Brad Marchand dropped the goat horns just in time to avert disaster and lift the Bruins to a 4-3 victory over the Calgary Flames at the Garden on Thursday.

After a lost attack in the offensive zone, Elias Lindholm stole the puck behind the net and passed Marchand in front. Dustin Wolf made the first save, but Marchand was able to get his backhand off the rebound and sweep it back into the net for the winner, his second OT winner of the season, with 20 seconds left in the extra session. It was his 21st career OT goal.

“That’s why he’s our captain, and that’s why he’s one of our best players,” Charlie Coyle said. “It’s just another day for him.”

Marchand had taken a bad penalty early in the third period that led to Calgary erasing a two-goal Bruin lead. It was an unnecessary penalty after the whistle. He didn’t even get his money’s worth. Redeeming oneself served as a powerful motivation.

“That was obviously a bad penalty to take, a bad time in the game. The start of the period usually determines how your team is going to play throughout the period,” Marchand said. “That’s just a bad punishment to take, so I definitely wanted to try to redeem myself. It doesn’t make it right, but it’s two points.”

Marchand, who played on a line with Elias Lindholm all night, was with the puck all night. He had a game-high eight shots on net, not including the two that hit the posts.

“I thought he was desperate the whole game,” coach Jim Montgomery said. “He hit a couple of poles, I thought he was at his peak, I thought he skated well. But his ability to bounce back and just keep going on the second and third tries should become contagious for our team because he’s a great leader.”

Elias Lindholm has struggled to make his mark in his first season with the Bruins. He was stoned again earlier in the match after a nice set-up by Marchand. But the overtime was his biggest moment yet. He lost the draw in the offensive zone, but never gave up the game.

“He did a great job chasing the puck after the faceoff, he started jumping on the D and he jumped on it and won the battle big time,” Marchand said. “He brought it forward and the rest is history.”

This had the hallmarks of another bad L. Goalkeeping in this season, governed by Murphy’s Law, stretches of good play have been punctuated by mental errors and miscues. A soft goal, the bad penalty and a blowout led to the three Calgary counts.

The Bruins started the game with some bounce, taking their first lead of the game just 2:04 into the game on a nice play. Montgomery tried the Pavel Zacha-David Pastrnak combination again, with Zacha at center and Tyler Johnson on the left wing, and it immediately paid off with a goal.

Pastrnak took a pass from Zacha on the right wing, made a tight circle at the top of the right faceoff circle and saw Hampus Lindholm cut inside from the left point. Lindholm took the puck to his backhand and beat Wolf with a backhander to cap off a nice play.

But the B’s couldn’t build any momentum from that.

Just 19 seconds later, the Flames won a draw in the Boston zone back to Tyson Barrie on the blue line and Joonas Korpisalo responded late to Barrie’s long wrister, allowing a grueling goal.

“I’m not too happy with myself there,” admitted Korpisalo, who came back to make 33 saves, including three in OT.

Bruin’s disturbing habit of taking penalties continued late in the first period. First Mason Lohrei was called for cross-checking in the defensive zone and after the B’s took it down, Nikita Zadorov took his lead 11th minor on a trip into the offensive zone.

The B’s killed most of that as well, with Marchand ending the Calgary power play when he forced Wolf to take a tripping penalty behind the Calgary net. On the ensuing power play, Marchand nearly gave the B’s the lead again when he hit the post with about nine seconds left in the period.

Early in the second period, in a 4-on-4 situation, Marchand hit the post again after a 2-on-1 attack on Charlie Coyle.

But the B’s would eventually extinguish the Flames for two goals in 21 seconds in the middle period.

At 8:25 the B’s were finally able to regain the lead and again it was the new first line that scored. Pastrnak fought through a Justin Kirkland check along the right boards and managed to get a deflected pass to Zacha. Before the puck even settled, Zacha ripped a one-timer past Wolf for his second goal of the year.

Montgomery tried several combinations and another new group – Cole Koepke-Coyle-Matt Poitras – extended the lead on the next shift. Coyle stole the puck in the neutral zone and then worked his way to the net along the right side before dishing over the top of the crease to Koepke for a tap-in, his fourth of the year.

But nothing comes easy for this Bruins team. Nine seconds into the period, Marchand got into some pushing and shoving with Martin Pospisil, who was thrown out of the game here last year for a high hit on Marchand. The B captain got the last shot and paid for it with the only penalty in the series, and not a good one.

On advantage, Yegor Sharangovich directed a point shot from Mackenzie Weegar past Korpisalo to make it a one-goal game after 58 seconds.

And then the Flames tied the score at 9:55 on a botched play in the offensive zone. The B’s looked like they had numbers on offense. Coyle carried the puck into the zone, but just before he could make a play, he fell to the ground. With Charlie McAvoy supporting Coyle on offense, the Flames were able to counter with a 2-on-1 and Nazem Kadri knocked the puck over Korpisalo’s glove to equalize.

But over time, Marchand pulled the B’s bacon – and his own – out of the fire. The journey may have taken some annoying zigzagging, but they did arrive at their desired destination, which is no small feat for this 7-71 team.

Originally published: November 7, 2024 at 9:52 PM EST