Well I've certainly had my fill of 1-0 losses by the Bruins (17-9-5) to the Devils (13-16-4) at the TD Garden this season, how about yourself? After losing by that same exact score three weeks ago, Boston suffered a similar fate tonight as they put 40 shots on New Jersey goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood (1st shutout of the season, 9-9-1) but none of them could get by him. If that wasn't bad enough, the B's also saw not one but two possible tying goals waved off for various reasons in the final minutes of the game. Therefore, you can understand why I think that this was the most frustrating loss of the season for the Bruins. This isn't the Islanders (22-9-4)-a quality opponent that has a complete hex on them, NJ stinks when they play almost anyone else but you. In fact, they improved to 4-0-1 vs. Boston this season, which is unfathomable, with the only loss coming in a shootout in the season opener two and a half months ago.
I could complain about the Black and Gold missing a bunch of important players due to Covid-19 or injuries but that's a pointless exercise given how hard both of those things have hit basically every NHL club at some point already in 2021. Furthermore, with all the testing and protocols in place, I think there's nobody but the guys themselves (Brad Marchand, Jake DeBrusk, Sean Kuraly) to blame for a positive test. Whatever caused those, it's likely their own fault for choosing to be in sketchy situations. I understand pandemic fatigue-we are all feeling that these days-but you have to do better than being unavailable when your team is floundering and needs you the most.
Rant over, the game's lone goal transpired in the first period as New Jersey defenseman Ty Smith threw the puck on net and it deflected off right wing Kyle Palmieri's leg/knee for his seventh goal of the season. Left wing Jesper Bratt provided the secondary assist on the game-winning tally at 16:37. Boston is really struggling to score right now so you can understand why their defense and goalies have kept them in many games that they probably should have lost by multiple goals. Bruins goaltender Jaroslav Halak (28 saves, 7-5-3) was almost perfect as well but that wasn't good enough in this tight tilt.
In the closing moments of the third period with Boston scrambling to get the tying goal, it looked like they had somehow gotten it when captain Patrice Bergeron put in a shot that was immediately reviewed for goaltender interference since center David Krejci appeared to bump Blackwood while they were both digging for a loose puck. Ultimately, it was called no goal after a long review of it. Blackwood's best save of the game was his last one as he absolutely robbed the Bruins by kicking out a deflected puck that was almost over the goal line. From our limited views of it on NESN, there really were no definitive look where you could tell if the puck was ever so slightly over the goal line before he knocked it away with the toe of his skate.
Boston returns to practice on Monday before another meeting with the Devils on Tuesday (7, NESN) right back at the Garden. They have to find a way to get two points or we might all lose our minds assuming that you haven't already done that. New Jersey is 10-15-3 against the rest of the NHL this season which tells me that they are a terrible team vs. everyone else. This shouldn't be all that complicated (even without some of their best players who remain sidelined), just get it done B's and put these two awful shutout losses behind you for good.
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