Everybody Knows That A Four-Goal Lead Is the Most Dangerous One In Hockey, Wait What?

It's hard for a single sporting event (played early in the regular season) to create a wider range of emotions than what the Bruins (11-3-4) and Panthers (9-4-5) produced tonight at TD Garden for Military Appreciation Night. The first period might have been the most boring in NHL history (slight exaggeration but it was scoreless with 12 combined shots) but the B's followed that with four goals in a thrilling second period for what should always be an insurmountable 4-0 advantage. However, Florida responded with not one, not two (LeBron voice), not three but four goals in the third to send it to overtime. It was a thrilling five minutes that sadly lacked a goal, setting the stage for yet another shootout loss for the Black and Gold (their 2nd in 3 nights and 3rd of the season), 5-4.

Where to begin? Outside of the playoffs-which are a whole other ball of wax-it's tough to picture the Bruins suffering a worse loss from now until mid-April 2020 when the regular season mercifully ends. The Panthers should be commended for rallying behind backup goaltender Sam Montembeault (15 saves) who came on in relief of Sergei Bobrovsky (19 saves, 4 goals allowed) who was pulled after two periods. Still, Florida isn't exactly Washington or St. Louis, they are probably a fringe playoff team in the Eastern Conference at best. This also painfully extended Boston's losing streak to four games (0-2-2) although they've taken single points in the last two not that anybody feels too thrilled about that.

Every team has bad stretches and maybe that's the biggest explanation at the moment for the B's. The injuries that keep piling up especially to their forwards can't help either: Zach Senyshyn left tonight's game with a knee injury that hopefully isn't too serious since he's looked pretty promising in four games since being recalled from Providence. This is a club that prides itself on closing out games and with so many dependable veterans in the lineup, losses like tonight are super rare but incredibly painful.

The first omen that it was going to be a wacky night was when the lights conveniently went out for a few seconds early in the second period when Florida happened to have the puck in a dangerous scoring position. After Bobrovsky made a few quality saves, Boston found a way to bombard him with four goals just 7:36 apart from the middle of the frame to near the end of it. Obviously David Pastrnak opened the barrage with his NHL-best 16th goal of the season at 11:55. Bergeron had picked off the puck at center ice and fed him for a 2-on-1 with Brad Marchand. In his second game back after missing eight of nine with an elbow infection, Joakim Nordstrom made it 2-0 Bruins at 14:02 with a low snipe on Bobrovsky. Charlie Coyle had the lone assist on Nordy's second goal of the season. Anders Bjork's power play goal at 17:16 was I'm sure the one that Sergei would like to have back since he tipped it with his glove but couldn't snap it closed in time. David Krejci and Marchand had the assists on Bjork's third goal of the season. Finally, the captain Zdeno Chara flipped in a loose puck and topped that off with Jake DeBrusk's (a nice tribute to a sidelined buddy) signature celebration for a 4-0 Bruins lead at 19:31. Krejci had the primary assist after Bobrovsky flat out robbed him and Danton Heinen had the secondary assist on Chara's third goal of the season.

Tuukka Rask's (25 saves, 7-2-2) shutout bid ended 50 seconds into the third period as Aaron Ekblad cranked a one-timer past him. Milton MA native and Cushing Academy alum Keith Yandle and Aleksander Barkov had the assists on Ekblad's second goal of the season. That didn't seem like a big deal until Boston was whistled for a couple shaky penalties (slashing on Chris Wagner and hooking on Sean Kuraly) that ended up both costing them dearly. UMass alum, Longmeadow MA native and former Bruin Frank Vatrano cut Boston's lead to 4-2 at 5:26 with a one-timer that he snuck under Rask's leg pads. Jonathan Huberdeau had the lone assist on Vatrano's sixth goal of the season. The wheels really started to come off for the B's and the crowd got understandably nervous when Rask gave up his extra soft goal of the game. Mike Hoffman tried to backhand a pass across the crease but it ended up in the back of the net, an unforgivable mistake for Tuukka (which will surely serve as fresh kindling for his usual haters). Hoffman's seventh goal of the season was assisted by Yandle and Huberdeau.

Boston seemed to finally regain some semblance of balance as Coyle hit the crossbar then Sean Kuraly drew a tripping penalty on his former linemate and PC icon Noel Acciari. Florida's penalty kill unit survived that one though and Yandle unbelievably tied it up when he roofed the puck past Rask at 18:21. A huge defensive breakdown led to his second goal of the season, assisted by Barkov and Huberdeau (the 1st star of the game). I'm not going to say it was a foregone conclusion at that juncture since Marchand had a breakaway in overtime (and Rask also stopped Hoffman's breakaway) but when it got to the shootout, you felt like Boston's kryptonite would get them once again like it had on Sunday night vs. Philadelphia. This time they did get a goal in the shootout (Coyle in the 3rd round to extend it) but lost in the fourth round as Hoffman scored and Charlie McAvoy did not. Vincent Trocheck provided the other shootout goal for Florida in the second round.

There is no practice tomorrow for the Bruins which honestly is a good thing since I'm sure the last thing they want to do is get yelled at by the coaching staff for a few hours after this debacle. Instead, they'll be back on the ice on Thursday before traveling to Toronto (9-6-4) for another showdown with the Maple Leafs on Friday (7, NESN). That is sure to be an emotional and competitive game with an even better team-the Capitals (13-2-4)-waiting for them at the Garden on Saturday night (7, NESN). Eventually, Boston will get itself out of this funk and against the Leafs would be as good a time as any to look like themselves again. They have already split the first two games with them this season with each team winning on its home ice. The Caps are another story since no team has owned the Bruins for years quite like them but we'll deal with that come Saturday morning.

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B's Choke Away the Atlantic Division Title & #1 Seed in the East So They'll Face Leafs in Rd. 1

It's been an unexpectedly wonderful 2017-18 regular season for your Boston Bruins (50-20-12) but there is no way to sugarcoat tonight's result: their 4-2 loss to the Panthers (44-30-8) at TD Garden was an unmitigated disaster that ultimately could cost them the chance at the Stanley Cup this spring/summer. A win would have netted the B's many nice things: the Atlantic Division title, the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference (with home ice throughout) and perhaps most importantly, a first-round date with New Jersey (44-29-9), a team that they went 3-0 against this season and is undoubtedly the worst outfit to make it from the East. Instead, Boston finished second in the Atlantic Division which means that they'll face Toronto (49-26-7)-one of the best teams in the NHL and a club that went 3-1 vs. their Original Six rivals during this campaign.

The oddest part of this evening is that with so much on the line, the Black and Gold came out flat yet again (an all too common theme lately). Panthers rookie Henrik Borgstrom (who just a few weeks ago was playing at the University of Denver) scored his first NHL goal at 1:22 of the first period, assisted by former Bruins great Frank Vatrano. The Bruins seemed to wake up less than seven minutes later as David Backes deposited a rebound by James Reimer (33 saves, 2 goals allowed). Kevan Miller and David Krejci had the assists on Backes' 14th goal of the season. Vatrano is apparently becoming something of a Bruins killer as he bagged a goal in his second straight game vs. Boston. His one-timer at 16:46 of the first period restored Florida's lead while Jared McCann and Jamie McGinn (say that ten times fast) provided the assists on Vatrano's seventh goal of the season.

The B's successfully flushed a crappy (get it?!) first period down the toilet last night against Ottawa (28-43-11) but it proved to be not nearly as easy against the Panthers who have to be one of the best non-playoff teams in NHL history (they had 96 points, only one less than Columbus and New Jersey). Something called Maxim Mamin (what a great name!) beat Tuukka Rask (22 saves) with another one-timer at 13:33 of the second period for a 3-1 Florida advantage. Reimer stopped Jake DeBrusk on a breakaway later in the frame as the Bruins were still down two goals when the second had mercifully ended.

Boston finally woke up in the third period but it was much too late. Jonathan Huberdeau's double-minor for high sticking on Zdeno Chara sparked a short-lived comeback attempt by the B's as David Pastrnak cashed in with a power-play goal at 9:54. Pasta's team-best and career-high 35th goal of the season was assisted by Patrice Bergeron (3 goals, 6 assists in his last 9 games) and Ryan Donato. Reimer actually left late in the third with a leg injury but Roberto Luongo (8 saves) of all people managed to hang on for the win. Evgenii Dadonov sent Bruins fans running to the exits when he put in a juicy rebound at 18:11. McCann assisted on Dadonov's 28th goal of the season which handed their Sunshine State neighbors (Tampa Bay) the Atlantic Division and top seed in the East.

In the last week or so, the Bruins appeared to be understandably gassed. They lost four out of their last five games which is not exactly what you want to see from a team that will be expected to make a deep playoff run. Still, it sounds like the Nashes (Rick and Riley) should hopefully be back for Game 1 vs. Toronto on Thursday (7, NESN) which would give their forward lines some additional quality depth. Game 2 is Saturday night (8, NESN) with the series shifting to Toronto for Game 3 on Patriots Day (7, NESN) and next Thursday (7, NESN).

Thankfully, I'm not in the prediction business but you are crazy if you think that Bruins-Maple Leafs will be decided either way by a sweep or in five games. This has epic six or seven-game tight playoff series written all over it. Besides Tampa Bay (54-23-5) vs. New Jersey, the other Eastern Conference series are Washington (49-26-7) vs. Columbus (45-30-7) and Pittsburgh (47-29-6) vs. Philadelphia (42-26-14). I would argue that there is nothing in sports better than the Stanley Cup Playoffs so you have to savor all of them that you can get. Like the Bruins, we all could use a little rest before the fun begins on Wednesday for some teams and Thursday for them. See you then.

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Is This The Start of the Inevitable Collapse for the B's While They Are Missing So Many Good Players?

Every team in professional sports has injuries so using those as an excuse too often falls on deaf ears. However, right now the fact remains for the Bruins (6-6-4) that when they are missing David Krejci, David Backes, Adam McQuaid and Ryan Spooner, they are forced to rely way too much on guys that should be getting seasoning in Providence rather than facing the daily rigors of the NHL. Boston began the week with a misleading 5-3 win vs. Minnesota on Monday but since then they've dropped three in a row. Tonight at TD Garden, they fell 4-1 to the Maple Leafs (12-7-0) after Toronto stunned them with a 2-1 overtime win last night at Air Canada Centre.

With budding superstar (and American hero) Auston Matthews out for both meetings with an injury and facing the immortal Curtis McElhinney (38 saves) in net this evening for the Leafs, this was a game that the Bruins had to have and despite outshooting Toronto 39-25, they lacked any sort of finishing ability. Tuukka Rask (21 saves) fell to 3-6-2 as yet again he was not able to play like a true No. 1 goaltender that can carry his team or teammates when they are down. I still think that Rask can be a very good goalie but it doesn't help when Brandon Carlo turns the puck over right to Mitch Marner at 8:52 for an easy goal, his 2nd of the season.

James van Riemsdyk enjoyed his time against the B's since he had a pair of goals on Friday and he made it 2-0 tonight with a power-play goal at 14:16 of the first period. He tipped in Nazem Kadri's shot for his ninth goal of the season with Morgan Rielly picking up the second assist. The Black and Gold world might be collapsing (sorry for the stupid hyperbole) around them but at least Frank Vatrano has somewhat remembered how to do his one skill that got him here: score goals. He tipped in a shot from Torey Krug (7-game point streak) and Kevan Miller at 15:18 of the first for his second goal of the campaign.

Toronto led 2-1 after the first and Matt Martin laid a massive hit on rookie Anders Bjork early in the second frame at center ice. Both guys were shaken up but they each remained in the game, because hockey. Matt Beleskey might be nothing more than a fourth line plug these days but at least he stands up for his teammates: he fought Martin a few minutes later since who else would in this Swiss cheese lineup? With the Leafs up 2-1 after 40 minutes, Boston needed to conjure up something notable to avoid grabbing only one point out of a possible four this weekend against their Atlantic Division foe. Instead, their power play was blanked on four occasions overall and the Leafs put it out of reach with Rielly's goal at 6:52 that of course deflected off Carlo's stick. JVR and Marner picked up their second points on Rielly's third goal of the season.

To say that goal was deflating would be an understatement since right before it, Boston had a two-man advantage for 1:07 that they shamelessly flushed down the toilet. Head coach Bruce Cassidy used his timeout right after the second penalty was whistled but there would be no proper response by his club. Grandpa Marleau broke Boston's hearts with the overtime tally and he put this slopfest to bed with an empty-net goal with 1:47 left in regulation. His eighth goal of the season was assisted by Zach Hyman (fun name!) and Leo Komarov.

Dating back to last season, Toronto improved to 6-0 vs. Boston meaning that the B's have two more chances left to avoid another ugly fate: a season sweep at the hands of one of their sneaky biggest rivals these days. Hey no worries though, the Bruins won't return to the Garden until Black Friday (1, NESN) when they host the Penguins (9-7-2) in their annual day after Thanksgiving matinee. Between Now and Then (cheesy 90s movie reference, just call me Bill Simmons) they leave on the dreaded California trip and then they go to New Jersey (10-4-2)-the Eastern Conference's biggest surprise-the night before Thanksgiving (7, NESN).

Did I mention that the B's are 1-3-2 on the road thus far? Anaheim (7-6-3) on Wednesday is probably their best chance at a win on the road trip since the Ducks are super banged up just like them. At LA (11-3-2) the next night (10:30, NESN) is no picnic since the Kings are one of the NHL's best at the moment (who could forget their last second 2-1 overtime win here back on Oct. 28?) and finally, the Sharks (8-6-0) on Saturday night (10:30, NESN) will be looking for revenge after they lost here 2-1 on October 26.

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There Was No Way That the Bruins Were Losing On Military Appreciation Night at TD Garden

When you normally play 82 games in a regular season, many of them can understandably start to blend into one another. That's not the case though on Military Appreciation Night, one of the best events that the Bruins (6-4-3) put on every season at TD Garden. Tonight they hosted the Wild (5-6-2) and put on a show for all the brave servicemen and women along with their loving families that deserved every bit of the 5-3 victory for the Black and Gold. Minnesota scored first before Boston rattled off four in a row then hung on until an empty-netter clinched it. Brad Marchand (upper-body) was the latest Bruin to be temporarily sidelined and he's not making the trip to NYC on Wednesday (8, NBC Sports Network) to face the Rangers (7-7-2) so no Times Square shenanigans for him.

When you have such a patchwork lineup, hell it feels like half of the Providence Bruins are currently here, you take regulation wins whenever you can get them. Tuukka Rask (24 saves) had arguably the play of the game when he stopped Mikael Granlund's penalty shot in the third period with Boston clinging to a 4-2 lead. Devan Dubnyk (20 saves, 4 goals allowed) wasn't anything close to the same guy from last season who blanked the B's both times that these clubs met. He was pulled after two periods by Angry Dad I mean Wild head coach Bruce Bouderau and replaced by Alex Stalock (9 saves).

Nino Niederreiter gave Minnesota a 1-0 advantage just 4:53 into the contest when the Bruins chose not to cover him for an easy putback on a rebound. His second goal of the season was assisted by that tireless American hero Ryan Suter (who skated a game-high 28:02) and Jared Spurgeon. Boston responded with two goals in the first period, both of the extra fluky variety. Jake DeBrusk tried to find Frank Vatrano with a pass from behind the net but it bounced in the net off of Suter's skate at 10:23. Zdeno Chara (team-high 25:48) and Jordan Szwarz (1st NHL assist) had the helpers on DeBrusk's third goal of the season. Later, Vatrano simple shot on goal from the blue line went off the post then Dubnyk's leg and in at 12:42. It was Vatrano's first tally of this campaign and first in 25 regular season games (he had 1 in the playoffs last season) with more assists to Szwarz and Chara. Matt Beleskey even made a contribution as he fought something called Luke Kunin shortly after Vatrano's go-ahead goal, good times!

At his post-game press conference, Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy called the second period their best of the season as they outshot Minnesota 15-4 and potted two more goals to go up by three. Sean Kuraly put in a rebound from Danton Heinen and Tim Schaller at 5:34 for his second goal of the season. Boston's first line (which is basically all they have at the moment) finally got in on the action as Torey Krug (4-game point streak) one-timed a pass from David Pastrnak and Patrice Bergeron at 7:43 for his third goal of the season.

The B's have trouble putting games away (see the overtime loss to Buffalo a few weeks ago) and they certainly made their fans sweat on an unseasonably warm night as Pasta's brutal giveaway led to a one-timer by Granlund from Matt Dumba at 1:33. Eric Staal got a shorthanded breakaway after Pasta was stuck up ice on the power play and he beat Rask to cut it to 4-3 Bruins at 15:56. Cassidy took his timeout with 2:40 left and Stalock was pulled for an extra skater. Schaller caused a turnover and won a race for the loose puck, leading to the empty-net goal (his 3rd goal of the season) at 19:03 and his first multi-point performance in the NHL.

The Rangers and Bruins usually have entertaining battles and since it's Rivalry Night, you know that they'll pull out all the stops. Just kidding, hopefully it's a half-decent product in primetime. New York had gotten off to an awful start but they've reeled off four wins in a row to potentially save their season. It'll be only Boston's fifth game on the road where they have begun 2017-18 a little wobbly (1-2-1) while New York is 5-4-2 at Madison Square Garden-the world's most overrated arena.

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Bruins Sweep Their Pivotal 3-Game Homestand with Resounding 4-0 Victory vs. Montreal

Remember like a week ago when we were all resigned to the fact that the Bruins (29-23-6) weren't going anywhere this season? The inevitable firing of head coach Claude Julien finally happened on Tuesday and that was one of the only real interesting facets left in 2016-17. As my old pal Lee Corso loves to say on ESPN's College GameDay, "not so fast, my friend!" In case you haven't noticed, the B's look like a completely different team these last three games under interim head coach Bruce Cassidy. Tonight, they beat Montreal (31-19-8) 4-0 at TD Garden as they go into their NHL-designated bye week with a three-game win streak (tying a season-high) and a whole new outlook on life. Perhaps the best part was after the beating when Canadiens goaltender Carey Price admitted that "we seem to have lost our identity." That is one beautiful quote from the best player of the team that I hate more than any other in pro sports.

It's hard to fathom how the same group of underachieving guys can suddenly turn into a quality team: knocking off the Sharks, Canucks and the Canadiens in the span of four nights. Boston improved to a season-best two games over .500 at the Garden (15-13-0) and they also ended with a split of the four-game season series with Montreal. Tuukka Rask (25 saves, 6th shutout of the season) actually notched his first ever win vs. the Canadiens in Boston (he had been 0-9-3 before that). The heated rivals are going in opposite directions as the Canadiens fell to 3-6-1 in their last 10 games while the Bruins improved to 6-4-0 in their last 10.

Obviously it's way too early to explain why Cassidy's team is superior to Julien's but there are a few interesting trends to point out: the power play which was good under Claude has stayed red-hot with goals in each of their last eight games (11 for 30, 36.7%) while Boston's defensemen have been frequently activated and in turn, contributing way more offensively (adding 2 more goals tonight including Zdeno Chara's 1st shorthanded goal since 2011). From the start, this felt like an old Bruins-Canadiens game when the rivalry was entertaining and unpredictable. Torey Krug and Andrew Shaw fought 58 seconds into the proceedings, settling a longstanding beef from the last matchup.

Adam McQuaid started the scoring with what quite possibly was the prettiest goal of his NHL career (in his 400th game). His one-timer (2nd goal of the season) was assisted by rookie Peter Cehlarik (1st NHL point) and Torey Krug at 8:57 of the first period on what looked like a set play of sorts off of a faceoff win by the B's in Montreal's defensive zone. Boston's penalty kill unit (6 for 6) was great all night, especially late in the first when they had to negate a two-man advantage for 1:37. The Bruins' special teams were the story in the second period as well with Zdeno Chara of all people dangling around Alexander Radulov for a shocking shorthanded goal at 5:08 (his 5th of the season was assisted by Ryan Spooner and Brad Marchand) and then David Krejci finished a beautiful sequence of touch passing on the power play with David Backes and Cehlarik registering helpers on his 14th goal of the season at 15:05.

Both teams had played yesterday (Boston is now 2-6-2 in Game 2s of back-to-backs while Montreal is 6-4-2) but it was still a bit surprising that Price didn't get pulled either after the second period with his team lifeless and trailing 3-0 or when Frank Vatrano put in a lucky bounce off the boards (after Krejci's one-timer from David Pastrnak missed the net) for his eighth goal of the season at 5:00 of the third period. This being the Habs, they were up to their usual low rent tricks as Nathan Beaulieu gave Chara a Milan Lucic memorial nut tap late in the second and Alex Galchenyuk hit Kevan Miller with a high-stick right in the face (which drew blood for a double-minor) late in the third. Miller fought Mike McCarron in garbage time with the funniest part being that McCarron was sent straight back to the AHL after the game. Happy trails, you bum!

The Bruins are tied with the Canadiens and Jets for the most games played so far this season so I'm sure that they are happy to get a rest. They are off through Friday and they will practice on Saturday in San Jose before facing the Sharks (34-18-5) on Sunday night (8:30, NBC Sports). That tilt kicks off a four-game road trip in California (Anaheim and Los Angeles) before they end in Dallas (22-25-10) two weeks from now on February 26 (12:30, NESN). Boston's next home game isn't until February 28 (7, NESN) vs. Arizona (18-28-7) so let's hope that they are still the quality road team (14-10-6) from earlier this season under Julien.

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If Only the Bruins Could Play The Sabres Like Once Every Week, They'd Be in Good Shape

As the Bruins (20-15-4) have proven over and over again already this season, especially when they're at TD Garden, they can't underestimate anyone after they've lost to a bunch of bottom-feeder last-place teams. For whatever reason, the Sabres (13-15-8) are just what ails them since with today's 3-1 New Year's Eve matinee victory, the Black and Gold swept the season series with Buffalo for the first time in either team's franchise history. Of course, keep in mind that when there were fewer clubs in the NHL, the Atlantic Division rivals used to meet up to eight times a season which looking back on it now is pretty funny.

This was a feel-good moment for the B's as they captured back-to-back wins for the first time in nearly a month (Dec. 1, 3, 5), Patrice Bergeron continued to heat up offensively (3 goals in 5 games) while Ryan Spooner (3 goals, 4 assists) and Torey Krug (7 assists) each extended their point streaks to five games apiece. Tuukka Rask (26 saves, 19th win of the season) continued his mastery of the Sabres as he improved to 13-5-1 in 21 career games vs. Buffalo. Boston had won 4-2 in Buffalo on Thursday but they paid a price for those particular two points as David Backes is now out indefinitely with a concussion.

One of the guys that will counted on for more production with Backes out is Frank Vatrano who has been moved up to the second line. He gave Boston a 1-0 lead just 1:28 into the contest with one of his signature quick release shots. Zdeno Chara assisted on Vatrano's second goal of the season (2 goals, 2 assists in 5 games) that fooled Sabres goaltender Robin Lehner (25 saves). Seeking some payback from Thursday when he got bloodied by William Carrier's cheap shot punches while they were tied up by the refs, Adam McQuaid drilled Johan Larsson with a clean hit (that dislocated the left wing's wrist).

Bergy doubled the Bruins' lead in the second period with a one-timer from Spooner and Brad Marchand at 7:04 on the power play. Bergeron had been a ghost in terms of goal-scoring for much of the early going so it's been nice to see him find his game lately. Lehner had started his New Year's Eve drinking early or something as Tim Schaller's harmless backhander beat him at 9:29 of the second period for a commanding 3-0 Bruins advantage. Three goals scored by Boston can feel like double that with their struggles to find the back of the net and couple that with how well Rask has played. The Bruins are now 14-2-1 when they lead by 2+ goals in 2016-17. Krug and Austin Czarnik assisted on Schaller's fifth goal of the season that had to feel a little sweeter against his former team.

As you probably noticed lately, the NHL has done everything in its power to outlaw fighting so even though Kevan Miller and Evander Kane wanted to fight each other later in the second, not to mention many other chippy moments throughout the proceedings, the linesmen and referees weren't having any of it. I understand they want to eliminate needless injuries (most notably concussions) from fights but one of the things that makes hockey so great is the ability to settle things after a cheap play.

North Chelmsford, MA native and BU one-and-done star Jack Eichel always seems to do something when he's at the Garden so he didn't disappoint his friends and family with a one-timer at 19:38 of the second that he hammered past Rask. His seventh goal of the season was assisted by Rasmus Ristolainen and Sam Reinhart. This was the first time in this campaign that Bergeron has scored in consecutive games and Boston's sputtering power play is slowly figuring things out with goals in four of their last five.

Nearly halfway through the season, Boston still finds itself in third-place in the Atlantic Division. They have 44 points like Ottawa (20-12-4) but the Senators have played three less games. Also, the Bruins are four points ahead of Tampa Bay (18-15-4) going into their meeting with Carolina this evening (Lightning will have 1 game in hand after that). Boston is back at .500 at home and five games over .500 on the road (11-6-4) so I suppose it's good news that they head out of town for five of their next six games.

This week is another one that at least on paper isn't too scary: at reeling New Jersey (14-16-7) on Monday (7, NESN), they host Edmonton (19-12-6) on Thursday (7, NESN) in Milan Lucic's latest return, at Florida (15-14-8) on Saturday (7, NESN) and at Carolina (16-12-7) on Sunday (5, NESN). The Bruins should get points in all of those road games and even though the Oilers have been unexpectedly good this season, I still don't fear them.

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Bruins Lose Their Fifth Straight Game, 4-1 to the Panthers, Leaving Their Playoff Hopes in Jeopardy

Even in a marathon 82-game regular season, there is never a good time to have a five-game losing streak (all in regulation, their longest such streak in over 6 years) but I'd say that during crunch time of a playoff push is just about the worst possible occasion to completely fall apart. Boston (39-28-8) lost all three of its games in California last week, fell 5-2 to the Rangers (42-24-8) last night at Madison Square Garden and this evening they came home to TD Garden and promptly lost 4-1 to Florida (41-24-9) in another must-win game.

The wonderful pregame ceremony for B's head coach Claude Julien (now the franchise's all-time leader in wins) was one of the only things for Bruins fans to feel good about after Boston failed to gain the all-important season sweep (3-1) of Florida who with the victory went five points ahead of them with a game in hand. As usual this season, a replay didn't go in Boston's favor (same story as the Rangers game) as a possible tying goal by Patrice Bergeron midway through the third period was wiped away and the B's proceeded to disintegrate.

After a scoreless first period, the Bruins broke the deadlock as Ryan Spooner beat Roberto Luongo (34 saves) at 7:42. Frank Vatrano and Loui Eriksson assisted on Spooner's 13th goal of the season (his 1st since March 3 vs. Chicago). Former Bruins great Reilly Smith tied it one at 13:51 as Tuukka Rask (32 saves) couldn't corral a rebound. Victor Trocheck and Jussi Jokinen assisted on Smith's 24th goal of the season (tying him with Jaromir Jagr for the team lead). I know everyone was in favor of it at the time but trading Smith straight up for Jimmy Hayes (13 goals, 16 assists) has been nothing short of a disaster in Year 1. Boston's suddenly useless power play went 0 for 4 and they compounded that by giving up a shorthanded goal to Trocheck at 18:46. Torey Krug got caught up ice and Trocheck was able to roof a shot over Rask's glove. Alex Petrovic had the lone assist on Trocheck's 24th goal of the season.

It has reached the point where I can honestly say after watching so many Bruins goals get called off for various reasons in 2015-16 (offside, goalie interference, no conclusive evidence the puck crossed the line, etc.) that I find it impossible to say what is or isn't a goal anymore in the NHL. Bergeron jammed in a loose puck that clearly was in the net before Luongo fished it out and yet after a lengthy review, the men in stripes deemed it still not worthy (it was ruled no goal initially). Julien has lost his mind over those type of incidents countless times this campaign and the normally unflappable Bergeron was understandably upset.

As you would expect, the momentum flipped and the Panthers quickly put it out of reach as Jokinen tipped in Dmitry Kulikov's shot at 10:56 for a 3-1 advantage (2nd assist to former Bruin Steven Kampfer) and Jonathan Huberdeau's empty-netter at 19:39 ended it. Boston only has seven games left (4 on the road and 3 at home) beginning on Saturday (7, NESN) at Toronto (27-35-11). Yes the Maple Leafs are one of the worst teams in the league but they beat Anaheim (40-23-10) tonight in overtime so it's not like they are a pushover that has given up. The Bruins are at New Jersey (36-31-7) on Tuesday (7, NESN) before a brutal one-two punch of at St. Louis (43-22-9) on Friday (8, NESN) followed by their final road game of the regular season-at Chicago (42-25-7) on Sunday afternoon (12:30, NBC).

If they can survive that gauntlet, their last three favorable tilts are all at the Garden: vs. Carolina (32-28-14) on April 5 (7, NESN), vs. Detroit (37-26-11) on April 7 (7, NESN) and vs. Ottawa (34-33-8) on April 9 (12:30, NESN). The top Wild Card team in the Eastern Conference-the Islanders (39-24-9) have one more point than the Bruins but that's not nearly as relevant as the Red Wings since they are also in the Atlantic Division. Boston is a point ahead of Detroit but the Red Wings have a game in hand which is why that meeting on April 7 seems like it'll be enormously important for both clubs. All that the B's can do is focus on their next game and hope that they can break this killer losing streak otherwise they are going to narrowly miss the playoffs for the second year in a row (which would surely cost Julien his job).

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The Bruins Continue To Be Terrible at TD Garden This Season (10-12-2) After Falling 4-2 to the Canucks

So far this season if you have gone to any Bruins home games, there is a better than 50% chance that you have left TD Garden unhappy (assuming of course that you cheer for the Black and Gold). Once again, Boston (24-17-5) had a chance to climb up to the .500 mark at home (now 10-12-2) but they couldn't do it as they lost 4-2 to Vancouver (20-17-11) at TD Garden. It was a strange night as neither team was ever called for a single penalty, the first time that happened in a Bruins game in nearly two years (March 6, 2014 vs. Washington).

Basically, the only two things to really remember were all the emotional tributes that they had for Denna Laing (the Marblehead native that played for the Boston Pride and was paralyzed at Gillette Stadium in their game on New Year's Eve) and also Canucks star (and future Hall of Famer) Daniel Sedin scored two goals to become the franchise's leading goal-scorer (348 which helped him pass Markus Naslund who had 346).

Even though they were playing in their fifth game of a six-city road trip, Vancouver never trailed as they scored first and survived two pseudo-comebacks by the B's. Sven Baertschi gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead just 3:27 into the contest as he was able to poke in a shot past Tuukka Rask (23 saves) on a breakaway. Radim Vrbata and Bo Horvat assisted on Baerstchi's ninth goal of the season (Vancouver has points in 13 of the 14 games that he's been on the scoresheet this campaign).

Boston outshot Vancouver 11-4 in the first period and yet they trailed 1-0 after 20 minutes which is never a good sign when you can't take advantage of such a territorial edge. Starter Ryan Miller had the night off so Jacob Markstrom (28 saves) was the Canucks goaltender. Jimmy Hayes beat him at 19:08 of the second period when his shot deflected off defenseman Christopher Tanev's butt and in the net. Hayes' 11th goal of the season was assisted by David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner (who has 6 points in his last 6 games and 12 points in his last 11).

Alex Burrows has faded almost into oblivion (Vancouver's 4th line) but he was able to summon some of his former glory by putting the Canucks up 2-1 at 1:49 of the third period. His wicked turnaround shot went top-shelf on Rask. It was his seventh goal of the season (and his second game in a row with a tally after 24 straight without a goal), assisted by Linden Vey. Less than three minutes later, the Bruins' equivalent of Burrows (granted a much better player these days)-Marchand-knotted it up at two. Marchand's 18th goal of the season (tying him with Patrice Bergeron for the team lead) was assisted by Bergy at 4:15.

Twin brother Henrik is notably absent at the moment with an upper-body injury so Daniel is left to carry the Sedin last name for the next few weeks. He scored the game-winning goal at 7:03 of the third (his 78th career game-winner) by going to the net and putting in a rebound. He equaled Naslund's team-record of 20-goal seasons (10 and counting), assisted by Tanev and Jannik Hansen. Daniel clinched it with an empty-netter at 19:37, assisted by Vey and Derek Dorsett.

The Bruins host the NHL's worst team-the Blue Jackets (17-27-4) on Saturday night (7, NESN). They have to beat Columbus, who already has nothing left to play for in this miserable season and lost 4-2 in Calgary this evening. If I was coaching the B's (which thankfully for everyone, I'm not), I would start Jonas Gustavsson on Saturday just to give Rask a little break. David Krejci returned after missing 10 games with an upper-body injury of his own. He was a little rusty (-1, 7-10 on faceoffs) but Boston is always a markedly better team with him in the lineup. To make room for him, rookie Frank Vatrano (6 goals, 1 assist) was sent back to Providence.

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