Boston Bruins: Tyler Seguin Gets His Rhythm Back in a Timely Fashion

To begin the night preceding Thanksgiving, the Boston Bruins initially regressed to where they were two nights prior to Halloween. Penalty trouble had effectively amounted to Boston’s first two-goal deficit since its last loss in Montreal back on Oct. 29.

That pothole lasted all of eight minutes and 15 seconds before Tyler Seguin whittled it in half with his own power-play strike at 3:37 of the second period.

With that, Seguin revitalized a frostbitten stick that had not batted any biscuits home in the previous four games, to say nothing of the new life he instilled to his team in a turbulent confrontation with the Buffalo Sabres.

The Sabres renewed their multi-goal advantage less than eight minutes later, but the Bruins reiterated their elasticity when Brad Marchand converted at the 16:00 mark. That play featured Seguin setting up Patrice Bergeron for the primary helper.

With that, Seguin had his first multi-point effort since the Bruins’ previous encounter with these same Sabres, when his 2-1-3 log piloted a 6-2 triumph at TD Garden.

This time around, Seguin’s contributions proved a pivotal springboard for what might have been Boston’s hardest-earned victory (a 4-3 shootout decision) in its now 10-game, November-long win streak.

From Marchand’s goal onward, the Bruins finished regulation on a 15-8 run in the shooting gallery. Zdeno Chara slugged one home on another power play with 16:25 to spare, thus forcing overtime and the subsequent shootout, clinched by Benoit Pouliot in the bottom half of the fifth round.

As encouraged as Boston buffs ought to be with the way their team carried on without Seguin’s celestial characteristics the previous four games, he needed to start blowing a second wind sooner rather than later. Wednesday’s adventure was a telling example.

Leading up to his goal, Seguin’s team was being outshot, 17-12. By night’s end, they had flip-flopped that five-shot gap to a 39-34 edge.

Even after he broke their ice, the Bruins continued to fight a losing battle on the physical front. Buffalo ultimately boasted a stunning, 39-24 advantage in the way of body-checks.

And more to the point, a 2-0 disadvantage typically calls for more than a third-line, fourth-line or blue-line bailout. Boston’s top six in general had been nursing a collective cold streak, including a combined zero points in both last Thursday’s bout with Columbus and Monday night’s return trip to Montreal.

But while they could get away with that in 2-1 and 1-0 wins, the two-goal hole at the first intermission signaled a new threat to the winning streak not seen, heard or felt at any previous point in the month.

By the same token, once their only genuine offensive specimen of star power hopped back on the board to reduce the deficit by 50 percent, the Bruins were doubtlessly splashed with a wave of catharsis.

Seguin’s infectious revitalization showed up all along the rest of Wednesday’s scoresheet entries. Upon collaborating with him on both of Boston’s first two goals, Bergeron collected two assists after going the previous three games without any.

Milan Lucic, the focal point in this game’s top side story, had only one point to speak of in his previous five outings, dispelling the buzz he had generated when he racked up eight goals and 13 points in eight games between Oct. 20 and Nov. 10.

Lucic’s partnering pivot, David Krejci, entered Wednesday night’s action with zero points in the last five games, and so soon after he had logged a 2-5-7 transcript in three outings.

They both took a small, yet impactful step back in the right direction when they set up Chara’s third-period equalizer. And while he did not score firsthand himself, Krejci did land four shots on net, matching a season-high and equating his total from Nov. 7, the last time he did tune the mesh.

Even if Pouliot and goaltender Tim Thomas had not put the final touches of triumph on this one and if they had been forced to settle for a single point, the Bruins would have a bountiful new batch of conviction to take back home.

No better time for that, considering they have the Detroit Red Wings on deck for their annual Black Friday matinee. If Seguin and the rest of the top six had not snapped their mini-slumps on Wednesday―let alone in such a pleasurably arduous winning cause―they might be entering the Detroit matchup with a sense of desperation and a dash of apprehension.

Instead, they can go in feeling refreshed and reinforced in the wake of a productive road trip. And they can mesh that with a sense of confidence to prolong their November thrill ride and a touch of determination to avenge last February’s mortifying home-and-home sweep.

The Bruins didn’t have a Seguin-like player back then. Not in the sense of this Seguin, who as of Wednesday has already exceeded his rookie output in 54 fewer games.

They have him now, even if he did go missing for a week.