Plus/Minus: Bruins' Fatigue No Excuse For Lackluster Effort In 2-1 Detroit Loss
BOSTON (CBS) - You'd hate to think fatigue would be a factor in the second game of the NHL season, even though it was the second night of a back-to-back, but the Bruins just looked sluggish Thursday night in Detroit, which resulted in a 2-1 loss.
98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones broke it all down following the game, giving his three highlights and lowlights from the loss in a segment he calls Plus/Minus.
Plus
Patrice Bergeron
The Bruins started the game very flat. In fact, they had no shots through the first 12:01 of the contest. With that first shot though, however, they made it count.
"Bergeron put them on top 1-0. He was very good again in the faceoff circle. He wound up winning 12 of 21 faceoffs. Very customary for him," said Jones. "Another strong performance from Bergeron -- his second in as many nights."
Tuukka Rask
Rask dropped to 0-3-1 at Joe Louis Arena after Thursday night's loss, but he played well enough to get the win.
"He didn't necessarily shut down Detroit, but both of those goals I don't put on Rask. He made a couple of big saves to keep the Bruins in this one. Rask was pretty good," said Jones.
Zdeno Chara
While Jones didn't like the penalty late in the game, it was a solid effort from the captain.
"He was a +1 for the B's and had a team-high six shots tonight. He was second in minutes and led all his teammates with shorthanded time on ice. Chara was pretty good for the Bruins in a 2-1 loss."
Minus
Effort
As previously stated, the Bruins did not appear ready to go in this game. They were out-shot 10-5 in the first and 10-4 in the second period.
"Just general flatness. The way they came out in this one -- again, no shots through the first 12:01 and no shots in the final 9:30. Detroit really took it to the B's throughout," said Jones.
Dennis Seidenberg
The defenseman is still working his way back from injury and you can clearly see the rust. Seidenberg was way too late covering up that back post on the Gustav Nyquist power play goal.
"It's tough to put too much of that on Seidenberg, because Bergeron was in the penalty box -- that was actually right after Bergeron came back. He went to the box for a slash on Johan Franzen. So the Bruins were shorthanded there, but I just feel like a healthy Seidenberg would have had that. He just looks rusty. The spotlight is gonna be on him and the rest of the defensemen after trading Johnny Boychuk."
Milan Lucic
Will the real Milan Lucic please stand up?
"Just an absolute ghost for the Bruins; second night in a row. He was a -1 tonight with zero shots on net, also zero shots on net in game 1. So that's zero shots on the season. He did throw around his body a little bit. He had a couple of hits tonight, but in 14:42 he was basically invisible," said Jones.
Listen below!
Following the game, Dave Goucher and Bob Beers of the Bruins Radio Network joined Adam Jones to break down the game.
Listen below!
Hear every game of the 2014-15 Boston Bruins season on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers begins 30 minutes prior to every game!
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