The Boston Bruins fought through 65 minutes of timed hockey, but that wasn’t enough to come away from Monday’s preseason opener with a victory.
Boston lost to the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout, 3-2, after Sam Gagner’s nifty goal ended things following a scoreless five-minute overtime period.
Sam Gagner in the shootout is unfair #CBJ pic.twitter.com/i4WtQMB1Bj
— Marina Maher (@marinakmaher) September 27, 2016
Despite never leading in the game, Boston didn’t find itself playing catch-up for too long, either.
After a scoreless first period, Columbus found the net just 2:34 into the second period when Sonny Milano scored a power-play goal to give his team a 1-0 advantage. Boston didn’t take long to answer, though, as Jimmy Hayes took a feed from Jake DeBrusk and Austin Czarnik on a rush to even the score at 1 just over a minute later at 3:56.
The Blue Jackets went to the dressing room with a lead, though, as Daniel Zaar beat Bruins goalie Anton Khudobin to jump ahead 2-1.
Bruins prospect Danton Heinen erased the Blue Jackets’ lead pretty quickly in the third period, however, when he scored just 1:08 to make it 2-2.
That’s where things would remain for the next 23:52 of action, including a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime period.
Ultimately, Gagner’s goal proved to be the game-winner, as Riley Nash, DeBrusk and Peter Mueller were unable to cash in on their shootout opportunities.
Thumbnail photo via Bob DeChiara/USA TODAY Sports Images
