The Boston Bruins have been at the top of the NHL standings all season, but have been hitting their first cold stretch of the season. They went on a three-game losing streak just before the all-star break, losing to the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Carolina Hurricanes. They managed to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 in their last game before the break, but they lost to the Washington Capitals in their first game back 2-1. Their next game came on Tuesday, January 14 against the Dallas Stars, the first-place team in the Western Conference. In the battle of the top teams in each conference, Boston got the win in overtime to get their first win after the all-star break and their 40th win of the season.

The Bruins got off to a better start when David Krejci sent a pass to Hampus Lindholm, who skated behind the net and set up a wide-open Taylor Hall in front of the net who buried it. Hall’s 16th goal of the year gave Boston a 1-0 lead with 9:27 left in the first period.

Dallas would respond less than two minutes later when Jason Robertson gave a pass to Roope Hintz who buried it on the backhand. This score would notch his 23rd goal of the year to tie the game at one. The game went into the first intermission with a score of 1-1.

The Stars would break the tie just 4:17 into the second period when Jason Robertson scored his 34th goal of the year. Boston was able to hold off the Stars for the rest of the period sending the game into the second intermission with Dallas leading 2-1.

In typical Bruins fashion, they came out flying in the third period and their efforts ended up paying off when Brandon Carlo set up Pavel Zacha who scored his 12th goal of the year with 9:48 left in the period. The game remained tied at two for the rest of the period to send the game to overtime.

Overtime lasted for 3:44 and came to an end when David Pastrnak passed the puck to Charlie McAvoy, while he was entering the zone. He skated up to the right faceoff dot and sent a pass across the ice back to Pastrnak who buried it on a one-timer. Pastrnak’s overtime winner was his 39th goal of the year.

The Bruins will look to carry this momentum into their game against the Nashville Predators on Thursday night.