The Bruins showed some fight in their season finale on Tuesday at the Garden, but in the end they just couldn’t finish the job. The result was emblematic of their season. The B’s wiped out a two-goal deficit only to see Brian Dumoulin beat Jeremy Swayman from the top of the left circle in overtime to lift the playoff-bound New Jersey Devils to a 5-4 win.
The point gained in the OT loss also muddied the B’s draft positioning, as they pulled even in points with Philadelphia, who lost to Columbus on Tuesday. The Flyers have one game left against Buffalo and if they get a point, the B’s will finish with the fourth draft slot. If they’re tied in points, the B’s will bump up to the fifth slot becuase tey have the tiebreaker over Philly in regulation wins.
With the lottery factored in, the B’s could pick first, second, fourth, fifth, sixth or seventh at the moment. The Devils had been limping toward the post-season, coming into the Garden on a three-game losing streak which included the B’s 7-2 shellacking of them in Newark last week. But they came out of the gate strong, peppering Swayman with the first six shots of the game and taking the first lead at 7:25.
Timo Meier took a feed from Brett Pesce and, from a prime scoring area inside the right circle, beat Swayman to the far side over the blocker. The B’s – namely, their top line – pushed back. On a delayed penalty, David Pastrnak fed Seventh Player Award winner Morgan Geekie, who ripped a long-range one-tim.
