It really shouldn’t come as a major surprise at this point, but the Boston Bruins continue to clearly demonstrate they have “the stuff” to be a playoff team this spring.
It remains to be seen how it’s going to play out for them and Tuesday night’s home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs was as unimpressive as it gets for the Black and Gold, but it was more than offset by the B’s shaking off some third period troubles to knock off the Sabres in overtime in a 4-3 comeback road victory at the KeyBank Center on Wednesday night.
The win allowed the B’s to open up a three-point cushion on the top wild card playoff spot and pulled them into a tie with the Montreal Canadiens for the third playoff spot in the Atlantic Division, though the Habs hold two games in hand on the Black and Gold entering Thursday.
It was a gutsy “W” for the Bruins, and a super vital character check on the second night of a back-to-back following a really “embarrassing” home loss in the team’s own words.
“I’m proud of the game and the way we answered after [the loss to Toronto]. We played a heck of a team that’s rolling pretty good,” said David Pastrnak,who finished with three points and a plus-3 in a superstar effort on the ice. “A little slow start, we went into the third and they’re a good team and they obviously came hard and scored shorthanded. That can’t happen. But credit to our group for sticking with it and we get the tying goal, and no matter how long it takes we stick with it for a huge two points.”
It’s a funny thing with this Bruins team, as many prognosticators, fans, and followers have been almost anxiously waiting for the bottom to drop out for this group of hockey players, and at every turn, they simply do not let it happen. On Wednesday night, there was a horrendous sequence in the third period for Mason Lohrei where he was burnt by Zach Benson for a shorthanded goal after losing a 1-on-1 battle, and then foolishly took a cross-checking penalty in a fit of pique after Benson scored the tying goal.
Mason Lohrei just unraveling out there pic.twitter.com/iiIGalwFJc— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) March 26, 2026
Jason Zuckerfinished on the ensuing power play to stun the Bruins with two Buffalo goals in the span of 33 seconds to take the lead in the third period, and many assumed the B’s were cooked at that point.
“[Lohrei] knows he messed up and he needs to get the job done. He’s got to learn the hard way. He’s been pretty damn good all year long,” said Marco Sturm. “He had a tough start and the last three or four games [have been a little off], so now we need to make sure he gets back on track. But mistakes happen and that’s why you have teammates that bail you out.
“It was just a great [team] effort. We’re very happy to grab those two points. Huge points, but I liked the response [in the third period] even better. I still believe that we deserved to win [that one].”
As it’s been on many nights for the Bruins this season, it was a pair of second-line forwards that stepped up when the team needed a play. Casey Mittelstadt scored his 14th goal of the season to tie things up after a Jonathan Aspirotpoint blast wildly caromed off the end boards to a waiting Mittelstadt at the front of the net.
Casey MIttelstadt 3-3 pic.twitter.com/7XT9ko6pBd— Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) March 26, 2026
That set things up for overtime, where Pavel Zacha won the opening faceoff, and the Bruins trio of Zacha, David Pastrnak, and Charlie McAvoynever lost possession of the puck while patiently reloading out of the offensive zone until they got the exact entry they were looking for.
Pastrnak fed Zacha speeding in on the wing, and he beat Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen five-hole for the game-winning score and his career-best 24th score of the season, a game-winner that vaulted their playoff percentage chances into the 70-plus percent mark.
PAVEL ZACHA CALLS GAME 🚨 Bruins grab a HUGE two points and prevent Buffalo from taking the top spot in the East 😤 pic.twitter.com/ZJDjfZsfhz— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 26, 2026
“We knew how important this game was and we just kept coming,” said Zacha. “We just never gave up and came back. We know what we have in this locker room with the resilience. We’ve been through so many must-win games, so I’m happy we came back, and we can build on this one.
“It’s something we’ve been kind of working on in big moments to stick with the system and be a bit more simple. When we do that we win games. It’s not one or two guys just trying to score a goal. That’s how we win games this year.”
The effort certainly outlined the resilience and moxie that the Bruins have shown all season, coming off last season’s doldrums, and it gave a window into what could await them in the playoffs. The Bruins have elite goaltending, and their offense is better than expected, but they also have some weak spots in their lineup where youth, inexperience and defensive deficiencies are going to show themselves at the most inopportune times.
In true team fashion, however, the Bruins were able to rise above to keep their playoff push strong as other teams like Detroit and the Islanders are struggling down the stretch. Amazingly enough they have also taken points in six straight road games after struggling for a couple of months away from home ice, so that part of their game has rounded into form as well.
With 10 games remaining in the regular season, things can obviously change quickly with the margins so slim between a handful of teams fighting for three final East playoff spots. But Boston’s play down the stretch has left little doubt that they aren’t going to beat themselves when it comes to the postseason, and somebody else is truly going to need to snatch it away from them if they somehow aren’t going to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs at this point.
