Whether it’s in early October or late April – overtime games are always thrilling and after 15 overtime/shootout losses last season, the Boston Bruins start off the 2024-25 campaign with an undefeated post-regulation record, thanks to David Pastrnak‘s third goal of the season – winning the game in overtime. Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman stopped 31 of the 32 shots he faced, Elias Lindholm buried the game-tying goal for his fifth point in three games and Boston goes on their first multi-game winning streak of the season.
Matthew Poitras Shines in Season Debut
Matthew Poitras‘ season debut was delayed a couple games due to an undisclosed injury, but in Saturday’s (Oct. 12) win over the Los Angeles Kings, it looked like he hadn’t missed a step. He led all Bruins players in expected goals for (xGF) at 5v5 with 0.81 expected goals, had the third-lowest expected goals against (xGA) at 0.10 and had the best shots for percentage (SF%) on the entire roster at all strengths, out-shooting the Kings 10-5.
In the overtime session that lasted only 3:07, Poitras played 1:28 (47%) spread out over two shifts. During that time, Poitras was all over the ice at both ends, trying to make offensive plays and then hustling back on the backcheck. On Pastrnak’s overtime winner, Poitras received a quick pass from Mason Lohrei who performed an excellent stick check on a pressing Kings player, stopped at the blue line – awaiting Pastrnak across the zone. Pastrnak fed it over to Lohrei who returned it back to Pastrnak for the open shot and the win. Poitras’ display of patience at the very end of his 48-second shift to avoid the defender and make an intelligent pass rather than just flinging the puck to relieve pressure was pivotal and allowed Boston to get the scoring chance.
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