Sean Kuraly scored a game winning goal just over 10 minutes into the third period Tuesday afternoon, to lead the Boston Bruins to a come from behind 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2019 Bridgestone Winter Classic in front of 76,126 fans at Notre Dame Stadium in South Bend, Indiana. It was second largest crowd in the history of the Winter Classic in it’s 11th annual game.
Chicago (15-21-6) broke the ice first when David Kampf gathered a puck behind the Boston net and passed to a wide open Brendan Perlini who one timed the pass into the back of the net behind Bruins netminder Tuuka Rask at 8:30 of the first to make it 1-0 Hawks. Chicago nearly took a 2-0 lead 2:35 later when Connor Murphy rang one of the right post behind Rask. Boston evened the score when David Pastrnak scored his 24th of the season on the powerplay at 12:38 with a wrist shot from right in front of Hawks goalie Cam Ward. Patrick Kane had a breakaway late in the period, but was stopped by Rask with nine seconds left to keep it tied.
Dominik Kahun re-directed an Erik Gustaffson point shot at 11:24 of the second to give the Hawks back a one goal advantage 2-1. Boston (22-14-4) once again tied it on the powerplay, when captain Patrice Bergeron backhanded a pass from Pastrnak that was deflected off Chicago defenseman Brent Seabrook past Ward to make it 2-2. Chicago got a powerplay late in the period that carried over to the first 1:51 of the third period, but couldn’t convert. Shortly after, Boston had a 5 on 3 powerplay advantage that also didn’t break the tie. Kuralys game winner came on a point shot from Matt Grzelcyk that hit off Chris Wagner in front and bounced right to Kuraly, who backhanded it from the slot to give the Bruins their first lead of the day. The Hawks tried to equalize late by pulling Ward, but Brad Marchand took care of any late heroics by depositing an empty net goal with 33 seconds left to cap the win. Chicago is now 1-5 in outdoor games, while Boston improves to 2-1 in the Winter Classic. The B’s defeated Philadelphia at Fenway Park in overtime in 2010, before falling 5-1 to Montreal at Gillette Stadium back in 2016.
Rask made 36 saves to help Boston to the win. Ward stopped 32 shots in the loss. Pastrnak and Bergeron both had a goal and an assist to lead the Bruins. Boston was 2-5 on the powerplay, while Chicago was 0-4. Boston returns home to TD Garden to host Calgary on Thursday night at 7 pm.
