Well, you didn’t think that half dozen the Bruins scored against the Islanders on Wednesday would be the start of something big, did you?
On Friday, the B’s scored the first goal of the game before everyone was in their seats at the Garden and then didn’t score again, losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1.
Philip Tomasino got the game-winner at 7:26 of the third and then Tristan Jarry (32 saves) shut the door to nail down the win for Pittsburgh. Jarry had come into the game with a 4.34 goals against average and an .868 save percentage, but you never would have known it on Friday.
While this might have been the worst defensive game of the five since Joe Sacco took over, the goal-scoring woes remain the most troublesome issue with this Bruins team. They got 33 shots on net, including 13 in the third period. David Pastrnak, who now has two goals in his last 16 games, fired the puck 15 times with seven landing on net, including one in the third period that caught just the jersey of Jarry to deflect wide.
The offensive problems have been particularly pronounced at the Garden, where they’ve scored just four goals in their last four games.
“We scored six goals last game, so I don’t think it’s an excuse. We’re getting paid to put pucks in the net, right?” said Nikita Zadorov. “Obviously we had chances to get a lead, to tie the game as well at the end and it just didn’t go our way. I feel like it’s been the story of our season so far. Hopefully it will turn around. We’ve got to get a couple of bounces. But … if you look back at the whole picture, the whole game, I didn’t think you can say 100 percent that we deserved to win. If we played more sharp, better with the puck, less turnovers, just cleaner, then I’d say the luck wasn’t on our side. But when you don’t do that for 60 minutes and you give the other team opportunities to score, that’s hard. You’re going to chase the game, especially against such an experienced group as they have over there.”
Jeremy Swayman made 33 saves and looked good again with nothing to show for it. He was between the pipes in the B’s 2-0 loss to the Canucks here on Tuesday.
“I’m just sticking to my process, understanding I need to do whatever I can to help this team have a chance to win every single game and that’s what I want to do, is give them a chance. And I know for a fact that we’re going to come through,” said Swayman. “Even if we score only one goal, I want to make sure we close games out. It’s a team game obviously but I’m really excited about what we’re doing and the process that we’re sticking to and I know the results will come.”
The first half of the first period was entertaining as both teams went up and down the ice, with too many odd-man chances for Sacco’s liking.
“We got caught up in a game that we probably shouldn’t play. It’s not to our strength,” said Sacco.
But it was the Bruins who cashed in on one of the early chances.
On a pretty tic-tac-toe play from the third line, Trent Frederic took a feed from Tyler Johnson and Frederic in turn made a nice dish to a wide-open Charlie Coyle at the right circle. Coyle picked his spot under Jarry’s glove for his fifth goal of the season and first point of any kind in five games. It was Frederic’s first point in in six games. It was just 1:24 into the the game and it felt like this was going to be a 6-5 affair.
That didn’t happen.
Swayman needed to be good in the first, and he was. His best sequence came when Sidney Crosby broke in all alone. Swayman stopped the original shot and kept his position well enough to turn away Crosby’s nifty follow-up from in-tight.
The Penguins were starting the second period with 1:39 of power play time after an odd sequence. On a delayed penalty on Johnson, Evgeni Malkin was parked at the blue line in front of the Bruins’ bench. As he drifted away from the bench, his Russian countryman, Zadorov, nudged him with his stick. Malkin responded with a wild swing of the stick, which the refs caught. They had to go to the video to see who the Bruin culprit was and, sure enough, they nailed Zadorov. Both he and Malkin went off for two minutes apiece.
“We’re old friends,” said Zadorov cryptically, declining to elaborate.
Said Sacco: “We don’t need that penalty there.”
The B’s killed off that penalty in the second, but the Pens continued to test Swayman.
First he had to made a quick pad save on a deflection off Charlie McAvoy’s leg. The rebound went into the slot but Swayman managed to get a piece of Tomasino’s shot to deflect it over the glass.
A little later, Anthony Beauvillier had a clean look off the rush but Swayman flashed the glove to preserve the B’s one-goal lead that was looking slimmer by the minute.
He couldn’t hold the Pens off forever. Even with a Bruin power play, the ice began to tilt in Pittsburgh’s favor until finally, with .8 seconds left in the period, the Penguins got the equalizer. Crosby collected an Erik Karlsson shot behind the net, circled and fed Rickard Rackell, who roofed it over a sprawling Swayman, who said he over-committed on Karlsson’s original shot.
Both teams had some checkered third period histories. The Pens had been outscored 13-1 in the third in their previous eight games while the B’s had not scored a third period goal at the Garden since the first home game of the season.
But the second period trends continued in the third, and the Pens took the lead at 7:26. Pittsburgh won several puck battles down low until Malkin fed Tomasino and, from the inside of the left circle, Tomasino’s off-speed shot beat Swayman through the pads.
“I think I got caught a little bit off-balance, so it was just a lucky break for them and it’s unfortunate,” said Swayman.
The B’s had chances to even it, including on an unsuccessful power play with 7:00 left in regulation. Jarry made a great late save on a deflected Andrew Peeke shot and then Karlsson stoned Elias Lindholm on the rebound. Coyle also had what looked like an open shortside to stuff a puck home but Kris Letang prevented it.
“Right now, it’s a situation where the puck’s not finding it’s way into the net,” said Sacco. “We had our chances tonight again. but you have to execute still at a higher level in order to finish off your plays. I’m not sure we got that done here tonight.”
Not according to the only place that matters – the scoreboard.
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