Christmas is on the Verge of Being Cancelled In A Few Days for the Bruins After Yet Another OT Loss

It is a few days before Christmas but the Bruins (21-7-8) must feel like they are living in the movie "Groundhog Day." After falling 4-3 tonight at TD Garden to the Predators (17-12-6) in overtime, they have now lost eight of their last nine games. What makes this skid even more frustrating is that so many of them have been decided by just a single goal. Boston entered the third period with a 2-1 lead but in the span of 35 seconds, goaltender Jaroslav Halak (25 saves, 8-3-4) made two fatal mistakes. The Bruins tied it with an extra skater on the ice with 1:05 left in regulation to bail him out but as usual, going into OT or a shootout didn't end well for the Black and Gold. Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis won it with 54.2 seconds left in the extra session, which at least spared us from another shootout (where they are 0-5) loss.

I technically watched the entire scoreless first period but I have to admit that I was very distracted by the Patriots' win over the Bills that clinched their 11th consecutive AFC (L)East title. For the third game in a row (all losses), Boston scored first as Par Lindholm (who had been a healthy scratch for the past 6 games) drove to the net for a rebound and was rewarded as the puck deflected in the net off of Nashville center Kyle Turris. Lindholm's second goal of the season snapped a 15-game scoreless stretch for him with assists to Brett Ritchie (who hadn't played the last 3 games) and Sean Kuraly at 7:30. Roman Josi tied it at one at 12:14 when his screened backhander found its way by Halak. Ryan Johansen had the lone assist on Josi's 12th goal of the season. Things seemed fine for the B's though as Patrice Bergeron put in a one-timer from his famous bumper position on the power play with 47.7 seconds left in the frame. David Pastrnak and Brad Marchand got the assists on Bergeron's 12th goal of the season.

The Bruins had been 12-0-2 this season when they led after two periods while the Preds were 3-9-3 when they trailed after two. If only things were that simple, right? Halak has been really good in 2019-20 and I believe that him and Tuukka Rask form the best 1-2 goaltender combination in the NHL. With that said, everyone has a rough game from time to time and surprisingly, his night unraveled in the third. First, Nashville was about to get a power play (it was a delayed penalty) when Filip Forsberg put a no-angle shot on Halak from the side of the net that somehow snuck in. The 13th goal of the season for Forsberg (tying him with BU's Nick Bonino for the team lead) featured assists from Johansen and Mattias Ekholm. If you thought that was bad (and it was), you hadn't seen anything yet as Halak topped it with a Cardinal sin for a goalie: getting caught way too far out of his net trying to play the puck. Ironically, he beat Josi to the loose puck but wasn't able to do anything with that advantage. Instead, he meekly cleared it right to him and the Swiss defenseman fired it into the vacated net before Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy could block it with his diving body.

Bergeron's clutch tying goal was just another chapter in a career full of such moments for the future Hall-of-Famer. He tipped in David Pastrnak's shot with Brad Marchand being credited with the secondary assist. Nashville's game-winning goal in overtime had to be the result of one final bad bounce for the home team as a clearing attempt behind their own net went off a ref and stayed there allowing Johansen to feed a wide open Turris out front for the one-timer. Turris had the other assist on Ellis' sixth goal of the season and his second career OT tally. You won't find two much worse teams in the NHL when it comes to overtime since they are both 2-4 with this latest result.

Let's hope that the old reverse lock is in effect for the Bruins on Monday (7, NESN) because on paper, it doesn't look too hot with the best team in the league-the Caps (26-6-5)-coming in here for one last game before a much-needed three-day Christmas break. Oh and did I mention that Washington has won 15 out of the last 16 times that they've met Boston, including twice already this season (3-2 in a shootout here on Nov. 16 and 3-2 last Wednesday in D.C.)? The Capitals have the best record, the most points (57), the highest goal-differential (+30) and they are the top road team in the NHL (16-3-1). Haha is that all? Honestly, almost nothing with the Bruins in the past week has made any sense so I think a blowout win against the Caps is a natural conclusion to this frustrating time. It doesn't matter how they get it, the B's desperately need a win, otherwise it's going to be a miserable few days stewing at home with their families and friends.

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The Future is Here for the Bruins In Their Exciting 2017-18 Season-Opening 4-3 Win vs. Nashville

Coming into the 2017-18 opener, the Bruins knew that they would have their hands full with the Western Conference champion Predators. That challenge only increased this morning as they discovered that Patrice Bergeron (lower-body injury) was out at least for this contest and David Backes (diverticulitis) could miss three or four weeks with some bizarre illness that I had to Google since I'd never heard of it. Who knows how long it can hold up for but at least in this tilt, Boston's rookies played collectively out of their minds in an exciting 4-3 victory at TD Garden.

Charlie McAvoy (1 goal, 1 assist) and Jake DeBrusk (1 goal, 1 assist) each recorded two points in their NHL regular season debuts (remember that McAvoy was called up for Boston's playoff series vs. Ottawa last April) while Anders Bjork notched an assist in his first career game. Tuukka Rask made 26 saves in the win and Nashville's power play had been 0-for-5 until they scored two late goals (by Scott Hartnell and Filip Forsberg) to make things a little sketchy for the home fans. The B's lost another forward in the proceedings as their fourth line winger Noel Acciari left in the second period after blocking a shot with his hand. That injury sounds somewhat serious too as head coach Bruce Cassidy didn't expect him to be available for Monday afternoon's meeting (1, NESN) with Colorado (1-0).

Boston's front office had to be psyched with the first goal of the season for their club as David Pastrnak potted a one-timer from McAvoy and David Krejci (3 assists; 17-5 on face-offs) at 8:37 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. The B's should have been in front after that frame but they allowed a back-breaking goal to Viktor Arvidsson with 11 seconds left in the first. Boston won the face-off in their own end but coughed up the puck as Ryan Johansen fed Arvidsson in the slot.

The second period was a beautiful glimpse into what the Bruins have to hope is a bright future for all these youngsters in black and gold as DeBrusk scored a pretty goal from Krejci and Bjork at 5:48 (complete with his dad crying in the stands) and McAvoy also sent his parents into hysterics with a one-timer at 15:43 from Krejci and DeBrusk. You wondered if Krejci would be able to keep up with two fast rookies and then he tied his career-high for assists in one game (something he'd done 8 times before).

Brad Marchand put the game out of reach, or at least so it seemed, with a rare short-handed empty-netter at 17:07 in the third period. Brandon Carlo had the lone assist on Marchand's 23rd career shorthanded goal (3rd most in team history). McAvoy had three penalties tonight which will be far from the norm and Kevan Miller got a delay of game penalty while Chara was called for slashing in garbage time. Hartnell chipped in a shot from close range at 18:12, assisted by Johansen and Arvidsson before Forsberg banked a shot off Rask at 19:25. Nashville had a few more chances at a possible tying goal after that but Rask and the Bruins held on. Pekka Rinne finished with 28 saves for Nashville.

It sounds odd to say this after game one of 82 (plus playoffs?) but the Bruins picked a good time to have a spaced out schedule in October. They already planned to have tomorrow off and then they'll have the weekend to ease back into practice before hosting the Avalanche on Columbus Day. Cassidy felt like Bergeron could possibly return for Monday but if he's not available, the Bruins will have to call another forward up from Providence to replace Acciari. I think the most likely name to watch for in that case would be Danton Heinen (Austin Czarnik is on IR) but we'll have to see how things shake out these next few days. Colorado was the worst team in the NHL last season but they kicked things off this evening by beating the Rangers 4-2 in New York so who knows what to expect from them?

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