Bruins blow two-goal lead, lose to Devils in OT, 4-3

If the Bruins really want to make the playoffs, earning just one point on a night like Monday in Newark is not going to cut it.

The Bruins coughed up a 2-0 first period lead to an also-ran New Jersey Devils and lost 4-3 in overtime.

After Charlie McAvoy hit the post at one end, Paul Cotter scored his second of the game with six seconds to go in overtime. The rebound of the McAvoy shot bounced out to Dougie Hamilton and he shoveled it up to Cotter for the breakaway GWG.

The B’s did battle back to tie the game and had chances to win it in regulation but their power play let them down once again.

Cotter had given the Devils their first lead of the game at 2:50 of the third period. Max Tsyplakov made a nice move to get on the inside of Jonathan Aspirot and made a nice backhand pass to Cotter for the goal past Joonas Korpisalo.

But David Pastrnak responded with his second goal of the game on a pretty play off the rush. With Marat Khusnutdinov with the middle drive, Pastrnak toe-dragged the puck from the right wing into the slot and beat Jacob Markstrom on a backhander 1:42 after the Cotter goal.

The B’s then got a break. Mark Kastelic was initially handed a five-minute major for a high hit on Cotter when Cotter was engaged with Tanner Jeannot along the boards. Before it was sorted out, Johnathan Kovacevic went after Kastelic to avenge the hit and would get an extra two minutes. Then after a review, Kastelic’s major was downgraded to a two-minute minor, essentially wiping out what would have been Devils’ power play.

Then the B’s got their first PP of the game when Nico Hischier tripped Khusnutdinov in the Boston zone. After Charlie McAvoy and Connor Brown were given matching minors, Nick Bjugstad tripped Viktor Arvidsson, giving them a 23-second 5-on-3 at 12:22. As was the case on Saturday in Washington when handed a similar situation, the B’s did nothing with the advantages.

Jonathan Aspirot took a tripping penalty with 4:31 left in the third but the Devils wiped that out when Dawson Mercer committed an offensive zone interference penalty with 47 seconds left on the Aspirot. But again, they could not capitalize and the PP fell to 4-for-35 since the Olympic break. And for the second time in as many games, the game went to an extra session.

Two points would have been nice, maybe imperative, considering they have to travel to Montreal to play the Canadiens on Tuesday. But they let a winnable game get away from them again.

The B’s played a good first period and were rewarded for it with a 2-0 lead on goals.

The first one came at 4:02 off the stick of Pastrnak. Henri Jokiharju, inserted back in the lineup after seven straight healthy scratches, delivered a right point shot that produced a big rebound off goalie Markstrom. It hit Pastrnak in the chest and, all alone from the bottom of left circle, he made couple of dekes to entice Markstrom to open his pads and he slipped it through for his 25th goal. It is the ninth time in his career that he’s hit the 25-goal mark.

At 14:29, the B’s pounced on a neutral zone turnover to double the lead. The Devils’ Arseny Gritsyuk toe-picked and lost the puck to Charlie McAvoy, who quickly zipped it up to Viktor Arvidsson for a quick 2-on-1. Arvidsson dished it to Pavel Zacha for Zacha’s 20th of the season. The helper extended McAvoy’s point streak to seven games.

Fraser Minten also had an opportunity to make it 3-0 when a fortuitous bounce found him in the slot and Markstrom out of the net. But defenseman Jonas Seigenthaler slid to block what looked like a sure goal with his skate.

Korpisalo got his first start since he and the Bruins’ blew a 3-0 lead and lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime on March 8 and he did have to make a couple of good saves in the first period. Off a bad change by the B’s, Timo Meier broke in alone but Korpisalo thwarted his first shot and just managed to get his pad down to smother Meier’s follow-up. He also made a nice pad stop on a Nico Hischier deflection.

But nothing is ever easy for the B’s on the road.

The Devils got on the board just 32 seconds into the second period. The B’s were caught flat-footed high in the Jersey zone and American Olympic hero Jack Hughes stole the puck from Arvidsson. Hughes sent Connor Brown off on a breakaway and he buried it over Korpisalo’s glove to make it 2-1.

Another turnover at the Devil blue line, this time by McAvoy, led to the equalizer at 8:08. McAvoy tried an ill-advised turnaround pass that Jack Hughes again stole. This time he turned it into a 3-on-2 that was finished off by Jesper Bratt, whose one-timer got through Korpisalo. It was a good looking play, but Korpisalo was in position to make the stop but did not.

That gave the Devils all sorts of juice. The B’s were forced to ice the puck several times out of desperation and then Pastrnak took the first penalty of the game, other than the first period Mark Kastelic-Brenden Dillon fight. But the B’s were able to kill it off and slink their way to the dressing room, grateful they were still in a tie game going into the third. They were outshot, 17-8 in the second.

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