Home From a Productive Trip (3-1-0), the B's Sleepwalk Through a 5-2 Defeat vs. Calgary

When you have the best record in the NHL (39-13-12) and the most points (90) like the Bruins currently do, it is tough to complain about all that much in this unexpectedly smooth campaign. Still, they ended what had been a great road trip with a bizarre beatdown in Vancouver on Saturday (9-3 blowout) night then they came back to TD Garden this evening and never really put up much of a fight as they lost 5-2 to the Flames (the first-place Wild Card team in the West) who they had beaten 4-3 last Friday in Calgary. It was a wasted opportunity for the B's as well since the Lightning (40-18-5) lost (for the 3rd game in a row) 4-3 in regulation to the Maple Leafs (33-23-8). Boston remains five points ahead of Tampa Bay and 16 points in front of Toronto so it's already down to a two team race for the Atlantic Division crown in 2019-20.

Bruins GM Don Sweeney had a pretty quiet trade deadline yesterday as he flipped winger Danton Heinen to Anaheim for former first-round pick and winger Nick Ritchie (Brett's younger brother). This came on the heels of another deal with the Ducks on Friday: washed up right wing David Backes, a prospect (defenseman Axel Andersson) and a first-round pick this summer for right wing Ondrej Kase (who was a scratch tonight as he recovers from an injury). Other Bruins trade targets who didn't ultimately materialize: former BC star Chris Kreider re-signed with the Rangers, Tyler Toffoli was traded last week to the Canucks and poor Kyle Palmieri has to continue to rot away in New Jersey. Coming into tonight, Ritchie had eight goals and 11 assists in 41 games for a terrible Anaheim club while Kase put up seven goals and 16 assists in 49 games. I don't expect either guy to light the world on fire but considering that Heinen is just a guy and Backes has literally nothing left, they have to be at least a slight upgrade for the Bruins heading into the playoffs.

You always hear about how that first game back after a long road trip (in the NHL or NBA) is always a tough one to find your legs in. That seemed to be the case for the Black and Gold who never led and only managed to tie it up once on First Responder's Night (one of the team's best annual events) at the Garden. Jaroslav Halak was honored in a pregame ceremony for appearing in his 500th NHL game earlier this season. Starting goaltender Tuukka Rask (23-7-6) had his season-long 20-game point-streak on home ice snapped as he allowed four goals on 30 shots. The Flames were buzzing early as T.J. Brodie's shot hit the post and then settled between Rask's legs for a face-off. Boston wasn't so lucky on the next bounce as Mikael Backlund's shot went off the end boards but went right to Matthew Tkachuk (Keith's older son) who finished a backhander top-shelf past a sprawling Rask. BC's Noah Hanifin had the secondary assist on Tkachuk's 21st goal of the season at 11:35 of the first period.

Boston tied it with a shorthanded goal by Brad Marchand-his franchise-best 27th of his career-at 10:08 of the second period. Charlie McAvoy had the lone assist as Marchand used his speed and elusiveness to do most of the hard work for his 25th goal of the season. A pair of goals by Sean Monahan only 1:12 apart later in that frame put Calgary in complete control with a 3-1 advantage. He one-timed a pass from former BC star and Hobey Baker winner Johnny Gaudreau at 13:25. His 20th goal of the season was also assisted by Michael Stone. Before the Bruins knew what hit them, Monahan scored a power play goal at 14:37 by perfectly re-directing a pass by Tkachuk with Erik Gustafsson getting the other helper in his Calgary debut.

The Bruins came in with an NHL-best 21-2-9 record at home so you figured that no matter how sloppy or lethargic they were, they would probably push back a bit at some point. Indeed, they cut it to 3-2 at 13:09 of the third period as Chris Wagner scored an extra greasy goal (his specialty). Sean Kuraly and Par Lindholm notched the assists on Wagner's sixth goal of the season. He's scored goals in back-to-back contests for the second time this season (Dec. 5 & Dec. 7) which means something when you are on the fourth line which by the way was Boston's best forward group in this tilt. For a time it seemed like the Flames would at least blow it in regulation and have to go to overtime but then Backlund said no way with the dagger insurance goal at 18:30 (his 13th of the season was unassisted) before adding an empty-netter shortly after that.

This was the start of a very difficult week for the Bruins as they host Tyler Seguin and the Stars (37-20-6)-good enough for second-place in the Central Division-on Thursday (7:30, NBCSN) then they go to Long Island for a Saturday matinee (1, NESN) with the Islanders (35-20-7)-the top Wild Card in the East. No practice tomorrow should help Boston get some rest and refocus as they only have 18 games remaining in the regular season. With any luck, Kase is healthy enough to play against Dallas and he can give them some kind of spark. The Stars won 4-1 at Carolina (35-23-4) tonight and at 7-2-1 in their last 10 games, they are clearly clicking at the moment. Thursday should be an entertaining tilt on national TV with the slightly later start time (ie. more time for pregame suds for Bruins fans in the nearby bars).

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