This season the Boston Bruins have lost two games in regulation. Both times, it has been at the hands of the up-and-coming Detroit Red Wings. On Nov. 4, Detroit scored three third-period goals for a 5-4 win to hand Boston their first regulation loss. Friday afternoon (Nov. 24), the Red Wings handed the Black and Gold their second regulation loss of the season and their first at the TD Garden.
Detroit used a dominating first period and made the Bruins pay for penalties and bad puck management on their way to an impressive 5-2 victory. This was a case of what could go wrong did go wrong for Boston. Here are three takeaways after Boston fell to 14-2-3.
Bruins Have Another Slow Start
Earlier this week in their two games in Florida against the Tampa Bay Lightning (Nov. 24) and the Florida Panthers (Nov. 22), the Bruins had slow starts in both games. They were able to recover from those slow starts and get three out of a possible four points, but against the Red Wings, they were not as lucky.
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It was as tough of a first period as the Bruins have had this week and they found themselves down 2-0 after the opening 20 minutes. Morgan Geekie took a needless holding penalty on an icing call that led to the game’s first goal, then rookie Matthew Poitras had his pocket picked by Alex DeBrincat at center ice and the Red Wings forward scored on a breakaway. Boston can flirt with danger for so long with these slow starts and it finally caught up with them.
Bruins Inability to Clear Pucks Hurt Again
Along with slow starts this week, the Bruins’ inability to clear pucks out of the zone when they need to has cost them. In Tampa Bay, they held a 4-3 late and failed to get the puck out of the zone and the Lightning tied the game with four seconds left, before winning in overtime. Friday, Detroit took advantage of a Carlo failed clearing attempt at the end of a penalty.
The puck was kept in at the blue line and seconds later, Robby Fabri sniped a shot under the crossbar by Boston goalie Jeremy Swayman for a 3-1 lead. In the first period, Detroit dumped the puck into the Bruins zone off the opening faceoff and pinned the Black and Gold in their own zone for nearly a minute. In fact, the Bruins had two lines that were out there for the first minute when they couldn’t get a clear. Matt Grzelcyk is eligible to come back soon and Boston can use his ability to move the puck out of the defensive zone in the lineup.
Bruins Star Players Didn’t Do Enough
For the second game in a row, the Bruins failed to get any contributions offensively from their star players. In the win over the Panthers, Charlie Coyle, Jake DeBrusk, and John Beecher scored, and against the Red Wings, DeBrusk tallied a second-period power-play goal before Heinen scored in the third period.
It wasn’t for lack of effort from the Bruins’ top players. David Pastrnak, who picked up an assist on DeBrusk’s man-advantage goal, landed five shots on Detroit goalie Ville Husso, Brad Marchand had three, and Zacha, who also had an assist on DeBrusk’s goal, did not register one. Charlie McAvoy had three shots on the net, but when Husso when called upon, Husso made some timely saves with 25, including seven on the Bruins’ three power-plays. When Boston is struggling, they need their stars to step up.
Bruins Quick Takeaways
- To Poitras’ credit, the youngster rebounded from his first-period turnover and had a good game. He drew a second-period penalty with solid forechecking and had some good scoring chances. Jim Montgomery did not bench him and that is better for Poitras’ confidence, especially after he went 9-for-15 at the faceoff dot.
- Talk about killing any momentum you have. Danton Heinen scored early in the third period to bring the Bruins within 3-2, but Brandon Carlo took a penalty and the Red Wings responded 56 seconds later when Dylan Larkin scored Detroit’s second power-play goal of the game.
- If there is one thing we have learned in the three meetings this season, it’s that the Red Wings are a good team and should be a postseason team. They have done a nice job of surrounding their young stars with experienced and solid veterans. If both teams make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, this is not a good matchup for the Black and Gold.
- Swayman made 24 saves in the game, but he was left high and dry by his teammates a lot of the time. The Red Wings had a lot of high-danger chances and Swayman did everything he could to keep Boston in the game.
There is no time to rest for the Bruins who now head to Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon (Nov. 25) for a 1 o’clock faceoff against the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Rangers. If Boston wants a different result against a very good team, they are going to need to have a better start. Falling behind early against the Rangers and needing to rally on the road is not something they want to do.