Bruins storm back with wild third period to beat Blue Jackets in shootout

The Bruins have their signature comeback victory of this entertaining 2025-26 season.

After a terrible, somnambulant first period, the B’s pride kicked in and they were the better team for the final 45 minutes and beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3, in a shootout at Nationwide Arena.

The B’s climbed out of the three-goal hole with three of their own in the third period, getting two goals from Pavel Zacha and one from Charlie McAvoy.

They also had numerous chances to win it in OT but Jet Greaves made six saves.

In the shootout, Fraser Minten drew first blood but, with the game on the line, Charlie Coyle beat Jeremy Swayman on a floater.

But Viktor Arvidsson, who assisted on all three regulation goals and is proving to be a fantastic acquisition, beat Greaves on a backhander to cash the two highly improbable points.

While Arvidsson, Zacha (2-1-3), McAvoy and Swayman (21 saves) were worthy heroes of the game, the B’s looked to Tanner Jeannot and Mark Kastelic, who fought two brutal battles to stop the bleeding in the first period, as inspiration for the comeback.

“Oh my God, honestly I think we can’t thank them enough for what they do for us,” coach Marco Sturm told NESN. “Every day, not just in the room but on the ice, they answer the bell. They knew we were not good. We were not ready to go. (Columbus) pushed really hard. I think we were lucky that Sway saved us a few times. But they knew the situation, they felt it and they did something about it. This win today? It goes to those two guys.”

This game looked like a lost cause after 20 minutes.

The two teams entered the contest with much different mindsets. While the B’s were coming off one of their best outings of the year in a win over Minnesota, the Jackets were stung by a late goal in a regulation loss to San Jose on Saturday.

As a result, the Jackets looked hungry and the Bruins fat and happy.

There were immediate signs that they were not really into this game at the beginning. Right away, the Bruins allowed point-blank chances to Zach Werenski and Boone Jenner in the opening minutes that Swayman stopped.

But they could not continue playing that way without absorbing some damage. And that damage arrived at 6:17. Hampus Lindholm made an ill-advised move into the slot around a crowd of Jackets on his backhand and he turned it over, resulting in a Columbus 3-on-2. Conor Garland fed the trailer Jenner and he buried it from a prime scoring area.

Another turnover led to a 2-0 hold just 1:28 later. Andrew Peeke fanned on a breakout attempt in the corner. Kirill Marchenko moved it up to Ivan Provorov for a point shot that Mason Marchment deflected past Swayman.

Then things got heated when David Pastrnak fired a shot after the whistle and it drew a handful of Jackets, though not enough Bruins (Hampus Lindholm watched from his point position).

Then the Bruins big boys decided to make a statement after that.

First, Jeannot and Erik Gudbranson went at it in a heavyweight slugfest with 2:25 left in the period. Both combatants landed big blows, though Jeannot seemed to deliver the more damaging blows and it ended in a clinch.

Then on the next puck drop, Kastelic dropped the gloves with one of the league’s top pugilists, Mathieu Olivier, and he took more than he delivered in another brutal fight.

But before we could see if the bouts could have any positive impact, Pastrnak took a bad tripping penalty in the neutral zone. With 27.9 seconds left in the period, Coyle made it a 3-0 with a wrister over Swayman’s glove.

But the bouts made left a mark on the Bruin teammates.

“Those are the guys (who) gave a great restart for us at the end of the period. Two great fights and we kind of stepped our game after that. Big credit to them. That kind of woke us and we started going after them,” said Zacha.

After the terrible first period, the B’s started to redeem themselves with much better play in the second. They got the first nine shots in the period but could not beat Greaves. They got their first power play as well and Sturm had made adjustments to his struggling first unit, subbing in Viktor Arvidsson and Casey Mittelstadt for Elias Lindholm and Morgan Geekie. It looked a little better but the results were the same. It would eventually help win them the game, however.

The B’s held a 13-4 shot advantage in the second but they could not put a dent in their three-goal deficit.

But they were still not out of it and they finally got one by Greaves at 6:29 of the third period. Zacha won a puck battle and sent it out high to McAvoy, whose 11th goal of the season when through an Arvidsson screen and eluded Greaves.

At 8:37, the B’s got their second power-play chance on a Cole Sillinger slash and this time they cashed in. Arvidsson helped win the faceoff and got the puck back to McAvoy. Zacha deflected home the defenseman’s shot/pass for his 27th of the year and the B’s were back in the game.

The Jackets were frazzled and Jenner took an interference penalty at 10:34 but Columbus survived it.

The B’s were still pressuring but McAvoy took a tripping penalty trying maintain possession at 13:29 to slow the momentum. But they killed it and went back on the attack.

With Swayman pulled for an extra skater, Arvidsson thought he had sneaked a shortside shot past Greaves skate, but if it had gone over the line it wasn’t revealed by a review.

The Jackets took another penalty with 41 seconds left and the B’s tied it with 11 seconds left in regulation. Again, it was Arvidsson who knocked a puck loose from Coyle in the slot and Zacha pounded his 28th past Greaves.

It was only fitting that Arvidsson would finish it off in the shootout.