And for much of Monday's game in Pittsburgh, the Bruins looked like a team still reeling from that devastating defeat as they fell behind the Penguins 2-0.
But just 48 hours after their own collapse, the Bruins showed some amazing resiliency as they staged their own astounding comeback, scoring four goals in the final 3:23 of the third to pull out a 4-2 victory.
Zdeno Chara, who took much of the criticism for Saturday's loss as he was on the ice for all three Canadiens goals, then refused to speak to reporters after the game, started the comeback with a power-play strike with 3:23 left. There was just two seconds remaining on Brooks Orpik's boarding call when Chara's one-timer from the right point went in, giving the Bruins their first power-play goal since Mark Recchi's last-minute game-winner in Tampa Bay back on Dec. 28.
The Bruins were just getting started though, as they pulled even with a goal just 12 seconds later. Greg Campbell got that play going with a long shot in from the left wing. Patrice Bergeron collected the rebound and got it over to Brad Marchand, who banged it home at the top of the crease as a stunned CONSOL Energy Center crowd fell silent.
While the Canadiens needed overtime to complete their comeback and allowed the Bruins to salvage a point on Saturday, Boston wasn't in as giving a mood on Monday. Another Pittsburgh penalty, this time a holding call to Jordan Staal with 2:08 to play, let the suddenly red-hot Bruins' power play settle this one in regulation.
Recchi did the honors with his 200th career power-play tally, following up a Michael Ryder shot with a rebound in front.
And unlike Saturday, when Chara missed an open net in the final minute when the Bruins had a chance to close out the win, Campbell iced this one the proper way with an empty-net goal in the closing seconds.
After the game, Recchi credited coach Claude Julien for keeping things positive in the wake of Saturday's setback.
"Coach had a great talk with us before [the game] about how he believes in us No. 1, and how we should believe we're a good hockey club," Recchi said on the Versus broadcast. "We played 55 good minutes the other night in Montreal. They got a fluky goal on the power play and they tied it up late, but we still got a point. We have to believe in ourselves. We have to believe we're a good team. We've got to build. We've got 41 [games left] and to make the process go well throughout the rest of the year."
The rest of the year would go just fine if the Bruins could keep playing in Pittsburgh. Or more accurately, if they could keep playing third periods in Pittsburgh.
In their first meeting with the Penguins on November 10, the Bruins entered the third trailing 4-2 and rallied for five unanswered goals in a 7-4 win. After Monday, they've now outscored Pittsburgh 9-0 in the third period in two meetings.
"The last time we were here [it was] the same result," Recchi said. "We came back from three goals down and were able to win 7-4. We knew we could do it. We believed in ourselves and we did it."
The Bruins won't be making any more trips to Pittsburgh this year unless they meet in the playoffs. They'll have to try to carry the momentum from this one back to the Garden, where they open a four-game homestand on Tuesday against Ottawa.
And they'll have to hope the positive energy from this dramatic comeback lasts much longer than the negative effects of Saturday's defeat.
