 after one period. The Blackhawks scored once in the middle frame and once in the third to keep it interesting...
...but Khudobin shut them down during a furious final two minutes after Chicago pulled Crawford for the extra skater, staking the Bruins to their fifth consecutive victory.
Spooner's redirect came on what appeared to be a purposeful off-speed shot from Chara from above the left circle, making contact with the tumbling puck in the low slot, it's natural momentum lofting it into the top corner of the net before Crawford knew it was behind him, while Bergeron's one-timer came off of Marchand's dump pass into the high slot...
...the Blackhawk defenders overskating the trailing Bergeron and Marchand's delay while waiting on Bergeron to enter the zone drawing Crawford to the glove side, giving Bergeron a clean line of sight to the low stick-side where he planted the puck for a 2-0 Bruins' advantage.
Artemi Panarin got the Blackhawks within one late in the second period with his 30th of the season, a weird rebound shot that hit a teammate that had slid into the goal, the puck bouncing right back out to Panarin, who planted it firmly back into the net on Khudobin's blocker side - but Miller built the lead back to two with his unassisted drive in the third.
Jordin Tootoo potted a cheap wrister from a scrum on the low slot just seconds later, but Khudobin managed to stop everything else to pick up his sixth win of the season against five losses and a tie - though all of his wins have come in his last six starts, and has allowed two goals or fewer in five of six games in that span in which his save percentage has been an impressive .928.
Next up for the Bruins is a critical three-game homestand, hosting Tampa Bay on Tuesday, Ottawa on Thursday and Washington on Saturday
