- Michael DiPietro earned his first NHL win with 25 saves in a 4-2 Bruins comeback over the Ducks
- The 27-year-old goalie spent one ECHL season and six AHL seasons getting here
- Read below for his reaction and the puck’s sleeping arrangements
Michael DiPietro finally has his first NHL win.
The Bruins goalie made 25 saves Friday night in a 4-2 comeback victory over the Ducks at Honda Center, according to the NHL.com recap. Boston had been down 2-0 after a sloppy first period.
The league’s official account made the milestone official:
Tim Washe and Beckett Sennecke scored 21 seconds apart late in the first, with Washe’s shot sneaking through a screened DiPietro. From there he shut the door, including a stop on Nikita Nesterenko’s short-handed breakaway early in the second.
Boston then cashed in three times on the power play. Brunet, Pastrnak and Lindholm scored with the man advantage, and Matthew Poitras added an insurance goal in the third.
DiPietro was asked about getting win No. 1 in such a dramatic way.
“Definitely a dramatic way to get the first one; didn’t make it easy on myself,” DiPietro said, per BostonBruins.com. “Obviously it is just one, and obviously you want to build on it. But definitely going to enjoy this moment.”
The road to that puck was a long one. Vancouver drafted him 64th overall in 2017, and he played three NHL games for the Canucks between 2018-19 and 2021-22 without a win. Friday was his second start of the year for Boston.
NHL Public Relations passed along the history angle:
At 27 years and 129 days, DiPietro became the second Bruins goalie in the past 48 years to earn a first NHL win at 27 or older. The other was Tim Thomas, who was 28 years and 187 days old when he did it on Oct. 19, 2002.
Brunet got a milestone of his own, scoring his first NHL goal. He and DiPietro were teammates in Providence a year ago, and Brunet had nothing but praise for his friend.
“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve played with, and I think no one deserves it more than him,” Brunet said after the game. “The way he played in Providence, it was only a matter of time before he made the big step.”
DiPietro already knows where the souvenir is headed. “The puck is going under my pillow tonight, and then it’s going to go in my pocket tomorrow,” he said. “It’s not going out of sight.”
Boston improved to 6-2-0 and has won four straight. James Hagens had two assists, the first two-point game of his NHL career, a few weeks after his first NHL goal. The Bruins play the Kings in Los Angeles on Saturday night.
