Plus/Minus: Bruins Blow Third Period Lead In 4-3 Wild Win
BOSTON (CBS) - Ahead by two goals in the final period, the Bruins squandered a 3-1 lead in the third and eventually fell to the Wild 4-3 Tuesday night at the TD Garden.
It was a tough one to take if you're a Bruins fan. The hometown team was outshot 18-8 in the final frame and fell to 5-6 on the year. Making matters worse is the Bruins were off since Saturday night and Minnesota was on the second night of a back-to-back.
Following the game, 98.5 The Sports Hub's Adam Jones caught up with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers of the Bruins Radio Network to provide a recap.
"You could tell there was a lot of desperation in Minnesota's game from the outset tonight. Even though they trailed after two periods, they came out in the third period and you could tell from that very first shift they took control and showed how badly they wanted to atone for the previous night. The Bruins were sitting nice after two periods, but it didn't feel like a safe lead, and it turns out it wasn't the way they fell apart in the third period," Goucher said of the 4-3 Bruins loss.
Without Zdeno Chara, the job of head coach Claude Julien has become infinitely harder. The team's top defenseman, captain and minutes-getter is sidelined for the next month or so with a knee injury, so now Julien must find the right combination of players and pairings in the interim.
"Honestly, this is your lineup right now. Maybe Joe Morrow, maybe David Warsofsky [from Providence] or something like that. Beyond that I don't think so. It's more in this locker room as far as the guys who need to get it done," color man Bob Beers said of the Bruins defensemen.
The Bruins started the year with a glut of defenseman and no definite right winger on the first line. As it stands four weeks in, there's now a void of quality defensemen and still a big hole on that top line.
If he had to prioritize it, Bob Beers told Adam Jones the main objective should be getting help on the blue line.
"We've been talking about right wing, right wing, right wing all along. But injuries change that. That focus, where's it going right now? I think if you put a priority list together right now I think it would be to fix the back end," said Beers.
Listen below to Dave and Bob's full analysis!
After his chat with Dave Goucher and Bob Beers, Adam Jones gave his three highlights and lowlights from the game in a segment he calls "Plus/Minus."
Plus
Seth Griffith
"Griffith had two goals tonight, his second and third on the season. Both came off great feeds. The first one from David Krejci was a thing of beauty, and the second one from Gregory Campbell was pretty freakin' good as well. He also had an assist on the Milan Lucic goal. Three-point night from the rookie right winger, he's an obvious Plus."
Milan Lucic
"Lucic was the second goal scorer for the B's tonight and netted his second on the season. It came on the power play, and at the time it gave the Bruins a 3-1 lead at 16:59 in the second period. It came off a beautiful feed from Torey Krug. It wasn't just about scoring tonight for Lucic. He also added an assist and had a team-high seven hits. He looks like the physical guy we expected after that slow start."
David Krejci
"Krejci had that great saucer pass to Griffith. He also had eight shots on goal and was 8-of-14 at the faceoff circle."
Minus
Bartkowski-Trotman Defensive Pairing
"They were on the ice for two of Minnesota's goals."
The Third Period
"The Bruins were outshot 18-8 and Minnesota was able to complete the comeback. The Wild had the first nine shots in the third period and the first 11 of 12. That final goal from Marco Scandella, the defensive pairing was Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid."
Tuukka Rask
"You have a 3-1 lead. You don't have Zdeno Chara out there. Tuukka Rask is one of the guys that needs to step up. And it's not that any one goal in particular you can put on the goaltender tonight, because it's not. What goal are you going to pin on Tuukka? I just know the totality of the effort you need more from Tuukka Rask, especially from a Vezina winner."
Listen below!
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