How Bruins' Start To Second Period May Have Been Worse Than Their First
By Matt Kalman, CBS Boston
BOSTON (CBS) -- A lot will be made of the Bruins' terrible start to their 4-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lighting in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at TD Garden on Wednesday.
For the third straight game the Bruins were miserable in the opening 20 minutes, but this time Tampa Bay took advantage and led 3-1 after just 16:43 of play.
Instead of responding the way Winnipeg did on Tuesday, when it answered three first-period goals by Nashville with four second-period goals and went on to win its Game 3, the Bruins produced their second dreadful start of the game.
In a couple of ways the unproductive start to the second period was worse than the mistake-filled opening moments of the game, which included Ondrej Palat's goals at 1:47 and 3:19 to give the Lightning a 2-0 lead. At the beginning of the second frame the Bruins executed some successful cycles, got the matchups they wanted and had Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman pinned in for 4:35, but the Lightning barely had to sweat while keeping the Bruins from tightening the score.
After their initial push, the Bruins never even came close to playing like Tuesday night's Jets or even like the Bruins team that won 21 games in the regular season when allowing the first goal.
"Again, we had some pushes, we had some good zone time, a couple of opportunities," said Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who was pointless and had three shots on net and four giveaways. "Their goalie made some saves, so we just have to keep going. [The series] is 2-1, it's not over yet. Get ready for the next one."
The problem with the Bruins' "pushes," especially at the start of the second period, was that they more resembled popping bubbles at the playground than a NHL team trying to pull even in a postseason game.
During that 4:35 Hedman stuck on the ice (and Ryan McDonagh was stuck for 3:24), the Bruins attempted nine shots. Three missed the net, three were blocked and three were saved by goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. The three on net were as dangerous as crossing a city street at 3 a.m. – Kevan Miller's slap shot from the right point with no screen in front, Marchand's wrist shot from the perimeter and Patrice Bergeron's wraparound with no bodies in front to jam at a potential rebound. The wraparound almost completely let the Lightning off the hook but Vasilevskiy failed to cover the puck to get a whistle.
It didn't matter because once the Lightning got the dump-in they needed moments later, they changed their defensive pair and held the Bruins to one shot on net over the next three-and-a-half minutes. For the period, one that should've featured the Bruins at their most desperate, Boston had eight shots on net and 22 attempts. Almost half of their shots on net came during the opening five minutes.
Despite their edge in territory during their bathroom-sink-unclogged surge in the second, the Bruins looked out of sync. Bergeron won a faceoff clean but defenseman Torey Krug wasn't able to keep it in. David Pastrnak made a saucer pass to the point that went all the way down the rink. David Krejci forced a pass from behind the net to the slot, amazingly getting it past the long reach of Hedman, but Rick Nash had McDonagh draped all over him for a blocked shot.
Coach Bruce Cassidy wanted pucks moved quickly and funneled to the net. Instead he got mechanical puck movement by players that suddenly look like they're confused. Shots are fired wide or off shin pads. The Bruins missed the net 17 times and had their shots blocked 19 times total in the game.
"The group has a lot of will ... forgot to play a little bit," Cassidy said.
Despite their denials, the Bruins clearly grew frustrated after their first-period foibles and their second-period struggles. The Bruins tightened up their defensive game and Tuukka Rask made enough saves, including one on a Nikita Kucherov breakaway, to keep the deficit at two. The Bruins' attempts to comeback were overwhelmed by their lack of discipline. Krug took a holding minor behind the Boston net. Marchand slashed Anton Stralman's hand in the open ice for all to see four minutes later. Marchand tried the "that's what he did to me last game" excuse with the media after the game, and probably tried it on the officials as he skated to the penalty box as well, but the infraction was certainly more a product of inappropriately handling anger about the scoreboard than any bias by the official, who wasn't even same guy that let Stralman's slash go in Game 2.
Outplayed for most of the past six periods, the Bruins have a lot of problems to solve before Game 4 on Friday. Luckily, Marchand was right when he said "it's not the end of the world." But it could be the end of the Bruins' playoff run if their determination to get off to better starts, regardless of which period, doesn't turn into positive results.
Matt Kalman covers the Bruins for CBSBoston.com and also contributes to NHL.com and several other media outlets. Follow him on Twitter @MattKalman.
