BUFFALO — Before his last shootout attempt, Ryan Spooner turned to the source with by far the most experience in shootouts: Tuukka Rask. Some of the moves Spooner had tried in the past hadn’t worked, and he figured that if anyone might be able to give him a tip or two, it would be the Bruins goaltender.
It went well. So Spooner dipped into the well again Thursday night, though he didn’t exactly follow the advice. Still, he beat former Bruins goaltender Chad Johnson for the only goal in the shootout, giving the Bruins a 3-2 win over Buffalo at the First Niagara Center.
“He asked me last time he scored,’’ Rask said. “I think he pretty much did the same move. If I see something, if I know the goalie well, I might say something. But not every time.’’
He added, with a smile, “I don’t want to take credit for him scoring.’’
The shootout goal — along with Spooner’s second-period goal — gave the Bruins a much-needed 2 points in a game in which 2 points should have been a near-guarantee. But few things have been for the Bruins this season, even against a lackluster Buffalo team playing the second night of a back-to-back with Boston playing on fresh legs.
It was a game that, despite the Bruins heading into the third period down by a goal, got good reviews from the visitors, with Zdeno Chara saying, “I thought we were really sharp, throughout the whole game.’’
This was a game, they thought, that showed improvement, that showed grit, that showed that they can pull it out at the end rather than giving up the lead, as they had done on Tuesday against the Maple Leafs.
“To me, we were as gritty as I’d seen us in a long time, doing what needed to [be done], whether it was trying to block shots and getting pucks out,’’ coach Claude Julien said. “We did the right things tonight. Even though it was a tight game, I liked our focus and the way we played through 60 minutes. It got better and at no point in the game did I feel our team lost its intensity.’’
Buffalo had gone up by two goals by the start of the second period, with Sam Reinhart tipping a shot from the point past Rask (26 saves) just 47 seconds past intermission. That came after Evander Kane’s first-period score, at 11:35, after an odd-man rush yielded to a behind-the-net pass from Brian Gionta to Kane for the goal.
It did not look good for the Bruins.
But 58 seconds after the Reinhart goal, Spooner corralled a loose puck by Johnson’s skate and snagged his 11th goal of the season. The game began to turn. And then, after starting the third period still down, Brad Marchand added his own bit of wizardry.
With 11 seconds left on the penalty kill, Marchand took control of the puck, made a wide circle around the defensive zone to kill time, and then set off toward the Buffalo net. He took the puck up ice, accelerating as he went, finally swiveling around Zach Bogosian and backhanding the puck past Johnson at 2:44, four seconds after Chara’s penalty had ended.
The game was tied, and Marchand had his eighth goal in his last eight games.
“He’s been really good,’’ Julien said. “Tonight he wasn’t just good scoring, he was good everywhere. He was good all over the ice: good skating legs and did a great job on the penalty kill, coming back. Tonight was probably a real complete game on his part — when he plays like that, he becomes one of the good players around the league, no doubt.’’
It hasn’t all been perfect for Marchand, but he is certainly happier to be on this run than on his last, a goal-less streak that stretched 11 games. He now has 23 on the season, five off his career high set in 2011-12.
“I think I can still improve on some areas, more defensively,’’ Marchand said. “At times I try to force things a little bit too much. I think that normally happens when I’m feeling confident about where I’m at and things are going right, so if I can still play smart and make the right play and clean up defensively, it’ll only help the team more.’’
And the team still needs help. Even with their third-place standing in the Atlantic, the Bruins are not anyone’s idea of a sure bet. But they made it work on Thursday, made the commitment and the late push and left Buffalo with the 2 points they needed, after an overtime in which both teams failed to score on a power play — with Patrice Bergeron robbed by a glove save.
“I think in the past we’ve been down by a goal or even up by a goal, I think we kind of get content a little bit,’’ Spooner said. “In the third period, we kind of slack off. I think tonight, the effort that we had in the third, that’s how we have to play all the time. I think it was one of our best 60-minute games of the entire year.’’
Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.
