BOSTON — The Bruins aren’t to be pushed around and they proved that when hosting the Blue Jackets at TD Garden on Thursday night.
Boston and Colombus, who combined for 15 penalties, engaged in fisticuffs on three occasions during the 2-1 Bruins overtime victory. Jakub Lako, Trent Frederic and Brandon Carlo each found themselves in the penalty box, serving their time for delivering a trio of crowd-roaring brawls against the Blue Jackets.
Head coach Jim Montgomery, understanding his players’ perspectives afterward, applauded the Bruins for standing their ground and defending one another.
“What I like is how Lauko did that, how Frederic didn’t let our captain get abused,” Montgomery said. “There’s something to pay for that when you come to Boston and you do something like that.”
Lauko kicked off the fight-filled night, putting up his dukes for his first career NHL fight, against Billy Sweezey. Lauko provided a much-needed spark for the Bruins by taking matters into his own hands (or fists), which arrived just minutes before Tyler Bertuzzi netted a game-tying goal in Boston’s first power play opportunity.
“I just feel like we were kind of flat. So I think it was a great opportunity, great moment to like get the guys going and get the crowd going,” Lauko said. “I think we scored there right after so I think it paid off and happy that we won. … I will fight when it’s necessary.”
The rumble continued when Frederic took exception to a cross-check from Lance Pederson to Patrice Bergeron — also in the second period. However, that fight took just seconds to be resolved as Frederic dropped Pederson to the seat of his pants with a vicious right hand before the officials separated the two.
Then in the third period, Carlo dropped the gloves with Boone Jenner after getting drilled from behind and into the side boards.
The Bruins, who improved to a league-best 58-12-5 and clinched the Presidents’ Trophy, certainly had their work cut for them.
