Talking Points: Boston Bruins Grind For OT Win in Dallas

Here are the Talking Points from the Boston Bruins 3-2 overtime win with a playoff feel over the Dallas Stars at the American Airlines Center on Tuesday night.

GOLD STAR: Pavel Zacha just made plays when the Boston Bruins absolutely needed him to in victory. First it was a third period laser to the top corner that tied up the game after the B’s scratched and clawed through the game, and then it was Zacha bringing the puck up the ice in overtime in a sequence that set up the overtime game-winner. Zacha fed it to David Pastrnak, who dished quickly to Charlie McAvoy and then moved to open ice for the one-time rocket that barely beat Jake Oettinger for the game-winner. Pastrnak finished with a goal and two points for his 39^th goal of the season and had a plus-1 rating in 21:11 of ice time while firing a game-high eight shots on net and 10 shot attempts. Pastrnak even found time to block three shots if you can believe it.

DAVID PASTRNAK CALLS GAME pic.twitter.com/5nPc54TcbY

— Marina Maher (@marinakmaher) February 15, 2023

Zacha had five shot attempts and was the only Bruins player with a plus-2 rating in his 16:58 of ice time in an impactful game.

BLACK EYE: Linus Ullmark made up for it a little bit later, but he was very shaky right out of the chute in his first game back after a long break following his NHL All-Star appearance. Both goals allowed by the Bruins were on shots that one is typically used to seeing the B’s netminder swallow up, including a Josh Robertson shot in transition that somehow went between the Swedish netminder’s leg pads to give Dallas a 2-1 lead in the second period. Fortunately for the Boston Bruins Ullmark ended up getting things together and was able to make a big leg pad save on Robertson in the third period while fully extended trying to keep the puck out of the net.

TURNING POINT: The turning point was Linus Ullmark pulling out all the stops in overtime while stopping all six shots he faced as the Boston Bruins had to kill off a Dallas power play in overtime. Once Ullmark stopped the big threat from Dallas with Brad Marchand in the box then the Bruins counter-punched and saw David Pastrnak score the game-winner on a slick pass from Charlie McAvoy that he was able to one-time past Jake Oettinger for the game-winner. The Boston Bruins penalty kill was important throughout the game, but perhaps never more so than in OT when Brandon Carlo and Derek Forbort were doing some prime penalty killing.

Certainly the Boston Bruins siblings were pumped after the victory.

Leona Zacha and the rest of the Bruins' siblings are loving it after Pavel Zacha's game-tying goal. pic.twitter.com/4g3nob2CR5

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 15, 2023

HONORABLE MENTION: Jason Robertson has risen to superstar status with the Dallas Stars, and he did his best on Tuesday night scoring a second period goal that had given the Stars a go-ahead lead. Robertson finished with a goal, two points and a plus-1 in 19:51 of ice time with five shots on net, 10 shot attempts and a couple of hits and a giveaway in a strong performance. The Stars forward scored his 34^th goal of the season while Pastrnak scored his 39^th goal for the game-winner, so it was a bit of a battle of the NHL scoring stars that the Boston Bruins ended up getting the upper hand in.

BY THE NUMBERS: 12-for-62 on faceoffs — The Boston Bruins had about as bad a performance at the faceoff dot as you can have against the Dallas Stars.

QUOTE TO NOTE: “Tough game. Playoff feel. These are the games you’re going to see down the road. So obviously a big team win and a good way to start the road trip.” –David Pastrnak to NESN postgame on a playoff-style win over the Dallas Stars.