The Bruins were minutes away from their first 0-3-0 stretch since February on Saturday before they got renewed hope – both for the game in Chicago and the early part of their schedule – in one play. 

Johnny Boychuk, who had followed his own dump-in behind the Blackhawks’ net, sent a pass out in front to Nathan Horton, who beat Corey Crawford to tie the game and provide some statistical proof that one of Boston’s best scorers has actually been playing this season.

It had been a rough start to the season for Horton, who scored 26 goals last season and become a playoff hero. He’d had one shot on goal through the team’s first three games this season, and hadn’t registered a hit through the first four. An assist in Wednesday’s game slowly opened the door to the Horton of old, and now B’s fans can hope Saturday’s clutch goal broke the door down. The B’s went on to beat the Blackhawks in a shootout, 3-2, with Tyler Seguin scoring the only goal the team would need. 

There was perhaps no better poster child for the Bruins’ uncharacteristic early-season struggles than Horton. The Bruins hadn’t been used to a quiet Horton (not since last winter’s slump, at least) and they hadn’t been used to losing. Until Saturday, they had seen too much of both on the young season. 

Now comes the question of whether Horton and the Bruins can take whetever momentum they can find. They're coming off a big win against a good Chicago team, have two youngsters becoming legitimate players (Seguin leads the team with five points through five games, while Brad Marchand has four) and Tim Thomas is coming off a shootout victory that saw him stop Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. They won a tough one, and now they simply need to hope this is the kick in the hockey pants they needed. 

“There's a big difference between 2-3 and 1-4,” Thomas told reporters after the game. “We've got to start building somewhere.”

Thomas is right, as the Bruins have a tough week ahead of them. The Hurricanes will be in town Tuesday after beating the B’s Wednesday, with the 3-0-0 Maple Leafs and 1-2-0 Sharks visiting on Thursday and Saturday, respectively. 

SPECIAL TEAMS STILL BRING GOOD AND BAD NEWS

For as woefully unproductive as the Bruins’ power play has been, the team’s penalty kill was superb Saturday night. The likes of Zdeno Chara, Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, Daniel Paille, Chris Kelly, Rich Peverley and Gregory Campbell allowed just one shot on goal in three power plays (the third of which was abbreviated), and so far have allowed two goals on 19 opponents’ power plays. 

The cherry on top of the Bruins’ successful penalty kill came in the second period Saturday, when a shorthanded 2-on-1 saw Peverley send a saucer pass over Duncan Keith’s stick to Kelly, who then beat Crawford to tie the game at one goal apiece. 

The embarrassing part was that the tally was the Bruins’ first special teams goal – power play included – since the season-opener. Five games into the season, and the B’s have as many shorthanded goals as they do power play strikes. The struggles with a man advantage are nothing new, and though the Bruins had better chances Saturday than he had in other games this season, the numbers don’t lie. Now it’s just a question of whether the numbers will get better or worse. 

OTHERS, NOT BARTKOWSKI, GET MCQUAID'S MINUTES

Dennis Seidenberg got used to getting minutes in the high 20s and even over 30 in the postseason last year, and that paid off Saturday night. 

Seidenberg led all Bruins with 30:10 of ice time, the most he’s played in a regular-season game as a member of the Bruins. Of course, the five minute overtime period pushed him over 30 minutes thanks to the 2:05 of ice time he saw after regulation, but overtime isn’t the only reason he and other Bruins’ blueliners took on a bigger workload.

With defenseman Adam McQuaid nursing a head injury suffered in Wednesday’s loss to the Hurricanes, Matt Bartkowski slid into the lineup but did not inherit McQuaid’s minutes (which thus far were 13:19 and 17:28 in McQuaid’s two healthy games) Saturday. Instead, Bartkowski played sparingly (5:32) while the likes of Seidenberg and the Bruins’ other blueliners took on more minutes. 

Boychuk, who barely saw an uptick in minutes, if at all, was a standout player for the B’s Saturday. He led the Bruins with six hits (Rich Peverley was also up there with five) and assisted Horton’s equalizer.

After the win, Julien said that McQuaid remains day-to-day. Back in Boston, Steven Kampfer has returned to the ice, so if McQuaid is unavailable Tuesday or Thursday, the B’s could potentially see Kampfer’s season debut. Kampfer appeared to be on track to beat Bartkowski for the seventh defense spot in the preseason before he sprained his left knee on Sept. 29 on a hit from Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen.