Talking Points: Boston Bruins Outlast ‘Flower’ In Epic Performance

Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 2-1 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks at the United Center on Tuesday night.

GOLD STAR: Taylor Hall with the perfect extra pass to a charging Matt Grzelcyk for the overtime game-winner capped off a gusty game for the Boston Bruins left wing. This was after Hall caught an errant Riley Stillman skate blade to the side of the face/head earlier in the period and didn’t miss a single shift due to the bloody slice. Instead, he pressed on and finished with four shots on net, six shot attempts overall and two takeaways in 18:33 of ice time with an assist and a plus-2 rating in a strong all-around game. Hall now has four assists in seven games during the month of March and could certainly use a little boost in offense these days.

BLACK EYE: Bad night for Riley Stillman. He finished a minus-1 with no shots on net in 14:36 of ice time and that performance was “blah” enough. But couple it with his skate blade flying up and catching Taylor Hall in the face as the Bruins scored their only goal in regulation, and it went from bad to worse. Then it was Stillman that also slid into Marc-Andre Fleury and knocked him off his normal spot on a night where MAF was standing on his head against the Boston Bruins. Luckily for Stillman, they somehow called goalie interference on the Boston Bruins that wiped out the possible Charlie Coyle game-winner. And instead the Bruins had to wait for Matt Grzelcyk’s OT game-winning heroics to win the game in the extra session.

TURNING POINT: The turning point was the third period play where it looked like Charlie Coyle scored the go-ahead goal on a nice, spinning shot on net. Instead of ruling it a goal, the ref called it “no goal” on the ice due to goaltender interference on the Boston Bruins. But replays showed that the only significant interference was Blackhawks defenseman Riley Stillman crashing into MAF’s body while spinning him around as Coyle rifled in the game-winner. Instead, the Boston Bruins went to overtime and waited for Taylor Hall to feed Matt Grzelcyk for a big-time winning goal. It was to the point with the replay that the Boston Bruins challenged the call on the ice, but somehow the NHL’s Situation Room upheld the “no goal” call on a player that didn’t look interference in the least.

HONORABLE MENTION: It’s all Marc-Andre Fleury. The well-traveled puck-stopper finished with 46-of-48 saves and was the biggest reason that the overmatched Chicago Blackhawks were able to salvage a point against a Bruins team looking to get things done.

The athleticism of Marc-Andre Fleury on display. 🌸 pic.twitter.com/yLMeOjXN3p

— Allan Walsh (@walsha) March 16, 2022

Whether it was stopping 14 shots when the Blackhawks were dominated in the first period or Marc-Andre Fleury standing on his head as the Bruins peppered him with shots in the second period, it required brilliant, perfect offensive plays to get the puck into the Blackhawks net. And Marc-Andre Fleury somehow got a goalie interference call on another Charlie Coyle shot that got past him in the third period as well.

BY THE NUMBERS: 1,000 – the number of NHL regular season games for Boston Bruins winger Nick Foligno in a milestone moment for a great pro. Pretty cool that the Bruins will recognize his milestone at TD Garden on April 2 when the Columbus Blue Jackets are in town.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “I didn’t like the call at all, and I’ve watched it ten times and I still don’t see where it’s interference. I thought that was a good goal all day long.” –Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy on a Charlie Coyle goal that would have been the game-winner but was wiped out by a goalie interference call on the ice and a subsequent coach’s challenge that was turned away by the NHL’s Situation Room.