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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Bruins Show Up Just Barely Enough to Beat Panthers 2-1 in Overtime, Thanks Marchy

Usually when you have a long win streak against a team (in any sport really), there is a game or two along the way that you probably should have lost but for some reason you don't. The Bruins didn't play terrible on Tuesday night at TD Garden vs. the Panthers, rather both teams played a complete snoozefest, that is until Brad Marchand won it with a sick goal in overtime for the 2-1 Boston (8-6) victory.

The B's have won nine straight games against the improved Panthers (4-2-4) and four of their last five overall-their best stretch of the season. Other than Marchand's game-winner, the only reason that anyone will remember this forgettable contest is because it was Shawn Thornton's first game at the Garden as a visitor. He had a game-high five hits and more importantly, he received a raucous standing ovation when his personal highlight video was shown. It was truly the loudest it's been here since last postseason and it couldn't happen to a better guy.

After a scoreless first period, Florida took a 1-0 lead at 4:04 of the second period thanks to Jussi Jokinen's one-timer. Boston gave him way too much space to crank a one-timer by Tuukka Rask (18 saves), with assists to another former Bruin Brad Boyes and Aaron Ekblad.

The lead didn't last long for the Panthers though as Patrice Bergeron went top shelf with a sweet wrister for his second goal of the season at 7:29. His linemates Marchand and Reilly Smith had the assists. Bergy has been scuffling in the goal-scoring department so far this season so that tally had to feel extra satisfying.

Florida had a great chance to grab a goal late in the third period but Erik Gudbranson's deflected shot went off the post. Roberto Luongo (23 saves) actually had a pretty decent performance but as a Bruins fan you have to laugh that once again he couldn't get the job done in Boston.

Edmonton (4-7-1) limps into the Garden on Thursday, after losing 4-1 tonight in Philadelphia. The two players that we'd most want to see-Taylor Hall and Andrew Ference-are both out with an injury and a suspension respectively. Still, there is plenty to play for as the B's go for their fourth straight win by fattening up on mostly bottom-feeders of the NHL.

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Breaking News: Penguins Are The Team To Beat In The Eastern Conference

The Bruins are in one of their infamous goal droughts again and this time it has really hurt them. Boston (26-12-5) is winless in its last four games (0-3-1) after falling 3-2 to Pittsburgh (34-10-0) this afternoon at TD Garden. The Penguins clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference while the Bruins continued their longest winless streak of the season. Boston has scored two goals in each of its last three games and they haven't scored more than two in their last four games, do you sense a pattern here?

Carl Soderberg made his NHL debut and Milan Lucic was a healthy scratch for the first time this season but he'll probably be back in the lineup tomorrow since Nathan Horton hurt his hand/wrist during a fight with Jarome Iginla in the first period. The B's have allowed two power play goals in each of the last three games, another sign that the NHL's top penalty kill unit isn't up to snuff at the moment.

Tomas Vokoun (38 saves) got the start while Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and James Neal were all out with various injuries. That coupled with the fact that Boston is right there with Montreal meant this loss was particularly rough. This is a game they should have won, starting with the fact that they outshot the Penguins every period with a final total of 40-24. Those numbers weren't padded either since the B's had way more quality scoring chances.

After Adam McQuaid and Tanner Glass fought, Brad Marchand (17th goal of the season) gave Boston a 1-0 lead with a power play goal at 10:18. Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask (21 saves; 17-9-5) had the assists as Marchand got a step on Pittsburgh's defense then took a shot that trickled past Vokoun.

Jussi Jokinen tied it at 5:10 of the second period with assists from Matt Niskanen and Glass. He jumped all over a loose puck right in front of Rask and roofed it with a diving backhander for a pretty goal.

Pittsburgh put it away with a pair of power play goals in the third period. Iginla's slap shot went through Rask's five hole at 4:43 then Kris Letang beat him at 8:29 with a shot that was a little closer and in a prime shooting spot. Make no mistake though, from that distance Rask has to stop Iginla's shot that was screened but not tipped.

Tyler Seguin scored his 16th game of the season with three seconds left in regulation, Chara had the lone assist on the garbage time tally. If it had come a few minutes earlier, it would have at least made things more interesting. The Penguins swept the season series with the B's (3-0-0) proving that the Eastern Conference will go through them and the CONSOL Energy Center.

Now the B's have to hope the Canadiens lose to the Capitals tonight so Montreal remains only two points ahead of Boston. Otherwise, they'll have even more work cut out for them. First things first, they need to clean up their own game and that starts with beating the crap out of the Panthers (13-25-6) tomorrow afternoon (12:30 p.m., NESN). I think that Anton Khudobin will get the start then again maybe Claude Julien picks Rask so that he can get back on track (he's 0-3-0 in his last three starts). The Bruins need a blowout win in the worst way.

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In case you've been living in an igloo, Tim Thomas is doing ridiculous things this season

The NHL should schedule more back-to-back, home and home series' between teams to spice up the regular seasons which admittedly can get dull at times.

After waxing the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday in an MLK matinee, the Boston Bruins went to the RBC Center last night in Raliegh, North Carolina and came away with an impressive two points thanks to a 3-2 win.

It was no surprise that the Hurricanes (22-18-6) came out looking like a different team, but even more predictable than that was the fact that Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas (43 saves) stole the show for what feels like about the 30th time already this season.

Carolina outshot Boston (26-13-7) 45-28 but thanks to the soon-to-be two-time Vezina trophy winner and some timely scoring (from Brad Marchand and the game-winner from Milan Lucic), the Bs came home still in second place in the Eastern Conference and first in the Northeast Division.

After Mark Stuart got his first goal of the season on Monday, his fellow backliner wanted a taste too so Johnny Boychuk scored 2:04 into last night's contest on a power play. Michael Ryder and Marc Savard assisted on the patented bullet from the blue line ("Johnny Rocket"-as crazy Jack Edwards rightly dubbed it). They changed the goal to Savard in the second period but then they changed it back to Boychuk, um ok?

Jussi Jokinen tied it up for the Hurricanes at 18:39 in the first period on the power play from Eric Staal (one of the two All-Star captains next weekend) and Joe Corvo.

Carolina goaltender Cam Ward (25 saves) could have taken a nap or gone to get a drink in the second period as the Hurricanes buzzed with a 19-9 shot advantage. When Thomas blanked them for those 20 minutes, you had a feeling that he might steal this one for the Black and Gold.

Marchand put Boston up 2-1 (his 10th of the season) at 3:55 in the third period after some great hustle to track down the rebound from Zdeno Chara's shot. Mark Recchi also had an assist by winning the face-off and knocking it back to Chara.

Chad LaRose tied it up at 9:19 from Tuomo Ruutu and Jeff Skinner. Carolina had a bunch of chances in that sequence and LaRose was in the right spot to sweep it in.

Two and a half minutes later, Recchi and Lucic teamed up for the game-winner. Recchi drove behind the net (making the Hurricanes defense think he would try a wraparound) before he passed it out front to Lucic who buried his 17th of the season-tying his career-high from two seasons ago. Steven Kampfer also assisted on Boston's second power-play goal of the night.

The Bs come home to host the Buffalo Sabres tomorrow night.

Will the real Boston Bruins please stand up?

Call it a hangover from the first round cakewalk or simply two straight dogshit efforts, whatever the case the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the Boston Bruins, 3-2 last night in overtime to take a 2-1 series lead in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

After a piss poor display in Game 2, you had to figure that the B's would bounce back at the RBC Center. Not so much. Carolina outshot them 41-23 and Boston was frankly lucky just to get it to overtime.

Milan Lucic put the Bruins up 1-0 in the first period with assists to Dennis Wideman and Marc Savard.

Carolina answered in a big way with two goals late in the second period.

With 3:11 left in the period, Eric Staal scored an unassisted power play goal after stripping the puck from Boston defenseman Steve Montador behind the Bruins' net.

1:09 later, old friend Sergei Samsonov one-timed a nice pass home from Scott Walker (Jussi Jokinen started the sequence).

At 9:03 in the third period, Mark Recchi tied it at two with a deflection of a Chuck Kobasew shot. Montador also assisted.

The Hurricanes buzzed the Boston end for most of the game but Bruins goalie Tim Thomas (38 saves) played great as he kept his team in it.

Boston actually had a few prime chances at the beginning of overtime but Cam Ward (21 saves) shut them down. Just 2:48 into overtime, Jokinen scored by poking home a rebound of a Samsonov shot. Tuomo Ruutu also had an assist.

To see Boston play not one but two consecutive terrible games in a row, at this time in the season, is surprising to say the least but it happens. Detroit (the best team in the West) also faces a 2-1 deficit on the road against the Ducks tonight.

The B's have to find their game in a hurry tomorrow night or else they'll be going back to the Garden, down 3-1 to a very solid club.