Bruins Notes: Boston’s Determination Pays Off With Resilient OT Win

BOSTON — It certainly wasn’t pretty at times, but the Bruins pulled off an overtime victory against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.

The Bruins and Flames traded goals in the opening period, but then Boston scored twice in the second frame to take a 3-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of regulation.

Calgary didn’t fold. They pushed back with two goals of their own in the third period to force overtime. The Black and Gold were determined to not lose the extra point and Brad Marchand scored the game-winning goal with 20 seconds left of three-on-three play.

“We stuck with it,” Bruins defenseman Hampus Lindholm said. “Obviously, we don’t want to give up a 3-1 lead in the third, but we found a way to win a hockey game and that’s hard in this league. So, I’ll try to focus on the positives here.”

Lindholm opened the scoring for the Bruins with a first-period strike from newly reunited Czech mates David Pastrnark and Pavel Zacha.

“I feel really good about my game,” Lindholm said. “It’s nice to get put out there in situations to succeed and it makes it fun for me. Feel that reward and obviously, get a goal, is always a good feeling.”

Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery praised Lindholm not only for the goal but also for his overall performance in the game.

“I thought Hampus was really skating. I thought he was on his toes tonight,” Montgomery said. “The really good thing, when Hampus is playing really well, and that goal is a perfect example, is he’s moving his feet in the neutral zone, he’s moving it north, and he’s jumping into the offensive zone to support the play. That way it’s easier for the defensemen to be uncovered.”

Not only did Pastrnak and Zacha connect on the Lindholm goal, but the duo also helped generate some of the Bruins’ best scoring chances and Zacha scored his first five-on-five goal of the season.

“They played really well,” Montgomery said. “I thought that line was our best offensive line.”

Here are more notes from Thursday’s Bruins-Flames game:

— Marchand now has 21 overtime goals in his career, which is the most in franchise history and third-most among all NHL players behind Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. The game-winner was the 79th of his career and ranks him third in Bruins history, trailing only Johnny Bucyk (88) and Patrice Bergeron (81).

— Zacha’s second goal of the season was his 300th NHL point. He joined linemate Pastrnak, Tomas Hertl and Ondrej Palat as the fourth active player born in Czechia with 300 points.

— Cole Koepke joined Charlie Coyle and Matt Poitras on the third line and tallied his fourth goal of the season to extend the Bruins lead to 3-1 in the third period. Coyle earned his first assist of the season when he set up Koepke’s tally.

“As long as I’m playing the right way and creating opportunities, getting opportunities, that’s what I worry about. … I’m not really too worried about individual stuff,” Coyle said. “I want to play the right way for my team, make sure I’m on the right side of the puck, and pick my spots when to go and find that balance too.”

— The Bruins will look to build on the overtime win when they host former teammate Linus Ullmark and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.

The matchup could feature Boston’s former formidable goalie tandem — Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman — facing each other for the first time since the former was traded to the Senators in the offseason, or Ullmark could possibly face the goalie the Bruins received in the trade — Korpisalo.

Puck drop from TD Garden is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and you can watch the game, plus an hour of pre- and postgame coverage on NESN.