Bruins defeat Blackhawks on McAvoy OT goal, get fifth straight win

CHICAGO -- Charlie McAvoy scored 1:19 into overtime, and the Boston Bruins extended their winning streak to five games with a 2-1 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center on Wednesday.

McAvoy went to the net and tapped in Jake DeBrusk's pass from the left face-off circle on the rush 14 seconds after Boston killed a power play.
"I was just trying to go to the back post, and what a pass," McAvoy said of his first goal in 57 games, dating to March 27, 2019. "He put it right on my stick, and the rest is history. Everybody was saying, 'It's coming, it's coming.' Their response there was pretty neat.
"They were all busting my chops, but hopefully from there, a little more confidence and just start to maybe see more things go in for me."
WATCH: [All Bruins vs. Blackhawks highlights]
Chicago's Drake Caggiula scored shorthanded with 1:05 remaining in the third period on a delayed penalty against Boston defenseman Torey Krug, but the play had been blown dead.
"They made a mistake, blew the whistle," Blackhawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. "Not much you can say after that. It's done."
Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said, "We heard the whistle on the bench. So if they'd have counted it, I was like, 'Wait a minute.' There was definitely a whistle."
Sean Kuraly scored for Boston (33-10-12), which leads the Atlantic Division by seven points over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves in his third straight win.

Alex DeBrincat scored for the Blackhawks (25-21-8), who have lost three of their past four games (1-1-2) and trail the Calgary Flames by two points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Robin Lehner made 38 saves in his first start since Jan. 21.
"Feel like we could've won that game," Chicago captain Jonathan Toews said. "Last game [a 3-2 overtime loss at the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday], same thing. We're not satisfied with it, we know we need to come up with two points every night."
Boston was coming off a 4-0 win at home against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
"We're typically pretty good in back-to-backs (4-3-1 in the second game), as is Chicago (9-1-1), and a lot of it has to do with both teams having two really good goalies," Cassidy said. "You put either one in there, you have a chance to win. And both were good tonight."

DeBrincat knocked in the rebound of a Kirby Dach shot on the power play to put the Blackhawks up 1-0 at 6:50 of the second period.
Kuraly tied the game 1-1 at 12:49 of the second when he skated out from behind the net and beat Lehner five-hole from the bottom of the right circle.
"That doesn't usually go in, but sometimes it's a rebound right off to the back side and usually guys are there," Kuraly said. "So I was just thinking get the puck to the net, funnel it, see what happens, and that one trickled in."

They said it

"We're such a close group, and I could feel everyone's genuine happiness for me. We all share that with each other when everybody does good things. That was special." -- Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy on the celebration following his OT goal, which ended a 56-game goal drought
"All in all, [Boston's] one of the best teams in the League there and we stuck with it and we hung with them. It could have easily been us that had the win today. There's definitely some growth." -- Blackhawks goalie Robin Lehner

Need to know

The Bruins have outscored their opponents 17-5 during their five-game winning streak. ... Boston had killed 13 straight penalties over three games prior to DeBrincat's goal. ... Dach extended his point streak to a season-high five games (one goal, five assists). ... Colliton didn't have an update on rookie defenseman Adam Boqvist, who left the game at 6:13 of the second period after a hit by Boston forward David Krejci, who received a boarding minor.

What's next

Bruins: Host the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday (3 p.m. ET; NESN, FS-A, FS-A PLUS, NHL.TV)
Blackhawks: At Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (7 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN, TVAS, NBCSCH+, NHL.TV)