It Was Year of the Comeback for Bruins

BOSTON - Falling behind in any game is never the easiest path to victory. That is stating the obvious.
But if any team proved they could overcome a deficit during the 2017-18 season, it was the Boston Bruins. Backed by a tested veteran core and enthusiastic group of youngsters, the Black & Gold secured a league-best 21 victories after allowing the game's first goal during the regular season, good for a .462 winning percentage, also tops in the NHL.

Boston also notched six victories and a .214 winning percentage when trailing after two periods, the fourth-highest mark in the league.

"We never quit and we believed in our system and our game," said Tuukka Rask. "If we just played our game, we knew that at some point the results would come. A lot of games we happened to be down [by a couple goals] in the third and things just fell into place."
That belief led to some thrilling third-period performances, with five in particular that stood out to us. Here's a look back at the best Bruins comebacks of 2017-18:

1. Hurricane Bruin (March 13 at Carolina)

Of the nine Bruins we asked, seven answered with Carolina as their favorite comeback of the season. Down, 4-1, with 10 minutes to play in the third period, Boston struck for five unanswered goals in the final frame to stun the Hurricanes with a 6-4 win.
"That was probably one of the craziest comebacks I've ever been a part of, just how quickly and how it seemed like we knew we were going to do it all along," said Sean Kuraly. "It was a pretty cool feeling in the locker room after the game."
Matt Grzelcyk sparked the response when he took a Kuraly feed in the neutral zone, surged into the left circle, and fired a wrister over the glove of Cam Ward to bring the Bruins within two with 9:56 to play.
Just 56 seconds later, Pastrnak delivered with another snipe to make it 4-3, before Danton Heinen finished off a David Krejci pass to knot the game 21 seconds after that.
"Late in the third it was a pretty crazy couple minutes," said Heinen. "It was probably the best comeback I've been a part of. It was a lot of fun."

Pastrnak finished off the barrage with a laser one-timer on the power play to give Boston a 5-4 lead with 3:30 to play. The 21-year-old then added an empty-netter to secure his third-period hat trick.
"Carolina is one. I thought we were down and out," said Kevan Miller. "We were definitely behind - it was what, 4-1 in the third? - just wouldn't give up and the guys made a good comeback and that's one that kind of stuck out to me.
"After that game it was, 'Wow, we have a special group here and guys aren't quitting and we can do some good things.' That was one that stuck out for me."
Perhaps making the comeback even more impressive was that the Bruins did it down three players, having lost Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug and Jake DeBrusk to injury earlier in the game.
"We were all in the locker room getting treatment, kind of frantically in the training room and all of a sudden we hear they scored a goal, and another goal, and another goal," said Krug. "We tie the game and end up winning it in regulation. It's pretty cool."

2. Better Be-Leaf It (April 25 at TD Garden)

Coming in a close second among the players was their thrilling Game 7 victory over Toronto in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. While not facing as steep a deficit as they had in some of the other comebacks during the regular season, the Bruins three times responded from one-goal holes to tie the score.
Krug's blast from the point in the opening two minutes of the third knotted things at 4, leading to yet another third-period onslaught, highlighted by Jake DeBrusk's end-to-end effort for the winner with 14:35 to play. Pastrnak added some insurance later in the period, with Brad Marchand potting the empty-net dagger to send the Bruins to the second round for the first time since 2014.
"Probably Game 7 against Toronto," Patrice Bergeron said of his favorite comeback of the season. "It's a huge game. They took the lead three times in that game and it's pretty special to show some character and get that big win and move onto the second round."

3. Stars Struck (March 23 at Dallas)

Chara mentioned this one as his second favorite comeback of the season behind the win in Carolina. Facing a 2-0 hole heading to the third, Pastrnak got things going when his wrister from the slot deflected off of Marchand in front to pull the Bruins within a goal just 1:17 into the frame.
Marchand was in the middle of things yet again on the tying goal with 10:13 to play, when he fed Tim Schaller on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break. Schaller dangled around Kari Lehtonen with a backhand to make it 2-2.
With the game headed towards overtime, Marchand and Pastrnak teamed up once more to make any extra hockey unnecessary.
A strong forecheck by Krejci freed the puck to Marchand, who then zipped a pass to Pastrnak below the goal line. Pastrnak took the puck to the front of the net and reached around Lehtonen as he tumbled to the ice to pick up the winner with just 11 seconds to play.

4. Oil Strike (February 20 at Edmonton)

In what became a seemingly familiar spot this season, the Bruins found themselves facing a 2-0 deficit entering the third. But a grimy goal from the fourth line - Noel Acciari's bank shot off a defender out front - five minutes into the final frame ignited the B's.
Boston tied it up with 8:18 to go when Grzelcyk collected Riley Nash's behind-the-back pass and buried one into a yawning cage.
The Bruins avoided overtime when strong work from David Backes along the wall and a slick feed from Heinen led to Krejci's winner with 1:04 left in the third.

5. Good Hab-its (March 3 at TD Garden)

This one was particular sweet, given that it capped off the Bruins' 4-0 season sweep of the rival Canadiens. Down, 1-0, with 2:45 to play, DeBrusk tipped home a Nick Holden slap pass on the power play to tie the game and send things to overtime.
Marchand delivered a victory with one of his five overtime tallies on the season with 2:54 left in the extra session.