Second period quick hits

– Well, the Bruins aren’t going down without a fight anyway. At first, it looked like past mistakes would come back to haunt them when Dennis Seidenberg and Matt Bartkowski failed to connect on a pass in their own end. That miscue led to Jonathan Marchessault putting the Bolts ahead 1-0 with his first career NHL goal. But the Black and Gold responded 52 seconds later with Loui Eriksson’s 22nd of the season on a nice feed from Carl Soderberg off Ben Bishop’s rebound to tie the game at 1-1 and that’s where we stand after the second period.

– For all of the mistakes Seidenberg and Bartkowski have made, Zach Trotman has been a pleasant surprise since being called up from Providence for an injured Dougie Hamilton. The rookie defenseman has two shots on goal and leads all skaters with five hits. Trotman is looking very comfortable in his own end and could find himself as a fixture on the B’s blue-line, but that’s a discussion for another day.

– Through two periods, the Bruins have played a solid game from end to end. They’ll need to keep that desperation going and hope the Sabres, who trail the Penguins 2-0 in the third period, can help them out in the process.

First period quick hits

– Leftover thought from pregame: This could be the last time that Bruins fans hear about Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell. The fourth line duo was healthy scratches for the second game in a row.

– Like their game in South Florida on Thursday, the Bruins got off to a pretty good start in the opening 20. Though they didn’t have as many chances, their skating game was pretty good and they brought the physicality. The Black and Gold still need to finish, but for a team fighting for their postseason life, they are at least establishing a good pace early on. Can they build off that in the next two periods?

– Brad Marchand broke his 15-game goal drought on Thursday against Florida. He is picking up right where he left off in the first period with two shots and is getting in the middle of scrums and scoring chances. That is the Marchand that Bruins fans always hope to see on a nightly basis.

– The one glaring problem from the first period aside from their lack of finish? The Bruins power play had a couple of opportunities but were only able to muster one shot on those two chances with the man advantage. Somehow, someway, the B’s will need to find their finish, otherwise they’ll be finished.

– In the second period, the Sabres and the Penguins are also scoreless. A Bruins win in regulation or overtime followed by a regulation or OT loss by the Pens would give the Black and Gold the final wild card spot. The B’s would also get in with a shootout win and a Pittsburgh loss in regulation, and although their shootout struggles are well known, they did beat the Bolts in the glorified skills competition over a month ago. (Update: Brandon Sutter gave the Pens a 1-0 lead)